Jonah – Red-Neck Missionary

[Music]the Adventist Medical evangelism Networkmotivates trains and equips healthc CareProfessionals to share Christ with theirpatience many are desperately lookingfor that Healing Touch of faith and wecan help them find it Jesus said I mustwork the works of him who sent me whileit is day the night is coming when noone can work what can you do in yourpractice for the Lord today Welcome toour 17th annual amen conference while itis day[Music]a[Music]a[Music]n[Music]it's a privilege to be standing beforeyou on this uh beautiful Sabbath daydown here in um sunny SouthernCalifornia um as someone who migrateddown on Wednesday night from Michigan Iwas truly grateful to arrive at theairport and to take off all my coldweather gear and my wife and I arethinking maybe we should apply forpolitical Asylum down here uh in lightof the upcoming uh winter months up inBaran Springs but it's a privilege tocome and share with you here this uhthis beautiful Sabbath day uh I bringgreetings for my wife who um normallyshe's on the other side of the world buttoday she's sitting back over there sogreetings from my family uh my wife aretwo children and uh today I'm going tobe sharing with you about one of themost famous missionaries in the Bibleand the lessons we learn about howserving in missions actually transformsus uh so invite you to Bow your headswith me and we'll invite the presence ofthe HolySpirit dear father as uh we break hopeand the bread oflife I ask that you speak through me andforme I ask that you still the voices ofthisworld and that your spirit be the onlyvoice that each of us heartoday so father use me and work in apowerful way in each of our hearts andour lives and our Ministries in Jesusname I pray amen I really resonated withThursday night the the presentationsabout how your your clinic yourConsulting room can be a place where thegospel is shared my first recollectionof sharing the gospel was when I was 10years old my mother took me to have mytonsils and adenoids out uh becausePrince Charles had his out so it becamethe normal thing to for little boys todo in England and um the nurse waschecking Us in and she said well youknow what does he eat and my mom saidpretty much everything uh she said novegetarian yeah he's vegetarian and uhthen she said what your religion and mymother said sth the Adventist and thensays no no I haven't heard of those andso my my mom said well um there's thatbig hospital in California calledLolinda n says no no I've never heard ofthem and my mom said well um there wasthat missionary family who died ofmalaria over in sier Leone just lastyear they were Adventists no no Ihaven't heard of those and being 10 Iwanted to help my mother out so I saidwell you know that lady in Australia whowas convicted of killing her baby andshe claimed a dingo took it well she wasan Adventist as well my mother looked atme and even at the age of of 10 Irealized it was it was not pure andunadulterated love in her eyes at thatmoment she was of course innocent atragic miscarriage ofjustice so I want to talk to you todayshare with you about um one of the mostone of the first stories we learn incradle role and that's the story ofJonah now I'm not going to put any Bibletexts on the screen St because we'regoing to work our way through thisincredible story but we're going tostart out in 2 Kings chapter 14 becausethis is the first time that we meetJonah with don't meet Jonah for thefirst time in the Book of Jonah we meethim in 2 Kings chapter 14 and if youhave your Bibles turn there and we'regoing to pick it up in verse 23 2 Kings14 verse 23 and it says there in the15th year of King amziah son of joash ofJudah King jeroboam son of joash ofIsrael began to reign in Samaria hereigned 41 years he did what was evil inthe sight of the Lord he did not departfrom all the sins of jeroboam son ofnebat which he caused Israel to sin herestored the border of Israel from LeboHTH that's leban in the north as far asthe sea of the araba that is the DeadSea in the South according to the wordof the Lord the god of Israel which hespoke by his servant who Jonah son ofamiti the Prophet who was from gath heerfor the Lord saw that the distress ofIsrael was very bitter and there was noone left Bond or free and no one to helpIsrael during jeroboam's Reign umAssyria to the north was relatively weakEgypt to the South was relatively weakand so jeroboam was a successfulmilitary King and he expanded Israel'sterritory and the resident prophet inIsrael wasJonah Jonah maybe wasn't the mosteffective of prophets because God had tocall Amos from the kingdom of Judah tocome up to uh Israel and to um call themto account for the fact that the richwere exploiting the poor and when Godcalled Amos from Judah up into IsraelGod had a task for Jonah and God wantedJonah to go somewhere else and so if youturn in your Bibles we're going to cometo Jonah chapter 1 and here we findJonah once again Jonah chapter 1 andverse one and we're going to stay mostlyin Jonah through this uh uh sermon heretoday it says now the word of the Lordcame to Jonah son of amiti saying get upat once to Nineveh that great City andcry out against it for their wickednesshas come up before me and you canimagine Jonah saying uhNineveh uh are you sure about that thatLord do you know who the ninevites areare you sure you want to bring themMercy who exactly were the people ofNineveh well that was the capital of theAssyrian Empire you can go to Ninevehtoday it's the city of mosul in NorthernIraq and in 2014 when I was out thereand Isis was sweeping across NorthernIraq Isis captured mosul and theydestroyed the tomb of Jonah which wasthere until the the year 2014 now Jonahhad a very successful Ministry becausemost Christians in Iraq are in the northaround the PL of Nineveh as they'recalled and they are the ethnic AssyriansJonah's spiritual descendants are stillalive today one of the largest Christiangroups in Northern Iraq in fact invirtually all of Iraq now Nineveh wasknown for its cruelty uh the people ofuh Assyria they had three major phasesof their empire they had the earlyAssyrian period that was the 23rd to the15th centuries BC the middle Assyrianswere the 15th to the 10th centuries andthen you have the Neo Assyrian which isthe 10th to the 7th centuries BC andthis is when Jonah is alive and thenames of the Syrian King Assyrian Kingsat their names peoples and Nationstrembled uh um tiglath Pisa I thirdsagon II sakb esah Hardon asab banipalthey LED campaigns of conquest andwherever they went they employed crueltyto its maximum effect when they wantedto conquer a city they often wouldn'tbother with Siege Warfare they wouldjust take some of the prisoners andimpale them outside the city Gates andsay either you surrender now or we'll dothis to all of you when we get in theyalso built um pits filled with oil andthey had their prisoners run around themthe oil would be on fire and they'd pushthe prisoners in a practice lat topicked up outside the gates of aitz atJones was sent by the general conferenceon a World trip to cool his heels at onepoint and while he was on this uh Worldtrip he wrote a series of books on thehistory of the Bible and the empires ofthe Bible he wrote a book calledecclesiastical Empire which talks aboutthe history of the Catholic Church hespoke about uh the uh four the fourkingdoms of Daniel 2 and he wrote a bookcalled empires of the Bible if you neverread it i' recommend it and he goes intogreat detail on what the Assyrian kingswere boasting about doing to theirvictims around the world and what theywould doing would rank um as some of theworst war crimes in humanhistory in fact nahem is an oracleagainstAssyria nahem chapter 3 in verse onesays this our city of bloodshed utterlydeceitful full of booty no end to theplunder it goes on to bring God'sjudgment upon the people of Assyria andat the very end of that book of nahm uhnaham says this there there is noassuaging your hurt to the people ofNineveh your wound is Mortal all whohear the news about you that is of yourdestruction clap their hands over youand this is the crucial question for whohas ever escaped your endlesscruelty endless cruelty and it is tothese people that Jonah is sent by Godnow the text says In Jonah chapter 1 getup at once to n that great City and cryout against it for their wickedness hascome up before me now this raises to ourminds two images from the Old Testamentthe first is Genesis 6 where the evil ofmankind has come up before God the otherpassage where this is expressed isGenesis 18 where God comes down toexamine for himself Sodom and Gomorrahbecause their wickedness has come upbefore me if we interpret this passagefor their wickedness has come up beforeme in the light of Genesis 6 and Genesis18 it implies that God's period ofprobation is about to close for thepeople of Nineveh and Jonah is going tobe God's messenger ofjudgment like hey guys brace yourselvesjudgment is at thedoor but you may also translate thisphrase for their wickedness has come upbefore me as their Calamity has come upbefore me we know from the Assyrianrecords that Assyria had many nationalsetbacks dur in this period And if wetranslate this that their that theirsetbacks have come up me come up beforeme or their Calamity has come up beforeme it may be that God is more concernedabout her problems than her sins inwhich case the message to go to Ninevehis not so much I'm going to announceGod's judgment upon you which everyself-respecting isra Israelite prophecywould love to do but I'm about to go andoffer God's mercy to you and noself-respecting Jewish Prophet wants togo to Nineveh and make that kind ofannouncement and so Jonah gets up andflees it says in verse three so Jonahset out to flee to tares from thepresence of the Lord he went down to Jerand found a ship going to tares he paidhis fair and went on board to go withthem to tares away from the presence ofthe sea it's interesting this just thinkof the geography if Jonah is sittinghere near near in gath hea near zebulunnear Galilee God asks Jonah to go northand Jonah goes south God ask Jonah to goeast and Jonah Goes West okay let's justunderstand what what Jonah does hedoesn't just go to tares God says gonorth and Jonah goes south God says goeast and Jonah Goes West he is trulyrunning away from God and he gets into aship going to tarish which we believe isin southern Spain a source of silveriron tin and lead but in this story andfor us today I believe that Nineveh hasa greater significance than just ancientNineveh Nineveh represents that worldoutside of spiritual Israel all of thosewho we may consider our outside ofCovenant walk withGod so where's yourNineveh who do you consider beyond thereach of God's love andmercy it may be a person maybe a workcolleague maybe a patient maybe yourmother-in-law quite possiblyso who do you consider to beyond thereach of God who Who Do You Love To Hateand who would you hate tolove you may have that person in yourlife you may have come here to thisbeautiful campus and we all look verybeautiful sitting here on the Sabbathmorning but the chances are thatsomebody in this Hall today has comefrom a place of conflict and a place ofstrife and God is asking you to get upfrom this place when we leave and to goback and be a Minister of Mercy to theone who was causing you pain tares isnot just the other side of themediterran iion it represents about asfar away from God as I canget and when we run from God we havethat little Mi space in our lives youmay have a I don't know a man cave youmay have a habit you may have a thoughtyou may have a series of events that youlike to play in your mind to justifyyour less than Christian Behavior toyourneighbor what is yourtarish we say God you can have controlof all of my life but this little bithere allow me to nurture this bitternesstowards somebody else I'm in the rightto be bitter to this person I can hatethis person I'm justified in feelingthis way about this person it may be anonline habit with immorality it may be aprejudice against an ethnic group oranother minority group in oursociety we love to run to ourtarish but God doesn't let us run therebecause when we try and run there wefind that he's alreadythere where's yourNeva where's yourtares listen to the spirit speak to youthismorning don't just come for thefellowship but come so that you mayreturn as an agent of God's mercy toyour home to your practice and to yourcommunity and so Jonah gets in the boatJonah 1:4 it says the Lord hurled agreat wind upon the sea and such amighty storm came upon the sea that theship strengthened to break up then theMariners or the sailors were afraid andeach cried to his God they threw thecargo that was in the in the ship intothe sea and began to lighten it for themnow these are pagan Sailors and what younotice about these Pagan Sailors isbefore before they start to throw thestuff overboard they startpraying yes they're pagans but beforethey take physical action they turn toGod in stark contrast to Jonah later inthe story but the first thing they do iswhen they see trouble coming they turnto God to their gods not to Jehovah Godwe come to that later they turn to theirgods and they pray and there's anothermisconception we see this in missionsall the time we may think that we areGod's covenant people and that is whatwe arebut there are people around the worldtoday and when you speak to them we maydisagree with the theology but when theytell you their story it's hard to avoidthe conviction that the holy spirit isworking on their lives I've listened tomany Muslims who have told me theirstory about how they've come to a faithin Jesus Christ as I listen to theirstory I may disagree with the theologyabsolutely but I cannot avoid theconviction that God is at work in theirLiv lives just as much as in mine weneed to open our eyes and realize thatactually those who are ostensibly farfrom God are actually very open tospiritual truth and to the presence ofGodhimself and so those Pagan Sailors startpraying to their gods and nothinghappens and so the captain comes downinto the hold verse six and says whatare you doing sound asleep get up callon your God perhaps the God will spareus a thought so that we do not perishand so Jonah he gets up but there isagain no indication that Jonah prays thepagans are praying the captain ispraying the sailors are praying butJonah has yet topray and he gets up and what does he sayto them he says in verse 9 I am Hebrewis that true yes or no absolutely it'strue then the next thing he says is Iworship the Lord the god of Heaven whomade the Sea and the dry land it's incapital letters l d which means this isYahweh or Jehovah so I worship Yahwehwhich we believe is the pre-incarnateJesus in Old Testament times I worshipJesusnow is thattrue is that truemaybe I want to challenge you today andsay that did Jonah did Jonah know God'swill forhim yes was Jonah following God's willfor him no how can we ask for God'sblessings and Ministry while we'reliving in willful Disobedience to God'srevealed will it is precisely becauseJonah is ignoring God's revealed willthat he's running into the storms oflife now there are other reasons why wehave storms in life I understand thatbut there are times when we are workingin direct opposition to God's revealedwill and then we wonder why the stormsof life hit us when we place ourselvesoutside of God's protection when Godclear there is a clear thus sayith theLord and we say but thus sayith ConradI'm going to find my own sweet way thestorms of life come our way Jonah was ina desperate situation precisely becausehe knew God's Will and he wasdeliberately ignoring God's Will and soin verse 11 Jonah gives a solution tothe sailors what shall we do they saidto him he said in verse 12 pick me upand throw me into the sea then the seawill quieten down for you for I know itis because of me that this great stormhas come upon you nevertheless thesePagan Sailors rode hard to bring theship back to land but they could not forthe sea grew more and more stormyagainst them commands the sailors tothrow him overboard but the PaganSailors seek to save hislife and as we go through the story atno time does Jonah show any concernabout the well-being of thepagans in fact he's Furious in chapterfour that the pagans the people of Ninerhave turned to God there is no joy inthis missionary's mind that theseirredeemable Wicked Pagan Sailors haveturned are actually trying to save hislife even though he's of another faithJonah seems to forget that God Delightsto forgive maybe he believes that Godwanted his life to pay for his sin ofturning his back on God it's notsurprising that as Jonah doesn't seem tobelieve that God can forgive him that hewas unwilling to be God's Minister ofMercy to the people ofNineveh those who don't believe God canor will really forgive them are oftenunable to extend forgiveness toothers so when was the last time youexperienced God's graceI have a colleague in the office he saidwhen we are baptized in the name of theFather the Son and the HolySpirit that the the the name of God ishis character would youagree and God's character is love so tobe baptized in God's character of lovemeans that God's love permeates everyaspect of your being you experienceGod's love in your health you experienceGod's love in your relationships youexperience God's work in inner healingyou experience God's work in a sense ofuh uh uh alignment with his will in yourlife and in the relationships that areclosest to you but if you've neverexperienced God's grace for yourself howcan you be minister of God's grace tothose around you so I want to challengeyou today is as you go away from thisplace today or tomorrow to ask yourselfwhen was the last time you experiencedGod'sgrace what did that feel like and askGod to give someone in your life to whomyou can be a Channel of God's grace inturn so they can experience the sameblessings in their lifethe Pagan Sailors they Rod Jonah they'retrying to get back to land but to noavail Jonah is thrown overboard nowthese Pagan Sailors that's not the lastwe hear of them because it says in verse14 then they cried out to who what doesyour Bible say they cried out to who theLord and Jehovah they're no longerpregant to their pagan gods they've metthis this hard harded redneckmissionary I can say that as anEnglishmanbecause the origin of the phrase redneckis from the Bor war of 1902 when theEnglish arrived in South Africa to fightthe bus they were these red uniforms andtheir backs of their necks were allwhite and their back the backs of thenecks went red and they were called Ruckby the bus rednecks uh last two weeksago was preaching in a camp meeting inSouth Africa learning some essentialSouth African phrases such as baras laawhich means barbecue was best and otherimportant Ministry phrases um I alsolearn is en r Pastor I'm a r redneckPastor amazing what you learn in themissionfield but these Pagan Sailors in verse14 then they cried out to who the Lordthen they say please oh Lord we pray donot let us perish on account of thisman's life do not make us guilty ofinnocent blood for you oh Lord this isthe third time they mention Yahweh havedone as it pleased you so they pickedJonah up and threw him into the sea andthe Sea ceased from its raging then themen feared the Lord Yahweh even more andthey offered a sacrifice to the LordYahweh and made vows five times in thesethree verses we have Yahweh mentioned itis clear that God works throughimperfectinstruments that despite this hardnecked missionary who had no concern forthe Pagan Sailors who really couldn'tcare less whether they live or die who'snot concerned about their salvation he'sdoing everything wrong mythologicallyyet despite that God brings these PaganSailors toconversion we don't need a degree inSystematic Theology to share our faithwe just need a willingness Lord Iconsecrate this day to you use me as yousee fit if you pray each morning Fatherbring me somebody into my life who willask me a question about you God willbring that person into your life and youmay not have uh all the doctrines naileddown in yourmind but a very simple thing to saythese days is well you're right life iscomplex I don't have all the answers butI found this little pamphlet to beuseful I want to encourage you to be beas of the printed printed materialwhether it be glow tracks whether it besteps to Christ whether it be Ministryof healing carry that literature withyou and be a blessing to somebody withit because it gives them something to bethinking about even if I don't have allthe answers God will speak to themthrough the spirit of Prophecy or whatother lit whatever other literature youhand out to them we see in this storyhere that these Heathen pagans areactually more ethical than God's Ownmissionary these Outsiders are actuallymore open to God than Jonah himself oneof God's nominalpeople in AFM we run a project calledThe Dream project maybe some of you haveheard about it and since about the year2000 Jesus has been appearing to MuslimsAll Around the World in dreams andVisions inviting them to followhim and if you take a look at thatwebsite dreams of Esa read it maybe thisafternoon look read the dreams that havebeen posted from about 120 130 countriesamonth and what you find is the Adventmessage is going out to the Muslim Worlddirectly from jesus' own lips repeatedlyMuslims are posting I had a dream of aman in white said there are three angelswith three messages what does thismean and the number one thing that theMuslims are saying and they post thesedreams on our website is Jesus says he'scoming soon and they need to be readyforhim and so we may wonder how does thegospel go to the Muslim world and Iwould say to you today the gospel isalready going to the Muslim world andthere' be more conversion since the year2000 from Islam to the body of Christthan from the 14 uh 600 14400 yearsbefore that from Muhammad to the year2000 but Jesus is at work and so when weshare the gospel with our Muslim friendsour Muslim neighbors we can be we canknow that Jesus is already at work inthat Community it's an amazing thingcheck it out dreams of Isa Jesus is atwork I know Jesus is coming againbecause many Muslims have had dreams ofJesus and he says I'm comingagain just a couple of weeks ago ago Ireceived a phone call from a lady who isnow in kind of like a witness protectionprogram she is the sister of perhaps themost famous the most famous Muslimleader in the world who is a dictator inhis owncountry and she was uh dying ofcancer and she'd heard that Jesus healsso she knelt down one night and she saidJesus if you're alive I want you to healme she says Jesus appeared to me I saidwhat does Jesus look like she said hisnot his body is a mixture of fire anddiamonds that's the best way I candescribe it it was overwhelming and hesaid I'm going to heal you and I'll askyou to follow me she was healed she toldher dictator relative and she fled forher life and for the last 15 years hasbeen traing around the world escapingassassins now she's an Adventist and shesaid I'm ready to get back in the frywhat can I do to reach Muslim women whoare having dreams of Jesus God is doingsomething amazing in these last days andhe's inviting each one of us here to bepart of what God is alreadydoing Al so then we come back to Jonahit says there in chapter 1:1 17 but theLord provided a large fish to swallow upJonah and Jonah was in the belly of thefish three days and three nights thenchapter 2 verse one Jonah prayed to theLord his God have you notice thesequence there Jonah goes into the bellyof the fish now uh my parents um we flewto America when I was 10 to see my dadgraduate from Andrews and on the wayover the Atlantic I watched Jaws on that747 and I was old enough to know was Ilooked at the map I looked at the moviethat if that plane came down I was goingto have a close and personal encounterwith jaws and for years later even goingto the restroom was a traumaticexperience for me you know these moviesdo impact young children but Jonah whenhe sees that mouth coming up to himdoesn't Pray when the fish swallows himhe doesn't pray and he goes into thestomach of the fish for the first dayand you wonder what he's thinking downthere don't you as the text says isafter three days and three nights thatJonah thinks maybe I shouldpray what does it take to to get thisman of God to turn to God In Prayer likeday one no prayer I'll go to sleep nomorning devotions no night devotions hewakes up what should I do today wellit's kind of interesting down herewonder what's going to happen in thefish's stomach day two night two nothinghappens day three night three he wakesup maybe I should turn to God InPrayer you see in chapter one God spoketo Jonah he sent a great wind he causeda storm he sends a swish to follow afish to swallow him he hears and answersthe prayers from Pagan Sailors he causesa fish to vomit Jo to swallow Jonah butat no stage in chapter one does Jonahever think I need to pray about missionsabout my role in missions and as aresult he's in the stomach of thatfish and so far if you look at thischapter one and chapter 2 Jonah'smovements has been a series of downwardmotions chapter 1 verse3 he went down toJer he gets to Jer and he goes inchapter 1 verse4 he he goes down intothe hold of the ship and the ship goesup and the ship goes down in the seathen he says in verse 12 pick me up andthrow me into or down into the sea andhe goes down into the sea where a fishswallows him and in chapter two it saysout to the belly of shol like cried sohe's descending into might say what theyviewed as Hades you cast me chapter 2and verse three into the deep so hegoing down down down into the heart ofthe Seas and the flood surrounded me andall your waves and Billows passed overme so he's going down down down down thewaters closed verse 5 over me the Deepsurrounded me weeds were wrapped aroundmy head at the roots of the mountains Iwent down to the land he's going to dieas long as Jonah is living in willfulDisobedience to God's will his life is aseries of downwardmotions andfinally verse six he turns to God inprayer and when he turns to God InPrayer verse six says yet you brought mylife up from the pit and the turningpoint in Jonah's Ministry is when hestarts to praywe can have all the plans in the worldwe can have buildings and budgets andpolicies and people but unless thespirit is leading the spirit is guidingnothing is going to gowell bathe your ministry in prayer donot go through all kinds of traumaticexperiences and then say maybe we shouldpray about it now start with prayer leadwith prayer bathe it in prayer surroundit with prayer ask God to lead whateverdecisions you make give God theSovereign rights to say Lord whateverwe've decided today it's in your handsif you want this to happen May you blessit if you have some other plans for usthen take us in another Direction butbathe your ministry in prayer do not belike Jonah uh living a life a Ministrywithout any obvious prayer and runninginto trouble all of thetime so in chapter 2 verse 10 I seethere's a clock in front of me I've got15 minutes left so I need to move reallyquickly through this stuff here the Lordspoke to the fish and it spewed Jonahout upon the dry land chapter 3 verseone the word of the Lord came to Jonah asecond time saying get up go to nin thatgreat City and Proclaim to it themessage that I tellyou does disobedient Jonah deserve to besaved byGod do you think he's earned the rightto besaved he's been running away from God hehas no concern for thelost I think Jonah is been saved out ofGod's mercy not out of God'sjustice and so the stage is set for hisone of the greatest Evangelistic seriesof all time but Jonah now knows that hisministry is only Alive by the grace ofGod not by the virtue of humanplanning this ministry is driven by Godand I can only engage in Ministry to theextent that God opens doors forme and so we come to chapter three I'mnot going to say much about this exceptit's one of the greatest Evangelisticseries ever preached would youagree what I would say about about thisis Jonah is an Israelite Prophet who'sbeen the adviser to King Jobo whopromised to make Israel great again andyes hedid he's a political Prophet is ourJonah he advised jeroboam that WickedKing but there's something about hisministry and I would say this Jonah'sMinistry hascredibility they hear the voice of Godwhen Jonahspeaks some of our missionaries n havethey work on the other side of the worldand I won't mention the country becausethey still work there but many years agothere was a revolution of sorts and forabout 5 years the ruling party um triedto kill anybody with an educationincluding the doctors and nurses of thatcountry there at southeast Asia over amillion people died in the trauma ofthat Southeast Asian country and afterthat trauma the medical system hasremained broken to this day doctors orstudents bribe to pass their exams theybribe to get good positions they willnot treat patients except for cash inhand they rarely attend their postsexcept to drink or play volleyball ornational sport the locals are scared ofthe doctors because doctors have beenseen to slap patients for crying outwhen they're in pain and chastised forasking questions and the doc doctorsdon't tell you your proper diagnosis whybecause they want to milk you of allyour assets before you die and as aresult of this people in that Nationincreasingly are turning to witchdoctors and uh some of our missionariesthey tell us they say well you seepeople walking around with the foot setthe wrong way round and the arm is setout at an angle they have broken bonesand the witch doctors try and set thesebones and the result is an absolutedisaster for those for those people whatof our what our missionaries have foundand some of them are nurses is that whenyou listen respectfully to a patient whois a Muslim in that country and you praywiththem you're actually a revelation of Godto thatpatient for most local Muslims in thatcountry the first Christian they evermeet is a medical missionary a doctor ora nurse and because of their MinistryChurch has been planted in that thatunreached PE Muslim peoplegroup those are locals they give namesto the foreigners that live in theirmidst and one of our missionaries is ayoung man he's been there for many yearshe said to a local man he said okay soyou give all of us missionaries nameswhat's my name he said well we call youIssa that means Jesus in Arabic we callyou Issa we see Issa in youand because those missionaries theyserve in love and they serve withrespect and they serve among theunreached and they are perhaps the firstwho show a personal care to those sickand broken people the gospel is goingforward among that unreached peoplegroup there is plenty we can do for thegospel and I would say this that thosemissionaries their proclamation of theGospel has credibility because of theway they Minister and live among thosecommunities does your ministry havecredibility do you have that samecredibility when you share the gospelyou know you may get to church all in alather cuz the kids are late then youput your best faceon and some kids kind of dread theSabbath morningrush because they know the dad's kind ofangry got to get to church got to get tochurch and as soon as you walk inthrough the church doors everything isrighteous Reignagain do you have credibility in yourpersonallife do your children see Jesus inyou if these Muslims can see Jesus inthese missionaries I want to challengeyou to today to ask that those closestand nearest and dearest to you will seeJesus in your character because if thoseclosest to you do not see Jesus in yourcharacter neither will your workcolleagues or those you ministerto ask that Jesus be revealed in yourcharacter on a day-to-daybasis so we come to chapter four we'removing fast through this chapter chapter3 in verse 10 it says when God saw whatthey did that is their repentance howthey turned from their evil ways Godchanged his mind about the calamity thathe had said he would bring upon them andhe did not do it so the Assyrians turnedfrom their evil ways quite literally andthen literally it says God repented ofthe evil that he was about to bring uponthem so God's message to the people ofnevit live through Jonah was not anabsolute promise of divine destructionbut it was a heartfelt appeal for themto repent so that God's mercy andcompassion could be shown to them butchapter 4 verse1 as's a play on wordsliterally says but this was evil untoJonah a great evil so the people ofNineveh repent of their evil God in turnrepents of the evil that he is about tobring upon them and the next verse saysbut this was evil unto Jonah a greatevil like Jonah is upset that his Targetpeople aren't going to be fried alivewith with a brimstone from Heaven what amissionary yes I'd love Jonah to be amissionary in my community wouldn'tyou yes please please be saved but ifnot I'll be delighted to see you friedaliveDivine Mercy had spared Jonah's own lifein the storm and in the fish yet he wasangry and jealous when God extendedMercy to the hatedAssyrians and so in ver chapter 4 andverse two Jonah says this toGod oh Lord is not this what I saidwhile I was still in my own country thatthis is why I fled to tarus at thebeginning for I know that you are agracious God and merciful slow to angerand abounding in steadfast love andready to relent from punishing and nowoh Lord please take my life for me forit is better for me to die than tolive Jonah reveals why he fled from Godin chapter one all along he'd beenafraid that God would not destroyNineveh he'd been afraid that God wouldactually be a god of Mercy to theunreached he'd been afraid that God is aGod who Delights to forgive those whodwell in darkness and because of this hedoesn't want to be a part of theirsalvation you see Jonah belongs toethnic Israel he's God's Prophet toGod's covenant people his treasurepossession the God's people are supposedto be a holy nation in a covenantrelationship with God and all the othernations including the Assyrians are the the hated Gentiles as far as Jonahis concerned they're outside theCovenant the enemies and occasionaloppressors of God's people and bydefinition they're the living lost whygo to theninevites from Israel's perspective fromevery self-respecting Jewishmissionaries perspective the only thingsuch Nations as Assyria were fit for wasGod's destruction yes it would have beena pleasure for Jonah to call for God'sdestruction upon Assyria but Unthinkablefor him to pronounce God's Final Call ofMercy to a dying City and a dying nationand so he'd fled totares personally as an ethnic Israeliteand professionally as a prophet ofIsrael Jonah cannot face the terribleimplication that God had used him todeliver the hated Assyrians from Divinejudgment what would he say on his returnto Israel what could he say some wouldsay that Jonah was a false prophet hispredictions had not come true othersmight say that Jonah was a traitor he'dhelped the people of Assyria to escapejudge God's judgment whatever they saidwhether you're a traitor or whether youare a false prophet Jonah's reputationwas toast when he got back to Israel andhe'd rather die then lose his reputationin the course of doing God'sMinistry he's concerned about hisreputation God does not argue with Jonahhe asked him the first of threequestions is it right for you to beangry the implied answer is no in mercyGod has saved Jonah from drowning inmercy God has saved Jonah from the fishin in mercy God had given Jonah a secondchance of fulfilling the gospelcommission God has worked multipledeliverances in Jonah's life so whatright does Jonah or we have to be angrywhen God shows Mercy to those who welove to hate so before we move on to thesecond question we are called to ponderdo we know God as The God Who has givenus multiple Chan to beginover has God given you multiple chancesevery time you bow the knee and you askGod to forgive you and cleanse me of myunrighteousness you asking for a newchance if so if God has been gracious toyou and has given you a new new chanceeven this morning I want to challengeyou today to be just as merciful tothose in your life be generous in spiritmagnanimous inVictory and gracious to those who' hurtyou because if we want God to forgive uswe need to be forgiving to those aroundus the second question says comes wecome to this in verse six is the LordGod appointed a bush and made it come upover Jonah to give shade over his headto save him from his discomfort andJonah was happy about the bush well thefirst time he's happy in the story iswhen he has material Comfort when Dawncame up the next day God appointed aworm that attacked the bush so that itwithered then the sun arose and Godprepared a sultry yeast wind known asthe srao in the Middle East and the SunBeat Down on the head of Jonah so thathe was faint and asked that he mightmight die and he said it is better forme to die than tolive what's Jonah's problemnow well in the first uh dialogue withGod Jonah is concerned about hisreputation in this second of the threequestions Jonah is concerned about thatwhich brings him physicalComfort he's happy to be a part of God'speople he's happy to be a medicalmissionary he's happy to go on a missiontrip but he becomes angry if serving Godinvolves either loss reputation orcompromising his material Comfort hewants to serve God and protect hisreputation he wants to serve God andpreserve his material Comforts he'sunwilling indeed he is angry if he'sasked to make any sacrifices for God onbehalf of the lost at no time has Jonahexpressed any concern for the Lostthere's no record of Joy at theconversion of the Pagan Sailors and he'sdeeply angry angry at the conversion ofthe ninevites his deepest emotions arereserved twice he wants to die when hesenses a loss of reputation or physicalcomfort in the ministry of the Gospel onboth occasions he tells God that hewants out better to die than suffer anyloss for the sake of Jesus and so beforewe come to the third question I want toask youtoday what is your shadingVine what gives you comfort what givesyoushelter what makes you very happytoday and yet has no Eternalvalue are we upset when these materialComforts of no Eternal value are takenfrom us would We complain to God ifbeing involved in Ministry meant losingthose Comforts and if we were tocomplain to God how would God respond tous we live today maybe the top 1% of theglobal population that is thetruth we have been blessed by God in somanyways and the psalmist says oh may theLord bless us may the Lord keep us maythe Lord make his face shine upon us andthe next phrase bird says in that Psalmthat your saving ways might be known tothe ends of the Earth God blesses us notthat we hold those blessings but that wecan pass those blessings to other peoplethat is why we ask for God's blessingsand the more that I pass God's blessingsonto my community to a local HealthMinistry evangelism whatever the casemay be the more God sees I can trustthis person with blessings so they canpass the blessings on around the worldif God has blessed you pass on thoseblessings do not say I will only serveGod if there is no material Comfort uhno no no compromise on materialComfort it's harder for God to workthrough us if we have that kind ofattitude and the thirdquestion God says to Jonah in versechapter 4 and verse 10 then the Lordsaid you're concerned about the bush forwhich you did not labor and you did notgrow it it came into being in a nightand perished in a night and should I notbe concerned about Nineveh that greatCity in which there are more than120,000 people who do not know theirright hand from their left and also manyanimals it's a great question from Godisn't it and um you know there's there'sthere's a passage that comes to my mindturn in your Bibles toEcclesiastes and there's a there's averse we rarely talk about there uh whenI was uh 17 I went out to Israel Ifinished high school I wanted to see theworld I had about 200 pounds to my nameand I didn't that's not a lot of moneyand so I decided to go to Israel to workon a kibuts for a year and the day Iarrived Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwaitand my parents called me on the phoneand they said do you think you shouldcome home and I said well why would Icome home Saddam Hussein is just invadedKuwait Desert Shield is startingthere'll be Desert Storm coming down thepike and being full of the invincibilityof Youth I said why would I go home I'mperfectly safe in Israel just let me beout here so we spent nights you knowwhen the scuds came over the air raidsirens went off we'd go into thebasement and we'd sit there they gave usgas masks because we didn't know whetherit was nuclear chemical biological orhigh explosive from those scud missilesit was an interesting time to between inthe Middle East as a young man I cantell youthat and God is concerned about theAssyrians the wicked syriansEcclesiastes 4:1 says this I saw all theoppressions that are practiced Under theSun behold the tears of the oppressedwith no one to comfort them we'd allagree with that yes and look what Godthen says on the side of theiroppressors there was power with no oneto comfortthem you see I used to work on thatkabut I used to go and work in the OliveGardens and the the olive Groves and theavocado trees and with me would alwaysbe an old jewi Jewish guy from thekibuts carrying a Le Enfield rifle fromWorld War I and around me will be a lotof Arab boys from the West Bank and thatJewish guy's job was to protect meagainst all these Arabboys and both sides hated each otherboth sides are willing to kill and bothsides are trapped in an inescapablesituation where if I'm not killing youyou're going to be killing me thereforemy only option to stay alive is to stayoppressing youwhen people get trapped in that cycle ofviolence as were the people of Ninevehit is only the arrival of the Gospelthat can set people free from the cyclesof violence in our worldtoday and so God has a concern for theviolent Assyrians not because they'reany more worthy than any other people onEarth but God sees that if the Assyrianstake their foot off the neck of theNations around the other nations willput their feet on the neck of theAssyrians and so the Assyrians as theoppressors are not acting out of hatebut they're acting out of of fear forwhat might happen to them if thesituation wasreversed God has a concern not just forthe victims but God has a concern fortheoppressors so why do we have chapterfour at the End of This Book you know ifI were writing the Book of Jonah I wouldstart with the call in chapter one I'dhave the story of the whale in Chapter 2I'd have God struggle with this hard-necked missionary hard-heartedmissionary in chapter 3 and I'd finishwith the triumphant 120,000 baptismsthat's what I would do if I writing thisfor the FM Frontiers magazine allright in this story though God caninfluence the storm and the fish and thePagan Sailors but the hardest heart toreach is that of his ownmissionary which is why we end withchapter 4 with God still wrestling withthismissionary sometimesoften alwaysis God calls us into Ministry not justbecause of who we're going to reach forhis kingdom but because God wants toreachus God has a work to do in ourlives God wants to strip us of ourself-sufficiency or our ethnic Prejudiceor a sense that you know we've got moneywe can do what we want or whatever thecase maybe God calls us into Ministry so that werealize that we are saved by grace andso is everybody else that I have nothingto commend my myself to God with acceptmy plea for hissalvation God may be calling you intoministry here today at this amenconference precisely because he wants toconvert you he wants you to experiencethe heart conversion that being involvedin Ministry brings the dependence uponGod the realization that conversion isnot a matter of the Brilliance of yourlessons or the wonders of your preachingbut it's the work of the Holy Spirit andyou are only a partners with God inmission mission is not my story but it'sGod's story if the mission is the storyof God at work around us so I'd like toappeal to youtoday God has given this group here he'sblessed you in so manyways don't sit on thoseblessings but commit today that you willserve God in a new and renewed way whenyou leave this amenconference amen has just put up thisMission database clearing house whatevermedical profession you're in there's aplace for you on that to clear house youcan look for calls where you can do ashort-term or long-termassignment there's the amen Healthevangelism with the general conferencein St Louis in 20 2022 amen iscollaborating with the generalconference be involved put that intoyour calendars for next year at end ofMay early June2022 amen is partnering with Pathways toHealth in Indianapolis next year 17through 21 of April you can be there youcan take your staff with you your staffmay be converted in the process ofserving alongside you plan for theseevents there are many many things thatwe can do as medical professionals to bedirectly involved inMinistry if you want to be a long-termmissionary overseas you may go as adoctor or nurse with General Conferenceor with AFM we'd love to hear from youbut I would say this the Harvest iswhite the fields are whiten to harvestbut the laborers truly arefew just last night I was speaking Ihave some colleagues in Korea we'reopening an office in Korea to recruitSouth Koreans and to Ministry andyesterday we heard that North Korea isnow open for non- US citizens to go asmissionaries for the first time in manyyears we're now looking for non- UScitizens to be missionaries into NorthKorea God is opening doors before Jesuscomes again opportunities are arisingall around the world so I want tochallenge you today if not you with allthat God has blessed you with then whoand if not now as we see our worldfalling apart thenwhen if not you then who if not now thenwhen as sister Melissa shares with us AHymn of commitment A Hymn ofconsecration I invite you to prayerfullyreflect on how the holy spirit isspeaking to you how you can be involvedwhatever profession you may happen to bein how you may bring your staff intoMinistry how God wants to change you inthe process of being a missionary mayGod be glorified in your ministry andwhatever you may do in this part of theworld may God bless you and may God beglorified in your offices in yourmedical practices and in your personallives may God bless you amen[Music]so send areyoudeliver[Music]unrewarded to serveunpaid unloved unorknown to bereuk to suffer scor andSC so send Iyou to to for mealone so send Iyou to bind the bru and brokenwh wonderingsouls to work to weep to[Music]wa to Bear thebird of a world awey so send Iyou to suffer for my S[Music]so s areyou to leave your life's[Music]ambition to die toDe our willresign to laborlong love where men revileyou so send Iyou to lose your life inm so send Iyou to Bear my cross withp and then oneday we Joy to lay itdown to hear my voice well done myfaithfulservant Come Share MyThrone my kingom and my crown[Music]as the fatherheadsmesosent are you[Music]and so our eyes areclosed and our heads arebowedfather at this critical juncture inworld'shistory may the world see throughus that you on yourthrone that your character is lovethat you're not willing that any shouldperish but that all should receive thegift of eternallife father as we dep depart this houseof worshiptoday I pray that you will lead each oneof us into a new chapter ofministry written by yourspirit watched over by yourangels a Ministry where people see Jesusin each ofus may our walk with you be crediblemay we yield to you today our privateNiners andtarshes I pray Lord that people will seeyou in each ofus and now may the Lord bless you andkeepyou Lord make his face to shine upon youand give youGrace the Lord lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace this day andforever more till Jesus comes in theClouds of glory amen[Music][Music][Music]