 chapter one we're going to do a little bit different study through the book of Jonah. We're just going to look at the story of Jonah. Jonah is a short book in the back of the Old Testament. It's always one of those books that I do go to a lot soul winning and I have the kind of the corners of my Bible folded so I can get to them and get to it easy. It's a really short book. It's kind of hard to find in your Bible if you don't have a Bible that you used to opening to the book of Jonah. It's right in between Obadiah and Micah. It's a really short book, short story in the Bible, but it's a real story about a real prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. So we're going to not go so much chapter by chapter, but we're just going to preach through this entire story in parts. We may have several parts in one chapter and maybe one part in another chapter, but there's several powerful lessons to learn from the story of Jonah and I'm excited to look through that in the next coming weeks. So who is Jonah? Go to 2 Kings chapter 14. 2 Kings chapter 14. The Bible does mention him one other place in the Bible. Look at 2 Kings chapter 14. So Jonah was a king, not a king. Jonah was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam 2, I guess you could call it. You know the second Jeroboam in the northern kingdom of Israel. So remember the northern kingdom of Israel was a wicked. They had wicked king after wicked king. They had several dynasties. It wasn't just son of son of son, the father son, father son, father son like the lower kingdom of Judah to fulfill the messianic prophecy to David, but it was just constant treachery and constant evil kings. Jonah was a prophet in the northern kingdom during the last you know maybe 20 years before the northern kingdom was taken into captivity or not even taken it, that's not even the right word, carried away by the kingdom or the empire of Assyria. And Assyria is actually where Nineveh resides. Look at 2 Kings chapter 14, just an example here. Look at verse number 23. The Bible says in the 15th year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah. So many times the Bible will explain, hey it's here's the timeline you know it's kind of explaining who the kings are in reference to who the king of Judah is and who the king of the northern kingdom of Israel is. It says king of Judah, so Joash was king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria. So of course Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. We've got the northern kingdom of Israel and the lower kingdom of Judah. All right, and he reigned 40 and one years, which is a long time for the northern kingdom of Israel. Many of those kings didn't last very long at all because they were just they were killed right away. There was a lot of treachery, a lot of evil. And he did that was that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. So he was not a good king. He departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. That's the first Jeroboam who set up the two golden calves and they immediately started worshiping false gods in the northern kingdom. So he was just doing the same thing that all the other kings did who made Israel to sin. Look at verse 25. It says he restored the coast of Israel from entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain according to the word of the Lord of the God, God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Imete, the prophet, which was of Gathepher. This is the same Jonah that we see in Jonah chapter one. So now go back to Jonah chapter one. So he's mentioned as a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel. That's all I really wanted to point out there. But look at Jonah chapter one and let's get into this story about God dealing with his prophet here. Look at verse number one of Jonah chapter one. It says, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Imete. So we see we know it's the same Jonah because of that phrase right there. Jonah the son of Imete. Same thing we see in 2 Kings chapter 14. It says arise. Go to Nineveh that great city and cry against it for their wickedness has come before me. So this is interesting because Nineveh is a city, is actually the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. So this is not a friendly city to just keep in mind that in 20 years in the future this Assyrian Empire is going to completely destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. And the Assyrian Empire was, if you go and you read historical you know accounts of the Assyrian Empire, it was a quite different animal than the Babylonian Empire that overtook Judah. The Assyrian Empire was very brutal. They were very very pagan, very just I mean just very very brutal people. Let's put it that way. So when the Assyrian Empire came in and invaded the northern kingdom of Israel it was a terrible situation and this is where we get you know they they brought in people and they they took away the people out of there and this is why you know people say that there's no you know the ten tribes were lost because they they came in and they inserted their own people in there and they intermixed with the people that were left of the northern kingdom of Israel the ones that they didn't kill or take away to Assyria and then you know that's where we get the Samaritans. You know the the Jews of Jesus's time didn't even didn't even consider the people in Samaria as Jews because they were all these Assyrian you know they they were basically racist against them saying they were they didn't believe in their God anymore and they were mixed intermixed with all these pagan people and all this stuff right. So God is telling this guy God is telling his prophet to go to this foreign city and preach unto these people against you know against their wickedness that they're doing and you know Jonah he's not excited about that you know he's not excited about that because look at what he does it says Jonah rose up so when you look at where the city of Nineveh is it's basically to the northeast northeast of where Jonah would be residing and he's saying go to Nineveh and in verse number three it says Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa remember down he's going down to the coast so he's going down in elevation to the coast and he found a ship going to Tarshish so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord so he goes southwest he's supposed to go northeast so he literally runs away from the situation and runs away from God telling him to go and do this thing that God told him the word of the Lord came to him and he ran the other way alright look at verse number four it said but the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken meaning the ship was being tossed around here we have another you know terrible ship situation the mariners were afraid and they cried every man to his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them but Jonah was gone down the sides of the ship and he lay in was fast asleep the shipmaster came to him and said what meanest thou oh sleeper arise call upon thy God if it be so that God will think upon us that we perish not and they say everyone to his fellow come and let us cast lots that we they may know for whose cause this evil is upon us so they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah and they say what's this all about casting lots well casting lots is actually something that was used even by the priests to have God make a decision so it's not like they're gambling here you know they're not throwing dice alright they're not gambling for money they're casting lots and God used this to communicate with them they're basically what is casting that's like drawing straws right it's basically they're letting God they're letting randomness or you know in this case God make this decision on who the the person that's bad is and they said on him tell us and they it fell upon Jonah Jonah pulled the short straw and they're like aha he's the problem alright and he said unto them and they said to him tell us we pray thee for whose cause this evil is upon us what is thine occupation and whence come as thou why what is thy country and what of what people art thou and he said unto them I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land then the men were exceedingly afraid and said unto him why has thou done this for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them so these men on this ship they weren't they were they believed in all these different other gods and all these things but they believed the story that Jonah told them and Jonah explained the entire story to them that God told them to do this thing and that he didn't do this thing and they're like well if he's the God of the land and the sea and he's the God of heaven why wouldn't you have listened to him is what they're saying because now look at us now look at this situation that we're in he explained it to him then they said unto him what shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us for the sea wrought and was tempestuous he said to them take me up and cast me forth into the sea so the sea shall be calm unto you for I know that from my sake this great tempest is upon you so Jonah he doesn't argue with him he doesn't argue with the he explains what he Jonah knows why this is happening he knows why God has upset at him and he's like just throw me in the sea he's he's guilty and and God will you know this God will not destroy you because he's trying to get to me but nevertheless this is interesting here the man so he the prophet of God the prophet of God tells them what to do it's very similar to Paul telling the the men in Acts chapter 26 27 what to do and they listen to him Jonah literally tells them what to do but instead they don't do what Jonah wants to do and they try to come up with their own way to get themselves out of this granted you can say well they had a good reason they didn't want to just kill this person and it says that's what their reason was it says let us not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood so they didn't want to do what the prophet said they had their own reasons they thought that you know but Jonah wasn't innocent he was guilty of what God was doing to them and he's told them how to solve it and instead they try to just work their way they try to get themselves out of it we'll talk about that a little bit later all right but anyway it didn't work it didn't work so they finally verse 15 like they know how to solve the problem he told them they finally realized they can't solve it themselves so then they took up Jonah cast him forth into the sea and then the sea seized from her raging and then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and they're like okay he was right you know everything that he said was true even though you know they weren't Christians they didn't believe in the God of the Bible they had their own gods it said but they believed him at that point all right now we're going to stop right there and we're just going to look at this first part of the story where Jonah gets a clear direction from God the prophet gets a clear direction from God the prophet says no I don't want to and he goes his own way and God just chastises him and puts him into this terrible storm that looks like it's going to cost him and many other people their lives okay now we know if you heard the story we know and we're going to look at the rest of the story I mean coming weeks we know that God did not kill Jonah that God was just trying to bring Jonah back into where God wanted him in the first place but the point is that God called Jonah and Jonah didn't listen it was very clear and you say well how could this apply to us you know how could this apply to me you say this guy this guy's a prophet you know this guy's a prophet in the Old Testament he's a prophet in the Bible I mean this is you know this does not apply to me at all well I'm going to show you tonight that this does apply to you and that God does call you God does call you in many different ways and if we don't pick up the phone the results in our lives will be similar to what Jonah is dealing with here you say how does God call me I'm not a prophet turn to 1st Timothy chapter 2 I could go on for hours and hours on how God calls you in your life I'll just give you some major milestones that God calls people all right so I'm going to give you some milestones that God calls you in your life all right look and this is also going to just by way of looking at the Bible this is also going to disprove Calvinism that God you know created certain people to be saved and he created certain people to be damned I mean that's just going to be a result of something that you see from the sermon tonight even though that's not the point of the sermon so the question is how does God call me how does God call you in 2023 as Bible-believing Christians well first of all if you're here tonight and you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ if you're saved God has called you God has called you and you have answered that call look at 1st Timothy chapter 2 you say well God called me God called me well first of all when you got saved and you look back at your salvation don't you feel like that you answered a call when you got saved I think this is like how people kind of misinterpret this and maybe some people that are even saved fall into this idea that God only calls certain people but look what the Bible says in 1st Timothy chapter 2 verse number 3 the Bible says that God he's making this phone call to everybody God is calling everyone to be saved I mean he's calling it's just not everybody's answering it says for this is good and acceptable verse 3 in the site of God our Savior look what it says in verse 4 it says who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth for there's one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus that means that it is God's will for all men to be saved turn to Romans chapter 1 turn to Romans chapter 1 in John 3 16 in John 3 16 the Bible says whosoever that means anybody you know whosoever shall believe in him I mean the Bible it says anybody that does this and if you combine that with first Timothy first Timothy chapter 2 it's literally saying that God it's God's desire it's God's will that everyone would trust on Jesus it's very simple it look it's not God's fault that everyone is not going to trust in Jesus okay look at Romans chapter 1 look at Romans chapter when you say how does God call people to salvation how does God call people that don't have the Bible they don't have you know all the advantages of someone that was just raised in Christian home all these things how does God call those people well God explains to us how he calls everyone he explains the two things that everybody gets this is the answer to the you know the the proverbial question or the metaphorical question about what about the kid in the Amazon forest or whatever right that's never even heard of Jesus right this is what people will say well every single person including the kid in the Amazon forest or wherever else has these two things look at verse number 20 of Romans chapter 1 the Bible says for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are what they're without excuse that's saying that everybody can look around and they can see how powerful God is through the creation that he's put in front of them especially the person living in the rainforest or whatever I mean you can look around you can see the creation you can see what when we look out into the heavens as the psalmist said we look into the heavens and we see the stars and we see the universe we see the galaxies and what does that show us what does that show us with our with our heart that we have our conscience that we have that shows us the power on the eternal Godhead that show it shows us the power and the eternity and the just the everlasting nature of God is what that shows us alright look at verse number 14 of Romans chapter 2 here's the other thing that everybody starts with you say how does God call everybody well he gives everybody the evidence of his eternal power around them look at verse 14 it says for when the Gentiles these are the people that this is what it's talking about the people that were not Jews the people that were not of the nation of Israel the people that didn't have the Bible they didn't have the oracles of God it's like how did they how did they know that there was a one true God when the Gentiles which have not the law they don't have the Bible do by nature the things contained in the law these not having the law for a law unto themselves which show is saying these these people the that they didn't have the Bible and they're going out and they're knowing that stealing is wrong they're knowing that murder is wrong they're knowing that if you go and you look at just pagan societies that they will you know I mean many of them have just gone to the you know the devil but I mean basically any person when they're born they know they grow up and they know that these things are wrong these things have to be undone these things have to be changed in their conscience they start with this in their heart look at verse 15 it says which show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts to mean while accusing or else excusing one another it says that everybody starts with that everybody starts with that law written in their hearts now look you can sear that you can get into all kinds of sin you can get into all kinds of wickedness and you can scar and you can sear your conscience but everybody starts with it and if you choose in your life to go into a bunch of sin and a bunch of wickedness in your life yeah it's possible that somebody that lives a wicked life that has scarred their conscience to the point of you know not having this conscience anymore not having this pure conscience that when somebody comes up to them and wants to give them the gospel that they will have no interest at all but that does not mean God did not choose that person that God did not call that person it means that that person did not protect that perfect pure heart that God gave them just like we talked about children a couple weeks ago you know children have that pure heart children have that desire that desire to seek the Lord that's why you see that that's why you go out soul winning and you go out and you see kids come to church and they just love it here but it's their parents many times with the scarred conscience and that the wickedness that they're into that are like no we're not going to church please please please please please take us to church but it's the scarred conscience of the older people that will stop that but that's why God that's why Jesus said you know as such are the kingdom of heaven talking about that purity of children he's talking about Romans chapter 2 verse 14 and verse 15 that that perfect law written in their heart look you can break that you can you can wreck that and you do that through sin but it doesn't mean God didn't call it means that you know force you know someone that doesn't get saved or doesn't accept the gospel it means that they've damaged what God gave them and they've done it through it's always the same every time it's through sin in your life alright so that's the first call right there but we've all answered that call hopefully everyone saved tonight so we've all answered that phone call you say what other phone calls are there well how about this one just the the call to get to church the call to you know get into a Bible believing church the Bible says in Hebrews 10 25 to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is so the Bible tells us hey get into church that's the Bible telling you that's the God calling you to get into a local assembly of believers and you know start learning the Bible that's a call right there and front look from that call you're gonna realize that from each of these calls many other calls come you're gonna start to realize there's many other calls in your life once you do get into church once you do get plugged in once you do start realizing what the Bible has to say you're gonna start realizing oh man there's a lot of things that I should be doing there's a lot of things that I'm called not to do but church is the is the beginning of that that's why it's so important with somebody get saved that they just get they just get plugged into a church they get plugged in it may not even feel right at first that they've never been to church before but they get saved they need to get plugged in so they can know what God wants for them in their life I've never had anyone tell me soul winning after they got saved I've never had anyone tell me that you know they want to waste their life that they don't want to do anything with their life they just want to you know they just want to take this one life that they have and just just have it be worthless but you're gonna see tonight that that's exactly what a lot of Christians do as they just live a completely worthless life so what church and attending a local church that is preaching the actual Bible it's a call it's a phone call that you are you are called to pick up turn to Acts chapter 8 here's another one after you get saved baptism that's a call that's what you know that's when you start learning things about the Bible you start learning what does God want from me now now I'm saved God gave me this gift of everlasting life what does he want from me on this earth baptism is like the first one look at verse number 36 of Acts chapter 8 Paul or Philip preaches the gospel to this eunuch and as they went on their way they came under a certain water and the eunuch said he's gotten saved he says here's water what does the intermediate be baptized and Philip said if I'll believe us with all thine heart thou mayest he's like if you're saved is what he's saying there because what what is believing with all your heart do it that's how you get saved and he says I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he commanded the chariot at verse 37 is missing from every modern Bible by the way imagine that and he commanded the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water both Philip and the eunuch and he baptized them so the eunuch answered that phone call all right that's where you know Acts chapter 2 verse 38 where Peter says you know repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ he's saying repent and be baptized but he saying repent means like turn from unbelief to belief so that one word is saying get saved and then literally Peter is including baptism is like the first thing that you should do he's like get saved and get baptized look that's answering a call so you're being called you're being called for that that's what you have to understand how about this one turn to Psalm chapter 119 if you open your Bible right in the middle you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalm Psalm chapter 119 is the longest book in the Bible and it is almost completely about just reading and learning the word of God and loving the word of God look at Psalm chapter 119 it's all about God's word here's another thing that you're called to do look at Psalm chapter 119 verse 18 Psalm chapter 119 verse number 18 Psalm 119 verse number 18 we're talking about what does God calling me to do yes he called the prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach a very specific message against this city but what's he calling me to do look what he's calling you to do in verse number 18 open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law so here's a call to read your Bible here's a call to read the word of God look don't just come and just listen to look come and listen to preaching but go home and read your Bible go home and and have a Bible reading time in your life and read a chapter or a few every single day look if you're saved you need to read your Bible cover to cover one time as soon as you possibly can you should set a goal if you if you're recently saved and you've never or if you've just never done that you should do that this year it is easy to do in one year I mean you can read the Bible four times in a year that's kind of aggressive you got to kind of read an hour and a half a day or so but to read your Bible cover to cover in one year is not that hard to do there's schedules to do it if you want a schedule I'll give you a schedule to read your Bible cover to cover in one year and you know what's going to happen you're going to see wondrous things out of thy law and you know those wondrous things are going to open up to you more calls it's going to open up things to you in your life like oh man God wants me to do this oh I should be doing this oh I shouldn't be doing this and it's just gonna every single time you read through your Bible you will find more wondrous things I don't care how many times you read the Bible you will just keep finding wondrous things in the Bible which are basically more calls from God because look this is what God wants for us this is what God wants us to do this is the phone call right here and these wondrous things would just keep coming out to you I mean the Bible is not going to read itself I mean you can't just sleep on your Bible and then just get better at you know knowing what the wondrous things in the Bible are you actually have to read it all right so listen into preaching is great but you should be reading the Bible every single day and it will it will show you what God wants how about this one turn to Mark chapter actually you turn to second Corinthians chapter 5 I'm just giving you some milestone calls all right I'm just giving you some examples of yeah God's calling you God's calling you for things in your life in Mark 16 15 you know it's a very famous verse in the Bible you know Jesus says go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature very famous verse in the Bible very easy to understand he's telling the disciples you're going to second Corinthians chapter 5 he's telling the the disciples he's like hey go out and preach the gospel now that's your job look at second Corinthians chapter 5 in verse number 18 second Corinthians chapter 5 in verse number 18 the Bible says that all things are of God who have reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation that's interesting he says it again in verse 19 he says to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself so Jesus Christ did the reconciling meaning he made it right he's the one that reconciled the world to God right he's the one that paid the price he did the reconciling he he made he gave the proper payment for the sin debt of the entire world but that ministry what is that when you mean the ministry telling people how to connect with that gift is up to us you know that ministry of reconciliation telling people about that and how to receive that free gift and about that reconciliation that has actually happened that's on you that's on everyone that is saved that's literally like the the first work the first real ministry that every say believer is to have and this is the one that nobody's doing today this is the one that you'll find you know churches out there that maybe they have the right gospel but they're not doing this you know they're not going to go out and they're not going to preach the gospel to people because it's that word of reconciliation look at those last three words of verse 19 it says he committed unto us the word of reconciliation you know what the word of reconciliation is it's the gospel that's what we're doing we go out today and we find somebody that that wants to know how to get to heaven we preach to them the word of reconciliation we preach the gospel there's all kinds of calls folks there's all kinds of you know just growth in the Christian life and these are all calls that God is making to you through his word and you know here's the thing about Christians that that most Christians many Christians will never really know their true potential that God had for them on this earth God knows what your true potential is because God knows every single individual who's saved he knows what they can do if they just listen to the calls that he's giving them but this is how you know folks you answer one call and then you hear the next call another comes in you answer that one and then just more and more open themselves up to you look you don't know you don't know everything when you get saved I mean you don't get saved you know if somebody doesn't give you the gospel and all of a sudden you know everything God wants for you in your life that's not how that works you know you don't just get saved and be like I know the Bible perfectly now and I want to start my own church next week I mean you don't this is not how it works what you do is you you you receive that call of salvation you trust on Jesus you start diving into his word getting into church getting baptized listening to what God says just and just picking up the phone just picking up the phone God wants me to do this and you just do it and you just do it but the problem is is that people hit obstacles people hit obstacles on every single call in their life and what you'll see I don't know I just see this all the time people hit obstacles with church church is a big one church is a big one because people aren't used to coming to church and that's a different thing but you know what you're supposed to become a different creature you're born against spiritually now you just have to take that spirit that's inside you and change your flesh you actually have to listen to that spirit and actually do what it says and quit listening to your flesh because you know what at every single one of these milestones that's what the devil is going to attack you the devil is going to attack you when you want to get plugged into church the devil is going to attack you when you want to get baptized the devil is going to really attack you and I warn people about this specifically when you start when you decide I'm going to become a soul winner the devil is going to hit you I guarantee it it happens every time you know how's the devil going to put all kinds of doubts in you what am I doing this for are you kidding me I'm gonna I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna walk down the street with a Bible I mean the devil will the devil will do that to you the devil will put those doubts in you it all other churches aren't doing this why why is this guy telling me this is what we should be doing I'm not telling you the Bible is telling you I'm telling you what the Bible says I'm just kind of like a I'm like a phone repeater I'm just repeating the calls to you but soul winning is a huge one then you become a you know I'm gonna start going out I'm gonna start learning soul winning I tell people your life is gonna change your life is gonna change you now have a target on your back because now you are a serious threat look come into church learn in the Bible that's all great things you start going out soul winning you start learning how to give the gospel you're threatening Satan you are threatening the God of this world with defeat because every single person that we go out and we preach the gospel to and we pass from death to life he loses and when you start then you start becoming a someone who's actually giving the gospel Satan's gonna do everything he possibly can to stop you in those cases he's gonna throw things in your life to try to to try to knock you back into things you were into he's gonna throw people in your life that are gonna try to pull you out of this he's gonna send people to you these are all things I've actually literally seen over and over and over again he's gonna send people to you to cast doubts on you what are you doing that for that's weird that doesn't seem like something that people do you're gonna have all kinds of attacks come on you especially once you start soul winning but it's it's gonna happen so you just have to make that decision to just keep pushing keep answering that call be prepared be determined to pick up the phone and just listen you say well you know what if I miss the phone calls you know what if I miss the calls you know Jonah Jonah didn't really Jonah didn't really miss the call Jonah got the call and he didn't listen to the call that's that's an extra bad one and we're gonna talk about that in a few minutes but just just think this like say like maybe you got saved later in life I got saved later in life maybe you got saved later in life and and you're like you know what there was a lot of calls in my life that I missed there was a lot of things that I didn't answer in my life but look here's the thing if you don't answer God will chastise if you're saved and you don't answer the calls that God gives you God will chastise you turn to Luke chapter 47 turn to Luke chapter 47 Luke chapter 47 I'm sorry Luke chapter 12 verse number 47 Luke chapter 12 and verse number 47 so look if you don't answer the call God will chastise if you do answer the call Satan will attack you're like oh man this doesn't sound good look at Luke chapter 12 don't get verse number 47 see it's worse if you're Jonah though it's worse if you know that God's calling so you know that I hate you know if there's a downside of this church this isn't a downside but if there's you know there's a downside of being a growing Christian it's that you're gonna know you're gonna know because the Bible's being preached and you're gonna know what those calls are so you're not gonna be somebody that can say I just didn't know because I'm gonna tell you look at verse number 47 it says in that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes this is Jonah this is Jonah and this is you if you know what you're supposed to do but you just say no I'm going down to Joppa no I'm going to Tarshish I'm running away and look this this will be you and look I'm sorry to break it to you but you can't become unsaved you can't get out of this this could be you for the rest of your life just being chastised by God because you won't pick up the phone but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes friend of whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required you see that so if you are given all the knowledge of the things that you are supposed to be doing all the the things that you know God is calling for you as a saved believer and you do them not you are the one that much is required of much is required of you so I mean if you just know nothing about the Bible and you never learn anything about the Bible at least you didn't know is what the Bible is saying you say man that's not fair that's exactly fair God needs people to pick up the phone and answer these calls because literally there's no other way for people to get saved there's no other way for people to hear about that ministry of reconciliation it's super important it's all about the kingdom of heaven folks look at first Corinthians chapter 10 first Corinthians chapter 10 so look God will chastise you especially if you do know like Jonah knew if I mean this is this is the story of you know how extreme this story was what happened to Jonah we need to apply that to ourselves because if we know what God is calling us to do and we don't do it we're Jonah it's the same thing look at verse number 13 of first Corinthians chapter 10 you say God's gonna chastise me if I don't listen to what his word says and Satan's gonna attack me if I do listen I can't win but you can win look at first Corinthians chapter 10 in verse number 13 as a matter of fact there's only one way to win there's only one way you're like I'm in between a rock in a hard place well not really look at verse 13 it says there had no temptation taking you but such as common to man that means that whatever God puts in front of you when you're picking up the phone and answering these calls and you're trying to move forward you're hitting milestone after milestone in your Christian life they're going to become a soul winner I'm gonna start talking by this date I mean you know I'm gonna just like start learning my Bible learning these verses learning how to give the gospel you know I want to get out there I want to be I want my feet shod with the gospel of peace as soon as possible you're gonna be under attack but the Bible says that the attacks that are gonna come to you it's nothing new Satan doesn't have anything new he doesn't have anything original it's nothing that's not common to man which is another reason that's important to be in church because when you come into church you're like man I'm pushing forward milestone after milestone I'm picking up the phone to God you know and you come to church and you're like but all these things just I keep getting attacked by this and I tacked by this you know what you're gonna hear you're gonna hear from all your brothers and sisters you like yeah that happened to me too yeah the exact same thing happened to me and you're just gonna get this edification and this strength from your brothers and sisters in Christ because why because there's nothing that Satan does to you that he hasn't done to everybody else and just some people are successful by pushing through it and some people aren't you say well can I be successful let's keep reading but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able so the answer is God is saying 100% for sure you can overcome it if you don't it's your fault you are strong enough to do it you God will not allow Satan to come at you with more than you can take look it you may think at times like I don't know if I can take this you can God tells you that you can but you can't be out in a bunch of sin and out and live and all you know you got to be doing the things that God wants you to do you got to be in church reading your Bible listening to preaching being with your brothers and sisters in Christ getting edified and yeah if you're doing those things and you're separating from the things that you can and you're strengthening yourself in that way you will make it it's very simple I mean it's not rocket surgery it's very simple it's the only way to win this is the only way to win the Christian life right here is you can't win fighting against God how did that go for Jonah he's like no I'm gonna fight God like I'm not gonna listen to God I'm gonna fight God now he's in the ocean getting swallowed up by a fish you can't win that way this way God guarantees that you can win so you say you know Jonah's a prophet God's not calling me yes he is he is calling you say well I've missed so many calls I've missed so many calls well picking up the phone maybe it may be maybe especially those people that you know maybe got saved later in life maybe you've been through some storms as a result of not picking up the phone you know maybe you made a mess of some things but God is always trying to get you back on the phone is what you need to understand but look turn to John chapter 15 God is trying to get you back on that phone line so you can be fruitful but you know you're like I've made such a mess of things I I didn't answer the phone for years I went my own way and I got this big tangled ball of a mess first of all and this is why you know we I preached the whole Bible we want the the kids the next generation you know to just listen first time you know why you know why we want the kids to not go through that there's this wicked un-Christian unbiblical philosophy out there like you need to just let these kids go out and sin and experience things and what they what people mean we got they got to go out and live life yeah they got to go out and experience sin wrong that is evil wicked and has nothing to do with the Bible plan a is always the best plan a is always the best but you know what God always has a plan B and a plan C and a plan M and a plan S and a plan Y for you God always has something and yeah you know what plan a is always the best and maybe if you don't listen to the first hundred and fifty thousand phone calls in your life from God maybe there's not that many options maybe you know your options are just to get in a church and be of service in that church in your life be of service to someone in a ministry maybe you've gone and and and messed up your life to a point where you could never be qualified to be a pastor and but maybe that's plan D is something else for you is to support a ministry support a pastor look at John chapter 15 you know maybe it's just to be a blessing just to be a soul winner to a ministry look at John chapter 15 verse number 2 now John chapter 15 we see this great analogy we see this great analogy here of God wanting a Christian to be fruitful so we see someone who's not the extremes here's the spectrum the spectrum is no fruit and fruitful and people will take this and mean it's it's an analogy talking comparing you to a branch and talking about you know the difference between someone who is not fruitful and someone who is fruitful look at verse 2 it says every branch in me that beareth not fruit he takeeth away this is this is where I have written next to my Bible Saul here someone is just it was just he was just a train wreck of a Christian just a complete wreck of a Christian God literally took him off this earth he took him away he didn't take away his salvation but he he chast the soul was chastised his entire Christian life and it ended in his death I mean train wreck but look at the next one in every branch that beareth fruit now this is so interesting right here so we see unfruitful Christian look there's a lot of unfruitful Christians folks the majority of Christians are unfruitful but one that beareth fruit look at this he purgeeth it like oh that it may bring forth more fruit you know what the God is saying there he's saying a Christian who decides to grow in his Christian life God is going to continually prune you is what the Bible is saying it's like he's gonna he's gonna come after you and he's gonna he's gonna follow you and he's gonna he's gonna make sure that you don't you know you got a branch that's coming off that's going off into sin he's gonna he's gonna chastise you why to get you back into that ideal fruitful state he wants you to bear more fruit so the Bible is saying here is that you know he's gonna keep calling you and calling you and calling you and calling you and chastising you when you need it just to make you why more fruitful look at verse it says now you're clean through the word which I have spoken unto you how's he gonna do that through the Bible through you reading the Bible through you coming to church listening to preaching a bite in me and I and you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine no more can ye except you abide in me abide in me who's that Jesus the word the word become flesh abide in the word of God I am the vine here the branches he that abideth and me and I and him the same what it's not talking about salvation the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing we get anybody saved without the word of God nope if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned and people be like see you go to hell they know it's an analogy talking about sticks it's talking about branches sticks talking about a stick a Christian that is not abiding in God that is not listening to the word that is not doing anything that is not bearing fruit is worthless what do you do with the worthless branch you burn it that's what it's talking about if you abide in me and my word abide my words abide in you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you I mean that's a pretty good benefit right there of being a fruitful Christian he's literally saying I'm going to listen to your prayers he's literally saying I'm going to help you in your prayers verse 8 herein is my father glorified that what that you bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples as the father earth loved me so I've loved you continue ye in my love that's if you love me keep my commandments if he loved me pick up the phone pruning you calling you correcting you telling you what to do correcting you again all we have to do is just keep going in this this methodology that God's telling us about here's warning us he's telling us you know here's what you're supposed to be doing but here's the worst thing folks here's the worst thing that a Christian could do the worst thing that a Christian could do is letting past sins define their future letting past missed calls past well I didn't listen to God here in my life and I made a mess of some things and I got this big tangled ball and I'm going to let this you know these past sins define my future and I'm going to let these past sins justify future sins I mean it's it's crazy it's crazy you know turn to Matthew chapter 18 somebody asked me one time actually use this example and this example was was used by my son today out soul winning but I use this example all the time soul winning I say I say you know when I'm explaining eternal security I say well and I'm explaining really what I'm explaining is Hebrews 12 6 where you know you know whom God love if he chasing it he chasing it every son and you know if we're not you know how can you just say that all you have to do is trust on Jesus because once you become a son once you become adopted into God's family he's going to chase in his children he's going to punish you on this earth so you explain that chastening and I always say this when I'm out soul winning I'm saying I always say you know how like you know God will never let us out of his hand but he'll chase in us I always say well if my son grew up to be a wicked adult you know and I never I never you know really it always kind of like makes me cringe to say it but say my son you know he's always standing next to me grew up to be a wicked adult and I kicked him out of my house and then I always ask the question would he would he still be my son and I've never had anyone say no he would not be your son anymore but the point is I've actually had somebody asked me that question like well what if yours would have one of your kids turned out to be a wicked person or whatever and you know I remember when I was asked this question by somebody and like I was offended I mean I was a little I mean you know you just even the thought of that is is offensive but family and you know family that goes the wrong way and whether that's your fault I mean because look if one of my children God forbid would ever go off and I would have some fault in that you know that would be you know because I you know something happened but there it there does become a point folks where the victim becomes the perpetrator you know where where children become adults and they they grow up and they make their own decisions and they become the perpetrator but the thing that you need to understand is that family especially you know children they are not given some special status over God they are not given some special status to where they can now destroy my spiritual life and that's what you need to understand that nothing should stop these phone calls past mistakes that we've all made should never stop our spiritual life going forward should never stop if I miss some calls in the past doesn't mean I should stop making or stop picking up the phone in the future but again and again and again you know that parent that may be messed up you know with their children and didn't do things the way God wanted because look God's way will work a hundred percent if it if it doesn't work it's because we didn't do it right I mean I've seen parents literally sacrifice other children for certain children sacrifice the spiritual lives of their more spiritual children for a child that's not spiritual at all that's into sin and wickedness this here's the thing you have to understand all of this in Matthew 18 when you know you are too just when you confront someone and you talk to them I mean you go and you talk to a child that's maybe not doing the right thing who's an adult now or whatever that is and and they will not receive that you know they're saved but they're just not receiving you know the correction look they need to be treated as he as the heathen man and a publican as the Bible says I mean that's hard to hear but they cannot derail your Christian life that is not the right answer you have to think like what about your other children and especially in this in the case of a safe person who's a soul winner and then you know is just gonna like chase around some wicked child and go and bail them out everywhere or whatever it is and derail their own spiritual life for this situation here's the thing we're not to step in front of God's blows people are to be chastised by God and we're not to step in front of that and try to lighten God's chastisement sometimes even people in our own families will need chastisement and we need to be prepared to not allow that to affect our spiritual lives because guess what folks I mean a soul winner a soul winner leaves a soul winning church people are gonna go to hell because of that people are not gonna get saved because of that soul and are being knocked out of the Christian life I mean it requires I mean rule of thumb is this if it requires a sacrifice of your spiritual life it is not of God that's just a rule of thumb period and especially for soul winners like soul winners and I'll say this again soul winners need to be tougher than the average Christian because whatever crack you have got Satan is gonna try to drive wedges in those cracks he's got to get you to stop he can't take away your salvation he can't make you go to hell he can't do anything to stop the fact that you are saved but he can knock you out of this Christian life look I've seen a lot of people knocked out of the Christian life and they knocked out of the Christian life for various reasons but to them at that time they're thinking oh yeah this is something I need to handle here and they're knocked out of they take themselves out of the Christian life it's not of God it's not of God look hell is real folks this is not a plastic hell we're talking about hell is a real thing and if these people don't get saved out here in Fresno in these neighborhoods and they die tomorrow they're gonna go there it is a extremely serious thing and Satan will try anything you've got a target on your back if you're somebody that's out there given the gospel running from work not picking up the phone doesn't work you're eternally saved but you can be chastised every day on this earth that's the lesson here in this first part of Jonah look why not answer why not answer why not learn the Lord's will in your life and then you know what I mean it's kind of like first Kings chapter 18 where Elijah says you know he's like he's like how long hold you between two opinions you know when you you just decide you got to make a decision in your Christian life that you're just gonna you're just gonna start learning what God wants for you start picking up the phone and then you're just gonna you're just gonna go for it you're not gonna waiver on things you're like oh you know look everybody gets doubts about everything it's normal it's normal it's the devil just blast through any resistance this is why being unstable will ruin your life this is why the Bible talks so much about you know doing the word of God not just hearing it but doing it and being a stable person because that way when you hit that resistance like look my life is pretty simple you say it doesn't seem like you have a simple my life is pretty simple I literally do the same things every week and sometimes I feel different about certain things but I just keep doing the same things because I know what I'm supposed to do you just keep just blasting through any resistance just make a decision you know follow him that's what that's what he says that's he says in first Kings chapter 18 if the Lord be God what is the next he says follow him just make a decision bail if bail be God follow him but you all know that already that bails God the Lord be God if this Bible is true which you know it's true it's how you got saved follow it pick up the phone blast through any resistance look it it just answer calls in your life running from God does not work and being part of this church you are gonna know what God wants for you for sure you are gonna know especially by time you get to be a soul in here and you're out there preaching the gospel you're gonna know the Bible better than 99.99% of people you run across and you know that's true if you're a soul winner nobody knows anything about the Bible but just listen and just decide you're gonna follow it because running from God does not work that's what you learned from Jonah in part one of this story let's bow our heads and have a word of word of prayer