Be Broken, Be Blessed (Part 2) - Peter Tan-Chi - Extraordinary

you were watching Christ's Commission fellowship changing lives for eternity [Music] what a joy to be back as I promise you this is part two of our series on brokenness we've been talking about biographies of men our entire series is ordinary people but hey we have an extra ordinary God now God uses ordinary people by making them extraordinary through the process of brokenness say that with me bro can nest brokenness is something that we don't really understand but it is important it is necessary last Sunday just a quick update we talked about be broken be blessed Beauty Co be broken and be blessed it's counterintuitive broken be blessed we throw away broken things we discard broken things but God is saying until you are broken I really can abuse you so for God brokenness is a blessing if you respond properly now these are the two verses I like you to remember everybody please read for that says the high and exalted one who lives forever whose name is holy I dwell on a high and holy place and also with a contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite remember I said God has two addresses the first one the high exalted one God who lives forever where does he live I dwell on a high and holy place first address Jesus said our Father who art in heaven second address also with the contrite and lowly of spirit the world contrite as the idea of brokenness cross broken heart broken spirit what does that mean humility repentance you realize Lord I really need you when you surrender yourself will to God's will you experience bro can Ness people who are not broken are full of stuff they don't surrender the real brokenness is a lord I believe your will is the best I surrender my own agenda I surrender my win I surrender my plan that's brokenness the Bible tells us God lives with the contrite and lowly of spirit humility for what purpose everybody look at the blessings number 1 to revive the spirit of the lowly to revive the heart of the contrite how many of you relate to feeling tired the feeling burn out from time to time raise your hands you feel discouraged from 10 no time here is the secret come before God brokenhearted humble and say Lord I'm tired I feel like giving up Here I am people are burnout they are tired when they serve God in their own power when you serve God with your own agenda you get tired you burn up but when you serve God with the right motive not to impress people because you are lowly you are not there to bring glory to yourself but you are there to bring glory to God I can almost guarantee you you come before him God says I will dwell with you I will revive your spirit I will revive your heart and that has been my experience when I hear criticism when I hear people complaining when I hear people being discouraged it's contagious it can affect me you know what I do I come before God and I said Lord I come before you it's not about me it's about you once you humble yourselves I guarantee you something he promises I will revive you our revive your spirit I'll revive your heart the second blessing that I want you to remember the first bless is intimacy with God you are intimate I will dwell with you you experience his presence how can you get tired when you experience his presence how can you be discouraged another blessing I like you to experience its fruitfulness let's read this together truly truly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone but if it dies it bears much fruit here is the analogy you diet yourself it's like a grain of wheat seed once it is in the ground it dies the hard shell will give way to new life many Christians are full of themselves you need to learn to die when you die the Bible says life fruitfulness so these are the blessings why this series is important we are going to discuss Bible character and you will notice something everybody when you study Bible character you'll notice there there are normal people in fact they're imperfect people you will see their mistakes but God uses them but what is the process it's called brokenness today I want you to discuss I wanted to discuss this Bible character what's his name Jonah what enters your mind when you think of the word Jonah the word Jonah has a funny meaning it means dub you know flying now I don't know why his father named him maybe Jonah was gentle I don't know let's find out from his character now the outline is so simple the Book of Jonah has four chapters actually in the original Bible there are no chapters divisions so I'm well simply you will learn be broken be blessed you will learn from the Book of Jonah the process of brokenness what is the process of brokenness you will learn the following number one you will know this God takes the initiative is proactive God is always active in your life number two you will learn something that God pursues that pursues us brokenness is God's initiative and number three God is patient this is to me there are many ways to outline the Book of Jonah last night Mike did a great job in outlining the Book of Jonah Sakana Mike where are you Mike yeah Micah's cccc chapter one God calls Chapter two don't worry what is the next C ah God corrects correction and the third C is God gives people a chance chance and number four God is compassionate am i correct professor might yes but since my mind is so simple I will tell people just remember one point brokenness is a process say that with me brokenness is a process it's a lifetime process God will break us billable believe me it's a lifetime process no shortcut and sometimes it's painful but it is necessary so let's look at how God did what he did in the life of Jonah are you ready alright what's the first point brokenness only one point broken is the process now how do you see God at work you see him being proactive you see him pursuing us to break us you see him being patient all right let's read the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of amita saying arise go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it for their wickedness has come up before me the first thing I wanted to observe God took the initiative the word of the Lord God always takes the first step in your life in my life why because God loves us He loves you so much he takes the initiative God loves the Ninevites go to Nineveh the great city God caused Nineveh the great city and God calls it a wicked City you see Nineveh is known for its wickedness if you read history you will notice something about Nineveh they will pull out that tongue of their victims can imagine pulling out your tongue they will chop your legs and chop off one hand leave you one hand and they'll shake your hand they want to see you die in pain and slowly these are wicked people they will fillet your skin and push it on their walls to show you the enemies of Ninevites will be treated this way so it's Cuban so God is saying this country is going to be judged so I'm gonna send who who will God sent Jonah now why did God choose Jonah let me tell you why because Jonah needed to repent also you see God loves and invites but he loved Jonah God could have chosen anybody else but he chose Jonah let me tell you why would you like to know why but before I tell you why many people I remember going to a seminary one of the teacher and our shop of her the teachers no longer in the seminary but the teacher said not in my class not during my time it was when my daughter enroll in a few class the teacher said the story of Jonah is not really real it's like a parable it's like a make-believe story you know what that is completely wrong let me tell you why because Jesus talked about Jonah Jesus talked about what happened to Jonah if Jesus believed in the story of Jonah why should we not believe the other you understand what I'm saying this is a powerful story because the story of Jonah is that about Jonah the story of Jonah is about God how He loves us how he wants to mold us now let me try give me a background of who is Jonah in 2nd Kings chapter 14 the Bible tells us in the time of King Jeroboam he restored the border of Israel called a to the word of the Lord the God of Israel everybody read which he spoke through his servant Jonah Jonah is the real person is historico prophet the son of Amitai the prophet in other words the father of Jonah was a prophet apparently the family has this line they were prophets so Jonah must have known the Lord amen but you know what I'm learning about Jonah Jonah is like you like me even though we may know the Lord but we are not always obedient you know why let's find out Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish God told him go to Nineveh what is Jonah do he rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord excuse me are you a prophet are you running away from God so he went down to Joppa found a ship which was going to Tarsus paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord not to show you how this book was written by a very educated person look at the grammar the grammar is full of word picture God told him go after Nineveh do my job you know what Jonah did he went down notice down to Joppa found his ship which was going to Tarsus paid the fare and went down in other word the picture of Jonah when you run away from God you're basically going downhill you are going down to self-destruction so to give you a picture of what Jonah did here's the map here was Jonah in Israel God told him you go to Nineveh Nineveh is present-day Iraq Mosul that's Nineveh founded by Nimrod is a great city if your time you go to the you got to East Germany you visit the museum there there's a museum in East Germany very famous you go to the London Museum and you will see a lot of these stories this is real eventually Nineveh is the real country a real place however Jonah loved Israel he loved his country therefore instead of going to Nineveh he went down to Joppa you know what is a port city Joppa so he took and amazing cruise it's not the Alaskan cruise but it's a cruise he wanted to go to Tarsus is modern day Spain a blessed annual sea he wanted to eat paella amazing guy this is the farthest known place that Jonah could go to now let me ask you what will you do with your gun is it possible that there are people like Jonah today you know the Lord but because you don't like his instructions you don't like his will in your life you know Jonah had two problems the first one he does not like the command of God to save Nineveh he does not like you know why Jonah has a second problem his problem is not just with the Word of God with the will of God his problem is with God himself he cannot understand how can God who is righteous who is holy not judge Nineveh while will a good God a loving God not said Israel and destroy the enemy of Israel to understand at this time Nineveh the Assyrians were already a threat to Israel there are the enemies of the Israelites our memory verse is a mission I was telling pastor Ricky our memory verse today says love your enemies Jonah cannot reconcile the righteousness of God the Justice of God with the love of God cannot be God you are just so forth Jonah is probably simple God you are just boom destroy bad people Jonah cannot understand how can they just God one to forgive sinners do you understand this problem don't just blame Jonah just look at us our problem is this when God gives us instructions and you somehow cannot reconcile it people who are not broken you know what they do they choose their own way you do your own thing broken people will surrender their will they say Lord I don't exactly understand what you are doing but I trust you you see the difference unbroken proud people will judge God's will by saying it does not make sense because it does not make sense I'm not gonna obey it broken people say Lord I don't understand your will but it's very clear I trust you I surrender my River that's brokenness I remember a couple this girl came to my wife she said I want to divorce may I ask how many few have been married less than seven years raise your hands less than seven yes you are married less than seven years pressure hands know this for you today okay how many of you have been married less than ten years all of those couples married less than 10 years stand up stand up give signal stand up married less than 10 years stand up you know those of you who are sitting down I'm not a true now those of you who are married from 10 to 20 years stand up no no keep standing up those who are married keep standing up marry a 10 to 20 year stand up okay stand up I'm watching you those of you who are married 10 20 to 30 years stand up para Mena wonderful those of you who are married 30 to 40 years stand up those who are married 34 the earth let us you are almost exempted from this illustration but the reason why I want to stand up is very simple by the way most of you are married forty to fifty years stand-up of course now you are scholars when it comes to this topic but the reason why I actually stand up is this all of you would admit especially those who have been married less than seven years there comes a point in your marriage when you feel like you made a mistake when you feel like there are problems that you are so irritated that you like to what separate am i correct yes so look at me now your mind begins to think God you got this love because you love me you want me to be happy and since I am NOT happy it must be your will for me to divorce you understand that kind of thinking Jonah was such a person he was rationalizing now listen to me a broken person says Lord you are very clear the Bible says God hates divorce the Bible is very clear whom God has put together let no man separate if you are broken you say Lord you know my situation I'm not happy but lord I will find my happiness in you you have you want to Klopp Klopp you crave for your husband or husband stay wife stay but listen to me broken people will say lord you must have a purpose in this marriage maybe you are molding my character my husband is so unreasonable my wife is so surface but lord you are changing my character okay Lord I'll cooperate you see brokenness your broken heart must be surrendered to God because God will now fix up the brokenness of your life but if you don't bring your brokenness to God and you try to solve it your way the more broken you'll become and there's no benefit comprendes see thank you now singles stand up you think you are I'm done with marry single stand up singles this for all single stand up by the way we have many beautiful and handsome single people and she is here praise God just look around at let's look around there okay these are all single available alright now singles another true story the Bible tells us do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers don't marry someone who is not a follower of Jesus why it's to protect us however because you are working in the office you meet somebody and that person really is a nice person he gives you attention and you look at him here's the three aims you know Vadra three aims money he has a mansion and you see Mercedes Benz yes all the qualities and you begin to think Lord Lord Lord do you want me to be happy ah therefore no no it's not this is it this coming and Lord I've been attending singles retreat for a long time and no one has shown up yet and Lord I'm passing through my menopause already I'm just giving example an example so what do you do you compromise you now make decisions because unbroken people do not trust God unbroken people think God does not know what he's doing you see unbroken people do not really believe that God has your best interest at heart but broken people surrenders their agenda Lord I know you love me I know you want what's best if you want me to be single for the rest of my life Lord it's okay you know why because you love me you know what's best second principle of singles do you have the approval of your parents the first one is are they believers yes or no the second one the Bible says get the blessing of your parents now if your parents does not approve what do you do are you being a finger my parents are old-fashioned they don't know modern days they don't know and I'm financially independent and the truth is I'm already and so my parents can really be wrong and I think they are wrong there is prettily immature so do the singles you compromise my experience every time you run away from God's Word you disobey God storms will come singles are you listening to me god bless you sit down now this guy disobey the Lord and you know what happened the Lord you God pursues us he's not only proactive he pursues us the Lord heard a great wind on the sea there was a great storm on the sea the ship was about to break up then the sailors became afraid every man cried to his god and they threw the cargo which is on the boat in the ship to light them it a bad read ever read but Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship laying down and falling sound asleep how in the world can Jonah be sleeping let me tell you when you are running away from God when there is sin in your life you become callous you're not even able to pray however the great comfort is God pursues us you may run away from God but God's gonna run after you every disobedience will bring storms I guarantee you every disobedience will bring storms but not all storms are because of disobedience are we clear time you sin every time you disobeyed God there will be storms in your life but not all storms is the cause of your sin comprende but all disobedience as a rule storms will come sooner or later the Bible says there was a great storm and I have learned something disobedient people do not just bring storm on their own you affect the people around you that's what I want all fathers I want all leaders if you disobey God you endanger your loved ones why look at this story the sailors became afraid the ship was about to break they threw the cargo that's why I tell people don't be partners with people who don't love the Lord if you're in the business partnership and your partner's cheating lying and God wants to discipline your partner and you're his partner the make up these are biblical principles if you understand biblical principles you avoid unnecessary storms the Bible does not promise you will have no stones but the Bible promise if you walk with Him your life will be storm proof there's a big difference it storm proof versus strong free Jonah God loves Jonah so much Jonah was thinking he can run away from God some of you are thinking right now you are here but your heart is away from God I'm telling something God loves you he would pursue you because he loves you and the Bible you know the Bible gave us amazing promise let's do this the captain approached him and said how you see that you are sleeping get up call on your God you know this everybody was praying to their gods except who Jonah perhaps your God will be concerned about us so that we will not perish my goodness God is really God loves Jonah so much that God could not allow Jonah to be sleeping in the mists of the storm he's sleeping can you turn to your neighbor or tell your neighbor wake up wake up I hope you're not sleeping huh wake up notice what it says here it's man said to his mate come let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us my goodness John I was thinking I can be hiding but then they have this crazy idea I wonder who gave them this idea let us cast lot so they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah in Tagalog potekhin bata Allah Allah Subhan Allah God pursues you you think you are getting away with it I'm gonna tell you something in all my experience God loves you and if you belong to him and you disobey Him he will pursue you now if you don't belong to him that's another story they said to him notice tell us who Saddam has this calamity struck us all kinds of question what is your occupation where do you come from what is your country what people are you imagine he was interrogated she Dhamma I know Gilligan adido big open problem Minami oh my amiga John you know Jonah admitted I am a Hebrew excuse me you are not just a Hebrew you are a prophet but he could not say I am a Hebrew Hebrew Hebrew did I say I'm a pastor running away from God you are a prophet no no Hebrew in Hebrew he lost his identity he forgot who he was look at me everybody if I ask you who are you what will you say do not say you must say the father do not just say I'm a Filipina now who are you you must say I am a child of God who are you next who are you you must say I'm an ambassador for Jesus who are you louder I'm an ambassador for Jesus who are you I am a servant of the king of kings that should be your answer Hebrew I'm only Hebrew Malabo IDO malabo telega I fear I feel the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and dryland I feel excuse me can you see confession does not match the heart confession does not match the behavior there are so many Christians today you ask the mother you believe in I believe the Lord is the king of kings okay are you obeying him you see our problem brokenness the process Christianity is a process where God molds our character Jonah needed to be broken he needed to learn who God is the man became extremely frightened they said to him how could you do this how could you do this have you met Christians and you are looking at their behavior and you're so shocked have you seen your children and you ask them and powerkid Mogi Noah young English how can you do such a thing husband the wife will tell the husband effect if the wife feel the husband's be unfaithful how can you do such a thing are you not thinking you know what the husband will say I am NOT thinking I am just feeling you don't know the problem with us we don't read the thing yes or no Jonah's problem the main knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them so they said to him what should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us the sea was becoming a bad read increasingly storm your disobedience will bring storms you know why God promised you whom the Lord loves he disciplines do you know that's in the Bible are you sure it's in the Bible it is in the Bible can I show you the verse let's read this together whom the Lord loves he what he disciplines he scourges every son whom he receives qualification whom the Lord loves you belong to God he loves you you disobey Him he will discipline if you are without discipline read the whole chapter of Hebrews you don't belong to him that's what I believe in the security of believers that's why I know if somebody really knows the Lord God will deal with him because whom the Lord loves he disciplines and the Bible tells us about Jonah you know what happened joana joana said pick me up throw me in the sea you know I've been wondering why did Jonah just jump into the sea just commit suicide let me tell you why because the Jewish religion forbids suicide because they believe your life and your body belongs to the Lord you are not free to take your own life so Jonah she just told me from me then the sea will become calm everybody raves I know on account of me this strategy happened on account of me you see brokenness is a process where you begin to assume responsibility Jonah did not blame others Jonah did not say you know Lord is your fault because when I went to Joppa there was a boat going to Tarsus so it's your will there was a boat and I've managed to pay the ticket you see Lord it's your fault if there's no ticket if there's no boat I will not go route our system circumstances will never say it is God's will it's us Jonah said it's me it's my fault okay God is at work however the man wrote desperately to return to land but they could not for the sea was becoming even storm here against them you see these are pagans the pig has no better they don't want to kill Jonah so they wanted to avoid throwing Jonah into the sea but they could not you know why God pursues God is after Jonah and Galvin's you ought to learn a lesson and the Bible tells us the process of brokenness God is at work but we must cooperate they called on the Lord we earnestly pray all Lord do not despair is on account of this man's life do not put innocent blood on us for you O Lord have done as you had please notice this man began to pray you know who they pray to in the Hebrew language you have different words for Lord you have different words for God but the word use here is a very special word its capital L capital o capital R capital D we will only see that in the Hebrew Bible this is the very name of God the personal name of God is like for example pastors there are many pastors but when you say Peter pastor you are referring to whom me many names of God Elohim okay different names of God but when you say Yahweh you are referring to no other gods except the God who revealed himself to his people this is my name God said Yahweh is my name it is so sacred that the scripture writers Stanley oh they will even pronounce the word Yahweh they change to Adonai because it is so sacred it's like when you're with the President of the Philippines you just call him president you will not call him rod comma Saba no no when you are in the White House and you see the president what would you say mr. president you will not say Donald Donald how are you no no no the same thing with God but you know they got impacted by what's happening I do not know what Jonah told them but not if what they did they pick up Jonah threw him in the sea the sea stop Wow miracle when Jonah was thrown in the sea the waves suddenly became kind amazing miracle then the man feared the Lord greatly they saw the connection wow this guy is a real prophet of God God is really our way is real and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows you know what happened out of the foolishness of Jonah the sailors got converted they believe they can never evangelize they recognized Yahweh as the god they offered sacrifices what was your not doing sleeping not praying and where is Jonah now you know these are missing God can use our foolishness to do something good you shouldn't amazing God pursues us in the Bible tells us God causes a Bible read God causes all things to work for good to those who love him to those who are called according to his purpose what is amazing promise we know God causes all all things good or bad he can make them into something good on one condition to those who love him or to conditions and those who are called according to his purpose may I know what is the purpose of God can you tell me the purpose of God please what is the next verse after 20 louder louder I'm not asking that I'm saying what is the verse after dark what does it say ah you're correct it's verse 29 but what is verse 29 those whom he foreknew he predestined to become conformed to the image of his son you see God's plan is brokenness so that you and I will become like Jesus so God that work in your life you can have storms financial storms marital problem I don't know sickness cancer whatever it is do not think God is against you if you belong to him you must take it by faith Lord I don't understand but I know you'll love me and you've a purpose for me you want me to be like your son ladies and gentleman this is what I always say you must know the Bible you must learn to see things from God's perspective sickness cancer is bad I know it's bad however if you really believe that our life on Earth is only a dot if you make a line from here to the US a sim symbolizing eternity from here you put a piece of rope from here all the way to the USA example only that's eternity what our entire life on Earth let me tell you 1 billion Earth is just a dot when you compare that with eternity eternity is a long time and God wants to prepare you for eternity God is not preparing you for planet Earth because planet Earth will be destroyed planet Earth is temporal my heart goes out we have stuff web cancer where pastors wives web cancer I wanted to pray for him my heart goes out for them but I'm amazed at their attitude I'm amazed at the attitude of gene I'm amazed at the attitude of ji her husband her Irwin I have my Meza the attitude of Peggy our head of the IT you know she's cancer brain cancer lung cancer but you know when I talk to them they're at peace why why are they at peace because they know God loves them and got a divine purpose do I believe in healing I believe in healing I pray for healing but either way he's now or someday God hears them in eternity whatever it is are you willing to trust God that's brokenness brokenness you surrender Lord your will be done that mine already broken Jonah needed to be broken and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was in the storm of the fish three days and three nights you see how patient God is John Augustus no Alma you don't want to pray you don't want to really ask me to help you okay throw you in the water and then God issue the command fishy fishy fishy fishy fishy come and here comes the fish okay all kinds of fish okay you have you know the size of a man a typical will and you another kind of wheel okay my goodness so this story it's possible to happen yes or no in fact not possible it's a miracle it happened yes or no all right so if people are saying this cannot happen no there has been accounts historical accounts of what happened and the months were still alive okay anyway the Bible tells us Jonah prayed to the Lord his God where from the stomach of the fish the first time you see Joanna pray when not on the boat in the stomach it's called five-star accommodation I cannot imagine the smell I cannot imagine the slime hey but you know what perhaps a condition with bad air buddy how awful the smell is I think if you were in the storm of the fish three days and three nights what one word will describe you distress distress you know Joanna said I called out of my distress to the Lord what can you learn about God patient he pursues she might be Casa Loma CK you know listen to me no matter how stubborn you are I'm gonna tell you something God loves you he will not give up on you I know some people give up on people some people give up I wanna surrender but God says you keep running away I chase you you don't like that story you don't like to be thrown into sea alright I put you in a six star accommodation it's called the sweet storm up pain insists on being attended to God whispers to us in our pleasures he speaks in our consciences but shouts in our pains it is just megaphone to rouse a deaf one and you know what happened to Jonah God does not give up remember he initiates God pursue and God is so patient what happened Jonah learned his lesson at the end of chapter 2 over despair I was sacrificed to you with the voice of Thanksgiving that which I vowed I will pay nor alerts against against you okay now I will do but I promise you salvation is from the Lord amazing truth northeast the gammer salvation is not just from literally salvation belongs to the Lord can you tell your neighbor salvation belongs to the Lord but you need to experience this true brokenness once Jonah broken what do you think what do you think was he broken how many of you said he's broken raise your hand listen to me brokenness is a process God is breaking us then the LORD commanded the fish van with the jonah up in the dryline you know I've asked a brother to share with us his testimony about brokenness let's welcome Mike how Mike was broken by the Lord I had become a Christian about a decade ago and right at the onset I knew that I had been called to serve God but like Jonah I was stalling reluctant and chose to serve God on my own terms it wasn't until my brother was in the business got diagnosed with cancer that I ended up working in a in his company and got into the business the business was a real estate development company we sold condos subdivisions and townhouses all over the Philippines I young age became the VP of Sales and Marketing and slowly the money the reputation the success crept in and built up my pride I worked and sold a lot of units saved up a lot because I wanted to marry but I buy a nice place and settle in for the future while serving God on the side but deep within I was distracted and I was conflicted I was living a dualistic lifestyle I was compromising and I was going against God's call on my life to serve Him it all took turn when God had to Humble me and to break me after four years of working in the company and the business I was asked to leave the company and all of my receivables were put on hold I had no income for about eight months and what's worse I slowly spent all of my savings and wound up in credit depth from closing millions worth of units and making money to having zero in my bank account and zero sales as a real estate broker it was during that time that I went rock-bottom those months were the most painful months of my life because I did not know where I was headed and I didn't know what I was gonna do it wasn't until my pastor pastor Albert asked me to pray about going the full-time ministry that God got my attention once again after that I told him I would pray about it pastor because that is not really on my heart right now a couple of days later Peter jr. and Paul Tann she called for lunch meeting and it was the same thing they were asking me to pray about going into full-time ministry so I said okay why not let's try this thing out I'll pray about it and on the third appointment that I had pastor Peter and pastor Ricky and pastor JP one of my mentors they interviewed me and asked if you know if this is really a fit for you and looking back I remember praying to God Lord if this is what really really want me to do I have three requests so that I can really know that this is for me one of those is my parents blessing that they would give me the go signal to go full-time the second is get out of debt and for provision and the third is that as I serve God I would have a helpmate a partner to help me within a matter of a few weeks of praying and seeking God my dad and my mom gave their blessing for me to go full time I got so surprised and my dad even offered to fix the issue and resolve whatever it is that was going on with the business partners in a day my receivables and commissions were released the investments that I had were refunded and I got out of debt and I got the go signal from my parents to propose to my wife now Yvette I still remember that they when I gave my yes to God because that was the exact day that I had just come from a client viewing and I called my pastor and said pastor I think this is really God's will for my life to serve Him and then when I put the phone down I got another call from the client that I had just been with and they told me hey Mike I think we'll get the unit so after that call after I gave my yes to God after zero sales in eight months I got my first sale and that was when I truly remembered that God confirmed that if I were to follow and obey Him wholeheartedly that I would turn to Him and serve him that he would be the one to pave the way and even provide God is truly a God of the amazing and God broke me before he can use me and now I stand here before you more than a year later serving the Lord happily married to my wife Yvette but still being broken by God in the process this is my story and this is God's story and my life to God be the glory praise God praise God Mike praise God will pray for Mike later you can see the process of brokenness sometimes it's true financial storms sometimes its relationship sometimes it's half I don't know what you're going through but brokenness can only become positive when you surrender to the Lord and some of us are still fighting God you are fighting him but I have comfort for you God will pursue you God is patient and he won't give up on you the word of the Lord - Jonah the second time can you see God is a God of second time third time fourth time you know why God gives us chances after chances is you're amazing praise God I tell you I failed God many times but he keeps giving us chances arise go to Nineveh the great city exactly the same command proclaim the proclamation which I'm going to tell you Jonah you do what I want to do go go to these wicked people Jonah rose went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord you see the process of brokenness Jonah is now obeying before he was running away now it's obeying now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city apparently it's a big city a three days walk Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk and he cried out the most amazing sermon eight words only eight words yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown what kind of a message is that I can almost predict Jonah I spoke without really love he just simply said for the more days but I remember you are all dead for the more days you'll be dead I mean that kind of message giving you know why the Bible tells us later on you will learn he did not really like the people to repent so the Bible tells us God did amazing things the people of Nineveh believed me what a crazy story here you have a servant of the Lord who is disobedient then he obeyed remember be broken to bless people he became a blessing the people repented in God they call the fast unbelievable they know the fast and put on sackcloth sacral is a picture of from the greatest to the least from the greatest King to the least when the world reached the king of Nineveh he arose from his throne laid aside his robe covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the asses truly truly repented and the Bible tells us when God saw their deeds they turned from their wicked ways then God relented according to the calamity which he had declared he would bring upon them and he did not do it you see God changed because the people changed the people repent them impending calamity ladies and gentlemen I do not know what are the impending calamity is there's gonna happen in your life but one thing I tell you if you are like the Ninevites and you know you are doing something wrong and God speaks to you today I tell you you repent change and the Bible said that's what happened no you would think that is the end of the Book of Jonah chapter 3 that's the last verse we should stop here if you were Jonah would it be happy would it be happy of course hallelujah but Jonah was not happy huh that's why you need to understand brokenness brokenness is a process you will think Jonah was broken already yes Parsa but brokenness is a process God wants the heart not just external behavior he wants the heart of Jonah to really be broken because Jonah was in the process not just broken what my proof very simple it greatly displeased Jonah chapter 4 he was angry he became angry crazy what's wrong with Jonah he prayed to the Lord the second prayer O Lord was not this what I said where I was in my own country therefore in order the first of this I fled to Tarsus for I knew that you are a gracious compassionate God slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness exact quotation from the revelation of God in the book of Exodus chapter 34 John a new God Jonah knew God is gracious compassionate slow to anger and join me saying this is precisely why I don't want to go to Nineveh because I don't want you to forgive them you understand the heart of Jonah up to now still hard I realized God is after your heart not just your behavior she's Jonah behave properly he went and preached but he was angry in the why he was angry because God said that country do you know historically speaking Nineveh was paid of judgment two hundred years later it was destroyed but God gave them a deep rib of two hundred years but Nineveh was eventually completely destroyed but God is merciful that generation God spared them therefore O Lord please take my life from me death is better to me than life that guy suicidal can you imagine he wanted to commit suicide why something is wrong with his heart the Lord said do you have good reason to be angry can you see the gentleness of God enough why are you angry you know if I word the Lord if I cannot send a whale to eat Jonah he's not in dry land you know what I was said what can eat Jonah alive anaconda a Python huh let's say the Python let's eat Jonah no gardener do that gentle you know what God did God's plan is amazing he appointed what let's see Jonah went from out from the city sat he sat outside the city to look he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city do you know how Joanne was hoping can you guess what he was hoping what was he hoping fire will come down and destroy entire city but that did not happen and the Bible tells us God appointed a plant gentle you see God is so patient a part of the plant it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort and Jonah was extremely happy about the plan he was so happy and then God appointed hope God appointed a worm from a plant prayer world to eat the plant so the plan would die the next day when the Sun came up God appointed scorching is when you see the power of God and the gentleness of God to break the heart of Jonah and the Sun beat down on Jonah said so that he became faint and he beg again look at this prayer that drama Khambatta not a very dramatic death is better than life are you glad God does not answer your prayer all the time I'm so glad sometimes you pray foolish prayer rope I'm now a machine I take an ax God doesn't answer your prayer all the time you know why he loves you look at the gentleness of God God said the Jonah do you have good reason to be angry about the plant he said I have a good reason to be angry even to death punch line the punch line the Lord said everybody please be with me with feeling with feeling God speaking now the Lord says together for which you did not work in which you did not cause to grow which came up overnight and perish overnight you know what gotta say you care about the plant you care about the plant so important for you in contrast everybody read should I not have compassion on Nineveh why the great city in which there are more than hundred twenty thousand persons who do not know the difference between the right and left hand as well as many animals you know garrison I care for people hundred twenty thousand people this could be defined the children who do not know their left hand or their right hand or this could be referring to adults who don't know the truth but God is saying I care for people Jonah you care for plants something is wrong with your heart and I believe there are many Jonah's today in our needs you and I don't care about people really you don't share the gospel you don't try to be intentional you know why because we care for the wrong thing Jonah is caring for the wrong thing himself is comfort do you know why the Book of Jonah ended right there you see that you see that ending is a funny ending it ended with a question mark should I not have compassion on Nineveh why is there no ending because God purposely asked Jonah she's gonna learn his lesson why do I know he learned his lesson he what he was broken because he wrote his own failures he was transparent he was not hiding his mistake but he left it blank why for you to fill in because you and I will help to learn not to be like Jonah you have to learn that God cares for people people who are not broken listen to me all you care about is yourself you don't care about the loss you know my prayer that you and I will be broken but you learn to grieve you'll learn to be sad what makes God son you learn to love what God loves you learn to care for what God cares about I need to understand the heart of God and broken people do not know about the heart of God we don't have people we don't care for the loss remember I challenge you just think of bringing one person every service bring one share the gospel with one on a regular basis you won't do it if you don't care if you care you will do it we need to pray Lord break me so I will know your heart you know how God is Jonah Jonah was just mildly by God can I tell you why he the only saved a foreign nation but God use him to fulfill his own prophecy let's read this together jesus answered and said to them an evil adulterous generation craves for a sign and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the Prophet the context people were saying why would we believe in you Jesus as the Messiah why would we believe in you Jesus said an evil adulterous generation asks for sign and yet Jesus said no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah the Prophet what is the sign of Jonah and the prophet this is the sign as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the the monster will the solver the son of man be who is the son of man Jesus three days and three nights in the heart of the earth what is Jesus talking about his death and resurrection and Jesus says that is gonna be the sign the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment there are be a day of judgment and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold something greater than Jonah is here who is that something greater than Jonah Jesus and Jesus is saying will you repent you see the message of Jonah is about God the heart of God he loves you he wants to break you let's bow our heads there are some people here today you don't have the heart of God but you're willing just like Jonah we have run away from God you are running the opposite direction if God is speaking to you and you want to repent like Jonah will you stand up praise God yes Donna you are like Jonah you identify with Jonah and storms are coming in your life and you realize these storms are not meant to destroy me they are meant to ask me to be broken to repent if God speaking to you stand up I'm gonna ask pastor Cindy group leaders to come up in front to pray for you so may I ask the pastors and their wives to come up here they'll pray for you there are other people who may not be like Jonah you are like the Ninevites you have not known the Lord but there are storms in your life and you say you know what Lord this message is reminding me I need to repent well if you need a Penton stand up also praise God stand up don't be too proud because God loves you may I request pastor's prayer leaders dig of leaders to come up here to help pray as your heads are bowed down anybody else I will pray for you should you still need prayer where pastors and leaders who will be here to pray if you are Addie group leaders I wanted to volunteer come up here we may need more prayer warriors and those of you who are standing up you can pray this prayer with me pray something like this Lord Jesus I'm just like Jonah I'm running away from you my heart is not right Lord you want my heart just like Jonah you are not satisfied with external obedience but you want the obedience of the heart so Lord Jesus Here I am as you break me help me cooperate with you I surrender to you Lord Jesus I thank you that the Christian life is the process whereby you break us moment by moment day by day you break our idols whatever it is that is more important than you Lord it is our prayer that you break it so the shishi effort Lord and all Christians will experience genuine brokenness and thank you for reminding us you can use imperfect people but you want us to cooperate with you so I pray for everybody here indoors Lord who are the preaching of Jonah repented but Lord you are alive today you are the greatest science I now pray that all of us will come to know you and accept you as their Lord and Savior if you have not encountered Jesus Jesus is saying he is the same he died and rose again why don't you pray this prayer Lord Jesus you are the proof of God's love for us you died and rose again from the dead in Lord Jesus I come to you I surrender my life to you I trust you as my Lord and my Savior come into my life change me I accept your gift of forgiveness I accept your gift of eternal life in Jesus name we all pray amen and amen god bless you

Channel: Christ’s Commission Fellowship

Views: 110,139

Rating: 4.8472552 out of 5

Keywords: CCF, Christ's, Commission, Fellowship, Sunday, Service, Sermon, Speaker, Message

Id: HvyJVZXSHoU

Length: 71min 1sec (4261 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 28 2019