Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Nathan Whitley
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Jonah 2:1-4, Jonah 1:2, Jonah 1:3, Jonah 1:4, Jonah 2:3-4, Mark 4:39

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nathan-whitley--sunday-evening-worship-service-49
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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just remain standing grab your Bibles a tremendous day a tremendous day here in the house of the Lord I'm so thankful for the word of God that we heard today did you not enjoy the ministry of Pastor Anthony this morning what a tremendous word a tremendous word we heard today God confirmed it with one baptized and we have two more to be baptized in Jesus name I think we should give the Lord praise for that one more time I'm thankful that's what we are here to do that's what we are here to do get your Bibles your devices if you're like Moses get your tablets and go with me to Jonah the Book of Jonah we're going to spend just a little bit of time here I'll try not to keep you too long but I want to look at a few things from this amazing book I give honor to our Bishop Pastor mcul and Pastor Anthony all the ministry and the saints of God we honor you tonight it has been a tremendous beginning of the year the ministry that's been taking place here over the last uh six weeks or so has this been uh prophetic and amazing to see what the Lord has been doing and I just believe it is a first fruits an indicator of what he's going to do the rest of this year if we will just position ourselves to be ready for it Jonah chapter number two we'll jump into the middle of this story and then we'll just kind of go back to the beginning here in a little bit and kind of see what's happening here Jonah 2 beginning at verse number one we'll read these first four verses of chapter two then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said I cried by reason of mine Affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of Hell cried I and thou H thou heardest my voice for thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the Seas and the floods Compass me about all thy Billows and thy waves passed over me he's quoting Psalms and the psalmist met it metaphorically and Jonah's like uh this is for real I'm in the waves here I'm really praying this as it's happening unto me then I said I am cast out of thy sight but look at this little word here yet someone say yet you don't you didn't say it like a minute someone say yet yet I will look again someone say look again I will look again toward thy Holy Temple yet I'm in the belly of Hell yet I will look again toward thy Holy Temple this evening I would like to minister to you from this thought a great wind a great fish a great City and a great God would you lift up your hands and I want you to lift up your voice loud enough that your ears can hear you father we're grateful thankful for what you have done today Lord the ministry that took place this morning and here tonight the spirit that is so prevalent in this room the word of God that was so relevant to us today Lord I pray for that person that individual that soul that you are trying to get a hold of tonight Lord and I pray the word of God would find good ground in the heart of that person and Lord that you would draw us back to you tonight and let us Wonder at the greatness of your character but at the greatness of your mercy and power and Grace in Jesus name someone say in Jesus name won't you clap your hands unto the Lord tonight and you can be seated a great wind a great fish a great City and a great God Jonah stands as one of the most memorable Bible characters though not as like a hero he's not remember because of his good standing character accomplishments or even his Charisma instead Jonah is forever known as the man who spent three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish I've seen pictures of Fisher in this church posted online the fisherman takes a picture of their great catches Jonah's remembered as the man who was caught by the fish I think there's somewhere in history there's a a picture of a great fish holding up Jonah in a picture somewhere look what I caught he led a remarkable Revival in Nineveh turn their hearts toward God and we see them changed and much to the displeasure of Jonah but what brought about this nightmare upon Jonah being in the belly of this fish we can break it down in one word choices choices now we don't have all night all week and I've been studying this book and it is just rich I think I say that about everything that I preach about but the word of God is so amazing to me and so powerful and there's just so many uh Treasures that we can we can mine from it but it reveals these four things tonight in the title a great wind that pursued a great fish that preserved a great City that repented but above all it is a great God who showed great Mercy that's what makes Jonah in this book remarkable it's not really really about Jonah or Nineveh or a fish it's about God I want you to go with me to chapter number one let's look at verse number two the Lord speaks to Jonah the prophet he says arise go to Nineveh that great City someone say great that's why this word is used several times in this uh in this book that great City and cry against it for their wickedness is come up before me now let's just I want I want to teach more than I preach probably tonight but the the prophet Jonah his name in the Hebrew the J is pronounced with a y in the Hebrew and it's Yona and it means Dove someone say dove so here's Jonah and he's really nothing like a dove he's really like a pigheaded Prophet who's displaying a more of a hawkish personality uh but he's he's supposed to be a dove and if you want to do a little study of parallelism uh go go study uh Noah and his Arc and uh Jonah here in this story but his ministry took place during the reign of King jeroboam II and it was a time in Israel while it had some political Prosperity it was spiritually sick full of idolatry corruption and moral Decay and in the midst of all of this God calls Jonah the dove to deliver a message of judgment to the Assyrian city of and this is the capital of the Empire Assyria and this is a terrible terrible place and we're going to describe it here in a moment but this is God's call to his men to go and preach to these terrible people he's a Prophet this is his job this is his title this is his calling this is his purpose go to Nineveh that great City and cry against it for their wickedness has come up before me now Look at verse number three but Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord and he went down someone say down there are little Clues throughout this book that we're going to look at but he went down to japa and he found the ship going to tarus so he paid the fair thereof and went down someone say down down into it to go with them unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord he supposed to go East to Nineveh but he goes west to Tarsus instead of traveling the approximate 550 miles east of Nineveh he sets his sight on a place 2,000 miles away across the Mediterranean Tarsus was as far west as a man could go in Jonah's day that he wants to disappear from God he wants to run from his call look at the I want you to notice the dark contrast of what he's supposed to be doing here he's supposed to go to the dry arid desert of Nineveh and instead he goes the opposite direction towards the coast towards the water I mean he do he's not just going the opposite direction uh just physically he's going there also geographically he's going as far away from where God is wanting him to go he's going to do the opposite of what God is telling him to do and you might think well well what give us a reason there's got to be a reason why Jonah would do this and he reveals it at the end of this book but it's I want you to understand first of all that it's not necessarily fear it's not fear on Jonah's part that he just doesn't want to go preach to this scary people that's not it but he says at the End of This Book he said I know that you you would show them Mercy that's I this is why I didn't want to go in the first place because I knew you would show them Mercy they don't need Mercy they don't need salvation so I'm going to do the opposite of what you tell me to do and what does Jonah need Mercy but you don't get Mercy unless you show Mercy oh that's not my sermon but I feel like preaching a little bit let's talk about Nineveh Syria here this is a brutal brutal empire history records their terrifying practices they were known for impaling defeated enemies on Stakes outside the city walls their armies would pile up pyramids of human heads to intimidate their enemies they practiced systematic de portation of conquered peoples archaeological evidence shows they flayed their enemies alive and hung their skins on the city walls and God says go preach to Nineveh Jonah's reluctance becomes understandable when we consider Assyria reputation they were Israel's dreaded enemy known for their unparalleled cruel y he wasn't just afraid but he knew if he went and preached to them God would extend Mercy to an undeserving people and what Jonah is running from is the very thing that Jonah is going to need my God you're not hearing me the very thing that he's running from is the very thing that he's going to need so what happens here he runs he goes in the opposite direction he goes down he goes down he goes down to japa he went down into the boat and fell asleep the Bible says even later that he has cast into down into the water anytime listen to me now anytime you run from God you are spiritually headed downward go look at the story Samson you'll find the same refrain he went down to the Philistines he went down because when you go down you are running from the presence of God and when you are headed down let me tell you what you're going to run into down the presence of God the the the psalmist said where can I make where can I go from your presence where can I run to from your presence if I make my bed in heaven you are there if I make my bed in hell there you are can I I tell you when you think you are running from him you know who you're going to run straight into you're going to run into the god you're running from you think you're running you think you're hiding when you don't show up the church let me tell you he's where you are he's not confined to these four walls oh no Heaven is his throne and the Earth is his foot stool but where can you go from his presence if you're not here he's there in the bar with you if you're in an adulterous bed he's there with you and you say well he's not there he's everywhere and he will not leave you alone you think you're running from him you're not going to hide from God you're not going to hide from him he is going to be there chasing you down look at verse number four but the Lord sent out a great wind someone say great there's that word again great wind into the sea and there is a mighty Tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken running from the presence of God here comes a great wind great wind that God had prepared for his profit he gets in a boat with Heathen Sailors Gentile sailors now remember he's supposed to go preach to heathens he's running from it and guess who he runs into you can't escape him he's trying to get he he doesn't want to preach to heathens they don't deserve it and he ends up in a boat with heathens and guess what they start doing oh God save us oh God save us and you know where Jonah's at a sleep down at the bottom of the boat now I read a quote here from 19th century Minister Hugh Martin he said Jonah was sleeping the sleep of Sorrow you understand what that is perhaps you can relate trying to escape reality through sleep as if sleeping or that nap's going to change everything but really what you're trying to do is you're trying to sleep off the guilt and sleep off the shame your conscience will wear you down the way of a transgressor is and here he is asleep asleep during a just keep that in the back of your mind he's asleep during a great storm and the heathens on the top of the boat began to cry out and they go and they wake him up and they saywell who are you I'm a Hebrew I'm running from God and they said we knew it what we what are we goingon to do so they go and start casting lots and what are we going to do and this is what Jonah listen to what Jonah says just throw me into the water just cast me out take my life for yours you a here throw P me out so you can be saved take my life so you can be preserved but I want you to understand something that wind isn't meant to destroy Jonah that wind that great storm was intended to bring him back you see choices bad choices can bring storms and God sends a storm not to destroy you but to let the storm and the wind catch your sails and bring you back you ain't hearing me it's the the storm's not sent to to to kill you or to destroy you the storm is sent to bring you back to where you need to be and if you're in the middle of a storm right now I want you to know that all the Lord is trying to do is bring you back closer to him and even though you've changed Direction and he wants to bring you back come on somebody he will pursue you in your bad choices either listen and heed God's call for your life or you can run from it you can try to ignore it but he is not going to let you walk away or run away so easily there are people in this room right now hear me hearing God's call to believe and repent maybe some backslider some prodigal you've been away for a while I want you to understand you're not here by accident tonight and I'm not preaching this by coincidence but the Lord has sent a storm to your life to bring you back to him and that knocking that you hear on your conscience is the Lord saying let me in and bring you back towards me I'm not trying to destroy you but I'm trying to bring you back I wish somebody was hearing me right now that it's not over if you're here tonight there's another chance extended there's another chance extended the great Tempest was sent to save and not destroy someone say Amen oh they reluctantly they said oh we're not going to throw you over and they tried to row and they said we can't row any further throw him out and so Jonah wants to die go go if you read Jonah this week mark down how many times he wants to die in this little book just throw me out and kill me they said fine they threw him out into the waters and immediately The Tempest stopped but the Bible says that God had prepared someone say prepared he prepared a great fish prepared go look up the word prepared in this little letter because God did four things he prepared for Jonah he prepared a great fish he prepared a gourd he prepared a worm and he prepared an East Wind because God is always in control of your circumstance and he's always going to show up and try to get your attention Jonah thinks he's going to die and instead he's caught by a great fish he's caught by a great fish and he's in the belly of the fish three days and three nights chapter number two where we began to read earlier then Jonah prayed don't don't miss the humor in that then he prayed then what when he's in the belly of a well that's when he prayed meaning to say he could have prayed in the boat he could have prayed at the Port but he decided to pray while he's in the well can I tell you it's easier to pray before Trouble Comes it's easier to pray and to seek him before the storm comes it's easier to pray before the great fish is prepared than to pray in the storm and in the belly of the fish he's not praying out of delight he's praying out of distress God will get you so low sometimes we mom used to say this we we' heard we heard it said and preached pray rocks in their bed talking about backsliders pray rocks in their bed so they can't sleep at night why because you want them to get so low that God speak to them come on somebody God will let some things happen let you get so low and then they pray but it's also saying this that God didn't kill him but he was preparing a great fish listen it was not his prison it was his prayer closet my God come on somebody it's not his prison it's a place for him to meet the presence of God I want you to know you might be low tonight but that's where you're going to meet him come on somebody you might be low you might be going through some trials and through some tests but I want you to know you can turn it into a prayer closet and the presence you're running from will meet you there in the belly of a great fish I wish somebody would praise him that he can still hear my prayer when I Delight in him and he can still hear my prayer when I'm distressed my Lord have mercy praying praying praying oh this is called Grace brothers and sisters God is extending Grace to a reluctant Prophet that God is not wanting to destroy him with the storm and he's not going to destroy him with a fish he's just trying to get him to turn around he cried by reason of mine Affliction don't don't don't overlook that in verse Two by reason of mine Affliction you need to learn how to pray without affliction come on somebody sometimes only God God only hears you call upon him when you're going through something had Jonah prayed before he left he would have sa been saved all the trouble of having to wash his clothes from whale slime you know you can pray when you're not going through something but brother N I don't know what to do when I'm not going through something just tell him you love him and you thank God you're not going through something come on now you know I mean we we gota you could just pray just not having to go through something I'm telling you it is sweet to talk to him when you're not going through things but it because it gives me assurance that when I do go through things he's not shocked by my appearance to my prayer closet prayed out of my Affliction not out of delight or worship but his desperate condition but God heard him in his affliction but look at this I read it let's read it again verse three and four for thou Hast cast me into the deep in the midst of the Seas verse four yet I will look again yet it's a small word but it marks a turning point in Jonah's situation someone in this room tonight needs to get a hold of a yet I'm sick yet my family's in trouble yet I'm going through a valley of anxiety and depression and oppression yet come on what yet means is that there's still something to come afterwards that this is not the period here it's not the last chapter it's not the end of the book I'm in in the midst of my Affliction yet will I look again towards thy Holy Temple I want somebody to know if you're still here there's a yet to be prayed there's a you need to look again you need to look again towards the Holy Temple look again towards this place I might be in the middle of a whale I might be in the middle of a storm but I'll look again I might be covered in darkness but I'm going to look towards him I've still got hope somebody needs to get a hold of a yet if you need healing he still heals if you need salvation remember his blood was shed for us if you're facing financial problems remember he owns the cattle on a thousand hills if you're battling depression and anxiety remember Jesus Promised rest to those who would come to him if you're facing uncertainty yet Look to Him who changes not I was somebody would pra him for a yet yet I will praise him yet I will worship him yet I will trust him though he slays me yet I will trust him he's going to turn it around come on come on me this is get ready oh yet yet yet I'm not done yet the greatest element in Jonah's story is God Nineveh was a great City but God was greater the storm on the sea was great but God was greater the fish was great but God was greater Jonah's rebellion and nineveh's sin was great but God was greater I've been trying to figure out studying this how do you end how do I you know I like to point towards Jesus in my sermons great City great fish great storm great God Jesus said this he said a greater than Jonah is here you you you didn't hear me a greater than Jonah is here you see Jesus and Jonah have a lot of parallels Jonah was a reluctant Prophet who reluctantly preached to the ninevites but Jesus was the obedient Prophet who perfectly fulfills what Jonah failed to do Jonah and Jesus both faced storms but they responded in drastically different ways Jonah disobedient and fleeing from God's call slept in the bottom of a boat while the sailors above him faced the Wrath of the storm don't you forget Mark chapter number four Jesus slept in a boat not as an act of rebellion but as a demonstration of his perfect peace in the will of God Master don't you care that we perish and Jesus the obedient Prophet steps to the bow of the boat and says peace be still the storm that Jonah refused to accept Jesus stepped up and said be still when the storm threatened Jonah's boat I'm coming to a close he was cast into the sea into the Raging Waters and it says that the the the waters the storms stopped it but it foreshadowed a substitutionary sacrifice Jesus didn't just come to calm a physical storm he willingly gave himself up to the Ultimate Storm of God's Wrath absorbing it completely so that we might have peace with God he took our place and don't you overlook this fact that we are the Jonas in the boat our rebellious heart our sinful Hearts keep us running from his presence you stand with me Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and remained in its belly for three days and three nights Jesus applied this to himself yet while Jonah's descent was one of judgment for his Disobedience Jesus entered the grave in perfect obedience Jonah was spewed on dry land begrudgingly going to Nineveh to preach repentance but Jesus rising triumphantly from the tomb did not reluctantly go to Pro to proclaim the good news yet he went joyfully willingly as the true and faithful Prophet bringing salvation to the Jew first then also to the Gentiles Jonah preached a message of judgment and the people of nin Nineveh repented in sackcloth and Ashes Jesus Jesus came preaching repentance repent for the kingdom of God is at but while Jonah begrudged God's mercy towards the Assyrians Jesus longed for Sinners to come to him Jonah sat outside in Nineveh angry that God had spared his enemies yet Jesus wept over Jerusalem longing for its people to turn to him Jonah was a reluctant xenophobic Prophet angry that God's grace extended to his enemies to these Heathen Gentiles but Jesus was the obedient loving Prophet who laid down his life even for his enemies Jesus is greater than Jonah this is the hope we preach brother and sisters that a greater Jonah has come his Mercy is for all reluctant prophets brutal Sinners self-righteous Pharisees and broken people like us whether we have fled like Jonah or rebelled like Nineveh the mercy of God in Christ is greater still the great wind that tossed Jonah's boat the great fish that swallowed him and the great City that repented all pointed as to one thing a great God whose Mercy is greater than all of our sin and he invites us to come receive Mercy receive Grace would you lift up your hands I wonder if somebody in this room who's been running from his breath maybe you've been running from his call to Salvation say I don't know about all this faith and repentance stuff or this baptism and spirit stuff but I want you to know his mercies for you tonight and he's not going to leave you alone until you obey maybe you're running from a call maybe he's calling you to do something maybe he's calling you to a hard thing to do something hard difficult that may seem you know just totally out of this world and God says I just need you to do it maybe you're maybe you're a a prodigal a backslider and it's been a while and you know that the Lord's been chasing you down and everywhere you go you run into people talking gospel run into people talking about Jesus talking about church you just can't escape him you've went down down down and there at the bottom you still still have his presence I want you to know his Mercy is for you tonight would you lift up your hands come on I wonder if somebody would respond to his call to his presence maybe it's the storm that's come and he's going to use the storm to bring you to a place where he can talk to you and you can talk to him maybe you want to run to an altar tonight go ahead come I want somebody to come to an altar and say that's for me if he's going to do all of that for me if he's going to prepare a great storm if he's going to prepare a great fish if he's going to prepare all of that just for me let me respond to him let me respond to him he loves you so much that he would use all of those things to get your attention to draw you close to him what Mercy what Grace what love he's the Hound of Heaven chasing you down he's not going to let you escape Jonah he's not going to let you escape but he wants to show you Mercy come on will somebody respond to him now oh you've got to say then I prayed in my Affliction then I prayed in my Affliction and I found him I'm going to turn this prison into a prayer closet I'm going to turn this store into a prayer closet and I'm going to get in contact with him so he can turn me around he's not sent this to destroy me he sent this to restore me come on would you lift up your voice come on would you lift up your voice come on he's not done with you yet oh yes not come on would you lift up your [Music] voice you're not done come on he's not done yet not if you still got breath in your body you can repent if you still got a heartbeat you can be baptized tonight it's not over oh yes he's not done oh he's not done no oh you me come on where you respond [Music] the St you're not done with me come on would you pray with somebody would you lay your hands upon somebody would you pray with somebody