Participants:
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000650A
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00:01 (Breath of Life Theme Music)
00:03 Sermon #B650 - Distant...But Not Deserted 00:21 Dr. Byrd: I want to invite you to take your bibles and go with me to the Book of Jonah, 00:26 Jonah Chapter 2, Verses 1 and 2. Jonah Chapter 2, Verses 1 and 2. 00:45 Jonah Chapter 2, Verses 1 and 2. If you have it, let me hear you 00:49 say amen. All if you don't have it, let me hear you say hold on. 00:53 All right. Let's find it, Jonah Chapter 2, Verses 1 and 2. 00:56 I know we put the scriptural text on the screens, 01:00 but I like when you look it up in the Word of God. Amen. 01:05 Jonah Chapter 2, Verse 1 and Verse 2. 01:08 The Word of God says, "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly 01:17 and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, 01:22 and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice." 01:34 Today, I just want to challenge you for not too long of period 01:37 but on the subject, "Distant but not Deserted." Distant but not 01:46 deserted. Father God, bless us now as we go into Your word. Speak, Lord, to Your people. 01:51 Speak through me. May this text, may this word come alive for us 01:59 today. We'll give You praise, we'll give You honor for what you're going to do through Your 02:04 word. So I ask once again that You hide me behind Your cross. In the name of Jesus, I pray. 02:13 Amen. [Congregation: Amen] 02:14 Distant but not deserted. 02:20 Most of us know the story of Jonah as recorded in the book of 02:27 Jonah. And while Jonah the book is a short book having only four 02:32 chapters, the lessons in Jonah are so numerous, I could preach countless sermons on Jonah. 02:39 But if I did that, that would keep us here all day and I'm not 02:42 going to do that, do I have a witness at this place? Some of you said amen too loud. 02:50 But in the book of Jonah, Jonah chapter 1, God tells Jonah to go 02:59 to Nineveh and preach the word. Why did God tell Jonah to go to 03:08 Nineveh? After all, Nineveh was the place where they sent preachers to punish them. 03:15 But Jonah doesn't want to go to Nineveh. 03:19 So he disobeys God, we know the story, and runs to a city called 03:26 Tarshish. Now, when you disobey God, you're headed for trouble. 03:32 Now, there are several things we can learn from the book of Jonah 03:34 and I want to reiterate in my early part of this sermon, 03:38 some things I had shared with you previously about Jonah 03:43 and then I want to add some things today. So this is, if you 03:50 will, a part one and a part two of Distant but not Deserted. 03:56 Jonah 1:3 says-- look at it. Jonah 1:3. 03:59 The Word of God says, 04:01 "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of 04:09 the Lord." And he went where everybody? [Congregation: Down.] 04:12 He went down. Say it like you mean it, he went where everybody? [Congregation: Down.] 04:15 Dr. Byrd: He went down. Now, this is a lesson I've taught 04:18 before, I want to teach this one more time. Whenever you disobey God, you're going down. 04:26 Let me say that again. Whenever you disobey God, whenever you 04:32 run from God, you will always be on a trip down. 04:36 The bible continues, verse 3 another lesson I wanna remind 04:39 you of. "And he went down to Joppah." And he found a what everybody? [Congregation: Ship] 04:46 He found a what everybody? [Congregation: Ship] 04:47 He found a ship. Lesson number two, anytime you disobey God and 04:53 run from God, you will always find a ship. There's always a 04:59 willing vessel, there's always a willing ship that's trying to move you from the presence of 05:05 God. Isn't it amazing that when you're running from God and you're disobeying God, 05:11 isn't it amazing how quick you can get in a relation-ship. [Congregation: Right] 05:18 Isn't it amazing how you always find a certain friendship, certain fellowships 05:24 because there's always a ship, |
Revised 2019-11-13