Speaker 1: 0:00

Okay, so today we're in chapter 2 of Jonah and chapter 2 is my favorite is my favorite verse in chapter 2. Wait, are we in chapter 2? What chapter are we in? Chapter 3? It's been a long week.

Speaker 1: 0:18

Okay, we're in chapter 3 of the book of Jonah and I want to show you one of my favorite verses from the book. It says this Jonah 3.1, the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. How many of you are thankful for a God of second chances? Which raises the question did I mess up on accident or was that on purpose? For my illustration, second chance, okay, okay, Okay, that was the illustration. So if I messed up from here on out, it's because I really messed up.

Speaker 1: 0:52

All right, all right, but we are in our summer Bible study on the book of Jonah and to recap Jonah real fast Jonah ran from God, boarded a ship, was thrown overboard, swallowed by a giant fish. After three days he prayed in, the belly of the fish was spat out. And there we pick up the story. A lot of crazy stuff happened there and from that crazy thing comes the verse that I absolutely love the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. A second time, a second time. See, god's not just a God who calls us, but he's also a God who calls us back. He calls us back to him, he brings us back to him, and some of you, we might just need to pause for a moment and quietly say thank you to God for the comeback that he calls us back when we've made a mess of things. His love never runs out, because often we're like Jonah we can't save ourselves and we couldn't save ourselves without God's grace. Titus 3.5 says this God saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. I love that, because we serve a compassionate God, because we have a God of grace and because we have a God that calls us back, the God who gives us second chances. And here's the truth there's not a single person here that's ever been saved by your own righteousness. Scripture tells us that we can't be saved by our works, but we're saved by grace, through faith, so that no one can brag about it that we're in need of a savior and we've been saved by the grace of Jesus, the risen Christ, and we thank God that everyone, no matter who you are, if you, no matter how dark your life has been, no matter what path you've been on, no matter who you are. If you, no matter how dark your life has been, no matter what path you've been on, no matter who you are, if you call on the name of the Lord, he will save you. He saves and he's faithful. Our God doesn't just call, but he calls us back. He's the God of second chances and we see this throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation.

Speaker 1: 3:03

We see people everyday, people like you and me, who have a call from God, but somewhere along the path they mess it up. This is the thing I love about the Bible. The Bible is not filled with superhero people doing superhero feats. It's everyday, normal, average people who get a crazy call from God. Often they mess it up, but yet God still uses them From the beginning. Check this out.

Speaker 1: 3:29

From Genesis we see this Adam and Eve. They sinned against God, but God made a covering for them. God displayed grace. Moses murdered a man, but God still used him to free Israel. David committed adultery and then murdered to cover it up, but he repented. God forgave his sins and the Bible says that David was known as a man after God's own heart.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Rahab lived a life as a prostitute, but God included her in his plan to protect the spies and he redeemed her and put her name in the lineage of Jesus. Zacchaeus lived a greedy life robbing others, but Jesus came to his house, forgave his sins and he was saved. Peter denied Jesus three times, but Jesus forgave him, and on Peter he built the early church. And then Thomas doubted Jesus, but Jesus appeared to Thomas and loved him, affirmed his faith and said that he still had a purpose. I thank God for my salvation, but I also thank God that he has saved me. After he saved me. I thank God that he has rescued me time and time again, Even when I make a mess of things. I thank God for his grace Now. Now, His grace. Now.

Speaker 1: 4:44

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. But why did he run the first time? Why did he go the first time? The word of the Lord came to him a first time. Why did he run? We're going to figure out more of that next week when we do study chapter four. But part of the reason is this Jonah didn't want to go because he knew God's character. He didn't want to go because he knew God's character, he knew God's nature and he knew God was compassionate and Jonah did not want God to forgive the people that he hated. This is the reason why he ran away. It wasn't because he was scared, it wasn't just because he didn't want, god's grace, to meet these people. He didn't want to do it because he didn't want them to experience forgiveness. But then the word of the Lord came to him a second time and check this out. It says this in verse 2. It says Now, if you remember, in chapter 1, when Jonah heard the word from the Lord and he ran away from God, which direction did Jonah go? Jonah went down, down, down.

Speaker 1: 5:50

But then, the second time, when God calls to him, what does God say to him? He says it's time for you to get up. And I want to encourage some people today. Life may have thrown some blows your way. Things have happened to you that is putting you down, down, down, but the word of the Lord comes back to you and says you can get back up again, that you can get back up, that you don't have to stay down. And while you were down, you called on the Lord. But you can get back up again, come on, I want to encourage some people today. So he gets back up and then, but then the Lord says now it's time for you to get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, deliver the message I have given you. Get up and go Now. The Hebrew word for get up and go literally means go now, immediately, go today, Now.

Speaker 1: 6:38

I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I get, I get prompted to do something and I say tomorrow's a better day to do that. Maybe I'll do it another time, maybe I'll pencil it in, but what I want to say to us today whenever God speaks to you through his word, do it now, do it immediately, do it today. Whenever the Holy Spirit prompts you and you know, maybe the Holy Spirit is prompting you to be generous to someone and you're like is that God? Probably it probably is. Whatever God prompts you to do, do it now, do it immediately, Do it today. If God prompts you to call someone, this is what I try to do, because this happens to me. Sometimes I'll just randomly be minding my business and God puts someone on my heart and I'm like man, I should probably shoot them a text message or give them a call. And sometimes I'm like, oh man, if I call them. I know they know, I know they love to talk, so that might be a 20 minute conversation, lord, maybe I just do it another time and I try to know I'm going to call now, I'm going to text now, I'm going to prompt now, because the reason why we don't do it now, if we don't do it now, we won't ever do it. We're good at talking ourselves out of the things that God wants us to do. We're good at it, we're experts at it, and so if God calls you to do something, do it now, do it now, do it immediately.

Speaker 1: 8:00

The first time the word of the Lord came to Jonah, he ran from God. But this time, what does he do? Check this out. Jonah 3 says this Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now, nineveh was a very large city. Nineveh was very large. Historians tell us that there would have been roughly 120,000 people in Nineveh, and this is whom Jonah is supposed to be preaching to. This is a big crowd of people he's supposed to be preaching to. So the Ninevites were living at that time. So he had to go and preach to 120,000 people. That's a lot of people, and especially a lot of people when you don't even like those people and he despises them. He's like and these are some rough people, man, the people of Nineveh. They were rough people, they did a lot of crazy things, and so he's like I don't even like this, check this out. It says this. It said it took three days to go through it.

Speaker 1: 8:51

Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city proclaiming dot dot dot. Hold on before I tell you what he was proclaiming. It took him three days to walk through Nineveh. Jonah walked through Nineveh. Jonah made it one day and started preaching. Now, before we look at what he says, let's pause and let's just take this in for a second. He's one man in enemy territory. They hated him. He hated them. His life was in danger. He didn't want to be there. He probably thought this ain't going to work, they're not going to listen, but he preached anyways.

Speaker 1: 9:21

And here's a quick tip if you ever are preaching or leading a talk somewhere, maybe at your workplace or ever leading a small group, it helps. When you lead a message, it helps to start with something engaging, maybe a funny story. You know a felt need, a creative hook, like messing up on purpose and talking about second chances, like I just did. Okay, jonah did none of that. This is what he did.

Speaker 1: 9:49

Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city proclaiming 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. That was his message. 40 days, nineveh you're going to be destroyed, baby. That's his message. You know that probably didn't make the top 10 best sermons of all time. 40 more days and God's going to wipe you off the face of the earth. That's his sermon. That's his message. He probably said more than that, but that's what the book of Jonah records.

Speaker 1: 10:17

But why is he doing this? Why is he going through these people and saying this? Well, it's because that's what God told them to say. That's what God told them. God told them to go warn the wicked and evil people in Nineveh on what they're doing and that it's come against God and God's not happy with it.

Speaker 1: 10:35

So Jonah's doing it, he's being obedient, and he didn't want to do it. He didn't want to go. He tried to go the opposite way. And can I say something about obedience? Obedience often is not something that we want to do. Obedience to God often is like I don't know about that God, but God's calling you and doing something through you.

Speaker 1: 11:01

Let's explore, and this is how the kingdom of God let me just say something again. This is how the kingdom of God works. The kingdom of God works. Heaven invades earth. When God uses everyday people like you and me to do things that all of a sudden like God. That's out of my comfort zone. God, I don't know if that fits in my plan. God, you're going to have to send me an invite to that because I got a busy schedule. This is what God does. Check this out, let's continue. So these people hate God, they hate me. This is not going to work. There's no way it's going to work. This is what he's thinking and some of you in here.

Speaker 1: 11:37

You have someone in your life. You're a follower of Jesus, but you have someone in your life and you honestly think there's no way those people will ever turn to God. That person will never turn back to God. They're too far gone, they're too hardened, they're too lost. But I want you to hear this Never underestimate what God might be doing behind the scenes.

Speaker 1: 11:55

In my 15 years of ministry, I've learned when someone hits rock bottom, the only place to look is up, and I hope, when the people in your life who are having a hard time if they hit rock bottom. I hope when they look up they see you and they see that you love them and you care for them and that you can point them back to Jesus. That's what I hope. That's what I hope for you. So we can't give up on people you can't give. Maybe it's your dad, a friend, a child. You thought there's no way they'll ever come back to God. Don't lose hope because Jonah preached a short, blunt sermon. But check out what happened. And the Ninevites believed God. They believed Him, they believed God. These evil, horrible, wicked people. The Ninevites believed God. And this is the whole word right here. This is the whole preach that I can preach right here. The Ninevites said they believed God.

Speaker 1: 12:55

Now, how many of you know there's a big difference between believing in God and believing in what God says? There's a big difference of believing in like most of us are like, of course I believe in God. That's a big difference of believing Most of us are like of course I believe in God. That's why I'm at church, that's why I'm watching on YouTube. I believe in God. It's good to believe in God, but do you believe God? Do you believe what God has said about you. Do you believe what God has for you? Do you believe God? And just because you believe in God doesn't mean you believe God. The Ninevites believe God. James says this. He says you believe there is one God. Good, even the demons believe that and shudder Like, yeah, it's good to believe in God. But believing in God is different than believing God.

Speaker 1: 13:42

And I want to say to some people today the problem you are facing is that you believe in a loving God, but you don't believe that God loves you. You believe that God does answer prayers, but you don't believe he wants to answer yours. You believe that God will save the lost, but you don't think he will save the person you're praying for. And I want to say to someone don't just believe in God, believe him, believe him, lean into him, listen to him. Don't just believe that God can, but believe that God will. And I want you to know that God can do immeasurably more than we ever ask, dream or imagine. Don't just believe in Him, but believe Him. But believe Him. Believe what he says about you. Believe that he says that you are called and gifted. Believe that he says you are wonderfully and fearfully made in His image. Believe that there's healing in your life to come. Believe that what he spoke to you, even though life circumstances don't seem like it's gonna happen, it will still happen. Believe him, believe him, have faith to believe him.

Speaker 1: 14:45

The Bible says this is another thing. The Bible says. The Bible says it's impossible to please God without faith. Impossible. And what's faith? Faith is having the assurance of things hoped for. Faith is saying God, I don't see it right now, but I know, if I keep putting my trust in you, you're good on your word. You're good on your word, god, and in the process, in the process, you're doing something in me. You're doing something in me, in my character, in my heart, in my responses to things. God, you are building my character in the process of the already and the not yet. God, you're doing something in me that is greater than just the miracle that I'm waiting for, and I want to encourage you to do that. Don't just don't believe in God, but believe Him, believe Him.

Speaker 1: 15:38

The Ninevites believed God. The Ninevites believed God and a fast was proclaimed and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah's warning reached the king in Nineveh check this out. He rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. That was a powerful message. That was good.

Speaker 1: 16:00

The Ninevites believed God and this evil pagan king stepped away from his throne, took off his robe and covered himself, saying God, I'm sorry, I sinned against you. In humility, I want you to get this In humility. He removed himself from his throne. In a similar way there may be someone in here. It's time for you to remove yourself from your throne. It's time for you to remove yourself from the lie that you can control things, because you can't. It's time for us to remove ourselves from the throne that if I put trust in myself and my abilities, then things are going to be okay. But say no, god. I'm going to surrender to you, I'm going to get off the throne so I can make room for you to be the leader and ruler of my life, so I can surrender to you, so I can surrender all to you. He's saying I'm no longer the Lord of my life. I'm going to turn away from my sins and turn towards God the word in the Bible for the word repent. It means turning away from our sins. Jonah 3.8 says this. This is what the king says. It says let everyone call urgently on God. This is my favorite part Now the king's preaching.

Speaker 1: 17:13

Now the pagan king is making a declaration saying hey, call on the lord, because what this, two, this two mess point message that jonah's saying is good turn. And this is what happens. And this is what happens when god uses everyday people, even people in highest esteem and highest levels. God can use to make an impact, and you never know who you're influencing with your obedience. You never know for the parents, for the parents. You never know who you're raising and the person that you're raising may be someone that can impact the world for more than you ever thought, dreamed or imagined. So here you go.

Speaker 1: 17:54

The king says, the king's like everyone, call on God, call on him now. You need him now. Call on him, call on God. Don't sit around, don't wait for later. Call on him now. Some of you, you've been putting it off to completely call on God. Call on him now. I'm going to wait till I get older and finish doing my adult thing and then I'll get serious when I get married and I'll call on God and we go to church. No, do it now. Some of you are saying, well, when things get real bad, then I'll call on God. No, you need his grace now. You need his power now. You need his mercy now. You need the Holy Spirit now. You need his love now. You need his strength now. You need his love now. You need his strength now. You need him now. The king said call on him now, today and with urgency, call on him. And the king said to repent Now.

Speaker 1: 18:44

I like this word repent and don't let those angry guys on the street corner ruin that word. Repent. Okay, this is a good word, it's a beautiful word. Repent means this. Re means to turn, that's all it means. It means I'm going this way and I'm going to turn Profound. It means turn and then pent is to the highest, like the penthouse, like looking towards the highest. I'm going to turn and I'm going to look to something higher than me.

Speaker 1: 19:14

But here's the thing about repentant. Repentant is a two-step. I can do some dance moves and it's a repentant because here's what happens I'm not going to be angry anymore, but now I'm going to overdrink. I'm not going to talk bad about my wife, but now I'm being mean to my kids. Repentance is a two-step. I'm turning from this thing and I'm turning to God. I'm going this way. I'm turning away from the former things, I'm turning away from things I don't want. I'm a new creation in Christ and I'm going to do a repent. I'm going to turn and go after this. And this is what happens to Nineveh. They do a complete turn.

Speaker 1: 20:06

And here's the best part of it, because if I was God, if I was God and here is 120,000 people who are doing some horrible things, if I was God, I'd be like man. I don't believe them. Let me see if they're really serious about this. Let's see if they go to local basics. I don't see how serious they are, but, thank god, I'm not god, because check out the response of god.

Speaker 1: 20:29

When god saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented. I love this. Whenever they repented, god relented. And whenever they turned to him, god took back his threat to destroy them and he showed them compassion. In this very same way, when we mess up, god doesn't turn to us and say well, prove it, prove that you're really changed, show me for a good six months that you can stay on the right path. No, no, he relents and then show compassion, and I don't know how many of you have the mess up again story, but I have that story that I constantly do that man, I didn't believe I was going to do that again. I thought that was the last time I was going to get angry like that and that again. I thought that was the last time I was going to get angry like that and throw something. I thought that was the last. I can't believe I did. I found myself in that spot again.

Speaker 1: 21:38

And here's the beautiful thing about the mess up again story, because I'm only talking to the real people. If you never mess up, then this message ain't for you. But if you messed up again and you may have said, god, I'm never going to cuss again, blah, blah, blah. You cuss. The next day you say, god, I'm never going to yell at my kids like my parents yell at me. And then you yell at them the same way. You lose your temper. You say, god, I'm never going to listen to those negative voices again. And suddenly you get sucked into that negativity. God, I'm going to stop being hateful. God, I'm going to stop being so critical of my spouse. God, I'm going to, I'm going to do that. I'm not going to look at that thing. I'm not going to do this.

Speaker 1: 22:18

Here's the great news when you mess up again, the word of the Lord comes back to you again. Whenever we mess up, the word of the Lord comes back to you again and God shows you compassion again, and God shows you grace again. And the prophet Isaiah puts it like this. He says yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you. Therefore, he will rise up and show you compassion. See, the Lord does not sit in his heavenly throne with his arms crossed saying prove it, buddy, show me if you can do it, show me if you really got what it takes this time. No, no, no.

Speaker 1: 23:04

The character and the nature of our God is that he longs, he desires, he wants, he can't wait to pour out compassion on you, to show you His grace and His love, to embrace you, to reunite with you, to have union with you. You want to know how to have the keys to the kingdom. The keys of the kingdom begin with intimacy with the Lord, and when we're intimate with the Lord, we begin to see the keys of the kingdom begin with intimacy with the Lord, and when we're intimate with the Lord, we begin to see the kingdom of God invade in our everyday lives when we say God, god, you forgive me, like the Apostle Paul says that I was the worst of them all. Yet his grace was sufficient for me. And we see this. And so look at what it says. The Lord longs, he desires, he's longing to show you grace. He wants to show you His compassion.

Speaker 1: 23:57

The word of the Lord comes back, and so the question I will present to us today, lvc what is God trying to show you again? What is God trying to show you again? What is he saying to you? What message is he sending your way? What is God trying to show you again? What is he saying to you? What message is he sending your way? What is God trying to show you? What have you maybe ran away from? Maybe it's a dream that God put in your heart. Maybe it's the insecurity that you allow to make decisions for you instead of standing on the confidence you have in God. Maybe it's a hope that you have that you've kind of given up on. Maybe it's a hope that you have that you've kind of given up on. Maybe it's a person that you're supposed to connect with. What is the thing? What is God trying to show you again and what I discovered in my own life.

Speaker 1: 24:45

In years of walking with God, I found that usually it's one of two things that God is trying to show me again Either it's a sin he's trying to save me from, or an opportunity he's trying to call me to. Most of the time, god is trying to show me something that's either a sin, something in my life that's displeasing to him, something that's dangerous for me, something outside of his will that hurts his heart, hurts others and hurts me. It's a sin, it's a pride or anger or jealousy, financial insecurity or greed. He's trying to show me something that he wants me to remove to protect me. Or he's calling me to do something, an opportunity and it's usually in the vein of being generous, to serve, to be a voice of encouragement, to pray for someone. So it's usually a sin that he's trying to save me from. Or opportunity he's trying to serve, to be a voice of encouragement, to pray for someone, so it's usually a sin that he's trying to save me from, or opportunity he's trying to call me to.

Speaker 1: 25:35

So I ask to you what is the Lord trying to show you? What is the Lord trying to show you and the good news for you is this that the word of the Lord is coming to you again, that the word of the Lord is coming to you again, that he has given you another chance. And remember this he's given you another chance. And remember this he's given you another chance, and don't forget this. He'll give you another chance. Hey, and just in case you mess up again, right when you leave church today, he will give you another chance. And when you mess up again, the word of the Lord comes back to you another time and he will give you a second chance. And then He'll give you a third chance, and then a fourth chance and a fifth chance, and you'll sit back and say this grace feels unconditional. Because it is. Because it is unconditional it's not based on your merit, it's not based on your bank account, it's not based on how good you are, but how good he is. And he calls you back again, again and again and again. And every chance from God invites a response from you and invites a response.

Speaker 1: 26:46

Don't ever forget that the Word of the Lord is coming to you again. Ever forget that the word of the Lord is coming to you again. He's coming back. Some of you. You've been close to God, but you drifted. He's coming back to you again. Some of you, you've just been in doubt and your anxious thoughts are literally paralyzing your life. Don't worry, the word of the Lord comes back to you again. Maybe God's calling you again.

Speaker 1: 27:20

He didn't give up on Jonah when Jonah turned his back on God. He didn't give up on the sailors who were far from God. He didn't give up on the king, who is wicked and evil, and he didn't give up on the Ninevites. And if God didn't give up on them, then he won't give up on you, because our God is a God of second chances. If you screwed up your life, the word of the Lord is coming back to you again.

Speaker 1: 27:37

If you feel shame and stuck in the same old sin, the word of the Lord is coming back to you again. If you ran away from the Lord and you feel like you lost all hope and you've been too bad, the word of the Lord is coming back to you again. If you think for a moment that what I've done and who I've hurt, and the dark path I went on, and how bad my sin is, I want you to remember that God's grace is greater than your greatest sin. And the word of the Lord comes back again. The Lord longs to show compassion to you. The word of the Lord is so good, it's so good, it's so good. And even though I mess up, even though the righteous fall seven times, they get back. You get back up again Because the word of the Lord, the word, comes back. So, god, jesus, holy Spirit, we say, invade our hearts again, invade our lives again.

Speaker 1: 29:00

I pray right now a freshness over marriages in Jesus' name, a fresh romance, a fresh passion of love. A fresh romance, a fresh passion of love, a fresh connection, intimacy in marriages. In Jesus' name, the word of the Lord comes back again. I pray for people whose dreams have been sidelined or shut down or compromised or sacrificed for other things. The word of the Lord comes back and, god, I pray that you reunite, that you reignite dreams, visions and passions for people, visions and passions for people.

Speaker 1: 29:59

And like Jonah, where we ran away because ultimately, jonah thought he knew better than you, god, where we have ran away from you because we thought, god, I can control it, I can do it, and we made a mess of things. I speak now. The Lord looks on you and he longs to show you compassion. Come Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit. We thank you that you're a God of the second chance. We thank you that you're a God of the second chance. We thank you that you're a God that would not stop at nothing to get to us, that you came to us, that you lived the life we couldn't. You died a death we deserved. Three days later you rose from the grave. We thank you that your grace covers a multitude of sins. So, jesus, do work in our hearts.

Speaker 1: 31:32

In the hard places, in the places where we want to give up, I just feel the Holy Spirit saying to some people you're, you want to give up. I don't know what it means, I don't know. I don't know. You want to, to give up, you want to cash in. That's why the Holy Spirit is saying the word of the Lord can still come back to that situation.

Speaker 1: 32:03

Don't doubt in the dark what God spoke to you in the light.

Speaker 1: 32:21

I even just feel like there's someone that you're kind of dealing with.

Speaker 1: 32:25

Guilt or maybe shame. There was a loved one or someone you care about that, I don't know, maybe ran away from God and you feel like man. Maybe I could have done better and I just feel like the Holy Spirit wants to remind you first that he loves you, that he doesn't put shame on you, and I just honestly, guys, I just feel like the Holy Spirit is saying you did your best. So I don't know if that's for someone in here, maybe someone watching online but I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying you did your best and just to release that shame to him. Even right now, I feel like the word of the Lord is saying to someone it's time to start tithing again. You took that back from the Lord and he says no, trust me in this area. So, lord, we just pray for increase of faith and trust and we know that the word of the Lord comes back a second time. We thank you for that. We love you in this place today, in Jesus' name, amen, amen, let's give God some praise in here today.