God’s Not Done With You

well today we're in Chapter 2 of The Book of Jonah and I want to show you my favorite verse in the entire Book of Jonah hang on a second did I say chap what what chapter I say chapter what chapter are we in it's been a long week [Music] so can I start over we like a little cut we'll start over will you give me a second chance you might give me a second chance okay here we go okay here we go all right um hey today we're in chapter three of the Book of Jonah

and I want to show you my favorite verse from the entire Book of Jonah Jonah chapter 3 verse one says the word of the Lord came to Jonah somebody help me say it out loud a second time the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time type it in the comment sections the word of the Lord came to Jonah uh second time how many of you are thankful for a god of Second [Music] Chances which raises the question did I mess up on accident or was that on purpose to illustrate we have a

god of second chance okay that might have been an illustration if I mess up from here on out it is for real just so you'll know now uh before we dive into chapter three I want to review where we've been in case there are those of you that missed the first two weeks uh we've been in the Book of Jonah and we read that the word of the Lord came to Jonah and said go to Nineveh and preach to the people because what were they holy or Wicked they were very very I mean they were

horribly Wicked and they I mean they would torture people they were like they were horrible and so God told Jonah to go did he say yes or no he said no and God said whoo I'll show you on the map what it looks like one more time Jonah was in japa God said go to Nineveh 550 Mi he went the opposite direction got in a boat sailing for tarus when he was in Bo in the boat God sent a big storm in the boat the sailors thought that they were all going to die so they

didn't want to but they ended up throwing Jonah overboard to try to save themselves and we get to the last verse in chapter one that said now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah which is almost kind of funny the Lord provided a big fist to eat Jonah doesn't sound like provision it sounds like a problem and last week we learned that sometimes what we call a problem God calls provision the Lord provided a fish and it swallowed Jonah up and he's in the fish and he prays and we read last week that

he prayed and the Lord heard his prayer but do you remember did anything happen immediately nothing happened immediately he's waiting three days and three nights he's waiting and he's waiting and we learned the principle last week that while you're waiting oh God is still working which is incredible news for those of you that have been praying for a long time when you pray God hears your prayer even if you don't see anything doesn't mean God's not doing anything while you're waiting God is still working and then last week we ended with the very last verse

of chapter 2 verse 10 says this and the Lord command the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land the word in the Hebrew translated as vomited onto dry land is literally translated as Beach barf I just made that up but wouldn't that be cool so so so the I mean it's kind of gross the fish throws Jonah up he's on the shore he's alive but he's a mess his salvation is like some of yours it wasn't clean you went through some and he went through some stuff he's there he's in fish guts you know

fish bile this is nasty and chapter 3 starts with my very favorite verse in chapter 3 says the word of the Lord came to Jonah somebody help me a second time how many of you are thankful that we serve a god of Second Chances we serve a God that doesn't just call but our God called falls back and some of you may take a moment and you may just in your own um heart just tell God thank you because you're like Jonah you couldn't save yourself and we couldn't save ourselves and Titus 3:5 tells us

this that God saved us not because of righteous things that we have done but why because of his Mercy because we serve a compassionate God because we have a god of Grace because we have a God that calls back we serve a god God of Second Chances and there is not a single person that's ever saved by your own righteousness scripture tells us that we're not saved by works but we're saved by grace through faith so no one can brag about it we're Saved By The Grace of Jesus the Risen Christ and we can thank

God that everyone it doesn't matter who you are it doesn't matter how dark your life is it doesn't matter how much you've messed up but everyone who calls on the name name of the Lord will be saved somebody thank God that he is a god of Second Chances Our God doesn't just call but he calls back the god of second chances this is in many ways the story of the Bible from Genesis all the way to revelation we serve a god of Second Chances I'll show you some highlights and let it just sink in there's

a lot to look at because God is a gracious God Adam and Eve they sinned against God but God displayed Grace and made a covering for them Moses murdered a man but God displayed Grace and still used him to free Israel David committed adultery and then Comm committed murder to cover it up but God displayed Grace and when he repented God forgave him and still called him a man after God's Own Heart Rahab she lived as a prostitute but God displayed Grace and used her to help protect the spies and redeemed her in the lineage

of Our Savior Jesus zakus he was a corrupt tax collector he stole from people and was greedy but God displayed Grace and Jesus came to his home for dinner and forgave his sins and made him new Peter denied Jesus three times before his death but God displayed Grace and forgave Peter and reinstated him and used him to help build the early church and Thomas doubted Jesus after the resurrection but our God is a good god of Second Chances Our God displayed Grace and met Thomas in his doubt and in his need and gave him what

he needed to believe I thank God I thank God I thank God for my salvation I thank God for his grace after my salvation I thank God that he is a god of compassion that he is a god of Mercy that he is a god of Second Chances and the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time now why did he run the first time the word of the Lord came to him the first time why did he run we're going to find out next week in chapter 4 I got to tell you

chapter 4 is odd he is weird got to take my word for you got to come back is interesting and it's odd but we're going to find out next week very clearly why he disobeyed God the first time and the reason chapter 4 tells us Jonah didn't want to go because he knew God's character he knew God's nature and he knew God would show compassion to the people that he hated he didn't want to do it because he didn't want them forgiven which is really kind of funny when you think about it because Jonah and

enjoyed when God showed him Grace he just didn't want God to show them Grace which kind of honestly is a lot like some people you may know right now or maybe even you like we want God's favor we want his grace we want his Mercy but all those people over there I mean there you know on the other political side I shouldn't even say that out loud in church you guys like going to you know I just said the other one I didn't tell you which one so just keep your britches on right now just

we're going to survive this thing we'll just move on we'll go back to the Bible so don't freak yourself out we're going to be okay okay the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time and verse two tells us this what did the Lord tell him to do God said get up everybody say get up get up and go get say go now the site say it all together what did he say he said get up and go to the great city of Nineveh now do you remember in chapter 1 which direction did

Jonah go did he go up or down when he ran from God he went down down down now the Lord says you're not going down anymore now it's time for you to get up and go to the great city of Nineveh and deliver the message that I have given you get up and go to the great city of ninev the word get up and go in the Hebrew comes from the word that sounds to me like what a fish would do when it's vomiting someone a that's just I just spend way too much time studying

this stuff just bear with me cumula this means go now it means go immediately it means go today go now go immediately go today and that's why I want to say to you whenever God speaks to you through his word do it now now do it immediately do it today whenever the Holy Spirit prompts you you know like to maybe to be generous to somebody and you're like um is that God telling me to be generous or is that the devil telling me to bless them you know that's God of course it's God okay you

think the devil's going to tempt you to be generous whenever God prompts you to do something do it now do it immediately do it today I was honestly try to do something immediately if God prompts me to call someone I try to do it immediately God prompts me to get I do it immediately because if I don't I'll talk myself out of it well maybe that wasn't God maybe I'll do it later no do it now do it immediately do it today the first time the word of the Lord came to Jonah he ran from

God this time what did he do verse three tells us that he obeyed this time scripture says that Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and he went to Nineveh now Nineveh was a very large city um historians tell us that there would have been about 120,000 or so ninevites living there at the time so he's going to go preach to 120,000 people that he despises with all of his heart go to Nineveh um this very large city and so he went in there it took him three days to go through this city and he

went he began by going on a Day's Journey in the city proclaiming dot dot dot now what comes after the dot dot dot is the sermon that he gave them but before I show you the sermon he gave him I just want you to pause and recognize where we are he is one man in enemy territory his life is in danger he hated them they hated him and he didn't want to be there he didn't like them he probably thought there's no way they're going to hear this message and so he preached this message now

this is just a little advice if you're ever going to do like a Bible study or something one of the things I suggest is often times do a little opener something creative to get people's attention like pretend like you mess up and then show them that God is a god of Second Chances that's intentional to try to help bring you in or or you might want to say something that speaks to someone's felt need and like you know like God loves you you know God has a wonderful plan for your life Jonah did not do

any of that let me show you what he did scripture says he uh went on a days Journey proclaiming here's the sermon 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown 40 more days Nineveh is going to be destroyed that's the sermon 40 more days and God's going to wipe you off the face of the Earth that's his sermon that's what he said he probably said more we don't have any record of it but we know he said 40 more days from now God's going to destroy all of you why is he doing this well that's

what God told him to say God said go tell him the message I'm proclaiming if you don't repent then then you don't get to stay here and he's probably thinking this is just dang stupid these people hate God they hate me they're not going to listen there's no way this is going to work some of you right now you have someone you're a follower of Jesus and you have someone in your life that you think there is no way they will ever meet the grace and the love of Jesus someone in your life you like

they are so far from God there is there's no way that they would ever turn from their sins and and surrender their lives to Jesus and I want to say specifically to you never underestimate what God might be doing in someone's life I've found in 33 years of ministry that often times when someone looks very very low there's only one way they have eventually to look and that's up don't underestimate what the Holy Spirit might be doing in someone's life you might have someone right now that you love it's maybe your dad and you think

no way maybe it's a friend maybe it's one of your children there's no way that she's never or he's ever going to come back don't give up hope because Jonah preached this very short and this very blunt sermon and what happened verse five says the ninevites believed God what these evil horrible Wicked people the ninevites believed God there's a whole word right there the ninevites they believed God how many of you know there is a big difference between believing in God and actually believ in God some of you right now you just believe in God

like well of course I believe in God like I'm my church right I mean I'm I'm here right I'm watching this YouTube video of course I believe in God just because you believe in God doesn't mean you believe God the ninevites believed God James said this he he said you believe there is one God good even the demons believe that and they shudder believing in God is different than believing God some of you here the problem is you believe in a loving God but you don't believe that God truly loves you or you believe in

a God that answer prayers but you don't have the faith to believe that he'll hear the cries of your heart and answer your prayers or or you believe in a God that will save the lost but you don't think that God will save that person that you're praying for I I want to say to somebody here don't just believe in him believe him don't just believe that God can but believe that our God will he can and will do abundantly more than all you can ask think or imagine don't just believe in believe him the

ninevites believed God verse 35 says this uh they believed God and a fast was proclaimed that means they're not going to eat for some period of time um from the greatest to the least they put on sackcloth that's a form of mourning for their sinfulness when Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh the evil King what did he do he rose from his throne he took off his Royal robes and he covered himself with sackcloth and set down in the dust very very interesting the ninevites believed God and this evil Pagan King stepped away from

the throne took off his Royal robe and covered himself in sackcloth saying God I'm sorry I've I've sinned against you in humility he removed himself from the throne in a similar way there may be someone here it's time for you to take yourself off the Throne of your life and say I'm no longer the Lord of my life and I'm going to turn away from my sins and turn toward God the word in the Bible is the word repent it's like a Bible word but it's it's it's it means we're we're turning away from our

sins we're grieving from our sins and in verse 8 scripture says this let everyone one call urgently on God the king says this the king's like hey every call call on God now call on God now call you you need him now call on him now call on God don't sit around don't wait for later call on him now some of you right now if I can just say it you're like putting off fully completely calling on God okay I'm going way until I get older and I'm finished adulting and life gets serious and then

I get married one day and or maybe when we have kids or maybe I'll call on God you know when I really need him you need him now like you you you need his grace now you need his power now you need his Mercy now you need his holy spirit now you need his love now you need his strength you need him now the king call on him now now today with with the urgency call on him and the King said repent that's like don't let the angry guy on the corner repent don't let him

mess up this word for you it's a beautiful word re it just means to turn it's to turn away from going the wrong way turn toward God pent is that which is highest like the pent house the we're turning away from we're not going down down down we're getting up and we're turning toward God we're turning away from the lower things of this world and we're looking up to to God it's a it's a turn of a heart it's a beautiful thing to repent to to truly repent is to change your mind so deeply it

changes you completely it's I I'm I'm changing my mind I'm not I I I'm not the Lord of my life I'm no longer on the throne it's no it's no longer about my desires and my wishes and what I want and you know it's everything God everything I surrender to you Jonah preached and the and the nation by the power of God turns to him the ninevites repented now here's what's interesting how did God respond when the ninevites repented I'll tell you right now can we just be real don't hate me I am a pastor

who happens to be a person too regular dude long before I was a pastor I used to be a man that's a joke in case you're wondering okay I'm still a man I'm still I'm still a regular guy okay if I were God and I am not and everybody should be glad I'm not if I'm God and they're repenting I'm going to say prove it let's see if this lasts I mean I want I want to see if you really mean it I'm I'm going to give you a year to see if you are on

good behavior because I'm not going to just let you turn one little day and tell me you mean business I want to see it if I were God that's what I would do thank God I'm not God verse 10 says this when God saw what they did and how they turned how they repented how they turned from their evil ways he relented he said I'll destroy you if you don't turn they turned and so he relented and did didn't bring on them the destruction that he had threatened I love this whenever they repented God relented

whenever they turned to him God took back from his threat to destroy them and he showed them compassion in the very same way that when you mess up again how many of you have a mess up again St anybody raise up your hand anybody else you can just polish your H Halo and sit there and all act I mean I'm talking about to the real people today who had that thing that you really don't want to do and you do it again God I'm never going to cuss again right you know I'm not going to

yell at my kids again and you lose your temper at your kids again God I'm not going to listen to those negative voices and then all of a sudden you get sucked into those negative God I'm not going to be hateful I'm not going to be critical God I'm not going to I'm not going to do that I'm not going to look at the thing I'm not supposed to look at again I'm not going to be mean to my spouse again here's great news when you mess [Music] up the word of the Lord comes to

you [Music] again and you mess up again and the word of the Lord comes to you again and God shows compassion to you in fact scripture says in Isaiah 30 yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you therefore he will rise up and show you compassion look at what that says the Lord longs to he desires to he wants to he purposes to he longs to show you compassion he's not looking like going hey I'm going to catch him doing something wrong no he's longing to show grace to you he wants to show you

his compassion he wants for you to feel it when you turn from him when when you repent he relents he shows you compassion the word of the Lord is coming to someone again today and the question I want you to ask yourself we're going to ask this in our life groups and if you're not in a life group you you you you need the body of Christ I need the body of Christ I need people praying for me praying with me serving with me by my side strengthening me iron sharpening iron we need the body

of Christ in the body of Christ I want you to ask this question in your life group and it's very very simple because the word of the Lord is coming to you again and the question is this what is God trying to show you what's he saying to you what what message is he sending your way just ask yourself ask the Holy Spirit talk about it with people around you what is God TR trying to show you here's what I've discovered in my own life in in years of Walking with God in his goodness I

found that it's usually one of two things God's trying to show me either it's a sin he's trying to save me from or an opportunity he's trying to call me to most of the time when God's trying to show me something it's either a sin something in my life that is displeasing to him something that's dangerous to me something outside of his will hurts his heart hurts others and hurts me it's a sin it's it's Pride or it's anger or jealousy and comparison or or financial insecurity or greed or something he's trying to show me

something in my life that he's trying to remove protect me from or he's trying to call me to do something an opportunity and it's usually to be generous to serve to be a voice of encouragement to pray with someone it's usually a sin he's trying to save me from or an opportunity is trying to call me to what is the Lord trying to show you God what are you trying to show me and the good news for you is this that the word of the Lord is coming to you again and he's given you a

second chance he's given you a second chance he's given you a second chance he's given you another chance and the word of the Lord Lord is coming to you again and he's giving you another chance remember this he's giving you another chance don't forget this remember this he's giving you another chance don't ever forget this he's given you another chance remember every chance from God Demands a choice from you don't ever forget it the word of the Lord is coming to you again and he's giving you another chance and every chance from God Demands a

choice from you you he's coming to you some of you you've brushed him off you've taken him for granted and he's coming to you again some of you you were close to God and you drifted from him and he's coming to you again some of you You' you've never really known him and and You' you you you've considered you thought about it you kind of been close you kind of you kind of flirt with it and he's coming to you again and the good news is we serve a god of Second Chances Our God doesn't

just call but he calls back and maybe God is calling you again today please think about the compassion of our good God he didn't give up on Jonah when Jonah turned his back on God he didn't give up on the sailors who were far far from him he didn't give up on the king who was evil and wicked God didn't give up on the ninevites and God hasn't given up on you our God is the god of Second Chances come on Church come on Church come on Church come on Church come on if you screwed

up in your life the word of the Lord is coming to you again if you feel ashamed or stuck in the same old sin the word of the Lord is coming to you again if you're away from God and you feel like you've lost all hope you've been too bad the word of the Lord is coming to you again and if you think for a moment after what I've done and who I've heard and how dark my life is and how bad my sin is and how much I've heard people remember God's grace is greater

than your greatest sin the Lord Lord longs to show compassion the word of the Lord is coming to you again the word of the Lord he is so good is coming to you again the L the he's given you another chance and just remember every chance from God Demands a choice from you the word of the Lord is coming to you again so father we we pause and we tell you God thank you we worship you we love you we need you God we we we we we you the only one worthy of Our Praise

today at all of our churches nobody looking around trying not to move if you guys could help it nobody looking around um would you take a moment and um and just ask God what is he trying to show you what is he what is he showing you if you're willing to pray that prayer um wherever you are God what are you trying to show me would you just lift up your hand in acknowledgement you're going to pray lift it up today our church is lift up you leave it up for just a moment just almost

like an active worship to God and online you can type in the comment section God what are you trying to show me just just pray that right now you can leave your hand up or put it down whatever is most comfortable to you but just just ask God just just quietly you don't have to say it out loud in your mind or just kind of whisper God what are what are you trying to what are you trying to show me just listen some of you know immediately if there if there's something that you think he's

trying to show you and you're resistant sing it paray are pretty good as God trying to show you and just think about it what is he what is he trying to show you probably most likely it might be a sin that he's trying to save you from or it might be an opportunity that he's trying to call you to Holy Spirit what are you trying to show us God speak to us we we want to obey God even if we've we've rebeled in the past God we want to obey God speak to us I pray

God that this week in our life groups and over meals with loved ones that we just talk about this for accountability and because we want to obey here here's what I believe God you're showing me and then God help us to obey as you keep praying today no nobody looking around I want to I want to try to say this as lovingly as I can um as your pastor um I I am sincerely afraid that there are some of you that you're what I'd call a cultural Christian you kind of like believe in God because

like you kind of believe in God because we're kind of like in places where most people kind of like are good people and believe in God and and and and such but if we look at the text like you're still kind of on the throne of your own life you're still calling the shots you're still doing what what what what you want to do and that's not being submitted to Jesus who who is Jesus Jesus is the sinless perfect Son of God who came to Earth not to condemn but to save us he didn't come

for the perfect people he came for the broken people he came for Sinners that's really really good news because all of us have sinned the Bible says you know it you've done things that are wrong and you may feel distant from God or feel some guilt the good news is he came for those who are broken he came for those who were hurting he came for the Lost he came to seek and save those who were lost Jesus on the cross he was the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins the Son of God died

in our place and God in his Mercy raised Jesus from the dead so that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved today there are those of you that you you know you're not following him you you maybe you don't know where you stand with him and I just want to say today now do it today now now today yes fully in no don't think about it don't hold back call on his name call on his name today today today I'm stepping away from my sin I'm repenting I'm turning my life

over to him I'm not playing this is now when you call on him when you when you repent he relents when you call on his name he hears your prayer he forgives you immediately you become brand new that's how good his grace is today all of our churches those who that say that's me I need his grace today by faith Allin not holding back I give him my whole life Jesus I turn from my sins I give you my whole life that's your prayer lift your hands high right now all over the place and say

yes that's my prayer lift them up and say I surrender to you right back over here praise God for you and right back there and right over here in this section others today say Jesus I Need You I surrender to you I trust you I give you my life be the Lord Of My Life online you can type in the comment sections I am surrendering my life to Jesus and today at all of our churches would you pray with those around you pray heavenly father father today right now now I give you my life I

put you first Jesus saved me my savior the Lord Of My Life forgive all of my sins I turn from my sins I turn toward you be first in my life fill me with your holy spirit so I could know you so I could serve you thank you for new life I give you all of mine in Jesus name I pray Church could you celebrate today could you worship God welcome those born into a family I know about you but I needed to hear that message today I hope that it encouraged and challenged you we

can learn so much from listening to God's voice and loving people the way that he's loved us click here to watch more