Testing 1 2 3 we good. Okay It's good to be with all of you this morning here in the house of the Lord what's stirring music To think that every time we gather together It's a training session getting us ready for heaven Because what we do here we're going to continue to do there in an unending fashion and what a joy that will be to be in the Lord's presence and continually praise him and and unending praise, worshipping Him in perfect fellowship with Him and with the saints He has redeemed from all across time and all across the world. And so it's good for us to practice now. It's good for us to be in the habit of praising Him so that it's completely normal and natural when we go into His presence to continue worshipping Him. Now last week we had the privilege of beginning this session on the M&Ms of the Christian life and throughout this summer we're going to be looking at a different theme each week beginning with the letter M And we started with the idea that we all of us need to have the word of God transforming our own thinking about how we live, because more often than we are even aware, we absorb the thinking of those around us. We absorb the ethos of our age. We absorb common ways of thinking that really aren't rooted in the scriptures. And so it is good for us then to be challenged by the unchanging eternal Word of God that was written for all people for all times and all cultures and all situations. And the Word of God that does not change. And I think today we take assurance that the Word of God does not change. Because boy, we sure live in a culture that changes. And it's changing rapidly. And we need to decide if we're going to root ourselves to the Word of God or if we're just going to go along with the boat of the culture heading straight towards the Niagara Falls of judgment and we're going to go over with it. But I think that we agree that there's a better way and that is to stay focused on the Word of God and to let the Word of God change us because we all are in need of ongoing transformation. Well, by any number of measures, the country was at a low point spiritually. The emphasis on material gain and the amassing of wealth and ease had drowned out the emphasis on the holy and the spiritual. And while the nation's economy was booming, God's people had turned away from the truths they had been given and were immersed in the same behavior patterns as those outside the faith. They were caught up in a whirlwind of spiritual infidelity and compromise. And the need for repentance was great. And the threat of God's judgment was real. To make matters worse, there was a growing threat to the nation and their security that came from a powerful and fearful enemy. To even mention their name was to strike fear into the hearts of the people. These people had another religion. another culture, and a belief that they should make life uncomfortable for others, even making threats about conquering the country in which many of God's people lived. There was a real and growing danger, and it was to such a people that a servant of God was called to go and preach the Word of God. You know, that scenario could be ripped from today's headlines. Our own country is sinking quickly into a deep moral morass, and all that was once held as sacred and important is now mocked and under threat. The emphasis of our time on material gain and on security, both national and personal, overshadows biblical teaching on so many areas of life. And there's a need for the church to become the great servants of society. Moreover, our own culture, indeed our very existence, seems to be under threat by a large and powerful religion whose adherents think it is their duty to strive against us. And what would be your response if God told you that you were the one He had chosen to go and take the message of the gospel to such a people? Moreover, in that message, you were to announce that a holy God is going to bring judgment against all sin, and that if they did not repent of their ways, His wrath would be poured out. How would you respond? How would you view God? What would you do? Such was the dilemma of Jonah the prophet. And in our message today, we're going to look at what we can learn from this reluctant prophet of God and how God would have us respond in the face of threats, in the face of impending danger, or in the face of perceived danger. And what would God be asking of us? So in the time that we have this morning, I'm going to retell the story of Jonah and a brief on us to learn about his heart, the response that he expects from his people, and how this applies today. Because the Word of God is living and active and wants to transform us. We don't conform the Word to us, we are to conform to the Word of God. And so, let us begin in that adventure. Jonah is living in the northern kingdom of Israel during the time of King Jeroboam II. You can read about this in 2 Kings 14. This is about 750 years before the time of Christ. And as I said in the introduction, during this period Israel was rich and prosperous and militarily significant, but it was dark and rebellious spiritually. She was in need of national repentance. Now, we see in our text, Jonah 1, verse 1, that Jonah was the son of Amittai. His name literally means, he tells the truth. Now, I want you to imagine having a father whose name is, he tells the truth. Can you imagine the father-son relationships and conversations that go on in that family? He tells the truth, calls his son in and says, son, let's have a conversation. Can you imagine the challenge of having such a father? But as a prophet of God, perhaps Jonah, we know Jonah wants the people to turn back to the Lord, but perhaps he thought his ministry was going to be uniquely among his own people. After all, there were spiritual needs to take care of at home before you think about going abroad. But instead, the Lord calls him and commands him to go and preach to the people of Nineveh. Now, who are the people of Nineveh? Well, Nineveh itself was a city that was built by a warrior god named Nimrod, and we can read about him in Genesis chapter 10. And the people of the city worshipped a goddess named Ishtar, who was the goddess of fertility. Now, if you were around during our time during the book of Hosea, we talked a lot about the spiritual and physical compromise of the people of God, because they were involved in the fertility cult with the nations around them. And one of those Baals would have been Ishtar, where the people were not only entering into spiritual worship in a wrong way, they were actually committing adultery and fornication, both spiritual and physical. But in addition to the people of Nineveh worshipping Ishtar, they also practiced astrology, worshipping and seeking guidance from the stars. It's interesting to me that there are a lot of people that are willing to look up and be guided, but not by God. And so we're called to look up and be guided, but by God and His eternal word. Nineveh was a large city that stretched along the Tigris River. Its circumference was over 50 miles in circumference. Can you imagine? This included not only the walled area of the city, but also of the cities nearby that were under its control. Well, by the time we get to the lifetime of Jonah. Nineveh is now the capital of the Assyrians, and we heard a lot about the Assyrians in our time in the book of Hosea. They were a powerful and greatly feared people of the day. They were legendary and terrifying warriors who took no prisoners, who destroyed all that they conquered. Nineveh itself was a large and very powerful city. In fact, it was so large that it took three days to walk around. But the fact that for a long time no ruins of this city had been found, skeptics used the example of Nineveh to try to cast doubt on the truth of God's word. They said no such mighty city ever existed. Well, I would think that after decades and even centuries of skeptics calling into question the word of God, they would learn to stop. Because this is God's world after all. And when eventually all of the knowledge and all the information is brought forth, the Bible speaks the truth. So archaeologists began to dig. They started about 150 years ago. And once you know it, they discovered that the ancient city of Nineveh, as described in the Bible, was exactly what existed in history. Skeptics, my friends, are all around us about whether God speaks the truth or not. But skeptics, my friends, come and go. But the Word of God stands forever. One historian by the name of Diodorus Sisylus said that the city of Nineveh was 21 miles long, 9 miles broad, and 54 miles in circumference. Its walls were 100 feet high and so broad that three chariots could drive upon them abreast. It had 1,500 towers, each 200 feet high. We have in Nineveh the epitome of human strength, of military strength, of economic strength, of a city that seemingly cannot be penetrated until it was, by something more powerful than any weapon. And so Israel was feeling the threat of the Ninevites, who were the declared enemies of God. But God himself knows what is going on for early in chapter one of Jonah. It says that the evil of Nineveh has come up against the Lord. And he said that judgment will come if they did not repent. And so God sends Jonah to warn them. So here we have Jonah. Who loves his people, in fact, is pretty particular about only loving his people. And he's being called to go and preach to these enemies. And for his part, he's thinking, no way. I don't like those people. I know those people don't like me. I don't desire their salvation. I desire their destruction. And so Jonah flees to the coast, pays for transport on a ship and heads for Tarshish. And you can see the direction on the map, which way he was supposed to go and where he ended up. Now, Tarshish for itself was a rich city. It was a city that was full of the pleasures and treasures of the world. It represented wealth. It had copper and iron and tin and gold. It did trading with the nations around it. The great King Solomon himself did a lot of trade with the city of Tarshish. But it was a long way off. In fact, it was probably as far away as Jonah could go in that day. That would have been literally to the end of the earth of what they would have known at that time. He did not want to go God's direction, so he took off as fast as he could in the other direction. He thought he would rather flee, and maybe to go to live out his own personal luxury and ease, instead of obeying God and going to Nineveh. And so he tried to get out of that situation as quickly as he could, but he couldn't get very far because, you see, Jonah had a little problem. You see, God is not just a tribal God. God is not just a geographical God. God is God of the universe. And how can one outrun a God who is present everywhere? So why did he try? But the question is, why do we try? Because God calls us to do a lot of things, and we want to run away to Tarshish. We want to do our own thing. So Jonah flees. But we see that God steps in to show that he's in control. And I just love this story because God not only just sits above everything he is intimately involved in everything in this story. And so he sends a great storm that threatens to destroy the ship. And there's this time of discussion with the crew, whose fault is it? And then Jonah says, it's my fault because I'm running away from the God of heaven. And so he's thrown overboard to appease the anger of the Lord. And as soon as he hits the water, the seas are calmed. And perhaps Jonah says, whew, got out of the storm, I'm going to get out of Nineveh. It's better to die in the sea than to have to preach to those people I don't like. But God's not finished with Jonah. God appoints a great fish to come by and swallow Jonah. Now think about the vastness of the Mediterranean Sea. Think about the multitudes of fish that would flow throughout this vast body of water. This is not just a fortuitous turn of events. God is in control of all things, even the smallest details of our lives. And so this great fish swallows Jonah. And I'm sure Jonah's quite amazed right now at this turn of events. But now he recognizes something very important. He's not going to be able to outrun God. And so here he is, in pitch darkness, on the inside of this fish, feeling the pressures of the innards of this fish, and he's in total darkness, and he realizes, I'm really not the one that's in control here. And he prays. And he asks God for help. And then he says something that I think was even better than he understood at the time. Salvation belongs to the Lord. But the story goes on. For the Lord causes the fish to vomit up Jonah onto the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. Now I want you to imagine putting that on a postcard. I went on a ship. I was thrown overboard. And I became the catch of the day. and was barfed up on a shore. I wish you were here. I think he was badly in need of a power wash. But now he knows he needs to go to Nineveh. This time it says he does not run away. But look at the journey that he would have had to take. He would have had to travel hundreds of miles over land after arriving on the shores of probably what is Lebanon today. cross over Lebanon, cross over Syria, cross over into what we know as Iraq today to get to Nineveh. So how long does it take to travel a couple hundred miles? Certainly long enough to reevaluate the situation, to check your own heart, your own understanding, to repent and to say, Lord, get my heart in alignment with yours. Alas, Jonah was still in need of an attitudinal adjustment when he got there. He does arrive in Nineveh, and he begins to preach. And he warns the people of their impending judgment if they do not repent. And they were given 40 days to turn from their wicked ways. And then something amazing happens, at least to Jonah. There is a great spiritual awakening that hits the city, even reaching the king himself. And the people fast, and they pray, and they cry out to the Lord, and they plead for mercy. And God graciously withdraws His hand of judgment from this city. And in chapter 3, verse 10, it says, God relented of the disaster He had said He would do to them. And He did not do it. So now imagine Jonah. He's just had a very interesting fishing expedition, and the Lord has sent him to preach to his enemies, and they repent, the very people he doesn't like. They repent after hearing the message, and God shows them mercy and grace. How would you respond to such a situation? And that is where we pick up our story as we look at our text for today, Jonah chapter 4. And so once again, if you are able, in honor of God's word, I invite you to stand as we read this chapter together and draw some lessons out that God would have for us today. Jonah chapter 4, verses 1 to 11. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life for me. It is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said, Do you do well to be angry? Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. And when the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, It is better for me to die than to live. But God said to Jonah, Do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, Yes, I do well to be angry. angry enough to die. And the Lord said, You pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle? Father, as we have your Word open before us this morning, we need you to open us to that Word and to teach us this morning as you would have us learn. Father, I pray now that in the name of Jesus you would banish all distracting thoughts. and all grumblings and rebellions in our hearts that we might listen to what you have to say because you are God and we cannot run from you. So guide us this morning we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Please be seated and continue to follow along in your sermon outline. We see our first point this morning the command arise and go. You know God has always been a missionary God. All throughout the scriptures we see that He has a heart for the nations and a desire to see His name proclaimed and glorified in every aspect of creation. From the call of Abraham in Genesis chapter 12 to be a blessing to all nations, to the challenge to Israel to be a nation of priests, from the cry of the psalms which we read just a little bit ago to declare God's glory among the nations, to the promise to Isaiah that the Messiah would be a light to the nations. to the exclamation given in Malachi that great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel from the first book of the Old Testament to the last it has been the desire and the call of God to have his news his good news preached to all nations and that command and that call continues today and it is still desperately needed according to the Joshua project which is a a network that I highly recommend. Visit their site. Get informed more and more about a biblical view of missions and God's love for the world. It is estimated that there are over 17,000 uniquely defined people groups in the world. They might be in Asia. They might be in Africa. They might be around the world. Some of them are even North America. 17,000 people groups with 7,100 people groups still considered unreached with the gospel. That means 41.6% of the world's population is still considered unreached. That is 3.19 billion people without a gospel witness. 3.19 billion people facing an eternity without Christ. Because they don't know Jesus Christ. Facing the wrath of God, unless someone goes and tells them. And Paul asks, well, how will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him whom they've never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As I said, God has always been a missionary God. And His people who are created in His image, who have been redeemed in Christ, who have been set apart for His eternal glories, are also to have a missionary heart for the peoples of the world. And so it should not surprise us then that Jonah is sent out by God because God is in control. He has a right to send Jonah, and He is right to do so. And He continues to call. and command his people to go to the nations and proclaim his good news. But a second point that we underscore here, and that the reason why we can go, the reason why we should go, the reason why we must go to the nations of the world, is that God is in control of everything. Control of all of our lives, at all times, in every situation. Just look at the details of the story of Jonah. God called Jonah to go. And in the events that play out, God appointed a great fish after he appointed a storm to save Jonah from his enemies. Even when he was rebellious, he appointed a plant, a worm, even the wind to show that he is in control. God is in the control of all details of life and nothing can happen outside of his will and his control. Now, that should be a source of great comfort to us that God is involved in every situation of our lives because that means He is with us in every situation of our lives, and that means He wants to teach us in every situation of our lives, and that means He wants to mold us to become more like Christ in every situation in our lives. But we'll have to move on to our second major point this morning. After the command, we have the complaint, I don't like your way, God. And you notice that the text says that Jonah was exceedingly displeased by what had happened. The people of Nineveh have repented and Jonah is upset. In fact, in the original language, it says that this was perceived as evil in the eyes of Jonah. Isn't that amazing? Rather than rejoicing in the goodness of God, rather than rejoicing in the privilege of being used by God in such a great way, Jonah is angry and he hates what God has done. But why? Why was he angry that God would save those people? Is it because he was selfish? and he wanted to keep all the blessings for himself? Did he have a warped sense of justice, as if somehow, well, he deserved mercy from God, but those people didn't? Did his nationalistic pride get in the way, where he just wanted to keep everything for himself? It's amazing that he would rather see judgment come upon these people, instead of seeing them receive the mercy of God. My friends, as we look across the landscape today, As we realize who we are in this place and time, in this city, in this state, in this country, I hope we're not the same way. I hope we don't have this attitude that those people deserve God's wrath. Because so did we. And we didn't get it. We got mercy. Not only was he exceedingly displeased, it says he vents his anger at God. He says, God, I knew you'd be this way. I knew you'd have mercy on those people. In fact, at least nine times he uses the word I, me and my. It's all about him and me and me and me and me and what I want and my comfort and my plan and my desire. I don't like your plan, God. He even says he would rather die than face the fact that God may show mercy to those people. And since they weren't going to die because they had repented and God was going to give them life, he wanted to die. And so God calls out and says, do you do well to be angry? Basically saying, Jonah, who do you think you are? But you notice something, at least here, Jonah doesn't give an answer. He had fled from the Lord's command. Now he flees from the Lord's question. You see, the problem was not that Jonah lacked obedience, though he did. He lacked a spirit of submission and humility to God. He didn't recognize that the Lord is patient and kind and long-suffering, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He had not yet learned the lesson that the Lord says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. And so the text tells us that he flees out of the city and he goes to the east of the city and he builds a shelter and he sets up shop and he waits for the fire to fall. You get this idea that he's anticipating his his enemies being destroyed. And so he's waiting for the show to begin. It seems as if he's got his shelter. He's got his lookout. He's he's got what he needs. The only thing he needs is popcorn because he's waiting for the show to begin. And I find in attitudes that I hear as I listen to so-called Christian commentators, and as I listen to commentators in our culture, that too often we have that same kind of attitude, that somehow we deserve better than we have, but not them. Now, the shelter that he made was probably made of tree branches that would be stacked together in an upright position. Now, we need to recognize that in this region, the temperatures would reach 130 degrees during the day, So the hot sun would quickly dry out the leaves on the branches, exposing Jonah to the elements. And so, once again, we see the goodness of God to Jonah. It says God and His goodness causes a plant to grow up and cover the shelter, bringing relief from the heat. And now, did you notice, for the first time in this story, we see that Jonah was happy. In fact, it says that Jonah was exceedingly glad about a plant. He wasn't happy about being called. He wasn't happy about preaching. He wasn't happy that God was merciful. He wasn't happy that the enemies had repented. He was not happy about the truly important things. He was happy about a plant because that led to his personal comfort. Perhaps he thought, okay, this plant is growing up and God's going to vindicate me. He's going to show that I was really right. These people should die. But God would show that any vindication would be short-lived because right away we're told that God appointed a worm. You know, that'd make a great sermon one day. God appointed a worm. But we need to move on because not only did he appoint a worm, but he appointed the wind and the effects of the wind and the storm. And the worm would have quickly dried up everything and Jonah was left exposed. And so he who a few minutes before was exceedingly glad is now once again angry. Because once again, he reminds us he's more concerned about his own discomfort than the fate of a great people lost before a holy God. He's angry that God has shown mercy to Nineveh. And now he's angry that God has withdrawn mercy from him. God's trying to teach him. God's trying to reach him. God's trying to train him. God's trying to mold him. My friends, when God is disciplining us, which is a sign of his love for us, which is what he was trying to do with Jonah, discipline him. When God is disciplining us, it is better for us to listen and learn than to cry and complain. But sometimes we don't want to stay under the weight of God's discipline. We want to wiggle out. We want to have our own comfort. We want to do it our own way. But we don't understand what God is doing. When he is disciplining us, he is preparing us to become more like Christ. And at the end of the day, if we belong to Christ, that's what we desire more than anything else. So Jonah was worried about the mundane and the temporary. instead of the important and the eternal. We find that he is angry about the plant. What are the plants that we worry about today? What are the things that we get worked up about, that we get frustrated and angry about, that we think we've been ripped off if either they're not there or if we don't get what we think we deserve? My friends, we need to be reminded that in this process of growing in holiness, we need to keep on growing. We need to keep on going. We need to keep on changing so that our thinking, that our feeling, our actions are all being molded more and more into the image of Christ. So may God give us eyes to see. May he give us eyes to see the lost that are all around us. because people matter much more than the plants of our lives. So after seeing the command and the complaint, we get to the third point, which is the concern, should I not have pity? All throughout this story, God consistently shows Jonah that He is a God of mercy. You know, He could have destroyed Jonah straight away for his rebellion, but He didn't. He provided a fish, a great fish, to keep him from dying. He could have let Jonah suffer and swelter under the heat, but He didn't. He provided a plan to bring comfort and protection. He even asked Jonah to try to get Jonah to recognize what's going on in his heart, to see the folly and the foolishness that's wrapped up in there. He kept showing mercy and grace to Jonah, but Jonah never got it. And so a second time, God asked Jonah, do you have a right to be angry? And a second time, Jonah skirts the question, and says, I would rather die than face the humiliation of God showing mercy to those people that I so detest. And so God steps in and shows that he is the real hero of the story. You know, that's the story of the Bible. That God is the hero of the scriptures from beginning to end. The Bible is not just a list of moral do's and don'ts, or be like David, or be like Job, or be like Esther. No. The Bible is the unfolding of God's glory in Jesus Christ from beginning to end and how he is saving a people for himself. And so our focus is constantly to be on Jesus Christ and who he is and what he is doing and just considered a privilege that we can get swept up in that. But ultimately, it's not about us at all. It's about what God is doing. And so God shows that he is the hero, and then he steps in and shows that his heart goes out to all peoples and to all nations. So first he has to rebuke Jonah. You pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left? God says, should I not pity them? They're morally lost. Moreover, they're unable to do anything about it. They don't have a proper moral compass. They're lost in spiritual darkness and they need to be rescued. And if they do not repent, I will judge them because no sin can come into my presence. Now, God knows what he's going to do and he knows what the message of the gospel is, which is why the gospel is good news, because we're a desperate folk who need a marvelous savior. But God shows us he is concerned about lost people. Jonah shows us he's concerned about his lost honor and his lost plant. Jonah shows us he wants his personal comfort more than obedience and sacrifice to Christ. But what right does Jonah have to demand that God show favor to him and withhold favor from another? So we ask ourselves the same question if we've harbored that thought. Do we have any right to demand or expect mercy and grace from God? But we really hope He withholds it from those people because there are Ninevites today. It might be those people that you don't like, you don't get along with, those people that you would rather not associate with. They might be of another company. They might be of another political party. They might support another sports team. I don't know what it is, but you don't want those people to get mercy from God. But that's the whole nature of mercy. We didn't deserve it, and we received it. And should not we of all people be merciful? And if we've been recipients of God's marvelous grace, should we not of all people be gracious? All around us in the larger Oroville area, if you talk to the Chamber of Commerce, there's over 60,000 people living around us. How many of us are here this morning? There's room for a lot more. What are we doing in our daily life so that people out there are hearing what we have in here and not just keeping it to ourselves. But I want to actually turn the text just a little bit this morning and make a plea for a particular people at this time in history. Ancient Nineveh is found in modern-day Iraq, the city of Mosul. And Iraq is in the center of the Arab Middle East, and the Middle East is in the center of the Muslim world. And there are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, 20% of the world's population. There are 57 countries that are majority Muslim and are members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. 1.6 billion people who do not know their right hand from their left. They're morally lost. They're walking in spiritual darkness. Some may give appearance of being enemies of God's people. Some actually act as enemies of God's people, just as the Ninevites did in the time of Jonah. But I listen to what is said by popular commentators, both Christian and non. And it seems that there are many people that are more concerned about their own comforts in this life than about those people being rescued from judgment. I even hear some voices out there rejoicing when bad things happen to those people. Well, Greg Livingston lived for many years as a missionary to Muslims. He founded the group Frontiers, which is an excellent organization that is reaching out around the globe to Muslims. And he lived for many years, as I said, in the Arab Middle East. And he tells a conversation that he had with a Christian elder, a mature Christian elder in Lebanon. And he asked this mature Christian elder, do you not care that these Arab Muslims are going to hell? The elder responded, he paused and responded and said, well, brother, between you and me, that's probably the best place for them. I hear other statements today very similar to that. Bomb them back to the stone age. Nuke them all and let God sort them out. The sad fact remains, my friends, that the spirit of Jonah lives on in the church today. I hope we're not a people that just wants to put up our shelters, have our life of ease, and can just peacefully let 1.6 billion people go on their way to eternal destruction, but that we would want to be a people that would be involved in bringing the gospel to them and the grace and mercy manifested in Jesus Christ. Because the Church is called to declare His glories among all the nations of the world. And that won't happen unless the church gets busier than it is now. I'm not talking the church, of course, in its global sense, but we're a representation of that global church. And we can be involved as well. What if we were to engage with Muslims with the love of truth of the gospel? What if, instead of wishing judgment on those people, we took the time to build relationships with them? What if we stop thinking that somehow we're a better people that deserve the mercy of God, but those people, they don't deserve the mercy of God. What if we decided that the church and the cause of Christ is better served by fighting terrorism at the root level instead of at the fruit level? Now, Jesus told us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to raise up laborers. I'm daring enough to pray that that would involve some of us, that God would call us and raise us up to go out to this harvest field. Some of you say, nah, my time has passed. Did you know that one of the fastest growing segments of the missionary force is retired people who use the first few years of their retirement to have gospel impact for Christ around the globe? So I want to ask a different question. Why couldn't you be an answer to that prayer? Or are you spending time running to Tarshish because you kind of like a good gig you got going now? I remind us that people are more important than plants. But I also recognize that not all of us are going to be called to lift up and go, though I think some of us will be. But we could be more proactive here. There are Muslims here. I have met many of them in Oroville. There are many in Chico. There are many in Sacramento and in the Bay Area. They are living among us. What if we took the time to actually get to know them and befriend them and share Christ with them and love them? Because we can do that right here. Maybe that means we need to actually get out of our comfort zone a little bit and build a bridge to someone and get to know them. Now maybe we can't go, but we can pray. that website that I referred you to the Joshua Project. They have a ongoing thing that you can have on your screen of your phone or your computer where every day there will be a new unreached people group that you can pray for and say, Oh God, Lord of the harvest, would you raise up harvesters to reach out to that people? I believe that if we started praying for those people and asking God to show mercy to those people and to send the gospel to those people, it would change us. It would change our attitude. It would change our ethos. I believe it would also change the world for Christ. Because there is no limit to what God can do. Tassada was a trained sniper with the Palestine Liberation Organization. He was a right-hand man of Yasser Arafat, the founder of that organization. He spent many of his years living in Jordan, a country I know well. He persecuted and harassed Christians, even driving by, opening fire on their homes with automatic weapons, trying to intimidate and cause Christians to fear. But God had other ideas because Tassad had a vision of starting a restaurant and found himself immigrating legally to the United States and started a restaurant. And he met a Christian businessman who helped him start this restaurant. And this Christian businessman began to preach Christ to him. And in the middle of this Bible study that they're having in the Gospel of John, Tassada had a vision of Jesus appearing to him and saying, I am the way, the truth and the life. Follow me. And Tassada heard the gospel and he repented and he believed. He was dramatically converted, dramatically changed. He's now a man of peace, who ministers peace and reconciliation to both Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. God used a simple Christian businessman to reach him, and now God is using Tassada to reach out to Muslims, Christians, and Jews with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He can use you in the life of one person, if you'd be willing to say, Yes, Lord, I will go. And lastly, we have the comparison. The one greater than Jonah is here. Now, I know by personal experience that this is a challenging task. I know that it can seem frightening if all we do is listen to the common voices of our culture. Because we may be deceived into thinking that they all hate us. They all don't understand us. They all want to kill us. They all don't like our faith. I spent six years in West Africa. I spent 16 years in the Arab Middle East living among Muslims. I have a pretty good idea of what some Muslims want to do to Christians. But I tell you they're a very small number. And I can tell you that there's a lot of Muslims that want to hear about Christ and there's not enough labors to go to them. But I can also say this, there is no excuse for the church to run away from what God has called her to do. But that's the problem. You see, we want to focus on our personal situation, on our lives, what we want, our dreams, our ambitions. And the fact is, it's not to be on us at all. Our focus should be on the one who is greater than Jonah, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Jonah was a sign pointing to Christ. Jonah was sent by God. He preached. He even gave his life that others might live. He spent three days in the belly of death. But in all of that, he was simply a sign pointing to a greater fulfillment. And now the one greater than Jonah has come. Jesus was sent by God. He preached. He obeyed God, but he did it joyfully, not begrudgingly like Jonah. Instead of longing for the destruction of the city, Jesus went into the heart of the city and wept over it because judgment would come if they did not repent. Instead of hating his enemies, he called his people to love them, to do good to them, to bless them, to pray for them. He came to seek and to save that which is lost and to turn the enemies of God into the friends of God He spent three days in the belly of the earth But he rose again from the dead to show that he had conquered sin and death and the devil He gave his life so that others might live but unlike Jonah who was the guilty dying for the innocent Jesus was the innocent dying for the guilty and And he rose to display the greatness of God's power and his holiness and his mercy. And that same God, that same Jesus calls his church to go to the nations, even to the Ninevites, because the one greater than Jonah is here and salvation and mercy is available to all who would repent and believe. And so the call goes out to us to be willing to lay down our lives so that they might be used for the glory of God and not just our own personal agendas. And he himself prays that more would go out into the world and declare him among the nations until he comes again. Now in our own strength we cannot do it. We will fail. But if you are in Christ, who has fulfilled the righteousness of God, and you're dwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit, then you can go, because God is with you. He wants to work in you and through you. So we've seen the command, arise and go. The complaint, I don't like your way, God. The concern, should I not have pity. The comparison, one greater than Jonah is here. And I begin with one final story. I end with one final story. Dr. Samuel Zwemer was called the apostle to the Muslims. In a convention of the student volunteer movement about 100 years ago, there was a great gathering of young people, university age, and the Spirit of God swept through that movement and hundreds of them went on to the mission field. And what he did was he hung a flag, a map, I should say, of Islam before the delegates to show where the Muslims of the world lived. And with the sweep of his hand, he prayed and he said, Thou, O Christ, art all I want. And Thou, O Christ, art all they want. What God can do for any man, he can do for every man. And so the call remains to go out and make disciples of all the nations, including the Ninevites, to go out in his power and his glory, because God pities the lost. Should we not do so as well? Let us pray. Father, we have been challenged by Your Word. And I know, Father, the temptation is to quickly dismiss what we've heard and to go on to the next thing. And I pray, Father, that You would keep that from happening. And I pray, Father, that we would have our hearts broken anew and broken afresh for the lost around us. Father, would You give us eyes to see the desperation in which people live all around us. Would You give us hearts that break over sinners lost, whether they're near or far? Would You put a burn on our hearts to pray, to give, to send, to go? Because, Father, we want to see that number shrink of those that have not heard about Christ. And we want to see the number grow of those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And we want it to begin on our street, in our neighborhood, in our workplace, in our city, in our state, in our country. But that's not enough, Father. We want it in all the world because you deserve the praise that will rise up to your throne from every corner of this earth. And we want to be part of that movement. So stir us and shake us and challenge us But also, Father, give us a heart of kindness and compassion, remembering who we were, and joyful for who we are now in Christ, and share that with others around us. To that end, we pray for your eternal and universal glory. In Jesus' name, amen.