What To Do When Life Swallows You Up - Curt Harlow

all right we're in jonah chapter two and i've got a question for you jonah chapter two the question is simply this what causes you stress what actually goes to the next level of stress in your life and causes you distress you know there's stress and there's distress there's a lot of things nowadays causing distress if you agree with me give me an amen school is distressing i can't tell you how many teachers i've talked to that said i never signed up to be a zoom educator the kids don't know if they're going on campus or they're staying off campus and speaking of kids probably the biggest stressor in our life is not school but the kids that we're actually trying to get to school anyone's stressed out by their kids raise your hand if you're a parent or you're a liar we are only as happy as our most miserable child isn't that true school causes stress and kids causes stress and work causes stress i don't know if you're like me but i thought clovid would mean a slow down in my work pattern i am working harder doing more things does anyone know what i'm talking about here first of all i've given up on zoom anyone else given up on zoom i love you zoom i'm not critical of your technology i'm just saying at the beginning of this whole thing i thought i'd have a little bit more time and space so i set up a green screen i arranged the lighting just right i would sit there with my colleagues now i walk into the camera brushing my teeth pajamas still on scratching my greasy hair going can we get this meeting over does anyone know what i'm talking about work and school and kids and work and politics i'm going to leave it alone that's how much i love you the economy i'm going to leave it alone that's how much i love you relatives had someone say the only thing good about covet is uncle bud who drinks a bud isn't coming for thanksgiving why do i talk about this we have to be really really clear life is full of stressors life is full of distress and the chapter two of the book of jonah is about jonah confessing his extreme distress but we have to be really clear about what's causing it it's not school or kids our work our politics our economy or relatives or bills or health concerns the thing that's causing jonah's distress is the key idea and context of our chapter jonah was distressed by his direction jonah was running in the wrong way my friend i know that all of the external things in our life now are causing a stress but let me tell you at the core of all of it at the core of all of it is our direction toward or away from god you see you can go through the hardest things in life but if you're going towards god while you go through the hard things you can actually get peace in the midst of great circumstantial stress but when you're running from god the pea underneath five of your mattresses that little princess peace story comes alive the smallest thing is a distressor in our life which way are we going is the question the book of jonah asks jonah is distressed by his direction what is chapter two here i love talking about the context before we get in the passage here's what you've got to know about chapter two and this is beautiful chapter two first of all it's a poem and it's a beautiful poem it's an epic poem it's an amazing poem it's a poem full of theology and real human experience but it's also a pivot jonah chapter two is a moment there's one in chapter two and there's one in chapter four it's a moment where jonah's heart begins to change he takes a pivot and the last thing it's a proclamation jonah writes this incredible poem about his pivot in which at the end of it he tells us who god is and why we need to remember who god is let's go ahead and read the poem if you're still with me give me an amen i'm going to read the whole thing that's how radically committed we are to the bible around here all 10 verses yippee kai here we go from inside the fish jonah prayed to the lord his god he said in my distress i called to the lord and he answered me from deep in the realm of the dead i called for help and you listen to my cry my friend it's not what you're in it's what's in you you hurled me into the depths i want you to notice that god was the author of the overboard you hurled me into the depths into the very heart of the sea and the current swirled about me all your waves and breakers swept over me i said i have been banished from your sight yet i will look again towards your holy temple now there's a couple technical things here um first of all jewish poetry is based not on rhyme or on meter it's not based on the number of syllables this really cool thing it's based on does anyone know you guys know out there in in online land don't you it's based on parallelism in other words god puts an explanation point in his poetry by repeating the concept twice or sometimes comparing similar contrast they parallel each other why is this important because poems that rhyme are hard to translate poems that have parallelism translate into many languages and keep their meaning you see what god's doing here sovereignly he's saying i'm going to lay down some words i'm going to lay down some poetry i'm going to lay down some verse that every tribe and language and nation can get through the ages look at this you hurled me into the depths into the very heart of the sea that's the first phrase and your current swirled about me and all your waves and breakers swept over me do you see the parallelism now when you're reading the poetry look at that the more god repeats it the more he wants to know all right let's go down to verse 5. he says here towards your holy temple what does that mean the temple is the manifest presence of god he's not looking at the building he's looking at god himself he says i got cast into the sea by god and in the sea i looked towards your presence verse five the engulfing waters threatened me the deep surrounded me seaweed was wrapped around my head to the roots of the mountains i sank down the earth beneath me barred me in forever but my but you lord my god brought me brought my life up from the pit when my life was ebbing away i remembered you lord and my prayer rose to you to your holy temple again not to the building but to the presence of god that's the pivot verse eight those who cling to worthless idols turn away from god's love for them this is a dig towards the assyrians in the midst of repenting from hating the assyrians he digs them verse 9 but i with shouts of grateful praise will sacrifice to you what i have vowed i will make good i will say salvation comes from the lord and then it ends with this beautiful verse and the lord commanded the fish and it vomited to jonah onto dry land poetry poetry epic the presence of god the temple of god the depths of god god rescues him throw up what's going on here um i gave you a little extra bonus material in your outline here and i really do want you to text outline to 56316 i'm not going to go over this but if you want to see how i break it down it's what did jonah pray very important how did jonah pray very instructive to us and what did god do for jonah because he prayed i want to focus on one verse because i think it is the pivot in there and i think it's the most applicable to us right now and that's verse seven here let's read it again when my life was ebbing away i remembered you lord i forgot about my fear i forgot about my hatred i forgot about my plans and i put my eyes back on the presence of god i forgot about the numbers i forgot about the politics i forgot about the economy i forgot about my kid i forgot about my worries and concerns and the weight of the world on my shoulders and i started to compare my stress to your size i remembered you lord and my prayer rose up to your holy temple to your presence to who you are question i want to ask tonight just for a few minutes is what to do when life swallows you up what to do when your direction causes you distress when the circumstances around you you know there's two types of stress here one is the stress that jonah is feeling because he's disobeying god that's his direction causing him distress the other is the distress that the sailors were feeling because jonah jumped in their boat sometimes in life someone jumps in our boat and it causes the boat to get in a storm does anyone know what i'm talking about don't look at the person sitting next to you although it is probably them when you're distressed there's three things i want you to remember about god when you're at the brink there's three things i want you to hold in your mentality i want you to get them in your heart and mind so firm that no matter how stressed out you become they will not leave you what are those three things number one write it in remember that god hears now this can sound very very simple this can sound very very sunday school but you have to understand that we're living under 2 000 years of the grace of christianity and this idea that god came to earth and died for our sins and that he really does embody all that is human and all that is deity and that jesus we're living under this idea jonah didn't live under this idea the thought that the god of all heavens and earth the god that spread the stars across the skies that that god here's poor little me is a radical idea and deep inside even over all the teachings of how much jesus loves us and came to earth and emanuel the god with us and he really does care for you even though we sit under all that teaching we're still like jonah i met one lady she said to me kurt i have so many concerns i said let's pray right now and she said well i don't want to pray right now because it's sunday and that's god's busy day we think this about god that somehow our prayers are not significant here is the theological powerful truth that the old testament hebrew bible wants to repeat over and over again there was a foreign strange radical idea in the near east of this time god hears you god heard abraham when he pleaded for a wicked city god heard moses when he prayed for a wick and prayed for a wicked and rebellious people god heard david read the psalms they're implicit with this oh mind-blowing praise that david has gone you hear me you heard me i called out you answered over and over again lord you have heard my prayer is the theme of david as he writes these beautiful songs god heard jeremiah in depression lamentations he says from the pit you hear my plea the depressed person is not unqualified to be heard by god god has leaned into the depressed prayer the heart of the brokenhearted is god's concern isaiah says god you heard me before i prayed i prayed and you said yeah i've been waiting for you to pray that god doesn't just hear he's ready to hear because he wants us to pray ruth nine different times on our journey of redemption calls out to god and god hears god hears is the whole point of first john john the mighty lover of jesus the the one who had the nickname the the one that jesus loved john writes his epistles and the point he wants to make is god hears you what would happen if you believed it what would happen if we believed it how would our stress lower how would our determination strengthen if we really understood that the person who invented gravity heard our pleas in christ my friend god hears you better than you hear yourself that prayer you prayed five years ago 10 years ago 15 years ago for your son your daughter your future wife or husband your circumstance your calling your life your direction god has not forgot that prayer because god hears this is what jonah wants to tell us in my distress i called to the lord and he answered he answered keep praying keep praying keep praying why don't we pray there's a lot of different reasons we're so complex and weird and stressed and broken but but i think there's there's a couple of different things i'd like to pull out just about this season first of all we're in denial about the distress some of us are handling all the cultural chaos and all the covid and all the economy and all the all the globalization and just news and everything and we're just walking around going it's not a big deal it's not a big deal it's not a big deal let me tell you it's a big deal when jesus gets in the boat when the storm's happening he doesn't go these waves are nothing he doesn't say that he goes i'm god chill he doesn't minimize the waves he maximizes his power don't be in denial about the distress if your family's got a problem face the problem the other thing is we're too self-reliant we're too unable to ask for help it's difficult for us to say i don't know i'm not sure i need help the other reason we don't pray is we don't feel significant we somehow think that god yeah he answers prayer but that's andrew mccourt he talks an irish it's of course god hears that but not my prayers i somehow have to earn my way into god hearing my prayers listen god hears your prayers because of who he is not because of what you've earned everything is a gift of grace and then finally let's just be real honest when we pray a lot of us feel stupid there's there's some of you out there you guys are so spiritual you just talk to god all day long most of us we get on our knees in our bedroom and go like hey hey god please don't let anyone walk in while i'm here on my knees in my pajamas talking to you in a visible person i wonder if we're too self-conscious i wonder if our image our presentation our sense of wanting to be cool and put together keeps us from encountering god you know my friend i think it's time for us to come out of denial and say there are moments in our life right now that we need prayer and there's moments where we got to say in my weakness you be strong i cannot do it i am not self-reliant and we've got to lean into god's love and say yeah you even hear me and we've got to say i will be foolish before you because now if there was ever a moment of prayer now is it what's the application be brutally honest in prayer some of us don't pray because we think it's some theological test we think if we get before god and we don't sound all theological he's going to hit us with a bolt of lightning oh lord in genesis the propitiation of your salvation echoes through time and inertia you know god hates those prayers generally loves the prayers of the psalms read the psalmists they're like lord you made a promise and i don't see it happening lord my enemies are right at my door god i mean they're trouncing on me big time yeah well i praise you they always add that at the end just so they won't get the lightning on the head but they're brutally honest what would happen if even tonight as you finish this sermon you just went to god and say god i don't even know why i'm worried show me why i'm so worried and you just put that before the lord number one god hears god hears god hears the message of jonah too is simply this remember have that pivot that god really does here i used to travel quite a bit before i came to bayside and for a long time i just traveled in the northwest in in california and then i started getting invites to places like louisiana mississippi arkansas and and all where i grew up in a small town so i recognize these people and i love southern people and they're wonderful the only thing i don't like about going to the south is that you have to lower your cholesterol by like 10 points before you even enter one of the states because the food's so good and they're so hospitable but they would have an image of me as a californian i didn't even grow up in california but they would have a preconceived image of who i was so when you go preach in a southern church you'd stand up at some church in arkansas and you'd just preach and afterwards there'd always be a couple of elders that come up to me and say that's pretty good for california boy yeah you know i was shocked by your use of the bible i thought you'd you know come with some fancy new age thing but you use that bible good you keep to that scripture boy i don't let that california ruin you you know there was a assumption of what a pastor in california would do with the bible now i don't want to be critical i just want to draw out the point that you and i do that same thing with god see we don't see each other in three dimensions we want to see each other in black and white we want to see each other in the simplest forms we want to generalize we want to have biases we want to put people in the groups and the labels instead of learning their whole story and seeing them for who they are and we do the exact same thing with god we get a concept from god about god in our lives sometimes it's directly related to our earthly father or our parents or sometimes it's related to our fears or something we heard early on taught that wasn't quite biblical and we go ahead with that simplified version of who god is and then we open up god's word and we find that he's far more wonderful and beautiful and incredible than we could ever think or imagine who is god is the most profound mental health question i can ask you because the more in-depth and accurate your concept of your creator is the more healthy your internal life will be number two write it in remember who god is first of all we remember that god is the god that hears but jonah says there was a moment where i pivoted off of my anger about going to nineveh and i pivoted off of my plan about running from god and i put my face towards the presence of god to remember who god is one of my favorite things to do is teach on the nature of god like most of my time with all of our thrive students around here at bayside that's what i do i love teaching on this and there's usually somewhere between seven and 13 characteristics that are major themes depending on how you divide them up and what you see is the priority in classic evangelical theology but i just i can't a belief how many christians i meet that have gone to church for many many years and don't know who god is according to the bible they haven't mastered it i want to tell you if you're newer on this journey or just starting on this journey start with understanding that god is different than you assume he is and god's very clear about who he is okay here's what i'm gonna do i'm gonna give you three theological words how many would like to have a christmas party this year maybe thanksgiving gathering and you're walking around with your cranberry juice and you actually have some three dollar theological words in your back pocket how many would like that it makes you look so cool i'm gonna teach three right now if you're still with me give me an amen the first one is this immutable and that sounds like a very very fancy theological word and it is a fancy theological word and we could go all night teaching what the bible has to say about immutable but here's the main thing you've got to get the gods of the old testament were unpredictable unreliable selfish immature and understandable okay how many ever have read any of the roman or greek gods they're they're immature and crazy and stupid when god says he's immutable it doesn't mean that he's undynamic it doesn't mean that he's so predictable that he always does everything we expect him to do what it means essentially is god's character is so profoundly right he's highly reliable god is reliable he's trustworthy this is so important to know because no one else is trustworthy i'm not trustworthy you're not trustworthy our government is not trustworthy someone get a little inner healing on that one right now i don't care what party you're in it's not trustworthy and we get hurt we get hurt by a mom or a dad that love us we get hurt by our boyfriend our girlfriend our spouse our kids and then we try to transfer all that hurt to god say god no one's trustworthy maybe you're not trustworthy my friend god's immutable his character cannot change he is reliable he's consistent he's ethical he does not have shades of unreliability in anything he does number two he's omnipresent there's all the omnis about god omnipotent and omniscient but this one is really really important to jonah's story and like we've been saying for weeks you really actually can't run from god it's a story about running from god but it's a futile story because god's not chasing after you that's right i know a lot of preachers say god's running after you and chasing after you god's not chasing after you my friend he's waiting for you he knows where you're going to end up you can't the psalmist says if i go to the depths you're there if i go to the heights you're there if i go to the east you're there if i go to the west you're there the most comforting thing i can tell you is god's there the most scary thing i can tell you is god is there he's seen everything you've seen on your internet god is omnipresent and the last one is that he's omni benevolent or he is just benevolent god's motives are always good in fact it's more than that god doesn't just do good or have good motives god is good god is the definition of goodness when you know this in your soul when god does things you don't quite understand because he sees things you don't see you can actually walk through those things knowing fundamentally that he's for good even if it doesn't feel good how many know we need to know god is good when it doesn't feel good here's the application keep learning who god is in january we're going to start some expository midweek teaching we're figuring out exactly what we're going to do maybe romans maybe the epistles we're also going to do an in-depth discipleship class we're adding more content to our small groups and we're going to provide some great examples including growth track and more of how you can actually grow in depth in your understanding of god if you're stuck the way out of being stuck is to understand your creator don't get a decision on every single little issue go find out who niche in your mother's womb and once you understand who he is then anything's possible okay i gotta move on those are just three words i could go on all night number three except first of all god hears number two remember who god is that's exactly what happens he looks towards the presence of god two different times he says it and number three um i was sitting around the other night we're just sitting around the other night probably two weeks ago and kelly looked at me and she said do you know that tonight is the one year anniversary when we took that trip with jason and renee and i said you mean the one where jason at his birthday yeah and she began to text me pictures i don't know if you remember this back in the day we used to get on planes and we would fly and there was no masks and every once in a while you saw someone with hand sanitizer and you're like that's a good idea but you didn't do it and we went to restaurants we just walked in we sat close to each other we laughed on each the amount we must have been spitting on each other not knowing back then and she started sending me these photos and we started sending the photo she started sending them to me and i started sending them to all the people that were on this trip and we just started saying we're like literally in tears and everyone's going i love you and i love you too and it was great it was awesome let's do that again it'll probably never happen it was a little moment where i realized life was normal then and someday life will be normal again i remembered what we had done number three write this down remember what god has done the natural path from learning who god is is remembering what he has done those who cling to worthless idols turn away from god's love for them he's saying when you get a false god a false devotion a false commitment you're never going to actually get anything done but when you get a hold of the real god not only will he do great things he'll do great things all the way to salvation i was sitting with some base setters this week and we started talking about how did you come to bayside and one person said my son he started going off the rails he started going off the rails i was desperate and someone said you know what you ought to take him to bayside and he said we've been at bayside now for 20 years he's got a christian wife and two christian kids god transformed his life and someone else said our marriage was in trouble and someone said you ought to try out bayside and they went to bayside it totally completely healed our marriage and all of a sudden one couple after another just started telling the stories of what god has done and i'm telling you in the moment that we rehearsed how good god is how faithful he was how he redirected teens and put marriages back together and saved people's souls for that moment that we were recounting that there was no covet or chaos in our world only the goodness of our god i'm telling you what my friend we'll have no problem remembering the bad news in our world right now the mature disciplined mind needs to spend some time remembering what god has done i was coming into service a year ago and i was a little late and this lady stopped me she said pastor kirk can i tell you a story and i'm it's a little late and i was like well maybe corbin's got an extra stanza so i looked at her and i said sure sure what's the story and she said i just want to say thank you she said i'm signing up to serve at the christmas volunteer at the i raise my hand table because five years ago today this christmas i raised my hand and went to that table i believe that the god who hears us i believe that the god who is immutable and everywhere and benevolent has the plan to get someone else to raise their hand this christmas i believe to remember what god has done and to put my mind on what he will do amen here's the application remember god and be public in your praise be public in your proclamation he says i will shout out it says i will shout out you know a lot of times we like to think oh worship is just between me and god it's just it's just in between me and god there's some truth to that but there's a time and i believe this is that time where we've got to say our god hears our god is good and i will proclaim it publicly i'm going to bring someone to a christmas service i'm going to tell someone about the goodness of god i'm going to pray over someone's distress i'm going to see the goodness of my god proclaimed in my world which brings us to our final thought and it says verse 10 i don't even know how to make this go with this beautiful theology except for one idea and the lord commanded the fish and it vomited jonah onto tri-land the final thought simply is this getting right with god isn't as clean and cool as we would like it to be sometimes getting right with god is messy i know our world is messy right now but i think out of that messiness there's someone listening to this that needs to get right with god i'm going to give you an invitation right now i'm going to pray a simple prayer whether you're in this room or watching online if you're not fully committed to god i believe you can have a pivot moment and in that pivot moment you can discover how much god hears you loves you and what he wants to do in your life by completely surrendering your life to jesus christ would you pray with me right now [Music] if you want to completely surrender your life just simply say this god i need you god come into my life god thank you for sending jesus thank you that he died in my place and paid the price for my sin i accept his gift of forgiveness and i surrender my life to him in jesus name amen

Channel: Bayside Church

Views: 5,119

Rating: 4.939394 out of 5

Keywords: Bayside Church, Bible, Hope, Compassion, Love, God, Curt Harlow, Jonah

Id: erxL-Uhynqs

Length: 31min 0sec (1860 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 14 2020