WEBVTT 00:00.171 --> 00:05.507 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just want to share a quick story that involves my grandpa who went to be with the Lord years ago. 00:06.643 --> 00:08.283 [SPEAKER_00]: My grandpa's name was Jerry Cole. 00:08.343 --> 00:15.905 [SPEAKER_00]: He was a Harley man, so go ahead and envision whatever you would envision about a guy from a small town in Indiana Who's a Harley man. 00:15.945 --> 00:16.845 [SPEAKER_00]: That was my grandfather. 00:16.925 --> 00:29.888 [SPEAKER_00]: Also a very sweet delightful guy and I don't know if I'll be like this one of my 70s, but at times he could be a little opinionated and Had his head is my made up about certain things as delightful as he was and one of them 00:30.978 --> 00:34.520 [SPEAKER_00]: was about barbecue and specifically ribs. 00:34.540 --> 00:39.802 [SPEAKER_00]: See, they would, him and my grandma, they would, they would come in a town of once a year sometimes. 00:40.362 --> 00:45.525 [SPEAKER_00]: And when they did, I would always try to make sure that we had some fun things planned for us to do. 00:45.585 --> 00:51.267 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, let's be honest, I knew seeing Michelle and I was nice, but let's be honest. 00:51.287 --> 00:53.208 [SPEAKER_00]: They were really there to see the great grandkids. 00:53.328 --> 00:55.189 [SPEAKER_00]: I know my shelf life expired. 00:55.229 --> 00:56.209 [SPEAKER_00]: They were new and better things. 00:56.309 --> 00:59.531 [SPEAKER_00]: But I was like, you know what, Grandpa, we should go get barbecue. 01:00.528 --> 01:03.452 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, I'm gonna take you to my favorite place downtown. 01:04.073 --> 01:08.500 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I had to explain to him, bear in mind he's from a town of like 8,000 people with that. 01:09.650 --> 01:20.435 [SPEAKER_00]: I had to explain to him why we had to get there at 1045 because if we were there any later there would be a massive line and we would be in line for forever waiting just to get served. 01:20.515 --> 01:24.517 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, he took that real well, he's like, okay, let's fine, let's go. 01:24.977 --> 01:29.139 [SPEAKER_00]: So we went down there, we get in line and I'm like, Grandpa, now here's the deal. 01:29.159 --> 01:34.181 [SPEAKER_00]: You got to get the rips and his response, near verbatim, I remember as, 01:34.841 --> 01:36.301 [SPEAKER_00]: I never had no river life count. 01:36.842 --> 01:38.242 [SPEAKER_00]: Just didn't taste good, not my thing. 01:38.262 --> 01:41.003 [SPEAKER_00]: I was like, Grandpa, please, I think you'll really like these, nope. 01:42.203 --> 01:43.764 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I'm just gonna let that breathe. 01:44.124 --> 01:44.764 [SPEAKER_00]: So we're in line. 01:45.865 --> 01:50.606 [SPEAKER_00]: And many times I've frequented this place, this is the only time this actually happened. 01:50.626 --> 01:51.186 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's really funny. 01:51.847 --> 01:52.727 [SPEAKER_00]: We're waiting in line. 01:52.747 --> 01:55.088 [SPEAKER_00]: We're probably like 15 or 20 deep to the door. 01:55.568 --> 02:02.130 [SPEAKER_00]: And all of a sudden the guy brings out a tray and guess what he has, free samples of. 02:03.318 --> 02:03.718 [SPEAKER_00]: ribs. 02:04.619 --> 02:07.001 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm like, Grandpa, come on, just try one. 02:07.021 --> 02:08.061 [SPEAKER_00]: They're free. 02:08.121 --> 02:10.923 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, because he'd like to spend his money on motorcycles and guns. 02:10.963 --> 02:11.443 [SPEAKER_00]: He didn't like that. 02:11.463 --> 02:14.045 [SPEAKER_00]: He was he was sometimes a little tight in another areas. 02:14.105 --> 02:15.566 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, Grandpa, it's free just try one. 02:15.586 --> 02:16.287 [SPEAKER_00]: So he's like fine. 02:17.067 --> 02:19.049 [SPEAKER_00]: So he grabs a bone off the plate. 02:20.129 --> 02:21.170 [SPEAKER_00]: He bites into it. 02:21.370 --> 02:23.872 [SPEAKER_00]: And his eyes just went like, wow. 02:25.803 --> 02:31.190 [SPEAKER_00]: And he kind of took it in, and I remember he looked at me, he goes, I'm gonna get me some of these. 02:31.231 --> 02:34.194 [SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, yeah, I thought you, I thought you might. 02:34.294 --> 02:41.884 [SPEAKER_00]: And wouldn't you know that every time he came to visit after that, he would ask me if we were gonna go back to that one place that we had gotten the ribs. 02:42.887 --> 03:10.195 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's funny to think about the ways in which our hearts change sometimes it's through someone inviting us somewhere and then that led to some experience that opened up our eyes and changed our hearts in some way she performed just the way that we looked at ourselves we looked at God the way that we looked at people or sometimes things that can really wreck and change our hearts is just experiencing heartache and all of a sudden we're seeing things through a different lens that we just haven't seen before. 03:11.326 --> 03:16.852 [SPEAKER_00]: and then someone in grace and in tenderness and in mercy kind of just walks alongside us through that. 03:17.653 --> 03:23.279 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's not to say that after that moment happened or that change happened that you've always been perfect sense. 03:24.500 --> 03:29.866 [SPEAKER_00]: But there's been a change in your affection, your attitude, your appetite towards that. 03:30.847 --> 03:32.910 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's just really left you a very different person. 03:34.006 --> 03:51.492 [SPEAKER_00]: And so today what we're going to be looking at as we continue to go to the book of Jonah, if you want to go ahead and flip up in the chapter three, we're going to be looking at verses five through 10, is what happened in the city of Nineveh, when God began changing parts. 03:51.512 --> 03:57.475 [SPEAKER_00]: He began changing the actions, the attitudes, and the affection of one generation of people. 03:59.512 --> 04:11.594 [SPEAKER_00]: If you want to go ahead and flip their go for it, and what we're going to see is that the the word that is used to often describe a change in affection, a change of direction is this word repent or a sentence. 04:12.154 --> 04:15.615 [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so it's kind of a church word if you if you know what you know it, but if you don't. 04:16.275 --> 04:26.157 [SPEAKER_00]: It describes the way that someone's course of action that's just it's different doesn't mean it's a perfect, but there's a different direction that they're now going something is happened within their attitude, there are affections. 04:27.570 --> 04:28.910 [SPEAKER_00]: and their placement towards something. 04:28.950 --> 04:42.174 [SPEAKER_00]: And so often away they go, and as we look into chapter three, we see nothing short of a spiritual revival or not revive us, say a spiritual awakening happening within the city of Nineveh. 04:42.274 --> 04:51.856 [SPEAKER_00]: And as much as we'll talk about, the repentance that takes place, what I don't want us to miss is this, and this will be today's point. 04:52.997 --> 04:53.737 [SPEAKER_00]: Repentance, 04:54.739 --> 04:58.740 [SPEAKER_00]: does not begin with us finding God. 04:59.921 --> 05:03.742 [SPEAKER_00]: It's made possible because of God's pursuit of us. 05:05.843 --> 05:20.948 [SPEAKER_00]: Because without God revealing what is true about Him, and what is true about us, and what it means to be right with Him, we are clueless and we are blind and knowing what to do. 05:21.958 --> 05:36.590 [SPEAKER_00]: And the good news is that just as God led an extremely wicked city, name none of us to a place of repentance with him, even though some people, including a prophet of God, thought that was just a bad idea and shouldn't happen. 05:37.210 --> 05:45.918 [SPEAKER_00]: The good news is that God is still in the business of taking people who have wickedness in their hands and wickedness in their hearts like you and me. 05:46.670 --> 05:49.190 [SPEAKER_00]: and bringing them to a place of relationship with himself. 05:49.270 --> 05:52.751 [SPEAKER_00]: The question is, what we see his pursuit of us. 05:53.431 --> 05:57.632 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's go ahead and jump into today's text and we'll go ahead and read through it. 05:59.172 --> 06:01.993 [SPEAKER_00]: Jonah chapter three versus five through ten says this. 06:03.193 --> 06:13.395 [SPEAKER_00]: The people of Nineveh believed God's message and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. 06:14.187 --> 06:21.455 [SPEAKER_00]: When the king of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes. 06:22.175 --> 06:25.979 [SPEAKER_00]: He dressed himself in burlap and sat in a heap of ashes. 06:26.900 --> 06:31.165 [SPEAKER_00]: Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city. 06:32.386 --> 06:36.390 [SPEAKER_00]: No one, not even the animals from your herds and flots. 06:37.177 --> 06:38.938 [SPEAKER_00]: may eat of anything at all. 06:38.958 --> 06:41.219 [SPEAKER_00]: Or I'm sorry, eat or drink of anything at all. 06:41.839 --> 06:48.801 [SPEAKER_00]: People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning and everyone must pray earnestly to God. 06:49.622 --> 06:53.183 [SPEAKER_00]: They must turn from their evil ways and stop all of their violence. 06:53.743 --> 06:54.343 [SPEAKER_00]: Who can tell? 06:55.184 --> 07:01.366 [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps even yet, God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us. 07:02.726 --> 07:04.267 [SPEAKER_00]: When God saw what they had done, 07:05.082 --> 07:07.163 [SPEAKER_00]: and how they have put to a stop there evil ways. 07:07.843 --> 07:11.786 [SPEAKER_00]: He changed his mind, it did not carry out the destruction that he had threatened. 07:13.006 --> 07:16.608 [SPEAKER_00]: As we go through this passage, we're gonna talk about two responses. 07:16.628 --> 07:20.470 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna talk about Nineveh's response to God's message that came through Jonah. 07:21.250 --> 07:24.972 [SPEAKER_00]: Then we'll talk about God's response to Nineveh's repentance. 07:25.032 --> 07:29.715 [SPEAKER_00]: And then lastly, I will talk about some responses that I think are wise for us to have, 07:34.487 --> 07:49.211 [SPEAKER_00]: So first things first, as far as what we saw in the passage, is none of us response to God's coming judgment was repentance, it's that change of course, that change of affection and attitude and direction. 07:49.991 --> 07:51.792 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I want to be really clear. 07:53.312 --> 08:00.694 [SPEAKER_00]: I do hold a question, was the message that Jonah gave 08:02.124 --> 08:03.584 [SPEAKER_00]: all that he was supposed to say. 08:04.405 --> 08:06.705 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 40 days, and none of it will be overthoned. 08:06.765 --> 08:11.027 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it was, or as I've talked about last week. 08:11.567 --> 08:15.588 [SPEAKER_00]: But I wonder too if was, was he supposed to say a little more? 08:15.608 --> 08:25.011 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, have you ever been around, you know, perhaps a little children and they do something and you're like, hey, you need to go say your sorry. 08:26.071 --> 08:27.652 [SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, sorry. 08:29.092 --> 08:31.113 [SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, let's try that again. 08:32.809 --> 08:35.791 [SPEAKER_00]: I think we can do a little bit better than I, I don't know. 08:35.871 --> 08:57.362 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe this was exactly what he was supposed to say because of Jonas Hart's hornet of it, I wouldn't be shocked if there was maybe a bit more, but regardless of whether or not that was the complete message he was supposed to bring, what is evident is this repentance begins taking place from the streets to the palace. 08:58.606 --> 09:08.489 [SPEAKER_00]: In the streets, we see that the message that Jonas message is landed in such a way to where the people are repenting, and that makes its way to the King's palace. 09:08.529 --> 09:11.730 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't even really see that Jonas even goes to the King's palace. 09:12.350 --> 09:14.210 [SPEAKER_00]: The message is just making its way there. 09:14.310 --> 09:23.473 [SPEAKER_00]: However, by the time it does make it to the palace from the top down, there is an obvious awakening happening. 09:24.283 --> 09:28.504 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, did you see the way that the king of none of a response? 09:30.364 --> 09:33.705 [SPEAKER_00]: He responds with a posture of humility, does he not? 09:35.165 --> 09:36.045 [SPEAKER_00]: What did he take off? 09:37.626 --> 09:38.326 [SPEAKER_00]: Royal robes. 09:39.606 --> 09:42.387 [SPEAKER_00]: Everything that proclaimed his status as wealth. 09:43.327 --> 09:44.647 [SPEAKER_00]: I bet it was pretty comfortable. 09:46.627 --> 09:48.188 [SPEAKER_00]: What does he get off from? 09:49.048 --> 09:49.588 [SPEAKER_00]: His throne. 09:51.250 --> 09:53.211 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what does he go sit on? 09:53.352 --> 09:54.492 [SPEAKER_00]: What does he put on? 09:54.532 --> 09:56.994 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, he goes and sits on a heap of ashes. 09:58.255 --> 10:01.838 [SPEAKER_00]: And he puts on woven animal hair likely of goats and camels. 10:01.978 --> 10:04.260 [SPEAKER_00]: And if some of you were like, oh, that sounds itchy. 10:05.581 --> 10:07.122 [SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't sound very comfortable. 10:07.162 --> 10:08.743 [SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't sound very vassachi. 10:09.904 --> 10:10.425 [SPEAKER_00]: It is not. 10:11.565 --> 10:13.427 [SPEAKER_00]: It was uncomfortable on purpose. 10:14.540 --> 10:21.662 [SPEAKER_00]: And it was a cultural expression of showing that you were in grief, that you were in English, and that something had happened. 10:22.423 --> 10:24.543 [SPEAKER_00]: This wasn't just the usual day. 10:25.484 --> 10:26.884 [SPEAKER_00]: Something had taken place. 10:26.964 --> 10:32.226 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a sign of extreme grief, a sign of tragedy, really. 10:33.246 --> 10:37.808 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the king puts out this decree that he's not just telling other people to do, 10:39.563 --> 10:46.986 [SPEAKER_00]: He tells us officials to do it and there's a little bit of debate that this began the streets and then once the king hears about it, he puts out a decree and then it goes backwards. 10:47.006 --> 10:48.666 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't really know there's a few debates about that. 10:49.747 --> 11:05.913 [SPEAKER_00]: But he does it and did you notice that he says that there is going to be a fast from water and from food, not just for the people, but also for the animals, but get back to the animals here in a minute. 11:06.847 --> 11:11.308 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I want you to imagine being in the city, I did the demographics on this. 11:11.368 --> 11:13.969 [SPEAKER_00]: If we're going to say, Nineveh was 120,000 people. 11:14.949 --> 11:21.070 [SPEAKER_00]: That would be Baldwin, Eureka, Chesterfield, and Kirkwood all combined. 11:21.130 --> 11:23.291 [SPEAKER_00]: Only off by about five or six thousand people. 11:24.431 --> 11:28.992 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine seeing a city in some scale or measure of that? 11:30.153 --> 11:34.494 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine being in a city where the city official or the king, the ruler, 11:37.053 --> 11:38.474 [SPEAKER_00]: We're shutting off the water. 11:39.634 --> 11:45.176 [SPEAKER_00]: Not because we're trying to save money in the county or something, but like we're not gonna have water, we're not gonna have food. 11:45.776 --> 11:48.938 [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone going put on the most uncomfortable thing possible. 11:49.838 --> 11:50.558 [SPEAKER_00]: Because you know what? 11:50.598 --> 11:58.441 [SPEAKER_00]: The God of heaven and of earth who we are all accountable to, we need to own the wickedness that we have been living in. 12:00.082 --> 12:01.642 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine that? 12:01.662 --> 12:05.164 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine just being a visitor and coming through and seeing that me like, whoa. 12:07.038 --> 12:07.898 [SPEAKER_00]: What is going on? 12:09.179 --> 12:11.099 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not the way Ninevites live. 12:11.119 --> 12:13.580 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not the way Ninevites express themselves. 12:14.780 --> 12:20.481 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what is literally taking place within the city of Ninevites. 12:21.241 --> 12:25.543 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, to come back to what I said a minute ago, if you're like, what's up with the animals? 12:25.743 --> 12:26.283 [SPEAKER_00]: What did they do? 12:27.723 --> 12:29.864 [SPEAKER_00]: What the animals being disrespectful to their owners? 12:30.924 --> 12:32.284 [SPEAKER_00]: Were they kicking their manure at people? 12:32.304 --> 12:35.285 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, what are the animals have to do with any of this? 12:36.594 --> 12:41.236 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a few opinions on that, and I have my opinions on some of those opinions. 12:42.697 --> 12:45.158 [SPEAKER_00]: Here is one that I think makes a lot of sense. 12:46.038 --> 12:56.143 [SPEAKER_00]: Some have written that perhaps we are supposed to see the irony of this situation, of how seriously the Ninevites are taking this moment. 12:57.243 --> 13:01.285 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just the kings and the officials, it's not just the people. 13:02.292 --> 13:11.300 [SPEAKER_00]: They even want to make sure that they're leading all that is living and breathing in repentance in an acknowledgement of the wickedness that they have been guilty of as a city. 13:12.381 --> 13:27.094 [SPEAKER_00]: And so maybe some commentators say, we are supposed to see that juxtaposed against Jonah, who has got's profit, who's supposed to know better, having to almost be forced and drug along the way, right? 13:28.095 --> 13:29.036 [SPEAKER_00]: And I gotta say this, 13:30.335 --> 13:52.191 [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's some weight to that, because there is something beautiful, there is something powerful about seeing what is taking place here, not just because of their posture of humility, but did you also see the way that there is an ownership of each person's personal evil, that they're contributing toward the situation? 13:58.657 --> 14:01.638 [SPEAKER_00]: The NLT puts it this way, because it's a thought-for-thought translation. 14:01.658 --> 14:07.980 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, the king says, they must turn from their evil ways and stop other violence, which is a fine and good translation. 14:08.500 --> 14:14.422 [SPEAKER_00]: I do however prefer, in this particular verse, a more word for word translation, and here's why. 14:15.123 --> 14:24.206 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, the word for word, something like the ESV or closer to the NV says this, everyone turns from his evil way, in the violence that is in his hands. 14:24.326 --> 14:28.127 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's why I prefer this, because some of you are like, call you to be in very personality right now. 14:30.382 --> 14:45.467 [SPEAKER_00]: In the original Hebrew language it really stresses the his and hands why because I think the king in this moment where he's maybe getting it what got his doing. 14:46.608 --> 14:50.489 [SPEAKER_00]: He's wanting everyone to take personal responsibility for how they're contributing toward this. 14:52.149 --> 14:53.370 [SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know about you. 14:54.477 --> 15:06.283 [SPEAKER_00]: But do you find that when it comes to the way that you handle your sin, I handle my sin, the way that we just sometimes experience other people talking about their imperfections? 15:07.723 --> 15:10.445 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you ever find that sometimes we have a tendency to minimize it? 15:11.325 --> 15:12.206 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that big of a deal. 15:13.326 --> 15:15.107 [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, man, you're making a mountain out of a mo Hill. 15:16.167 --> 15:17.368 [SPEAKER_00]: Or we marginalize it. 15:17.948 --> 15:20.229 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, it doesn't have that much power in my life. 15:22.210 --> 15:23.391 [SPEAKER_00]: It's just an occasional whipsy. 15:25.258 --> 15:27.500 [SPEAKER_00]: Or we rationalize it. 15:28.260 --> 15:31.703 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what was I supposed to do when they said this? 15:32.764 --> 15:33.585 [SPEAKER_00]: Or they did that? 15:34.886 --> 15:36.627 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you know the day that I'm having? 15:38.088 --> 15:39.770 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm kind of justified in that reaction. 15:40.830 --> 15:48.076 [SPEAKER_00]: And listen, I'm not talking about, maybe you're bandwidth is kind of smoked at the moment. 15:48.096 --> 15:49.797 [SPEAKER_00]: What I'm talking about is when we respond 15:53.370 --> 15:58.873 [SPEAKER_00]: because we're a hurting person and we can't get over ourselves sometimes just go and hurt other people. 15:58.893 --> 16:04.456 [SPEAKER_00]: Or when it comes to sins sometimes, do you find this that it kind of gets globalized? 16:04.596 --> 16:06.717 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, hey, that's how everyone talks. 16:08.218 --> 16:10.159 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the kind of humor everyone uses. 16:10.179 --> 16:16.563 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's just the way that things what are in our world today. 16:17.984 --> 16:20.485 [SPEAKER_00]: The reason I prefer just a preference, 16:21.926 --> 16:36.076 [SPEAKER_00]: The word for word translation, in this particular moment, I think the NOT does a great job and just kills it most of the time, is because I think within our current cultural context, I think that there's just some responsibility that we need to take sometimes. 16:36.116 --> 16:44.963 [SPEAKER_00]: I think sometimes we can own our actions, but we don't always own the evil that's behind them, right? 16:46.024 --> 16:50.027 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it can be easy or to admit, 16:51.049 --> 17:01.171 [SPEAKER_00]: that you were gossiping and it was wrong, it can be harder to say, hey, that's a window into the fact that sometimes, I'd rather feel included than excluded. 17:02.211 --> 17:08.292 [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I kind of feel a little bit better about getting my pot shots in on this person out or we like that much and see, you know what? 17:09.232 --> 17:13.693 [SPEAKER_00]: When some juicy stuff that I can jump in on comes my way, yeah, I might get a little bigger to there. 17:13.713 --> 17:17.814 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's not like, I mean, 17:22.670 --> 17:25.031 [SPEAKER_00]: But actually, where's that coming from? 17:25.051 --> 17:45.979 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the thing that you got to deal with if lying is an issue for you is that you think that you can actually bend the truth and what God just plays pretend when he knows better or you try to convince someone else that that's not actually what happened why, because you're trying to cover your own tracks, not look as bad. 17:49.331 --> 18:04.434 [SPEAKER_00]: Having to own the fact that we can be disrespectful as one thing, but owning that sometimes it feels good to try to bring people down because of their flaws, while in the meantime, we're sometimes kind of almost to come and blinds our own, the process. 18:05.975 --> 18:09.676 [SPEAKER_00]: It kind of tells us a different story about where we need to look sometimes. 18:09.736 --> 18:11.776 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, let's even think about it this way. 18:12.856 --> 18:16.257 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just that losing your temper or seeing hurtful things is wrong, 18:17.530 --> 18:21.534 [SPEAKER_00]: It's also really troubling to the way that we can kind of get a rush out of it sometimes. 18:23.896 --> 18:34.306 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, if we aren't willing to take responsibility for the evil that's behind our evil actions, it's almost kind of like we moweeds and we never really get to the root of the matter. 18:35.647 --> 18:41.533 [SPEAKER_00]: So, do I think that that's exactly what was within the mind of this Nineveh King? 18:41.593 --> 18:42.294 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't really know. 18:43.521 --> 18:50.085 [SPEAKER_00]: But I have to say, as I was looking into the original language in the ways in which it was rendered, it did give me pause. 18:51.486 --> 18:56.890 [SPEAKER_00]: And so they model repentance in that they have a posture of humility. 18:58.151 --> 19:01.073 [SPEAKER_00]: They take personal responsibility for their own evil. 19:01.113 --> 19:06.717 [SPEAKER_00]: They don't try to blame shifted to somewhere else and to just say, well, we're in a bite, such as what we do, that's how we roll. 19:06.757 --> 19:08.458 [SPEAKER_00]: No, they take ownership. 19:09.323 --> 19:23.314 [SPEAKER_00]: And then lastly, I think that their repentance is also a thing of note because they don't have any, the kingdom doesn't seem to have any entitlement as to how God should respond based on how they're responding. 19:23.334 --> 19:27.577 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look at what he says in chapter 9, sorry, chapter 3, verse 9. 19:28.358 --> 19:29.399 [SPEAKER_00]: The king says, who can tell? 19:30.740 --> 19:34.983 [SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps yet God, perhaps even yet God will change his mind 19:39.727 --> 19:42.189 [SPEAKER_00]: Is he aware that God may hold back? 19:42.369 --> 19:42.849 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. 19:44.290 --> 19:47.432 [SPEAKER_00]: But is he saying that God owes none of us something? 19:48.413 --> 19:48.613 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 19:50.615 --> 19:52.196 [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't seem entitled at all. 19:53.517 --> 19:58.981 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you ever been there before, or someone's like, or you've been like, hey, how is it really solid apology? 20:00.642 --> 20:02.403 [SPEAKER_00]: Things should just go right back to the way they're where, right? 20:05.945 --> 20:07.246 [SPEAKER_00]: You can forgive for sure. 20:07.266 --> 20:13.672 [SPEAKER_00]: You can be forgiven for sure, but man, sometimes if like you just think that you say the right words and you do the right things, everything's just cool, right? 20:13.692 --> 20:14.252 [SPEAKER_00]: Everything's great. 20:14.292 --> 20:14.893 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe let's go. 20:16.514 --> 20:18.656 [SPEAKER_00]: I just not really healthy. 20:20.077 --> 20:30.486 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's actually not letting God get to the heart of the matter and with this king, he doesn't really seem to have any sort of entitlement with this. 20:31.449 --> 20:43.225 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, what he does as far as we can see in the text, he throws himself at the mercy of God and asks the people to do the same. 20:45.047 --> 20:46.829 [SPEAKER_00]: And notice, he doesn't say, hey, you know what? 20:46.890 --> 20:47.631 [SPEAKER_00]: And if, uh, 20:49.527 --> 20:54.871 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't feel like he's going to, we'll just go right back to what we were doing because really we were just saying we were sorry so that way things could be cool. 20:54.911 --> 20:57.993 [SPEAKER_00]: But if I mean, we might as well just enjoy this life we've got to do whatever we want. 20:58.013 --> 21:03.457 [SPEAKER_00]: No, I mean, it seems like he's like, hey, this is the way we're gonna roll as a city, no matter what God does. 21:05.258 --> 21:12.884 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we look at this right there, they're posture of humility, their ownership of evil, the absence of entitlement. 21:13.324 --> 21:17.567 [SPEAKER_00]: In my opinion, in my opinion, I think this is why over 750 years later, 21:20.185 --> 21:27.010 [SPEAKER_00]: When Jesus is teaching about repentance, he actually uses the repentance of this generation of Ninevites as an example. 21:27.070 --> 21:29.512 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at this from Matthew, chapter 12, verse 41. 21:29.953 --> 21:38.960 [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, this is Jesus talking to the Pharisees about how a greater messenger is now here and they're because their hearts are hard, they're not seeing it. 21:38.980 --> 21:39.661 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at what he says. 21:40.381 --> 21:48.748 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, the people of Ninevites will stand in this generation on judgment day and condemn it for they repent of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. 21:49.608 --> 21:54.189 [SPEAKER_00]: Now someone greater than Jonah is here, but you refuse to repent. 21:54.289 --> 22:03.913 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's like, before we move on to God's response, Jesus even gives this generation of Ninevites, He actually gives him some flowers. 22:05.033 --> 22:08.794 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I just think that's something that we should take note of, right? 22:09.294 --> 22:16.136 [SPEAKER_00]: So that is the people of Ninevites response to God's pronouncement of judgment. 22:19.173 --> 22:21.054 [SPEAKER_00]: What is, what is God's response? 22:22.215 --> 22:23.636 [SPEAKER_00]: What does God think about all that? 22:23.696 --> 22:25.597 [SPEAKER_00]: What is God going to do? 22:26.798 --> 22:33.483 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, God's response to this is relenting. 22:34.363 --> 22:39.126 [SPEAKER_00]: But it says this, God's response to none of his repentance was relenting. 22:39.807 --> 22:48.193 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's the NLT that renders it this way and Jonah 310, when God saw what they had done and put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind. 22:49.049 --> 22:50.830 [SPEAKER_00]: It did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. 22:50.970 --> 22:59.856 [SPEAKER_00]: Or if you read the SV where it says, when God saw what they did and how they turned from the river way, God relented from the disaster, he was said he would do to them and did not do it. 23:00.577 --> 23:07.741 [SPEAKER_00]: What they're both trying to aim out, both translations is this word and Hebrew called Nikon, which talks about a change of course. 23:07.781 --> 23:13.185 [SPEAKER_00]: Like there was something that you were gonna do and then you did something different as instead. 23:13.205 --> 23:17.028 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you look at this, as you look at this and you say, wow, 23:18.803 --> 23:25.266 [SPEAKER_00]: God says, or I'm sorry, Jonah says that Nineveh will fall in 40 days, was that the whole message he was supposed to bring or not? 23:25.366 --> 23:26.147 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't really know. 23:27.447 --> 23:38.393 [SPEAKER_00]: But like, because now the sudden God is not going to, and he's relenting or he's changed his mind, does that mean God was bluffing? 23:40.834 --> 23:42.295 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't think so. 23:42.355 --> 23:45.556 [SPEAKER_00]: I think God was dead set on leveling 23:49.043 --> 23:51.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Does that just mean that God wasn't really that put off? 23:53.365 --> 23:54.645 [SPEAKER_00]: By the way, Nineveh was being. 23:54.685 --> 23:56.446 [SPEAKER_00]: No, I think he was really put off. 23:57.546 --> 24:00.688 [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's actually why Jonah didn't want to go there. 24:01.768 --> 24:09.031 [SPEAKER_00]: Because Jonah knew how completely adverse the city of Nineveh lived in opposition to God. 24:10.011 --> 24:13.413 [SPEAKER_00]: Jonah did not think that they were worthy of forgiveness in my opinion. 24:13.513 --> 24:16.134 [SPEAKER_00]: Adam will get to that next week and chapter four of us, too. 24:17.862 --> 24:29.308 [SPEAKER_00]: Like the reason God relance is not because he was not as offended as he might have led on, and it's not because he was bluffing, it's because God has a heart of forgiveness. 24:31.029 --> 24:32.950 [SPEAKER_00]: It's because God has a heart of mercy. 24:33.991 --> 24:43.937 [SPEAKER_00]: In Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 7 through 8, he says this to the prophet Jeremiah, if I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, but then 24:46.930 --> 24:49.592 [SPEAKER_00]: I will not destroy it as I had planned. 24:50.213 --> 24:57.859 [SPEAKER_00]: And if I announce that I will plant and build up a certain nation or kingdom, but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless it as I said I would. 24:57.939 --> 25:01.441 [SPEAKER_00]: So like it's from what we can see in Scripture. 25:01.481 --> 25:04.564 [SPEAKER_00]: I cannot pretend to fully understand the way all this works all the time. 25:04.604 --> 25:06.225 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not actually what God asks me to do. 25:06.405 --> 25:09.668 [SPEAKER_00]: He just tells me to, we're just called to teach what Scripture says. 25:15.311 --> 25:22.194 [SPEAKER_00]: that was justifiably going to come to Nineveh for the ways that they had been and the things that they enjoyed. 25:23.194 --> 25:33.138 [SPEAKER_00]: Within that pronouncement, there was space, given within God's mercy, and within God's attempt to plan for Nineveh to have a response to this. 25:34.858 --> 25:41.301 [SPEAKER_00]: For them to see the wickedness of their ways, to own it, and to have a posture of humility. 25:42.713 --> 25:45.254 [SPEAKER_00]: and to throw themselves at the mercy and at the feet of God. 25:46.534 --> 25:48.855 [SPEAKER_00]: Do I understand the way that that completely works every single time? 25:48.895 --> 25:51.676 [SPEAKER_00]: No, I don't, but I know that's what happened. 25:52.856 --> 25:59.139 [SPEAKER_00]: And by the way, don't we see that time and time again throughout the Old Testament? 26:00.219 --> 26:06.161 [SPEAKER_00]: Or sometimes God warns His own people, he's like, hey, listen, judgment is coming. 26:08.062 --> 26:09.022 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, judgment is coming. 26:10.236 --> 26:14.358 [SPEAKER_00]: But hey, here's what the way it can be and the people of the people's hearts change all the sudden. 26:14.378 --> 26:17.720 [SPEAKER_00]: They come back to him and that goes off and on John, knew this from his own people's history. 26:18.740 --> 26:22.002 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows it's likely potentially gonna happen in Nineveh. 26:23.082 --> 26:30.025 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's why he wants to take his ball and go home and not want to deal with it because he knows the way that God has dealt with him and his people. 26:30.065 --> 26:34.267 [SPEAKER_00]: We see it next to his 32 right after the people have got her out of Egypt for crying out loud. 26:35.028 --> 26:35.568 [SPEAKER_00]: He knows this. 26:38.113 --> 26:41.834 [SPEAKER_00]: And he doesn't want it to be for anyone else, but him and his nation, which is kind of strange. 26:41.854 --> 26:42.615 [SPEAKER_00]: We get to that next week. 26:43.115 --> 26:54.119 [SPEAKER_00]: But hasn't the story, hasn't one of the themes of this book been that God is pursuing people that are not pursuing him? 26:54.139 --> 26:57.060 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, where did this start? 26:58.141 --> 27:01.442 [SPEAKER_00]: Jonah flees and goes their wrong direction and what God pursues? 27:02.502 --> 27:03.903 [SPEAKER_00]: Why, to bring about repentance? 27:07.962 --> 27:09.282 [SPEAKER_00]: They're shipping cargo. 27:10.903 --> 27:13.703 [SPEAKER_00]: They're not looking for him, but what does God do? 27:13.743 --> 27:17.364 [SPEAKER_00]: God reveals himself to sailors and to a captain that did not know him. 27:18.384 --> 27:20.144 [SPEAKER_00]: What happens is he received them with mercy? 27:20.205 --> 27:20.985 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he does. 27:22.125 --> 27:22.785 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he does. 27:24.205 --> 27:26.366 [SPEAKER_00]: What is God's dealing with Jonah? 27:27.826 --> 27:30.487 [SPEAKER_00]: Now he takes him to the lowest of lows. 27:30.607 --> 27:36.928 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a whale of a story, no pun intended, but like, and eventually he's into somewhere different, God continues to pursue. 27:38.155 --> 27:39.956 [SPEAKER_00]: What is the story of the city of Nineveh? 27:41.237 --> 27:48.680 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, as we talked about earlier, God sends all sorts of things that would have woken them up before Jonah is even there. 27:48.700 --> 27:52.182 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they see the solar eclipse. 27:52.222 --> 27:53.443 [SPEAKER_00]: They have an earthquake happen. 27:53.623 --> 27:56.064 [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of national tourmal that all takes place. 27:56.124 --> 27:57.785 [SPEAKER_00]: They interpret all of those things. 27:58.845 --> 28:04.368 [SPEAKER_00]: To be that something was happening within the heavens toward them, and now all of the sudden this guy comes with this message, like that's it. 28:06.272 --> 28:08.552 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what we've been getting prep for this whole time. 28:08.592 --> 28:10.033 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the message we've got to respond to. 28:11.893 --> 28:13.473 [SPEAKER_00]: So who really gets the praise? 28:13.513 --> 28:17.234 [SPEAKER_00]: Who really gets the credit for this beautiful moment of repentance? 28:18.855 --> 28:19.255 [SPEAKER_00]: God does. 28:21.095 --> 28:23.215 [SPEAKER_00]: Are the people his active agents within it? 28:23.275 --> 28:23.636 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. 28:24.376 --> 28:26.416 [SPEAKER_00]: Do you understand the way that that works for you for every time? 28:26.496 --> 28:26.756 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 28:27.176 --> 28:29.377 [SPEAKER_00]: But I know that's what the story is talking about. 28:30.957 --> 28:33.998 [SPEAKER_00]: And in fact, it was such a meaningful one that Jesus throws flowers 28:37.676 --> 28:46.782 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, to say that God is a God of love, but God has also a God of justice. 28:46.822 --> 28:51.565 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm cool with that, but I would just say listen, God's love and is justice, they do not compete. 28:52.946 --> 28:54.447 [SPEAKER_00]: They are not at war with each other. 28:55.628 --> 29:00.011 [SPEAKER_00]: They are a part of who he is and how he works and how he redeems people like you and like me. 29:01.732 --> 29:05.695 [SPEAKER_00]: He comes to us with his justice and says, listen, you have it your way, this is where it goes. 29:07.660 --> 29:09.982 [SPEAKER_00]: but man, don't, don't you want a different way? 29:11.963 --> 29:16.106 [SPEAKER_00]: How about you quit doing the me thing with you and you come to me and start? 29:16.987 --> 29:20.809 [SPEAKER_00]: I think I totally messed it up, I think you know what I meant. 29:21.130 --> 29:24.132 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what happens in the story of none of us. 29:24.152 --> 29:25.993 [SPEAKER_00]: So, in closing, I just wanna ask you this. 29:29.956 --> 29:30.837 [SPEAKER_00]: What does this mean for us? 29:32.044 --> 29:35.406 [SPEAKER_00]: What are some wise takeaways for us to think about this with? 29:36.226 --> 29:43.249 [SPEAKER_00]: First one, I just want to ask you is this, when you, and when I say you, I want you to know I'm seeing a mirror right here for me. 29:43.910 --> 29:55.095 [SPEAKER_00]: So when you are, when we, when you get confronted with the evil that is in your hand or the evil that you're harboring in your heart, what's your reaction? 29:56.636 --> 29:57.576 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you respond? 29:59.637 --> 30:01.558 [SPEAKER_00]: Is it with a posture of humility? 30:03.663 --> 30:07.745 [SPEAKER_00]: is it with owning your actions and what's behind them? 30:10.406 --> 30:13.487 [SPEAKER_00]: Or instead of a posture of humility, is it a posture of pride? 30:15.748 --> 30:20.369 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of a posture of owning your stuff, is it blame shifting? 30:22.890 --> 30:29.353 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, all my actions, but I mean, really, learned from a city, 30:31.253 --> 30:35.016 [SPEAKER_00]: That's wickedness screamed throughout the entire world at one point in time. 30:36.677 --> 30:40.479 [SPEAKER_00]: That in this moment, for this generation, seems to go totally different. 30:41.560 --> 30:47.624 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you want to read where it goes, two generations beyond that, read the book of name, doesn't go well, but in this generation, it does. 30:48.525 --> 30:49.725 [SPEAKER_00]: For an end of it, all right? 30:50.026 --> 30:51.627 [SPEAKER_00]: Just to tell you the old truth and nothing but the truth. 30:52.427 --> 30:53.308 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you respond? 30:53.368 --> 30:54.148 [SPEAKER_00]: How should we respond? 30:56.430 --> 30:58.071 [SPEAKER_00]: How do we respond with humility? 31:00.965 --> 31:09.452 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, slow down, be slow to speak, right, and be quick to what. 31:10.513 --> 31:21.882 [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, not just to the person who may be addressing you with what's going wrong right now, but to listen to your heavenly father, who speaks in very subtle and sometimes very loud ways. 31:24.564 --> 31:29.108 [SPEAKER_00]: Have a posture if you know about listening and slowing down and not being quick to defend yourself. 31:30.982 --> 31:32.843 [SPEAKER_00]: How do you own personal responsibility? 31:33.983 --> 31:35.163 [SPEAKER_00]: I'll be real quick. 31:35.564 --> 31:37.024 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you that know me well, just where I work. 31:37.184 --> 31:38.185 [SPEAKER_00]: This might not come off right. 31:38.825 --> 31:39.705 [SPEAKER_00]: Quit blaming everybody else. 31:43.786 --> 31:44.687 [SPEAKER_00]: Quit blaming the culture. 31:47.068 --> 31:47.948 [SPEAKER_00]: Quit blaming your mood. 31:49.809 --> 31:52.309 [SPEAKER_00]: Quit blaming how much sleep you did it and get. 31:53.810 --> 31:59.332 [SPEAKER_00]: Quit blaming your entitlement and how about how people should just be different with you and they are, no one says that, but we act that way sometimes. 32:01.379 --> 32:15.485 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that if we will come to God with that in repent of how sometimes we have a posture of pride and a posture of blame shifting, I think God will do something beautiful in your heart and in mind and for us to church. 32:17.686 --> 32:20.247 [SPEAKER_00]: Second application, this one's more happy. 32:22.408 --> 32:28.230 [SPEAKER_00]: When was the last time you stopped and thought about all of the people that God has placed in your 32:31.675 --> 32:35.576 [SPEAKER_00]: Because remember, repentance is not about us finding God. 32:36.536 --> 32:39.117 [SPEAKER_00]: It's made possible because of the God who is pursuing us. 32:40.697 --> 32:47.019 [SPEAKER_00]: Who is that friend that invited you to church or that was one to have that spiritual conversation with you? 32:50.400 --> 32:51.440 [SPEAKER_00]: Have you talked to him in a while? 32:53.361 --> 32:54.021 [SPEAKER_00]: Could you thank them? 32:55.161 --> 32:56.442 [SPEAKER_00]: Could you thank God for them? 32:56.822 --> 32:57.722 [SPEAKER_00]: Could you pray for them? 32:57.742 --> 33:00.543 [SPEAKER_00]: Could you pray the God would use you like that? 33:02.033 --> 33:18.260 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, to take a moment and just think about all the different situations and circumstances, some of them may be funny, some of them may be joyful, some of them may be hard, some of you might want to forget about, but go ahead and take a memory-land trip back to say, guy, can you remind me of how you wooed me to yourself? 33:20.681 --> 33:25.202 [SPEAKER_00]: Because I was just so into myself, I didn't even see you, but you just pursued me anyways. 33:32.833 --> 33:34.073 [SPEAKER_00]: You showed me your community. 33:35.053 --> 33:35.974 [SPEAKER_00]: You showed me your love. 33:35.994 --> 33:39.034 [SPEAKER_00]: You taught me about how I wasn't seeing things, right? 33:40.314 --> 33:46.555 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you ask God this week to take you on a trip down memory lane about that story that happened in your life? 33:47.776 --> 33:48.876 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you give him praise? 33:50.136 --> 33:54.377 [SPEAKER_00]: And would you ask for him to use you like that and the lives of those who you are around? 33:55.357 --> 34:01.058 [SPEAKER_00]: And lastly, let's say this, if you are here today and you do not yet know Jesus as you savior, 34:03.822 --> 34:06.244 [SPEAKER_00]: You are not here by accident. 34:08.205 --> 34:09.165 [SPEAKER_00]: God is pursuing you. 34:10.946 --> 34:12.728 [SPEAKER_00]: God is pursuing you with his word. 34:13.668 --> 34:15.149 [SPEAKER_00]: He is pursuing you with his people. 34:16.210 --> 34:17.751 [SPEAKER_00]: He is pursuing you with his mission. 34:19.832 --> 34:25.055 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask God to help you have humility where you may be proud and willing to resist him. 34:27.417 --> 34:28.838 [SPEAKER_00]: Except the fact, 34:29.790 --> 34:38.293 [SPEAKER_00]: that as where some things around you may have made things harder for you or given you more of a proclivity to have put yourself in certain situations. 34:39.314 --> 34:44.016 [SPEAKER_00]: See this gently, you got to get past not owning your stuff anymore though. 34:45.316 --> 34:46.056 [SPEAKER_00]: Because here's the deal. 34:46.076 --> 34:51.999 [SPEAKER_00]: When we own our stuff and we say, God, I know it like there's these things that happen and they kind of made it hard for me, but God, here's just me and all my mess. 34:52.019 --> 34:53.339 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the wickedness, it's in my hands. 34:53.559 --> 34:54.820 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the wickedness, it's in my heart. 34:55.120 --> 34:56.060 [SPEAKER_00]: God, but you still love me. 34:56.080 --> 34:57.781 [SPEAKER_00]: And you waste, God says, yes, they do. 34:59.517 --> 35:00.678 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why he's got you here. 35:01.718 --> 35:03.039 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why he gave you his word. 35:03.199 --> 35:06.040 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why back in the Old Testament, time, he sent prophets. 35:07.581 --> 35:09.702 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why he moves in mighty and miraculous ways. 35:11.003 --> 35:20.428 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're here today and you do not yet know Jesus, would you receive what he did for you on the cross and through the resurrection? 35:21.390 --> 35:22.370 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you repent? 35:22.670 --> 35:30.992 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you let Jesus lead you to turn from yourself and what you think you can do for yourself and turn to him and what he's done completed and finished for you. 35:31.872 --> 35:32.912 [SPEAKER_00]: He stands right to give it. 35:33.432 --> 35:47.635 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray God, we thank you for the ways in which you pursue us not just into salvation, but even just in our ongoing maturity that you call us to you give us your people you give us your word. 35:48.636 --> 35:51.838 [SPEAKER_00]: give us seasons and circumstances that humble us, that fill us up. 35:53.639 --> 35:55.721 [SPEAKER_00]: God, we thank you for the ways in which your hand. 35:56.861 --> 35:58.042 [SPEAKER_00]: We just, we don't always see it. 35:59.263 --> 36:05.146 [SPEAKER_00]: But then, man, Lord, once we do, it's humbling. 36:06.287 --> 36:08.328 [SPEAKER_00]: God, would you just help us to give you thanks for that today? 36:08.348 --> 36:14.112 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you help us to reminisce for those who are here today who know you is savory? 36:14.272 --> 36:15.333 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you help us to reminisce? 36:17.067 --> 36:23.692 [SPEAKER_00]: about the story that you've had in our life, using people, using circumstances, using all sorts of things to lead us to yourself. 36:25.113 --> 36:29.056 [SPEAKER_00]: And as you lead us to reminisce to that, would that just lead us to praise you? 36:29.096 --> 36:29.637 [SPEAKER_00]: And to thank you. 36:31.287 --> 36:35.532 [SPEAKER_00]: And would it also just make a soft play to be that person in the lives of other people? 36:35.572 --> 36:37.454 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we want to be your hands, we want to be your feet. 36:37.494 --> 36:43.041 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to be your expression of love here on Earth as you would have us to and heaven. 36:43.221 --> 36:44.663 [SPEAKER_00]: So help us to do that this week. 36:44.783 --> 36:50.310 [SPEAKER_00]: And we thank you for this last song we can sing out of expression of that in Jesus name, amen.