Today, I have a question for you. Have you ever felt like you
were the wrong person for the job, Like, what did you get yourself
into You didn't have the right experience or the right skill set. Well,
I know I have and you probably have too. This is Pastor Rick's Daily
Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Okay, today we're
going to continue with the series the Manifestation of Your Life Mission. Rick is
showing us that no matter how big the thing is that God is calling us
to do, we don't have to run away from it. We can actually
run toward it. This is such a good message, and I hope you'll
invite a friend to listen along with you as we discover how to embrace God's
calling on our lives and how we can live according to the purpose and plan
that He has for us. Okay, here's Rick with part two of a
message called what to Do when You Cause a Storm. So the concepts of
Jonah running from God are great. In fact, there are four. These
four consequences are the same four consequences that happen in your life when you run
from God, when you ignore your life mission, when you try to pretend
you're God. When you try to play God and God, I'm gonna I'm
not gonna do what God wants to do. What I want to do,
I think, I know it will make me happy more than God does.
And when you do that, it always causes these same four consequences that we
see in Jonah's life. Negative consequences. Number one, write these down.
If I run from God. Number one, my life will go downhill.
My life will go down here. Running from God is always on a slide.
It's always degrading, it's always downhill. You are headed down over over
and over. There's an important word that's used in the story of Jonah over
and over and over, and it is the word down. You can find
it through the whole book of Jonah. He says it over and over.
In fact, I want you to circle the word down every time I read
these verses from the Book of Jonah. Jonah one, verse three, he's
running from God. Jonah went down to Joppa. That's a city on the
coast of the Mediterranean there in the Palestine area is actually under the control of
the Phoenicians at this time. Jonah went down to Joppa, where he found
a ship headed for the port of Tarshish. He paid the price to sail
to Tarsh's and he went down, notice again below deck, hoping to get
as far away from God as he could. Then in Jonah one, verse
five, Jonah went down below, was down below, laying down, sound
asleep. This is in a storm. Then in Jonah chapter two, verse
three, they threw him overboard. He says, I sank down down into
the deep sea. And in verse six, I was as far down as
a body could go. Running from God is all downhill. Jonah is down
down, down, down down, Doobi dooo down down Now. Notice here
it says he goes down to Joppa where he found a ship. Isn't that
convenient? If you want to run from God, Satan will always make sure
there's a ship. When you want to run from God, you'll easily find
a ship. Satan will make sure of that. Do you realize that Satan
can set up circumstances as much as God can? You know? Some of
guy goes. You know, and I've lived with my wife, I've been
married to her for thirty years. But I went to this party and I
met this woman who was so fascinating and so engaging, and we just hit
it off, and I knew the circumstances that this is the person I should
be married to. Don't you think Satan can engineer circumstances too. If you
want to run from God, he'll provide a shop. There'll always be one
there. Now, second negative consequence, if I run from God, it
will cost me. If I run from God, not only will my life
go downhill, but if I run from God, it's going to cost me.
Did you notice the phrase he paid the price to sail to Tarshish.
He paid the price to sail to Tarsish. Now, there's always a price
tag in running from God, and it always costs more to run from God
than it costs to run to God or to run with God in God's direction.
There's always going to be a price tag when you run from God.
There'll be an emotional price tag, there'll be a relational price tag. There
will be maybe a financial price tag, a physical price tag, a spiritual
price tag. It always costs more to run from God than to actually run
with God. Now he says he's told to go to Nineveh, which is
east, but instead he decides to go to Tarsish, which is as far
west as you could possibly go in that day. Let me show you a
map. Okay, here's Joppa, which is here in Israel, right on
the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. He's five hundred and fifty miles from Nineveh.
That's go east. That's where God says going. Instead, Jonah says,
I'm going to go two thousand, five hundred miles the opposite direction.
This guy seriously messed up. Okay, he goes. Which do you think
costs more to go five hundred miles to Nineveh or two thousand, five hundred
miles Tarsius Tarsish was a seaport on the coast of Spain. It was the
end of the known world two thousand, seven hundred years ago. They didn't
know about England, they didn't know about Ireland. They certainly didn't know about
North and South America. Spain was the end of the known world. What
is this guy doing. He's going, I'm going to go as far the
opposite direction from God as I can. You know anybody about it like that,
I'm going to go as far in the opposite direction as God tells me
to go as I can. And when I do that, I'm going downhill.
And when I do that it's going to cost me. I'm gonna have
to pay the price. Number three, if I run from God, God
will oppose me. He's not just gonna let that happen because he loves you.
He knows what will make you happy more than you do. And so
if I run from God, God will oppose me. So Jonah goes down,
he buys a ticket, He finds a ship, he goes on board.
He goes down into the bottom below deck. He thinks he's going to
have a Mediterranean cruise, a nice little Mediterranean cruise to Tarshish. But in
Jonah one four, it says, as the ship was sailing, the Lord
sent and opposing wind. Circle that and opposing wind? Why because God loved
Jonah. You ever had this happen in your life? Have you ever had
an opposing wind? You're trying to make something happen in your life, and
you're trying to make it happen, and make it happen, and make it
happen, but it's just not happening. No matter what you do, it's
just not happening. And it seems like there's an invisible force opposing you and
keeping you from moving ahead. You want it to happen. But does God
want it to happen? There's an opposing win that's coming against you. What
is the opposing when you're feeling right now, I mean right now this week?
You go, man, I'm trying to do this, I'm trying to
get it done, but you're feeling the opposing wind. Why does God allow
opposing win? Because God says, I don't want you go in that direction
when you have an opposing win. God sometimes says, I don't want you
dating that person. I don't want you getting that job. I don't want
you getting that promotion. I actually know what's better for you than you do.
I know what will make you happy more than you do. I know
the unintended consequences of what you're trying to do, and I'm going to prevent
you from some pain. So he puts an opposing wind in your life,
and you're going, I'm trying, I'm trying. I'm trying, but you're
fighting against God. If I run from God, I'm going to go downhill.
If I run from God, it's going to cost me. If I
run from God, God is going to send an opposing wind. And number
four, if I run from God, other people will get hurt, not
just you. You're not the only one. But innocent people will get hurt
too. It may be your spouse. There are wives that are being hurt
by husbands who are running from God. There are men husbands that are hurt
because wives are running from God. You may hurt your kids. You may
hurt your grandkids. You may hurt your family. You may hurt your friends.
You may be hurting your business because you're running from God. You may
be hurting your neighborhood. Who knows. There's a guy in the Bible named
Akon who ran from God, did the wrong thing, and as a result,
the entire army was defeated in the Battle of Jericho because of one guy's
disobedience. One guy caused the entire the rest of the army to be defeated.
They were all innocent. You see, sin maybe private, nobody knows
about it, but it's never personal. If I sin, you might not
know what my sin is, but it's going to affect you somehow, because
I'm not the right person that I ought to be. When you sin,
it never just affects you. They may not even ever know about it.
Your secret sin that you think well it's just me. I'm the only one
who knows about No God knows about it. But on top of that,
it is affecting other people in ways you don't know. Pornography might be some
secret sin, but it's affecting your relationship. There are a lot of other
things. I could just go and I could name things, but the fact
is other people will get hurt. Now here's what happens in Jonah chapter one,
verse four. The opposing wind created such a massive storm that the ship
was now in danger of breaking apart. So everybody else's life is threatened.
Now, everybody's being threatened because of one man's disobedience. Jonah is causing a
lot of problems for other people simply by his running from God. Who are
you causing problems for? I often have to ask myself who is being hurt
by my sin? I have to ask myself who is being hurt by my
sin? Not just me, because it hurts my relationship with God, but
it also hurts my relationship with you and all that. Now, let's follow
this story Jonah chapter one, verse five. Okay, they're in the middle
of a big storm. Now that's not their fault. All the sailors were
terrified, and they cried out in desperation to whatever gods each one trusted.
Other words, these guys are pagans. They all have their own different gods.
And they also threw overboard during the storm everything they could to lighten the
ship's load. That's a typical human behavior. When you're in a storm.
You start throwing valuable stuff away. You start throwing away valuable relationships, you
start throwing away valuable values, you start throwing away valuable habits, you stop
going to church. You start throwing away stuff. You're trying to lighten your
load, and you're actually throwing away the stuff that you were on the ship
for. Anyway, in the first place, the cargo was the reason you
were traveling. But when we get in storms, we typically start throwing things
away. We start giving up on stuff we really need that's really important,
it's really vital to our lives. So they threw overboard everything that could lighten
the shift's load. Now, while this storm was threatening everyone, Jonah was
down below deck, laying down sound asleep. Oh great, what a great
man of God, there you go. Okay, he's paying no attention.
These guys are fighting for their lives and the storm of their lives, and
the Mediterranean. The shift's about to break apart. They're all worried, and
he's down below asleep. He's ignorant of how his actions are affecting everybody else,
and he's apathetic. He doesn't care. It's like the guy who's asked,
do you think the two biggest problems in America? Ignorance and apathy?
The guy said, I don't know, and I don't care. But Jonah
is ignorant and apathetic. And so now look what happens verse six. So
the captain went down below deck to find Jonah, and he says, man,
how can you sleep? How can you sleep? I mean, we're
in the storm of our lives. Get up and pray to your god too.
Maybe your God will pay attention and rescue us from nothing. Obviously our
gods aren't doing anything, so maybe your God will rescue us from night man.
Notice the pagan guy. Then, the non believer is suggesting prayer to
the supposed man of God. They got it backwards here. He's more religious
than Jonah is. Next verse Jonah one to seven. So then the sailors
said to each other, this storm has to be somebody's fault. Okay,
We've been in a lot of storms, but this one's a doozy and we're
gonna lose our lives. So let's cast lots throw dice to find out who's
responsible for all of this trouble. So they cast lots, and lots fell
on guess who? Yeah, Jonah. Does God ever play dice? Yep?
He does, okay, and he made sure that Jah Jonah came up
okay. Next verse Jonah one eight. So they asked, Jonah, how
have you brought down all this trouble on us? What if the people around
you asked that question? What if your kids or grandkids, or your wife
or your husband, or your business? And what are you doing? Man?
Why are you screwing up so much? Why are you causing all this
problem for the rest of them? They asked, Jonah, how have you
brought all this trouble us? They're innocent, they're just sailors. What do
you do? Where do you come from? What's your nationality? What kind
of people do you belong to? They're just trying to figure they're giving this
guy the you know, the fifth degree. They're trying to figure out how
in the world did you get us into so much trouble. Next verse Jonah
one eight, So Jonah eight, nine and ten. So Jonah answered.
Now Jonah's finally being honest. He says, I'm a Hebrew. Okay,
I'm Jewish, I'm a Jew. I'm a Hebrew, and I worshiped the
Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea in the land.
Now he confesses. Then Jonah told them that he was running from God.
Now this frightened the sailors even more. Okay, they're scared to death.
Why have you done this? What an idiot? Who would try to run
from God? They're not and they could be atheists. We don't even believe
in God. But if there is a God, certainly he would be everywhere.
And why would anybody be dumb enough to try to run from God.
God is omnition, He's omnipresent, He's everywhere. He knows everything. You
can't run from God. You can run from God the rest of your life,
but then you can't run anymore because the moment you die, you're going
to go face to face to God. So why would you be this dumb?
Why would you try to run from God? Now here's the sixth principle.
Write this down. The longer I run from God, the worse it
gets. The longer I run from God, the worse it will get.
The longer I put off accepting my mission, the longer I live a self
centered, selfish life, the worse it's going to get. Some of you
think this last year has been a rough year, and it's been tough on
you. It's been a rough rough year. As somebody who loves you as
your pastor as your spiritual coach, I'm begging you. I'm begging you make
a full surrender of your life to God. Make a full surrender of your
life God. Just let go and let God have it all. Because you
don't know what kind of storms coming up next year. It may be nothing
compared to what you went through this year. You don't know. You just
don't know. God is patient with us, as Tom said, but his
patience actually runs to an end, and God goes, I'm not going to
let you just totally ignore why I made you. So if things are getting
rougher, then you don't know what the storm could be had. Now.
Verse eleven says this, Now the storm was getting worse and the waves got
rougher, Okay, why because it's going on, He's still running. The
storm's getting worse, The waves got run. How much rougher does your marriage
have to get before you wake up and realize I need to change something here.
This isn't working. We're headed in the wrong direction. How much rougher
does your marriage have to get before you actually say God, I need your
help and I need to change and I need you to help me to change.
How much worse does that situation in your job have to get before you
God gets your attention? How much worse does your health have to get before
God gets your attention? He loves you too much. God loves you just
the way you are, but he loves you way too much to let you
stay that way, because you're not where you could be, what He designed
you to be, what he made you to be, what you have the
potential to be. How much worse does it have to get? So it
says, the storm's getting worse, The waves got rougher, And so they
asked, Jonah, what should we do to you to stop the storm and
calm everything down? It was a pastor. I get asked that question every
day of my life. I've been asking almost every day for probably forty plus
years, one way or another those words, but one way to other people
come and say, Rick, how do I stop the storm in my life?
How do I stop the storm in my life? And the answer is
always the same, a complete surrender of your life to God. Stop rebelling,
stop resisting, stop running, stop running away, surrender and the peace
comes. Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. You know,
I know that you would love to live a life of significance. But have
you ever wondered if you could make a contribution so unique that no one else
in all the world could do what you've accomplished. Well, you need to
stop wondering, because God created you to make a difference in the world.
He created you to fulfill a mission that only you can accomplish. I know
you may be thinking that God couldn't use you like that, but you know
what he can, And not only can he, but he will. It
really doesn't matter what you've done or what you've failed to do. It doesn't
matter how young or how old you are. It is never too early or
too late to start on the mission that God has planned for you. And
that's why I'm so excited to let you know about a brand new Bible study
from Pastor Rick called Rising to God's Call a Journey through Jonah. In this
study, Rick is going to show you how God had an incredible mission for
Jonah and it went well beyond being swallowed by a big fish. Jonah's story
is really about second chances and redemption and the rescue of an entire nation.
And more importantly, it's the story of God, the one who shows grace
to everyone he created. You know, the story of Jonah is really like
a blueprint from God. It shows all of us how He can use you
to do significant things no matter where you are in life right now. And
just like Jonah, you're going to find that pursuing God's mission for your life
is the greatest adventure that you will ever go on. And we're going to
send you Pastor Rick's brand new Bible study, Rising to God's Call a Journey
through Jonah, to say thank you for your gift to Daily Hope because it
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