howard hendricks has a deep statement he says that our greatest fear should not be the fear of failure but our greatest concern should be success in all the areas of life that don't really matter to be successful and wildly successful in all the areas of life they don't really matter and then miss the areas that do so one of my prayers for all of us is that we would really know what in life matters in what matters most we're going to look at jonah chapter three and the theme of this chapter is leading people to god and that is something that matters it's on god's heart and we're going to see it played out through the prophet jonah so let's take a look at jonah chapter three starting in verse one then the word of the lord came to jonah a second time go to the great city of nineveh and proclaim to it the message i give you so god's word god's assignment for jonah comes a second time and that raises the question well what was the first time so look back at chapter one in verse one it's going to sound similar in chapter three it's almost like deja vu all over again as yogi berra would say and chapter one verse one says the word of the lord came to jonah go to the great city of nineveh and preach and then verse three in chapter one says but jonah ran away from the lord so chapter three now this same start a second time except verse three jonah obeyed though the word of the lord and he wint to nineveh what a difference first time ran away second time he's going with the lord same assignments same word from the lord completely different response from jonah it's almost like following god take to jonah already has got ever given you a second chance following god and take two a second second chance you have had a fifty second chance some of us know about a twenty fourth second chance god in his mercy is going to come to jonah in say all right let's do this again you've learned some things from that first time when you rebelled and ran away and now i think jonah you're ready for this again and maybe you're sitting here today saying you know i didn't quite handle it right the first time through but god in his mercy has given me another opportunity today to make it right to go with the lord and to trust the lord so that's what we see playing out here and the message is still clear it hasn't changed take my word to take my message to nineveh the message to the students our high school students is take my word to portland take my word to portland and they've said yes we want to go and do that what would be the blank for you to fill in the blank take my word take my message to would it be a plays a neighborhood workplace would it be a certain person who would you write in that god is saying take my message to these people and god gives all of us that assignment but different people and jonah is fine in that position of surrender and i don't know what your view of surrender is i mean it's father's day you know it's not a word we often associate with surrender father's day surrenders very positive in the scripture now if you're misperception is that surrender means passive do nothing help us that's not the picture in scripture surrender means that we exchange our weakness for god's power surrender means we put aside our own will and say yes to god's will and surrender is linked to service jonah surrenders for the first time and it's right into service so when you surrender to god it's probably not going to be potato mode surrender is going to move you to service and it is courageous it is action it is with the lord it is purposeful it's not pass so we need to think through you know the word surrender the concepts of honor what does it really mean in scripture and so often it's linked to service surrender service surrender service so stepping forward with the lord now when it comes to leading people to g here's the first principle your role is to be faithful and then to trust god with the results a lot of times as christians we want to control the results well how are the results going to go i want to know the results want to try to control the results the results are ours so often in life but god asks us to be faithful to trust him to duty is asking us to do to say what he wants us to say and then trust him with the results thanks for watching our program today and i want to let you know about our web site activate life died or you can send us your prayer requests we are honored to pray for you we also have daily devotions and other resources you can sign up for and if you want to support us financially you can do that through the web site now we'll get back to the tainting as we get into god's word together three three little interactions one is as we were walking to the stadium two guys were walking next to us i would say in their twenty's and they were just freely swearing and cuss and right next to our kids in so i'm not sharing this at like oh i'm so holy and i've never heard a cussing word before and i was appalled this cussing happens in seattle i was shocked i'm not so sheltered you know in the surge that but what i'm saying is you know just caught my attention because with these little ears here it all comes and they were unwavering and i thought ok either they don't know better or they don't care about little ears they're just going to do it anyways you know either case not that great i didn't have any dip or resentment and you know forgiveness but it was that old parenting moment of like ok do we unpack those phrases do we explain why you shouldn't say those we explain what they mean and we just hope they didn't say no and we opted for let's not talk about let's just keep going to the game so i think that's wise parenting but some you're going to email me this week actually as a parent you want to do something very different so that was one experience and then the second one is we sit down for the game and i'm not anti mears gets like i'm down on the experience but you know sit behind us there was some drunk guys and you could just tell their room drawn close to sick and one of them just threw up all over the place behind us and so it was like fortunately some other open seats were able to move over there but again my heart was more of compassion i just felt for that guy that like ok if it's highlight of the week get wasted and go to mariners game in and then the third one was as we were leaving and headed back to the car you know it's under the overpass that i just saw so many people look like they were going to be camping up for the night on the concrete and including you know i just saw a woman just all alone just sitting there like she was going to spend the night there and just thinking why no one would hurt her in so here i am balanced on the one hand it's kids first game and it's so fine we're putting on facebook and all that in on the other hand my heart is just pulled over there and i don't know if you have those moments and what i'm battling with then is like should i just compartmentalize my face should i be in mariners mode and not care but then at the end of the night that those three things are what stick in with me and then what do you do with the heads in so we see needs all around us and the easy thing to do is to say i'm going to stay in mariners lane and i want to pretend like i don't notice what's happening around and yet there's this part where it's like shouldn't we be doing something like are we just going to say no to helping some people in auburn are we going to say no we only go to the edge of auburn we're not going to reach more and that's why when you think about why in point six million it's not just a number but it's getting close to some people it seems the needs in saying you know i'm in a step out of this little comfort zone and say yes to god and to see what god might want to do to help some people in so may god use you in tremendous ways if you think about what's really important and we need a vision that's big enough to help a lot of people humbly in jesus name in so that's why god gives us big vision because he loves people so much you say well the thing about a big vision that i don't like is that i'm really going to have to rely on god exactly exactly the i don't want to big vision i don't want something that's like bigger than human power and thinking because then we might actually have to cry out and ask god to do something that only god can do exactly exactly so that's where god tries to lead us that's where he's leading jonah and here's a second one that's off base be silent about it here be silent about that here god says proclaim the message that i give you because my message is that here my word is the key here the gospel is the key here one caution i have is that so often these days i see christians who have a soapbox christians who have opinions christians of first importance more so than my opinions what's going to change the nation is it the gospel or is it a bunch of opinionated christians on social media blast in some people you know what is it in so what's our light what's our witness these days do we lead do we bring the gospel do we proclaim grace do we proclaim jesus do we help people to know god a relationship with a loving father had switching to his lies that's what changed my life in so we think about grace think about the gospel you know some christians that are long term christians they say oh well that's only the starting line i mean the gospel i've heard that that's like for new christians that's the starting line for the gospel is the starting line the gospel is kindergarden the gospel is high school the gospel is college the gospels your master degree it's the gospel isn't just oh you know that's when you first trust jesus you know the gospels for every day the gospels for every part of our life to be gospel centers to let the gospel run through us and we live out that gospel in everything we do so don't ever just talk the gospel into a little corner and say oh that's for starting class that's for starting points know the gospel the gospel of jesus christ the power of god in so what i've noticed is that every other agenda in message seems to be growing louder when i drive down auburn way i see little signs that say oh i need a psychic here's the phone number psychics put in they're putting their stuff out there don't quote me exactly what it says i didn't i write down the the thing but i do see a psychic need a psychic got a psychic here's the number you know i read the bible psychics noho don't go to  in yet the advertisements like i went to a little festival event with our kids are walking down past all the tables and booze one of them psychic come over your come get your palm read you know find out what's going on you know i'm walking by below doubletake and then out she says you come on over or come on over us really now but is the world she's sincere she thinks that's the best answer as you get a psychic and you'll have peace and we've got something good so much better now i'd like to tell you that at that same festival i said oh come over here sure i'll come over there and then i told her about real power and i told about the one who knows the beginning in the end and i told her the prince but i just said no thanks and kept walking and thanks for the sermon illustration i think i'll use the i didn't say that i just know sometimes later you think i could have gone back i could have had a conversation but all the other he has a message he says forty days and then a verse going to fall that's the message that's the message clocks tick in forty days i can get forty one days not forty days and there is grace even in that there is grace in every warning of god there is grace if you keep going the bridges out well that might sound like a warning it is a warning but there's also a grace in that because you didn't just go off the bridge you were reminded that the bridges out in please don't go over the bridge so he's a straight shooter in that and i was thinking today in our culture it seems like christians were kind of doing that tiptoe timid tip toe in so today's version if we were jonah might be like maybe down the road if you'd known something of entally might happen and that's enough in tip toe really is that would jonah did he he didn't do that he said forty days in the city's going down you got forty days that's that's i didn't have to be you know full of pride or you know exclamation point driving home but he was clear in so you didn't water it down and you say well that's too strong it's too strong if it's truth and it's in love then you've got to be strong you're strong enough to bring a strong message in the lord you know sharing the faith that's one of those areas for me where i really needed a push from the holy spirit from friends i need a lot of nudges i was one of the people that was saying no thanks no thanks in the way i describe it is back in minnesota there were some hills we do have some hills in minnesota growing up and we like to go sledding and it's free and it's fine you find a golf course you go sledding and you sneak on but anyways before i came no lord and at the top of that hill you say i'm not moving to quit can you give me a push and all your friends they just get down and they win they push you and then you go flying down the aisle and for me share in the faith that's my best metaphor to it because i was like no i'm not going anywhere i'm not going to i think i want to go anywhere ok here comes the push and once you get go and lead people to god it's hard to slow down because the more you do it you think what does matter more than this so some you today are just white hot and you bring in stories awesome bring it to friends every week you're just likely more people of god in it's incredible the way god is using you that some people in the room other people you'd say well theologically i'm in full agreement with people to god so as a concept it's one i've studied and i think it's wonderful and yes i do where do i check that box where do i do that but not much is really happening but yes as a concept it's sure yeah that's a good concept others is just new it's like oh i want to like how do i do that in that's our role to continue to encourage and inspire him to help you figure out how and then there's others where it's like no i'm not going to i'm not i'm not i'm not and it was a god loves all of us  loves all this but the question i would ask is what do you want what do you want true of your life where do you want to be when it comes to leading people to god in maybe what's holding you back so the last one is we try to make it so complicated and that some we don't need to do i was thinking about being a dad and this was this is from a son talking about his dad and in so that arena of being a dad and not making being a dad too complicated this is what the son says the son says the greatest gift i ever received from my dad was a gift one christmas when my dad gave me a little small box inside it was a note in this is what my dad wrote son this year i will give you three hundred sixty five hours dad organized i guess but listen he says minute for one hour every day after dinner is yours and we're going to talk about what you want to talk about we're going to go where you want to go we're going to play what you want to play in that will be your hour right after dinner every day my dad not only kept his promise but every year he renewed it and it's the greatest gift i've had in my life i am the result of his time and love you can spell it t i am so often in so that dad you know figured out it's not that complicated you come along side your son in time in love and you just connect bond and get that time together that closeness together so when it comes to sharing your faith sometimes to make it complicated we come up with a have to use and so we think well i have to be really excited about it jesse seems really excited i have to be really excited was jonah really excited  not really excited god still used him incredible ways the next thing we think is well i have to talk a lot i have to be extroverted i have to use so many words john had one sentence forty days the city overturned one sentence god can change a heart in one sentence you don't have to be longwinded next one i have to know people super super well i have to build decades long friendships in this and maybe jonah met the people for the first time how often do you just meet someone for the first time disciples meet someone for the first time new cd so these limitations we put there are false i have to have it all together did jonah have it all together he is fresh out of the fish i mean he's still got fish stomachs lying behind his ear you know and he's he's out there sharon and then i have to go to seminary i have to be on staff at church we psych ourselves out with so many bogus barriers and god wants to bring a new freedom a new joy a new freedom so let's see how this chapter wraps up looking at verse six when the news reached the king of nineveh he rose from his throne he took off his royal robes he covered himself with sackcloth and he sat down in the dust then he issued this proclamation if by the decree of the king in his nobles do not let any man or beast herder flock taste anything do not let them eat or drink but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth let everyone call urgently on god let them give up their evil ways and their violence who knows god may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish when god saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways he had compassion in did not bring upon them the destruction that he had threatened so sackcloth sitting down in ashes a sign of humor military there was fasting which is sincerity and seeking the lord the king issued a decree so that all the people knew we are utterly dependent on god in they cried out urgently for god it says even the animals were fasting spot the dog you don't get your purina you don't get your puppy chow tonight you don't get your scooby snack dogs dogs can you pray because you're fasting dogs see spot run see spot fast i mean the animals are in those fasting everybody in so that was the response seeking god here's a couple of truth to encourage us before we go number one every person's greatest gift greatest need is god and his gift of grace every person's greatest need is god personally i had no clue about that principle for eighteen years until mike and brian started to share that with me no clue about that void in my life when i think about needing god here's a couple stats about the state we live in washington in the nation when it comes to education out of fifty states we are eighth eighth in education when it comes to health in measurements of health in our state o fifty states we are ninth when it comes to income the state of washington twelfth top twelve in the country when it comes to religious faith or spiritual whatever you want to call it forty fourth it tells you a lot about our culture in what we value and what's happening in the state and so we see a need there as a nation is we just saw what happened in orlando we we want to be crying out to god for for his help for his healing in our nation that more people be turning to him orlando's just a reminder a much our nation has gone astray and we need the lord and we need his healing as a father's day a verse in first c fifteen paul says you have many guides but you are only of one father to the corinthians and he was their spiritual father and now joan is going to become a spiritual father too you know hundred twenty thousand people in nineveh in some of you are our biological fathers and what a privilege and what an honor but all dads can be a spiritual bad all men can be a spiritual father women can be a spiritual mother of leading someone to god and then building them up in the faith in still think about that role you know it's sweet as well as generations when you're the spiritual father to somebody and they get to experience christ and then they turn around and they lead someone else to christ and pretty soon you're a great granddaddy you're a great great great great granddaddy  people in the lord spiritual in a spiritual family and so god builds up his family and he does it through dad spiritual leaders as well here's the second truth god's word already has a life changing power in it as i got to be so powerful no you don't spurgeon said this god's word is like a lion you don't have to defend it you just turn it loose the way i came no lord a darkness professor trying to chop down the scripture assigned it to me and even though he made every attempt to tear down the word of god many attempts the word of god stands in its truth it's strong it changed my life if you look up josiah in the old testament you'll see he became a king when used eight years old our kids are six six seven and nine couldn't imagine one of them lean our country he was eight years old but you know what he did eighteen years later at twenty six mid twenty's they found the word of the lord and when he heard the word of the lord they rediscovered god's word he tore his robes and he says everyone's got to hear god's word and he stood up as the king in his to when he's in what i commit my heart in my soul to the word of god in the living that out in the bringing that to the people and so the word of god has power the word of god as you bring it forth changes lives as we close today and we think about the end of this chapter chapter three this is a chapter about god's mercy and god's grace first in jonah's life jonah is saturated with god's mercy and grace would you sit here saying you're saturated with god's mercy and grace and then out of that profit he goes and he brings god's grace and the people and then of experience god's mercy and grace one life after another and it's powerful so when you think about what happens in jonah three the world's greatest revival many have said and the world's most reluctant prophet the world's worst of angeles and the world's greatest revival and how does that add up because it's god's power in it's god's work in jonah just said yes to god now as you travel in through the bible and you see ok name him you read that profit one hundred fifty years later nineveh who they take a wrong turn and they rebel against god and so you know down the road they're going to turn back into some bad ways but for that time right here in jonah chapter three there is listen to god their sincerity there's urgency in crying out to god in the experience his grace and his mercy here's the take on last point it's not too late for revival it's not too late in your home in our community in the city in the country so we had dad these politicians the crime the hatred it's not too late for revival was it too late for a violent end of a it wasn't too late in what did god do unlikely people unlikely places god when he brings revival he'll use unlikely people in unlikely ways in unlikely places and the starting point same heres for jonah the starting point is to say yes to his word and to carry his word and his message let's pray father would you help us to lead people to you and would you help us to grow in our face would you help us we battle through the what ifs and some of the fears and excuses as we are more worried about our reputation sometimes than other people souls as were more worried about entertainment than we are about the needs of the people around us father we confess that to you sometimes lord we're more led by our feelings than by the holy spirit would you help us to walk by faith would you help us god to focus in on what really matters so as howard hendricks says when our life is done we won't look back on all these awesome accomplishments and the things that didn't really matter and so think you know used tourists and speak to us and we pray so sincerely god if there's anyone here and i pray for my friend in california as well but if there's anyone here who has not yet put their trust in jesus for a first time decision to follow him to receive his grace have eternal life and have your own savior that relationship to really know jesus and follow him make that decision today check that box on the welcome cards let somebody  we can follow you up help you grow in your faith we commit this to you lord we pray more would turn to you and we are mindful of a city we live in and just we pray for the cities that we live in which is pray for those cities right now and pray for these cities we live in and we worship you together in jesus name thanks for watching today and i want to let you know about our website activate life that org there are so many free resources to help you grow in your faith and if you've been blessed during the teaching please send us an e mail if you want to learn more about jesus we'd love to hear from you again our website is activate that org and we'll see you next week