New Perceptions

In Exile–Cadences of Home: Here Am I–Send Them

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: NP

Program Code: NP190601A


00:00 ♪♪
00:10 ♪♪ >> I invite you to stand for our
01:23 prayer this morning. Creator God, we are blessed
01:30 because You invite us to come meet with You.
01:35 So in this space, we gather. We're glad to see one another,
01:40 but we're more excited because we get to have an encounter with
01:45 You. In Jesus' name, we pray.
01:47 Amen. >> Remain standing as we sing
01:50 "What a Friend in Jesus." The author of these words
01:53 entitled his poem "Pray Without Ceasing."
01:58 ♪♪
03:48 >> Sing with us.
05:50 >> Amen.
11:26 As we sing the next verse, I want you to think, "What do I have to surrender to Jesus?
11:33 For five years, the person who wrote these words struggled with God about something God was
11:40 asking him to do. For five years, he was struggling with that.
11:45 And when he surrendered, this song came out. These words came out of him.
11:50 Think about that and please stand with us as we sing the last verse of this.
14:00 >> Well, happy Sabbath, girls and boys. I am just so glad you're here
14:08 this morning. And I do have a story for you. But, first, a question.
14:13 How many of you have ever been a passenger on a big ocean-going ship?
14:21 You have. Oh, quite a few of you.
14:24 Wasn't that fun? A few weeks ago, some friends
14:28 and I were on a big ocean-going ship named the Norwegian Sun.
14:33 If you look up there on the screen, there's the Norwegian Sun.
14:37 Isn't she beautiful? Oh, 12 decks high. I tell you -- you can see a lot
14:43 of ocean from 12 decks up. And we were on our way hundreds of miles south, into the
14:51 South Pacific Ocean. We were traveling along the coast of South America, close to
14:58 the country called Chile. And, again, if you look up there on the screen, that long, skinny
15:05 country is Chile. In fact, the nickname is "The Shoestring Republic."
15:12 It does look like a string, doesn't it? Very narrow, very long.
15:17 We were traveling along the coast of Chile and we stopped at an island called
15:23 Magdalena Island. One of the unique features of Magdalena Island is that no
15:30 people live on that island. Not a single human being. Instead, the island is full of
15:38 hundreds and hundreds of birds. It's what they call a bird sanctuary.
15:45 And most of the birds are black and white. And they look like this.
15:52 What is this? It is a penguin. You're right! You older boys and girls know
15:59 there's several varieties of penguins. There's the really big ones down
16:04 there in Antarctica. They're called the emperor penguins.
16:08 And then slightly smaller are the king penguins. And then there's this little
16:13 guy. He's called a Magellanic penguin.
16:18 Magellanic penguin, because he's named after Ferdinand Magellan. Yeah, you can see some of his
16:26 friends up there on the screen. Magellanic penguins. They're only about 16 to
16:31 18 inches tall. They would come up only to your waist, okay?
16:36 But they are beautiful, beautiful penguins. There were hundreds of them on
16:42 Magellanic Island. All right. Our ship stopped there.
16:47 We got off. We walked around and we saw all those little baby penguins and
16:52 all those mama and papa penguins. You know what?
16:56 These Magellanic penguins mate for life. That means mama and papa penguin
17:01 stay together their whole life, until they die. Typically, they only have one
17:07 baby. Just one. You know what we call a baby
17:12 penguin? >> A chick. >> A chick. You're right.
17:15 A future biology major there. We call it a chick. You're right.
17:19 'Cause it's a bird, right? Only one baby chick is normal. So they really value that little
17:26 baby chick and they dig a hole in the ground called a burrow, where the mama penguin lays the
17:32 egg, and when that egg hatches... [ Gasps ]
17:34 ...ooh, they watch over that baby chick very carefully, because there are other birds on
17:40 the island, primarily sea gulls, that like to eat baby chicks. So the parents watch very
17:48 closely. But, of course, while one parent is guarding the baby chick, the
17:52 other parent penguin has to go out and catch some fish, 'cause that's what baby penguins, or
17:58 chicks, eat is fish. So, one parent penguin will swim out in the ocean, sometimes for
18:06 3 or 4 days, and try to swallow as many fish, primarily little ones -- you know, sardines -- as
18:14 he can. And then he'll come back to the island and back to the burrow
18:19 and he will regurgitate. All right, what's that word mean, regurgitate?
18:26 Yes? >> He'll throw it up. >> He'll throw it up.
18:29 Yuck! Yuck! He'll vomit, or throw up, his tummyful of fish right down the
18:37 baby chick's throat. Whoa! Pre-digested Gerber sardines.
18:46 Aren't you glad your mommy doesn't feed you that way? Oh, yuck!
18:52 Well, as I mentioned a moment ago, sometimes, the papa or mama penguin has to be out there for
18:59 several days -- 3 or 4 days. And when they're out there, they're in great danger, because
19:06 there's something else out in the ocean that eats penguins. Look at the screen.
19:11 What is that? Oh, yes! It's an orca whale. And the orcas travel in groups
19:20 called pods, and they like to eat penguins. So if every mama and daddy
19:26 penguin went fishing at the same time, many of them wouldn't come back, because the orcas would
19:32 kill them. So, here's what happens. One very brave penguin
19:41 volunteers to swim out into the ocean when there are orcas out there and lead those orcas on a
19:51 merry chase. That little penguin will swim as hard as he can, as fast as he
20:00 can, as far as he can to lead the orcas away from the island and his friends back there on
20:09 Magdalena Island. But -- but -- this penguin knows that the orcas are bigger than
20:16 he. They're stronger than he. They can swim farther than he.
20:24 And so, in the end, he knows he's not coming back home. He will die.
20:32 But in giving up his life, he will save hundreds of baby chicks and their penguin parents
20:42 back on Magdalena Island. You know, girls and boys, when our tour guide on the boat told
20:49 us that story, I immediately thought of somebody else who came to this Earth, voluntarily,
20:57 to die for you and me. Who was that? That was Jesus, wasn't it?
21:02 He didn't have to come, but He volunteered to come down here and die on the cross for you and
21:10 me and your parents. And then, unlike the penguin, He didn't stay dead, right?
21:18 He rose again from the tomb on Easter Sunday morning and He went back to heaven.
21:24 And some day, we hope soon, He's going to come back again and take you and your parents to
21:31 heaven with Him. Isn't that a beautiful thought? I wonder if there's a little
21:35 girl or a little boy here this morning that would like to pray and thank Jesus -- Would you?
21:41 Come on up here. Thank Jesus for coming to this Earth and dying for us so that
21:48 we can have everlasting life. Thank you so much. Let's bow our heads.
21:56 >> Dear Jesus, thank You for this day. Please help us to understand why
22:01 You died on the cross and help us to love You more and help people who don't know about You
22:07 to learn about You. In the name of Jesus, amen. >> Amen.
22:10 That was a beautiful prayer. Thank you so much. You may now go back to your
22:15 seats. Thank you.
22:21 ♪♪
22:34 >> ♪ Sing the wondrous love of Jesus ♪
22:39 ♪ Sing His mercy and His grace ♪ In the mansions bright and blessed ♪
22:49 ♪ He'll prepare for us a place ♪ I am bound for the kingdom, will you go to glory with me? ♪
22:59 ♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord! >> ♪ While we walk the pilgrim pathway ♪
23:12 ♪ Clouds will overspread the sky ♪ >> ♪ But when traveling days are
23:20 over ♪ ♪ Not a shadow, not a sigh ♪ I am bound for the kingdom,
23:29 will you go to glory with me? ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
23:45 ♪ Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day ♪
23:54 ♪ Just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay ♪
24:04 ♪ I am bound for the kingdom, will you go to glory with me? ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
24:14 ♪ I am bound for the kingdom, will you go to glory with me? ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
24:27 ♪ Onward to the prize before us! ♪ ♪ Soon, His beauty we'll
24:34 behold ♪ ♪ Soon, the pearly gates will open ♪
24:41 ♪ We shall tread the streets of gold ♪ ♪ I am bound for the kingdom,
24:52 will you go to glory with me? ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord! ♪ I am bound for the kingdom,
25:04 will you go to glory with me? ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord! ♪ Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
25:23 >> Amen! [ Applause ]
25:31 >> Thank you, choir, Sanctuary Choir. "Hallelujah, praise the Lord.
25:34 I am bound for the promised land." Let's go there together.
25:43 I want to pray first. We'll plunge into our teaching on exiles.
25:49 Father, we want to go there. Hallelujah. We sing with the choir.
25:55 Praise the Lord. We're still basking in the joy of those three beautiful
26:02 testimonies, three new friends of Jesus. And it occurs to me, Father,
26:09 there may be somebody here who watched those three and is thinking, "You know what?
26:12 I could do that. I could be baptized and follow Christ."
26:18 If that's the case, would the Holy Spirit please take these next few moments, and maybe you
26:23 and he, you and she talk this out. Right now, may this story come
26:33 alive for us -- exiles. In Jesus' name. Amen.
26:40 So, how can I possibly tell you a story you already know?
26:44 Maybe we try this. Tonight, midnight, your place --
26:50 Could be a house, could be an apartment, could be a mobile
26:55 home. Tonight, at midnight, go into a
26:58 closet, shut the door behind you.
27:01 You've got the closet light on, of course. Take a couple, three deep
27:07 breaths and then turn the light out. Pitch-black darkness, right?
27:16 Yeah. And now imagine that, while you're in that position -- dark
27:22 closet -- the walls, the four walls, begin to push in on you. Mm-hmm.
27:26 Suddenly, you feel the walls touching your shoulders, and you realize that your arms are
27:30 pinned to your side. Suddenly, the wall in front of you, which you cannot see, is
27:35 touching your nose. The wall behind you that you cannot see is touching your
27:39 head. And if that weren't claustrophobic enough, let's
27:45 take all fresh air out of that closet -- that be okay? -- and replace it with this pungent,
27:52 like, pins-in-the-nostrils ammonia. And your gut begins to twist in
28:02 advance of a retch. And while you're there in the dark, if that weren't enough,
28:08 something is touching you, and you don't know what it is. Is it alive? I don't know.
28:14 It's probing your orifices. Slimy to the touch. Ugh!
28:23 "What are you talking about?"
28:26 Take a look at these words on the screen, please.
28:43 Who prayed that prayer? Where did he pray it? In the belly of a whale.
28:49 Of course. You know, they have this saying, "You can run, but you can't..."
28:56 You can't hide. I think for Jonah, the converse is just as true.
29:00 You can hide, but you can't run. Where can you run in a whale's belly?
29:07 Nowhere. Open your Bible with me to this world-loved story of Jonah and
29:12 the whale. We're gonna take five minutes while you find the
29:15 Book of Jonah, all right? Five minutes, but that's it. Five minutes up, we're moving
29:20 on. All right, it's the little, tiny book tucked into the
29:24 Minor Prophets, the 12 last prophets in the Old Testament. All right, Jonah, Jonah, Jonah.
29:32 And, by the way, while you're finding it, 'cause you're still
29:34 looking, let me put the title slide on the screen for you.
29:37 We're in this away-from-our-home-church series
29:41 called "In Exile: Cadences of Home."
29:44 Title today, "Here Am I -- Send Them."
29:47 "Yeah, but, Dwight, come on. Time-out. You can't put Jonah in with
29:51 these exile stories." Oh, yes, you can. I learned that scholars, in
29:57 fact, define what they call diasporic -- Oh, big word. But the Diaspora, you know, when
30:02 the Jews were spread out, scattered all over the Roman Empire, diasporic morality
30:09 tales. And scholars believe that these stories were carefully
30:13 preserved. They were passed on to exile to exile to exile to show you how
30:18 you can maintain the faith in the land that is not your own, to show you how your religion
30:24 can survive exile. And scholars believe Jonah's story was a big teaching story.
30:32 So we're including him. All right, Jonah. Let's go. We're gonna start at the end of
30:37 the story. So, you've got Jonah. We'll go to the end of the story
30:40 first -- Jonah 4:1.
30:46 What seemed wrong? What seemed wrong is that God has just saved the entire city
30:51 of Nineveh. Pff!
31:01 I'm gonna share with you something now that I have never seen before.
31:03 How many times have I read -- How many times have I preached on the Book of Jonah?
31:07 Pff! Have no idea. But I never saw this till this last week, and that's why I'm
31:12 really jazzed about passing it on to you, because watch the next line.
31:17 I'll read it again. Now, listen to this.
31:31 "That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish."
31:38 At the end of his story -- 'Cause Jonah wrote his own story.
31:41 At the end of his story, he gives us a hint of his mind-set at the beginning of his story.
31:50 Never saw that before. I mean, what do we know about Jonah?
31:54 Well, we all know how the story begins. The story begins -- Let's put
31:58 the first line of the story up on the screen for you. Jonah -- tiny, little book.
32:02 You can see it right there. Jonah 1:3. But Jonah did what?
32:06 Jonah ran away. From whom? He ran away from the Lord.
32:10 Everybody knows that story. God comes to the prophet. He says, "Yo, Jonah.
32:17 I have something I need you to do. I'm sending you to the baddest
32:21 of the bad, the worst of the worst cities on Earth. I'm sending you to Nineveh.
32:25 And I want you to take to them this little message. Watch me, Jonah. Watch me.
32:29 I want you to tell them that I am this close -- See that? I am this close to nuking them.
32:36 Nuking." And Jonah says, "Yes, Lord. I hear You loud and clear.
32:43 Thank You for those instructions. Hasta la vista."
32:46 And he's gone. He runs. [ Chuckles ]
32:49 You know what I used to think? I used to think that the reason Jonah ran was because he's a
32:54 fraidycat, just didn't have the guts to be able to go into that evil city and proclaim God's
33:00 message. But there hasn't been a reader around that hasn't come to that
33:04 same conclusion, because -- let's just admit it -- heard on the street, the Assyrians are
33:10 the -- Pff! You don't want the Assyrians living in your country.
33:17 Infamous, famous, barbaric cruelty. They invented impaling.
33:21 I don't know if they invented it, but they perfected it. You know what impaling is?
33:25 You take a pole, you sharpen the tip, and then you run the pole straight up the torso this way
33:31 until it comes out somewhere, and you hang there, beneath the sun, writhing and dying, until
33:38 you're gone. Readers read the Book of Jonah and say, "Yeah, I know why I
33:43 would be afraid. I would never go to Nineveh." Wrong. Not what you're just
33:49 about to see. Watch this. Fascinating. Let's read Verse 2 again.
34:06 "I was planning on stopping something from happening.
34:09 Keep reading.
34:21 "I know who You are, and You have done a exactly what I was afraid You were gonna do.
34:30 I can't believe this. I know You -- gracious, compassionate, abounding in
34:35 love. But I got to tell You something. I read my contemporary Hosea's
34:44 prediction. And I said, 'That will never happen in Israel.'"
34:49 Jonah was a patriot. He was a loyalist and an isolationist.
34:52 We got people like that all over the planet today. That was Jonah.
34:56 His contemporary put it on. Hosea 9:3. Hosea, the fellow prophet
35:02 wrote, "They --" That's talking about the 10 tribes of Israel. "They will not remain in their
35:08 land." Mnh-mnh. "Ephraim --" That's the code
35:10 name for them. "Ephraim will...eat unclean food," from where?
35:14 Jonah says, "This is a no-brainer. That prediction says, "I'm gonna
35:17 become an exile one day, and I do not want to be -- no, thank you -- an exile."
35:23 So when God comes to him and says, "Come on, Jonah." We got a plan."
35:26 "Nope. Adiós." God says, "Go east." He goes west.
35:32 "You can run, but you can't hide. You can hide, but you can't
35:37 run." Yep. Everybody loves the story of Jonah.
35:44 And the best part is coming up right now. I am grateful for my friend
35:48 Brian Strayer, introducing that word, regurgitate, into our consciousness.
35:54 That's very good, Brian. Yep. Okay, so, we got to get Jonah out of the whale, 'cause
35:59 that's where we've left him. He's in the whale. Go to Verse 10 of Chapter 2.
36:03 "And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited --" This is the N.I.V.
36:08 "It vomited Jonah onto dry land." Man, that has got to be one loud
36:13 sound when that took place, 'cause we've had pet dogs, you know, and you just know
36:19 immediately when it's about to happen. Can't imagine what a whale would
36:23 sound like. Okay, go on. Come on. Don't stop there.
36:26 Verse 1, Chapter 3. Boy, is God merciful or what? Has He come to you a second
36:33 time? Has He ever come to you a third time?
36:36 Has He come to you a fourth time, a fifth time, a sixth time?
36:40 Look at him. The word of the Lord came to him a second time, because He's
36:44 still a God of mercy. He says, "All right, Jonah. I want you to go to that great
36:49 city and repeat my commission."
36:57 And this time -- yep, you got it -- Jonah obeys. And he proclaims a very short
37:04 message. In Hebrew... [ Clears throat ]
37:06 Excuse me. In Hebrew, it's only five words long.
37:10 So, he goes to that first city block, because he tells us, in this chapter, that it takes
37:14 three days to walk across -- Three days to cross the city. So it must be a big, big city.
37:19 He goes to the first block and he utters the five words. I tried to get the message down
37:23 to five words in English, and here is how it goes. I need to look at it to make
37:31 sure I know. [ Laughter ] "40 days, you are nuked."
37:41 That's it. Five words long. He goes to the next block, stands on the next street corner
37:46 and says, "Yo! 40 days, you are nuked." He walks to the next block.
37:55 "40 days, you are nuked." Day after day after day. And guess what.
37:59 Finally, the king gets the message. You've got to read this.
38:05 This is something else. Look at Verse 5. "The Ninevites believed God,"
38:10 thanks to Jonah.
38:17 Keep reading. So, here comes the royal
38:32 proclamation.
38:53 Sounds like a preacher, doesn't he?
39:03 That came from the highest political office in the land. Wow.
39:12 As it was with the exile Esther, as it was with the exile Daniel, as it was with the exiles
39:18 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so it is in the story of Jonah. Have you noticed there's a
39:22 little -- there's a familiar thread running through? The king gets saved.
39:29 All three of these morality tales from exiles -- God saves the highest office, occupier in
39:39 the land. Whoa. "40 days and you are nuked," and Nineveh repents
39:44 before God. By the way, some day not far from now, that very message --
39:49 Slight alteration in the wording. That very message will be
39:52 proclaimed to the ends of the Earth. In fact, let's put it on the
39:56 screen. Revelation 14:7.
39:58 And I say let's read this out loud together.
40:13 Jesus -- when He was here, how did He preach? He says, "Repent, for the
40:17 kingdom is at hand. Repent. Curtain's coming." We're about this far."
40:27 Wow. So, here's the question for you. Would you be upset if this
40:36 message goes to all the kings and politicians, all the presidents and prime ministers,
40:43 all the cities and all the countries of Earth? Would you be upset if they chose
40:49 to respond positively to that appeal? Would you be upset if they
40:57 respond positively, just like the kings in these exilic tales, and God says, "Okay.
41:06 I'm calling it off. No destruction, no judgment." Now, would you be upset?
41:17 One thing we know about Jonah -- he was ticked off, right?
41:22 And I think of this little faith community that I have had the
41:25 privilege of belonging to all my life, since the day they sang,
41:28 "All to Jesus, I surrender," and my father baptized me and I came
41:31 up looking straight into my dad's face.
41:33 That's what I was thinking about, with tears in my eyes, as
41:37 we sang that hymn a moment ago. So I've hung around, but I know
41:44 this faith community. I know people that call
41:47 themselves Adventists. Ooh! Adventists.
41:50 What's that old word mean? Oh, people that have the
41:53 expectation of the soon coming of Christ.
41:56 I know that, in this Adventist community, there are people who say, "You know what, God?
42:02 What are You thinking of? Do You know what time it is? Hubba-hubba-hubba. Let's go.
42:09 We've been at this thing for decades. I've been at it."
42:12 And the closer you get to your demise or ending, the more urgent becomes that desire.
42:17 "I don't care if -- Listen, nuke the world. Just get me home.
42:23 We are no better than Jonah. Nuke Nineveh. I'll be fine." Same. Same way.
42:33 We fall into that trap and say, "Wrap it up. I'm ready."
42:38 Did it ever occur to you that you are not the only one on this planet right now?
42:43 [ Laughs, sighs ] Carly Simon used to sing that song, "You're so vain.
42:51 You probably think this song is about you." And I know people in my faith
42:57 community that think, "That's what this ending is all about. It's us."
43:02 Are you serious? You can't be serious. There's a world out there.
43:10 So, would it bother you if all the politicians that are in high office that you can think of
43:17 right now converted to Jesus Christ, became true believers, and God says, "I'm
43:22 calling off. I can wait." The only reason He would call it
43:25 off, by the way, is so "I can reach more people. You've given me some time now.
43:28 Perfect." Would that bother you? Hmm.
43:33 Okay, well, that's exactly what God does.
43:36 He calls it off. Verse 10.
43:43 He pulled back.
43:50 Mm-mm. "I told You so. I told You You were gonna do
43:53 that back when You gave me the invitation. You did it."
43:58 Pff! "But to Jonah, this seemed very wrong, and he became angry."
44:06 What's going on here? Lee Beach, in his inspiring little book, "The Church in
44:11 Exile: Living in Hope After Christendom," makes the point well.
44:14 Put the words on the screen for you. "A key theological perspective
44:19 reflected in the call for Jonah to preach in Nineveh is the potential transformation of
44:24 one's" what? Come on. One's what? The story is talking about your
44:29 enemies. "The potential transformation of your enemies."
44:32 You think of the person at the office that you just can't stand.
44:35 You think of the person in your school that you just cannot stand.
44:39 You think of the person in -- the neighbor in your neighborhood.
44:42 You can't stand him. Those enemies of yours are the target of God.
44:51 Yeah, Beach is right. Keep reading. I'll start at the top.
45:07 He knows exactly what God is doing.
45:24 Now, lookit. Here's how Jonah was thinking. God says, "I need you to go to
45:27 Nineveh," and Jonah was thinking to himself, "Man, I got that Hosea prophecy.
45:30 That means we're gonna end up in Assyria in exiles. We're not gonna do it."
45:34 What is Jonah hoping? By not going to Nineveh, God will be forced to nuke Nineveh.
45:40 And if God nukes Nineveh, good riddance to bad rubbish. Gone. One less enemy for Israel
45:47 to have to worry about. That's what Jonah's thinking. He thinks he will thwart the
45:54 divine purpose and plan. Oh! He's ticked. Because Nineveh, to him, is the
46:07 enemy. You know what the irony of this story is?
46:09 Listen. The irony of this story is that Jonah is absolutely right about God and His
46:17 character. We always treat this story as, "Well, Jonah's not -- He doesn't
46:20 have a good picture of God, not a clear theological understanding of God."
46:23 Are you kidding? It is as clear as they come. When Jonah speaks those words --
46:27 "I know that You're gracious and You're compassionate and I know You're abounding in
46:30 love --" when Jonah speaks those words, he's quoting Exodus 34, God's self-revelation to Moses.
46:36 "Moses, this is who I am." Jonah is quoting that. "I know who You are."
46:42 Jonah knows. He knows that God is gracious. And, by the way, He still is.
46:47 Some of you are not sure about the character of God. You're not sure that this God --
46:51 you have to let Him get too close to you, 'cause look at the stuff that happens to people who
46:54 get close to Him. That is defective thinking, because He still is gracious.
47:02 He still is compassionate. He still is slow to anger. He still does abound in love.
47:07 In fact, saving Nineveh proves Jonah's picture of God. He's fighting his own stance.
47:16 Ugh.
47:24 Lee Beach one more time on the screen.
47:35 Isaiah 45:22 -- God stretches out His hands and He says, "Come to me, all you ends of the
47:40 Earth. You come to me, and I will save you.
47:45 Just come to me." He says it to the whole planet.
48:06 Sometimes, faith communities get a little parochial, and they draw themselves in and they put
48:11 fences around where they are and they only go out to shop, they only go out to fill their car
48:15 with gas, but then they're back inside again. Hmm.
48:22 Wow.
48:28 God cares for our enemies. And, by the way, that's why He invented exiles.
48:31 You know He's the one who invented the exiles? Yeah, He invented them.
48:36 You know why He did invent exiles? Because God is a missionary God.
48:40 And He has His heart on more than just His chosen people, whether you want to call them
48:43 Israel or whether you want to call them Christians or you want to call them the Remnant.
48:48 He has a much bigger vision of rescuing the human race. Yep. "You probably think this
48:59 song is about you." And that's why God gives a line to the exiles -- Oh, I wish
49:06 Jonah had seen this line. If Jonah had seen this line, we wouldn't have Jonah's kind of
49:10 melting down the way we have it in this story. But this didn't get released
49:14 till the other prophet with a "J," named Jeremiah, quotes God. And, so, I need you to go back
49:18 in your Bible. Just go back to Jeremiah 29. You got to see this in your own
49:22 Bible. I know we're gonna put it on the screen, but do you have it there
49:25 in your Bible? And then mark this verse up in your Bible so that you don't
49:28 forget it really is in our Bibles. Jeremiah 29:7.
49:33 God's speaking.
49:41 Pause button right there. Who carried them into exile? Who carried them into exile?
49:47 God did. He had a plan. That's why you lost a job, by the way.
49:50 You were so happy with that job, you were making it on that job and God says, "You know what?
49:55 You're way too comfortable. I need to move you out. I'm gonna find another job for
49:59 you, but this one's just gone." That's why you lost that friendship, by the way.
50:03 You were so focused on that friend, who was distracting you from God's divine will for your
50:08 life, that God says, "That friendship's over. Adiós. Let's talk."
50:14 That's why you no longer live in the neighborhood, that comfort zone you once lived in.
50:17 God said, "You're out of here. I don't want you in that neighborhood.
50:20 I need you, as an exile, to be where the world interfaces with you."
50:28 Wow. But it gets even better. Oh, I'll read it again.
50:35 "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile
50:39 and pray to the Lord for it, because --" now, here it comes -- "if it --" What?
50:45 "If it prospers, you too will" what? You will prosper.
50:50 Can you believe that? It's almost -- We have a little reciprocal return going on here.
50:56 It's almost as if in seeking to save others, we end up saving ourselves, because if they
51:05 prosper, you too will prosper. It's almost as if in seeking to save the Church -- And
51:09 everybody's so preoccupied these days with saving the Church. Get off.
51:13 God will save the Church. Jesus is the savior and Lord of the Church anyway.
51:18 But it's almost as if in seeking to save the world, we save the Church.
51:26 Because as they prosper, you too will prosper. That's it.
51:35 Reciprocal return. Testifying of your faith in Jesus, when You set out to save
51:40 someone's life -- And I'm talking about someone on the job.
51:43 I'm talking about someone in the neighborhood. I'm talking about somebody you
51:47 play with, somebody you study with, somebody you work with. Somebody. I don't care who,
51:53 where, when. It doesn't matter. If you set out to save someone
51:58 else's life -- guess what -- your life gets saved. It's the reciprocal return.
52:06 These three testimonies, beautiful testimonies, that we just witnessed, I'm so proud of
52:11 you. They already are penetrating hearts.
52:18 And these three have become missionaries now -- exiles -- to communicate the good news of the
52:24 Gospel. Yep. The reciprocal return of
52:29 witnessing. Jonah thinks, by the way, that if Nineveh repents, Israel is
52:34 doomed. It could very well be, in fact, that had Nineveh not repented,
52:38 the annihilation of Israel would have been much earlier than it was.
52:43 You don't know the mind of God. Don't you try to second-guess. You're in exile.
52:47 You're not home yet, but you're going home. But God says, "I have put you
52:52 where nobody else is. There's nobody but you there. And I'm needing you.
52:59 I'm counting on you. Don't be intimidated, don't be afraid.
53:04 Lo, I'm with you always." Oh, what a God. "Because if they prosper, you
53:10 too will prosper." This last Wednesday evening, I wish you could have been at
53:13 House of Prayer last Wednesday evening. Kathy Iwasa led our reflection
53:19 time. Pastor John has set up a series of narratives showing heart
53:23 transformation. And, so, she was assigned this, and she did such a beautiful
53:28 job. It was so tender. I mean, tears sprang into my
53:31 eyes. And she, with great transparency, applies this
53:35 story. It's the story about the early-morning demoniacs.
53:38 You remember the two demoniacs? Jesus and the Disciples land, and they come running out of the
53:42 cemetery? You remember that? She's taking us through that
53:45 story, and as she unpacks it layer by layer, I'm thinking, "Wow."
53:50 She gets to the end. And you know what the story is at the end?
53:54 Those two healed demoniacs, who are now in their right mind -- do you know what they do?
53:57 They come to Jesus and they say, "Hey, guess what. We're Your two newest disciples
54:01 and we're joining the team. That boat has room for two more, and we're gonna be on it.
54:06 We're going with You. We got nothing else to do but be Your disciples."
54:11 And Jesus, without missing a beat, categorical, "No, no, no. You're not going with me.
54:19 You go back home to your family and to your friends and you tell them what the Lord has done for
54:25 you. You're in exile. God has put you in that
54:29 neighborhood. Now talk. Talk." And when Jesus returns -- It's
54:37 unbelievable, but the Gospels are clear. When He returns, thousands greet
54:41 Him. "You're in exile. You're in exile from me.
54:49 Talk. I know you read the word. I know you pray.
54:55 Just talk. Talk for me. Pff! And then Kathy shared this line from "Desire of Ages."
55:03 I'll put it on the screen for you. This is choice.
55:13 Isn't that good? "It is in working to spread the good news of salvation that we
55:20 are brought near to the Savior." Lookit, is there anybody here that doesn't want to be close to
55:25 Christ? You wouldn't be here today. So, what's gonna take us closer?
55:31 More books? Nope. More time in prayer? Mm, not really.
55:37 That's two-thirds, but we need the third third. Work on somebody.
55:43 And as you're working on that life, something mysterious happens to you.
55:47 It's the reciprocal return. As they prosper, you prosper.
55:53 "It is in working to spread the good news of salvation that we
55:55 are brought near to the Savior." That's it.
55:57 That's the teaching from Jonah. And, by the way, did Jonah get
56:00 near Jesus? Are you kidding?
56:02 Did he get near Jesus? Listen to this.
56:06 Jonah and Jesus track together. Can I run these five by you?
56:09 And then I'll sit down. Five. Count them.
56:14 Like Jesus, Jonah proclaims repentance, right?
56:20 Number two, like Jesus, Jonah finds a way to win pagan hearts.
56:25 Number three, like Jesus, Jonah is willing to sacrifice himself to save others.
56:30 "Throw me over the board. It will save you." Number four, like Jesus, Jonah
56:35 spends three days and three nights in the darkness of death. And, finally, number five, like
56:42 Jesus, Jonah is also delivered from that death. I'm telling you what, ladies and
56:47 gentlemen... in saving others, you save yourself.
56:53 Oh, Jesus is the savior. I know. In saving others, you save
56:57 yourself and you grow closer and closer to the Jesus who decided to take Jonah's track for his
57:06 life. Isn't that great? Just like Jonah, who's just like
57:12 Jesus.
57:16 I want to take an extra moment to thank you for joining us in
57:18 worship today. It's by the continued support
57:20 from viewers like you that we're able to bring you this program.
57:23 Today, I want to invite you, though, to share with us how
57:25 this ministry has blessed you. I get inspiring notes, e-mails
57:29 from viewers literally all over the world telling me, "Look,
57:31 Dwight, God has been blessing me this way.
57:33 He's been doing this." I would love to hear from you,
57:35 as well. Just visit our website -- you
57:37 know it -- newperceptions.tv, and click on the contact link at
57:42 the top of the page. Send me a note, let me know what
57:44 God has been doing right now in your life.
57:47 Once again, thank you for being with us today.
57:50 I hope you'll join us right here next time, and until then, may
57:53 the God of grace journey with you every step of the way.
57:59 ♪♪


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Revised 2019-06-11