WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:06.919 Today I have a question for you. Have you ever felt like you were 2 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.919 the wrong person for the job, Like, what did you get yourself into 3 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:15.119 You didn't have the right experience or the right skill set. Well, I 4 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:20.039 know I have and you probably have too. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, 5 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:24.640 the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Okay, today we're going 6 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:30.039 to continue with the series the Manifestation of Your Life mission. Rick is showing 7 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:34.280 us that no matter how big the thing is that God is calling us to 8 00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:38.159 do, we don't have to run away from it. We can actually run 9 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:41.479 toward it. This is such a good message, and I hope you'll invite 10 00:00:41.479 --> 00:00:46.200 a friend to listen along with you as we discover how to embrace God's calling 11 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:50.560 on our lives and how we can live according to the purpose and plan that 12 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:54.359 He has for us. Now, let's hear what Rick has to say today 13 00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:58.799 in part one of a message called what to Do When It Feels Hopeless. 14 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.159 Now, in the first session, I told you that there are three ways 15 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:08.359 we learn. We learned by experience, we learned by explanation, and we 16 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:12.319 learned by example. Without a doubt, the easiest way to learn is by 17 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:15.840 example. Then you don't have to make all the mistakes yourself. You can 18 00:01:15.959 --> 00:01:19.760 learn from successful examples. You can actually learn from failures. You can learn 19 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:23.560 from good examples, and you can learn from bad examples. We're going to 20 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:30.439 take the book of Jonah and learn from a bad example who later turned around 21 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:33.599 and actually eventually got it right. Of a guy who was given a mission 22 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:38.640 from God and he went the other way. God said, go, Jonah 23 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:46.560 said no, and God said oh. And that's the whole story of Jonah. 24 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:49.120 God has a life mission for your life. This is the most important 25 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:53.400 thing in your life. To know your life mission. You don't want to 26 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.439 go through life. Stand before God and on judgment day and God goes, 27 00:01:57.480 --> 00:02:00.439 well, did you fulfill the mission that I gave you on this to go? 28 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.280 Oh? I didn't even know I had one. You think you were 29 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:09.240 put on this earth to live for yourself? Really no, no, no, 30 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:15.360 God has a much bigger cause, purpose, goal mission for your life 31 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:17.800 than for you to just make money, retire and die. Oh no, 32 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:23.639 no, no, You're not here for something that small. God has a 33 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:30.759 life mission for every life. Now today we know that Jonah. We're looking 34 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:35.759 chapter two ran from his life mission. God said, I want you to 35 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:38.879 go to Nineveh, which was the capital of Assyria, and I want you 36 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:42.240 to tell this message to these people. It's five hundred and fifty miles to 37 00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:46.840 the east of where he lived in Israel. Jonah goes the exact opposite direction 38 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:50.800 as far away from God's mission for his life as he could. He gets 39 00:02:50.840 --> 00:02:53.520 on board a oat and heads for Tarsis, which is a seaport on the 40 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:59.840 coast of Spain. It's twenty five hundred miles the opposite direction. And last 41 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:07.000 week we looked at ten lessons you can learn about your life mission. But 42 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:09.840 when you run from God, everything goes downhill. It creates all kinds of 43 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:13.719 problems, and we looked at the problems that happened in his life. Is 44 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:15.599 all down, down, down, down. He gets on board a ship, 45 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:19.960 he gets involved in a big storm in the Mediterranean. The soldiers throw 46 00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:23.400 him overboard, the sailors throw him overboard, and he gets swallowed up by 47 00:03:23.639 --> 00:03:30.439 this great fish. Now, remember I told you last week the word whale 48 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.520 is not in this story. You've all heard all your life that Jonah is 49 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:36.639 swallowed by a whale. Well, first place, a whale is not a 50 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:40.719 fish. A whale is a mammal, and God knows the difference. Could 51 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:46.360 have been a whale, but the sailors wouldn't have known that that he was 52 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:52.039 a mammal. But a lot of scientists think that maybe it was the largest 53 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:54.280 fish in the ocean, which is actually called a whale shark. And I 54 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.159 showed you a picture of a typical whale shark. Here's what that looks like 55 00:03:58.520 --> 00:04:01.639 compared to a bus. Maybe not there, there we go, compared to 56 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:08.319 that's a whale shark. They're typically about forty feet long. That bus could 57 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:14.080 hold eighty passengers. That whale shark could hold one man. And whale sharks 58 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:20.480 are totally harmless to humans because they are filter feeders. They eat micronutrients. 59 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:25.120 They don't need teeth like most sharks do because they don't tear stuff apart. 60 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:30.199 They only eat micronutrients. So it could have easily swallowed a man. Now, 61 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:35.199 the Bible doesn't say where Jonah lived or died. God could have resurrected 62 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:40.000 him if he had wanted to. But that was it. And then I 63 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:43.800 wanted to show you what it looks like compared to men. Here's another one. 64 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:49.639 There's Jonah. Actually they're swimming and there's a whale shark. There are 65 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:55.319 lots of pictures I showed you last week in our first session of people swimming 66 00:04:55.319 --> 00:05:00.800 around, because these guys are totally harmless to human beings. But we ended 67 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:05.800 the first chapter of Jonah with this verse. Look on the screen. Now 68 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:13.319 the Lord had arranged a great fish to swallow Jonah. And now that means 69 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:15.279 he custom made if God, you don't have a problem with this, if 70 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:19.680 you believe that God created the entire universe. God created every fish in the 71 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:24.839 ocean. God created every animal. God could have custom made a fish with 72 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:29.079 a living room, a diet, and air conditioning for Jonah if he'd wanted 73 00:05:29.120 --> 00:05:31.000 to know. So, you know, if you have a problem with God 74 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:35.600 creating something special, you have a problem with the world. But let's go 75 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:40.519 back to that verse. It said the Lord had arranged a great fish. 76 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:45.600 Actually the word is ordained to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish 77 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:50.519 for three days and three nights. I heard about a little girl. She 78 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:55.920 was being challenged by a skeptic, and he goes, how could God create 79 00:05:56.040 --> 00:06:01.360 a fish that would swallow a man? And the little girl said, well, 80 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:04.839 I don't know. I'm not God. But when I get to heaven, 81 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.720 I'm going to ask Jonah how God did it. And the skeptics said, 82 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:14.000 well, what if Jonah didn't go to heaven? What if he went 83 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:21.680 to hell? She said, then you can ask him. Now, one 84 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:25.920 thing we know for sure. Some people thought this story was a fable, 85 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:29.319 but Jesus said, no, it actually happened, and you're doubting Jesus. 86 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:32.920 Jesus said it was a true, actual story. In fact, here's what 87 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:38.680 the Bible says. This is hundreds of years later, some religious scholars who 88 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.519 didn't believe Jesus, they didn't think he is who he claimed to be, 89 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:46.079 the son of God. Some religious scholars didn't believe Jesus challenged him, saying, 90 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:50.519 we want to see you do a miracle. Now. Jesus answered, 91 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:57.199 you who are faithless and you intend evil. You keep asking for miraculous proof. 92 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:00.199 But the only miraculous sign I'm going to get you, you guys, 93 00:07:01.079 --> 00:07:04.160 will be the same scient as Jonah. Now, let me explain that Jesus 94 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:08.240 did a lot of miracles for people who believed. People who had faith in 95 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:12.519 him, he rewarded their faith. He healed people, he raised the dead, 96 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.199 He did all kinds of miracles for people who had faith. But Jesus 97 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:19.759 didn't go around showing off for skeptics. He wasn't doing these signs to prove 98 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:25.560 himself to people who didn't believe. And so he goes, you just want 99 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:29.959 me to show off. I'm not the only miracle you're going to see is 100 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:32.839 the same miracle as Jonah. Now here's what the rest of the verse says. 101 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:39.199 For just as Jonah was in the belly of that huge fish for three 102 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:43.519 days and nights, so I, the son of Man, will be in 103 00:07:43.560 --> 00:07:46.720 a grave in the earth for three days and nights. He goes, I'm 104 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:49.360 going to die, and three days later, I'm going to resurrect myself. 105 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:54.920 That's called Easter. Then on Judgment Day, the people of Ninevah, that's 106 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:58.680 people Jonah was sent to talk to, are going to stand up in judgment 107 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:05.639 and condemnation of you living. Now why because when Jonah warned them, they 108 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:09.639 immediately repented, they changed the ways, and they believed in God. But 109 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:16.879 today, someone greater than Jonah, he's talking about himself. He's saying today 110 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:20.439 right now with you, guys, I'm standing here, someone greater than Jonah 111 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:26.319 is speaking to you right now. Yet you refuse to turn to God like 112 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:31.759 they did. So now we move to the second part. In the first 113 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.679 the Jonah's story has four parts. Part one, Jonah's running from God. 114 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:41.039 Part two Jonah runs back to God as he's thrown overboard, he's swallowed by 115 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:45.519 this great fish, and in the depths of his despair, he prays a 116 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:48.840 prayer. What does this have to do with your life? Mission? It 117 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:56.320 shows the seven things you do when you're feeling hopeless, when the situation around 118 00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:58.840 you feels hopeless. Now, I hope you're not feeling that way right now, 119 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:01.679 I really do as your pastor, I hope you're not feeling hopeless. 120 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.159 But you need to take notes because one day you're gonna need what I'm sharing 121 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:11.879 with you today. One day you're gonna lose a loved one. One day 122 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:16.840 you're gonna hear a dreaded word like cancer. One day, the bottom's gonna 123 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:20.919 fall out in your life, and you're gonna need to know what do I 124 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:26.000 do when I'm feeling hopeless? All right? If you take out your message 125 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.320 notes. Last session, we looked at Jonah. He's thrown overboard and he's 126 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:37.159 sinking fast into the ocean, and God prepares a great fish to swallow him 127 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:43.120 up. And in chapter two we now come to what I call what to 128 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:50.519 do when it feels hopeless? Have you ever had a situation where you felt 129 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:54.399 you were just swallowed up, Not by a fish, but you just felt 130 00:09:54.440 --> 00:10:01.000 engulfed, swallowed up by something. You go, I'm surround by depression, 131 00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:07.240 I'm surrounded by conflict. I've been swallowed up with worry or guilt or whatever. 132 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:13.039 Now what do you do when it seems hopeless? In this chapter we 133 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:18.519 have seven things to do. I hope this weekend you're not feeling hopeless. 134 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.120 I really do. I hope you're not feeling hopeless. You're gonna need this 135 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:28.480 someday. So take notes because you will have moments in your life. You're 136 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:33.399 gonna lose loved ones, You're going to have failures, You're going to have 137 00:10:33.559 --> 00:10:37.320 moments in your life where it feels hopeless. Are you going to know what 138 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:43.000 to do? The Bible tells us what to do when it feels hopeless? 139 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:46.600 Number one, let's get right into it. When you hit bottom, look 140 00:10:46.679 --> 00:10:54.159 up to God. When you hit bottom, you look up to God. 141 00:10:54.919 --> 00:11:00.360 This whole chapter, chapter two is actually a prayer. It's Jonah's prayer that 142 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:05.679 he prays as he's drowning in the ocean. He's swallowed by some kind of 143 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:11.039 giant fish. He doesn't know what's going on. And the entire chapter is 144 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:15.639 when I'm sinking, when I'm going down, I'm going to look up to 145 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:18.080 God. I'm going to pray. That's the first verse. Jonah tuo verus 146 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:24.360 one. From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God circled 147 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:28.200 Jonah prayde You know, it's funny. I was reading this today and I 148 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:33.080 was thinking some churches have a weekly fish dinner than a prayer meeting. In 149 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:39.720 this case, after the fish had dinner, Jonah prayed a little bit different 150 00:11:39.720 --> 00:11:45.759 here. How do you think Jonah felt swallowed up by this situation, Well, 151 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:48.279 he immediately does the first thing on his mind. He looks up. 152 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:52.080 When you're hit in bottom, you look up. He prays to God. 153 00:11:52.440 --> 00:11:54.679 Now a lot of people go, well, if God plans everything out in 154 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:58.679 our lives, why and the will should we pray. It's a good question. 155 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:03.080 If God's planning everything out, God's in charge, God's in control, 156 00:12:03.480 --> 00:12:07.600 why should we even pray? And the reason why is because God, in 157 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:13.600 his sovereignty and wisdom prescribes not only the ends that he wants to see in 158 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:20.840 your life, but he also prescribes the means. He prescribes the ends to 159 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:24.840 his will what he wants to he also prescribes the means. And God wants 160 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:30.120 to involve us in his plan, and so part of his plan is to 161 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:37.879 use our prayers to accomplish what he intends to do. Part of God's plan 162 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:43.840 is that he intends to use our prayers to accomplish what he wants to do. 163 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:48.039 Already, This is inviting us to be as partners. This is quite 164 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:50.279 a privilege. God could do everything in the world without a single prayer. 165 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:56.840 He doesn't need our prayers. But God has chosen to involve you in your 166 00:12:56.919 --> 00:13:01.159 own life, and me in my own life, and all of us in 167 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:07.960 the direction of the world. And there are some things God only does if 168 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:13.080 we pray. He has predicated what he wants to do on our prayers. 169 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:18.320 God wants to involve us. There are some things, there are some kind 170 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:24.799 of problems in life that the only way you're ever going to have those problems 171 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:28.639 solved is if you learn to pray persistently about that prayer. I'm not talking 172 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:33.320 about pray one time, and then that's it. If you only care about 173 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.039 something enough to pray about it once, you don't really care about it. 174 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:41.600 But something that you really want to see happen in your life, you're going 175 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:45.559 to pray about it over and over and over. Why does God wait to 176 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:50.000 answer our prayers? He could honestly answer any prayer instantly if he wanted to, 177 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:56.320 but he doesn't. He lets us pray and pray more, and pray 178 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:00.159 more, and pray more and pray more. Why he wants the first to 179 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:03.039 distinguish between what's really a real desire in your life and what's just a whim. 180 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:07.879 When my kids were little, was Christmas time we'd go through stores. 181 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:09.639 Daddy, I want this for Christmas. I want this for Christmas. I 182 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:13.240 want this for Christmas. I'm not really paying attentions. As soon as it's 183 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.120 out of sight, we're in the next line, we're in the next row. 184 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.720 They've already forgotten it. That's just a whim. I'd like this. 185 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:22.960 I'd like this. Oh, I'd like this. I'd like this. It's 186 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.720 kind of like the way I go in a candy store, but when they 187 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:31.759 go I really want this, and I keep hearing them say, Dad, 188 00:14:31.799 --> 00:14:35.919 I really want this for Christmas. Dad, I really want this for Christmas. 189 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.279 Dad. Now only know what they really want. It's a difference between 190 00:14:39.320 --> 00:14:43.519 just a whim. God says, if you don't care about praying about it 191 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.679 more than one time, you really don't care about it. You want a 192 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:52.240 husband, you want a different job, you want a healing Well, what 193 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:56.679 do you want in life? Do you care about enough to keep praying about 194 00:14:56.679 --> 00:15:01.960 it? Until God's an God is testing your faith. He's more interested in 195 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:05.360 building your faith than he is simply answering every little prayer. God's not a 196 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:09.960 slot machine where you put in the prayer and you pull it and instantly you 197 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.679 get whatever you want. A slot machine will give you stuff that will kill 198 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:18.799 you. God will never give anything that's harmful to you. But there are 199 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:24.039 some kind of problems in life that are never going to be solved until you 200 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:28.600 look up and you pray persistently, and you can try everything else, but 201 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:33.519 it's not going to budget. God is waiting for you to pray. One 202 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:37.799 time, some of Jesus' followers, the disciples, came by and they go, 203 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:41.279 there was this person here who like he had a bad spirit in him, 204 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:46.480 and we tried to pray for the guy to be healed, and he 205 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:50.000 wasn't healed. Why couldn't we do that? We're kind of embarrassed. We 206 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.639 were doing it in front of everybody. And here's what Jesus said on the 207 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:56.919 screen. Matthew Mark, Chapter nine, verse twenty eight and twenty nine. 208 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:00.720 The disciples privately asked Jesus, why couldn't we drive out that bad spirit? 209 00:16:00.039 --> 00:16:04.720 Jesus answered, because this kind can only be forced out by prayer. Now, 210 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:10.039 what is Jesus saying here? There are some problems in your life. 211 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:15.000 You can try every human solution and it's not gonna work. There are some 212 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:21.159 problems in your life that are so deep, so deep rooted in your past 213 00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:26.279 and your parents, in your traumas, some problems that are so deeput the 214 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.759 only way they're going to come out is by prayer. And so this is 215 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:33.759 the starting point. Jonah does this thing right. This is the first thing 216 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:37.559 he's done right. He's thrown overboard. And what does he do. He 217 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:41.480 looks up and he immediately starts praying. God's waiting to see how persistent you 218 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:45.600 are in prayer. Now, here's the second thing you do. This is 219 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:48.600 what Jonah did God wants you to do this too. When you're feeling hopeless, 220 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:56.559 pray passionately. Pray passionately. I'm talking about pray with emotion. There 221 00:16:56.559 --> 00:17:00.360 are certain kinds of prayers God answers, and there's a certain kind of prayers. 222 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:04.799 God's just bored with. God is bored with the trite, memorized, 223 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:11.319 mechanical, methodical, memorized prayer. We just go now, I lay me 224 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:15.319 down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep you know, 225 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:18.160 and we have all all of our little cliches, bless this food to the 226 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:22.880 nourishment of our bodies, and we're not even thinking about it because we've said 227 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:27.920 them so many times. There's a difference, if you know, as a 228 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:32.400 parent, when a child comes to you and says something that's just they don't 229 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:36.319 really mean it. But when they come and they say it passionately and they 230 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:41.559 say it with emotion, I can't imagine as Jonahs dropping down in the ocean, 231 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:45.880 he's getting swallowed by this this fish that he's praying. Now, I 232 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:51.599 lay me down to sleep. I doubt he's even praying our father, who 233 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:55.319 aren't having hollow'd be thy name first rate Jesus, hadn't given that to us 234 00:17:55.359 --> 00:18:00.240 yet. But he's not praying some memory. He's going, God, I 235 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:04.160 need help right now. And he is crying out, probably shouting out. 236 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:11.160 He's praying with emotion. This guy is desperate, he's franny. God answers 237 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:18.759 desperate prayers. God answers frantic prayers. God answers emotional prayers. When was 238 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:23.880 the last time you got frantic with God? God? Here's the crisis prayer 239 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:29.680 and Jonah verse two, we see the second thing he did this praying passionately. 240 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:38.039 Jonah said, in my distress and in my deep trouble, I cried 241 00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:41.960 out circle that. That's passionate prayer. I cried out. When was the 242 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:45.400 last time you cried out to God? I got Hi, God, how's 243 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:48.440 it going? How you doing? Hope you had a good day to day? 244 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:52.880 I did too, See you tomorrow over and out ten four, good 245 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:59.880 buddy. Yeah. God gets so bored with perfunctory prayers. They're just were 246 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.880 They mean nothing. He says, you worship Me with your lips, but 247 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:07.279 not with your heart. They're just mouthing platitudes. God says, when you 248 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:10.200 talk to me, I want to hear what's on your heart. I don't 249 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:12.599 want you to tell me what you think you should tell me. I don't 250 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:17.319 want you to tell me what you learned in some Bible school or catechism. 251 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:19.559 I want you to tell me what's on your heart. And I want you 252 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:23.680 to be passionate about it. I want you to be emotional. I want 253 00:19:23.720 --> 00:19:29.759 you to be authentic. I want you to be real. Jonah says, 254 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:33.440 I cried out. That's the second thing. You don't just look up. 255 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:36.880 You cry out. You look up and you cry out. You look up 256 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:41.000 and you cry out when you're in pain, when you're feeling hopeless, when 257 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:45.880 you're being swallowed up by the circumstances around you. Now there's a word for 258 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:52.319 this. Crying out to God in the Bible is the word called lamenting. 259 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:57.319 Lamenting. A crying out to God is called a lament. A lament as 260 00:19:57.400 --> 00:20:02.680 a synonym for a plaint. You said, wait a minute, it's okay 261 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:04.119 to complain to God. Of course, it's okay to complain to God. 262 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:11.920 God wants you to complain to him because he loves you. He's interested in 263 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:15.200 every detail of your life. Yes, it's okay to complain to God. 264 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:18.400 God. I don't like this. This is terrible. This is not right, 265 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:23.480 this is not fair. That's called lamenting. Did you know that in 266 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:27.279 the Book of Psalms, which your personal prayers to God, there are one 267 00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:32.599 hundred and fifty of those. They're not all praise, they're all sunshiny, 268 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:37.000 happy clappy, the sun will come out tomorrow kind of thing. One third 269 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.200 of the Psalms of the Bible, of one hundred and fifty, fifty of 270 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:47.440 them are complaints. Fifty of them are laments, going, God, this 271 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:53.440 is not fair God. You lied to me. God, this stinks God. 272 00:20:55.319 --> 00:21:00.319 That's called lamenting. Now, the best books on lamenting in the Bible, 273 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:04.119 or the Book of Job, the Book of Lamentations, which are the 274 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:11.440 laments of Jeremiah, he was the complaining prophet. Lamentations Job and the Book 275 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:17.200 of Psalms, and David Lamitz. They cry out, there's an entire book 276 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:22.400 of the Bible full of complaints. It's called lamentations. So yes, it's 277 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:26.640 okay for you to complain to God, because God cares about your laments. 278 00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:30.920 God cares about the pain that you have. You know, He far would 279 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:36.799 rather have you complain than for you to say some little polite prayer that you 280 00:21:36.920 --> 00:21:41.960 memorized. He doesn't care about that. He wants to know what's on your 281 00:21:41.960 --> 00:21:47.440 heart. I could give you example after example how God answers the prayers of 282 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:56.759 people in pain when they pray passionately. Good example would be Hannah. Hannah 283 00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:03.880 all of her life had wanted to have a baby, but she was infertile. 284 00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:07.799 She couldn't have a child, and she praised this prayer look up here 285 00:22:07.799 --> 00:22:11.119 on the screen, First Samuel, chapter one. By the way, Samuel 286 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:15.160 ended up being her son, that was the answer to this prayer, who 287 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:18.559 became a very famous prophet. First Samuel, chapter one. So he's telling 288 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:26.880 this story about his mom. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as 289 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:29.240 she prayed, to Lord, I've wanted to have a baby. I've wanted 290 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:30.440 to have a baby. I've wanted to have a baby, and i haven't 291 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:34.519 had a baby. Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed. 292 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:41.000 She's lamenting, and she made this vow, Oh Lord Almighty, if 293 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:45.680 you will look down upon my sorrow and you'll answer my prayer and you'll give 294 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:49.119 me a son, then I will give him back to you and he will 295 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:55.119 be yours for his entire lifetime. And she did and that boy grew up 296 00:22:55.160 --> 00:22:59.759 to be the Samuel of First Samuel. This is the prophet who ordained the 297 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:03.240 first king of Israel, Saul or Dame David. He wrote First and Second 298 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:08.200 Samuel in the Bible. This was Hannah's son. She's crying out bitterly. 299 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:15.559 God hears her prayer. So when you're in trouble and you're feeling hopeless, 300 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:19.839 the first thing you do is you look up. You look up to God, 301 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:23.480 you pray. The second thing you do is you pray passionately. You 302 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:26.799 don't just say, oh God, I'd kind of like to have this. 303 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:30.920 You cry out to God. This is what Jonahs doing. He's not praying 304 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:36.400 for functory prayers. This is no polite request. This is a gut wrenching 305 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:41.000 prayer. So if you don't get anything else, I tell you, I 306 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:45.319 want you to get this. It really doesn't matter where you pray. You 307 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:48.359 know a lot of people think they have to go into a church and kneel 308 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:56.400 down to pray. God doesn't care where you pray. Peter prayed while he's 309 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:03.039 sinking in the water, and all kinds of people pray in wars and battles 310 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:06.319 and all kinds. It doesn't matter where you pray. What matters is your 311 00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:15.480 heart when you're praying. Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. 312 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:19.519 You know, I know that you would love to live a life of significance. 313 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:25.119 But have you ever wondered if you could make a contribution so unique that 314 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:29.559 no one else in all the world could do what you've accomplished. Well, 315 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:33.119 you need to stop wondering, because God created you to make a difference in 316 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:38.240 the world. He created you to fulfill a mission that only you can accomplish. 317 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:41.480 I know you may be thinking that God couldn't use you like that, 318 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:45.240 but you know what he can. And not only can he, but he 319 00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:49.319 will. It really doesn't matter what you've done or what you've failed to do. 320 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:53.319 It doesn't matter how young or how old you are. It is never 321 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:59.119 too early or too late to start on the mission that God has planned for 322 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.279 you. And that's that's why I'm so excited to let you know about a 323 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:07.039 brand new Bible study from Pastor Rick called Rising to God's Call a Journey through 324 00:25:07.160 --> 00:25:11.480 Jonah. In this study, Rick is going to show you how God had 325 00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:15.559 an incredible mission for Jonah and it went well beyond being swallowed by a big 326 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:22.640 fish. Jonah's story is really about second chances and redemption and the rescue of 327 00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:26.519 an entire nation. And more importantly, it's the story of God, the 328 00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:30.720 one who shows grace to everyone he created. You know, the story of 329 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:36.720 Jonah is really like a blueprint from God. It shows all of us how 330 00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:41.839 He can use you to do significant things no matter where you are in life 331 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:45.920 right now. And just like Jonah, you're going to find that pursuing God's 332 00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:49.480 mission for your life is the greatest adventure that you will ever go on. 333 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:55.240 And we're going to send you Pastor Rick's brand new Bible study Rising to God's 334 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:59.519 Call, a Journey through Jonah. To say thank you for your gift to 335 00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:03.519 Daily Hope because it helps us share the life transforming Word of God with the 336 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:08.240 world. Just go to Pastorick dot com or just text the word Hope to 337 00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:14.880 eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four to get this great resource. That's 338 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.319 Pastorick dot com. Or text the word Hope to eight hundred six hundred five 339 00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:23.440 thousand and four, and thank you so much for your support. Your gift 340 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:27.599 to Daily Hope helps us share the hope of Christ with people all around the 341 00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:32.799 world. We hope you'll join us next time when we look into God's Word 342 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:37.799 for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and 343 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:40.160 your generous financial support.