Remember our definition of calling? It's always related to something bigger. Dr. Tony Evans talks about how to be part of that bigger picture. It's always related to God's people and it's always related to God's kingdom.
It's not just related to your bank account. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Everyone, whether they know it or not, has a calling from God. And some of us know what our calling is, but aren't entirely happy with it.
Today, Dr. Evans looks at the struggle between our selfishness and our submission and reveals the rewards we can expect when we choose to follow the Lord's leading. Let's join him in the first chapter of the book of Jonah.
Now, Jonah's calling was to be a prophet. He is a prophet who speaks on behalf of God. When you are in your calling, it's a lot easier to hear God's voice. Because you're where you're supposed to be.
So when God speaks, you're in the neighborhood. of what God wants to say, you're in the vicinity to hear it.
Well, his general calling as a prophet is clear. But he's now been given a specific task. Verse 2 says, It is to go to Nineveh to cry against it. For its wickedness has come up from me. Jonah doesn't like this calling.
Or, at least, the application of this calling to this particular situation. to go to Nineveh. The first thing I want to talk about. Relates to chapter one, and that is the pain. of obedience.
Sometimes obedience can be downright painful. Go to Nineveh. Why does not Jonah want to go to Nineveh? I mean, this guy is lickety split. Get me out of here yesterday.
I am not going to Nineveh.
Now there are two reasons he doesn't want to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was a very wicked place. We see that here in verse 2. One of the things the Ninevites liked to do was chop people's head off. Drain their blood, dip a paintbrush in the blood, and paint graffiti on walls.
Okay, so these were this was a very evil. I mean evil was for fun So it was a place you don't wanna beef.
So he didn't want to do that. But God clearly told him to do it, but it was against what he wanted to do.
Now there's a second reason which Jonah's going to point out in a few moments. He didn't want to go to Nineveh. One is if his preaching was a failure and he became a martyr. But the other one is he didn't want to go preach because he wanted them to be judged. He wanted them to be judged.
He had a pretty good reason. These were the enemies of Israel. And he knew that this nation was going to rise up against Israel. And of course, he's a Jew, he loves Israel.
So he wants this nation destroyed.
So he wants to protect self-interest. But he also wants destruction of his enemies. And this is an assignment, an application. He does not. Preferred.
Therefore. It says he rose up to flee to Tarshi. God said go and he got up all right, but he went the opposite direction. He was told to go. Northeast to Nineveh.
He went west to Tartus.
Now let me tell you how bad this brother did not want to go to Nineveh. It's a 550 mile trip. From Israel Tenerima. Tarsius is located 2,500 miles west. He was not only not going to go to Nineveh.
He was going to go as far in the opposite direction. of God's command as possible. And it tells us what he was thinking.
Now, this isn't really a good idea. It's really bad to think this way. But just in case anybody's thinking this way, it says: he went to Tarshi's. from the present of the Lord.
Now it's bad when a preacher forgets his own theology. But when you decide to run from God. And arrive at the place. That you were going to escape him. He'll be there to welcome you.
Alright? Just wanted you to know that.
So he is in a state of rebellion. He pays his own way. But wouldn't you know it, verse 4? And the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to break up.
Now why couldn't the Bible just say It began to rain. No, it doesn't say that. If personal lives is a storm, we call this a Jonah storm. It says God hurled a wind. And let me say something.
When you're running from God. And it gets windy. That's not luck. That's not chance. When circumstances start to go up and down and you are running from God.
That's intentional. That's planned. That's a storm with your name on it. He runs from God.
Now, here's the problem. The sailors became afraid because he's on this merchant ship. They're taking goods from Joppa and they're taking them to Tarshis.
So they say, let's cast lots. And see who's the cause of this. Notice that the preacher isn't volunteering information here. The sinners have to track him down, and they discover that he's the problem. He says to them in verse 12, okay.
Pick me up and throw me into the sea.
Now you got to be depressed. What? This is the depressed preacher here. Kill me. I'd rather die than for you to find some land.
And get me back, because I'm not going to know Nineveh.
So they pray in verse 14. They say, oh Lord, we earnestly pray, oh Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man's life. Will won't go down with him. Do not put innocent blood on us, for thou, O Lord, has done as thou pleased.
So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea. And the sea stopped its raging.
Now you know how you know if you the problem. Yeah. If when folk get rid of you, everything's okay. You the problem. It says they threw him in the water.
And the water became calm. But notice verse 16. Then the men feared the Lord greatly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. which is a nice way of saying all these sailors got saved. Verse 17 of chapter 1 introduces us to point 2.
And the Lord appointed a great fish. to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. Then you are introduced to the first word of chapter 2, verse 1. Business.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish.
Now, this is not what you would call a prayer closet. Listen. A prayer closet is any place you're going to do real prayer. All right. And sometimes it's in the midst of circumstances that are not very pleasant to be in.
I called to the Lord out of my distress. He answered me. I cried from the depths of Sheol. You didn't hear my voice, for you cast me into the deep. He knew.
That being thrown overboard and thrown into the sea, what luck, chance, or mishap, he knew God was after him.
Some of us will not change our direction until we get swallowed. And God didn't act until he remembered. Remember what? The Lord who called him. Do you know that some of your worst days are some of your greatest blessings?
On the day when life has fallen apart. It could be the day when God is loving you the most. Because he loves him enough to track him.
So I will pay my vow, which means keep my commitment. I told you when you call me, I go where you told me to go. I'll do what you tell me to do. I'll preach where you tell me to preach. Verse 10 says, Then the Lord commanded the fish.
This fish is sure getting a lot of attention. Yeah. Hold the fish, get him. Then tells the fish, get rid of him. Then he commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah up.
Onto dry land. But look at chapter 3 now, verse 1.
Now, the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Chapter 3, arise. Verse 2 says, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation I'm going to tell you.
Now, here's the observation I want to make here in chapter 3. And that is God didn't change his assignment. The word of the Lord came to him the second time. And guess what? It was the same word as the first time.
You go in the nineteenth one. If you're going to fulfill what I want you to do.
Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city and three days' war. And Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk, and he cried out, and here's what God told him to preach. Yet 40 days, and Minimum will be overthrown.
Now, that sounds like a brief message, and he probably said more than that, but. It's a brief message with two parts. Nineveh is going to be judged, overthrown. But you got a 40-day window to fix it. When this message is preached.
The people of Nineveh believed in God, verse 5. They called a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. Sackcloth, this morning clothes. They're sorry for their sins. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, He issues a proclamation.
in Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let man, beast, herd, flock taste a thing, do not let them eat or drink, but both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth and let men call on God earnestly that he may turn from his wicked way. and violence which he has in his hand who knows god may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we shall not perish Now Brothers and sisters, I would like to assert to you There is no place that I know of in the Bible or in contemporary history. Where one sermon brought this much response. where a whole city Huh City. Nineveh.
Repent. Verse 10 says, when God saw their deeds. Fruits of repentance, the Bible calls it. They turned from their wicked way. Then God relented concerning the calamity which he had declared he would bring on them, and he did not do it.
Dr. Evans will return shortly with a foundational truth about the nature of God. one every believer would do well to remember. Don't go away. What if your next week felt restored?
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God has something special He intends for you to do. And these daily readings will encourage you to stay focused on his plan while you while helping you grow in your walk with him. Dr. Evans says there's no greater source of satisfaction and success. than finding and fulfilling your purpose.
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Well, Dr. Evans is back now with more of today's message. The Bible declares God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is changeless.
We call that the immutability of God. His inability to change. Yet we have in this verse And God relented, changed. Reversed. What he had decided to do to them.
How can a changeless God change? The answer? While God is changeless. God can adjust to the changes in man. See, the only reason he changed is because they changed.
So that gave God something for his grace to respond to.
Something for his love and forgiveness to respond to. And therefore, God delights in responding to that when he is given something to respond to. And numbers of times in the Bible, you read where God changed his mind. But every time you read where he changed his mind, some other kind of change was occurring. And so these people go to God, and God reverses.
The decision. Of course, it was true to the message too, in 40 days Nineveh would be destroyed.
So this is a great powerful event. A great revival. And he did not do it. That leads to the final Principle here. Chapter 4.
The purpose of obedience.
Now you would think the preacher would be pretty happy, wouldn't you? We ought to be happy. This this is a this is a good Sunday morning. You know, he ga he opened the doors of the church and the whole city came down. That's pretty good Sunday morning, you know?
But it greatly displeased Jonah. And he became angry.
Now I'd have to fire this preacher. This preacher, you can't please this guy. He's mad. How you gonna be mad? When God gives you a one sentence sermon, it changes the whole time.
He prayed to the Lord, verse 2, please, Lord. Was not this what I said while I was still in my own country when you called on me the first time? Therefore, in order to forestall this, because I knew you were going to be good to these sinners. I fled to Tartis, for I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness, and one who will change his mind concerning calamity. I knew you were gonna do this.
Every time I want you to blow them away, you come with this forgiving stuff. And I'm mad. S How matter is he? Verse 3. Therefore, kill me.
That's what he says in verse 3. I ain't never seen a preacher want to die this bad. Please. Take my life from me, for death is better than life. I'd rather be dead.
Then to see them sinners saved.
So God must give him an object lesson. Here it is. What a beautiful story, verse five to the end of the chapter. I'll summarize it for you. Jonah goes to the east of the city.
And he makes a shelter for himself in verse 5, and he sits under the shade. until he could see what would happen to the city, because he's still hoping somebody do something wrong. He said, one of them Ninevites is going to mess up. One of them is going to mess up. They ain't going to be repentant that long.
So I'm going to go out here and see when they mess up. Cause I know when they mess up, God going to get them. It's like it did Sodom and Gomorrah. He gonna get them.
So let me go to the eastern city and sit and let me see what this deal is going to work out to be.
So the Lord appointed a plant. It grew up over Jonah to be shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. Because it's real hot out there. Instead of going home to Israel, he wanted to see out there and sit out there and see them get blasted. All right.
Jonah was extremely happy because of the plan. He said, oh, wow. Because this plant with the big leaves that have covered him all over, and he's sitting under there under the shade tree, you know, you know. He chillin. He said nothing just.
Oh, wow, the sun's not on my head. I like having an umbrella over my head. Ooh, thank you. Thank you, Jesus. He just that's just pray he probably got a prayer meeting because it says he's happy Now why is he happy?
He happy because God doing something for him. God doing something for him. Make me happy. Make me happy. Well watch this, verse 7.
God appointed a worm. When the dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. God say word. Oh my god. Go inside and.
Kill that plant. Worm go over there, the plant withers. It came about when the sun came up that God appointed a scorching east wind. That's a windy day and it's real hot. Like a whirlwind in the desert.
and the sun beat down on jonah's head so that he became faint And big with all of his soul to die. And it's the third time his brother wanted to die. That's the third time he want to die. Uh So he's going through emotional ups and downs, right? Happy one minute, sad the next minute, sleeping one minute, want you to throw him over bed today.
He's up and down, up and down, up and down, in and out. And here you go again, the end of verse 8: death is better than meeting life. Oh, get a grip, Jonah. Verse 9. Then God said to Jonah.
And here's the bottom line, here's the purpose. Do you have a good reason to be angry about the plant? The plant died, not covering you anymore. Is that a good reason to be angry? He said, Yeah, I got a good reason.
I got good reason to be angry, even to death. Yeah, feel sorry for me because I feel sorry for me. We're going to feel sorry together. Yeah, I'm mad and I got a reason to be mad. Look at what you did to me.
Got a plant growing up over me one minute, take the plant the next minute. Why are you doing me like this? Not fair. Then God hits him with the doozy. Verse 10.
Then the Lord said, You had compassion on the plant. You feel sorry for a dead plant. for which you did not work. You didn't plant that plan. I planted that plan.
Uh And what you did not cause to grow. I planted it, I grew it. It came up overnight and perished overnight. You got all upset about a 24-hour plan. that you had absolutely nothing to do with.
Verse 11. Should not I have compassion on Nineveh? The great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand. What does that mean? That's 120,000 children.
as children who don't know the difference between right and left. I guess there are a few adults in there, but it's mainly children. People who have not reached capacity, you want me to blow the city to smithereens. But when it came to you. You mad because you lose a plant.
And you had compassion on a plant and you're willing to watch people die.
Something is wrong, Jonah. Yeah, yeah. You get the point? His point was You can't fulfill my calling unless you have my feelings. Your feelings aren't cutting it.
Your feelings that you feel like you want to die. You're happy one minute. You're happy about a plant. You're mad about a worm. I mean, you are confused.
I called you for something bigger than your own personal aggrandizement. Remember our definition of calling? It's always related to something bigger. It's always related to God's people and it's always related to God's kingdom. It's not just related to your bank account.
We get mad when the stock market goes down. We get mad when things aren't going right with us. But when we're called to fulfill God's calling for somebody else, We don't want to have anything to do with it. Doctor, you you missed the point of this call. You got this call only related to you.
And you've forgotten 120,000 children. Who, if I judge the city like you want to judge, want me to judge it, there'll be no mercy. Everybody will be blown to smithereens.
Something is wrong, Joe. You're too self-centered. You're only thinking about you. Dr. Tony Evans, explaining the importance of trusting God's faithfulness instead of our feelings.
And he'll return in a moment with a final thought to wrap up today's message. Part of his series called for a purpose. This two-volume 12-lesson collection will help you find and fulfill God's unique plan for your life. As I mentioned earlier, if you make a contribution to help support the work of doctor Evans and the alternative, We'll say thanks by sending you the complete series on either C D, USB flash drive, or digital download. along with his companion, called for a purpose devotional.
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Christians typically believe God's calling for our lives will fit with our gifts and talents. But doctor Evans will point out that it also often forces us to depend on God's sufficiency rather than our own. That's coming up tomorrow. But right now he's back with this final thought for today. It's interesting in closing.
The wind obeys God. The sea obeys God, the sailors obey God, the fish obeys God, the Ninevites obey God, the plant obeys God, the worm obeys God, the sun obeys God, everybody else doing what God says. Worm did it! Worm said, okay. As you discover your calling, there will be things in it that you won't prefer, but that's part of the deal.
So when you don't feel like you want to do it. And you know God has told you to do it. God wants you to take his word. over your emotions. That's the tension that we all face as we fulfill our calling.
