R875 When Your Life Stinks

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton. Let's open God's word together. Now yes, we just did sing the encouraging word because this is encouraging, but the topic today is when your life stinks. And the truth is, even in the midst of our desire to encourage one another, we need to be real about some of those valley moments in our life where life really does stink.

The good news is, you are not in this alone. God promised never to leave or forsake you, and we're here for you as well. We're connecting online at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. And 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. But now, Dr. Don is going to open God's word together and let God speak to this topic when your life stinks. The Encouraging Word. You know, I do not believe that anything that happens to us, happens to us by mistake. Just last night, a very precious young lady said this to me. We were talking about Jonah, and she asked me this question. She said, Pastor, do you literally believe that a fish actually swallowed Jonah?

I mean, do you really believe this to be literally true? I said without any doubt in my mind, I said absolutely yes. And I went on further and I told her that I have two reasons why I say yes. Reason number one is probably the only one that I need, and that is that God said it.

Any questions? I told her in our conversation, I said, you know, I've come to the point where I do not believe that God ever needs explaining. I have that kind of profound belief in who God is.

He's God. This is His word, this Bible. God said it and I believe it regardless. So yes, I believe that a big fish swallowed Jonah.

I said, but it just so happens that I believe it based upon personal experience. So I'd like to share a very quick story with you this morning. I grew up as a young boy right on the Indian Ocean of Southern Africa. And it was an amazingly beautiful part of the country still is today. You can just imagine the Indian Ocean.

It is truly magnificent. Massive waves and just spectacular, what I believe an ocean ought to be. And just teeming with fish and with fowl and with everything you can possibly imagine. And one of the fish that are common to that area is the whale. Now we all love to look at whales on National Geographic and some of us have been around them.

One of them. That's where we grew up and whales were not uncommon where we lived. And over the bluff on the Indian Ocean was a whaling station.

But I'm going to tell you something folks. If you've been around a paper mill and you've smelt a paper mill, you ain't smelt nothing until you've been around a whaling station. But I remember one time with my little friend Terry from the next door neighbour. We were up there and we went down because you didn't have all the rules and regulations. We went down and I remember as a little boy, I remember two or three of us climbing into the belly of the whale. But folks, I remember being with my friends in the belly of a whale. And we'd get out, we would be stinking to high heaven.

You cannot imagine. But yeah, I believe Jonah got swallowed by a big fish. And I also believe that when he was in that fish, he was in the stinkiest place you could possibly be. That's what I want to speak to you on this morning. When your life stinks.

You got it. Let's turn in our Bibles to Jonah chapter one. I'd like to read this to you. I was tempted to start outlining by definition what a person's life looks like when their life stinks.

And I just felt in my heart God didn't want me to do that. I might use a few illustrations, but watch this folks. Everybody look at me. If your life stinks, you know it. I don't have to tell you.

You know it. You don't have to tell a man he's in the belly of a whale. Let's read about this. Jonah chapter one and verse one. In the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. By the way, every time I read that, I think about our churches, not only here, but across America. God never commissioned the New Testament church to be popular. God never invited those of us who love the Lord and preach His word to do anything but to stand up for the righteousness of God, which means that we must oppose the wickedness of that which defies the holiness of God.

Now watch this. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord.

How are you doing by the way? And he headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea.

By the way, can I just emphasize that? Who sent the great wind? God did.

You need to stop asking those questions. God is going to get your attention one way or the other. That's how much He loves you. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own God and they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck where he laid down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep?

Get up and call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish. Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.

They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, Tell us who is responsible for making this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from?

What is your country? From what people are you? He answered, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. This terrified them. And they asked, What have you done?

They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so. The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us? Pick me up and throw me into the sea.

He replied and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Instead, the men did their best to row back to the land, but they could not for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the Lord. Oh, Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man for you, oh, Lord, have done as you pleased. Then they took Jonah.

They threw him overboard and the raging sea grew calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

And from inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. I want to speak to you for a moment about when your life stinks. I'm going to share with you six major principles, folks. I tell you, God wrote these things on my heart.

I just want to share them with you. Number one, principle number one, when your life stinks, re-examine who you are before you examine where you are. Now, you're going to have to think about these principles. Here it is, number one, re-examine who you are before you examine where you are. I told you I'd use just one or two illustrations. Let's talk about marriage just for a moment.

Here's a couple. This man and this woman, they meet, fall in love, get married, go on honeymoon. And some years later, sometime later, just little things start happening. Usually always starts that way.

Something said, something not said, some behavior, whatever it is, just starts coming up. Then it gets worse. Then mountains grow to molehills. Then all of a sudden, their marriage stinks.

If the truth were known, they may be still married, but they're going through all kinds of problems. Now, here's what happens, folks, if you're in a marriage and where you are is not a pleasant place to be, your circumstances related to where you are, are in and of themselves going to prevent you from doing what needs to be done in order to change your marriage, to get back on track. Folks, pain hurts, doesn't it? Unhappiness makes you what? Unhappy. What does anger make you? Angry.

So where you are is the greatest means by which you are prevented from doing what you need to do where you are. So how do you respond to that? Many times when I have the privilege of counseling with couples, and it's a great honor, I have yet, by the way, to find a marriage that's just nothing ever goes wrong. When I counsel with couples, many times I'll get to a point at which I'll say to both the husband and the wife, would you mind if I met with each of you individually?

Because as long as we are meeting together, where they are is going to cloud their judgment. And as soon as we can meet together individually, we have an opportunity to examine individually who each of those people are. And when you re-examine who you are, you find yourself at the point at which you need to be and are far better equipped to respond to where you are. So you see, when I re-examine who I am, what do I come to the conclusion about? Well, I can come to the conclusion, well, you could fool me, but I'm actually a Christian man. By the way, when you go through conflict, you don't necessarily feel very Christian, do you? So I need to re-examine what my faith means because I'm a Christian means that I actually march according to a different drumbeat. I've got a platform to stand on.

I've got someone to consult. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. I've got a means beyond myself. And when I come back to the point where I re-examine who I am as a Christian, as a man, as a gentleman, as a person who knows what love is, what it means to say sorry and to ask for forgiveness, to humble myself, to be a servant, then I am now in a better position to examine the means that I need to examine in order to address where I am. Principle number one, folks, it's what happened here to Jonah. Re-examine who you are before you examine where you are. Folks, I know people who go through the entirety of their life in the belly of a whale because where they are clouds their judgment and they can't help it.

You better believe your judgment is clouded. You're surrounded by pain, the stench, the stink, the ugliness, the struggle. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton and we'll be back with more of today's message in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants you to know that no matter where you find yourself at this moment in time, we believe God has providentially connected us, whether you're listening to us online, on the radio, however you might be connecting, God's intention is for you to know that He loves you and He is pursuing you with a restoring love. He wants you to come home to Him. If you'd like to have someone talk with you or pray with you, it would be our joy at 866-899-9673.

That's 866-899-9673 or meet us online at tewonline.org. Now back to today's message. Principle number two, realize why you are where you are. Well, in verse three, chapter one of Jonah, I think Jonah realized why he was where he was, verse three says, but Jonah ran away from the Lord. That was the reason his life stank.

Any more questions here today? A couple of years ago, I remember running into a homeless person here in our community and our church, all of us, we have a real compassion for our homes, people who hurt badly. Well, this particular man, you know, I got into a conversation with him, began to talk to him to re-examine who he was, about his life, where he'd been. Then I tried to help him realize why he was where he was.

Well, in this particular man's case, boy told me how he'd grown up in Spartanburg, was disobedient to his parents, ran away from home, didn't want to study, dropped out of high school. Finally, by God's grace, went to college, didn't even make that worse, played the game, started dabbling in alcohol and drugs, went from one center to another, people begging with him, churches praying with him and a whole lot of stuff. You say, pastor, what are you accomplishing? I tell you what, I accomplished a lot with that man that day, folks, because the bottom line, he looked at me and he said to me, preacher, my life stinks and I know why. Well, I had the privilege of leading him to the Lord. I had the privilege of recommending him to a helping ministry center because I knew Sal Barone and our people would provide for him.

I recommended him to come to church and get involved, but we have to go through a process to get there. Realize why you are where you are. Number three, remember whose you are, no matter where you are.

Remember whose you are, no matter where you are. Now, folks, watch this. God does not condemn you.

Listen carefully, listen carefully today. I beg of you, God does not condemn you because your life stinks. What is a natural fallout when you end up in the belly of a whale? When you're in a circumstance that you cannot get out of?

When you're cruising below the surface? When you've been thrown overboard? A natural thing is I'm abandoned. God doesn't even know about me anymore. Remember it occurred to me when I was studying Jonah, folks. God never abandoned Jonah, not for one single New York second. Remember whose you are, no matter where you are. Kind of reminds me of the prodigal son.

He was in a stinky place too. Remember whose you are. You see, if you re-examine who you are before you examine where you are and you realize why you are where you are and you remember whose you are, no matter where you are, you're going to stand up and say, well, God is who He says He is. You're going to go back to Bethel. You're going to go back to the point of your first commitment. You're going to realize that mom and dad still love you.

You're going to come to a point where you're going to say, you know, it's not worth taking my life. I've got a reason to live. I'm valued.

I'm not just some outcast. Yes, I might be in the belly of a whale, but I'm in the palm of the hand of a God who loves me despite myself. Principle number four, relinquish all you are despite where you are. I tell you, I love this in verse 12. In verse nine, folks, when he remembered who he belonged to, remembering who you are and whose you are, no matter where you are, he answered. He said, I'm a Hebrew and I worship the Lord your God. Well, that led to verse 12, which is our fourth principle, relinquish all you are despite where you are. Now, folks, watch what happened here in verse 12. They came to him and said, what must we do? He said, throw me overboard. Now, that's a definition of to relinquish all you are despite where you are. Well, just think about where Jonah was.

He was no dummy, folks. Here he is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. The sea is raging. The ship's about to break up. There's every kind of creature out there in the sea. He knows.

He knows exactly where he is, but he says, that's it. I let go. Toss me overboard. How do you get more of a relinquish than toss me overboard? You see, folks, one of our biggest problems when we go through crises in life is that we still hold on.

Our council with so many married couples, folks, they're going through difficulties and one or both of the partners are so desperate to hold on. Yes, I know we're in this quagmire and I know what we're going through and I know that it's unclean and I know this and I know that, I know that, but I'm telling you, I won't let her get away with us. God says, relinquish all you are despite where you are. You've got to let go. I promise you, my beloved friends, as long as you keep holding on, your life will continue to stink.

You will not be delivered from the belly of the whale. You've got to relinquish all you are despite where you are. And some of you, my dear friends, have been through the worst kind of pain. You look back and you say, I made a mistake there, I made a mistake there and I've paid the consequences here and I've paid the consequences. Let it go. Let it go.

Now it's time to move on. Be thrown overboard. Let God take control. Stop sitting in the back seat.

Relinquish all you are. Despite where you are. Principle number five.

Respond to whose you are from where you are. Look at chapter two and verse one. I read it to you. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to God. There's principle number five.

Respond to whose you are from where you are. Now folks, Jonah prayed in the belly of the whale in a very stinky place. Principle number five. Respond to God from where you are because of whose you are.

Here's what most of us do. Now Lord, I'm real sick. I'm in this hospital room. I've got a pipe in my throat, tubes down my nose. I tell you what, I know who I am and I've reexamined and I'm willing to relinquish, but I tell you what I'm going to do. You get me out of this hospital room.

I'm going home, sitting down with my wife. I'm telling you, I'm going to respond to you or what? I'm going to get so serious, God says, start talking.

But Lord, you don't seem to understand. I've got a pipe in my throat. I'm just going to gargle. That's okay. I understand gargle. Just gargle then. See folks, we do this as people.

That's our human nature. Lord, please, if you'll just give me a million dollars, I'm going to respond to you. You give me that million dollars, I'll show you what I'm going to do. God said, let me see what you do with the $10 you got in your hand.

Respond from where you are. Coach Sorrells, I have young people all the time say to me, boy, I'm telling you, I'm in the 10th grade. I cannot wait to get to college. Listen, you're going to get to college, respond to God in the 10th grade.

Because you'll go 11th, 12th, bang, bang, bang, and you're out before you know you've fallen off a log. It's gone. Respond to whose you are from where you are. Lord, if you'll just fix my marriage, Lord, if you'll just, Lord, I tell you what, you do this for me and I promise you, when I get out there, you watch what happens. Principle number five, respond to whose you are from where you are. Principle number six, now this is a good one. Report for duty after you have left where you are. All right, I'm going to give you these six principles, folks, because these are important.

When your life stinks, when you're in the belly of a whale. Principle number one, re-examine who you are before you examine where you are. Principle number two, realize why you are where you are. Fess up, put it down, admit it.

Number three, remember whose you are. No matter where you are, God hasn't abandoned you. You don't know how many times I've seen that principle in this church, folks, this church. Let me not be generic here, this church.

You don't know how many times I've seen people in this church who go through tough times, the breakup of a marriage. And as soon as they go through tough times, they move from the front to the middle to the back and they move out of the house of God, you don't smell them for dust. You run into them six weeks later at the sandwich factory or at the beacon and they dodge and avoid and duck. Folks, you want to be me. I spend half my time looking at people who are ducking. I serve among ducks. I mean, all over people, just duck. Everywhere I go, walk into restaurants, nine out of 10 people, hey, pastor, how are you?

But here comes duck. Folks, I had someone the other day with a menu, walk by my table like this. I'm not talking about, I'm talking about wonderful people, folks. They've done nothing to me. There's nothing done them anything, but something happened. They went through something.

Their world collapsed. They're hurting. They're out of sorts. They're down and out. Their marriage fell apart.

Maybe they sinned. Guess what happens, folks? Remember whose you are, no matter where you are. Number four, relinquish all you are despite where you are. Let it go.

Let it go. Number five, respond to whose you are from where you are. And number six, report for duty after you have left where you are. That's exactly what happened in chapter three and verse three. God came to Jonah a second time and said to him, Jonah, go and do what I told you to do in verse three of chapter three.

So Jonah went to Nineveh. God is all about second chances. Could you find yourself maybe right now in that situation where you know God's given you instruction and you're finally ready to say yes? Perhaps you need to be reminded that the most important yes any of us ever uttered is yes to Jesus as Savior and Lord. Don't go away right now.

Dr. Don has the most important 60 seconds of our broadcast coming up next. God has spoken to you, hasn't He? And you ready to give your heart to Jesus?

I'd love to help you right now. Would you pray this prayer with me and accept Jesus into your heart and life? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that Jesus loves me and died for me on the cross. Right now, I repent of my sin and I confess my sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come into my heart and save me today and forgive me for my sin. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. If you've prayed that prayer, we'd love to get alongside of you and celebrate with you and send you some literature and help you as you begin to grow. And I want you to know that I love you very, very much. Perhaps you just responded praying along with Dr. Don or you know you need to respond and we need to have a conversation.

Let's finish this concept right now of saying yes to Jesus. You can call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at TEWonline.org. As a matter of fact, there's a brand new resource about Daniel.

Liz has all the details coming up next. Our nation is in crisis. The devil is working overtime. How do we counteract the evil all around us? How do we overcome? We must learn to be quiet, to be still and listen for the voice of God. We must listen and obey. With your gift of support to The Encouraging Word this month, you will receive Dr. Wilden's timely messages on the teachings of Daniel. Messages include hearing God's voice in the crowd, the power of obedience, and the story of conviction. These messages on CD or DVD will be sent to you for a gift of $20 or more in support of The Encouraging Word. Call us at 866-899-WORD to request Dr. Wilden's teachings on Daniel, a man of courage, conviction, and immovable faith. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry. Thank you for listening today. What a powerful day of studying God's Word.

There's more where that came from. Dr. Don's message tomorrow is called When Your Life Needs Adjusting. I hope you'll consider joining us, maybe invite a friend to tune along. Whether it's on the radio or downloading the podcast, we are excited to see what God's going to do next as we study the Word of God together. Between now and then, let's stay connected online at tewonline.org. That's T-E-W online dot O-R-G.