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Today I have a question for you. Have you ever felt like you were

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the wrong person for the job,
Like, what did you get yourself into

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You didn't have the right experience or
the right skill set? Well, I

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know I have and you probably have
too. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,

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the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick
Warren. Okay, today we're going

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to continue with the series the Manifestation
of Your Life Mission. Rick is showing

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us that no matter how big the
thing is that God is calling us to

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do, we don't have to run
away from it. We can actually run

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toward it. This is such a
good message, and I hope you'll invite

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a friend to listen along with you
as we discover how to embrace God's calling

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on our lives and how we can
live according to the purpose and plan that

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He has for us. All right, we're joining Rick with part two of

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a message called what to Remember when
things don't go your way. We want

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to be forgiven. We want God
to show us grace. We want God

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to show us mercy. But that
guy who heard to be no you God,

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you get him. He deserves justice. Do I deserve justice? No?

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I deserve grace. I deserve mercy. Jonah wants God to forgive him,

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but he doesn't want God to forgive
anybody who's hurt him. And he's

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resentful, and he's resenting that God
is actually showing mercy to somebody who hurt

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him. He's resentful that God is
showing mercy and forgiveness to somebody. He

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doesn't like his enemies, and he
wants forgiveness for himself. He wants justice

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for everybody else. So let's just
get real today. Let's don't talk about

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this guy thousands of years ago.
Let's talk about you. Who do you

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want God to not forgive? Who
do you want God to not forgive?

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Please? Don't forgive him God.
They hurt me too much. Who has

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hurt you so much that you don't
want God to show them mercy? This

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is the Djonah trap and it happens
as much today as it did to this

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guy a long time ago. Who
is it that hurts you so much you

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don't want God to show mercy?
Who are you unwilling to forgive that God's

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already forgiven. God's already forgiven him, but you won't because you think you're

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better than God. You are only
hurting yourself. You're not hurting them.

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Holding on to that resentment, holding
on to that hatred, holding on to

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that hurt is not hurting them.
All it's doing is making you miserable.

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Who are you unwilling to forgive that
God has forgiven? I remember a guy

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came to John Wesley one day and
he said they were talking about A guy

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said, Oh, I could never
forgive that guy. I could never never

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forgive that man. John Wesley said, well, then I hope you never

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sin. Why because when you don't
want to burn the bridge that you have

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to walk across to get to heaven, let me show you what Jesus said

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up here on the screen. Jesus
said this, If you forgive others the

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wrongs they've done to you, your
father in heaven will also forgive you.

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But if you do not forgive others, then your father will not forgive the

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wrongs you have done. Oh,
when you refuse to forgive, you're burning

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the bridge you have to walk across
to get to heaven. If you're unwilling

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to forgive others, God says,
why should I forgive you? If you're

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unwilling to show grace to others,
why should I show grace to you.

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You want everybody else to have justice, but you want to have mercy.

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That is the Jonah trap, That
is the Jonah mistake. You need to

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learn to forgive everybody who's ever hurts
you for three reasons, past, present,

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and future. Now listen very closely. Three reasons. You need to

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let it go, no matter how
badly do they deserve it a course not,

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but you don't either. Forgiveness is
never deserved. Forgiveness has never earned.

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Forgiveness is just a gift. You
don't forgive them because they deserve it.

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You forgive them because you want to
feel better. You do it for

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your sake. You let them off
the hook for three reasons. First,

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I have been forgiven a lot in
the past, so I need to forgive

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other people. Second, holding on
to the hurt right now just makes me

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miserable. I end up thinking about
people I don't want to think about.

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And I'm gonna in the future need
more forgivenes in the future because I'm certainly

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not going to be perfect from here
on out, So I need to let

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it go for all three reasons.
Past I've been forgiven. Second, I

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don't want to be miserable now,
And third, I'm going to need more

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forgiveness in the future. Friend.
You got to let it go. You

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got to let it go, not
because they deserve it. You didn't deserve

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the forgiveness God's given you. You
let it go because holding on to it

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hurts you. Now Jonah gets mad
because God does good things to people who

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are repentant. And Jonah gets irritated
because God shows grace to people that Jonah

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didn't like. You'd think he'd be
more gracious. God had shown him an

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awful lot of grace for his stinky
attitudes and his rebellion and all that.

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So Jonah doesn't want those people and
then of it to be forgiven. He

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wants them to be destroyed. He
wants the whole city to be wiped out.

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God, it said, I want
you to go warn him so I

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don't have to wipe about I want
you know. There's one other possible motive

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that Jonah has, and we see
it in the Living Bible translation of Jonah

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Chapter four, verse three. Up
Here on the screen, Jonah goes,

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I'd rather be dead than alive when
nothing that I told them has happened.

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What's he worried about? Here?
His reputation. He said, God,

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you told me to go to nineve
and go in forty days, the city

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will be destroyed. If you don't
turn, you don't repent, if you

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don't come back to God. And
now it hasn't happened. That makes me

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look bad. God. He's more
worried about how he looks than people's salvation.

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He'd rather see an entire city destroyed
than him look bad. He goes,

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you know, it's better for me
not even be alive. This makes

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me look bad. I'm worried about
how I appear to others? Are you

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now? Because of this? In
the second half of this chapter, God

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has to teach Jonah an object lesson
and it's one that we all have to

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learn. We're going to look at
this now. We know that life is

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filled with interruptions, with dead ends. You know, you think you're going

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that way in and just a dead
end with detours in your plans in life,

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all of our plans, they just
get kicked out the side of the

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door so so often, and we
get so many messed up plans in our

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lives. What should I remember when
things don't go my way? Well,

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you need to remember four things and
that's what the last half of this chapter,

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This last chapter of the Book of
Jonah teaches us four things to remember

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when things don't go your way.
Now, things aren't going to go your

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way a lot in your life,
so you need to write these down,

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and you need to remember. This
is what I need to think about when

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things aren't going my way, when
my plan doesn't match God's plan. Number

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one. First, when things don't
go my way, remember four things to

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remember. Remember God can see things
I can't. I just have to remind

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myself when things aren't going my way
that God can see things that I can't.

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Joonah is all upset that God had
said, I'm going to destroy this

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city if they don't turn to me. They turned in me. He said,

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I'm gonna let him off. He's
upset about that, and the verse

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four it says, then God asked
Jonah, who's all ticked off, What

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right do you have to be angry
over what I've done? Why should you

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be angry that I've forgiven these people
here going? Are you God? Are

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you wiser than me? Can you
see things that I can't see? Any

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time you doubt God's wisdom, You're
gonna get in trouble because God is God

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and you're not. And when I
have my plan and all of a sudden

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God has his plan, and God's
plan is different than my plan, and

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I start to get upset about it. I just need to remember. God

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can see stuff I can't see.
God can see the past and the present

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and the future all at the same
time, because he's not limited by time.

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We're on a planet that circles twenty
four hours, you know, around

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the sun, and rotates, but
we have a time. If you weren't

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on this planet, your concept of
time would be very different. God is

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timeless. He can see the past, president, and the future all together.

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He can see what you can't see. So you need to trust his

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wisdom. When we doubt God's wisdom, we get in trouble. God had

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to deal with this with a lot
of people in the Bible, not just

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Jonah, another guy named Job look
up here on the screen. The Bible

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says in Job thirty eight two and
three, the Lord said to Job,

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who are you to question my wisdom? Where were you and I made the

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world? Not a bad question?
Where were you when God made the world?

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Are you God? Do you see
things he doesn't see? Do you

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know more than he knows? Do
you think your plan is better than his

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plan? Where were you when I
made the world? God says? He

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says, Do I need your advice
to change plans? No? Do I

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need to consult you when I know
what's going to be better for you?

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No? Are you being a little
presumptuous? Yes, I said, I

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just need to remember when things don't
go the way I planned. God is

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God and I'm not, and I
just need to trust him, and I

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need to trust his wisdom. I
need to trust that he can see things

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that I can't see on the screen. Ecclesiastes, chapter three, verse eleven

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says this God does everything just right
and on time. So he always does

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the right thing, and he always
does it at the right time. God's

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never late. We might think he's
late, but God's never late. God

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does everything just right and on time. But people can never completely understand what

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He's doing and see the whole scope
of his work from beginning to end.

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We don't see what God sees you. Trying to understand God's plan is like

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an aunt trying to understand the Internet. I don't have the brain capacity to

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see from beginning to end. And
see all of history, and you don't

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either. And so the first thing
I have to do is remember that God

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can see things I can't see.
So God said, don't doubt me.

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Don't doubt me when you're going through
tough times. I know what's going on.

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I can see where it's headed.
I know the ending. I know

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the end of the story. I've
read the last chapter. So he said,

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don't doubt me. Remember that God
can see things I can't. So

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this is the first thing Jonah has
to learn. Now Jonah leaves the city,

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okay, And in the next verse, verse five, it says,

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then Jonah left the city with Nineveh, and he found a place of the

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city to sit down, and there
he tried to make a temporary shelter to

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sit under as he waited to see
what would happen to the city. Now,

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do you see what's going on here? Jonah is still hoping. Even

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though God says he's going to forgive
the city, Jonahs still hoping God's going

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to destroy him. And so what
he does is he leaves town. He

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goes out up on a hill outside
of town, and he sits down to

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watch the show. He's waiting for
God to destroy the largest city in the

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world at this time. Okay,
this is going to be a good show.

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So he gets out there and he's
ready, and he sets up his

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long chair and lawn chair and he
pours a nice team, gets out his

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chips in guacamole, and you know
he's waiting to see a city destroyed.

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He said, man, that's a
little gruesome. How entertaining is it to

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watch people be destroyed, killed and
cities destroyed? Well, they're called blockbuster

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movies. I mean, thousands of
years later, people pay big money to

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go see cities destroyed and people kill. So he thinks, I'm going to

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be entertained by this. So he's
sitting out there in his chair waiting to

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see what will happen. The problem
is it's a hot, hot, hot,

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dusty Deserty day, and Jonah doesn't
have a beach umbrella, so he's

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getting hot. And that leads us
to the second thing you need to remember,

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because what God does next is pretty
unusual. Number two. Write this

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down when I'm going through a tough
time that I don't understand. What I

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need to remember when things don't go
my way is remember God is good to

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me even when I'm cranky. God
is good to me even when I'm cranky.

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Now, Jonah, he's mad at
God, but God's still going to

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be good to him. And in
the next verse, verse six, it

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says talks about that even when you're
at atitude stinks, God is still gracious

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to you. Verse six, Then
God arranged Jonahs out there sitting under the

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hot sun. Then God arranged for
a broad leaved plant to spring up quickly

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and provide shade for Jonah from the
hot sun and to relieve his discomfort.

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This made Jonah very happy and comfortable. Jonah's being a total jerk, God

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still cared for his discomfort. Okay, this is kind of cool here.

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Okay, now, notice then God
arranged circle that word arranged, it's the

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same word where it says God arranged
a great fish he custom made. He

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custom made a broad leaf plant to
spring up quickly and provide shade over Jonah

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while he said He's worried about Jonah's
discomfort. Even though Jonah's attitude stinks.

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God cares about you, friends,
even when you're a jerk. And he's

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saying here that you have no idea
how many times God has made your life

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comfortable when you didn't deserve it.
You may have been going the exact opposite

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of God, and God's still covering
you with shade. You may have been

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ticked off with God, you may
have been totally ignoring God, and God

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was still caring for your discomfort.
Because that's the kind of God God is.

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He loves you even when you're unlovable. He loves you even when you're

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unlovely. Here's jonah mad at God
for God changing the plans and going,

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I'm going to forgive those people.
He's out there and he's complaining about how

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hot it is, and God takes
care of his discomfort. I need to

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remember that God is good to me
even when I'm cranky. And I need

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to remember that I have no idea
how many times God has made my life

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easier when it could have been harder
and I didn't deserve it. I didn't

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deserve it at all. It was
simply the grace of God. Here's the

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third thing to remember when things don't
go as plan. I remember God sees

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things I don't see. When things
don't go as plan, I remember that

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God is good to me even when
I'm cranky. And number three, when

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things don't go as plan. I
remember that God is in control of every

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detail of my life. God is
in control of every detail of my life,

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the big and the little, the
large and the small, the fast

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and the slow, every detail in
my life. Plans in your life,

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friends, don't fail randomly. I'll
say it again. Plans in your life

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don't fail randomly. There is a
purpose. There is a reason behind everything,

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everything in your life. Now,
God has to teach this lesson to

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Jonah. So he actually uses the
object lesson of this plant that he's grown

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up to give comfort to Jonah that
God is in control of every little detail

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of my life. And in the
next you know, so God had arranged

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for this plant to spring up and
provide shade while he's sitting out there waiting

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for the show to happen, the
show of destruction. But in the next

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verse it says this, but at
dawn the next day, God arranged.

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There's that word again. God is
custom designing. God arranged for a small

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worm of great a small worm to
chew through the stem of that large This

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is going to be an object lesson
chew through the stem of that large shade

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lesson a shade plant. So that
it withered and died. Then when the

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sun arose, God arranged there's another
word again, a scorching east wind.

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And the sun blared so hot on
Jonah's head that he grew faint, and

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he wanted to die, and he
said again, it would be better for

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me to die than to live.
Okay, now, so far we've seen

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God arranging all kinds of things in
Jonah's life. Okay, he's arranged the

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fish, He's arranged a plant.
Yeah, he's arranged a worm. God's

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using all, in fact, in
fact, all look up here on the

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screen. Here's all the stuff that
God had arranged in Jonah's life. The

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Bible tells us in chapter one,
verse three, God arranged a great wind

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to create a storm. Then it
says, in verse seven, God arranged

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the dice to reveal that Joonah was
the problem. You remember that part of

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the story. Then it says God
arranged a great fish to transport Jonah back

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to where he was supposed to be. Then it says God arranged a fast

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growing plant to provide shade, and
then it says that God arranged the worm

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to eat the plant for breakfast.
It's all been aroned now, I want

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you to listen to me. The
things that you think are disappointments in your

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life. Disappointments are His appointments.
Disappointments are his appointments. Disappointments are his

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appointments. Disappointments. What looks like
a disappointment in your life is His appointment.

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It may not be your plan,
but God has a plan, and

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God is God, and you're not. The more you fight God's plan,

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the more miserable you're gonna be,
and you're gonna have frustration and anger and

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self pity and depression and maybe feel
like taking your life. But if you

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go with the flow and say,
God, I trust your wisdom, and

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I trust that you're good to me, even when I don't deserve it.

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You're good to me, even when
I'm a jerk. You give me comfort.

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I mean, I may be running
from you completely, I'm still breathing

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air, I still drinking water,
my heart's still beating. Those are all

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gifts of God. I wouldn't last
one second without the grace of God,

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and you wouldn't either. You know, people are being transformed by these messages.

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In fact, here's Rick with a
letter from one of our listeners today.

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I want to share a testimony from
Ella, who listens to Daily Hope

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in Canada and she started listening to
our broadcast during COVID nineteen pandemic. She

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wrote, Pastor Rick, like so
many, I found every area of my

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life flipped upside down when the pandemic
hit in twenty twenty. I graduated from

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the university in April that year,
and I was lost and desperate for guidance.

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Yet as stubborn as I was,
I searched for answers everywhere else except

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in God's Word. But out of
desperation, I read the purpose Driven Life

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and I started listening to Daily Hope. Daily Hope was one of the resources

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that became monumental in my journey to
giving my life to Christ a year after

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I started listening. And so I
want to thank you, and I want

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to thank everyone at Daily Hope for
all the work that you do. It

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must seem so abstract when people you
reach are all over the world, but

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I know I'm not alone, and
saying that Daily Hope has helped me find

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comfort and God when I needed it
most. Wow, Ella, thank you

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so much. Thank you for writing, thank you for telling me that you've

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accepted Christ. You know, I
know so many people who are just like

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you. They're lost, They're looking
for answers, and they keep looking everywhere,

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but in the right place, God's
word for the truth. But praise

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God, you found the word of
God. You believed his word, and

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you believe that Jesus is the truth. So it's a blessing. It's a

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blessing to know that God is using
this broadcast to help bring you and other

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people to Him on a daily basis. Now, you mentioned that it must

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be unusual to reach people around the
world even though I'm not able to meet

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him face to face, and I'd
like to say this, I wish I

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could meet everybody face to face.
I wish I could take every one of

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you out to a corner restaurant,
sit down and have a cup of coffee

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and just let me hear your life
story. I would Nothing would make me

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feel happier than doing that. But
that's why I'm blessed to receive letters.

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Please write me, Please tell me
your story. I want to know how

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God is changing your life, how
God is using his word through daily hope

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to make a difference in you.
So let me know what God's doing in

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your life. Let me know how
he's using Daily Hope to help you in

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your Christian walk, and that way
we can pray intelligently for you. If

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you'd like to bless Pastor Rick by
letting him know how much this broadcast has

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helped you, please send him an
email at Rick at pastorick dot com.

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That's Rick at pastorick dot com.
We hope you'll join us next time when

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we look into God's Word for our
Daily hope. This program is sponsored by

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Pastorick's Daily Hope and your generous financial
support