The Jonah Series (Part 1) "The Predicament" Pastor John K. Jenkins Sr.

praise the Lord this is the day the Lord has made and we're rejoicing we're glad about it and every Sunday morning I'm so grateful to God for another day and another week that he has afforded us to privilege to worship Him and I'm grateful for all of you who've joined us and have come and in a participating with us wherever you are in the country in the world I want to give a shout out to our military families and to our members who are travelling who still stay connected I want to give a shout out to the college students who join us every week all over the country I'm so blessed and so on it that you choose to join us I've got a series on beginning today that I think is critical for every person's life it is about Jonah the servant of God the prophet of God who decided to disobey God and it's going to be a four-part series and we're going to start today with part 1 so open your Bibles to the Book of Jonah and we believe it's going to be a blessing to you I'm going to also give a shout out to all of the people all over the country who voted for the first Baptist Church at Glen Arden with the Steve Harvey neighborhood awards also known as the hoodies for the 6th time in seven years First Baptist Church Granard won the hoodies the best Church and I'm honored that people all over the country think so much about us that they would cast their vote and I want to give you a shout out and a thanks so god bless everybody hope you have a great day in a wonderful week be blessed all righty you can be seated grab your Bibles open up to the Book of Jonah page 812 in my Bible I want to start a series today that I'm going to be in for the next several weeks I want to talk about Jonah somebody Hollis a gentleman I want to talk about Jonah what I want to talk about most of you know the story of Jonah who's a person who God gave instructions to and Jonah did not follow those instructions he went in the opposite direction of what God told him to do and they put him in a jam it put him in a predicament somebody say predicament say that again predicament one last time everybody predicament that's what this subject for today part one is is predicament and look I'm preaching from Joshua chapter one the whole chapter Jonah I just work trying to see if y'all was making paying attention I'm sorry I keep in saying I would keep saying that every day all day today but if I say Joshua I mean Jonah I mean Jonah I want to talk about this guy because God teaches us a valuable lesson through the life of Jonah through this this situation in Jonah's life and I want you to listen very carefully I want you to hear this word because God's this is a word that God has for somebody today I tossed and I tossed last night I woke up this morning one sure when I woke up this morning God said yep I want you to talk about Jonah there's seven points to this message the first one is God's assignment to Jonah God gave Jonah an assignment and that's what verses 1 through 2 says 1 and 2 is his assignment let me read this to you now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of a mute I saying arise go to Nineveh the great city and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me God said to Jonah I've seen the wickedness of dinner but I want you to go there and proclaim this proclaim there and preach to them and proclaim to them that I've seen their behavior God gives an assignment to Jonah I wanted to talk about this because every person in here has an assignment from God if you've accepted the Lord Jesus in your life if you called him your Lord if you surrendered your life to Him he has and assignment for you and he's spoken it to you Joe God spoke to Jonah and gave him the assignment and here's what I know what God does God will communicate his assignment to you through whatever means by which you understand that he communicates to you you don't want you to feel like you have to guess and figure out where it is that's not how God works it's not hidden so that you can't find it he has spoken and communicated an assignment to you and he spoke and he gave an assignment to Jonah and Jonah unfortunately did not carry out the assignment now I want to point out this thing because it's very important I want to point out that you have an assignment look at your neighbors that you got an assignment now most people Jonah we don't we don't we don't have a lot of information about Jonah we don't know everything about them all we know is that he had a prophetic call on his life most of you put the assignment for ministry in the category for ministers but it's important that you understand whether you are licensed or not you have a ministry that God has given to your life you to do I don't know how jacked up you are how tow up you are how messed up your I don't care how much you send God has put an assignment in your hands everybody has an assignment everybody has an assignment everybody has an assignment you got one point two is Jonah's avoidance of that assignment somebody say Jonah avoided it he wanted to avoid it avoidance that's the point - Jonah avoid he wanted to avoid it and that's in verse 3 it says in verse three - Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord who man this is so important to hear and understand Jonah somehow thought that if he could get in a ship and go to tosha's that somehow he could avoid the assignment that God gave them some of y'all think if you get in the plane and go to another part of the country or to another country that you somehow have escaped the assignment of God you cannot get on a ship a boat a car and escape the assignment of God matter of fact here's what the Bible says in Romans the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable you know what that means that means that once God gives you an assignment once he has determined to give you an assignment he will never take it back I need to talk about that because the devil wants you to think that because you lied or because you committed adultery or because you stole or because you got drunk or because you got high or because what else y'all be doing because you went to the club he wants you to think that once you do those things that somehow another your assignment is pull back but God knew you were going to do those things before he gave you the assignment who I should have got a few more amens on that point because especially from this 12 o'clock crowd with all the sin y'all got going up in here all this stuff he never takes it back that's great news God knows your weaknesses and your shortcomings but once he gave you the assignment he never takes it back and and and and Jonah somehow matter of fact he crazy because he's thinking right here verse number 3 he got he what he went to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord ain't that crazy he thought that if he went to tosha's he would he would escape God y'all need to know you can't escape God wherever you go when you get there Gaga already be there if you go to Florida he's already there if you go to California he's already there if you go to another country he's already there if you go to the club he at the club when you get to the club it doesn't matter how dark the room gets it doesn't matter where you're going what you do when you get there God's already there and twice in the text it says he somehow thought he could escape the presence of God you cannot escape the presence of God he's already good and so he's got to be matter of fact he got on the ship he was told to go to the northwest he went to the Northeast he went to the west he went in the opposite direction and he went down any time you go in the opposite direction you might be traveling north but when you don't go to where God's telling you going down it says in the text he went down the chopper man fact says twice he went down he went down the job and he went down into the ship either way is going down somebody say you're going in the wrong direction you can't avoid the assignment of God you cannot avoid now what am I saying it's because Jonah found himself in point three having to experience God's first actions somebody said God's first actions tell your neighbor if there's a first action that means that means there's a second action so verse 4 because of his disobedience and because he's trying to escape from God and because he's trying to not do what God wants him to do he gets this ticket boy stur ship heads toward thar she's trying to avoid Nineveh and then in verse 4 says look at verse 4 but the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to be broken up and he put it in today's language the was about to be broke up the scripture says the Lord sent a great wind I need to say that cuz some of y'all are experiencing drama in your life and pain and everything's out of order and everything's out of control and everything is problematic and you got drama and you blame it on the devil everything that comes into your life is not from the devil I think about 17 people clapped on that point right there because there's a lot of stuff that we blame it on the devil that really God created in verse four says the Lord sent out a great wind here this man's got turmoil he's on board the ship and it's tung oil in his life and the turmoil is there because he has disobeyed God I don't know I know y'all don't like this kind of preaching but I this I don't know who this is for but I know you're here it might be one person that made all the other 4,000 of y'all have to sit through this and experiences and I just hope that one person get it straight and get that right life right so everybody else will have to take just whipping along with you because God gave you some instructions and you didn't do what God told you to do now your whole family's in drama now everything is back dragging jacked up and everybody's going through hell cuz of you because you choose not to obey and do what God told you to do so now the whole ship is in turmoil everybody is if the ship is being tossed to and so fro and the thing is so vicious that the scripture says that the ship is about to break up and families and problems and jobs and careers and stuff is about to go down the drain because one Joker dishonored God many of you in that situation right now the here is 0.4 now listen carefully all this is y'all not going to shout on this message but if you just get the message and you learn what I'm trying to tell you it's gonna make a difference in your life here's 0.4 I want to talk about the sailors attempts to assist him there's some sailors on the ship who try to help him out now this is important because some of y'all are in trouble because you trying to help somebody else out thank you you got to be careful who you try to help out because when you try to help somebody out out who's in trouble with God you get your own self in trouble I had to learn the hard way by me trying to be mr. nice man trying to be mr. calm person that I'm helping everybody that I'm really getting in God's Way and when you get in God's away you got to get the whippin to that everybody else has to get and these guys on the ship trying to help they try to help Joan out they don't know Joan is the issue but they know somebody on the ship is created a problem and so here's what the text says he hit this point in verses 5 to 11 can I read verses 5 through 11 can I reverse 5 3 11 then verse 5 through 11 then the Mariners were afraid that's the sailors and every man cried out to his God every man cried out to his God and they here's what they did and through the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load the ship is being tossed and they saying we got to lighten his load this is gonna be torn apart so they start throwing stuff overboard but Jonah had gone down into the lowest part of the ship had lain down and was fast asleep everybody else in LCS trying to say the ship trying to live he downstairs in the belly of the ship sleep some of y'all have lived through the experience of life where everything you try to pay the bills you're trying to put food on the table and here's the one Joker who won't get the job down in the basement watching TV everybody else working everybody I'm trying to put food on the table everybody I'm trying to keep everything alive everybody I'm trying to keep this thing together and the one person who is the cause of the whole drama he's got his don't go to sleep dude he got his arm stretched out his eyes closed I'm coming I'm coming for you I'm coming for you I better let you sleep on my ship there you go somebody neighbor don't fall asleep on the passenger ship now hit it they want to help him out he downstairs sleep and they throwing stuff overboard he the cause Jonah's the cause and they are throwing good stuff overboard some of y'all are giving good money after situations that is not going to change the situation it is not going to change the situation coz thawing food let me let me go on I Jesus help me somebody say lord help him lord help him he down in the basement sleeve he down in the in the belly of the ship verse 6 so the captain came to him and said to him what do you mean sleeper arise calling your God perhaps you your God will consider so that we may not perish and they said to one another listen to this verse 7 come let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us so they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah they said they were smart enough to discern that the reason for this situation is because somebody on this ship has made God upset some of y'all got some people in your life that you better recognize they're the reason for the drama in your life and so they cast lots and when they when they threw the dice it spelled out Jonah's name then they said to him verse 8 are y'all still with me right here then they said him please tell us for whose cause is his trouble upon us what is your occupation where do you come from what is your country and of what people are you look at this into verse 9 look at verse 9 y'all with me are y'all following me here so he said to him I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord really the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him why have you done this for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord you know how they knew it because he told them then they said to him what shall we do to you that the sea may become for us for the sea was growing more tempetures it wasn't getting any lighter I'm almost finished are y'all with me and I lost you it wasn't getting any lighter some of y'all The Situation's not getting any better but you are insisted on keeping the Jonah's in your life who have caused the drama in the first place you working and working and trying to make it stay alive and try to make you keep going and trying to make the relationship work and trying to make this do this and yet they either have cause of the drama in the first place now he know he the problem here is 0.5 so they trying to help him verse 0.4 they're trying to the system they questioned him he realized he's the problem they realized it they asked him what do they have to do verse 12 is his answer Jonah's answer verse 2.5 and he said to them pick me up and throw me into the sea then the sea will become calm for you now I got a problem here why are you trying to get somebody else to do something that you can do yourself let me let that sink in because there's always somebody waiting for you to do something that they should be able to do for themselves I'm sick of people waiting on everybody else to help fix their problems you got to learn how to do what you you know what the problem is you know you the culprit you know you're the reason this is going on you waiting on somebody to give you a job go make a job go create a job go start a job make a business stop waiting on somebody else to bring you out here their time I go yeah y'all told me to throw me overboard here's 0.6 I'm almost finished I'm coming to a close the sailors versus verses 13 through 16 the sailors actions they finally act verse 13 nevertheless the men rolled hard to return the land but they could not for the sea continue to grow more tempetures against them they kept trying to make it work they rolling hard trying to get back to land they couldn't cuz the sea was vicious that's those of you who don't you see you know what the property as you know you know you got something going on in your life you know you in some relationship you shouldn't be in you know you got some habitation had you know got some stuff you got to give it up but you're still trying to hold on to it and life is not getting any better they would nevertheless say Road therefore verse 14 they cried out to the Lord and said we pray O Lord listen it is look at this I think this is funny we pray O Lord please do not let us perish for this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood so when they say don't charge us for innocent blood they have made a decision to do something for you O Lord have done has it pleased you so they picked Jonah and threw him into the sea they picked that joke up he wouldn't jump off himself they picked him up and threw him out there's some people and some things and some habits and some practices just you got to get the guts and the courage to pick it up and out of your life I know y'all don't like this kind of preacher y'all don't want to hear this kind of message now you gotta figure out what that is you know what it is you know what it is in your life that's keeping you from doing what God wants you to do you know who it is you know what it is you know what it is you look at what you read what you listen to where you hang out what you like doing that's keeping you from having the freedom to do what it is God's called you to do and you're gonna keep on having up to pet you and storm in your life until you decide to grab that scene and throw it overboard you gotta grab it and get rid of it ain't nobody gonna take it from you it's not going walk out on the soul you got to get rid of it look at your neighbors say you got to get rid of it tell your neighbor you got to get rid of turn them on the other side you got to get rid of and tell them on both sides you got to get rid of it y'all not saying that y'all ago y'all go y'all that said you gotta you gotta somebody hung out got to get rid of it got to get rid of listen figure out you know what it is ain't got to think about you know what it is you know what's in your life that's keeping you from what door God's called you to do you know what it is you're not you know you're not to search hard for it you're not to look for it's right there you know what it is and it's keeping you and it's putting you in turmoil and you know what I love about this passage it says right here uh-uh in verse 15 they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea they got to a place where they could no longer tolerate him they couldn't accept him being on it won't get any better they threw him out and the sea ceased you know what I know God has the capacity to bring peace into your life instant somebody say instant God has the capacity to bring peace into your life instantly and that's what it says right here and the sea ceased its raging then the men feared the Lord verse 16 exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows even their lives got changed when they got rid of that drove off the boat now let me close this point let me close this phenomenal message y'all a little bit too slow took out about five minutes because I noticed this with somebody I know God's talking to somebody who's not in the right place not doing the right thing verse 17 is my seventh and final point God's second action is my point God's second action what did he do the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights for three days and three nights Jonah got thrown overboard and there he is in the middle of the belly of a whale it's dark wet slimy is not a pleasant place but guess what it's the safest place we all know it is going to take you a minute to get that it's going to take your minute you get that's go take you a couple minutes because sometimes God is going to put you in a place that's not the most comfortable it's not the place that you like it's not where you want to be but it's the safest place for you to be who how you know it's so safe pastor I know it's safe because God had prepared it for him God already have prepared the whale to be there so that when he got thrown overboard and see I'll need to know God's already orchestrating and getting ready to take care of you he's already got the whale prepared his dart is nasty it's ugly but it's the safest place in the world you know it's much safer than being out there in the middle of the ocean in the middle of the sea matter of fact he had that that whale became you know what it was that whale was an uber for him come on talk to me for second it was there instantly y'all kill me what I'm saying and picked him up into him exactly where he needed to be it's the first record of uber come on it's in the Bible God's got something prepared for you if you could just jump out of whatever he spoke wait we ain't supposed to be jump out he got something waiting on me that's gonna take you where you need to be he got something waiting for you somebody say hallelujah he got something waiting on me hallelujah somebody say he got something waiting for me I don't know who I'm preaching to today all I know is that you're here today all I know is that perhaps there's something going on you may be in some place maybe there's some relationship some habits some whatever you're like that's not right Jesus told me to tell you he loves you he died on the cross for you he gave up his life he was buried rose again and he has life waiting for you he don't want you to stay in that storm that you're in he don't want you to be in that temporary situation he wants to give you life he wants to forgive you of your sins he wants to give you life and give it to you more abundantly the best thing you can do is have the courage to get up and say you know what that's me let me get right with Jesus right now and make your way down here right now immediately this moment don't wait another day get up and come on and say yes to the Lord right now Halloween the best choice best decision you'll ever make in life get on out get out come on come on now don't debate it don't reason that's right I see you coming praise the Lord that's right don't wait on nobody else you don't need anybody else's approval come on right now right today right this moment right now while he's waiting come amen they're coming they're coming that's good that's good that's good you

Channel: Inside FBCG

Views: 66,224

Keywords: FBCG, Pastor, John K. Jenkins Sr., First Baptist Church of Glenarden, Lord, God, Jesus, Christ, Holy, Grace, Sermon, Word, Bible, Study, Baptist, Church, Gospel, Preaching, Ministries, Ministry, Praise, Spirit, Religion, Blessed, Blessing, Salvation, Revival, Fellowship, Choir, Black, Preacher, Preachers, Chorus

Id: heu9jYZKpPA

Length: 28min 55sec (1735 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 29 2016