WEBVTT 00:14.122 --> 00:14.723 [UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching. 01:10.720 --> 01:11.907 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll get more in church fam. 01:12.229 --> 01:12.812 [SPEAKER_01]: How you doing? 01:14.467 --> 01:15.267 [SPEAKER_01]: Good, good. 01:15.287 --> 01:16.868 [SPEAKER_01]: It's so good to see all of you. 01:16.908 --> 01:18.128 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited for it today. 01:18.168 --> 01:20.689 [SPEAKER_01]: We are wrapping up our study in the book of Jonah. 01:21.369 --> 01:22.390 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's going to be great. 01:23.030 --> 01:26.811 [SPEAKER_01]: But before we do that, I want to make sure you know if you are new to first-free, first-all-high. 01:27.071 --> 01:28.072 [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome, we're glad you're here. 01:28.652 --> 01:30.453 [SPEAKER_01]: And some people, this was their first Sunday. 01:30.873 --> 01:36.315 [SPEAKER_01]: If you didn't already know, we have a neat first-free lunch happening right after this service at 12.15. 01:36.635 --> 01:41.676 [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be out to the left, down the stairs, in a room we call 110, would love to have you join us. 01:41.696 --> 01:42.657 [SPEAKER_01]: They'll be plenty of food there. 01:43.477 --> 01:51.819 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're new or even new-ish and want to connect with some staff and pastors and elders here, would love to answer your question and help you get connected to other people. 01:51.839 --> 01:54.419 [SPEAKER_01]: I've already talked to some first-timers today who are going to be there at that. 01:54.439 --> 01:56.760 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're really, really looking forward to that. 01:57.300 --> 01:59.861 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, as I said, we are in the book of Jonah. 01:59.881 --> 02:01.261 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to be in chapter four. 02:01.301 --> 02:05.882 [SPEAKER_01]: And I want to do just a quick review to catch us up, make sure, and for those that are new to 02:06.342 --> 02:12.566 [SPEAKER_01]: Let you know what we've gone through already that's building up to this the final Sunday in our Jonah series. 02:12.586 --> 02:17.629 [SPEAKER_01]: So in week one, we talked about fleeing from God on different kinds of ships. 02:17.669 --> 02:26.935 [SPEAKER_01]: And you might remember we put different ships up on the screen with different kinds of things that distract us and give us excuses to not do the things that God has called us to do. 02:26.975 --> 02:34.600 [SPEAKER_01]: In week two, we talked about how resisting God drags us and those around us into unnecessary fallout. 02:35.080 --> 02:48.785 [SPEAKER_01]: In week three, we talked about how God uses unexpected seasons and trials to strip away our self-sufficiencies and the hidden contradictions between how we say we live and how we actually live. 02:49.225 --> 02:58.828 [SPEAKER_01]: In week four, we talked about how we can boldly share our faith with other people because God is already at work in their lives in ways that we may not see or understand yet. 02:58.888 --> 03:00.269 [SPEAKER_01]: And just last week, week five. 03:00.729 --> 03:06.376 [SPEAKER_01]: We talked about true repentance, requiring humility and our responses to what God is doing. 03:06.396 --> 03:14.145 [SPEAKER_01]: And all of that brings us to today, and today we're really going to zero in on the tagline of the whole series. 03:14.165 --> 03:16.607 [SPEAKER_01]: Does anybody know what the tagline for this series has been? 03:18.189 --> 03:18.890 [SPEAKER_01]: It's when grace, 03:21.002 --> 03:21.282 [SPEAKER_01]: hurt. 03:21.422 --> 03:22.503 [SPEAKER_01]: So many was paying attention. 03:22.523 --> 03:25.785 [SPEAKER_01]: It was hidden there all along that little easter egg when Grace hurts. 03:26.165 --> 03:32.088 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the thing we want to talk about today and it's really all been building up to this point before we go there. 03:32.969 --> 03:39.432 [SPEAKER_01]: I need two volunteers who will join me on stage and before you volunteer, you need to know what you're getting yourselves into, okay? 03:40.793 --> 03:44.535 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to need two volunteers who are pretty physically fit. 03:45.467 --> 03:51.129 [SPEAKER_01]: can do some push-ups, can do some jumping jacks, can do some sit-ups, those kinds of things, okay? 03:51.169 --> 03:58.873 [SPEAKER_01]: So now that you know what you're into and there are prizes for two volunteers, we've got one very eager volunteer right here. 03:58.893 --> 04:00.213 [SPEAKER_01]: You got to come up here, you got to come up here. 04:00.253 --> 04:01.294 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, we got one already. 04:01.594 --> 04:03.555 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's get it on, all the way in the back. 04:03.595 --> 04:04.855 [SPEAKER_01]: We've got another one back there, yeah. 04:05.515 --> 04:07.556 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on up here, all right, guys, hey, how you doing? 04:07.576 --> 04:08.957 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Adam, what's your name? 04:09.117 --> 04:09.737 [SPEAKER_01]: Ethan. 04:09.757 --> 04:11.638 [SPEAKER_01]: Ethan, we got Ethan, and what's your name? 04:12.608 --> 04:16.511 [SPEAKER_01]: Jake, if Ethan and Jacob come on over, oh yeah, Jacob, I know you can see with the lights and eyes. 04:16.831 --> 04:21.634 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so I'm going to have you guys stand right over here, right there, all right, and this is our prize box right here. 04:22.294 --> 04:23.015 [SPEAKER_01]: Here's the question. 04:24.196 --> 04:25.136 [SPEAKER_01]: Who wants to go first? 04:26.197 --> 04:27.418 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, wow, that was quick. 04:27.538 --> 04:28.378 [SPEAKER_01]: All right, Ethan, very good. 04:28.398 --> 04:28.719 [SPEAKER_01]: Very good. 04:28.759 --> 04:30.500 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, you didn't even know what you're going to have to do. 04:30.940 --> 04:32.041 [SPEAKER_01]: All right, now I'm going to make it really hard. 04:32.960 --> 04:33.900 [SPEAKER_01]: No, no, here's what you have to do. 04:33.920 --> 04:34.300 [SPEAKER_01]: This is it. 04:34.980 --> 04:38.581 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to put a timer on the screen because we take this very seriously here at first free. 04:39.341 --> 04:47.323 [SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to ask you to do five pushups, five jumping jacks and five setups and less than three minutes. 04:47.363 --> 04:48.623 [SPEAKER_01]: Do you think you can do that? 04:49.303 --> 04:50.063 [SPEAKER_01]: You think you can do that. 04:50.123 --> 04:50.423 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. 04:50.823 --> 04:51.063 [SPEAKER_01]: All right. 04:51.083 --> 04:52.384 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to put the timer up on the screen. 04:53.184 --> 04:54.084 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's make sure we're ready with that. 04:54.104 --> 04:54.344 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. 04:54.384 --> 04:55.264 [SPEAKER_01]: We want to be serious here. 04:55.364 --> 04:55.604 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. 04:55.624 --> 04:56.644 [SPEAKER_01]: And your times come and don't worry. 04:57.344 --> 04:57.625 [SPEAKER_01]: All right. 04:57.685 --> 04:58.425 [SPEAKER_01]: Whenever you're ready. 04:59.605 --> 04:59.905 [SPEAKER_01]: Go ahead. 05:01.224 --> 05:04.487 [SPEAKER_01]: One, two, three, four, he's fast. 05:04.587 --> 05:05.368 [SPEAKER_01]: Five, look at that, four. 05:05.548 --> 05:06.229 [SPEAKER_01]: Wow, that was quick. 05:06.729 --> 05:09.912 [SPEAKER_01]: One, two, three, four, five. 05:09.932 --> 05:10.773 [SPEAKER_01]: We should have made this harder. 05:11.213 --> 05:12.014 [SPEAKER_01]: Now time for the setups. 05:12.494 --> 05:21.803 [SPEAKER_01]: One, two, three, four, five, oh, very good. 05:21.943 --> 05:23.745 [SPEAKER_01]: 20.2 seconds, way to go. 05:26.113 --> 05:28.335 [SPEAKER_01]: by the way, you beat the first service time. 05:28.375 --> 05:30.116 [SPEAKER_01]: So good job, that was a victory. 05:30.677 --> 05:37.082 [SPEAKER_01]: Also, I'm going to go ahead and show you in our special handy-dandy prize case here for you because you just burned so many calories. 05:37.382 --> 05:38.683 [SPEAKER_01]: It's over a pound of chocolate. 05:38.703 --> 05:40.145 [SPEAKER_01]: That is your prize. 05:40.225 --> 05:41.005 [SPEAKER_01]: Congratulations. 05:41.025 --> 05:44.688 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, you can stay up here because we want to obviously watch Jacob do his challenges. 05:44.748 --> 05:46.510 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, but how did that make you feel? 05:46.530 --> 05:47.951 [SPEAKER_01]: Are you a little tired, little exhausted? 05:48.091 --> 05:49.893 [SPEAKER_01]: Just a tiny bit, but you can handle it. 05:50.413 --> 05:51.354 [SPEAKER_01]: I know, I know, I get it. 05:51.754 --> 05:53.356 [SPEAKER_01]: All right, so Jacob it's your turn. 05:53.376 --> 05:54.597 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to have you stand over there, Ethan. 05:54.617 --> 05:56.098 [SPEAKER_01]: Jacob, you're going to come over next to me. 05:56.859 --> 05:59.321 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so we're going to, the challenges will be a little bit different. 06:00.182 --> 06:02.083 [SPEAKER_01]: For you, we're also going to give you three minutes. 06:02.564 --> 06:05.386 [SPEAKER_01]: Your challenge is to give me a high five. 06:06.627 --> 06:08.409 [SPEAKER_01]: Awesome, point five seconds. 06:08.489 --> 06:09.590 [SPEAKER_01]: Wait a go, man. 06:09.610 --> 06:12.412 [SPEAKER_01]: Dude, congratulations. 06:12.933 --> 06:14.054 [SPEAKER_01]: Very good, very good. 06:14.294 --> 06:16.836 [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I want to thank both of you for being a part of this. 06:19.418 --> 06:23.321 [SPEAKER_01]: We're having some feelings here, aren't we, Ethan? 06:23.361 --> 06:25.262 [SPEAKER_01]: We're having a moment, what do we think it right now? 06:26.563 --> 06:27.824 [SPEAKER_01]: That was a little less effort. 06:27.864 --> 06:28.825 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 06:29.526 --> 06:32.208 [SPEAKER_01]: I think everybody that's watching sort of felt that with you. 06:32.268 --> 06:34.289 [SPEAKER_01]: I think they identified with you in that moment. 06:34.369 --> 06:36.111 [SPEAKER_01]: And everyone was probably thinking that's not 06:37.677 --> 06:38.077 [SPEAKER_01]: fair. 06:38.137 --> 06:39.458 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you know what's going on. 06:40.318 --> 06:42.439 [SPEAKER_01]: But I didn't promise you guys anything. 06:42.499 --> 06:45.800 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't say what you were going to have to do, what the rewards were going to be. 06:46.040 --> 06:52.743 [SPEAKER_01]: And yet somehow just the comparison between the two of you brought this automatic reaction from everybody in the room. 06:52.943 --> 06:57.205 [SPEAKER_01]: I think people at home online were screaming at their TVs going, wait a minute. 06:57.665 --> 06:58.125 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on. 06:58.185 --> 06:59.426 [SPEAKER_01]: And how did that make you feel Jacob? 07:00.786 --> 07:01.687 [SPEAKER_01]: You feel bad for him. 07:01.747 --> 07:02.627 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, because you wreck it. 07:02.647 --> 07:06.929 [SPEAKER_01]: You didn't just feel thankful and grateful that you got something for next to no effort. 07:08.510 --> 07:09.711 [SPEAKER_01]: Both can be true at the same time. 07:11.272 --> 07:14.215 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to thank both of you for playing along and being our guinea pigs today. 07:14.535 --> 07:15.216 [SPEAKER_01]: Really appreciate it. 07:15.236 --> 07:16.036 [SPEAKER_01]: You can go ahead and have a seat. 07:16.056 --> 07:16.717 [SPEAKER_01]: Can you get them a hand? 07:16.737 --> 07:26.465 [SPEAKER_01]: APPLAUSE No one got cheated here today. 07:28.000 --> 07:30.461 [SPEAKER_01]: No one was promised anything special. 07:31.042 --> 07:33.223 [SPEAKER_01]: I did not say they were going to do the same challenges. 07:33.263 --> 07:35.624 [SPEAKER_01]: I did not say they were going to get the same rewards or different rewards. 07:35.644 --> 07:36.685 [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't promise anything. 07:37.525 --> 07:47.891 [SPEAKER_01]: If I had brought them up in separate services and treated Ethan one way in one service and Jacob a different way in the second service, nobody would have thought anything about it. 07:48.531 --> 07:51.773 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the comparison that drives us crazy. 07:52.628 --> 07:55.670 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the comparison that makes us think that's not fair. 07:55.710 --> 07:56.431 [SPEAKER_01]: That can't be right. 07:56.611 --> 07:57.532 [SPEAKER_01]: You know what works the other way too? 07:58.172 --> 07:58.913 [SPEAKER_01]: It works the other way too. 07:58.973 --> 08:05.958 [SPEAKER_01]: If you do the same amount of effort and you are rewarded differently, then someone else, that doesn't feel so good either. 08:06.078 --> 08:09.301 [SPEAKER_01]: There are a lot of studies that have been done on this including on animals. 08:09.921 --> 08:13.324 [SPEAKER_01]: Many animals will experience the same feelings about that that we do. 08:13.624 --> 08:18.208 [SPEAKER_01]: My favorite one is with Capuchin monkeys and we're gonna show you a little video clip of that. 08:18.957 --> 08:21.498 [SPEAKER_00]: The one on the left is the monkey who gets cucumber. 08:21.518 --> 08:23.839 [SPEAKER_00]: But the one on the right is the one who gets grapes. 08:24.419 --> 08:28.440 [SPEAKER_00]: The one who gets cucumber noted, the first piece of cucumber is perfectly fine. 08:28.480 --> 08:29.780 [SPEAKER_00]: The first piece he eats. 08:31.021 --> 08:33.582 [SPEAKER_00]: Then C-C is the other one getting grape and you will see what happens. 08:34.982 --> 08:36.142 [SPEAKER_00]: So she gives a rock to us. 08:36.162 --> 08:38.003 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the task. 08:38.023 --> 08:40.264 [SPEAKER_00]: And we give her a piece of cucumber and she eats it. 08:40.644 --> 08:42.144 [SPEAKER_00]: The other one needs to give a rock to us. 08:43.925 --> 08:44.725 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what she does. 08:46.346 --> 08:47.486 [SPEAKER_00]: And she gets a grape. 08:49.338 --> 08:54.060 [SPEAKER_00]: And so each of the other ones sees that, so he gives a rock to us now, gets again cucumber. 08:58.061 --> 09:12.745 [UNKNOWN]: She tests a rock now against the wall, so he needs to give it to us. 09:13.486 --> 09:16.127 [SPEAKER_00]: She tests a rock now against the wall. 09:16.347 --> 09:17.227 [SPEAKER_00]: She needs to give it to us. 09:18.862 --> 09:19.984 [SPEAKER_00]: and think it's cucumber again. 09:31.383 --> 09:33.824 [SPEAKER_01]: Even the animals know, that's not fair. 09:34.164 --> 09:40.465 [SPEAKER_01]: But notice that the cucumber was perfectly fine up until she saw the other monkey get something different. 09:40.765 --> 09:42.926 [SPEAKER_01]: And then she realized, there is something different here. 09:42.966 --> 09:44.666 [SPEAKER_01]: This is not right, this is not fair. 09:45.246 --> 09:52.888 [SPEAKER_01]: In our sense of justice is so important to us when we perceive a difference between how someone else is being treated and how we're being treated. 09:53.148 --> 09:56.889 [SPEAKER_01]: Or the amount of effort we've had to put in and the amount of effort someone else has had to put in. 09:57.069 --> 09:59.350 [SPEAKER_01]: There is this natural instinctive reaction 10:02.150 --> 10:09.733 [SPEAKER_01]: There, or when we get really upset and we're playing the sport or basketball or football or something like that, there's this phrase, I'm going to take my ball in. 10:10.893 --> 10:12.914 [SPEAKER_01]: Go home, because I don't even want anything to do with this anymore. 10:12.954 --> 10:13.614 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not fair. 10:13.674 --> 10:14.574 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not right. 10:15.555 --> 10:21.857 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're going to talk about today, because we're going to talk about what happens when we think it's God that's not fair. 10:22.995 --> 10:28.023 [SPEAKER_01]: What if it's God that is treating someone else better than we think they deserve? 10:28.323 --> 10:32.089 [SPEAKER_01]: God is giving grace and blessings to someone in a way that we don't think they should have. 10:32.470 --> 10:37.798 [SPEAKER_01]: Or someone else is getting the same things in the same reward that we are doing, but we put in way more work. 10:38.665 --> 10:44.769 [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes we turn and look at God and we shake our fist at him and say, God, you're not fair. 10:44.829 --> 10:46.049 [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't right. 10:46.069 --> 10:47.890 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what we're going to talk about today. 10:47.910 --> 10:53.273 [SPEAKER_01]: But before we get into the chapter 4 of Jonah, which is our main text for today, I want to go back to chapter 3 and set this up. 10:53.293 --> 10:55.035 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you got your Bible, it's open, Jonah chapter 3. 10:56.165 --> 11:06.311 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to read several verses in chapter 3 just so that we have the context for this, then we're going to dive into chapter 4 together and look at three important things that we need to remember from Jonah 4. 11:06.771 --> 11:09.372 [SPEAKER_01]: So Jonah 3, we're going to start in verse 5, says this. 11:09.973 --> 11:12.995 [SPEAKER_01]: The people of Nineveh believed God's message. 11:13.315 --> 11:17.757 [SPEAKER_01]: And from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow. 11:17.777 --> 11:18.758 [SPEAKER_01]: Burlap is this release. 11:19.519 --> 11:22.905 [SPEAKER_01]: Itchy scratchy kind of fabric, especially at that time. 11:22.925 --> 11:24.287 [SPEAKER_01]: So they put this on to show their sorrow. 11:24.748 --> 11:26.731 [SPEAKER_01]: When the King of Nine of a Hurt, what Jonah was saying? 11:27.677 --> 11:30.558 [SPEAKER_01]: He stepped down from his throne to show his humility. 11:31.159 --> 11:33.159 [SPEAKER_01]: He took off his royal robes. 11:33.600 --> 11:37.101 [SPEAKER_01]: He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes. 11:37.121 --> 11:43.564 [SPEAKER_01]: This was a common way in the ancient world of showing that you were in deep morning, that you were sincere in your grief. 11:44.204 --> 11:47.345 [SPEAKER_01]: Then the king and his noble sent this decree throughout the city. 11:47.986 --> 11:55.149 [SPEAKER_01]: No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks may eat or drink anything at all. 11:55.861 --> 12:01.282 [SPEAKER_01]: People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. 12:01.802 --> 12:05.843 [SPEAKER_01]: They must turn away from their evil ways and stop all their violence. 12:06.503 --> 12:14.145 [SPEAKER_01]: Who can tell, perhaps even yet, God will change his mind and hold back his fears anger from destroying us when God saw what they had done. 12:14.845 --> 12:22.787 [SPEAKER_01]: And how they'd put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. 12:23.907 --> 12:27.910 [SPEAKER_01]: If we stop the movie right there, this is a huge success story. 12:28.631 --> 12:35.436 [SPEAKER_01]: The greatest revival that has ever happened, and think about this, Jonah is in the middle of it all. 12:36.017 --> 12:38.399 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, he's the only messenger. 12:38.679 --> 12:46.225 [SPEAKER_01]: He's the guy that brought this that changed the entire city, that the one person the city will now look to for spiritual guidance. 12:46.245 --> 12:48.187 [SPEAKER_01]: He's their version of the Apostle Paul. 12:48.922 --> 12:58.026 [SPEAKER_01]: Now that this whole city has turned to God, Jonah has this incredible opportunity to lead the city and knowing and following God's ways. 12:58.226 --> 12:59.126 [SPEAKER_01]: This is all new to them. 13:00.026 --> 13:09.190 [SPEAKER_01]: And here's this prophet who brought the message, the change the hearts of the city, and now he has this incredible chance to make a difference in the lives of these people. 13:09.690 --> 13:16.353 [SPEAKER_01]: And just think about the testimonies that we're going around, the business people who had cheated their customers, 13:16.853 --> 13:18.454 [SPEAKER_01]: and had mistreated their employees. 13:18.854 --> 13:23.417 [SPEAKER_01]: We're now going back in apologizing and saying, I was wrong and making things right with them. 13:23.797 --> 13:29.521 [SPEAKER_01]: The spouses who had committed adultery were confessing and recommitting to their marriages. 13:29.781 --> 13:40.807 [SPEAKER_01]: The criminals who stole are now returning people's property, the soldiers who committed horrible war crimes are now crying over the things that they did in committing to never do them again. 13:46.214 --> 13:48.436 [SPEAKER_01]: We're not going to be like politicians anymore, I don't know. 13:49.817 --> 13:54.360 [SPEAKER_01]: Think about the incredible revival that was happening in this city. 13:54.580 --> 13:57.282 [SPEAKER_01]: And there's Jonah in the middle of all of it. 13:57.322 --> 14:00.524 [SPEAKER_01]: They even got their animals involved in the process. 14:00.544 --> 14:05.708 [SPEAKER_01]: Can you imagine being the cow and your owners coming out to you and starts dressing you and clothes? 14:05.728 --> 14:07.289 [SPEAKER_01]: And the first you're like, ooh, a coat nice. 14:07.409 --> 14:08.290 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, it's scratchy. 14:08.690 --> 14:09.791 [SPEAKER_01]: Why would you put this on me? 14:10.091 --> 14:11.812 [SPEAKER_01]: And then you don't get to eat for a couple of days. 14:11.832 --> 14:12.533 [SPEAKER_01]: And you're like, gee. 14:13.253 --> 14:17.794 [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate the thought, Bob, but it's your sin that got us into this, like maybe leave your animals out of it. 14:18.334 --> 14:19.055 [SPEAKER_01]: But they didn't know what to do. 14:19.095 --> 14:24.596 [SPEAKER_01]: So they've had all the animals dressed in burlap and not eat either because that's how serious they were about this. 14:25.536 --> 14:27.697 [SPEAKER_01]: So remarkable turnaround in the city. 14:28.017 --> 14:29.618 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah's in the middle all of all of it. 14:29.818 --> 14:30.798 [SPEAKER_01]: He can praise God. 14:31.038 --> 14:31.978 [SPEAKER_01]: He can start churches. 14:32.178 --> 14:33.739 [SPEAKER_01]: He can lead theology conferences. 14:34.139 --> 14:34.879 [SPEAKER_01]: He can write books. 14:35.539 --> 14:37.160 [SPEAKER_01]: He can do all the things that's going to just 14:42.546 --> 14:44.167 [SPEAKER_01]: What does he feel in this moment? 14:44.187 --> 14:45.468 [SPEAKER_01]: Look at verse one of chapter four. 14:46.529 --> 14:51.192 [SPEAKER_01]: This change of plans greatly upset Jonah. 14:52.053 --> 14:53.894 [SPEAKER_01]: And he became very angry. 14:56.083 --> 14:58.364 [SPEAKER_01]: So he complained to the Lord about it. 14:58.404 --> 15:01.245 [SPEAKER_01]: Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this Lord? 15:01.805 --> 15:03.826 [SPEAKER_01]: That is why I ran away too, Tarshish. 15:03.946 --> 15:09.848 [SPEAKER_01]: I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 15:09.868 --> 15:12.529 [SPEAKER_01]: You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 15:12.569 --> 15:13.970 [SPEAKER_01]: Just kill me now, Lord. 15:14.790 --> 15:17.852 [SPEAKER_01]: I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen. 15:18.393 --> 15:22.075 [SPEAKER_01]: Does anybody else getting soap opera vibes from Jonah here? 15:22.095 --> 15:23.536 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, this is a little over-dramat. 15:23.556 --> 15:26.458 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, not that I've seen any, but I've seen the clips, you know? 15:26.959 --> 15:34.784 [SPEAKER_01]: And Jonah here is just reacting so big to all of this and saying, God, the nice things that you're doing to these other people make me want to be dead. 15:36.205 --> 15:36.886 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not fair. 15:38.253 --> 15:39.853 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not fair that they would get your grace. 15:40.194 --> 15:48.996 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not fair that they would get your mercy, but you would forgive them after all of the things that they did, but it's actually even worse than that because Jonah is actually quoting God here. 15:49.736 --> 15:52.677 [SPEAKER_01]: He's quoting God's own decree about his own character. 15:52.697 --> 16:02.900 [SPEAKER_01]: This is from Exodus 34, God says, Yahweh, the Lord, the God of compassion and mercy, I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 16:03.220 --> 16:06.101 [SPEAKER_01]: I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations, 16:07.601 --> 16:15.526 [SPEAKER_01]: rebellion and sin, and Jonah takes this foundational declaration of God's character, and he throws in God's face. 16:16.847 --> 16:20.950 [SPEAKER_01]: And since I know this is the way you are, and I don't like it. 16:22.651 --> 16:28.415 [SPEAKER_01]: See, Jonah was not running from Tarshish or two Tarshish because he was afraid of the people in Nineveh. 16:29.276 --> 16:32.238 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah was running because he was afraid that God would actually forgive them. 16:33.047 --> 16:38.596 [SPEAKER_01]: and he did not want them to experience God's unfair grace. 16:40.002 --> 16:51.187 [SPEAKER_01]: Some people think that the God of the Old Testament was harsh and judgmental, and the God of the New Testament is merciful and compassionate and full of love, and so there's two different gods, and nothing could be further from the truth. 16:51.967 --> 16:59.651 [SPEAKER_01]: What we see in the Old Testament, although we don't always highlighted as much as we could, is that God is patient and loving and forgiving and merciful even there. 16:59.671 --> 17:06.354 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, there are examples of his justice for sure, but there is also a merciful and loving God who is patient and who wants 17:06.694 --> 17:12.219 [SPEAKER_01]: these other nations that are wicked and pagan and led by awful rulers and awful spiritual beans. 17:12.239 --> 17:14.421 [SPEAKER_01]: We've talked about that many times as a church. 17:15.222 --> 17:20.327 [SPEAKER_01]: He wants those people to come back and return to him and he gives them opportunities to do so. 17:20.747 --> 17:23.550 [SPEAKER_01]: Even if you think about when the Israelites went into the Promised Land, 17:24.190 --> 17:35.353 [SPEAKER_01]: and they conquered other people, sometimes people will bring that up as an example of see this was wrong, they shouldn't have done this, but you've got to understand, God uses people to judge people, God uses people to bring about justice. 17:35.833 --> 17:43.656 [SPEAKER_01]: He uses governments, he uses the criminal justice system, it is not always perfect because there are people involved, but God uses people to bring justice in his world. 17:44.411 --> 17:52.036 [SPEAKER_01]: And especially you look at the ancient world, God tells us plainly, sometimes he takes one nation and he uses them to judge another nation for their wickedness. 17:52.056 --> 17:52.817 [SPEAKER_01]: He did this with Israel. 17:53.317 --> 17:59.642 [SPEAKER_01]: The reason why Israel faced conquerors that would come in, God would tell them, I'm doing this because of all of your sin in your wickedness. 17:59.882 --> 18:01.603 [SPEAKER_01]: Now this other country's gonna come and enjoy you. 18:02.144 --> 18:06.267 [SPEAKER_01]: And guess what, I know they're gonna be wicked too, because I can see all things, I'm gonna judge them as well. 18:07.085 --> 18:17.570 [SPEAKER_01]: But God even in all of that He was merciful and He was gracious, even with the Israelites came into the Promised Land and did their conquering, it didn't just happen out of nowhere. 18:18.551 --> 18:30.536 [SPEAKER_01]: God tells this to Abraham and Genesis 15, He says, you can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 18:30.576 --> 18:31.237 [SPEAKER_01]: Where did that happen? 18:33.098 --> 18:33.678 [SPEAKER_01]: Where did that happen? 18:34.831 --> 18:36.973 [SPEAKER_01]: I figured I'm going to get more of a response there in Egypt. 18:36.993 --> 18:37.753 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we all know that. 18:37.773 --> 18:38.474 [SPEAKER_01]: That happened in Egypt. 18:39.255 --> 18:41.897 [SPEAKER_01]: But I will punish the nation that enslaves them. 18:42.377 --> 18:44.699 [SPEAKER_01]: And in the end, they will come away with great wealth. 18:44.739 --> 18:46.941 [SPEAKER_01]: So he'll punish the nation in his slaves, them that's Egypt. 18:47.161 --> 18:48.662 [SPEAKER_01]: In the end, they will come away with great wealth. 18:48.682 --> 18:50.924 [SPEAKER_01]: That's referring to the Israelites, the children of Abraham. 18:51.464 --> 18:54.626 [SPEAKER_01]: As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. 18:54.646 --> 18:55.147 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, get this. 18:55.547 --> 18:59.310 [SPEAKER_01]: After four generations, your descendants will return here to this land. 18:59.330 --> 19:00.131 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the promised land. 19:00.666 --> 19:05.551 [SPEAKER_01]: for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction. 19:05.571 --> 19:08.233 [SPEAKER_01]: What you have to understand is that behind the scenes God was keeping track. 19:09.734 --> 19:14.939 [SPEAKER_01]: And God used different people groups to judge different people groups and to bring justice because their wickedness was so great. 19:15.180 --> 19:20.384 [SPEAKER_01]: And the Amorites were not a great people, but they weren't bad enough that it warranted their destruction yet. 19:21.325 --> 19:22.266 [SPEAKER_01]: And God was patient. 19:22.607 --> 19:25.569 [SPEAKER_01]: He was giving them more time before he would use the people of Israel. 19:25.589 --> 19:25.689 [SPEAKER_01]: No. 19:26.485 --> 19:27.267 [SPEAKER_01]: God is all knowing. 19:27.908 --> 19:28.770 [SPEAKER_01]: He sees everything. 19:29.471 --> 19:34.661 [SPEAKER_01]: But even the all-knowing God does not use prejudgment on people. 19:35.364 --> 19:36.204 [SPEAKER_01]: He gives them time. 19:36.884 --> 19:40.125 [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, the all-knowing God knows the future and sees that they're not going to repent. 19:40.145 --> 19:41.886 [SPEAKER_01]: So he knows that he's going to bring the Israelites back. 19:42.166 --> 19:44.246 [SPEAKER_01]: He knows that the Amrites are going to continue to get more wicked. 19:44.486 --> 19:47.087 [SPEAKER_01]: He knows that they're not going to repent of their sins. 19:47.807 --> 19:56.090 [SPEAKER_01]: And still, he's giving them more time and saying, nope, they haven't done enough yet to warrant that level of justice and judgment. 19:56.110 --> 19:57.430 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a gracious patient, God. 19:58.219 --> 20:00.861 [SPEAKER_01]: even in the Old Testament, a very gracious and patient God. 20:01.101 --> 20:05.043 [SPEAKER_01]: Now he's dealing with a very not gracious and not patient Jonah here. 20:05.883 --> 20:22.173 [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think it's over the line to call this a tantrum, a prophet tantrum, that Jonah has, he's furious, he's so upset that he wants to die because God is forgiving these people and he's using God's own words and throwing it back in God's face to say, God, I don't like what you are doing here. 20:22.193 --> 20:22.313 [SPEAKER_01]: And if 20:23.242 --> 20:29.986 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm be honest with you, if I were God in this moment, just thinking is like a dad with kids that throw tantrums, it's like, okay, you're about to get a piece of my mind. 20:31.547 --> 20:32.948 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, who do you think you are, Jonah? 20:34.029 --> 20:36.630 [SPEAKER_01]: You, you ungrateful, whiny little prophet you. 20:38.391 --> 20:39.372 [SPEAKER_01]: You wanna die? 20:39.672 --> 20:41.713 [SPEAKER_01]: Death is too good for you right now. 20:42.174 --> 20:43.154 [SPEAKER_01]: Tell you what I'm gonna do to you. 20:43.194 --> 20:47.577 [SPEAKER_01]: You know, like, I really feel like God could just throw down the hammer on Jonah in this moment. 20:48.157 --> 20:51.059 [SPEAKER_01]: But what does God say in response? 20:51.119 --> 20:51.900 [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord replied, 20:53.093 --> 20:56.536 [SPEAKER_01]: Is it right for you to be angry about this? 20:57.576 --> 20:57.917 [SPEAKER_01]: That's it. 20:59.097 --> 20:59.778 [SPEAKER_01]: No big speech. 21:00.939 --> 21:02.740 [SPEAKER_01]: No, let me walk you through it, Jonah. 21:03.461 --> 21:04.762 [SPEAKER_01]: Let me help you figure it out. 21:05.322 --> 21:07.464 [SPEAKER_01]: God asks him a question. 21:08.324 --> 21:10.706 [SPEAKER_01]: Is it right for you to be angry about this? 21:10.746 --> 21:15.569 [SPEAKER_01]: Now why do you think God responds to Jonah with a question? 21:16.603 --> 21:18.565 [SPEAKER_01]: instead of a correction. 21:18.625 --> 21:19.466 [SPEAKER_01]: Anybody have any thoughts? 21:19.546 --> 21:23.009 [SPEAKER_01]: Why does God respond with a question not a correction? 21:23.810 --> 21:25.051 [SPEAKER_01]: Just shout it out if you've got something. 21:28.874 --> 21:29.675 [SPEAKER_01]: You have to think about it. 21:30.556 --> 21:31.657 [SPEAKER_01]: And he wants him to think about it. 21:33.158 --> 21:33.539 [SPEAKER_01]: What else? 21:39.745 --> 21:40.826 [SPEAKER_01]: To think about his own sin? 21:42.187 --> 21:42.387 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. 21:45.012 --> 21:52.677 [SPEAKER_01]: And the other, others, and the other thoughts, was that mercy? 21:55.198 --> 22:04.204 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the reason why God responds to the question is because God cares about the person, as much as he cares about the truth. 22:05.805 --> 22:10.428 [SPEAKER_01]: Was Jonah correct in thinking that God's treatment of the Ninevites wasn't fair? 22:13.303 --> 22:17.945 [SPEAKER_01]: In one sense, from a human perspective, yes, did they deserve judgment, did they deserve justice? 22:18.466 --> 22:18.686 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes. 22:18.706 --> 22:23.869 [SPEAKER_01]: It was God unfair when he gave them his grace, well, from our perspective, yeah. 22:25.429 --> 22:28.891 [SPEAKER_01]: From God's perspective, he has every right to it because he's God, so it's perfectly fair. 22:30.212 --> 22:35.575 [SPEAKER_01]: The grace of God allowed Jonah to be a prophet, allowed Jonah to even be there delivering that message. 22:35.595 --> 22:39.717 [SPEAKER_01]: It was the grace of God that Jonah was where he was at and seen this greatest revival all time. 22:39.937 --> 22:41.358 [SPEAKER_01]: Was that fair treatment of Jonah? 22:41.398 --> 22:41.618 [SPEAKER_01]: No. 22:42.876 --> 22:45.076 [SPEAKER_01]: God has given each of us the grace to live in this world. 22:45.097 --> 22:46.937 [SPEAKER_01]: He's given us salvation through Jesus Christ. 22:46.977 --> 22:49.337 [SPEAKER_01]: If we believe in His work on the cross, is that fair? 22:49.377 --> 22:50.358 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, in a sense, no. 22:51.498 --> 22:54.919 [SPEAKER_01]: Because we all deserve judgment for our sin. 22:54.979 --> 22:56.399 [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's not fair. 22:57.619 --> 23:05.361 [SPEAKER_01]: God was well aware of the truth of Nine of us wickedness and the truth that they deserve judgment. 23:05.381 --> 23:09.182 [SPEAKER_01]: They did, they did, but he also loved the people. 23:10.237 --> 23:14.479 [SPEAKER_01]: just like God was well aware of Jonah's bad attitude. 23:15.139 --> 23:19.541 [SPEAKER_01]: And he cared about Jonah's bad attitude, but he also cared about the person of Jonah. 23:20.542 --> 23:27.005 [SPEAKER_01]: I think the reason why God asks Jonah a question instead of just bringing condemnation on him is because he loves Jonah. 23:28.025 --> 23:29.146 [SPEAKER_01]: And he wants him to grow. 23:29.786 --> 23:31.967 [SPEAKER_01]: He wants him to see this as an opportunity to learn. 23:33.128 --> 23:36.229 [SPEAKER_01]: And not just to be corrected, although he certainly could. 23:36.769 --> 23:37.690 [SPEAKER_01]: But to cause him to think, 23:39.505 --> 23:42.886 [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to recognize that he's wrong in this instance. 23:42.906 --> 23:46.086 [SPEAKER_01]: God's giving him time just like he gives other people time. 23:47.186 --> 23:53.788 [SPEAKER_01]: God is well aware of the truth of all of our sins, all of our wrongs, the stuff that you do that nobody else even knows about. 23:53.808 --> 23:57.468 [SPEAKER_01]: God knows about it, but he also loves you and he cares about you. 23:58.129 --> 24:03.090 [SPEAKER_01]: God cares about the person just as much as he cares about the truth and responding to 24:06.137 --> 24:11.822 [SPEAKER_01]: with a question is maybe the most loving way possible to react to him. 24:12.983 --> 24:18.188 [SPEAKER_01]: I've noticed that there are times in my life where someone will do something that I don't like or disagree with. 24:18.208 --> 24:21.091 [SPEAKER_01]: And I immediately jump to assumptions and accusations. 24:21.111 --> 24:21.692 [SPEAKER_01]: Do you ever do that? 24:22.513 --> 24:24.895 [SPEAKER_01]: Just immediately like think the worst of that person. 24:26.050 --> 24:34.413 [SPEAKER_01]: Now here's God, who of all people knows the heart of Jonah knows his motivations, knows what's going on, has every right to say, I know what you're doing. 24:34.633 --> 24:38.435 [SPEAKER_01]: I can see right through you, Mr. and you are wrong, and here's why, and he doesn't do that. 24:39.344 --> 24:40.165 [SPEAKER_01]: He asks a question. 24:40.345 --> 24:41.726 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there's a lesson there for us too. 24:42.586 --> 24:47.149 [SPEAKER_01]: Ask questions, test your assumptions before you jump to conclusions and make accusations. 24:47.790 --> 24:52.673 [SPEAKER_01]: God doesn't even need to do that, but here he does, because he's so loving, he's so gracious. 24:53.594 --> 24:55.435 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, what are we gonna learn from all of this? 24:55.495 --> 25:05.422 [SPEAKER_01]: As we go through the rest of the chapter, I wanna point out three things to you that I think we can take away about God's grace and the impacts that it has in our lives, because grace can be offensive to us. 25:06.262 --> 25:07.763 [SPEAKER_01]: and grace can hurt sometimes. 25:08.243 --> 25:15.848 [SPEAKER_01]: It can cause us pain sometimes to see what we feel is unfairness, but in the middle of those feelings, grace also challenges us. 25:16.769 --> 25:23.013 [SPEAKER_01]: The first thing if you're taking notes is that grace pulls us off the sidelines of bitterness. 25:23.965 --> 25:26.327 [SPEAKER_01]: Grace pulls us off the sidelines of bitterness. 25:26.407 --> 25:34.714 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah allowed this grudge against the Ninevites to cause him to give minimum effort when he brought that message through the city of Ninevites. 25:34.734 --> 25:40.479 [SPEAKER_01]: Those five words that he said, and then he went immediately outside the city to watch and see what would happen to these people. 25:40.539 --> 25:41.840 [SPEAKER_01]: He left and discussed. 25:42.682 --> 25:51.645 [SPEAKER_01]: And when we hold grudges against people, and we resent God's grace in their lives, we put ourselves on the sidelines just like Jonah did. 25:51.866 --> 25:57.948 [SPEAKER_01]: When God wants us to be involved in the work he is doing, even with the people that we don't necessarily care for. 25:59.128 --> 26:00.569 [SPEAKER_01]: But our bitterness can hold us back. 26:01.815 --> 26:04.979 [SPEAKER_01]: God says he wants us to be his hands and feet in this world. 26:05.720 --> 26:10.427 [SPEAKER_01]: He wants us to go and make disciples, even if people that we don't like to be around. 26:10.847 --> 26:16.115 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's really hard to join in the work that God is doing when we are consumed by frustration over what we think is fair. 26:17.560 --> 26:21.501 [SPEAKER_01]: And when I see people that I don't think what they're doing is right, and I don't think what's happened to them is right. 26:21.681 --> 26:28.603 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think the way they're being blessed by God or allowed to experience the joys of this world when they live like that is right. 26:28.983 --> 26:33.765 [SPEAKER_01]: I might in bitterness take myself out of the opportunity to go bring God's grace to them. 26:34.955 --> 26:43.400 [SPEAKER_01]: Paul gave the Christians in Rome this advice and I want you to remember that he's talking to people who are persecuted and he says, never pay back evil with more evil. 26:44.121 --> 26:47.483 [SPEAKER_01]: Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 26:47.723 --> 26:50.905 [SPEAKER_01]: Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 26:50.925 --> 26:52.846 [SPEAKER_01]: Dear friends, never take revenge. 26:54.107 --> 26:56.389 [SPEAKER_01]: Leave that to the righteous anger of God. 26:56.929 --> 26:59.030 [SPEAKER_01]: For the Scriptures say, I will take revenge. 26:59.531 --> 27:01.572 [SPEAKER_01]: I will pay them back says the Lord instead. 27:05.913 --> 27:08.474 [SPEAKER_01]: if they are thirsty, give them something to drink. 27:08.554 --> 27:12.335 [SPEAKER_01]: And doing this, you will keep burning calls of shame on their heads. 27:12.575 --> 27:15.696 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. 27:15.716 --> 27:21.618 [SPEAKER_01]: He's saying, leave the vengeance to God, even if someone has hurt or harmed you, be nice back to them. 27:22.819 --> 27:25.139 [SPEAKER_01]: Be good back to, let God sort all of that out. 27:25.239 --> 27:30.501 [SPEAKER_01]: You focus on how you can do good, on how you can bring God's grace in their life. 27:31.682 --> 27:33.202 [SPEAKER_01]: Because you think you want fairness, 27:36.535 --> 27:40.979 [SPEAKER_01]: because if everything was fair, you wouldn't have God's grace in your life either. 27:42.140 --> 27:47.485 [SPEAKER_01]: So bring God's grace into the world, let God's grace get you off the sidelines of bitterness. 27:48.245 --> 27:51.648 [SPEAKER_01]: Now Jonah gets this question from God, and we don't have a response from Jonah. 27:52.089 --> 27:55.351 [SPEAKER_01]: It looks like Jonah just immediately goes outside the city. 27:55.371 --> 27:57.974 [SPEAKER_01]: It says in verse five, then Jonah went out to the east side of the city. 27:58.434 --> 28:02.617 [SPEAKER_01]: and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. 28:02.977 --> 28:09.622 [SPEAKER_01]: And the Lord got a range for a leafy plant to grow there and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah's head shading him from the sun. 28:09.642 --> 28:13.605 [SPEAKER_01]: This eased his discomfort and Jonah was very grateful for the plant. 28:14.405 --> 28:17.608 [SPEAKER_01]: So what we learned from this is that clearly it was a very hot day. 28:18.128 --> 28:21.230 [SPEAKER_01]: We know something about hot days here in St. Louis. 28:21.851 --> 28:23.272 [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, we're going to know more about it this week. 28:24.510 --> 28:29.874 [SPEAKER_01]: And you know what it's like to be caught outside with the sun beating down on you. 28:29.934 --> 28:39.722 [SPEAKER_01]: And especially if you are in a place and thankfully there's not too much of that around here but if you've ever been in a place where there's just no trees, no cover, maybe you're out for a hike in Arizona or somewhere. 28:39.742 --> 28:42.684 [SPEAKER_01]: And the sun is beating down and there is nowhere you can go for shade. 28:43.024 --> 28:44.966 [SPEAKER_01]: It can be a miserable experience. 28:45.827 --> 28:47.687 [SPEAKER_01]: And the sun is hitting you from above. 28:47.727 --> 28:49.008 [SPEAKER_01]: It's radiating off the ground. 28:49.028 --> 28:50.428 [SPEAKER_01]: Your body's creating warmth. 28:50.448 --> 28:51.528 [SPEAKER_01]: You're sweating like crazy. 28:51.548 --> 28:52.729 [SPEAKER_01]: And you feel like you're in an oven. 28:52.969 --> 28:54.949 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just an awful, awful experience. 28:54.969 --> 28:59.210 [SPEAKER_01]: And then do you know this feeling of when you finally get to a spot where you see a tree in the distance? 28:59.250 --> 29:00.430 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's got leaves all over it. 29:00.630 --> 29:02.511 [SPEAKER_01]: And you walk under the shade of that tree. 29:02.751 --> 29:05.472 [SPEAKER_01]: And instantly, the temperature drops by 25 degrees. 29:06.152 --> 29:07.592 [SPEAKER_01]: That's a good feeling, isn't it? 29:08.052 --> 29:11.233 [SPEAKER_01]: That's like, oh, it eases your discomfort. 29:11.793 --> 29:14.974 [SPEAKER_01]: That's what God did for Jonah here. 29:15.678 --> 29:21.863 [SPEAKER_01]: He caused some kind of a plant to grow really, really fast so that he gave it miracle grow or something. 29:22.444 --> 29:26.928 [SPEAKER_01]: It would grow really fast and then it covered him and gave him all of this beautiful shade. 29:27.428 --> 29:31.432 [SPEAKER_01]: And Jonah loved it, it eased his discomfort unfortunately for Jonah, it's a lesson. 29:32.233 --> 29:35.896 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not gonna last, but God also arranged for seven for a worm. 29:36.677 --> 29:41.261 [SPEAKER_01]: The next morning at dawn, the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. 29:41.953 --> 29:52.458 [SPEAKER_01]: And as the sun grew hot, got arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah, the sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. 29:53.178 --> 29:56.919 [SPEAKER_01]: Death is certainly better than living like this. 29:57.860 --> 29:58.460 [SPEAKER_01]: He exclaimed. 29:59.941 --> 30:02.762 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah fell in love with the comfort of that plant. 30:03.688 --> 30:06.549 [SPEAKER_01]: He loved having that shade over his head. 30:06.589 --> 30:07.610 [SPEAKER_01]: It gave him joy. 30:07.950 --> 30:13.813 [SPEAKER_01]: And I'll bet he screamed in frustration when he saw the plant withered and died the next day. 30:13.853 --> 30:18.335 [SPEAKER_01]: But both the plant and the worm were sent by God to make a point to teach him a lesson. 30:18.355 --> 30:19.656 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a lesson we need to learn as well. 30:20.216 --> 30:22.777 [SPEAKER_01]: The comfort is often the enemy of grace. 30:23.878 --> 30:24.438 [SPEAKER_01]: Comfort. 30:25.699 --> 30:27.700 [SPEAKER_01]: is often the enemy of grace. 30:27.760 --> 30:31.222 [SPEAKER_01]: I have some friends that used to be part of our mission's ministry many years ago. 30:31.282 --> 30:52.094 [SPEAKER_01]: They went through it, they got married, they moved over to pop on New Guinea, took their family over there, they live out in the bush, among tribe of people surrounded by other tribes of people, very difficult place to live, to serve, to do ministry, they've got several kids over there, they had to build their own house, they have to get supplies, occasionally flown into them. 30:52.234 --> 30:54.155 [SPEAKER_01]: It's an incredible thing that they chose to do. 30:54.835 --> 30:56.356 [SPEAKER_01]: and a very difficult thing they chose to do. 30:56.736 --> 31:09.182 [SPEAKER_01]: They gave up the comforts of home to help me in a very uncomfortable place because of grace, because of the grace of God in their lives, and their desire to share and spread that grace to other people. 31:10.663 --> 31:19.868 [SPEAKER_01]: He told a story recently about a time when a whole bunch of witch doctors and witch doctor henchmen showed up at his door with machetes. 31:21.020 --> 31:22.922 [SPEAKER_01]: And they were trying to intimidate them and threaten them. 31:23.542 --> 31:24.463 [SPEAKER_01]: They wanted them to leave. 31:25.123 --> 31:26.224 [SPEAKER_01]: They wanted to extort them. 31:26.845 --> 31:32.269 [SPEAKER_01]: They wanted to spread lies about them among their village and the surrounding villages. 31:33.390 --> 31:35.532 [SPEAKER_01]: And then they started to hang out under his house. 31:35.572 --> 31:36.993 [SPEAKER_01]: It's one of those houses on stilts. 31:37.494 --> 31:41.337 [SPEAKER_01]: They wanted to hang out under his house and just spy on them, listen to everything they said. 31:41.837 --> 31:48.803 [SPEAKER_01]: So every morning for a while, he would wake up, walk down the stairs in front of his house, and turn around, and there they are hanging out under his house with their machetes. 31:49.808 --> 31:51.409 [SPEAKER_01]: That is not a comfortable situation. 31:53.090 --> 31:57.694 [SPEAKER_01]: They gave up the comforts of homes so that they could go bring the grace of God to other people in that environment. 31:59.175 --> 32:12.846 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the amazing part about that story and the reason why he shared all of this is because eventually he got so fed up with it, he decided to basically do the equivalent of taking them to court in that village called the village leaders together and have a bit of a judgment. 32:15.067 --> 32:28.314 [SPEAKER_01]: As the trial as it were went on in the discussion happened, God moved the hearts of the people, popular opinion, away from the witch doctors and toward this missionary family, and they ended up kicking the witch doctors out of the village, which was a pretty cool outcome. 32:28.654 --> 32:38.799 [SPEAKER_01]: And then, one of the witch doctors, who was actually a witch doctor in training, came back and said, even though he wasn't supposed to, he came back and said, look, obviously, we don't know anything. 32:38.859 --> 32:40.060 [SPEAKER_01]: I want to follow your God. 32:40.400 --> 32:42.441 [SPEAKER_01]: And so he became a Christian out of that, which is amazing. 32:43.744 --> 32:45.666 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the grace of God at work right there. 32:46.506 --> 33:02.019 [SPEAKER_01]: The grace of God that was brought by people, by flawed people, but people who said, I'm willing to give up comfort to go bring God's grace, to people who need it, to people who let's be honest, we're not very nice people, which is why they needed it. 33:03.740 --> 33:04.981 [SPEAKER_01]: They were horrible to each other. 33:05.762 --> 33:07.143 [SPEAKER_01]: It was a difficult place to live. 33:07.883 --> 33:12.047 [SPEAKER_01]: The kinds of things that they witnessed in their first few years there were horrible atrocities. 33:12.800 --> 33:25.505 [SPEAKER_01]: And yet now there's a thriving church there with lots of people trusted in Jesus studying the Bible, the Bible's been translated by him into their language because he gave up comforts to bring the grace of God to those people. 33:26.406 --> 33:29.667 [SPEAKER_01]: Grace pushes us out of comfortable isolation. 33:30.747 --> 33:33.628 [SPEAKER_01]: It pushes us out of comfortable isolation. 33:33.648 --> 33:34.389 [SPEAKER_01]: What if Jonah? 33:35.317 --> 33:37.878 [SPEAKER_01]: had let grace overcome his discomfort. 33:38.358 --> 33:57.902 [SPEAKER_01]: If he saw the grace of God in his life to save him from that big fish, if he saw the grace of God in his life to allow him to be a prophet to receive special messages from God and deliver them to the people, the grace of God that allowed him to be born and Israelite, part of God's chosen people, the grace of God that had protected him this far and allowed him to be part of this incredible revival. 33:58.162 --> 34:10.125 [SPEAKER_01]: in the city of Nineveh and all that grace that he experienced, what if he had allowed that to compel him to push him out of his comfortable isolation under that plant and to realize, wow, God has provided so much for me. 34:10.365 --> 34:14.366 [SPEAKER_01]: Even the shade plant right here, I really need to get into that city and help these people know how to follow God. 34:15.426 --> 34:16.026 [SPEAKER_01]: But he didn't do that. 34:17.086 --> 34:21.987 [SPEAKER_01]: He allowed the comfort to have more love for him than God's grace being 34:25.085 --> 34:32.106 [SPEAKER_01]: tells us that we, who have followed Jesus, are stewards of God's grace in this world. 34:33.386 --> 34:40.088 [SPEAKER_01]: You are a messenger, a distributor of God's grace in this world. 34:40.148 --> 34:44.128 [SPEAKER_01]: And yet so often, our comforts get in the way. 34:45.669 --> 34:52.650 [SPEAKER_01]: We live in comfortable isolation outside the city in shelters of our own making. 34:53.502 --> 35:02.768 [SPEAKER_01]: and join whatever shade we can get, not willing to leave that comfort when God has presented us an opportunity to go bring God's grace to people. 35:03.788 --> 35:10.773 [SPEAKER_01]: Was we move into verse nine, God is gonna speak to Jonah again with another gracious question. 35:11.474 --> 35:16.096 [SPEAKER_01]: He says, is it right for you to be angry because the plant died? 35:16.496 --> 35:18.357 [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, Jonah retorted. 35:18.958 --> 35:24.420 [SPEAKER_01]: Even angry enough to die, then the Lord said, you feel sorry about the plant. 35:24.981 --> 35:28.943 [SPEAKER_01]: Though you did nothing to put it there, it came quickly and died quickly. 35:29.583 --> 35:36.486 [SPEAKER_01]: But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness. 35:36.526 --> 35:37.547 [SPEAKER_01]: Not to mention all the animals. 35:38.562 --> 35:42.344 [SPEAKER_01]: shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?" 35:43.985 --> 35:44.445 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's it. 35:46.206 --> 35:48.227 [SPEAKER_01]: That's how the story of Jonah ends. 35:49.147 --> 35:50.328 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no resolution. 35:51.328 --> 35:53.389 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no Jonah realizing you're right God. 35:53.429 --> 35:53.869 [SPEAKER_01]: I was wrong. 35:53.889 --> 35:55.050 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to get in there right away. 35:55.070 --> 35:56.310 [SPEAKER_01]: None of that. 35:57.071 --> 36:00.492 [SPEAKER_01]: Because the story ends with this intentional tension 36:06.810 --> 36:11.491 [SPEAKER_01]: If you could write the next two verses of this story, what would happen? 36:11.671 --> 36:15.332 [SPEAKER_01]: If you could put on Jonah's sandals, what would you do in this instance? 36:15.372 --> 36:24.994 [SPEAKER_01]: Because Jonah saw people who were wicked, people who had hurt his people, and he wanted judgment on them, but God saw people who lived in spiritual darkness and needed the light. 36:25.454 --> 36:29.015 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah could not get past their past, but God saw a better future for them. 36:29.275 --> 36:34.116 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah couldn't care about anything, but the comfort of his shade plant on the outskirts of the city, 36:37.278 --> 36:38.378 [SPEAKER_01]: in the city. 36:38.799 --> 36:41.081 [SPEAKER_01]: And the story is asking us, what about you? 36:42.222 --> 36:44.604 [SPEAKER_01]: What would you do in this instance? 36:45.745 --> 36:51.911 [SPEAKER_01]: When an alarm goes off in a fire station, imagine if a firefighter said to himself, they really should have been more careful. 36:54.313 --> 36:56.455 [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever it is, they probably deserved it. 36:57.436 --> 36:58.457 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll get there when I get there. 36:59.157 --> 36:59.778 [SPEAKER_01]: Can you imagine? 37:00.378 --> 37:01.539 [SPEAKER_01]: He wouldn't be a firefighter very long. 37:02.472 --> 37:05.937 [SPEAKER_01]: But when a alarm goes off in a fire station, they put on their gear right away. 37:06.178 --> 37:13.429 [SPEAKER_01]: They get down the pole, they get on the truck, they get to the house, and they don't say, now, what was the cause of this fire before we decide whether we're gonna help you? 37:14.652 --> 37:15.132 [SPEAKER_01]: They don't do that. 37:15.992 --> 37:21.194 [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't matter what caused it, the immediate situation is we need to rush in there and we need to rescue people. 37:21.794 --> 37:23.854 [SPEAKER_01]: We need to help people out because you are in danger. 37:24.074 --> 37:25.095 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's get you out of the danger. 37:25.455 --> 37:27.755 [SPEAKER_01]: Then we'll figure out the causes and all of the other things. 37:27.795 --> 37:30.616 [SPEAKER_01]: But first, let's deal with the danger that is right in front of you. 37:30.796 --> 37:34.577 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is God's call on our life because there are people around us that are in danger. 37:35.357 --> 37:42.859 [SPEAKER_01]: And whether it's our comforts or whether it's our thoughts about fairness, whether it's the fact that we just don't necessarily like certain people. 37:43.842 --> 37:46.904 [SPEAKER_01]: All of those things can keep us from saying, hey, you're in danger. 37:47.985 --> 37:49.846 [SPEAKER_01]: I've got the solution, I've got the answer. 37:50.887 --> 37:52.128 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's make sure that we talk. 37:53.048 --> 37:55.550 [SPEAKER_01]: And I can share with you what God has for your life. 37:56.091 --> 38:07.358 [SPEAKER_01]: If you look around at your place of work, at your neighborhood, at your family, at your friend group, at your school, there are people all around you who are in spiritual need, they're spiritually blind, they need the light. 38:07.418 --> 38:09.320 [SPEAKER_01]: And some of them may not be very nice to you. 38:10.863 --> 38:14.064 [SPEAKER_01]: But you're the firefighter who is the option to say, hey, I want to share this with you. 38:14.604 --> 38:16.005 [SPEAKER_01]: Now it's up to them how they respond. 38:16.885 --> 38:24.507 [SPEAKER_01]: But God has called us to be stewards of his grace in this world, and it's more comfortable to just stay in our houses. 38:24.527 --> 38:26.188 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's more comfortable just watch our shows. 38:26.208 --> 38:30.469 [SPEAKER_01]: It's more comfortable to be involved in our sports, in our hobbies, and shopping, and different things that we enjoy to do. 38:30.489 --> 38:31.370 [SPEAKER_01]: That's way more comfortable. 38:32.510 --> 38:38.092 [SPEAKER_01]: But God has called us to be involved with the people around us that we can spread light to them in all sorts of different ways. 38:39.365 --> 38:43.126 [SPEAKER_01]: It's more comfortable to pretend we don't notice when something goes wrong and someone else's life. 38:44.307 --> 38:46.607 [SPEAKER_01]: And just let it slip on by and not deal with it. 38:47.488 --> 38:49.548 [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of saying, let me sit down and talk with you for a while. 38:50.488 --> 38:54.330 [SPEAKER_01]: Grace sends us into the mess of broken people. 38:56.250 --> 38:58.291 [SPEAKER_01]: The people Jonah did not want to go help. 38:58.751 --> 39:04.333 [SPEAKER_01]: The people he did not want to disciple to be followers of God, where people that he viewed as broken people. 39:05.102 --> 39:06.442 [SPEAKER_01]: people that deserve judgment. 39:06.922 --> 39:11.424 [SPEAKER_01]: And it was messy to go in there and deal with all of the things they were now repenting of and confessing to God. 39:12.544 --> 39:15.845 [SPEAKER_01]: But grace sends us into the mess of broken people. 39:15.925 --> 39:22.807 [SPEAKER_01]: And someone in our orbit is going through a job loss or a divorce or a family crisis, a medical issue. 39:22.847 --> 39:25.507 [SPEAKER_01]: Grace, make sure we step in and give them care. 39:26.448 --> 39:27.748 [SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't mean we have all the answers. 39:28.474 --> 39:35.033 [SPEAKER_01]: but it means that we're willing to listen and willing to bring a meal or help in whatever way as needed when someone is critical of us. 39:36.248 --> 39:57.399 [SPEAKER_01]: And judges us, maybe unfairly grace compels us to find out what's going on in their life because maybe there's more to the story, maybe there's a reason why they're saying those things about us and maybe I don't need to jump right to defensiveness, but instead I actually need to find out is there's something deeper here that I can help you with, maybe I can serve and minister to you in some way, even though you just criticized me. 39:57.439 --> 39:58.059 [SPEAKER_01]: That's grace. 39:59.460 --> 40:01.601 [SPEAKER_01]: It sends us into the mess of broken people. 40:02.646 --> 40:13.433 [SPEAKER_01]: When someone is bringing up something about their beliefs or their struggles or faith or eternity, it's grace that says, yes, I do have time to talk with you about this. 40:14.333 --> 40:17.455 [SPEAKER_01]: Even though I thought I had to get to spin class or whatever. 40:18.476 --> 40:25.900 [SPEAKER_01]: But I am going to choose this opportunity to give God's grace over the thing that was going to bring me comfort. 40:27.221 --> 40:29.822 [SPEAKER_01]: Centuries after Jonah, another man walked out 40:31.863 --> 40:37.687 [SPEAKER_01]: Not to watch it suffer, but to suffer on behalf of the people in that city. 40:39.068 --> 40:50.295 [SPEAKER_01]: And Jonah, as he sat in bitterness, Jesus willingly allowed himself to be hung on a cross, to pay for the sins of you and me and everyone. 40:51.360 --> 40:53.721 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah demanded justice for his enemies. 40:53.962 --> 40:57.184 [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus paid the justice for his enemies. 40:57.264 --> 41:07.950 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah clung to that temporary comfort in his shelter in Jesus, stretched out his arms on the cross to provide cover for all of the people that were persecuting him. 41:09.571 --> 41:14.834 [SPEAKER_01]: Jonah cried out that it was better for him to die than to see those people get salvation. 41:16.095 --> 41:17.776 [SPEAKER_01]: Jesus cried out, Father forgive them. 41:22.242 --> 41:25.003 [SPEAKER_01]: Throughout this series, we have often compared ourselves to Jonah. 41:26.303 --> 41:31.924 [SPEAKER_01]: We see ourselves in a lot of Jonah's struggles, his fault and his flaws, but we can also compare ourselves to the Ninevites. 41:32.925 --> 41:36.005 [SPEAKER_01]: Because just like them, all of us are flawed, broken, sinful people. 41:37.006 --> 41:45.748 [SPEAKER_01]: We've thought bad things, we've said bad things, we've done bad things, we've lied, we've cheated, we've stolen, and we've thought about doing even more than that. 41:47.592 --> 41:53.557 [SPEAKER_01]: And because of that, we have violated our Creator's laws for us and His desires for how we live in this world. 41:54.037 --> 41:55.718 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we have no right to be with Him. 41:56.219 --> 42:00.542 [SPEAKER_01]: We have no right to be forgiven for our sins. 42:01.783 --> 42:09.969 [SPEAKER_01]: And at Jesus stepped outside that city, just like Jonah did, only He went out there willingly to die in our place to offer us unfairness. 42:11.831 --> 42:14.193 [SPEAKER_01]: God offers us unfairness through Jesus Christ. 42:15.280 --> 42:26.283 [SPEAKER_01]: by having him die for our sins and pay for that penalty that we deserved so that we can have his grace and forgiveness and his mercy just like the Ninevites. 42:27.059 --> 42:41.666 [SPEAKER_01]: The Bible doesn't tell us, but if you look back to the Jewish records, they report the city of Nineveh enjoyed about 40 years of peace and good living until a new generation rose up for God about the things of God and went back to their wicked ways. 42:41.706 --> 42:49.930 [SPEAKER_01]: If you look at the old Syrian records, you will also see there's a period of time where the violent stops and eventually it returns. 42:54.541 --> 42:56.885 [SPEAKER_01]: that mercy and that grace in that forgiveness for us. 42:56.925 --> 43:02.113 [SPEAKER_01]: And so the question that I have for you today, through two questions, for I guess two different groups of people. 43:03.154 --> 43:07.141 [SPEAKER_01]: The first question is, will you accept God's grace in your life? 43:08.318 --> 43:24.816 [SPEAKER_01]: because you may be here and you may not know what it means to have God's grace in your life, to accept what Jesus did for you, to admit to God, I'm a sinner, I've done horrible things in my life, I've thought bad things in my life, I know I violated God's laws, and I can't dare out of this on my own. 43:25.677 --> 43:28.580 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't deserve to be part of God's family. 43:28.600 --> 43:30.541 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't deserve to be forgiven by him. 43:31.022 --> 43:49.157 [SPEAKER_01]: And yet because of what Jesus did on the cross, if you believe in that, if you trust in what Jesus did for you, the Bible says, God will wipe your slate clean, make you into a new person, and he'll give you a home in heaven with him, and he'll come and live with you, and make you a new person here on earth, and give you a new life, and make you part of the family of faith. 43:49.577 --> 43:50.458 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a beautiful thing. 43:51.502 --> 43:55.144 [SPEAKER_01]: But he offers this grace to you, will you accept God's grace? 43:55.624 --> 44:04.367 [SPEAKER_01]: If you want to learn more about that today, if you want to talk with someone about that today, after the service, we'll have people up here as part of our prayer team, around the church, you'll see people in the landings. 44:04.387 --> 44:06.408 [SPEAKER_01]: If you look around right now, you'll see a bunch of people with landings. 44:07.069 --> 44:09.970 [SPEAKER_01]: They are here to answer those kinds of faith questions for you. 44:10.470 --> 44:14.192 [SPEAKER_01]: And to tell you what it looks like to have a relationship with Jesus. 44:14.332 --> 44:17.233 [SPEAKER_01]: Will you accept God's grace in your life? 44:18.015 --> 44:20.578 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, there's a good chance that most of us here would say, I've done that. 44:21.258 --> 44:22.840 [SPEAKER_01]: I have accepted God's grace in my life. 44:22.900 --> 44:25.603 [SPEAKER_01]: I have trusted Jesus as the Savior of my sins. 44:25.643 --> 44:28.005 [SPEAKER_01]: And He is, a part of me, I have this relationship with Him. 44:28.025 --> 44:31.549 [SPEAKER_01]: And so my question for you is, will you let God's grace move you? 44:33.071 --> 44:37.175 [SPEAKER_01]: Because God does not give us grace so that we can sit comfortably in a structure outside the city. 44:38.285 --> 44:41.168 [SPEAKER_01]: He gives us His grace to be stewards of that grace in the world. 44:41.828 --> 44:43.209 [SPEAKER_01]: Grace is supposed to move us. 44:43.430 --> 44:44.510 [SPEAKER_01]: It's supposed to compel us. 44:44.711 --> 44:49.154 [SPEAKER_01]: So will you let God's grace pull you off the sidelines of bitterness? 44:50.075 --> 44:51.276 [SPEAKER_01]: No matter what you think of those people. 44:51.737 --> 44:54.759 [SPEAKER_01]: Will you let it push you out of comfortable isolation? 44:55.920 --> 45:00.845 [SPEAKER_01]: Where you sit in your comfort when there are people that need God's grace and you are the messenger of that grace? 45:00.885 --> 45:04.348 [SPEAKER_01]: Will you let it send you into the mess of broken people? 45:05.161 --> 45:07.203 [SPEAKER_01]: because this is what God calls us to do. 45:07.243 --> 45:09.384 [SPEAKER_01]: Will we be that kind of church? 45:11.426 --> 45:12.827 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a question that we can't answer. 45:14.028 --> 45:15.389 [SPEAKER_01]: We have to leave the tension open. 45:16.530 --> 45:17.551 [SPEAKER_01]: We have to see this week. 45:18.471 --> 45:19.452 [SPEAKER_01]: What are we gonna do church? 45:20.173 --> 45:25.176 [SPEAKER_01]: Are we gonna answer God's question and say, yes, Lord, I will move because of your grace. 45:26.537 --> 45:27.198 [SPEAKER_01]: Would you pray with me? 45:32.202 --> 45:33.623 [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, we do not wanna be like Jonah. 45:36.504 --> 45:50.047 [SPEAKER_01]: Jewish tradition also tells us that he did repent and that he did make it right, but in your scriptures, you have left it unanswered because you want us to wrestle with this question for ourselves. 45:50.627 --> 45:51.747 [SPEAKER_01]: What comes next? 45:52.787 --> 45:54.288 [SPEAKER_01]: Will we allow our bitterness? 45:55.488 --> 45:58.048 [SPEAKER_01]: Will we allow our sense of fairness? 45:59.129 --> 46:05.990 [SPEAKER_01]: Will we allow our comfort to keep us from being your messengers of grace in this world? 46:08.502 --> 46:19.708 [SPEAKER_01]: I think for every person here, every person who's watching this on a screen, there may be a different one of those three things that really just sinks into our heart. 46:21.429 --> 46:24.970 [SPEAKER_01]: And we say, man, I've been allowing comfort to keep me from doing the things God wants me to do. 46:26.311 --> 46:29.593 [SPEAKER_01]: So I ask Lord for your Holy Spirit to do his work right now. 46:30.673 --> 46:33.315 [SPEAKER_01]: Convict us where we need to grow, where we need to change. 46:34.392 --> 46:40.054 [SPEAKER_01]: revealed to each and every one of us the thing you want us to take away from this today and may we be different people because of it. 46:41.755 --> 46:48.958 [SPEAKER_01]: I pray that we would be able to look back years from now and have a very different story than the one we tell about Jonah. 46:49.918 --> 47:00.202 [SPEAKER_01]: A story of us leaving our comforts, rejecting our bitterness, forgetting about fairness, and just being people who bring God's grace into the broken areas. 47:01.031 --> 47:02.373 [SPEAKER_01]: and in the messes of life. 47:03.053 --> 47:10.081 [SPEAKER_01]: The things that maybe we didn't want to dive into, but that you gave us an opportunity to be your hands and feet in. 47:11.543 --> 47:13.866 [SPEAKER_01]: Or would your spirit guide us in those ways this week? 47:14.687 --> 47:19.072 [SPEAKER_01]: Help us to live this out as a church and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.