Well, we've been talking about being rooted in the Word of God

and how to stand through the storms of life. We're going to

continue with that theme. You know, When you run from God,
things don't go well. I was going to be talking today about a
subject called fire and rain, but I've decided to go back to 1 of my
favorite stories in the Bible, and it's the story of Jonah. And in the
story of Jonah, you've got a very important lesson that tells us
about...

Tells us about Jesus. Tells us about surrendering to the will of

God, and it tells us about the blessings that come to ourselves
and others as we do that, and the storms that we may encounter
when we run from God and His will. Now, there's a statement that
Jesus makes in Matthew 12, verse 39. Here the Lord says, An evil
and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be
given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was 3
days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of
Man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.

It's interesting that Jesus said no sign would be given but the sign
of Jonah. And here in the Bible, God tells us about Jonah and what
happened with him. Now, The story of Jonah is a true story. And
some people say, you know, Pastor Doug, how can you believe
that story of Jonah? It reminds me of a man that was riding on a
bus 1 day, and he used to go home from work all the time, and
there was his grandma that was on the bus, and he always saw
her reading the Bible.

Well, this man was an atheist, and they got to know each other
because they rode the same bus every day. She'd go and babysit
for her daughter, and he'd be going home from work. And he said,
Grandma, he said, I see you reading that Bible everyday riding
the bus, and he said, do you believe the Bible is true? And she
said, yes sir, I believe it's true. He said, you really believe that
God made the world in 6 literal days?

She said, Yes, I do. The Bible says so. I believe it. And he said,
Now, pardon me. He said, It's hard for me to comprehend, but you
really believe that the Lord parted the Red Sea and the children of
Israel went across?

I do. God's Word says it. I believe it. And you believe that Noah
built the boat and there were 2 of all the animals on there? She
said at least 2, some of them were sevens.

And he said, I suppose you believe that Jonah was in the belly of
the fish 3 days and 3 nights. He said, God's word says it and I
believe it. He said, how could someone survive in a fish for 3 days
and 3 nights? She said, well I don't exactly know when I get to
heaven I'll ask Jonah. He said, well what if Jonah's not in heaven?

She said, then I guess you'll have to ask him. Laughter But it's a
true story that you find in the Word of God about the prophet
Jonah. And so, it begins by telling us that Jonah, the word of the
Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise and go to
Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it for their
wickedness, the word that I'll give you. But Jonah didn't want to
go. And so instead of arising and going to Nineveh, he gets up
and he goes the opposite direction and he goes to Tarshish.

Now Tarshish was as far away as you could get in the known
world back then. You know, you probably heard that marine song
where it talks about Timbuktu. Actually, it was the shores of
Tripoli. I'm thinking about something else. Timbuktu actually was
the furthest marine base at 1 time.

And you ever heard a person say, well he went all the way to
Timbuktu? Well back in Bible times if you were going to go
somewhere that was just so far away you would say Tarshish,
because Tarshish was on the coast of Spain just before you went
out into the Atlantic Ocean and they figured it was the ends of the
earth and it's really saying he's going as far away as he could
possibly get. Now Nineveh, where he was being told to go was
east, he goes west God's word says arise, but instead of arising
he goes down, the word of God is there to elevate you. Now the
story of Jonah is a true story, 1 reason I know it's true is because
Jesus says it's true. Some people say, you know, you can believe
in evolution and still believe the Bible.

I don't believe that. Because Jesus said, if you don't believe

Moses, you don't believe me. And if you don't believe Jonah, you
don't believe Jesus, because Jesus talked about Jonah, that he's a
real character. For 1 thing, you can also find reference to Jonah
and the prophecies of Jonah in 2 Kings 14, verse 25. It tells about
Jonah, who lived during the reign of Jeroboam II between 790 and
750.

He was a prophet typically to the Israelites. But now God is asking

Jonah to go to the enemy and to prophesy doom and judgment on
them. Now that would not be very popular. I mean, can you
imagine like, you know, a Jewish prophet going through ISIS-held
territory today telling them that their gods are all wrong? How
long would they last?
Well, that's about what he was expecting. And then he thought to
himself, we don't care much for the Ninevites. They've not been
very good to us. And if I don't go preach to them, then maybe God
will judge them in good riddance. He didn't love his enemy.

He wanted to see his enemy destroyed. So he gets up and he

goes the opposite direction. Now the Bible never says doing God's
will is going to be easy, but it will always be better. A number of
the storms that you encounter in your life will be of your own
making. And when Jonah ran from God, he encountered a storm.

Now, that storm was due to his disobedience. It was a

supernatural storm, but the storm came because God wanted to
save him and save others through it. You'll see before the story's
over how that worked. So Jonah arises, and he flees to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord. Now, can you flee from God's
presence?

Have you read in Psalm 139, verse 7? Where can I go from your
spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? Where can you hide
from God? You can't even hide from man now, there's cameras
everywhere.

Almost everything you're doing, and someone's going to pull out a

camera. And now people even pull out cameras to tape people
that are taping others that are taping people with their cameras.
And so it's like everything's being recorded, but you know, that's
not only with recent technology. The Bible tells us ever since the
beginning, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole
earth. Everything is being recorded.
Jesus said, in the judgment you will give an account for every idle
word that you speak. He even knows the thoughts of your heart.
So nothing's hidden from the Lord. How a prophet can think that
he's going to run and hide from God is really absurd when you
think about it. But in desperation, maybe he thought out of sight,
out of mind.

If I just go another direction, maybe God will find a different

prophet. So he gets up and he goes down to Joppa. And from
Joppa, he maybe tells himself, well, maybe I can find a ship. You
know, I'm going to look for providential openings. Maybe God will
let me off the hook and I won't have to do His will and I won't
have to bear this message.

I tell you what, he starts making deals in his head. If I get to Joppa
and I find that there's a ship going to Tarshish, I'll take it as a sign
that everything's going to be okay and God will leave me alone.
So he goes down to the harbor, sure enough there's a ship that's
going to Tarshish. Tarshish was my mother's maiden name. My
mother's Jewish, and my grandfather says that we're related to
Jonah, but he also told us a lot of other stories I don't believe, so
I'm not so sure of that.

And then he thinks, well, there's a ship, but maybe there's no

room on the ship. If there's a ship and there's room for at least 1
more passenger, so he inquires at the ship, the boarding plank,
and they say, yeah, it just so happens we got room down in the
bottom on the stern for 1 more person. He says, Oh great. And
then he thinks, well maybe I don't have the money, how much is
it? And he says, Lord if I've got enough money and they've got
room, I'll take it as a sign that everything's okay and it's okay that
I don't do your will.

And they say, well it's you know, 5 shekels. And sure enough, he
digs around in his pocket, he's got just enough. And so he starts
to feel like, well, look, this is providential. God is going to just
forget what the Word of the Lord said, you know, and he's going
to let me go and I'll be off the hook. I really didn't want to go, talk
to my enemy.

You know the Bible tells us that you have to pay a fare. It says
Jonah paid the fare and he went into the ship. He went down to
Joppa, he went down into the ship. He's getting ready to go down
into the ship. He's getting ready to go down 1 more time.

When you run from God, you tend to go down, down, down. You
know what they say about a drowning victim? They'll bob to the
surface about 3 times and they go down. And so he gets down in
the ship and he figures, oh, everything's okay. Even the weather's
good.

So they take off, gentle breeze, sun's going down. He's taking a
sunset cruise and he thinks, hey, this isn't so bad. He actually
drifts off into a deep, peaceful sleep. Is that how we determine
the will of God? By circumstances?

A lot of people talk themselves into believing that when they're

disobeying God, somehow it's okay. You'd think a prophet would
know better. You would think a church member would know
better. But I've done counseling before where I'll have a couple
come talk to me, and it's a man and his girlfriend. They're both
cheating on their wives, and they'll say, Brother Doug, you know,
we've both filed for divorce, we married the wrong people, and
this is my secretary, and we just click, and we study the Bible
together, and we just have such peace about a relationship, we
know what the commandment says, but we just see the Lord is in
this.

Now, you might think, I'm making this up, I am serious, I can't
count how many times people have told me things like this, where
they've got themselves convinced that the Word of the Lord
doesn't really mean what it says. God's Word does not need
changing. We need changing. And especially for Seventh-day
Adventists living in the last days, you're going to be under
incredible pressure from the Christian world when they start to
say, why are you making such a big deal out of 1 commandment?
As long as you keep a seventh day, does it really matter if it's the
seventh day?

And if you're worshiping God and you're sincere and you're going
to tell me that God hasn't blessed us in our services over all those
hundreds of Sundays, thousands of Sundays, who do you think
you are? I mean, the arguments are great. And you're going to
have to say, that all may be great, but let me tell you what the
Bible says. Thus says the Lord, heaven and earth will pass away,
my word will not pass away. And God doesn't say a seventh day,
he says the seventh day.

And you're going to have to know how you can be firmly planted
and rooted on the Word of God. The Bible says in the last days the
deceptions are going to be so convincing that if it were possible
even the very elect would be deceived. You're going to have to
know not only what you believe, but how to defend what you
believe. And Jonah somehow, a prophet of God, a bright star in
Israel, was getting ready to go down. Somehow convinced himself
he didn't really have to do the Word of God.

Now, that's another thing, is why we're talking about the Word of
God. I've met a lot of people that seem to have lasting chronology
really clear in their minds, but they've not surrendered their
hearts. Or they're living in disobedience in some other area. And
they figure, as long as I'm studying the times and the seasons
and the prophecies, I can live in defiance to God's Word in this
area. You know, for all you know, Jonah was eating vegetarian
meals on his cruise.

Did that justify his running from God? So there are blessings that
go with every area of obedience, but don't think because you're
obeying God and conservative in these areas that that somehow
gives you permission to be defiant of the Word of God in this area.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by most of the words that
proceed from the mouth of God. Every word. Not everyone that
says, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom, but he that does the will
of my Father which is in heaven.

Don't be hearers of the word and not doers deceiving yourselves.

God wants us to make Him our Lord, which means we obey Him.
So Jonah's running from God. And you know what? He's enjoying
the first part of his cruise.

There are pleasures that go along with sin, but they do not last. I
used to drink. I didn't quit drinking because I didn't enjoy some of
the effects of drinking. Sometimes it felt good, that, you know,
lightheaded, happy feeling of being intoxicated. I didn't quit
smoking because I had emphysema.

I enjoyed smoking. I even, while I was smoking, I could hold my

breath for 4 minutes. I could. So I didn't quit because of that. I
enjoyed it.

I quit because I knew God wanted me to. So there's certain

pleasures in sin. The prodigal son ran away from home. He had a
good time for a while. He had riotous living.

We don't know, it might have been months or even years. But

eventually the famine will come and he got hit with a storm that
landed him in a pig pen. So Jonah's enjoying the first part of his
cruise. Seems like everything's going fine, but you can't run from
God. Jeremiah 23, 23, I am God, I'm a God near at hand, says the
Lord, and not a God far off.

Can anyone hide himself in secret places so I will not see him?
You ought to underline that 1. Can anyone hide himself in secret
places so I don't see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth and the
sea? But the Lord loved Jonah, and in an effort to save Jonah,
even those with him, he sends a storm.

But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a
mighty tempest." Notice it's not just any kind of a wind or any
kind of a tempest, it's a great wind, and it is a mighty tempest on
the sea. So the ship was about to be broken up. Now the
Phoenicians made some pretty good boats, And this storm was so
severe that just it came on them. It was almost like a supernatural
squall. And the waves were beating against the ship and they
could feel as it went up on the crest of 1 wave and then part of
the boat went over the crest and all the forces were pivoting on 1
point.

They could hear it creak and groan and then it would dive down
into the trough and the canyon of the next wave and come up
again. They felt all the G-forces and pulling them and groaning
the ship again. And the water's starting to come in through the
seams and they're bailing as fast as they can. The men were
afraid for their lives. Why does God send storms?

We're often saved through the trouble that God gives us.
Sometimes he disciplines us through storms. Hebrews 12, 5,
"'Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as
sons? My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be
discouraged when you're rebuked by him. For whom the Lord
loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He
receives.

Job 5, 7, Happy is the man that God corrects, therefore do not

despise the chastening of the Almighty. Psalm 119, I know, this is
verse 75, O Lord, that your judgments are right, and in
faithfulness you have afflicted me. Because He loves you. Jesus
says in Revelation 3, verse 19, as many as I love I rebuke and
chasten. So there can be struggles.

You know, it's in storms that we often find the Lord. Have you
ever read Psalm 107? I'm going to go there real quick. Psalm 107,
I think it's going to begin with verse 23. There's actually a hymn
in our hymn books that talks about those that go down into the
sea.

They see the works of the Lord. And I go to verse 23. Those who
go down to the sea and ships who do business on the great
waters, they see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the
deep. For he commands, and he raises the stormy wind, which
lifts the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go
down again to the depths.

Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and
stagger like a drunken man. You ever seen people try and walk in
on the deck of a ship? My father used to take our family on
cruises periodically out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami, and he'd just
bring the whole family and we'd all go on a cruise. And once or
twice we got stuck in a storm.

And you've got all these retirees that are there just trying to
relax, and the ship is pitching and rolling. You see them, they're
kind of... And they're not drunk. They're just staggering like
they're drunk because the ship is rocking. So I know exactly what
the prophet's talking about here.

Their soul melts, they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken
man. They're at their wits end. Then they cry to the Lord. Notice
in the storm, in their trouble. Sometimes you have to get a
burden on your back before you get on your knees.

Sometimes you need a heavy load. Sometimes it takes a storm.

Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them
out of their distress. He calms the storm so its waves are still.
Then they are glad because they're quiet.

So He guides them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would

give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and His wonderful works
to the children of men." Yes, He sends storms sometimes. He
sends trouble because He loves us. Now, you're wise if you learn
from your mistakes. You're wiser still if you learn from the
mistakes of others.

Don't run from God. Learn from Jonah that it doesn't go well. God
sent out a violent storm and they were all terrified. The Bible tells
us it's through tribulation we will enter the kingdom of God. A
gem is not polished by just leaving it alone.

It's polished by rubbing, and a man cannot be made perfect

without trials. We're often going to go through these things. So
the mariners were afraid, and they cried every man to his God.
This is a small g. And they cast forth the wares that were in the
ship into the sea to lighten it of them.

But Jonah was gone down in the sides of the ship, Now, Jonah
here, picture this. He's in this ship that is about to be destroyed.
All the sailors are up on the deck praying. They are ready to
sacrifice everything. They're throwing all their valuables
overboard.

The 1 who knows the living God who caused the storm, what is he
doing? He's asleep. You know, 1 reason the story of Jonah is in the
Bible, it's a message to the Jewish nation that he wanted them to
reach the Gentiles. They knew the living God, and they were often
sleeping when they should have been praying. Sometimes the
children of the world pray better than the children of light.

I've got a friend I play racquetball with. He's a Muslim, and

sometimes he'll disappear in the middle of a set of games and he
goes into another room and he prays and then he comes back
and I think you know while I would respectfully disagree with his
religion and how he worships I admire his devotion There's a lot of
Christians I know that don't pray 5 times a day. The Bible says,
morning, evening, and at noon will I pray. Daniel prayed 3 times a
day. Daniel read Psalm 55, 17.

What's your devotional life like? Sailors, the pagans are up there
on the deck praying. They don't even know God. The 1 who knows
Jehovah is snoring. Have you ever noticed that the crucial times in
biblical history, God's people are often asleep?

Just before Jesus talks to Moses and Elijah on top of the mountain,
He wants His disciples to pray with Him, but they were heavy with
sleep. In the Garden of Gethsemane before the cross, He says,
pray with Me, And they go to sleep because the Spirit's willing,
but the flesh is weak. And Jesus, speaking of the second coming,
He said, it's like these 10 virgins and 100% were asleep. When
the cry is heard, the bridegroom is coming. But you don't have to
be asleep.

Paul said, you are not children of the night, you are children of the
day, so you should be awake and you should be watching. Jesus
said in Mark chapter 13, 5 times I think he says, watch, watch,
watch, watch, lest that day come and overtake you as a thief or
lest he come and find you sleeping. He wants us to be awake.
Peter says, be sober, be vigilant. Your adversary, the devil, is
going around as a roaring lion seeking whom He might devour,
who we can resist steadfast in the faith.

But we got to be awake, spiritually awake. That's why we got to

keep each other awake. Matter of fact, you might just elbow the
person next to you right now and just say, Are you awake? Don't
do that. They might disrupt their dreams.

So here he's sleeping before judgment. They're praying. Jonah's

snoring. This is where I think the story gets really interesting. So
the mariners were afraid and they cried out every man to his God
and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea.

They were willing to unload. Are you willing to unload? You know,
1 of the ways that people get trapped is by materialism. We end
up collecting stuff. Karen and I just kind of went through a little bit
of a crisis because Nathan is the youngest of our tribe, and after
he went to college, we realized we don't need quite as much
house anymore, and so we downsized.

But after living in the same house for 23 years, and you move into
a smaller house with less storage, Well, I tell you, it was a crisis of
faith. I'll tell you a law of life. It's not in the Bible, but just take my
word for it. Whatever space you have will fill. That's a truth.

It is true. Whatever space you have, you will fill it with something.
So if you want to be full of the Lord, you got to make a conscious
effort because if you do not choose to fill yourself with the Lord,
that space is going to be filled with something else. And so that's
why we got to make conscious efforts to feed on the Word of God.
But they were willing to throw it all overboard because what profit
is it if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul?

They were willing to sacrifice everything. I was telling you my

testimony last night and I mentioned I had a brother that had
cystic fibrosis and he lasted until 35 which is pretty good. I think
the odds are even better to me but that was good for back then.
And I remember shortly before my brother's final illness we went I
went to see him in Miami Beach and he would walk around the
used to run around the golf course to try to clear his lungs out so
he could keep breathing and he couldn't really run he was walking
he'd stop and he'd cough and he'd walk a little more. Now I'm the
black sheep of the family I mean I ran away and did the whole
hippie drug thing and in and out of jail.

And it just, yeah, I was definitely the prodigal. My brother went to

college, stayed at home, tried to work for dad as long as his
health would afford, had a nice home on the water in Miami
Beach, the boat, the nice car, all that stuff. And we're walking
around the golf course, and my brother says, Doug, you're lucky.
He said, and life is not fair. He said, here, I'm so smart and I'm
sick.

And he said, and you're so healthy, but you're stupid. And, you
know, brothers can do that. And he said, I would give everything I
have if I could have your lungs and live a little longer. That's why
he used to get so mad at me when I smoked. He said, Man, I'm
trying to take care of the lungs I've got.
He says, You've got healthy lungs and you're wrecking them. He
said, I'd give everything I have if I could have your lungs and live
a little longer. And I thought to myself, He would give up every
earthly possession for just a little more of this life and yet we're
sometimes reluctant to sacrifice anything for Jesus and
everlasting life, not only for ourselves, We're reluctant to give it
up that others might have everlasting life. You know, we've got
the resources to spread the gospel. Problem is that they're still in
our pockets.

In the last days when the Lord comes, the vast part of the wealth
of God's people is probably going to end up being useless
because we tend to hoard. But when those sailors realized they
were going down, all that stuff was just sinking them. They threw
it overboard. When I lived up in the mountains, periodically, It's
very rugged terrain. People frequently got lost.

And sometimes they'd say, Doug, can you show us up Talkwitz

Canyon? And I knew it pretty well. I'd say, yeah. You know, I'd
meet them. I'd say, all right, I'll meet you at the market such and
such a day and time.

I had no cell phone. And I'd meet them there at the market, and
they'd have this big, tall backpack with a sleeping bag strapped
on top. You know, they got a sleeping bag that's good for 40
below 0. And I said, you realize we're in the desert of Palm
Springs. You probably don't need a 40 below 0 sleeping bag and
then they'd have the backpack full of canned food and I'd say you
know that stuff is kind of heavy and they'd have their camera and
they had their canteen and their thermos and they'd have beer
and all kinds of things you wouldn't believe the things that people
brought or tried to bring.

I met 1 guy that carried a 10-speed bicycle up into the canyon

and there's nowhere to ride it. I'm serious. I don't know that he
was well, but he did. He brought a 10-speed bicycle up there. And
as we'd be hiking up the first really steep spot, it's like 45
degrees, you know, an hour, zigzag back forth up and down the
hill in the desert, out in the sun, they'd start saying, oh, this is
getting heavy.

They'd be huffing and puffing, you know, and I used to just go.
And they'd go, you know, 20 yards. They'd say, can we rest? You
know, go another 20, can we rest? And I'd say, well, you know, I
told you, you didn't need all that stuff.

And so they'd start looking for rocks where they could hide.
They'd say, well, maybe I could just stick this under here and I'll
stick that under there and I'll get it on my way down. Well, the
short version of the story is when I first moved into the
mountains, I had 1 sleeping bag, 1 frying pan, 1 pot, a fork, knife,
spoon. When I left a year and a half later, I had 13 sleeping bags. I
had enough pots and pans and silverware and things.

I could open a restaurant. I mean, people just, they realize, hey,

I'm going to die up here. I need to unload. Suddenly, this precious
camping gear they bought, these tents and things they bought,
this... What profit is it if I die up here through exhaustion with my
tent, you know?
And they just started unloading this stuff. Sometimes that's what
it takes. We got to reach a crisis and a storm before we start
realizing what really matters. I told you that some of our friends in
California just lost their homes in this fire. And they said it really
helps you prioritize when you lose everything in a fire.

And there's things you miss and there's no doubt tears, but I'll tell
you Christians handle it a lot better because they know it's all
going to burn eventually. We're not going to take it with us. And
all the stuff you're saving for your kids, you think they really want
it all? They just don't have the heart to tell you they don't want it
all. They don't want to seem unappreciative because there might
be a couple things they want, but they don't want most of it.

The money they want, the stuff they don't want. All the memories,
throwing it overboard. And while they're looking for new things to
throw overboard, The ship master begins to go below deck, the
captain. This is Jonah 1.6. And while he's looking for something
else, he finds Jonah sleeping.

He says, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise and call on thy

God. If so, be that God will think upon us that we perish not. Now,
this is where the story gets very interesting for me. Jesus said no
sign would be given but the sign of Jonah.

And now the captain wakes up Jonah and he says, Arise that we
do not perish. Was Jesus asleep in a boat during a storm? Did they
wake Him up and say, Master, carest thou not that we're
perishing? No sign will be given but the sign of Jonah. Not only
that, the Bible says Jonah was in the bottom of the ship and it
says Jesus was in the rear, in the stern.
That's the lowest part of the ship. In a storm, both asleep, wake
him up that we might not perish. Finally, He comes staggering up
on deck and He sees the melee of the storm around Him and the
sailors are on their knees, they're praying and everybody's kind of
clinging to something on the deck as the boat is pitching and
rocking in every direction, and they realize this is a supernatural
storm. So they cast lots to find out for whose cause this storm has
come upon them. Do you remember something about casting lots
at the cross?

And the lot fell on Jonah. And the lot fell on Jonah. Now, they're
not exactly sure, but they have a suspicion. 1 of the ways they
used to do this in Bible times is there was like a clay jar, and it
had a narrow mouth, and they'd take all these stones that were
about the same size and they'd have all these black stones and 1
white 1. And Karen and I were just on a beach in Maui a few
weeks ago and It was a very odd looking beach because
everything on the beach was formed either by the white coral or
the black lava, and it looked like a chess board.

The rocks were all black or all white. I took a picture of it and said
this is very odd, nothing in between. Because they either were
formed by water or fire. Kind of strange, huh? So they take these
stones and they put all, you know, if there were 20 sailors, they'd
put 19 black ones in and they'd put 1 white 1 in, and they'd drop
out 1 at a time in front of each of the participants and whoever
got the stone, the lot fell on him.

That was 1 of the few ways they would cast lots. We call it
drawing straws, whoever gets the short stick or the short straw.
And so they had this method of trying to determine. The gods are
angry, they thought, and it's a supernatural storm and the Lord
needs to pinpoint for us who is the culprit here. Jonah already
knew how this was going to end, didn't he?

For 1 thing, he's a prophet, so he already knows. And sure

enough, they cast lots. He's probably not even looking. He knows
what's going to happen. He's running from God.

He caused the storm. And the lot falls on him. You know, there
are 13 questions in the book of Jonah. They get ready to ask Him
7 questions now. For whose cause is this trouble upon us?

What is your occupation? I'm a messenger of God. The trouble is

because of sin. Where do you come from? I'm fleeing from the
presence of God, if you have to know.

Why would you flee from the presence of God? The whole purpose
of salvation is to live in the presence of God. Do you know why
we're in trouble today? God went looking for Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden. They fled from His presence.

God never ran from us. Let's get the record straight. We ran from
Him. First question in the Bible, the first question is the devil
saying, half God said. The devil questioning the Word of God.

The next question is God saying, where are you? First question in
the New Testament, the wise men are saying, where is he? We've
been separated because of sin. God has been pursuing us. And if
we'd stop running from him, he said, I ran from the presence of
God.

What is your country? Israel. Who are your people? I'm a Hebrew.
He said, I'm a Hebrew.

And this really made him nervous. I worship the God of heaven
who made the sea and the dry land. Well, they were having
problems with the sea at that very moment. They said, ah, that
explains everything. Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and
they said to him, by the way, you notice that exceedingly afraid?

That very phrase is used with the storm and Jesus and the
apostles. After Jesus calms the storm, it says, they were
exceedingly afraid. They were exceedingly afraid, and they said
to Him, Why have you done this? Now, He doesn't really answer
that question. Why would you run from God?

Why would you want your will instead of God's will? Do you really
even logically think that you know the future better than He does?
Do you really believe that your plan for your life is better than
God's plan for your life? Do you realize even just thinking that is
idiotic? That's like saying, I'm a better God than He is.

Of course, it's going to end badly if you run from God and you say,
my plan is going to be better than your plan. We end up self-
destructing when we do that. Finally, they said, what shall we do
to you that the sea might be calm for us? For the sea was growing
more tempestuous." You notice it keeps saying it's getting more
tempestuous. He tells them, pick me up and throw me into the
sea, then the sea will be calm for you.

This is Jonah 1, verse 12. For I know that this great tempest is
because of me." You know, all of the storms and trouble that you
have in life is really because of the devil's anger for Christ and his
people. It's all because of a great controversy between good and
evil. And You and I have been caught up in the war, whether you
like it or not, so you may as well choose the winning team. Amen?

It's all because of me. And Christ said, if I am lifted up from the
earth, I will draw all people to myself. Now, I thought, why didn't
Jonah just jump overboard? Why did he say, you've got to offer
me? Because Jonah's a type of Christ in this story, and we must
realize that we are responsible.

All of us, in a sense, crucified the Lord. He didn't just die for the
sins of the whole world, He died for my sins. My sins, personally,
are responsible for the sufferings and death of Christ, and yours
are. And we all need to realize that it was for us. It's like Peter had
that epiphany there in the garden or in the tomb, I'm sorry, during
the trial of Christ when he turns and he looks at Jesus in the
judgment hall and Peter denies Christ for the third time and then
a soldier hits Christ and Peter somehow realized that Jesus was
being bludgeoned for his sins.

And that broke his heart. He went out and he wept bitterly. He
finally took personal responsibility for the sufferings of Christ. And
Once we realize Jesus really died for us, it's easier to love Him,
not just that He died for this big kind of general nebulous world
out there. He knew you, He saw you, He died for you, for your
sins.

Jonah said, you got to take me up. You need to throw me

overboard. Well, they didn't want to do that. It's interesting that
these pagans are more civilized than some of God's people. If
they were church members, they would have thrown them over
right away.

But they row hard. They go, we don't want to do that. They row
hard to return to land, but they could not. Do you remember
during the storm, the disciples tried to save themselves by rowing
and they couldn't do it. The sea continued to grow more
tempestuous against them.

So when they had rode about, you can see this where the
disciples rode and they finally saw Jesus walking in the water. We
talked about that. Finally, they got ready to throw him overboard.
Jonah 1.14, They cried out to the Lord and said, Lord, we pray,
please do not let us perish for this man's life and do not charge us
with innocent blood. Do you find that phrase at the cross?

What did Pilate say? I am innocent of the blood of this just person.
Pilate also was a pagan and he didn't want to be responsible. For
you O Lord has done as it pleased you. This is what the sailors
say.

Does it say in Isaiah 53, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him for
our sake. You start looking at the story of Jonah and you realize
that it is just exploding with meaning in the gospel. So the men
took up Jonah and they had 1 on each hand and 1 on each foot.
They said, 123. They hurled him over the side and he went
splashing down into the water.

And the sea instantly ceased its raging. Does that sound familiar?
Did Christ calm the sea? It was through the sacrifice of Jonah that
they found peace. It is through the sacrifice of Jesus that we find
peace.

And when the sea was calmed instantly, as soon as the sea
swallowed up Jonah, it flattened out, the clouds parted, the wind
stopped, the moon was shining. And then it says those sailors,
they got on their knees and they made offerings and vows to
Jehovah. It doesn't say God's, small g. It's the capital, the name of
God. They suddenly realized they needed to worship the God who
made everything, that Jonah's God was a God.

Even in running from God, Jonah is converting the lost. Can God
work all things together for good? So now Jonah's storm gets
really bad. And I remember reading a story by Max Liketo about
Chippy the parakeet, who was minding his own business 1 day in
his cage, tweeting, having a great time, and his owner, the lady,
decided to clean his cage. And so after she took the newspaper
out, she decided to vacuum up all the seeds and other debris.

And then the phone rang. And you know, if you're going to
vacuum, she pulled the little nozzle off the vacuum so you could
get it up real quick. And the phone rang and she turned to reach
for the phone and the edge of the cage hit the nozzle of vacuum,
the bar of the vacuum tilted up and she heard, and Chippy was
gone. Quickly, she hung up the phone and she turned off the
vacuum cleaner, She opened up the vacuum, took out the bag,
opened up the bag, and there with all of the dust and the crumbs
and the pieces of carpet was a very dazed-looking chippy, but still
alive. And she felt so bad, she took him to the kitchen sink and
turned on the water.

She realized he had left the hot water on. So first it was too hot,
so then she flipped over to the cold water and she's rinsing him
off. And then he was shivering. So she got the hair dryer. She
turns on the hair dryer and she blew him off.

And she put a very dazed, puffed up little bird back in his cage.
She told it to a friend who told it to a local reporter who wrote the
story. He asked a few days later, how's Chippy doing? And she
said, well, he seems to be okay, but he just stares out the window
and he doesn't really sing anymore Have you ever felt like you've
been sucked up, washed over, blown over, been through a storm?
Jonah's storm, it was over for the sailors, but it was really
beginning for him.

The Bible says that God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah,
and Jonah was in that fish for 3 days and 3 nights. Now, very
quickly, some people have wondered about the 3 days and 3
nights, and they say, Bible must not be true. Jesus died on Friday,
rose on Sunday. That's Friday night, Saturday night. That's not 3
nights, and it distinctly says 3 days and 3 nights.

And they say, Bible must not be true. Jesus died on Friday, rose
on Sunday. That's Friday night, Saturday night. That's not 3
nights. And it distinctly says 3 days and 3 nights.
And Jesus said there in Matthew 12, 3 days and 3 nights. So the
Bible must not be right. And I've met people who have tried to
change the date and the time for the crucifixion because they
figured maybe it must have been Wednesday. You ever run into
this before? Yeah.

You know where their problem is? When he says, As Jonah was in
the belly of the great fish 3 days and 3 nights, so the Son of Man
will be in the heart of the earth. They think the heart of the earth
means the tomb only, and it doesn't. Nowhere in the Bible does it
call the tomb the heart of the earth. You don't find that anywhere.

The heart of the earth is describing the sufferings of Christ, which

include the tomb, but his suffering for sin. When the father
withdrew from Jesus and like Jonah he began to suffer. Jonah was
alive for his suffering. Jesus was alive for his suffering. Jesus was
alive for his suffering.

The penalty for sin is really not just death, it's suffering according
to what you deserve in death. And there Thursday night in the
garden, Christ was betrayed. 3 times he says to the disciples, now
is the hour, Now is the hour, now is the hour, now is the hour.
Several times in his life before that, he said, this is not my hour.
But finally, after the New Testament is sealed in the upper room,
he gets to the garden, he says, now is the hour.

He said, Father, not my will, thy will be done 3 times. And the
third time, told the disciples, it's started, you may as well wake
up. The crowd came, they arrested him, and for the first time
Jesus did nothing to save himself. Every other time he just passed
through the mob. This time he let the mob take him.

And they began to brutally treat him and spit on him and pull out
his beard and whip him and all the suffering that went with the
penalty for our sins. Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night,
he was in the heart of the earth. He was in the clutches of the
devil. That word there, heart, is cardia. You recognize that, like
cardiac arrest.

It means the heart. The earth there means the world. The devil is
called the prince of this world. The father withdrew his protection
from Jesus and the Lord was in the hands of the devil and his
minions for 3 days and 3 nights like Jonah was taken by the sea
monster. And can you imagine what it would have been like to be
in the digestive system of a big creature?

We don't even know if it was a whale. It could have been a baleen

whale can't eat a man, a sperm whale can. Sperm whale eat giant
squid. We don't know what it was. I don't have a problem
worrying about what kind of fish it was.

The Bible says the Lord prepared a fish. It was a supernatural

storm. It could have been a supernatural fish. A few days later, he
had a supernatural gourd. So, I mean, you know, God did it.

I'm not worried about that. But that fish could have eaten
something else before he ate Jonah too. Maybe he had some
jellyfish. You ever been stung by a jellyfish? Some little octopus in
there, little suction cups all over his body in the dark.

All bioluminescent things, flashing, sea urchins, who knows what

was in there? Sushi. Can you imagine being sloshing around in
that hot, stinking? I can't stand the smell of fish. I go to a Thai
restaurant, I tell them 3 times, no fish sauce, no oyster sauce.

I've learned to say it in 4 languages. I don't want any... Because

you get that, it's just, it's on your breath all day. I can't imagine
being in that fish for 3 days and 3 nights. But You know, this is a
wonderful story because Jonah is now suffering the result that is
running from God.

And God finally got his attention and he prayed. Now, you might
think I've messed up my life and I've gone so far. I am so far from
God. I am down at the bottom of the mountains. Can you describe
anybody in the Bible who was further from God than Jonah when
Jonah was in the fish at the bottom of the ocean?

But Jonah prayed from there. Did God hear his prayer? Can you
turn to the Lord wherever you are? Will He hear you? Can He
change your circumstances no matter how hopeless?

I mean, who would have thought that story was going to end well
when Jonah was down there at the bottom of the ocean? Don't
underestimate what God can do. And when Jonah prayed, he let
Jonah suffer for a few days. Jonah prayed and it took a while. God
doesn't always answer your prayer right when you pray.
He knows the best time, but After 3 days and 3 nights, God spoke
to the fish, and the fish was given an inspired burp. And, you
know, God is loving because the fish could have burped him out
right where he was in the middle of the ocean, but he took him to
shore. Isn't God good? That fish beached himself and then burped
him out. I heard 1 preacher say, a hypocrite will even make a
whale sick.

And you know what? Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah and
said, Jonah, you've been through a lot. I'm going to change my
word for you. And so you just take some R&R right now. You need
to recover after that last cruise.

Is that what the Word of the Lord said? The Word of the Lord said,
Jonah, arise and go to Nineveh and do what I told you the first
time. Now, wouldn't it have been better for Jonah if he had
listened to the Word of the Lord The first time he heard the Word
of the Lord. You young people, you're thinking, you know, I know I
want to be a Christian, I want to serve the Lord, but hey, I've
finally gotten out of the house. My parents aren't looking over my
shoulder.

I want to get out there and, you know, find out for myself what's
going on. And you think you're going to take a side trip and then
come back when you feel like it? Do you really want to take a
detour through a fish? Because if you know the Word of God and
you're not surrendering to God, you're going to hit a storm. Do
you realize when Jonah was running from God, other people were
perishing?
While Jonah was running from God, until he surrendered, the
sailors were dying. The Ninevites were dying. It wasn't until Jonah
surrendered to God that people started being converted. Not only
were the sailors saved, you know the story, Jonah goes to Nineveh
and you have the biggest revival in the Bible. This 1 preacher
goes to Nineveh and a whole city with 120, 000 children is
converted and saved.

It even says the animals repent. Matter of fact, as you look at the
story of Jonah, it's incredible. Everything in the story of Jonah
listens to God, the sailors listen to God, the storm listens to God,
the captain listens to God, the fish listens to God, the worm
listens to God, the gourd listens to God, the Ninevites listen to
God, the king listens to God, the animals listen to God, the only 1
who doesn't listen to God, the only 1 who doesn't listen to God in
the story of Jonah is Jonah. You know what it makes me think of?
It's not only a lesson for the Jewish nation, it's a lesson for the
church today.

We are feasting among ourselves with the bread of life while

these beggars lay at our gate desiring the crumbs that fall from
our table. And we may discover that in the judgment they're
sitting with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and we're on the outside.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not just another church. God
has given this movement the truth. We have the bread of life, and
a lot of us like Jonah are running from God, and He's got a mission
for us.

But it doesn't begin until we surrender. You know, I usually start

with an amazing fact. I thought I'd end with my amazing fact this
time. March in 2015, outside of Lagos, Nigeria, A tugboat with 12
sailors was making its way about 10 miles off the coast. They got
hit by a freak wave and capsized.
11 out of the 12 drowned. The cook, Harrison O'Keene, was below
deck when it all happened. And all of a sudden he realized the
boat had turned upside down and everything was all disoriented.
Water began to rush in. He saw 2 of his friends get sucked out of
the boat.

He instinctively went up, which ended up being towards the

bottom of the ship, and he found himself in a pocket of air, and he
was there 100 feet below the surface on the sea floor, wondering
how long he would last. For 3 days and 3 nights, he was there in
the dark praying. And he was claiming a promise because his
wife, who was unsure, a Christian, texted him a scripture that was
on his phone. And it was a quote that said, Oh God, by your
name, save me. The Lord sustains my life.

Well, Harrison was down there in the dark, and gradually the
oxygen was depleting. And, you know, even though you're near
the equator, when you get 100 feet down, the water's cold. And
so he wondered how long he could hold off against the
hypothermia, sitting in there in the dark, praying, saying, Lord,
perform a miracle. Please save me. Well, 3 days later, this
recovery crew had been sent in to recover the bodies of the
sailors, and they went down with this special equipment to the
bottom of the ocean.

They're going up through the ship. They'd already recovered a

few bodies. And they get up into this 1 room. Harrison, he's
running out of air. He wonders if he's hallucinating.
All of a sudden the water begins to glow green below him. And he
was scared because he thought he had heard sharks bumping
against the outside of the ship. He didn't know if 1 of them had
found its way in or what was going on. Then bubbles began to
come up. Then he saw the helmet of this guy come up and he was
so scared, the guy in the diving suit was expecting to find bodies
and a hand reached out and grabbed him.

Ha ha ha. They've actually got a YouTube because He had a

camera running when it was all happening. And you can even see
the look on Harrison's face when he finally brings his mask up into
the pocket of air and there is this very surprised and happy and
exhausted survivor. He had been down there praying for 3 days.
Can God work miracles?

Yeah, there's a picture. That's the actual picture of Harrison

O'Keefe. Can God still work miracles in your life? When things
seem hopeless, can He save you from the storm? Do you want to
run from the Word of God?

Do you think your plan is better? Before we close this segment of

our weekend together, you know, I always like to pray. And if
there's some of you here today and you're thinking, you know, I
really need to surrender my life to the Lord. I don't want to run
from God. And you're willing to do that right now?

Before we close with prayer, would you be willing to stand where

you are and just say, Lord, I want to surrender. I want to serve
you and do your word and your will. He not only wants us to come
to Him because He loves us and He wants to save us, like Jonah,
He wants to save other people through you. And God will work
things together for good in your life. Father in heaven, we just
thank you for the presence of your spirit.

We thank you for the story in your word that you can change
hearts and lives. I pray that you'll be with each 1 of these dear
people, Lord. I don't know exactly what the particulars are of how
they may be struggling to surrender to your word and give
themselves over to you fully, but help them to do that. I pray
you'll work miracles. Pour out your spirit on this campus, Lord.

Let there be another reformation among your people, turning

back to you in prayer and in your word, a willingness to take you
to the ends of the earth. We know Jesus is coming soon and we
want to be ready, Lord. We thank you and pray all this in Christ's
name. Amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a
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