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