Summary
Not a Children's Story
Week 2 – Jonah: The Storm, the Fish, and the Grace of God
Main Scripture
- Romans 8:35-39 – Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
- Pastor Jonathan used this passage as the lens for understanding Jonah's story: even in failure, rebellion, and suffering, God's love pursues His people.
Jonah Is More Than a Children's Story
- Pastor Jonathan explained that Jonah is often reduced to "the guy swallowed by a whale."
- The book is actually filled with irony and surprises:
- The prophet is disobedient.
- Pagan sailors become worshipers of God.
- The people everyone expects to reject God are the ones who repent.
- The story intentionally turns expectations upside down.
The Danger of Spiritual Apathy
- Pastor Jonathan compared Jonah's spiritual state to driving home on autopilot and suddenly wondering, "How did I get here?"
- Jonah knew God and had been used by God before, but gradually:
- He stopped listening.
- He became numb.
- He ran from God's calling.
- He fell asleep spiritually.
Key thought:
"You can know all the right things about God and still find yourself asleep spiritually."
Running from God Leads Downward
Pastor Jonathan highlighted the repeated downward movement in Jonah 1:
- Down to Joppa
- Down into the ship
- Down into the inner part of the ship
- Down into sleep
- Down into the sea
- Down into the depths
Key idea:
- Sin and disobedience pull people farther from God's life and purpose.
The Storm Was a Severe Mercy
- Pastor Jonathan explained that God sent the storm not because He hated Jonah, but because He loved him.
- God's purpose was:
- To rescue Jonah from his rebellion.
- To bring mercy to Nineveh.
- To stop evil and injustice.
Key phrase:
"Sometimes God sends what feels harsh because He loves us too much to let us keep running."
Our Choices Affect Other People
- Jonah's rebellion endangered the sailors.
- Pastor Jonathan challenged the congregation:
It matters how you live.
- Your choices affect:
- Your family
- Your children
- Your church
- The people around you
God's Purposes Are Greater Than Our Failures
- Even while Jonah was running from God:
- The sailors came to fear God.
- They offered sacrifices.
- They made vows to worship Him.
Key truth:
"Your disobedience does not limit God's ability to save others."
The Fish Was an Act of Grace
- Pastor Jonathan emphasized that the fish was not primarily punishment.
- It was God's mercy at Jonah's lowest point.
When Jonah had:
- Failed,
- Run away,
- Lost everything,
God provided rescue.
Key phrase:
"Jonah was swallowed up not by judgment, but by grace."
Jonah Points to Jesus
Pastor Jonathan connected Jonah to Jesus in several ways:
- Jonah spent three days in the fish.
- Jesus spent three days in the grave.
- Jonah went to the depths because of his rebellion.
- Jesus willingly went to the depths for our rebellion.
Central Gospel Truth:
"At your lowest point, Jesus has already been there."
Two Invitations
Pastor Jonathan concluded by inviting people to respond in one of two ways:
1. If you have become spiritually apathetic:
- Wake up.
- Return to God.
- Allow Him to renew your heart.
2. If you are in the middle of a storm:
- Turn to Jesus.
- Ask Him to speak peace.
- Trust that no storm can stop His purpose for your life.
Final Encouragement
"No matter where you find yourself—how many times you've failed or how far you've run—Jesus meets you there. You are swallowed up by grace, and He can make all things new."
Transcript
Good morning, it is good to see you. Man, what a good day to be at church.
Maybe raining outside, but it's not raining in here. Hey, I got a couple of things real quick before we get into today's message.
One, how many people here—this is as much curiosity as also part of the point—how many people here last summer, when we did our eight-week formation course, you came to maybe not all eight weeks, but at least some of the spiritual formation courses we did on Wednesday nights? Right? Hands? Yeah. Okay, cool. Awesome.
Well, here's the thing. We did that as a course, and it's kind of like a setup for this idea of spiritual formation, which is a thing we've been doing on and off about how we become better followers of Jesus, how we know Him more intimately, and just through some practices and different things. We've done several different series, but some of you have already been through it, while some of you weren't able to go when we did that course last summer, or maybe you joined the church since then.
We wanted to let you know that if you haven't done the course—which, man, it is really great. It is a great course. You learn so much. It opens your eyes to so many different new opportunities and opportunities for God to speak to you.
If you haven't done it, we are actually going to be doing another round of those. It'll be a little different, but we are hosting eight weeks of the Spiritual Formation Course. It'll be on Wednesday evenings in July and August.
We do have limited spaces because we're hosting it in a different location, but you can register online. There will be childcare for ages four and up.
So if you didn't get a chance to do it, or maybe you only went to one or two sessions and feel like you missed some of them, or you just want to do it again, it's an awesome, awesome time.
I've actually been through the course three or four times at this point, and I get something new and different out of it every single time. I absolutely love it.
So that's going on.
And then I'm going to tease this just so people can have it in their minds and it's not a surprise. At the end of this service, we do this occasionally, we're actually going to collect a second offering—a building offering—because it is that time of year. Your favorite time of year. My favorite time of year.
Air conditioners break.
I know you love it when your air conditioner breaks at home and how excited you get. Well, we have 32 air conditioners here, and sometimes they break.
But I've been told by so many people, "Hey, when something breaks or there's something unusual, let our church family know so we can all figure out how to make it happen."
So at the end of the service, we'll collect an offering. I'll give you a few more details for you HVAC nerds. I know you're out there. You're like, "I love HVAC."
That's also partially why it's maybe 2.7 degrees warmer in here than some of you would like.
And yet still five degrees colder than some of you would like.
But that's the world we live in.
So we're going to do that at the end of the service.
But enough of that. Stand with me.
I want to read today's passage and then get into today's message, which I'm really looking forward to.
We're going to be reading out of Romans chapter 8, verse 35.
It says:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written:
'For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Let's pray.
Father, we thank You so much for today.
Lord, we thank You that nothing can separate us from Your love, and Your goodness is running after us everywhere that we go.
Father, we just give You this time. We give You this moment of the service.
It's in Your holy name we pray.
Amen.
Okay, you can be seated.
So we are in week two of this series that we're doing. The series is titled Not a Children's Story.
And we're taking some time to look through a few different stories that, if you grew up in church and went to Sunday school or kids' church, you probably heard these stories.
Or, if you grew up like me in the '90s and early 2000s, you watched all these stories in VeggieTales—which is great. I love me some VeggieTales.
But within this process, we're taking a look at some stories that maybe have become a little too familiar, or maybe they became too simplistic and we missed some of the point.
So last week we kicked off this series. If you missed it, I encourage you to go back and watch it or listen to it on our podcast.
We're looking at the story of Jonah.
Now the good news, if you missed last week, is that while you missed some setup, we only got through three verses of Jonah.
That's as far as we got.
So if you're like, "Oh man, I wasn't here," we'll catch up very easily.
Because it was only three verses.
How many people—and this is only because I want to judge you... I mean, I'm only curious—how many people read the book of Jonah this last week?
Show of hands.
And don't lie. You're in church.
Good.
Everyone whose hand is up gets two gold stars.
Congratulations.
If your hands weren't up...
That's all I have to say.
That's all I have to say.
It's literally three minutes of reading.
No, I'm just kidding. It's a little more than that, but not much.
Okay, read the book. I don't know, did any of my boys raise their hand?
No lunch for you.
Just kidding. I'll still feed them something.
But listen, go read it. It's a great story. Read it with open eyes. Read it like, "I know you think, 'Oh yeah, Jonah, he gets the whale.'" Read the whole thing. Slow down, read it, and let's get into it.
And that's what we're going to do.
Now here's a couple things that are interesting about this story as we get into it. Just a little bit more setup and background.
When you read through—and listen, I don't read Hebrew. Maybe some of you do. I have studied the Bible for a really long time, and I know different words and stuff, but I like reading people and listening to different perspectives and commentaries from people who do read Hebrew, whether by learning or because they're natural Hebrew readers.
And there's some interesting things that, if you read this text in Hebrew, you would notice that you and I probably miss whenever reading it in English.
They talk about how there are two writing styles, or themes, that are very present when you're reading through the story of Jonah specifically.
The first thing you notice is that it kind of has this satire. There's this idea that there are a lot of themes, ideas, characters, or people groups that are very well known to the audience reading this book and very well known to people around them.
So when they mention Nineveh, or sailors, or a prophet, or some of the other different characters mentioned throughout this book, people already have their own perception of what's going to happen and who they're going to be.
And so there's this kind of satire on what's going to happen.
There are moments of humor or surprise because the story takes turns differently than what we expect.
And then also—and this is maybe kind of weird—but I thought this was a good perspective: some of it's written almost in a way that resembles a comic book.
In the sense that everything is magnified and made huge.
There's this Hebrew word that means "great," or "big," or "huge," and it's used something like fifteen or sixteen times in just these few verses.
Everything is great.
Everything is huge.
The whale is huge.
The storm is huge.
Nineveh is huge.
God is huge.
Everything is magnified and amped up because it's trying to appeal to these different senses and sensibilities.
And so when you read the story, sometimes when we read the Bible—and I don't mean this negatively—we almost come to it too seriously.
Like we think, "Oh, this is serious text, and surely there aren't any jokes or humor or rhymes or puns or satire or play on human character."
And if you do that—which I did for a long time—you're actually incorrect.
There's so much nuance and so many things in the Bible that you're supposed to read and think, "Oh my gosh."
Even moments where someone says something that doesn't line up with their life and actions at all.
It's meant to make us stop and think.
Because as we read Jonah, everything is upside down.
We're introduced to this prophet.
And when we read the Bible, we think, "Okay, prophet equals good guy."
He's the one who speaks on behalf of God.
He represents God.
He knows God.
Then we have sailors who worship foreign gods.
So naturally we think, "Okay, sailors are the bad guys."
And then we know the Assyrians and the Ninevites are evil people.
So we've got good guys and bad guys.
And yet, as we read through the story, the good guy is the one who continually runs and disobeys God.
And the bad guys are the ones who continually repent, offer sacrifices, ask for forgiveness, and turn toward God.
It's completely upside down.
What we expect is not what we get.
And so we're going to read through chapter one.
For those of you who missed the first three verses last week, we're going to start at the beginning.
But before I read it, I want to ask you a question.
Maybe I'm the only one here, and if so, that could be dangerous.
But I think there'll be more of you.
Have you ever had an experience—maybe not this exact one—but something like this?
Maybe you have a commute.
Right now I have a pretty short commute.
But back at my first job, we used to live around 61st and County Line near the high school, and I worked at CityPlex Towers selling hearing aids.
Yes, I was very good at it.
And I'd have to drive there and back.
It wasn't a crazy drive, but it was about thirty minutes.
Mostly highway.
Pretty boring.
Pretty monotonous.
And because I did it every day, there were times I'd get in the car, get on the highway, start thinking about stuff—my day, Star Wars, whatever—and suddenly I'd realize:
"I'm about to get to my exit."
And then I'd have this freak-out moment:
"How did I get here?"
I think I just missed twenty minutes of my life.
Then you start wondering:
Was I awake?
Was I driving?
If someone cut me off, would I have stopped?
Has anyone ever experienced that?
Maybe it's driving.
Maybe it's chores around the house.
You start something and then realize you've been doing it on autopilot.
You're existing.
You're doing the thing.
But it's become so routine that you don't really pay attention anymore.
And even though you're still doing it, you've completely missed the moment.
You've missed the purpose.
And in a commute, that's not a huge deal.
But there are a lot of things in life where, when this happens, it's a very big deal.
And I think this is a great picture of Jonah.
Jonah is a prophet from God.
He grew up fearing God.
We talked last week about how he's mentioned in Second Kings, where he gives a prophecy about God expanding Israel's territory.
And what's interesting is that he gives this prophecy during the reign of one of the worst kings of the northern kingdom—Jeroboam II.
The people are worshiping idols.
They're doing terrible things.
And yet Jonah gives a favorable prophecy to people who don't deserve it.
So Jonah is someone who knows God.
He loves God.
He's experienced God.
But the Jonah we meet in chapter one...
Something has happened.
And we begin to see this process where, although he's still doing the things, he's entered into this place of spiritual apathy.
And it paints a picture of a person who chooses not to follow God.
Which, by definition, is sin.
When God asks you to do something and you don't do it—that's sin.
And we see a man who goes deeper and deeper into himself.
Less aware of his surroundings.
Less aware of God's voice.
Until he eventually becomes completely unconscious and asleep.
Until he eventually becomes completely unconscious and asleep.
Not knowing where he is or what's going on. Completely oblivious to what's happening.
So we're going to kind of read through and go through it.
Jonah chapter 1, verse 1:
"Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying..."
Real quick—in some of your Bibles, the word Lord is in all caps: L-O-R-D.
When you see that, it means the Hebrew word being used is the personal name of God.
Some people call it the unspeakable name of God.
Yahweh.
Sometimes represented as Jehovah.
So anytime your Bible says LORD in all capitals, it's speaking about the name God gave to His people when He introduced Himself to Moses.
So:
"Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah..."
Jonah means dove.
And son of Amittai means son of faithfulness.
Which is kind of funny when you read this story.
Because here's this peaceful dove who's supposed to be the son of faithfulness...
And he doesn't do any of that.
None of that is true of how he behaves.
And it says:
"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me."
Now this is just a little side note for the Bible nerds in the room.
You can read verse two and think it's just a normal statement from God, which it is.
But when it says:
"That great city..."
That's actually a hyperlink back to Genesis.
There's one other place where that phrase is used.
And it's in the table of nations, talking about a man named Nimrod.
Anybody ever heard of Nimrod?
Some of you only know him because of Bugs Bunny.
If you got that joke, you're older than me.
Sorry.
But Nimrod was this mighty hunter.
And what he's most famous for isn't just being a hunter.
He founded two cities.
One was Babylon.
Which, yes, later becomes important when Babylon carries Israel into exile.
But he founded another city too.
Nineveh.
The capital of Assyria.
So Nimrod founded Babylon and Nineveh.
And isn't it interesting that these two cities become the capitals of the two empires that eventually devastate Israel?
So when Jonah hears Nineveh, this isn't just another city.
It's loaded with meaning.
The readers know exactly who these people are.
And it says:
"But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.
So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord."
So real quick, we showed this last week.
Jonah is probably in his hometown of Gath Hepher.
He goes down to Joppa, a port city.
And from there he boards a ship to Tarshish.
As far away as humanly possible from where God told him to go.
God says east.
Jonah goes west.
God says Nineveh.
Jonah says, "What's the opposite of Nineveh?"
It's like if God told you to go to New York and you booked a flight to Hawaii.
He's going as far as he can.
And notice the language.
It says:
He went down to Joppa.
He went down into the ship.
Later he'll go down into the inner part of the ship.
And then he'll go down into the sea.
The story is telling you something.
Jonah is spiraling downward.
Away from God.
Away from obedience.
Away from life.
He paid his fare, so at least he was honest enough to pay.
But then verse 4 says:
"But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up."
In Hebrew, the ship is almost like a living thing.
It's pondering whether it should break apart.
Like it's saying:
"I don't know if I can keep doing this."
God sends this storm.
And verse 5 says:
"Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god.
And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.
But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep."
What's happening?
God gives Jonah a mission.
Jonah says no.
And we know why.
We talked about this last week.
It's not because he's scared.
It's not because the journey is hard.
It's because he hates the Assyrians.
He doesn't believe they deserve God's mercy.
And he knows that if he goes and preaches God's message...
They'll repent.
And God will forgive them.
Because God is gracious.
And Jonah doesn't want that.
So rather than become an ambassador of God's mercy...
He runs.
And runs.
And goes down.
And down.
And down.
Until eventually he's asleep.
Completely checked out.
Completely numb.
And then the storm comes.
Now some people read this and think:
"God is angry."
And yes, God is angry.
But is He angry because Jonah disobeyed?
Or is He angry because evil is destroying people and Jonah is refusing to participate in God's plan to bring mercy and justice?
God wants Nineveh to repent.
He wants evil to stop.
And Jonah is refusing to help.
So because He loves Jonah...
And because He loves Nineveh...
And because He loves the people suffering under Assyria...
God sends a storm.
Not because He hates Jonah.
But because He loves him too much to let him keep running.
It's what some people call a severe mercy.
A mercy that feels harsh.
But it's still mercy.
It's like when your kids are little and you put boundaries around them.
There are consequences.
And they think you're being cruel.
But really it's because you love them so much that you're trying to keep them from something destructive.
Jonah is asleep.
But the sailors know this isn't an ordinary storm.
These are professionals.
They've seen storms before.
And immediately they realize:
This is supernatural.
And so they start doing what polytheists do.
They start praying to every god they can think of.
"This one!"
"No, maybe this one!"
"What about that one?"
Everybody pray.
Cover all our bases.
And when that doesn't work...
They start throwing cargo overboard.
Which means:
The mission is over.
The money is gone.
Everything they worked for is gone.
Because at this point...
Life matters more than profit.
And yet the storm keeps raging.
And Jonah...
Is asleep through all of it.
And here's a question:
Does your disobedience limit God's ability to impact and save other people's lives?
Praise God, no.
Praise God.
One of the pictures I have of Jesus and His goodness comes from all the Westerns I used to watch growing up.
I watched a lot of John Wayne.
And there was always that bounty hunter or marshal with one defining characteristic:
He always gets his man.
That's Jesus.
He always gets His man.
Or His woman.
When He comes after you, nothing can stop Him.
Just like we read earlier:
Neither height nor depth.
Neither death nor life.
Nothing can separate you from His love.
He is coming for you.
And although He often invites people like you and me to participate in His mission...
Even when we fail...
Even when we run...
Even when we're afraid...
God still accomplishes His purpose.
Because look at Jonah.
He's running.
He's disobedient.
He's endangered everyone on the ship.
And yet every person on that ship ends up worshiping the one true God.
Not because of Jonah's obedience.
But in spite of Jonah's disobedience.
Verse 15:
"So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,
and the sea ceased from its raging."
And verse 16 says:
"Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows."
This is a conversion story.
These men who once worshiped many gods...
Now worship one.
They offer sacrifices.
They make vows.
They commit themselves to Yahweh.
And then verse 17 says:
"And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah."
And if the story stopped there...
We'd think:
Wow.
What a miserable ending.
Jonah was going to drown.
And somehow things got even worse.
Now he gets swallowed by a giant fish.
But then it says:
"And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."
And when we see Jonah here...
He's at his absolute lowest point.
Emotionally.
Spiritually.
Physically.
The whole story has been leading us downward.
Down to Joppa.
Down into the ship.
Down into the inner part of the ship.
Down into sleep.
Down into the sea.
And now...
Down into the depths.
The place of chaos.
The place of death.
And just when it seems like things cannot get any lower...
He is swallowed up.
Not by judgment.
But by mercy.
Not by wrath.
But by grace.
God provided something for Jonah...
At his lowest point.
And what we'll see next week is that the man who was asleep...
The man who was numb...
The man who forgot who he was...
Comes alive.
Not on a mountain.
Not in a temple.
Not in a revival service.
But in the belly of the fish.
In the darkest place.
In the place that looked like death.
That's where Jonah comes alive.
He begins to pray.
He begins to worship.
He begins to write poetry.
He begins to remember who God is.
At his lowest point...
He's swallowed up by grace.
And when he comes out on the other side...
Everything is different.
Because every day after the fish...
Is grace.
Every day after the fish...
Is a gift.
It's new life.
And isn't it interesting...
That in Matthew chapter 12,
Jesus says:
"You keep asking for signs.
But no sign will be given to you except the sign of Jonah."
And He says:
"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,
so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
And by the way...
When Jesus talks about Jonah,
He doesn't use the word fish.
He talks about the belly of the beast.
And then He says:
The Son of Man will go there too.
For three days.
And on the third day...
He'll rise again.
Wouldn't you know it...
That Jesus, who lived the perfect and spotless life,
Decided to go to the lowest place.
The deepest sorrow.
The deepest suffering.
The place that you and I deserve because of our rebellion.
The place where all our failures lead.
Jesus says:
"I'll go there."
"At your lowest point...
That's where I will meet you."
And what looks like death...
Will become grace.
What looks like the end...
Will become a beginning.
And the good news on this side of the cross...
Is that no matter where you find yourself...
No matter how many failures...
No matter how many times you've run...
Jesus has already gone to the deepest place.
And He meets you there.
You're swallowed up by grace.
And you come out the other side...
A new man.
A new woman.
A new creation.
The story of Jonah and the fish...
Is not ultimately a story about judgment.
It's a story about mercy.
It's the gospel story.
Told centuries before Jesus ever walked the earth.
Because at the lowest point...
In the waters of chaos...
God rescues.
God saves.
God makes all things new.
Jesus meets you...
Right in the belly of the beast.
And this isn't an excuse to keep sinning.
Paul says:
"Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?
Of course not."
That's missing the point.
But what it does mean...
Is that no matter where you find yourself...
Jesus meets you there.
He finds you there.
You don't have to drown in that sea.
And how interesting...
Jesus already acted this out during His ministry.
He told the disciples:
"Let's go to the other side."
Then He got in the boat...
And He fell asleep.
And a storm came.
But unlike Jonah...
Jesus wasn't asleep because of disobedience.
Jesus was asleep because of perfect obedience to the Father.
Jonah's storm came because he ran from God.
Jesus' storm came because He was doing exactly what God wanted Him to do.
And in the middle of that storm...
The disciples panic.
The waves crash.
The wind roars.
And they cry out:
"Don't You care about us?"
And Jesus wakes up.
And instead of saying,
"Throw Me overboard..."
He stands and says:
"Peace.
Be still."
And immediately...
The storm obeys.
Because what He speaks...
Will happen.
He said:
"We're going to the other side."
So they were going to the other side.
No storm could stop it.
So here's the thing we're going to pray for today as we close.
Two things.
Maybe you're here and you find yourself in one of two places.
Maybe you're here and you're like Jonah in the sense that you're still a believer.
You still believe in God.
But spiritual apathy has taken over.
You've gone through this process where coming to church, reading the Bible, praying—it's all just become routine.
It's become something you do.
You hear the messages.
You know the answers.
If someone asks you theological questions, you can answer them.
"Yeah, I serve Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and the sea."
You know the language.
You know the verses.
You know the references.
And yet...
You know in your heart of hearts...
That you've allowed all of it to become stale.
And you've found yourself asleep.
And maybe today you're looking around and asking:
"How did I get here?"
How did I get here?
And you need His grace and mercy to meet you today.
That's here for you today.
We're going to pray.
But maybe you're in the second category.
Maybe you're not apathetic.
Maybe you actually are following God.
God has spoken something to you.
You've stepped out in faith.
You're doing what He's asked you to do.
You're believing.
And yet...
In the middle of your obedience...
A storm has blown up around you.
And you're sitting there thinking:
"I don't know if I can survive this."
And what you need today is to turn to Jesus.
The Creator of your soul.
The One who already went through the storm on your behalf.
And say:
"Jesus, would You speak peace to this?"
Can You speak peace to this storm?
And maybe even if the storm doesn't stop immediately...
Can You speak peace to my heart?
And I believe He has that for you today too.
Here's what I want to do.
If you find yourself in either category...
Maybe some kind of apathy.
Asleep in the bottom of the boat.
Or maybe standing and fighting, but desperately needing God to show up.
I want you to stand right where you're at.
Anywhere in this room.
Just stand up.
Be brave.
Because these are the moments where we invite the Holy Spirit to move.
And you say:
"Why do I have to stand?"
You don't have to.
You get to.
Because sometimes we need to tell our physical selves...
That we believe spiritual truths.
Sometimes we need to respond physically and say:
"You know what?
I'm going to stand.
I'm going to invite God to move in my life.
To speak.
To renew.
To refresh.
To bring peace.
Whatever it is...
I'm going to invite Him to do it."
But here's the good news.
Even if you're asleep in the boat...
God will find you.
And He'll wrap you up in grace.
And even if He has to swallow you with a fish...
He loves you that much.
To meet you right where you are.
Let's pray this morning.
Father God,
You're so good.
Great is Your faithfulness.
Your mercies are new every morning.
Your loyal love for us knows no end.
Lord, for the brothers and sisters who are standing today because they've entered into this place where things have become too routine, too apathetic, or they've found themselves asleep in the middle of their lives...
Father God, even now Your Spirit is breathing on them and waking them.
Renewing them.
Restoring them.
I pray for a fresh wind.
A restoration.
That wherever they find themselves, they would begin to come alive in You again.
Because they don't have to do all the work.
They simply surrender.
And allow You to do the work on their behalf.
And Father God, for those who are here and are experiencing the storm that comes with following You...
I pray that they would turn to Jesus.
The One whom even the winds obey.
And find peace that comes from His words.
Lord, we love You so much.
Thank You that Your Spirit is moving in this place.
In Jesus' holy name we pray.
Amen.
Amen.
All right, you can be seated real quick.
Real quick.
Last thing—and I know it's a bit of an abrupt transition—but before we dismiss, we are going to collect that second offering.
Just to keep you in the loop.
Next week we'll continue this series.
We're actually going to talk about Jonah in the belly of the fish.
It's going to be really good.
There's some amazing poetry in chapter two.
You don't want to miss it.
But here's what I wanted to let you know.
We had a couple air conditioners—including one of the big compressors that powers this room—stop working.
And here's the thing about big rooms and big equipment.
It's really cool...
Until it breaks.
And then it has a really big price tag.
So the HVAC company came out and said:
"One of your compressors exploded."
And I said:
"Cool.
I love that."
And they said:
"No big deal.
We can replace it."
And I said:
"Excellent."
And then they said:
"It'll be $10,000."
And I said:
"Neat.
That's so neat."
And then because air conditioners are apparently friends and they talk to each other...
A couple of the others decided to stop working too.
Like:
"You're not working?
I'm not working."
It's a real union over there.
So here's our hope.
Praise God, we already have money in savings.
Praise God, the repairs are already underway.
Parts are being ordered.
Things are happening.
God is faithful.
And you guys are always generous.
But our goal is to raise around $15,000 to cover these repairs that came up this week.
So if you'd like to participate, everything that comes in this offering will go directly toward those repairs.
If you'd rather give online, you can do that as well and designate it toward the building fund.
Thank you again.
I love partnering with you all.
I love seeing what God is doing.
He is doing incredible things in this church.
And being part of it is absolutely wonderful.
Father, we thank You for today.
We thank You for Your goodness.
We thank You for this facility.
Lord, when things are working, we thank You.
And when things are broken, we still thank You because You are faithful.
We thank You for Your provision.
We thank You for Your goodness.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen and amen.
Go ahead and pass those buckets.
And just a few reminders:
Don't forget, if you want to join the Spiritual Formation Course, register early because I do think the spots will fill up.
That starts in July on Wednesday evenings.
Ladies, don't forget about Daughters.
There's the craft day coming up.
Lots of things are happening.
And most importantly...
Father's Day is coming.
You need to get something for Father's Day.
And lastly, Tuesday is the Oklahoma primary election.
I don't usually tell people who to vote for or what to vote for.
But I will tell you this:
Vote.
Take some time beforehand and read through the ballot.
There are a lot of races.
Don't wait until the last minute.
Make informed decisions.
Because while our ultimate citizenship is in heaven...
We still live here.
And I want to be a good Oklahoma citizen and do what's best for our state, our city, and our community.
So take some time.
Read through it.
Pray through it.
And participate.
All right.
I love you guys.
You are blessed.
You are dismissed.
And we will see you next Sunday.
Have a great rest of your day.
