A Whale of a Plan [Part 3]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

Jesus is the better Jonah who came to preach good news to his enemies. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series called Providence as presented at Granola Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout today's entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

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877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But now, let's get started with today's teaching.

Here is Alan Wright. See, Jonah didn't repent after he was swallowed by a whale. He was repenting while he was sinking down and saying, Lord, save me. And so the whale was the salvation. There's a whale of a difference between being eaten and being saved.

I couldn't resist. Verse 10, the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. I like that God can speak to underwater sea creatures in the deeps.

I wish somebody had a better or softer word than vomit, but that's what we get in the English Standard Version because it's messy. Getting saved and put on dry land when you've been sinking into the deep, sometimes a little messy. And then one of my favorite verses in the Bible, at Jonah 3 verse 1, as Jonah is there wiping the fish guts off of his body and thinking about it all, the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. There's a scripture in the New Testament that says the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Isn't that beautiful? How beautiful is our God that you could run to Tarshish with all your might and let lie a prophetic gift dormant and God's after you. To awaken the gift and show you grace because he still wants to use you. The word of the Lord came a second time. How wonderful is our God who didn't say, I gave you a chance to really be used by me, you decided against it so I'm done with you and I'll find somebody else. The word of the Lord came a second time. That's grace. The sailors were wrong, Jonah was wrong, they were misinterpreting all the events. I imagine even when a big fish, however that happened, is swallowing him, Jonah's like, oh no, because sometimes you can't recognize the rescue.

It just feels like a storm. Some years ago I read a story of a woman named Kathleen who reported her story in a golf magazine. They were running a feature series on how golf saved my life. People were writing in like, you know, I was discouraged and then I started playing golf and it made me happy, you know, stuff like that. But this lady wrote in and she said that many years ago she was busy preparing for her son's wedding that was coming in a couple of months and so one day she decided she needed to take a break and went out to play 18 holes with three friends just to get her mind off of things and on one of the par fours she took out her three wood and she hit it right of the green into the rough and so she decided to speed up play by walking on ahead of her partners and stepping to the side. But then one of her playing partners pulled out their fairway wood and sliced it viciously to the right and as Kathleen was walking down through the rough not looking the ball came and hit her squarely in the skull in the back of her head and it was so so painful she said she couldn't do anything but just cry and felt like her head had split open and so happened there was a hospital just a few blocks away and so playing partners literally got her into the golf cart and thought that would be the quickest way and they took her to the emergency room via the golf cart they rushed her in and did an MRI to make sure there was no bleed on the brain and there was no fracture that was going to be a problem and the doctor came out and said have you been having headaches lately and she said no and the doctor said have you been feeling dizzy at all lately and she said no and she said you got any family that could come over and join you and so her son came and they sat down with her and said you don't have any injury from the golf ball but the MRI has revealed a grapefruit sized tumor in your brain that is pressing against your brain stem and our whole medical team can't figure out why you've not had a stroke yet we need to operate today and they did successfully and she walked down the aisle and took her place at her son's wedding eight weeks later when the storms blowing it might just feel like a great evil when the waves are tossing you and when you're in the belly of the ship depressed or when the great fish swallows you it can feel like this is the worst thing that could ever happen it could even in your mind make you want to prove to yourself that God doesn't love you but what if he's saving you makes you rethink everything I take this away from Jonas story that we can learn to look on even our difficult circumstances when we're at the lowest in our lives and the deepest valleys that God's good enough and wonderful enough and big enough to still get us where we most need to be despite being at our lowest that's amazing I take this also that God can be at work saving us and we can be at work completely misinterpreting the events the story proved that Jonah thought it was the wrong thing to preach to his enemies Jonah thought the storm was a curse Jonah thought his failures had doomed him Jonah thought he had to pay for his mistakes Jonah thought that God would be pleased by a self-punishment suffering and death but the storm wasn't sent to punish him the sailors didn't throw him over as a pleasing sacrifice to God and the fish wasn't sent to eat him it was all so that Jonah could be rescued and Nineveh be saved I also take this from the story that sometimes to wake up to be restored we need to be swallowed that's Alan Wright and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series unlock the power of blessing your life discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing if you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get Alan Wright's daily blessing it's free and just a click away at pastor Alan org God's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book lover of my soul the Bible is a love story from beginning to end you are the spiritual bride of Christ the perfect bridegroom the Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand in hand for any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like for any woman who has searched for true love would you long for can only be found fully in God Gary Chapman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that God pursues us and love comes to life and lover of my soul ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart except Christ proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven it's lover of my soul by Alan Wright the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty or come to our website pastor Alan org today's teaching now continues here once again is Alan Wright the Puritans had a saying of being seized by a great affection what happens when you walk with God is that you do all you can to keep moving towards God and walk with Jesus and grow and all that's important but in the end it's really about your heart being captured by God I think of Jesus when he cast out the money changers from the temple and the disciples looked at him and said they remembered the prophecy about the Messiah the zeal of the Lord would consume him I had liked to be consumed by God so that he overrides lesser affections in my life and awakens ever increased affection for the Son of God sometimes the best thing God can do is just swallow you up in his love and he'll do that he'll do that and I take from this story that you cannot be child of God ever disqualified and never be beyond restoration and they'll never be a time in which you're beyond being used by God and how can you know that for sure how can you be assured of that it's because of Matthew chapter 12 because of the most unlikely prophets for Jesus to compare himself to Jonah might have to be it the guy who wanted to get as far away from God as he could and yet that's what he does in Matthew 12 we find out what Jonah really was all about at verse 38 some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him saying teacher we wish to see a sign from you we want to see some proof Jesus never mind the people he'd been healing never mind the demons he'd cast out never mind his teachings care for the poor give us another sign today and prove yourself but he answered an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth the men in Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold something greater than Jonah is here he just says it plainly the better Jonah has arrived and that's your sign Jonah was a Hebrew prophet and here is Jesus of Nazareth Hebrew of Hebrews mighty prophet in word indeed he's more than that it's a better Jonah and as Jonah was sent to preach to the archenemy in Nineveh at exactly the right time the scripture says God and Jesus Christ came to die for the ungodly while they were still in their sin the writer of Hebrews says that we before we know Christ are at enmity with God he came John says into his own in his own received him not he was despised and rejected Jesus is the better Jonah who came to preach good news to his enemies and on one occasion the better Jonah Jesus was also in a boat wasn't he at a great storm at sea that Matthew says was a size most mark says as a mega storm it was like a hurricane and Jesus was also sleeping in the boat and his sailors the disciples couldn't believe it and came and said what are you doing sleeping can't you do something about this storm they wanted him to do something about the storm and I think of those sailors with Jonah who said Lord let not this blood be on us as I remember when Pilate surrendered Jesus to crucifixion and said I wash my hands of this blood and I think of those sailors who said what must we do to calm this storm there must be a sacrifice that must be made and when Jesus said what would you when they when the authorities said what would you have me do with Jesus they said crucify him not knowing that he had come for this purpose because see the real storm of life is not so much our circumstances and the winds that blow but the seismic shame and guilt and judgment that all sin deserves that's the ultimate storm and Jesus came to be the better Jonah who by his own will and God set purpose would become sin and take the storm of judgment for us every bit of rebellion of every Jonah who's tried to go to Tarshish every bit of depression that has gotten to a point it doesn't even care about life for God every bit of shame that has felt failure and doom all of that storm Jesus took into his own being on the cross he became our sin so that anyone who trusts in him the storm would stop the guilt would be gone and you'd have peace that's the sign you need Jesus said for as Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days the Messiah was in the belly of the earth and on the third day when he emerged not with fish guts but with glory he began to announce the good news of life and resurrection and glory and his disciples saw him and they started telling the whole world and that's why we're here today because God sent us a better Jonah hallelujah some people think that if you talk a lot and think a lot about how God loves you that infinitely and pursues you and doesn't give up on you that it would make us lazy and that we will live more godly lives if we're a little bit afraid that God might abandon us so that then we try harder the opposite is true the opposite is true my little grandbaby Mia that was born at 1030 last night might have already experienced her most important moment and what I hope to be at least a hundred years on this earth we know it from God's Word it says I learned to trust at my mother's breast we know it from science now that the most important moment is when you attach to love and the most important year of your life was the first year of which you remember none of it because that's when you who couldn't produce anything for society we're just being held and loved and what it does is it produces security and only when we're secure can we venture forth and preach to our men of us and live out the promises of God that's why I say to you when you're at your worst God's at his best and even if you run from him he's gonna run after you be encouraged saints of God that's Providence and that's the gospel Alan Wright our good news message it's a whale of a plan from the series Providence hey stick with us pastor Alan is joining us back in the studio sharing a parting good news thought for the day here in just a moment unlock the power of blessing your life discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing if you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get Alan Wright's daily blessing it's free and just a click away at pastor Alan org God's love you've heard about it with your ears you've believed it in your mind now experience it in your heart with Alan Wright's beloved book lover of my soul the Bible is a love story from beginning to end you are the spiritual bride of Christ the perfect bridegroom the Bible tells about a God who has gone to unimaginable lengths to woo you to win you and to walk with you hand-in-hand for any man who has fallen in love with a woman you've tasted the sweetness of what God's love for you is like for any woman who has searched for true love what you long for can only be found fully in God Gary Chapman renowned author of the five love languages says the incredible reality that God pursues us and love comes to life and lover of my soul ancient biblical accounts explode in the heart except Christ proposal enjoy his embrace revel in his love after all it's a match made in heaven it's lover of my soul by Alan Wright the gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries this broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support when you give today we will send you today's special offer we are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty that's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty or come to our website pastor Alan dot org back here in the studio to share pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day and I don't know if there's much more of an honest prayer to pray in the middle of it is Lord what are you doing here what are you trying to teach me where are you taking me yeah yeah like you know sometimes we just need to say to him Lord I can't make sense of this at all and yet I know you have a plan so grant my heart the trust and peace to be able to have my spiritual eyes open up to that plan and when I don't understand to be able to trust you and to be comforted by the assurances that you're a father who has my very best in mind at all times at all moments of my life and and that's the truth of of God's word and that's what we live in and I think the Holy Spirit can help you and reassure you as you remind your own soul of these things thanks for listening today visit us online at pastor alan.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860 if you only caught part of today's teaching not only can you listen again online but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free find out more about these and other resources at pastor alan.org that's pastor alan.org today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries