Well, good morning Valley View. How’s everyone today? Is this on? I can’t quite hear it. Can you hear it? Okay. It’s good to be with you. I’m so encouraged by Isaac’s report of the students. Three students accepting Christ. Three saying we feel God’s stirring in our life in a fresh, new way. This is all surrounding the theme we’re going to talk about today, and the theme that Jonah is all about turning back to God. I consider myself, I’ve often taken pride in my sense of direction. How many other people here feel like, yeah, that God has gifted me with a great sense of direction? Not many of you. Okay, well, I know who to not get behind when we’re driving somewhere. Follow me instead. I feel like, for the most part, I’ve always known where I am. But there was this one time I was in a foreign country, which I think should give me some grace. Couldn’t really read the maps very well. And the person who I was with was getting frustrated that we obviously I don’t use the L word. We were misplaced. We weren’t lost. We just didn’t know exactly where we were in that moment. And so I’m looking I’m trying to read the map. I’m trying to figure out where we’re going. And and this person’s getting continued more frustrated by not knowing exactly where to go, not knowing exactly where we are. And so what this person does is in the midst of the frustration is they speed up. I keep saying this person, it wasn’t my wife, Julie. Someone else. I’m not trying to protect her identity here. If it was her, I would just say it was her. Anyway, enough about that. Point being, this person was getting more frustrated, and so what they were doing was speeding up. Now, if you don’t know where you are and if you think you might be going the wrong direction, don’t go faster in the wrong direction. What needed to happen in that moment and when you know you might be headed the wrong direction. That’s the time to stop. Get your bearings and then turn around. Get going the right direction. Don’t keep heading the wrong direction even faster. We’re going to see God speak to an entire city trying to get their attention, trying to get them to turn around, to go a new direction. That’s the theme of the Book of Jonah. We’re going to be in Jonah chapter three today. We’ve covered the first two chapters. Chapter three this week. Chapter four next week, I think it’s on page 727. If you have a church Bible, if you don’t have a Bible, those are in the lobby. You can grab one any time. Follow along as I read. We’re going to read the first four verses to get our bearings, to get the situation, to get caught up on the story before we see how God speaks to the city of Nineveh. So Jonah chapter three, starting at verse one. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey, and he called out, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Many of the commentaries, many of the people who studied the Book of Jonah, have pointed out that the book of Jonah is really structured in two mirrored parts, two mirrored halves. And if you remember chapter one, verse one, the word of the Lord comes to Jonah and God says, go, arise, go. And Jonah arises and flees. He does the opposite of what he should do. And many point out chapter three, verse one is a restart, a redo, a start over. God had to pursue Jonah in the midst of his fleeing. He brought him back to start over and we get a repeat. So again, the second time the word of the Lord comes to Jonah and he says, now I want you to go. Let’s try this again. And we wonder, what’s Jonah going to do if you don’t already know the story, what’s going to happen next? And Jonah, this time he arises, and he went to Nineveh. And we’re going to see parallels between the second half of the book and the first half of the book. But the first encouragement is to see God pursued Jonah. And now Jonah has agreed to do what God asked instead of running again, which many of us would say, we’ve been there where God had to pursue us many times to get our attention. Once wasn’t enough. But Jonah is going to give it a second try. He’s going to follow what the Lord asked here. There’s a couple of things, though, to point out about this. First is that he does call him to go by faith because he says, go and give the message that I tell you. I think we can imply that I will tell you. He’s called to take a step of faith. This is reminiscent of Abraham, where God said, Abraham, go, go to the place. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you where it is. Just get going. Take a step of faith. And for every Christian here, every person who follows God, you’re called to walk by faith. He doesn’t spell out everything for you when he calls you to follow him. Follow me. Lord, what will that mean? I’ll show you. Well, I’d really like to know everything upfront. Too bad. And by the way, would you really want to know everything upfront? I don’t I don’t think you would. That’s where we walk by faith. Our theme for the year. We’re called to Walk by Faith. Jonah. I’ll tell you what it is, Jonah. You just get going. Okay. So Jonah walks by faith. But the challenging part with this, and I got to give a little bit of a correction to everything I’ve said up to this point, because I’ve said that the Book of Jonah is all about how everybody does the right thing except for Jonah. Even the animals, the fish. Everybody obeys God immediately except for Jonah. And of course, now you’re saying, yeah, but hey, look, he’s obeying God. And you’re right. He finally is. But we’re going to get some hints that maybe his heart isn’t fully engaged with this idea. Maybe his obedience is on the surface. Maybe he’s just going through the motions and you know the difference. You’ve been there. You know the difference between just going through the motions, doing what you know should be right. There’s times you got to do that, I get that. But what we really want in what God is after is, is, is our heart. He wants our heart to be fully engaged. In the notes I put the verse 1 Samuel 16:7. That’s a whole verse about how man looks at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. Jesus is often chastising the Pharisees, who seem to do everything correct on the surface, seem to have it all put together perfectly, but their hearts are cold and distant and hardened towards God. And we’re going to get some hints that maybe this is where Jonah is. We’re going to see some of that today. We’ll see some, especially in chapter four. But what he wants is our heart. Now we also learn a little more about the city that he’s called to go reach. If you’re called to missions, you want to know about the mission field. Who are the people I need to go reach? And here’s how he describes Nineveh. He says Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. This is in verse three. Three days journey in breadth, exceedingly great, that you might even have a footnote in your Bible that can also be translated as great to God or great to the gods, depending on how it’s translated, the emphasis being it’s a city of importance. Maybe it’s specifically important to Yahweh, Lord God. Maybe it’s just in general seen as a significant city among many. Also, it says it’s three days journey in breadth. There’s different ways to understand that statement. One may be because most ancient historians would say that probably wouldn’t, an ancient walled city at least wouldn’t have been that large. Three days to walk across. It could have been referring, many say likely could have been referring to the surrounding region. I mean, when we talk about Louisville, you might even be talking about parts of southern Indiana. There’s the Louisville Loop. A bike path goes all the way around the city. That’s a that’s a hundred miles. I mean, is that encompassed just only Louisville proper, the specific part of the city? No. So it could be referring to a broader region. It also could just be idiomatic. It could be an idiom kind of like three days. And means just large. We have idioms like that. In fact, we had a, a student we hosted from Africa who stayed with the some in Little Rock. And one day he says to me, he says, what is this phrase, raining cats and dogs? I look outside, I don’t see any cats and dogs falling. I don’t see any outside. Y’all keep your cats and dogs inside. They’re all outside in Africa anyway. But what do you mean by that? And I said, oh, look, it just means it’s raining a lot. That’s it. And he said, why, where does that come from? I said, well, it’s just actually I have no idea where it comes from. I don’t know why we say that. Why would you say raining cats and dogs who who knows? But for us, we know what it means. It’s an idiom. It’s not literal. And some have said that might also be going on here. The point of that with Nineveh and the point of this whole idea of great, you know, he said, it’s an exceedingly great city. That word great shows up over and over again in the book of Jonah. We’re we’re looking for when we study the Bible. We’re looking for repeated ideas and themes, and we’ll see a word repeated today. The word turn gets repeated. Those help point to the meaning. The word great shows up over and over again. Nineveh’s great. God is great. The storm was great. The size of the fish was great. It’s over and over again. And the point of that is meant to get the reader’s attention. This seems like a really small book. Insignificant. A couple of chapters, two pages in your Bible. It’s easy to read, breeze past it, but pay attention. It’s got an important message, a critical message for you, and especially for the Jews, for Israel, whose heart is straying from God. Pay attention. Now what happens is Jonah goes to this city, he shows up and he preaches the message. And in this we get the first hint that maybe he’s not fully on board with this mission. Maybe he’s not all in. In fact, I’m reading a little between the lines with this, but I think this is pointing at some of his reluctance because the city is described as three days journey. But look at verse four what Jonah does to complete his mission. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. It’s three days. He goes a day. He didn’t even go halfway. He’s not even half hearted. I’m gonna go in just enough to get the job done. And then he delivers his message. He delivers his sermon, his eight word sermon. I know some of you are going. That doesn’t sound too bad sometimes, Jonah. We’re not. Maybe just an eight word sermon. Well, probably not this one. Okay, Jonah goes in. Maybe this is exactly the words God has given him. We don’t know. But here’s what he says, Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Very simple, very direct. It could have been just that. This is all that I want to deal with. It could have been all that that God had given him. You know, 40 days often shows up in Scripture as a sign of God’s judgment. You had rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights. God’s judgment, Israel in the wilderness 40. The number 40, 40 years. It shows up other ways as well. When there is imminent danger, when you know judgment is coming, it’s best to just keep the message simple and short. You think of Paul Revere with the colonies. He’s got one simple message. He’s doing his midnight ride and all he says is the British are coming, the Redcoats are coming. That’s all you need to know. Danger is imminent. I know I need to act. And when destruction is close, it’s okay that the message is simple and short and concise, even if it’s not one that’s popular. Now, the question is, how is Nineveh going to react to this? Jonah does what he’s supposed to do, maybe a little reluctantly, maybe half heartedly, maybe not all in, but he delivers the message. How is Nineveh going to respond to this? What will they do? What we’re going to see, I think in their response, are three marks of a revival, three marks of God’s Spirit moving through a midst of a people. And so look at verse ten and let’s see here verse five, and let’s see how they respond. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast. They put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the King of Nineveh, and he arose. Like Jonah arose. He arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles. Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way, from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. How does Nineveh respond to this simple eight word message? One word they believed. And I think this highlights this first mark of revival, first mark of God stirring among a people and the fancy word I’m going to use here is illumination. It’s the first point in your outline illumination. God has awakened them. Light has shined upon them. Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened, and you know how this is. Before Christ has moved in your life, you’re darkened to him. You can’t see the things of him. You can’t even think about spiritual things. In fact, some people don’t don’t want anything to do with God. If you try to start talking about him, they’ll they’ll run out of the room. They’ll try to shut down the conversation. But when God shows up and awakens people to who he is, that’s when they respond. He has illuminated them. His light has shined into their darkened hearts. And when that happens, people believe. The same word is used of Abraham. He believed God counted, and it was counted to him as righteousness. I think that’s one of the first marks of the start of a revival, is that God stirs in a way he hadn’t before, and people pay attention in a way they haven’t before. Second, though, look at how else they respond. What follows on that? Yeah, God stirs. What is going to follow on that. Notice how they responded: they called for a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. It even reaches the King. He also even sits in ashes. And I think the second mark of revival here is the conviction of sin and sorrow for sin. Conviction and sorrow are the two words here in point two. If God is moving in your life, if he has awakened you up to who he is, a normal response to that is conviction. I see now that I have been living a life separate from his plan for me, and there is sorrow for that, and we see that in the way they respond. They respond with action. We used to have these signs up all over the church growing up. You you practice daily what you believe. All the rest is just religious talk. I mean, you could say all day long, yeah, I believe this, I believe that, but if it doesn’t have some effect on your life, do you really believe it? Is it really meaningful or not? We practice daily what we believe, all the rest is- it’s just religious talk. And we see a response from Nineveh. Sackcloth and ashes. We talked about this when we studied the book of Esther. Sackcloth. Let’s start with ashes. This would have represented death. Ashes could also be translated as dust. And by sitting in it, you’re saying I’m basically dead. I feel dead in my sorrow. I might as well be dead. I came from dust. I know I’m going back there. And it’s a way to publicly display the depth of your grief. Sackcloth would have been just a pain. Plain piece of rough fabric, maybe like rough burlap that someone would have worn. It would have been symbolic of your grief. It would have been the simplicity of it would have pointed to the grief of your soul. Maybe the simplicity would also just also highlight suffering, much like someone will just wear all black at funerals or in times of grief. And it also the the uncomfortable nature of it would increase your dependence on God. Remind you I need to be depending on him in the midst of my grief. What we see here is just this public display of conviction from the king down to the cows, from the very top, all the way down to the animals. Even the animals are required to fast and wear sackcloth. Again, highlighting that the animals are more quick to repent than Jonah. We still haven’t seen repentance from Jonah, and he did what God asked. But we haven’t seen this public display of conviction of sin and sorrow. What we want to see is true sorrow, true grief. There can be the outward appearance of sorrow. You’ve seen this where people are sorry for being caught. If you were alive in the 90s, you remember seeing Bill Clinton get on national television and apologize for his inappropriate relationship with the intern. But he was. It was so clear whether you liked him or not. It was so clear he was not sorry. He was sorry for being caught. If you add the word if to your apology, just don’t apologize. I’m sorry if you were offended. Well, clearly you thought someone was offended. Otherwise you wouldn’t take up the airwaves to talk about it. Don’t add the word if to your apology. Don’t add the word but. I’m sorry, but you caused it. Don’t add the word and I’m sorry. And there’s going to be payback. Don’t look. Just give an apology. I am sorry. I’m so sorry that I did this. I know I hurt you. It’s obvious what I did was wrong. I don’t want to do that again. I don’t want to live that way. I really don’t. I don’t want to hurt you like that. Will you forgive me and leave it there? And there may be stuff you got to address. Yes, of course, yes. But don’t add it into an apology. Let your sorrow be sincere. In fact, this verse I’ve referenced here, 2 Corinthians 7:10. Godly grief leads to repentance. Let it be a display of godly grief, true genuine sorrow and repentance. In fact, that leads us to number three. Number three in your outline is, I think, the culminating mark of the work of God, of God stirring through revival through a group of people. In fact, I think we see it in verse eight when the King gives his command, he says, let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let them call out mightily to God, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. We see that key word turn. Turn from his evil way. The word we use use is repent. Repent. So what should follow with grief, sorrow, conviction is repentance, is a change in action, is a change in lifestyle. The sorrow for it is a good starting point. We should feel grieved for our sin, but then that should lead to change. It shouldn’t. It should lead to new action. And that word turn is often translated as repent, turn around. Turn away from the thing you’re doing that’s wrong. This is what he’s calling his people to do. Turn from the evil that our hands have been about to turn away from that. And if we do that, maybe God will respond. And of course, we see in verse ten that he does. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. When revival is stirring, when God is moving through people, their lives are changed. Their lives are radically changed. You know, when great moves of the spirit have occurred in the history of the world, there have been times there even been stories, especially in some of the great moves of the spirit in Great Britain, that animals no longer would respond to their owners because they stopped cursing so much, they no longer knew how to take commands as they were meant to plow the fields and what have you. All, all the establishments that had normally been attended to were now empty. Lives are changed. Behavior changes. People go, you seem different. You don’t respond the way you used to. When I try to push your buttons like I used to, it doesn’t work anymore. What happened? Something has happened to you. When you see the marks of revival, you know God is working, I think. And we read as we read the story in Jonah, I think we see what I saw were probably six principles for us today. We’re looking back at Jonah’s time. We’re looking at what he did in one great city of Nineveh. But what does that mean for us today? I think there’s six things we can take away from this. The first one is, is that it’s okay to preach repentance. Okay is not the right word. It is necessary to talk about repentance even if no one wants to hear it, even if it’s not popular to talk about sin and how things are wrong. And you need to repent and turn away from. It’s absolutely critical. By the way, not just out there to a bunch of people who aren’t here and maybe don’t know the Lord. But it’s important in the church, too, to talk about repentance. We need to hear it, too, even though oftentimes, I mean, who likes to be told you’re wrong? Now, my immediate reaction when I hear that is maybe, okay, let’s talk about it. We’ll see if I’m wrong or not. You’re sinning. By whose definition? I think most of us react to that. Who are you to tell me that I’m wrong or that I’m sinning? What are you self-righteous person who puts you in charge? Are you the judge over? That’s our natural. That’s our sins. Turn up immediately and go. Don’t tell me it’s okay, though, to talk about repentance. Even though people don’t want to hear it. It’s okay. It’s necessary. And the reason we know is because it’s the sermon Jesus came with. I put a couple of references in your note, Mark, In your notes, Mark 1:14. I put Matthew 3:2. That’s actually John the Baptist, but Jesus follows right on that in Matthew 4:17. If you turn it over to that is just about 20 pages over into the New Testament from where we are in Jonah. Look at how what Jesus shows up for preaching, preaching his first sermon that he comes out of the gate with coming after John the Baptist in Matthew 4:17. From that time forward Jesus began to preach, saying, repent! The very first word of his very first sermon, repent! Turn around. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus came preaching repentance. And it’s okay for us to talk about it too. It’s okay. It’s necessary. It’s important. And some in the modern world, even some churches, try to paint Jesus as just this wise spiritual guru, which he was, who only talks about love, who only focuses on loving people and healing them and caring for their physical needs, but not judgment. Well, Jesus is just about love. You can’t separate love from judgment. The two have to go together. What is love without having hate for things that go against the ones you love? See, Jesus came preaching repentance. That’s how we know it’s critical. It’s necessary. In fact, I would say one of the most loving things you can do. And look, by the way, it takes a lot of wisdom to know how to talk about someone else’s sin. I mean, Matthew seven talks about make sure you get the log out of your own eye first, okay? Look how you go about it. It’s not just you walk into the room declaring everyone wrong. You know, it takes a lot of wisdom to know how to address someone else’s sin. But one of the most loving things you can do for someone who is running from God, running deep into sin, is to help them see that he has a better plan for them. It may not feel loving, they may not want to hear it. It may take a lot of wisdom. It may take years to get them to have ears that are open to hear. But it’s part of what we’re called to do, even when it’s not welcomed. It’s to talk about repentance, to talk about sin. Jonathan Edwards, the famous American pastor, pre American, really before the Declaration of Independence, but well known college president, missionary, philosopher, one of the brightest minds in our nation’s history, said that people responded the most the more he talked about the sovereignty of God. One of his most famous sermons, probably most everyone read it in high school Sinners in the hands of an angry God. And when he talked about God’s judgment, that’s when people were moved and revival broke out. God used him, and a number of other preachers at that time to cause widespread revival across the nation. We can’t avoid the issue of repentance, sin, judgment. That’s the first point. Second, it’s never too late to repent. No matter the life you’ve lived, no matter the mistakes you’ve made, you’re not too far from God. In fact, you might be a lot closer and a lot of others who are self-righteous and feel like they are close, that they have been good and perfect. You know, the the passage here, verse nine actually references another verse that talk specifically about this. You’re never too late to repent because God’s mercy is great. You know, in verse nine he said, who knows? God may turn and relent. This is actually very similar to wording in Joel chapter two. That’s just a few verses back to your left. A few chapters, few pages. Joel chapter two. He says this, verse 12. Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Here we have this. I don’t just want an outward show. Don’t just tear your garments and pretend to be sad. Your hearts as well. I want those to be full of conviction. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and he relents over disaster. And then here’s the quote from our chapter today. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him? Who knows? It’s never too late to repent. His mercy is great. Even as heavy as his judgment feels. His mercy is great. He shows mercy on Nineveh, who seem so far from God. It’s never too late to turn back to him. Number three, when we talk about repentance, make sure that you’re also talking about Christ. That’s number four. I’m going to talk about that. We’ll get back to number three. When you talk about repentance, make sure you’re talking about Christ. Every turning away from is turning towards something else. Don’t talk so much about sin and how you need to turn away from that, that you forget to talk about what we’re turning toward, who we’re turning toward is Christ. Jesus understood this, and this is a passage I’ve been wanting to highlight since the beginning of getting into the book of Jonah. But Jesus talks about the sign of Jonah. He interprets the book of Jonah for us in Matthew chapter 12. If you’ll turn there, it’s in page 767, in your church Bible, Matthew chapter 12. This story shows up in a couple of different versions in Matthew, Mark and Luke, where the Pharisees have asked Jesus to give them a sign and a couple of them. This one doesn’t say it, but a couple of the others say in order to test him, they didn’t really want to know what. They didn’t really want to see a sign because they weren’t going to believe it anyway. They just wanted to test him to see what he would say to catch him. They were constantly trying to trick him, their beliefs, their interest. It wasn’t sincere. And by the way, you can come to God with any question. Come with sincerity. He can handle it. You don’t have to worry that there’s no answer. There is. There’s something out there may not be obvious. It may not be right away. Come to him. The Pharisees come to test him. Look at verse 37, 38. Some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Here we have this reference back to Jonah. Now what does this mean? The sign of Jonah. How is Jesus understanding Jonah, by the way, this shows us Jesus believed that the book of Jonah was trustworthy, reliable, true. Jesus read it. Jesus understood it. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. And here’s the point of that. I think Jesus, by talking about the sign of Jonah, was trying to emphasize two things with them, with the Pharisees and with anyone hearing this story to the nation, even the city evil city of Nineveh and the foreigner Queen of Sheba were more quick to turn to God than you. Let that prick your heart, Pharisee. Let that prick your heart, Israel. And for us who are regular in the church, let us be the first to display true repentance more quickly than those outside the church. The second part of that is that he was saying everything to them. Everything you’ve been looking for, everything you’ve been longing for, everything you’ve tried to find your righteousness in is right here in me. Jesus was saying, because he says, look, I’m greater than Solomon. I’m greater than your king. Earlier in verse six, he said, greater than the temple. And greater than Jonah. Greater than the prophet. Greater than the prophet you admire. Greater than the priest you admire, greater than the king you admire. Jesus is all three in its fullness. And so when you talk about repentance, point people to Christ, it’s not we don’t preach, just stop doing bad things. That’s not Christianity. Don’t do bad things. Of course we want you to not sin, but we want you to follow Christ more than anything else. Move toward him. Pursue him. That’s the goal. That’s who we look to, not just avoiding sin. And if you pursue him, if you truly love him and follow him, then sin will fall away. It will become gross. It will become less interesting. The temptations will just become lesser. Become enamored with him. Now back to number three. I skipped over it. Practice regular repentance. Repentance isn’t just for those out there who don’t yet know God and need to turn to him. We need to practice regular repentance. We’re all called to practice daily repentance. This is why we’re praying the Lord’s Prayer this month, and it’s up on the screen every time you pray that you get a key reminder. Forgive us our debts. Luke says, sins. Forgive us our sins. Help us to forgive others. God, would you forgive me for my sin every day I need to be crying out to him. None of us are perfect. Walk in repentance. Model repentance. And I know so many here have said I want to see God move in this church this year in powerful ways. And the easiest way to do that, maybe the hardest way, is to start with your own personal repentance. Just start there. Yeah, I want to see him stir in other people’s lives. God help me to lead in my own repentance. Practice regular, daily if needed, moment by moment repentance. Number five be available for God’s mission. He tells Jonah to go. It took a little bit. He finally gets there. Be ready to be a part of God’s mission. Here’s the encouraging part of Jonah’s story. God took Jonah, an unwilling prophet who he had to chase down, who seems to go half hearted into the city and give a real simple message, and he converts 120,000 people through it. If God can use Jonah to do that, hopefully we’re just a little bit more available and willing than that. At the bare minimum, he can use you too. That’s hard to believe sometimes. I know you’ve got people in your life who seem so far from God, who seem so distant from him. And this really leads to the last point. Number six don’t give up on people. Don’t give up on people. Don’t ever give up. Jonah wanted to write off Nineveh, evil city against our nation. Been prophesied to destroy our nation. You want me to go there? There’s no way those people would turn back to you. In fact, God is kind of foolish of you to even think that they would turn to you. Don’t you know how dark and hard their heart is? Don’t give up on people. You never know what God’s doing in the background. You’re not sovereign. Many people point back to there’s an ancient literature that shows that around this same time, a number of natural disasters were happening in and around Nineveh, likely softening their hearts to the reality some kind of omen that destruction was coming. You never know what God is doing in the background of someone’s life. You never know. They may seem to have it all together and they’re dying inside, desperate for something, hiding dark sin in need of help. A couple of weeks ago, I shared the story of Cameron Beckett. I didn’t use his name, but a couple of you came up to me after and said, hey, is. Was that Cameron Beckett? Yes. I’m sorry. It’s not Cameron Beckett. It was Beckett Crowe. Thank you. Beckett Crowe. And it’s the story of a man. And I shared some of the story. He was a gay atheist in Hollywood. He had grown up going to church, but he rejected all of that. And he was living his life to the fullest. But God had slowly been eroding his confidence. God had slowly been taking away the things he put confidence in, his relationships, his livelihood. And no one else would have known it. But he was in a place where he was open to hearing from God. And he was in that coffee shop, and I talked about it already. I won’t repeat the whole story, but he was in that coffee shop that day when the guy walked in just carrying a Bible. That’s all it took. And he said, I got to talk to that guy. You never know what God is doing in the background. You never know how he’s stirring in someone’s heart. Don’t give up. Keep praying for these students. God stirred in the hearts of three. There’s got to be more who need to know him. He stirred in the hearts of three more who need to be turned back to him. There’s got to be more. Keep praying for them. Because they’re the future of this church. I love looking at our students and going, someday they’re going to be the ones sitting out here sitting next to their kids. Someday they’re going to be the grandparents. Someday they’re going to be the ones that need a funeral. They’re going to be the patriarchs of the church. They’re going to be the legacy families. And I’m so grateful that God has stirred in their lives today. Keep praying for them this weekend. Let’s close our time together and pray. God, thank you for the story of Jonah. Thank you that we see the power of repentance, that even a city that seems so far from you can turn back to you. Help us to be faithful and repenting in our own life. Help us to be faithful in pursuing your mission and call on our life. Help us to not give up on those who seem far from you. I pray Your Word and the authority of your Word would grow and grow in our church and in the lives of everyone here. Thank you for what you’re already doing in the lives of our students. I think back to how much your word meant to me at that age. I wasn’t perfect, I made a lot of mistakes and I strayed from you many times, and I kept coming back to your word and you kept pursuing me like you pursued Jonah. God would you help these students to hear from you this weekend? Thank you for your mercy. We love you. Amen.