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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

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Speaker 1: Church and.

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Speaker 2: This is our podcast.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

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Speaker 2: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope

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Speaker 2: it gives you.

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Speaker 1: Perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy

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Speaker 1: the message today.

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Speaker 2: I want to preach about Jonah. Are you excited about

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Speaker 2: the Word of God? Praise the Lord.

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Speaker 1: I am to Jonah chapter four, verses five through eleven

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Speaker 1: where I want to pick up today.

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Speaker 2: God help me do this the right way.

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Speaker 1: It says in Jonah chapter four, verse five, that Jonah

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Speaker 1: had gone out and sat down in at a place

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Speaker 1: east of the city, and there he made himself a shelter,

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Speaker 1: sat in its shade, and waited to see what would

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Speaker 1: happen to the city. So he is in a passive position.

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Speaker 1: He is not in a proactive position. He is waiting

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Speaker 1: to see what would happen. And I guess we could

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Speaker 1: just say off of that one verse that that is

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Speaker 1: one way to live your life, to wait to see

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Speaker 1: what's going to happen, or somebody say, or you can

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Speaker 1: make it happen. Touch somebody and say you might as well.

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Speaker 2: Make something happen.

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Speaker 1: Then the Lord provided a leafy plant and made it

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Speaker 1: grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head

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Speaker 1: to ease his discomfort. And Jonah was super happy about

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Speaker 1: the plant. But at dawn the next day, God provided

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Speaker 1: a worm which chewed the plant so that it withered.

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Speaker 1: When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind,

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Speaker 1: and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he

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Speaker 1: grew faint, and he wanted to die, and he said

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Speaker 1: it would be better for me to die than to live.

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Speaker 2: But God said to Jonah, is it right for.

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Speaker 1: You to be angry about the plant?

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Speaker 2: How many of you get upset about stupid stuff sometimes?

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Speaker 1: And Jonah said it is and I'm so angry the

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Speaker 1: wis our dead. But the Lord said, you have been

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Speaker 1: concerned about this plant, though you didn't.

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Speaker 2: Tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight

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Speaker 2: and died overnight.

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Speaker 1: Some of the stuff you're worried about is temporary, and

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Speaker 1: it'll be over before you can even get good and

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Speaker 1: mad about it. And should I not have concern for

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Speaker 1: the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more

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Speaker 1: than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell

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Speaker 1: their right hand from their left, and also many animals.

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Speaker 1: With that antichlomactic conclusion, the Book of Jonah is over.

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Speaker 1: But I just want to ask one question of this

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Speaker 1: text today is also the title of my sermon. I

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Speaker 1: want to ask the question, what about the worm?

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Speaker 2: Amen? What about the worm? You may be seated.

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Speaker 1: One of my friends went through something so horrific a

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Speaker 1: couple of years ago when he lost his daughter. She

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Speaker 1: was five years old. My daughter Abby is currently five.

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Speaker 1: So while it is impossible for me to understand his pain,

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Speaker 1: I have some frame of reference. And when he lost

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Speaker 1: his daughter, the knight that I called him, I was

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Speaker 1: telling him how God was somehow.

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Speaker 2: Going to get him through it, and all of these words.

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Speaker 1: You've struggle to find a way to say something that

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Speaker 1: hopefully has some meaning to somebody at a time like that,

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Speaker 1: and fumbling around to try to find some words to

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Speaker 1: comfort my friend.

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Speaker 2: I told him he was a hero in our generation.

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Speaker 2: God would use him.

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Speaker 1: In a great way because he is an exemplar of faith.

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Speaker 2: That's all I could think of to tell him at

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Speaker 2: the time.

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Speaker 1: One of the things that I told him later, because

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Speaker 1: we had many conversations and he taught me much more

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Speaker 1: than I taught him. But with one particular conversation we

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Speaker 1: were talking about how eventually he would tell his story.

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Speaker 1: But one thing we agreed upon, and I said it

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Speaker 1: to him and it resonated, is make sure you don't

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Speaker 1: tell the story too soon, because if you tell the

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Speaker 1: story too soon, you won't even know what the story

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Speaker 1: is about. And my friend, he pastors a great church

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Speaker 1: in Montana. He has a church of thousands in Montana,

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Speaker 1: which I didn't even know. Thousands in Montana went in

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Speaker 1: the same sentence. But God's used him. He wrote a book.

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Speaker 1: He's been here to preach, and his book is all

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Speaker 1: about the pain that he experienced.

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Speaker 2: And the purpose of the pain.

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Speaker 1: But if you tell your story too soon, sometimes you

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Speaker 1: will only see the pain, you won't see the purpose.

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Speaker 1: Then you won't have the perseverance that is needed to

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Speaker 1: accomplish the purpose of God. Now we come to Jonah,

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Speaker 1: and it is impossible to do Jonah justice in one

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Speaker 1: little sermon, this legendary loser of the Bible.

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Speaker 2: Boy, we're really hard on Jonah, aren't we. This guy

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Speaker 2: ran from God. You would too.

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Speaker 1: He had to go to a people that were well

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Speaker 1: we could call them in modern day terminology terrorists to

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Speaker 1: the capital city of Assyria, to a barbaric people and

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Speaker 1: preach a message of the potential of repentance. Now, when

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Speaker 1: you preach about Jonah, usually you're going to hear something

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Speaker 1: about how he ran from God. The Bible says that,

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Speaker 1: I believe it's in verse three. I didn't look it

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Speaker 1: up this morning, but I believe this in verse three.

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Speaker 1: Is it verse three where it said that Jonah ran

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Speaker 1: away from the Lord. So when you're preaching to people,

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Speaker 1: you're always preaching to somebody who is running somewhere. I

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Speaker 1: realized that everybody in this room is running from something

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Speaker 1: to something.

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Speaker 2: Running from the Lord is how they put it.

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Speaker 1: I just want to suggest I want you to do

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Speaker 1: don't want you to leave the church when I say this.

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Speaker 1: But Jonah probably didn't see it at the time, like

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Speaker 1: he was running from God.

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Speaker 2: Do you know what I'm saying. It's not like how

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Speaker 2: many of you.

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Speaker 1: Have ever run from God's purpose for your life before,

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Speaker 1: even if you just did it for fifteen seconds. I

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Speaker 1: know you're really holy, but how many of you have

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Speaker 1: had a season where you knew God wanted to do something,

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Speaker 1: you don't want to do it, and you kind of

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Speaker 1: did everything possible to do it, not do it, and

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Speaker 1: sometimes it just be easier to do it.

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Speaker 2: Like in the story of Jonah, he goes to a

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Speaker 2: port called.

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Speaker 1: Joppa and he finds a ship, and the Lord.

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Speaker 2: Told him to go to Nineveh. Well, Jonah decides to

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Speaker 2: go to a place called Tarsis.

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Speaker 1: Here's what interested me in studying the math of Jonah's journey.

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Speaker 1: When I looked and traced where he went, I found

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Speaker 1: out where God told him to go was only five

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Speaker 1: hundred miles away from where he was.

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Speaker 2: Where he went to get away.

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Speaker 1: From where God told him to go was twenty five

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Speaker 1: hundred miles from where he was. You know, sometimes you

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Speaker 1: gotta work harder to disobey God than it would be

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Speaker 1: to just do what he told you to do in

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Speaker 1: the first place.

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Speaker 2: No, I'm serious. I wish some of us.

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Speaker 1: Would apply as much creativity to obeying God as we

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Speaker 1: do to disobeying him. Some of you are really creative sinners.

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Speaker 1: You got alibis and allies. You got two phones to

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Speaker 1: help you sin.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna come to this side. I think I wore

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Speaker 2: them out already in as early in the sermon.

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Speaker 1: But sometimes it would just be easier to forgive than

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Speaker 1: to hold on to the grind. Why is it that

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Speaker 1: we would rather run twenty five hundred miles away from

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Speaker 1: God than five hundred miles to our assignment? It's I

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Speaker 1: think it's I think it's because when we're in our

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Speaker 1: story it's not as simple. And I've been preaching this

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Speaker 1: all year. I hope you're not getting tired of hearing it.

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Speaker 1: But I've been understanding the blessing of perspective, and the

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Speaker 1: usually perspective only comes with reflection.

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Speaker 2: That is, the Bible was not live tweeted. Do you

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Speaker 2: understand this that.

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Speaker 1: The Book of Jonah was not written while Jonah was running.

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Speaker 2: It wasn't written.

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Speaker 1: If Jonah had written this when he was running, he

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Speaker 1: would have said, I'm being logical, I'm being practical. That's

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Speaker 1: how he would have said it had he written it

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Speaker 1: while he was on the run. Touch somebody and say,

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Speaker 1: don't tell your story too soon, because it is only

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Speaker 1: after Jonah has done the will of God and experienced

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Speaker 1: a lot of different things and seeing the results of

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Speaker 1: his rebellion as well as experiencing the transformative power of

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Speaker 1: repentance after his resentment, that he is able to say,

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Speaker 1: I was running from God. I wouldn't have known I

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Speaker 1: was running from God until that storm hit. See, because

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Speaker 1: we always want to blame every storm that we face

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Speaker 1: in our life on the devil, especially however long you've

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Speaker 1: been in church. Usually you end up talking about the

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Speaker 1: devil more after being in church twenty years than you

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Speaker 1: talk about God, because everything is the devil. That's one

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Speaker 1: advantage that people who don't go to church have over

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Speaker 1: us and getting their lives together. They don't have a

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Speaker 1: devil to blame. We just put everything on him. We

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Speaker 1: don't have to deal with ourselves. I am preaching, Lord,

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Speaker 1: you hear me. So Jonah, the Bible says, can I

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Speaker 1: preach about Jonah?

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Speaker 2: Can I preach about Jonah?

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Speaker 1: The Bible says that Jonah went to Joppa and he

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Speaker 1: got on a ship, and he he paid the fare

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Speaker 1: because somebody said, when you run from God, it'll always

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Speaker 1: cost you something.

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Speaker 2: I'm not preaching about that today, but I could. And

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Speaker 2: then the.

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Speaker 1: Bible says that he went down from Joppa down to Tarshish,

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Speaker 1: and somebody said, when you run from God, you'll always

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Speaker 1: go down.

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Speaker 2: But when he got about I don't know.

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Speaker 1: Let's say, let's say he got about halfway there, and

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Speaker 1: it seemed like he was working.

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Speaker 2: He was asleep under the debt.

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Speaker 1: He was sleeping while the storm was happening because God

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Speaker 1: sent this storm, because God will allow things to come

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Speaker 1: into your life to get your attention, because He's not

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Speaker 1: going to allow you to be content in your complacency.

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Speaker 2: All of a sudden, the sailors realized that the.

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Speaker 1: Reason that they were experiencing the storm was not because

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Speaker 1: of something they had done, but something that this prophet,

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Speaker 1: this rebellious prophet, and he was asleep under the deck.

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Speaker 1: And when they woke Jonah up and said, call on

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Speaker 1: your God, he said, well, I can call on him,

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Speaker 1: but it won't do any good because if I pray

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Speaker 1: while I'm headed in the wrong direction, my prayer is

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Speaker 1: just a pretense. So what you've got to do is

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Speaker 1: throw me off the boat and the storm will stop.

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Speaker 1: And so I have thought about that, one thought that

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Speaker 1: some of you are going through a storm not because

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Speaker 1: of something that you did, but because of who you.

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Speaker 2: Have on your boat.

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Speaker 1: In fact, I preached it, I appreciated at a youth

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Speaker 1: convention one time, at a Pentecostal youth convention one time,

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Speaker 1: and my message was called throw Jonah off your boat,

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Speaker 1: and I was preaching it to girls who are dating

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Speaker 1: guys that are dragging them down, and so I would

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Speaker 1: encourage some of you.

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Speaker 2: Maybe you don't have Jonah on your boat.

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Speaker 1: But maybe he's in your phone, and I think some

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Speaker 1: of you. The most spiritual thing you could do while I'm.

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Speaker 2: Preaching, and I don't eve in mind.

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Speaker 1: If you do it, you don't even have to listen

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Speaker 1: to me, is use that swipe feature on your phone.

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Speaker 1: And you know that red one that says delete. Some

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Speaker 1: of y'all got Jonah in your phone. You've been texting Jonah,

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Speaker 1: talking to Jonah and wondering why your life's going down,

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Speaker 1: But today is your day touch somebody say delete. So

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Speaker 1: when you preach about Jonah, can you tell I like

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Speaker 1: to preach about Jonah because.

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Speaker 2: I see myself in Jonah.

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Speaker 1: I've seen myself rebelling against something God has called me

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Speaker 1: to do. I've seen myself go twenty five hundred miles

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Speaker 1: before I realize.

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Speaker 2: This is ridiculous. There's no way that.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be able to run from the presence

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Speaker 1: of God. Where can I go from your presence? If

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Speaker 1: I send the heavens, You're there. If I make my

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Speaker 1: bed in the depths. You were there, so I know

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Speaker 1: what it's like to run, and then find out after

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Speaker 1: you run you can only run so far, for you

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Speaker 1: hit a roadblock, And.

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Speaker 2: So I know it's like to run.

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Speaker 1: And I know it's like the having some relationships that

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Speaker 1: probably I don't need anymore, And all of that is

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Speaker 1: good as well as preaching on the object of racial reconciliation.

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Speaker 1: It is interesting to note that Jonah was effective a

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Speaker 1: ministering to people that he didn't even like, for when

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Speaker 1: he finally did open up his mouth and preach to

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Speaker 1: the Assyrian people in the capital of Nineveh, there was

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Speaker 1: great repentance in the land. I don't think that the

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Speaker 1: Book of Jonah's about racism, but I think it does

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Speaker 1: apply because we see here a guy on the outside

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Speaker 1: judging what it's like to be people on the inside,

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Speaker 1: and from his own perspective inside of himself.

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Speaker 2: He comes to all kinds of conclusions.

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Speaker 1: About what kind of people God can bless, and what

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Speaker 1: kind of people God can't bless, and what kind of

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Speaker 1: situations God can work in, and what kind of situations

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Speaker 1: God can't work in. Jonah finds out in the midst

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Speaker 1: of that that to the ends of the earth, the

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Speaker 1: compassion of God will reach to anyone who will call

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Speaker 1: on the name of the Lord. And so we see

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Speaker 1: that picture of reconciliation in the Book of Jonah. But

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Speaker 1: mostly what we know about Jonah is that he spent

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Speaker 1: three days in the belly of what the Bible calls

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Speaker 1: a great fish, which we usually call the whale.

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Speaker 2: Let's get a look at the whale.

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Speaker 1: Right about the time that the storm started raging in

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Speaker 1: Jonah's life, God sends.

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Speaker 2: A whale to pick him up.

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Speaker 1: And I don't know, because I am not privy to

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Speaker 1: the communication.

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Speaker 2: That took place between the whale and God. How God

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Speaker 2: got the whale in the right.

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Speaker 1: Position at the right time to know that this is

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Speaker 1: where Jonah's going to be when he's about to drown.

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Speaker 2: That the whale, I don't know how God spoke to

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Speaker 2: the whale to go get Jonah. If it's anything like

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Speaker 2: finding Dory, God used echo location and maybe God said

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Speaker 2: to the.

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Speaker 1: Whale, come on, people, come on that section right there,

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Speaker 1: no love, Come on.

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Speaker 2: Did you see the movie? You know certain types of

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Speaker 2: whales they admit a south. So God said to the whale,

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Speaker 2: good June, and the whale said to God, Oo.

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Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting how the whale had better sense to

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Speaker 1: do what God said than Jonah did. And the whale

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Speaker 1: swallowed Jonah up and delivered him. So the Book of

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Speaker 1: Jonah is a book about rescue.

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Speaker 2: Now I need to know i'm preaching to because there's

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Speaker 2: a chance I've got the right sermon, but I'm preaching

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Speaker 2: it to the wrong people. Has there been a time

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Speaker 2: in your life.

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Speaker 1: I'm just asking where God rescued you.

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Speaker 2: From a situation that your own obedience created.

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Speaker 1: Anybody, anybody, anybody?

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Speaker 2: Has God ever sent a.

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Speaker 1: Whale to pick you up? Now, it's an important thing

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Speaker 1: to note that God saved Jonah, but the accommodations weren't

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Speaker 1: that luxurious.

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Speaker 2: Could have sent a cruise ship.

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Speaker 1: Royal Caribbean, he could have sent a he could have

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Speaker 1: sent a freight liner.

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Speaker 2: But instead he put him in a deep, dark place.

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Speaker 1: See, because if God rescues from your trouble and makes

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Speaker 1: it too comfortable, you'll be quick to get back into it.

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Speaker 1: So God said, I need to put you in a

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Speaker 1: dark place for a minute so you'll remember what disobedience

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Speaker 1: feels like. What I've noticed, though, is that sometimes we

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Speaker 1: miss God's provision because we're so picky, we don't like

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Speaker 1: what God's says to pick us up with, and we

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Speaker 1: would rather drown by ourselves. One time, in the first

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Speaker 1: year of our marriage, I.

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Speaker 2: Got really got really sick. It wasn't serious.

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Speaker 1: It turned out not to be serious, but it felt

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Speaker 1: serious at the time because I couldn't eat. Every time

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Speaker 1: I would eat, it would just burn all down in

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Speaker 1: my insides, even when I would drink water.

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Speaker 2: And so this went on for like seven days.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know what the problem was at the time,

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Speaker 1: and I was really enjoying putting on fifty pounds in

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Speaker 1: my first year of marriage, and this interrupted my plan.

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Speaker 2: That really is true.

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Speaker 1: I put on fifty pounds in the first I think

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Speaker 1: it was eighteen months of our marriage, because Holly is

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Speaker 1: a fantastic cook and she is also a temptress.

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Speaker 2: But man, what happened, and I didn't know at the time.

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Speaker 1: I took this pill, this antibiotic that went down and

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Speaker 1: got stuck in my esophagus, and then it burned into

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Speaker 1: my esophagus. So then every time I would try to

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Speaker 1: eat drink water, I couldn't. I couldn't do it, and

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Speaker 1: so it got real bad. And at the time, I

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Speaker 1: traveled and preached all the time, and I was always driving,

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Speaker 1: you know, up and down the road. It's usually usually

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Speaker 1: just driving more than flying. And so I was going

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Speaker 1: from one place.

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Speaker 2: To the other.

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Speaker 1: It had been about a week that I had been

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Speaker 1: hurting and I didn't know what was wrong. I went

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Speaker 1: to see this doctor and kind of said some things,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't know what's going on. And so I'm

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Speaker 1: driving to my next speaking engagement, right and I'm calling

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Speaker 1: Holly and I bust out my razor phone that's on,

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Speaker 1: and I'm like, man, it sucks. I can't I'm still hers.

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Speaker 1: HER's worse and worse and worse. And she goes, you

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Speaker 1: are going to the hospital. You need to drive yourself

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Speaker 1: to the hospital. I said, I got preach engagement. She said,

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Speaker 1: you're going to cancel. They can find another preacher. Something's

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Speaker 1: really wrong with you. You need to go to the hospital.

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Speaker 1: You goanna go to the hospital. You're gonna call him

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Speaker 1: and cancel. And I never called him by cancel before.

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Speaker 1: I don't think i've done it since. And so I was.

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Speaker 1: I didn't want to do it, but I did it,

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Speaker 1: and I stared during the hospital. I'm drying the hospital,

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Speaker 1: and I remember I've got a couple of hours still

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Speaker 1: left to go. Because I'm out of town, I'm driving

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Speaker 1: this other town, and so I drive by this hitchhiker

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Speaker 1: and decided to pick him up, because that's what you

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Speaker 1: do when you're driving yourself to the hospital, you pitch

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Speaker 1: up hitchhikers when you are a Christian like me. I

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Speaker 1: don't even know why I picked him up. It was

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Speaker 1: a season in my life when I picked up hitchhikers.

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Speaker 1: I don't do it anymore. But this guy gets in

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Speaker 1: my car and I don't really feel like talking because

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Speaker 1: I'm driving myself to the hospital because I have a

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Speaker 1: hole of my esophagus, says burning my life away. This

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Speaker 1: guy's all talkative, I'll chatty and everything. And so we'd

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Speaker 1: ride together a couple of minutes and a long gas

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Speaker 1: and I pull into the gas station and I'm feeling

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Speaker 1: like cheerful, not a cheerful giver. But I decide to

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Speaker 1: you probably want something to eat, So I said, hey, man,

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Speaker 1: I said, I'm gonna pump the gas. You go in

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Speaker 1: the gas station, get yourself something to eat, whatever you

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Speaker 1: want to come in and pay for it afterwards. He goes, well, actually,

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Speaker 1: I see a McDonald's over there, and it wasn't like

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Speaker 1: one of the McDonald's that was right there in the

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Speaker 1: gas station.

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Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to go now. I threw the drive

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Speaker 2: through and go to McDonald's.

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Speaker 1: But I said, all right, you know, Jesus said go

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Speaker 1: the extra mile and all that. So I'm like, all right, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna pump the gas.

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Speaker 2: We'll go to McDonald's.

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Speaker 1: We're going through the drive through at McDonald's and I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna order whatever, you know, because I can't eat anything.

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Speaker 1: And so here I am ordering food for a guy.

385
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Speaker 1: He's sitting there. I'n have to smell this food in

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Speaker 1: my car, and this delicious McDonald's food.

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Speaker 2: That's right. I'm not too good for McDonald's.

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Speaker 1: I said, it was delicious, not that health conscious freak.

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Speaker 1: And so I'm going to order and he interrupts my

390
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Speaker 1: order and he's like, no, I want a quarter pounder.

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Speaker 2: Hold the mayo, hold the onions.

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Speaker 1: I said, all right, he wants a quarter pound Let

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Speaker 1: me get a quarter pounder. Hold the mayo, hold the onions,

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Speaker 1: he said. And some chicken selects now, listen, this was

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Speaker 1: not some skinny hitchhiker. He didn't look like he needed

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Speaker 1: a me that badge, So my compassion is running out quickly.

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Speaker 1: I said, all right, he wants a quarter pounder, hold

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Speaker 1: the mail, hold the onions, and.

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Speaker 2: Some chicken selects, he said, and.

400
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Speaker 1: Some fries, I said, and some fries please, he said,

401
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Speaker 1: in uh biggie size. And I'm thinking I'm not saying

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Speaker 1: this because remember I'm a good Christian, I'm a man

403
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Speaker 1: of God. I'm thinking, man, you should be grateful to

404
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:34,800
Speaker 1: get a ride.

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Speaker 2: Now you want to hold the mail, hold the onions.

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Speaker 1: You got to me spending seventy five dollars in the

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Speaker 1: drive through at McDonald's and I can't even eat. Then

408
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 1: he took it way too far. He said, Can I cann'

409
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Speaker 1: make flurry? I said, no, He'll have a water, and

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Speaker 1: I got I got.

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Speaker 2: Him a water.

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Speaker 1: Isn't an interesting how he can go from I just

413
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Speaker 1: need a ride to an I.

414
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 2: Needs some chickens.

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Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting how you can go from God if

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Speaker 1: you'll have mercy on me a sinner? Inn't it interesting

417
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Speaker 1: how you can go from God if you'll get me

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Speaker 1: out of this situation God, if you'll.

419
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Speaker 2: Just be with me?

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Speaker 1: But then Over time, something happens along the journey and

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00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:17,200
Speaker 1: you start thinking, you know, I don't like the way

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Speaker 1: it smells inside of this whale.

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Speaker 2: Isn't an interesting how when.

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Speaker 1: You started serving God, you didn't need people to notice you.

425
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:26,879
Speaker 1: You were just glad to be known by God. But

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Speaker 1: over time you start getting real picky. I came to

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Speaker 1: tell you today that if you'll get grateful, see this

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Speaker 1: is what Jolah did. He's in the belly of the fish,

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Speaker 1: and the Bible says that Jonah chapter two, for several verses,

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Speaker 1: he's complaining, he's blaming, he's talking about seaweed around his head,

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Speaker 1: he's talking about the billows that raged over him. He's

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Speaker 1: describing in detail his distress.

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Speaker 2: But watch chapter two, verse nine.

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Speaker 1: I love it because the Bible says that when Jonah

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Speaker 1: made this shift, everybody say shift, he said, by eye.

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Speaker 2: With shouts of grateful.

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Speaker 1: Praise, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed.

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Speaker 2: I will make good.

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00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:19,440
Speaker 1: I will say salvation comes from the Lord. And I

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Speaker 1: don't think it's any coincidence that in the very next verse,

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Speaker 1: after Jonah got grateful even in a hard situation, when

442
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 1: Jonah got grateful even in the belly of a fish.

443
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:37,239
Speaker 1: When Jonah got grateful, he got out. I came to

444
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:41,560
Speaker 1: make an announcement. When you get grateful, when you open

445
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:47,160
Speaker 1: your mouth, clap your hands, shift your mindset, lift your eyes,

446
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:55,160
Speaker 1: and give God praise. Come I touch somebody, say I'm

447
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,679
Speaker 1: coming out with a shout. I'm coming out with a shout.

448
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 1: You didn't touch your neighbor. Maybe you don't like to shout.

449
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 2: Maybe it's like but that none might think the none

450
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:05,679
Speaker 2: of ten.

451
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: No, No, it's not your personality type.

452
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 2: Until you get excited about something.

453
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 1: I found out that gratitude is the gateway.

454
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:29,040
Speaker 2: Into the provision of God. Look is that interesting? Let's

455
00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 2: just study this for a moment.

456
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 1: Interesting that the Bible says in Jonah one verse seventeen

457
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 1: that the Lord provided.

458
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,120
Speaker 2: A fish.

459
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 1: Do you think Jonah saw it that way when he

460
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 1: was being swallowed? Probably not, Thank you Lord for this provision.

461
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 1: Didn't feel like provision at the time. At the time,

462
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 1: being in the belly of the fish is a problem.

463
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 1: So sometimes it takes time before you can see the

464
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:23,160
Speaker 1: problem as the provision. And this is where I want

465
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:26,680
Speaker 1: to spend a moment with you today because it unlocks

466
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:32,639
Speaker 1: something for me. Upon reflection, when I saw that in

467
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,640
Speaker 1: the Book of Jonah, which is four chapters long, there's

468
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: a Hebrew word that is used four times to describe

469
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 1: four different events in Jonah's life, and the word is mena.

470
00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 2: Hebrew word is mena. Translated into English, it.

471
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 1: Means to appoint, to prepare, or more accurately, as the

472
00:25:54,840 --> 00:26:00,680
Speaker 1: NIV renders it, to provide. If there there is one

473
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 1: thing that I have learned about God in walking with

474
00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 1: him and pastoring a church, it is that He can

475
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,160
Speaker 1: be trusted to meet my needs.

476
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:15,440
Speaker 2: I wonder have you learned that in your life yet?

477
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,120
Speaker 1: If you have, I want you to just say out

478
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:21,199
Speaker 1: loud right now where the devil and everybody in your

479
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:23,679
Speaker 1: seating section can hear you. Come on, Ashton, say it

480
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:28,879
Speaker 1: out loud. The Lord is my provider. You said that

481
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:32,600
Speaker 1: like you believe it. You said that, like you've had

482
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 1: some moments in your life where the money was low.

483
00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: You said that, like you've had some moments in your

484
00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 1: life where you saw no way to stay afloat, and

485
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,640
Speaker 1: so God sent something in your life.

486
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 2: To swallow you up. The Bible says.

487
00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 1: That God provided a fish to swallow Jonah Menah mana mana.

488
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:00,920
Speaker 2: You might have heard me about manna before.

489
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,000
Speaker 1: That's the stuff in the Old Testament that when the

490
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:09,200
Speaker 1: children of God were wandering in the wilderness because rather

491
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 1: than go straight into the Promised Land, they wanted to

492
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,679
Speaker 1: go twenty five hundred miles around and around and around

493
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 1: and around in circles. But God said, I'm gonna feed

494
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 1: you even though you're frustrating me. And he ranged down

495
00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,200
Speaker 1: this stuff from heaven, and they called it mana.

496
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:25,919
Speaker 2: That's what they called it. They were calling it that

497
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:27,359
Speaker 2: because of this Hebrew.

498
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,919
Speaker 1: Word mana spell a little differently, but that's where they

499
00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: got it from. It was God's provision. So do you

500
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 1: know what they did when God sent the provision? They

501
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:44,600
Speaker 1: complained because they didn't want mana. They wanted to meet.

502
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:51,680
Speaker 1: God's provision does not always come wrapped in your preferences.

503
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 2: I'm gonna preach this today no matter.

504
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 1: Who says, am, I feel like I'm on something God.

505
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 2: This provision in your life doesn't always come. Biggie's eye

506
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 2: doesn't always come. Hold the onions, hold the mayo.

507
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 1: And they complained about the mana, and Jonah complained about

508
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 1: the fish. At the time, it was only after the

509
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 1: story was over most scholars believe that the Book of

510
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,399
Speaker 1: Jonah was not written by Jonah himself, but it was

511
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,879
Speaker 1: written based on the report that he gave after he

512
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: got back from doing what he didn't want to do.

513
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: So it could have been months later, could have been

514
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 1: years later. That Jonah is talking about his experience and

515
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: he calls it mana. At the time, it seemed like misery,

516
00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 1: but later I saw it ass mana. Only through the

517
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: perspective of reflection can I see that today's misery might

518
00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 1: be tomorrow's manna, So that I look back.

519
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,160
Speaker 2: Over my life. Come on, is this good? Is this

520
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 2: all right?

521
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 1: And he says, the Lord provided a fish a whale,

522
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: and then check this out. Jonah goes into Ninevah. He preaches,

523
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 1: forty more days in Ninevah will be destroyed.

524
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 2: God gives the.

525
00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 1: Assyrians a second chance, and Jonah doesn't like that he

526
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 1: gave the Assyrians a second chance.

527
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 2: He liked it when God gave him a second chance.

528
00:29:30,520 --> 00:29:33,800
Speaker 1: Sometimes we want God to give us provision and give

529
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 1: other people punishment.

530
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:38,000
Speaker 2: But how many know if God gave you a.

531
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: Second chance, you're not too good to extend grace to

532
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 1: others either.

533
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 2: Jonah doesn't like it, though.

534
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: He doesn't like the package that God's provision comes in,

535
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: so he preaches, and he preaches with effectiveness to all

536
00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 1: people doesn't even like.

537
00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:57,760
Speaker 2: And God does something he.

538
00:29:57,760 --> 00:29:59,959
Speaker 1: Didn't expect him to do, and the Bible says that

539
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 1: this did not seem right to Jonah. Do you know

540
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 1: that That's where a lot of our misery comes from,

541
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,000
Speaker 1: is that we have our own ideal and imagination of

542
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 1: how things were supposed to go, and when anything contradicts

543
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: our imagination an ideal, we feel like we have a

544
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: right to be angry because it didn't meet my rules.

545
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,160
Speaker 1: Don't you see, God, this is how I was supposed

546
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 1: to be married at age twenty three and I'm twenty

547
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 1: three and a half.

548
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,760
Speaker 2: Tina got married and she dresses like and she's not

549
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 2: even that holy come on. So he goes out and

550
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 2: he sits down, and.

551
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 1: The Bible says that he made himself a shelter because

552
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,520
Speaker 1: it was a hot day. Not Charlotte, North Carolina hot,

553
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 1: certainly not Toronto.

554
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 2: Canada hot. It was. It was Middle Eastern hot.

555
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: I'm talking about one hundred and ten degrees and he

556
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 1: needed a shave, so he made a booth for himself.

557
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,720
Speaker 1: Lou shelter. He went outside the city. Now that's significant.

558
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 1: He went outside the city. God sent him to it

559
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 1: before God released him.

560
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 2: No matter what shelter you make.

561
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: For yourself outside of God's assignment for you, it will

562
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 1: never sustain. And he sits down, and he's mad, and

563
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 1: he's got a bad attitude. But if you've learned anything

564
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: about God from the story of Jonah, when God sent

565
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 1: the whale to swallow up a man who was in

566
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 1: the water because of his own disobedience, it's that God

567
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 1: doesn't wait for your attitude to get right before he

568
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: gives you his attention and takes care of you. And

569
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,760
Speaker 1: so now Jonah is sitting under the shelter.

570
00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 2: That he made, and God does something interesting.

571
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 1: It is a second time that the word mana appears

572
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 1: in the book of Jonah.

573
00:31:58,000 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 2: It says in verse.

574
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 1: Six, chapter four, the Lord provided a leafy plant and

575
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 1: made it.

576
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 2: Grow up over Jonah's head.

577
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 1: Give us bald head, some shade I like to picture Jonah.

578
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:13,280
Speaker 2: Ball just traumatizes the story a little bit more.

579
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:16,520
Speaker 1: I think about being bald and how hot his head

580
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 1: would be.

581
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 2: And then the Lord covers his head with this plant,

582
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,560
Speaker 2: this castor plant over his head he's sitting there and

583
00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,200
Speaker 2: he likes that plant. Boy, he doesn't care very much

584
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:29,960
Speaker 2: about people, but he likes plants.

585
00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,520
Speaker 1: And here's where I see that for everything that Jonah

586
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,760
Speaker 1: has seen God do, he still doesn't get it yet.

587
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,320
Speaker 1: Because he got outside of the fish. That was a miracle,

588
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 1: but he never got outside of himself. The most miserable

589
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,760
Speaker 1: place in the world to be trapped is not in

590
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 1: the belly of a whale. It's inside of yourself, inside

591
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 1: of your selfishness. A lot of believers get delivered from

592
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 1: their sin, but they never get delivered from themselves. And

593
00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:18,840
Speaker 1: so all of life is spent in the shade of you,

594
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 1: trying to find your own comfort. And oh Lord, thank

595
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 1: you for the plant. Isn't this a pretty plant? Yeah?

596
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:28,000
Speaker 2: How about all those people?

597
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 1: Oh people are unpredictable.

598
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 2: I like plants, And the Lord said, I knew you

599
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 2: like plants. That's why I provided the plant.

600
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 1: But now that I see that you're more focused on

601
00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 1: the plant than the people, I got to take the

602
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 1: plant away.

603
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 2: So look at the third thing that God provides.

604
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 1: He provides the wail to deliver Jonah, the plant to

605
00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:58,720
Speaker 1: comfort Jonah.

606
00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 2: And here comes the way. Now, if we.

607
00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 1: Were writing the story, we would not use the word

608
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:10,799
Speaker 1: manna to describe this worm, because watch what the worm does.

609
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:14,920
Speaker 1: The Bible says, at dawn the next day, God provided

610
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:23,320
Speaker 1: a worm. God provided a worm. I heard about Jonah

611
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 1: and the well, But what about the worm?

612
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,040
Speaker 2: Can we see the worm?

613
00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:37,000
Speaker 1: This is that thing in your life that comes along.

614
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:40,120
Speaker 2: Just when you've.

615
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 1: Gotten yourself comfortable, just when you figured out how life

616
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 1: is supposed to be, just when you got your retirement

617
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,000
Speaker 1: account right, he's supposed to be.

618
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:51,960
Speaker 2: You got your little comfortable situation.

619
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,480
Speaker 1: And Jonah's settling in as a spectator in a situation

620
00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:59,080
Speaker 1: where God has called him to be a participant, and

621
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:00,719
Speaker 1: he's sitting outside the place of.

622
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:02,240
Speaker 2: His assignment, and he's got.

623
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,280
Speaker 1: A shade over his head, and here comes the worm.

624
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:12,359
Speaker 2: And the worm made Jonah furious. Jonah, God's so.

625
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,080
Speaker 1: Mad at God about the worm, because not only did

626
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,800
Speaker 1: God send a worm, but after God send a worm

627
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: to destroy the.

628
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,399
Speaker 2: Plant that was shielding Jonah from the sun. Then God

629
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 2: provided the fourth thing.

630
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:29,400
Speaker 1: He provided the whale, he provided the plant, He provided

631
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:31,879
Speaker 1: the worm, and then the Bible says, in verse eight,

632
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:37,759
Speaker 1: he provided the wind. It's a sirocco. It's a kind

633
00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:41,000
Speaker 1: of wind that beats on you so hard that you

634
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:45,320
Speaker 1: have to run for shelter. Now God is making sure

635
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:51,240
Speaker 1: that Jonah can't stay outside of the city and find shelter.

636
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 1: And at the time, Jonah is furious, why did you

637
00:35:56,239 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 1: take my plant away? Why did you take my boyfriend away?

638
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,719
Speaker 1: Why did you take the mother's life? What did you mean?

639
00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:08,640
Speaker 2: Blue detention? But deduncednt bedumb it.

640
00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 1: Don't tell your story too soon, Jonah, because what you're

641
00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 1: going to see if you if you see it through the.

642
00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:22,359
Speaker 2: Lens of a God who loves.

643
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:29,759
Speaker 1: You, you're going to see that the whale and the

644
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 1: worm we're working together to serve a purpose in your life.

645
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 1: At some point, after Jonah has gone back home, he

646
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 1: sits down to tell the story of what happened when

647
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:51,280
Speaker 1: God sent him to Ninevah.

648
00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 2: And by the time he tells the story, he says, you.

649
00:36:55,920 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 1: Know, at the time, I thought it was misery, but

650
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:06,439
Speaker 1: it was actually manna. It was all God's provision. And see,

651
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,799
Speaker 1: I don't know how Jonah finally got this perspective, you know,

652
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 1: because the Book of Jonah doesn't tell us. When the

653
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: Book of Jonah ends, he's still sitting there with the

654
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:16,719
Speaker 1: sun beating down on his head.

655
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 2: He's still sitting there trying to figure out what to do.

656
00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,879
Speaker 2: But at some point he sees it.

657
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 1: That the whil that delivered me, and even the worm

658
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,560
Speaker 1: that destroyed the thing that was comforting.

659
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:32,200
Speaker 2: Me, it all came through the hand.

660
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:36,839
Speaker 1: Of God, who knows what's best for me. I don't

661
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,399
Speaker 1: know how he got this perspective. I know he didn't

662
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,520
Speaker 1: talk to James because James didn't write his epistle until

663
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,280
Speaker 1: hundreds of years later. If he would have talked to James,

664
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 1: James could.

665
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:51,600
Speaker 2: Have told him about joy counted all joy, my brothers.

666
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:56,040
Speaker 1: When you face trials of many kinds, when you see

667
00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:00,480
Speaker 1: worms crawling up and creeping over your head trying to

668
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,920
Speaker 1: destroy the comfort of your life, God's not trying to

669
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: kill you. He's trying to keep you alive. And nothing

670
00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,280
Speaker 1: can grow in your comfort zone. So from time to time,

671
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 1: God is gonna have to let something come.

672
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 2: In your life that destroys.

673
00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:19,799
Speaker 1: Your comfort so you can fulfill your calling. And now

674
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,799
Speaker 1: Jonah sees the same God that rescued me with the

675
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 1: whale sent the worm to deliver me from myself.

676
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:31,800
Speaker 2: But he didn't talk to James.

677
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,839
Speaker 1: James wasn't around James could have told him every good

678
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 1: and perfect gift comes from above. Everything that comes into

679
00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:42,520
Speaker 1: your life can be a gift if you know what

680
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,719
Speaker 1: to do with it. My friend didn't know that at

681
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:49,640
Speaker 1: the time he lost his daughter. Losing his daughter wasn't

682
00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:52,360
Speaker 1: the gift. The difference that he's making now telling others

683
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:55,080
Speaker 1: they can have hope too, that's the gift. But you

684
00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:57,920
Speaker 1: won't know that. You won't know the purpose of the

685
00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,400
Speaker 1: worm if you write your story while you're in it.

686
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,000
Speaker 1: We watched a young lady get baptized in our church

687
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:11,799
Speaker 1: today who went through some horrible things, but she's got

688
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,680
Speaker 1: some wisdom. She found out that the purpose of the

689
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 1: worm that took away her shade was to send her

690
00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: back into Nineveh to.

691
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,880
Speaker 2: Rescue others who need to be saved.

692
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:29,120
Speaker 1: I need somebody who this teaching is resonating with to

693
00:39:29,200 --> 00:39:34,400
Speaker 1: begin to praise God for his purpose and provision in

694
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:41,239
Speaker 1: your life. I know Jonah didn't get a chance to

695
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 1: talk to Jesus. You know, I was imagining what if

696
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:45,960
Speaker 1: Jonah could.

697
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:46,880
Speaker 2: Have talked to Jesus.

698
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,560
Speaker 1: And Jonah is explaining to Jesus, He's like, man, you

699
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,560
Speaker 1: don't know what it feels like to be me, and

700
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:57,719
Speaker 1: Jesus said, oh, really, try me, and Jonah said, no, man,

701
00:39:57,760 --> 00:39:59,640
Speaker 1: for me, it was easy. You're the son of God.

702
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:02,239
Speaker 1: But from it wasn't that easy for you. It was

703
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:04,759
Speaker 1: easy for me. It wasn't easy. See I had to

704
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:09,040
Speaker 1: go down from my comfort to a place the minister,

705
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:15,720
Speaker 1: to people that were my enemies. And Jesus said, oh, really,

706
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 1: tell me more, because I kind of did the same

707
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:24,560
Speaker 1: thing when I left the comfort and the prestige and

708
00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 1: the pristine environment of heaven to be born of a

709
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,799
Speaker 1: virgin and wrapped in flesh. And I came to my

710
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,360
Speaker 1: own and they received me not, and they nailed me

711
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: to the cross, and from the cross I uttered the

712
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:43,439
Speaker 1: words of forgiveness that became the redemption of the world.

713
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:49,279
Speaker 1: And Jesus said, what else, Jonah. Jonah said, well, you

714
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 1: don't understand. I had to spend three days in a

715
00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 1: dark place. I had to spend three days in a

716
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:04,520
Speaker 1: place where it looked like.

717
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:06,319
Speaker 2: There was no hope.

718
00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:10,839
Speaker 1: And Jesus said, really, then what happened? And then Jonah said, well,

719
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:14,520
Speaker 1: after three days I got spit out. And Jesus said, well,

720
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:20,400
Speaker 1: I know something about deliverance coming out of dark places.

721
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 2: After three days I don't just see it.

722
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:32,440
Speaker 3: Jesus is our greater, Jonah, our deliverer, and all things

723
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:36,240
Speaker 3: work together for the good.

724
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:42,040
Speaker 2: The cross.

725
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:52,560
Speaker 1: And the crowd, the whale and the worm. If you

726
00:41:52,600 --> 00:42:01,520
Speaker 1: never memorizing another Bible verse, do Romans eight twenty eight

727
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 1: and read it until your eyes cross over. I mean

728
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,160
Speaker 1: read it, read it, read it, read it and read

729
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:12,080
Speaker 1: every word, and then think about that word, think about

730
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 1: the next word.

731
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:22,919
Speaker 2: For we know that all things are good.

732
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:35,680
Speaker 1: Come on to a frame, you know, good again. Paul's

733
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:42,120
Speaker 1: not that naive, and neither is God. You know, there's

734
00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:44,840
Speaker 1: nothing beautiful about the worm when it's chewing through your plant.

735
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 1: That's not what we're saying. That's not my message. My

736
00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:51,280
Speaker 1: message is that.

737
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 2: The god of the whale that delivered you.

738
00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:10,359
Speaker 1: Is also the god of the worm. The whale, the worm,

739
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:11,360
Speaker 1: and the will of God.

740
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 2: You know. The whale and the worm were attack.

741
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:20,839
Speaker 1: Team assigned to Jonah. And when the whale got done

742
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,120
Speaker 1: dropping Jonah off in Ennevah, he said to the worm,

743
00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:32,280
Speaker 1: do you and the echo location went out hit the worm.

744
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:33,920
Speaker 1: The worm said, all right, I'm gonna be in position

745
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 1: because we both have one job to get Jonah back

746
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:45,480
Speaker 1: to the place of his assignment. Once his shade was gone,

747
00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:49,000
Speaker 1: he had no choice but to go back into the

748
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:57,439
Speaker 1: place where God wanted him to be. The whale, the worm, and.

749
00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:02,280
Speaker 2: The will of God. And we know that all things,

750
00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:09,200
Speaker 2: all the whales, all the worms, all.

751
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:16,120
Speaker 1: The big things, all the little things, all of the blessings,

752
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:22,760
Speaker 1: and yes even the burdens too, all of the things

753
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:26,320
Speaker 1: that feel good, and all of the things that hurt

754
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 1: like hell. God said, I'm gonna use.

755
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:34,000
Speaker 2: All of it, all of it, all of it, all of.

756
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:39,319
Speaker 1: It, every dark thing, every destructive thing, all of it.

757
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:43,800
Speaker 2: Somebody shout, all of it, all of it. All things

758
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:48,400
Speaker 2: work together for the God of them that love the Lord.

759
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 2: Does anybody love the Lord in this place? Come on,

760
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:54,360
Speaker 2: I need you gonna jump up on your feet and

761
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:55,600
Speaker 2: praise him. If you love.

762
00:44:55,520 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: Him in the belly of the whale, you can praise him.

763
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,040
Speaker 2: All things work together.

764
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:09,200
Speaker 1: Here comes the worm, Here comes the worm, and all things.

765
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:16,600
Speaker 1: Somebody said, all things work together for my good because.

766
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:20,760
Speaker 2: I love him and I've called according to his purpose.

767
00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:26,680
Speaker 3: Come on, Pray said, right where you are.

768
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:29,040
Speaker 2: Pray said, right where he stand. He pray said, for

769
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:32,080
Speaker 2: his work. Basid listen, keep your mind.

770
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:39,560
Speaker 1: It's Nana he's your provider, your keeper.

771
00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 2: You're sustainable. Let your hands. Thank him to me, Thank

772
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:52,399
Speaker 2: you for joining us.

773
00:45:52,719 --> 00:45:55,160
Speaker 1: Special things to those of you who give generously to

774
00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:58,719
Speaker 1: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

775
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:01,760
Speaker 1: You can click the link in the description to give now,

776
00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:06,120
Speaker 1: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information

777
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:09,239
Speaker 1: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

778
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:11,040
Speaker 2: You can share it with your friends.

779
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,600
Speaker 1: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

780
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:15,799
Speaker 1: share it on your social stories and tag us at

781
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 1: Elevation Church.

782
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:18,360
Speaker 2: Thanks again for listening. God bless you