Speaker 1: 0:00

All right. Well, we are in our summer Bible study right now and we are looking at the book of Jonah. Now I want you to keep on to your communion, because we're actually going to take communion together at the end of my message, because it ties along with kind of what we see happens to Jonah towards the end of this chapter. Now, what's interesting about this story? What we discovered in week one that Jonah was a reluctant prophet. He ran away from God. God gave him an assignment. He ran away. God said go. Jonah said no, and then God said whoa. And so what we see in chapter one is that God told him to go to Nineveh and preach and Jonah instead found a ship and went as far as he could in the opposite direction. And we learned the principle last week If you want to run from God, the devil will always give you a ride. He'll always call you an Uber. Okay, you can always find a ship sailing in the wrong direction. Jonah's on the boat. He's running from God. God sends a massive storm. Jonah admits this is my fault, throw me overboard. And so the sailors didn't want to, but they do. And instantly the storm stops and the sailors on board are stunned. They realize if this God, the God of Jonah, can make the storm stop, then we want to turn our hearts to that God and follow him. That's good news for the sailors, but Jonah it wasn't good news for him, because now he's sinking deep into the water, I would say filled with anxiety, depression, ready to give up, sinking, hopeless. And then comes one of the most unexpected verses in the end of chapter one, verse 17. Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah how awesome is that. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now that's a pretty cool rescue plan. Right, here you go. It says this in starting chapter two, which we're going to look at our Bible study today From inside the fish, jonah prayed to the Lord, his God. So chapter one the summary is Jonah runs away. Chapter two the summary is Jonah prays. He prays because the Lord provided a huge fish.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Now it's funny to me because I love to go on cruises. Anyone got any cruise lovers in here? Yeah, I love a good cruise boat. It's awesome For me. I personally love it because I do a lot of the laundry and cooking and cleaning in my house and on a cruise boat. I don't got to do none of it. It's awesome and I get to hang out with my kids and my wife. It's always fun, okay. But here's the thing. My only thing I get nervous about on a cruise boat is I can't swim very well. Yeah, I'm not a good swimmer, you know. Don't trust me to help you if we are in a sinking ship, okay. So that gets me nervous. But here you go.

Speaker 1: 2:59

If I fall overboard on the cruise boat, you know, and I'm praying God, god, I'm overboard, Help me. You want to know what I want God to do for me. I want God to just drop a life jacket out of the sky. That would be good. Thank you, god. You know, I just put it on. I want God to send one of those little boats to come get me. That would be good. You want to know what I don't want God to do. Know what I don't want God to do.

Speaker 1: 3:29

Send a giant fish to eat me. Like that doesn't seem like salvation to me. That seems like what Punishment, doesn't it? Like that doesn't seem good. I'm already sinking and now I see a giant fish, a Jurassic Park type thing, coming at me. I'm thinking, wow, not only am I drowning, I'm about to be chopped up and eaten Like this is not good. This is probably what Jonah's thinking, right, jonah's thinking this is it. This is the end, you know. But here you go, because being inside a fish doesn't seem like salvation. What's inside a fish? Fish juice, fish guts, fish belly, other dead fish that this big fish already ate.

Speaker 1: 4:06

And now I've had moments where I prayed and I said, god, why are you letting this thing happen to me, god? What's the point of this? Why am I going through this? Think about Jonah. To him, the giant fish felt like a huge problem. It was dark, it was uncomfortable, it was not where he wanted to be. He didn't ask for it, he didn't pray for it. But who sent the fish? The Lord, the Lord, god sent the fish. The fish wasn't punishment, it was God's provision. It was God's provision. And I want to encourage some people today sometimes, what we call a problem, god calls provision. He's not trying to pay you back, he's trying to bring you back, and God may provide in ways that we didn't choose. God provides a fish and swallows Jonah, and Jonah never planned on being fish food. He didn't want to be the Gordon's fisherman, he didn't like Captain D's. He didn't like Long John Silver. I got these for days. Okay, he doesn't like red lobster? Okay, sorry, but here you go.

Speaker 1: 5:19

You may be in a similar place today, not inside a fish, because that would be cool, but you may be in a place where you're not sure where you are. You're not sure why you are here. You're struggling with things that you didn't want to be struggling with. You're going through something. You're going through something that you never, ever, would have chosen. You're saying to yourself I didn't expect to be in this place in my marriage. I didn't expect to have this kind of faith crisis. I can't believe my career took this kind of detour. This isn't what I wanted to be. I didn't choose to be in the belly of this mess today.

Speaker 1: 5:59

And I want to remind us, lvc, that God doesn't always give us what we want, but God does give us what we need. God does not always give us the thing we want and, again, any good parent knows that you can't give your kid everything they want. If that was the case, then my daughter would eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But we got to give. But God gives what he needs. So, from the belly of the fish, jonah. He remembered the Lord. He remembered that he needed the Lord.

Speaker 1: 6:30

And Jonah got to a place where some of you are right now, a place to where you say the only way I can get help is coming from God. I need God to come and intervene. He was completely helpless, but just because Jonah was helpless, he was not hopeless. Just because he was helpless, he was not hopeless. And I want some people to know I'm feeling a little preachy today, probably because it's so hot, but I want some people to know today you might feel helpless, but you are not hopeless. You may feel like you don't have the answers to get through this predicament, through this problem, through this issue, through this heartache or this pain, but because of Jesus' finished work on the cross, you are not hopeless. There is hope ahead of you. And so Jonah. Was he in a mess? Absolutely, was he in serious trouble? You bet it.

Speaker 1: 7:19

And truthfully, you might feel the same way right now. Life's not going well. You're thinking. Truthfully. You might feel the same way right now. Life's not going well. You're thinking my marriage is hanging on by a thread. God needs to step in. All right, maybe you're saying my paycheck is not keeping up to my bills. Maybe it's health. Maybe you got a diagnosis and you don't know what to do with it. It could be your kids. One of them are making crazy decisions or choices and you're scared for them.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Here's what I want you to hear no matter what kind of trouble you're in, whether it's your fault or not, the Bible gives us hope, and this hope is found in James 5. It says is anyone among you in trouble? Is anyone among you in trouble? He says then let's pray. He said let's pray about it. Then let's come to prayer about it. Let them pray. Is anyone here in trouble? The scripture says then pray.

Speaker 1: 8:14

I want to declare to you that if you're in trouble, it is your time to pray. I'm going to tell you again if you're in trouble, it's your time to pray. If you're in trouble, it's your time to pray. James doesn't say when you're in trouble, it's your time to worry. He doesn't say when you're in trouble, it's your time to complain about everyone else's fault. He doesn't say when you're in trouble, it's time for you to write a long post on Facebook and let everyone know about it. A long post on Facebook and let everyone know about it. He said when you're in trouble, it's not your time to blame everyone, but it's time to pray. And what did Jonah pray about? To God? And again, when you are in trouble, it is your time to pray.

Speaker 1: 9:14

And the rest of this chapter, from verse 1, says he prayed. Verse 2 says he starts to pray all the way down to verse 9. And I want to show you I won't read the whole thing because it's kind of long but in your Bible study I encourage you to read chapter 2. Check this out. It says, going down to the next paragraph he raised the roots of the mountains. I sank down. The earth beneath, bared me in forever. Now, here at the bottom, check this out. He says but I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you what I vowed I will make good. We're going to get to that. Later I will say salvation comes from the Lord.

Speaker 1: 10:00

Some people, some people have you ever been in a prayer group? And some people, when they pray, they sound so polished. They're like, wow, they are just so good at praying, like they might be sponsored by the Holy Ghost, like they're just really good. They know when to insert the correct Bible verse. They insert in Leviticus. They're so good Bible verse they insert in Leviticus. They're so good, but I don't know about you guys.

Speaker 1: 10:29

One of my favorite prayers I heard is from a guy I love. His name is John Wimber. He said my favorite prayer to pray is help, god, I need help. And here's the thing I love about that prayer it's honest. It's honest and sometimes that's what prayer just is.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Prayer isn't just a performance to sound spiritual. It's us just saying God, I need your help. It's about being real. It's about turning your heart towards God, even if your words are messy, are short, are scattered. Here you go. The best form of prayer. You want to know what the best form of prayer is. The best form of prayer is honest prayer. It's when we're being honest. What is the most effective thing that we can pray? Whatever is in your heart or whatever is in your head. You don't have to have it all polished and sound good, but whatever is in there. See, here I'm going to give you an example. Can I give you an example? Here's an example.

Speaker 1: 11:22

Here's an everyday dad who's stressed out about work and his kids are waking him up in the night. He's tired and stressed. This is not inspired by true events. Here is the internal thoughts that he has because of the stress and anxiety in his life. He says oh, I need sleep, my kid. I'm going to uppercut him if he wakes me up again, because my boss is going to uppercut me if I keep missing simple tasks. I'm so tired and I don't even like this job. That's what he has going on. Here you go. I want to show you something. This is how the things in our hearts and in our head can turn to prayer, can turn to prayer. I want to blow your mind with this. Okay, here you go.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Instead, here's what prayer looks like. God, I'm so tired, I just need some sleep. Lord, I love my kid, but if they wake me up one more time, god, I'm going to need you. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to have to hold this together. I'm already on edge. My boss is frustrated with me and, honestly, I don't blame him. I keep messing up little things and truth is, I don't even like this. God. I feel stuck. I need your help. I need you to meet me in this. Please give me peace and strength to go get through tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 12:41

Notice the difference. Notice the difference. Same internal dialogue, one though one is you're praying towards your worry and your anxiety. The other is you're inviting God in on the conversation. See, here you go. We like to pray. Let's not deceive ourselves. We like to pray. We just pray often to our worry and our anxiety more than we do to the God who can bring healing and hope and victory in our lives. And so when we pray, it's as simple God, I'm inviting you in, and what happens when we do that is we're getting God in on our world, so we can get in on God's world.

Speaker 1: 13:18

Because the prayer to pray when you're in stress, when things are happening around you that you don't understand, you've got to slow down and say God, what are you trying to teach me in this, god? What are you trying to show me in this? Because if you're not trying to build my character in this, then I don't know what it is, and it's slowing down, it's inviting God into that. See, here's the truth. We always pray, but we pray often to our chronic anxieties and our worries.

Speaker 1: 13:47

Seriously, though, if you're ever wondering whether you struggle with chronic anxiety, I got a good test for you. Here's the test when one problem gets solved in your life, do you immediately jump to the next problem, and when that one's fixed, there's always another thing to stress out about. If your inner world constantly needs a crisis to latch onto, that's not just being busy or stressed. That's called chronic anxiety. Chronically anxious people and systems move from one urgent issue to the next, never pausing to breathe or lead with clarity. And if that's you, you may unknowingly bought into the lie that your problems give you purpose that, unless something is wrong, you don't know who you are. But God didn't design us to live that way. He invites us into peace, not panic.

Speaker 1: 14:40

So if you don't know what to pray about, pray about what's going on in your life. Invite God into the conversation. Now I want to make this even more plain for us. If you're not sure what to pray about, I've got a good practical tool. I recommend the YouVersion Bible app or the Pray First app. I think I'm on the screen behind so you can QR code. We got a lot of QR codes today. But if you don't know what to pray about on the YouVersion Bible app, you can just go right to the search bar and say fear, anxiety, finances, marriage, and it will give you devotionals on how to do that. That's what you pray about you. Just go through it, pray about it. The Pray First app has this wonderful devotional with a guided prayer of the Lord's Prayer and it will take you through it and, man, it is so good. So I'm going to tell you this If you're going to be on your phone, instead of just binging out on your phone as a stress reliever, because you got all the different things going on in your life and you just look at your phone and just try to like numb out, pray about it, pray to God and watch what he does in your life. Okay, okay, here you go. We're going to spend daily time with God.

Speaker 1: 15:39

Jonah cried out to the Lord and the Lord listened to his cry. Jonah prayed, prayed, and he prayed in the belly of the fish. Jonah prayed and he said God, hear me, but if you look carefully I want you to see this If you look carefully, nothing happened immediately when Jonah prayed. This encourages me, because sometimes I want God to get on my timing. Like God, your timing man, it ain't working out for me. Has anyone been frustrated with God's timing before he prayed? I want to see this. I want to see this. He prayed in verse one. God heard him and there is no visible miracle. He prays in verse one and you don't see the visible, visible miracle all the way to the end of chapter two, in verse 10.

Speaker 1: 16:25

You don't see the miracle until verse 10, which makes verse 9 so much more meaningful, because in verse 9, jonah says this but I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed, I will make good, I will say salvation comes from the Lord. With shouts of grateful praise, he means I'm shouting, I'm worshiping, I can't complain. He's in the belly of a giant fish. The fish is probably thinking what in the world did I eat? Because I hear something going on. I didn't know it was Taco Tuesday. With shouts of grateful praise, I will sacrifice to you. He says what I have vowed, I will make good, I will save the Lord. Salvation comes from the Lord. What's powerful about this is the praise comes before the miracle. The praise comes before the miracle.

Speaker 1: 17:23

And again, I don't know who I'm preaching to today for the miracle. And again, I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but you're going to need to have a verse 9 kind of faith in your life right now. You're going to need a verse 9 kind of I got to keep praising, even though I don't see the result that I'm hoping for. I don't see how God's going to move in this. But you got to have a verse 9 kind of faith that's saying God, I'm going to worship you even in this. God, I'm going to praise you even in this thing. God, I'm not going to stop until you move. I got to get a verse 9 kind of faith in me and I'm saying to that today LVC, if you want to see God move, if you're ready for some breakthrough in your life, get a verse 9 kind of faith. Start stepping now and saying God, I'm going to praise you, I'm going to show up at church and I'm going to worship you. Jesus, I'm going to keep doing my devotionals, even when I don't feel nothing, because it's not about me feeling something. It's about me getting closer to you, god, and I'm going to praise you. I'm going to praise you, I'm going to worship you. Maybe you feel stuck in the belly. Let your praise be real. Maybe you're praising before the provision.

Speaker 1: 18:32

Some people in here, you have problems. Here's the thing. It's time to give your problem a problem. See, we all got problems, but the problem with our problems is that we let our problems dictate what we do. And I'm going to tell you today give your problem a problem, and the problem that you need to give your problem is a problem called praise, and I'm going to praise my way through the problem today. This is a verse 9 kind of faith.

Speaker 1: 18:58

Jonah continues in the very same verse. He says this is what I have vowed, god, I will make good. I was running from you, I was disobeying you, I wasn't listening to you, but what I have vowed I will make good. I like this. I like this because Jonah didn't make a single vow excuse. He made it right.

Speaker 1: 19:22

Guys, we live in blame culture. We blame everyone, and one of the biggest values that we miss in our world today is the ability to take ownership and responsibility. Here you go. In most contemporary churches like ours, we don't do confession booths, which I'm not saying you need to confess to a pastor to receive forgiveness, but there is something powerful about owning up and taking responsibility for your part in confessing. But, friends, that's what small groups are for. Small groups are a place to connect, protect and grow, and so we can go to our friends in small groups and say, hey, I've been struggling. I've been dealing with this Again. Our summer meetups are a time to do that.

Speaker 1: 20:06

Now I want to say there's some people in here. You know you're doing something. You know you shouldn't be doing it. You know you shouldn't be doing it. You're being disobedient to God. It's a sin of commission, you're literally sinning against the Word of God, or it's a sin of omission, meaning God prompted you to do something. You didn't do it.

Speaker 1: 20:26

Just today, man, just today I was getting donuts. We get donuts for people who help serve. So if you ever want a good donut, come early and help us set up, please, please. Okay, I was getting donuts and I had my daughter in in the car and I was at Dunkin' Donut and I saw a guy in there. He had a name tag, he said Lee and he worked for AAA. And I felt the Holy Spirit say go, go, encourage Lee.

Speaker 1: 20:55

And I said God, I am trying to get to church, I don't have time to help people. And so I'm sitting there and I'm like I ain't going in there, lord, and guess what? They give me my donuts. I put them, I drive off. Then I see Lee sitting in the car. I'm like, oh Lord, I'm like driving, driving, I pause and I drive away and I did not listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit today to go and talk to that man. And after I got in this building and it was hot in here God reminded me of what hell feels like. I'm joking, but God reminded me. Remember you're doing this for them and I repented.

Speaker 1: 21:47

I said Lord, forgive me, give me an opportunity to see that man again next Sunday. Hopefully that's his morning stop on Sundays, but it's a sin of omission. God has propped you to do something and you said no. Here I am preaching about Jonah and I'm not even doing. I'm doing the very thing that Jonah did. Can I get real? Is this too real? Is pastor too real today? Sorry, if you want the church where the pastor is all perfect, they're nowhere. But, guys, we got to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, where he moves us and says to us go.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Jonah made it right. Jonah made it right. It's time for us to stop blaming and make it right. God, do you want me to make it right? I'll go. God, do you want me to repent? I'll repent. God, you want me to apologize? I'll apologize. You want me to stop taking you for granted, god. Do you want me to repent? I'll repent, god. You want me to apologize? I'll apologize. You want me to stop taking you for granted, god? I'll stop taking you for granted. It's time to make it right. It's time to make it right.

Speaker 1: 22:50

And then verse 10, the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. And can we just pause for a second and say two things about that? Pause for a second and say two things about that. That's amazing and that's super gross. I mean, come on, god, he was in that belly of the fish for three days, three nights, and you vomiting him out is disgusting. I want you to see this. Three days and three nights, and he's in there In verse one. What is he doing? He's praying Verse two. He's praying Verse three. He kept praying Verse four. He kept praying Verse 3, he kept praying Verse 4, he kept praying Verse 5, he kept praying Day 1, he kept praying Evening 1, he kept praying Night 1, he kept praying Morning 2, he prayed Midday 2, he prayed.

Speaker 1: 23:34

And this is a message for someone You've been praying for a long time and you haven't seen the results that you want. I want to remind you of the power and the principle that while you're waiting, god is still working, god is still at work. And while you're praying and while you're believing, prayer is not about us trying to get God to do things. Prayer is about restoring our union with God and that I can know my Father and I know my Father. And since I know my Father, I know he has good plans, because surely His goodness and His mercy they follow me all the days of my life.

Speaker 1: 24:10

Because at the right time, god commanded the fish. At the right time, god commanded the fish. At the right time, god commanded the fish and the fish vomited Jonah. At the right time and this reminds me again is when it's not God's time, you can't force it, and when it's God's time, you can't stop it. Our God is a good God and he's always on time. If you're praying, keep praying and pray. Say God, have you heard me? And he hears you. And we got to be like the persistent widow in Luke 18. You just got to keep coming back, just keep reminding God. God, I'm here, I'm crying out for you. And at the right time God commanded the fish. He was in there for three days and three nights.

Speaker 1: 24:58

And who is familiar with another story in the Bible that someone was somewhere for three days and three nights Interesting Jonah. He lived somewhere between 785 BC, around 800 years before the birth of Christ, and what we see in the Old Testament is a foreshadow of what Jesus talks about in the New Testament, in Matthew 12. When the Pharisee says, hey, jesus, we want a sign, jesus says this Jesus answered a wicked and adulterous generation asked for a sign, but none will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So after Jesus became sin for us and dies on the cross, he's buried and does battle against the forces of hell. Three days later, the stone is rolled away and when the women come to look, the tomb is empty. Why? Because Jesus rose from the dead. And remember what Jonah said. He says where does salvation come from? Salvation comes from the Lord. Salvation comes from the Lord. When Jonah didn't deserve it, from the Lord, salvation comes from the Lord. When Jonah didn't deserve it, when he was running from God, god saved him. When Jonah couldn't save himself. God saved him. And when we can't save ourselves, jesus saves us.

Speaker 1: 26:13

And I love this part. I love this part. I love this part. I love it. It's so crazy, because what happens when I'm so hot, it's so sweaty. Okay, I love this part.

Speaker 1: 26:21

Jonah gets vomited on the dry land. That's gross and it's messy and it doesn't smell good. And salvation is messy. There's some people you've been through some stuff. Your salvation isn't polished and pretty and oh, lvc, I hope every Sunday at LVC smells like fish vomit, because I hope, lvc, that messy people in our community come to this place and salvation comes to lives. That's a little messy up in here and don't smell the best like me right now, because I'm sweating. Your salvation is never meant to be polished. It's a little messy, but His grace is so good.

Speaker 1: 27:20

And so Jonah ransom God. Jonah praise to God, and so Jonah runs from God. Jonah prays to God and at the right time at the right time, god shows his faithfulness. And so what I want to do, lvc, I want us to take communion together. I want us to take communion together. I want us to take communion together because communion is a time where we remember what God did on the cross for us, that we were messy. If you're in here and you need communion all your communion rolled down, because that happens Just shoot your hand up and one of our ushers will gladly bring you one. We've got a couple people over here, a couple people in the front too. Communion is a time that we remember that we were messy, but here's the best part. It's a time that we remember that God cleaned us, that he took us exactly how we are. He loves us so much. So let's do this On the bottom, let's peel back the bread.

Speaker 1: 28:38

We're going to pray over them together. Let's hold it up and say Jesus, thank you for your body broken for us by your stripes. Lord, we are healed. Thank you, lord, for the joy set before you. You endured the cross. You endured the cross. Yes, you loved us so much that, while we were messy, you died in our place. We take the bread in remembrance of that, flipping the cup over. You hold it up together His blood which was poured out, signifying His grace that we no longer had to be far from God, but that we can be near, close, intimate, and so, god, we thank you. We thank you for your love, we thank you for your goodness. We take the juice and remembrance of your grace. Let us pray together.

Speaker 1: 30:30

God, jesus Holy had a spirit of suicide on him, of defeat, wanting to give up. That's why he threw himself overboard. He didn't want to be saved, he thought he was too far gone. And so, lord, we just pray right now where there is a spirit of death, a spirit of give up. Holy Spirit, come and speak life. We speak against any demonic attack on people's hearts and we speak the power and the blood of Christ over hearts today, and we speak the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit that says there is still more life in you. So come, holy Spirit, swallow us up with your grace, a grace that makes no sense and often a grace we didn't even ask for. And, lord, we pray for our church that it is filled with messy people, because we're all messy, but salvation comes from you. So if you're running, if you're running away from God, just know he loves you, he's for you, he's with you and he remembers you. So, god, we love you in this place today, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.