Jonah #3 Northside Church

Northside Church

Jonah #3

Jamey Mills

2/26/23

Good morning…. my name is Jamey Mills, It’s so good to be with you all today.

Today…

Last week I mentioned that I had a big announcement for you all today…

Just a few weeks ago we announced that the LAT has identified land (SLIDE) that could become the future home of NS…

We told you we were finishing up with due diligence… and at this point, what can be done is done. I’m sure you all know, there is always risk involved… but we’ve done what our timeline allows us to do… overall… the risk seems manageable.

When we announced it, we mentioned the cost of the land, how much we had on hand and what was needed… we saw paying in cash as a big win for this purchase…

Between what we had and what currently has come in… I wanted to tell you it looks like Northside will be paying cash for the land on Powers.

And I really hope we understand how big of a deal that is…

This is one more example… in what has become an ongoing story… of God’s amazing grace and provision for Northside.

It is incredibly rare… that churches our age (3) find themselves in this position… I am… the leaders are… people who know about Church planting and are aware of the NS story… continue to be amazed and what we’ve experienced.

And It is absolutely critical that we stop… and praise God for all that He’s done and continues to do.

We are in a 3rd week of our sermon series on the book of Jonah… (SLIDE)

It’s been one of my favorite and personally most challenging series so far…

Week 1.

We talked about Jonah… a prophet of God, God’s man was told to go and confront the wicked and murderous Ninevites… who were arch enemies of Israel… Jonah wanted nothing to do with them… thought they deserved hell… so he ran as far and as fast way from God as he could. God pursued Jonah… sent a fish to transport him…

Week 2

Inside the fish, Jonah is as low as he’s ever been… in this deep distress… he compares it to hell… he prays to God…

We talked about how one of the idols… or things Jonah clung to was “self”... and thats one of the major things we struggle with even to this day…

It’s like saying… God I know what you want… I know what you’ve called me to do, but I don’t care… I’m going to Nineveh… and I’m guessing that every single one of us struggles with that to some degree…

God I know what you call me to in my

Relationships, Money, view of success, identity, generosity, those hard for me to love, what I allow into my head or out of my mouth…

BUT I don't care… I’m going my own way. I know what you want but I’m doing my own thing… I am running from God.

And what we see in Jonah is… running from God just doesn’t go well. It didn’t for Jonah, it hasn’t for me, it hasn’t for those I dearly love… and it won’t for you either.

Running from God doesn’t go well!

Two things…

I am willing to bet you have examples of that in your life… where running from God and what God wants goes poorly.

I am willing to be that if you take an honest look, you can see God’s pursuing love throughout your life… Times, places and spaces where He’s tried to get your attention, redirect you, and even discipline you toward where He’s calling you…

Right in the center of all that God has for you… is the best you’ll ever do. There is meaning and purpose… fulfillment there… IT'S NOT EASY… IT'S NOT ALWAYS SAFE… IT'S NOT POPULAR… but it is incredibly meaningful… full and free.

EVERY single christian is called… to Love God with all they are… and to love and serve others toward Him with the same extraordinary… dumbfounding… undeserved… life changing grace they’ve been given.

That’s life changing… direction changing…priority changing… marriage changing… family changing… truth.

In my study so far, I’ve found that Jonah presents one of the most compelling situations for us to consider when it comes to our need to stop running from God.

Jonah continues to present this upside down view of things…

Jonah… God’s man… runs and disobeys

The Pegan sailors ended up listening to God, praying, and eventually vowing to live their lives serving Him alone…

And today that goes from odd to crazy…

Jonah 3:1–3 NLT

Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.

Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time:

2 “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver the message I have given you.” 3 This time Jonah obeyed the LORD’s command and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to see it all.

Right out of the gate in ch 3 I think we see something incredibly important… that we all probably need to deal with…

The Lord spoke… came to Jonah a second time… Jonah disobeyed… ran… but wasn’t disqualified…

The word is Sheniy… and it literally means… second chance…

This is a powerful truth for those who feel like they’ve squandered it.

It's powerful for those who have pushed God or what He wants away… who have chosen other things…

Never submitting their lives to Him when they clearly felt God pulling them that way. Ran and are currently running.

Who’ve dropped the ball… messed up… disobeyed in ways that they just don’t feel God is able to forgive…

Where maybe God’s convicted you to say something to someone… reach out… do something… go somewhere… step over the line… but you chose not to.

For all kinds of reasons… missed the opportunity…

I think it was my sophomore year of HS… I was at a camp… and at the very end… all the kids were in a huge circle… and the leader said… if you’ve made a commitment to follow Jesus this week, would you take a step into the circle… and they prayed for those kids…

And they did a few others like it…

And then they said… if you feel like God is calling you to commit your life to serving Him through vocational ministry… would you take a step in… I don’t know if I was pushed… or remember even doing it… but the next thing I know I was standing in the circle…

But I didn’t do anything about it… I went home… and the next couple years were pretty rough… I wasn’t doing well… wasn’t honoring God at all… but two years later I ended up at that same camp and was confronted all over again by the same thing… Two weeks after that… September on Sept 7th I said goodbye to my friends, hoped in the car and left for Bible college in Seattle…

Even today, God is providing that.

And if you feel that nudge from God… I couldn’t encourage you enough to step forward…

Don’t be fooled…

Your past, your running, or your disobedience have not made you unlovable to God.

your past, your running, your disobedience… has not made you unlovable… has not disqualified you… has not made you 2nd rate… has not made you less valuable… spiritual warfare is a real thing… and there are those who’d love you to buy, believe and live that lie…

I’m not saying those choices didn't come with consequences… FOR SURE… and it’s hard. But I hope that God gives you the wisdom to understand why… and what those consequences are really about, which… I believe is a deeper understanding of, trust in, and relationship with Him.

Failing to see that… leads to crazy unrelenting guilt and shame… that is unproductive…

Even today… God is providing that…

And I hope we are open to learning from Jonah… this time… he heard it.

This time… he obeyed…

One thing that you see over and over in this passage… which in my opinion… the english translations fail to grasp is… urgency.

There is a theme of URGENCY in Jonah.

The best time to listen, respond , and obey… to the leadership and Lordship of God in your life has always been now.

The wording to Jonah’s second chance was almost identical… and it was intentional.It was like God is saying… I still have this for you.

Jonah 3:4–5 NLT

On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” (overthrown) 5 The people of Nineveh believed God’s message (Hebrew… believed God), and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.

Jonah obeyed God…

He got up… and entered the city….

That word entered… circle it… The actual word is

Chalalbow… literally means to untie or loosen so that you can go.

Such a powerful thing…

Last week Jonah said that those who trust worthless idols… forfeit the grace that God longs to give them…

One author said it like this… In order for Jonah to start in the direction that God wanted him to go, he had to release that which he was holding to… that was holding him back.

His selfishness… His fear… His self righteousness… and His anger

Those things that caused him to say no to God.

Absolutely HUGE truth… I believe this 100%

That in order for you to take hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of you…

You’re going to have to loosen your grip… there are things that you’re going to have to let go of in order to grab hold of Christ and what Christ is calling you to.

Things that have caused you to say no to God… no to following Him… no to obeying Him… and the longer you live in that place of saying no to God… the more normal it feels… the harder your heart becomes and the more blind we become to the carnage/brokenness it brings.

It starts… I think… with loosening your grip on… YOU. and that is incredibly hard…

Who you think God is; God has revealed it… listen to Him.

What you think He’s like; look into it

What truth is; He is the author of it

And what real morality is; it comes from Him and it is different… other than… what we experience in the world around us.

I believe if you look at Nineveh… (even Jonah)... this is what you see. Jonah had to let go of HIS own stuff… His desires and thinking…. About God, what God says, on himself and others…

The question is… what are the things that you need to loosen your grip on… and, are you brave enough to go there.

What are the things you need to loosen your grip on so that you can move forward with Christ?

Are you brave enough to ask God to reveal those things to you? Courageous enough to hear them and wise enough to loosen your grip on them.

Things that need to be far less important than they are… I guarantee you have them.

Things that you need to flat out walk away from… I guarantee you have them

So that you can take a firmer hold of Christ in your life…

Do you desire that? Are you tired or running? Are you tired of the brokenness it brings? Another way to ask that question… What are the idols in your life?

What is keeping you from saying yes? From following Him? From obeying Him? From repenting and turning to Him? From living your moments and days fully surrendered to Him?

There is 0 doubt in my mind that every single one of us… have things we need to loosen our grip on… let go of… that keep us from taking hold of Him and what He calls us to.

Are you courageous enough to search for it… to ask God to reveal it to you now? It is hard to follow… it is hard to obey…when you're holding on to things… or regret… lies… or sin… your own way of thinking…

Jonah’s sermon… was literally 5 Hebrew words long.

What things is Jonah’s sermon lacking?

When you read it, it sounds like Jonah is still struggling… still fighting God…

My first thought was… could you try any less….

There is no mention of God, what they did, or repentance…

Simply… 40 days and Nin will be destroyed… that is all I have to say about that.

But that word… destroyed… has a double meaning (hippock)

The best english word is overturned…

What two things can “overturned” mean?

And it can mean destroyed… wiped out

Or… overturned… changed beyond recognition

I can’t help but wonder if this was a deeply compassionate plea from God… about their need to change… to avoid where their sin and brokenness was taking them…

One author pointed out the reality of the ticking clock…

40 days… its another shot at the urgency in Jonah 3. The temptation to push it off… to wait until day 39… I’m gonna do my thing now… but later… I’ll take God seriously…

I hope you can hear that… and how that must sound to Him. it is running.

The temptation to push it off… to live for me in the moment and with this mindset of someday… someday I’ll loosen my grip on stuff and take hold of God.

I think some of us need the reminder that we don’t have forever…

One of the elders said it this way over dinner last week… tomorrow isn’t a promise… you aren;t guaranteed to wake up…

There is an urgency in this passage… on obeying… but also on repenting and taking hold of Christ… There is an urgency in the gospel…

And in upside down fashion…

They did. The most notorious… violent… murderous… cruel people of that day… found the reality of God’s pursuing love… in a 5 word sermon… (maybe that's what I’m doing wrong).

The English again doesn’t get it quite right…

It doesn't say they just believe God’s message… They didn't believe “jonah”... it actually says… they believed God… Believed IN Him… Believed in His truth… His goodness… His way…

They believed GOD!

From the greatest to the least… listen to this…

Jonah 3:6–10 NLT

When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

6 When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 7 Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city: “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. 8 People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly (call out mightily) to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence (that is in his hands… NOW) 9 Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” 10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.

I’ve tried to think of parallels…

The most violent, cruel and heartless people in our day… all at once… came to this place of prayer and deep repentance.

Led by the King and his nobles… it was this life changing… future changing decree that involved 4 things…

The most violent, cruel and heartless people in our day… all at once… came to this place of prayer and deep repentance.

The kings decree of repentance involved four things.

Mourning

Fasting

Passionate prayer

stopping/repenting.

Mourning;

Sackcloth and ashes… visible, physical sign of sorry. In that culture… real sorrow was sean… it was public…

Fasting

Prayer

Mightily seeking God

Repenting/stopping

The language… shows urgency… put it down now.

God changed His mind.

What? Really?

When we stop running… when we loosen our grip on the things that keep us from truly grabbing hold of Him and what He calls us to… it changes things in our life… and beyond.

History tells us that in time… they went back to it…

It reminds us that

Repentance is not a one and done thing.

It’s part of the way we live our lives… as believers. A continual going before the Lord and owning it… by name… asking for help and strength…

When that stops… in us… complacency and self righteousness starts.

One of my greatest fears… is that Northside become a place where people can come on Sunday… but their lives remain untouched by God. That is NOT what God calls you to… that is Not what He wants for you…

Running from Him… stuck on what I think, on what I want… one what feels good… on what I think… on lies I believe… on things that have happened… that cause me to say NO to Him.

No to submitting my life to Him

No to obeying Him

No to following Him.

So today I want to provide the opportunity to say yes to Him.

To respond… we see and urgency in the book of Jonah… and in the gospels… the best day… in all of your life to say yes to God and where He calls is always TODAY…

There are a group of leaders that I’ve asked to speak out in the back… and on this side of the Gym… they have orange lanyards and name tags on…

And they are there to pray with and for you about anything…

But here some things I’d have you consider…

Are there things that have caused you to say no to submitting your life to Him?

If so, go back and have one of them pray for you

Are there areas in your life that you need to loosen your grip on… that matter far to much to you, that in all honesty… matter so much less than Him… that is what an idol is… sports, sin, addition, hurts, shame, guilt, public opinion, self righteousness, fear, anger, “self”,

So over the next two songs,

You’ll have the opportunity to take communion…

And… to go and have someone pray for you… about anything… and/or this specifically… you don't have to be specific… but I’d encourage you to consider it.

Pray

Phil McPherson communion thought