Jonah - God’s Relentless Pursuit - Jonah 1

Welcome to South Sub Church. We are so glad that you've decided to worship with us today. Whether you're in the room right now or watching from home, wherever it is, we're just so glad that we get to spend this time together and worship the Lord together as one. Here at South Sub Church, we believe we are one church with two expressions of worship, but we have one mission to bring people to Jesus Christ and together become passionate followers of him. Another way that we worship is through our tithes and offerings. And here at South Sub Church, we believe that we give the Lord back what he gives us. And there's a couple ways that I want to invite you to do that this morning. One is giving online at southub.urch/give. Another way is by texting the number that's on the screen right now. Or there's an envelope in your seat back pocket. And here's what I want to invite you to do. No matter what gift you give, big or small, we believe that whatever we give, the Lord multiplies that. And we are able to be the hands and feet of Jesus here where we are right now. If you're new, we invite you to fill out a connect card. We would love to get to know you, pray for you, and find a way for you to get more connected with our church. And if you're watching us online, make sure you leave a comment wherever you are. Maybe you're going to the mountains, maybe you have a soccer game to go to. Whatever it is, we're just so glad that you've decided to join us for worship. You picked a great week to be here. Let's jump into God's word together. Let's worship him today.

Heat.

Heat.

Well, good morning. If that doesn't get you ready for the movie we're about to show, nothing will get you ready, right? You know, I I thought about this as the kids were leaving. If I follow them downstairs and I asked them, I said, "What are some of the all-time favorite Old Testament Bible stories that you remember?" No doubt they would probably recall the creation story. Um, I would guess they would recall um Noah's arc and all the animals going two by two on there. They would probably even mention David with the and Goliath and the the the slingshot and throwing the stones at him. So, there's all these Old Testament Bible stories that kids remember. And it's interesting if you've ever taught kids before, you can tell them these stories and they will sit at your feet wideeyed and just wonder like they're just amazed by all the details. They're amazed by the bigness of God that that led all of these stories in there. And so I love teaching kids, but here's the problem. When we get old and we get grown up, too many times those Old Testament Bible stories, they lose their wideeyed wonder. I don't know if it's because we get smarter, maybe we get wiser, or maybe reality, we just get dumber that we lose some of the the the the faithfulness, the faith thinking that these kids have, but we lose some of it. And so, here's what we're going to do over the next four weeks. As you saw in our movie trailer, we're going to start studying over the next four weeks together one of those Old Testament stories that kids would probably always recall, and that's Jonah and the Whale. And here's our purpose as we look at this story in scripture that that we often kind of categorize and we put over in the kids department and we don't think it really applies to the adult department. We're going to try to recreate and rediscover the wideeyed wonder of it. But more than that, I want us over the next four weeks to rediscover the God who's really a part of that story. Because so many times you think of Jonah being thrown over the ship. You think of the whale that swallows him up. But we forget about the story, the main purpose of that story. And that is to show us that God will pursue us no matter what. That God loves people so much that he will go to great lengths to pursue us, to call us back to him. And so I hope you plan on joining us over the next few weeks as we look at the story Jonah and the Whale. Now, can I give you a spoiler alert? Nowhere in the Bible does it mention whale. Okay? If you've grown up your whole life thinking that it's Jonah and a big fish, but it never says well. But we're going to look at that together. So, if you've brought your Bibles or we'll have the passage up here on the screen that we'll look together or some of it's there in your handout, but we'll start and we're going to be going through every chapter. There's four chapters in the book of Jonah in the Old Testament. And of course, we're going to start in verse one. And here's what it says. And if you're here, you're going Jonah? Who's Jonah? That's okay because as we look at it together, we're going to keep it at the kid level as we jump to the adult level and we'll all know who he is at the very end. In verse one, it says this. And the Lord gave this message to Jonah, son of Amiot. Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I've seen how wicked its people are. So Jonah, if you're not sure who he is, you've never heard of him before, don't really know how the story goes, he's a prophet. He's a man of God that had lived and walked and loved the people for God. He was the one in the Old Testament days that would bring God's word to the people. And so, it was not unusual for God to come to Jonah and say, "Jonah, this is what I want you to go tell my people." And he would go be the mouthpiece for God. But on this particular day, God said, "Hey, Jonah, I got a word for some people." But they're not your people. It's those people. It's the people of Nineveh. Now, let me give you a little background of Nineveh. Nineveh is an actual city. It's really now you can find Nineveh where it was located then and where it's located now is near the modern city of Mazul, Iraq. And so it is a historical city that not just biblical people but archaeologists will tell us that it actually existed back in the days of of Jonah. But but Nineveh was in the part of of the Syrian just empire. And back in the days of Jonah, the Syrian Empire was probably one of the strongest, most militaryfocused, vicious people of the day. Back in those days, it was not unusual for one nation to attack another nation and they would take those people as their people and then they would attack another nation. Nobody wanted the Empire of Assyria to attack them because they were just so strong in their military might. But even more than their military might, they were strong in just um just how they treated people. When they attacked the city, it was not unusual. They would load everybody up that was a part of that city and they would take them to someplace else and make them their servants and their slaves. And you think, well, that's terrible. If Assyria ever attacked you, you would want them to take you to another city to leave because the opposite or the the the alternative is that they would leave you there and they would literally just murder you. It was not unusual that when this a awful empire would attack another nation, they would take some of the survivors and they would impale them on sticks on poles to show that look, we came and we conquered. They would burn them alive. Many times they would behead the people and just put them up in piles for people to pass by and say you don't want to mess with Assyria. And so all the nations around feared the Syrian Empire. And so you can imagine on this day that God came to Jonah and said, ' Jonah, I have a little message I want you to deliver, but you're not going to do it here with your people. You're going to do it with those people, those people in Nineveh. There was a little bit of push back that he had. There was a little bit of fear that he had. There was a little bit of God, couldn't you choose somebody else besides me to do this task? But there's another reason why Jonah was probably hesitant that we'll read about in a second to go to Syria. Because as I talk about not our people, but those people, the Syrians there in Nineveh would have worshiped a different god than Jonah and the Israelites would have worshiped. The the the Ninevites would have worshiped a god. Their main god was a god god called Ishtar. And Ishtar and the worship regarding Ishtar was completely different than how Jo Jonah and the Israelites would have worshiped their own God, Yahweh God, our God. In fact, one historian wrote it this way. He said, "In Nineveh, the worship of Ishtar unfolded in a haze of smoke and noise. Priests chanting as offerings of meat and drink were laid before her towering image while rituals tied to fertility and desire played out in ways that blurred the lines between worship and exploitation. Some towers I read that I thought Coachella's going off in the desert of California might look something of what's going on with the Coachella right now. If you're looking at me going, "What's Coachella?" You just showed your age. But let me keep going right here. Okay. Outside the same people who bowed the temple returned from battle boasting of violence done in the name believing their cruelty had divine approval. It was a city where prayer and brutality lived side by side where what was called sacred was tangled with bloodshed and moral corruption making it a place any prophet of a holy God would recoil from entering. And so on this day and God said, "Hey Jonah, I need you to go visit and take a little message of these people." He recal recoiled back not just because the brutality of this nation, but just they were different. They were not like him. They didn't think like he thought. They didn't worship like he thought. They didn't love God like he did. And so it was those people, not his people, that was God calling him to. And the Bible goes on in verse three and says this, "But Jonah," once God told him to go to Nineveh, remember, he's a prophet. He's a godly man. He's supposed to be the one that obeys God before anybody else does. But it says this, "But Jonah got up and he went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord." He went down to the port of Japa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarsus. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarsus. You know, probably someone who first reads this, you don't understand why he's running the opposite way because Tarsus was the exact opposite way. In fact, Tarsus was the last furthest known city port that man knew at that point. So, if you've got Nineveh over here and Jonah went to Tarsus, he went as far away as he could to anywhere that man knew existed. And you wonder why would he do that until you knew a little bit about Nineveh and it made sense. So on this particular day, Jonah's telling instead of telling God no, he just said,"I'll choose to do something else." And he bought a ticket and went the other way. He ran as fast as he could. But then it says this in verse four, "As he's on this ship and he's sailing on this ship to the far away land called Tarsus. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help. And they threw the cargo overboard to lighten up the ship. But all this time, Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. And so the captain went down after him, and he asked the question, "How can you sleep at a time like this?" He shouted, "Get up and pray to your God. May he maybe he will pay attention to us and he will spare our lives. So when Jonah gets on this ship, it wasn't a cruise ship. It it wasn't a passenger carrier ship. It was a cargo ship. And he said, "Guys, here's my money. I'll be down the very base of the ship and I'll be taking a very, very, very, very long nap." And so as they're sailing across, this big storm hits and the sailors begin to panic and the sailors begin to call out to their gods because back in those days and these particular sailors would have been polytheistic. they would have all had their different gods of choice. And so everybody's calling out to somebody to save them. And finally, they realize the only person that's not calling out to their god was Jonah. And so the captain goes down the bottom of ship and is going, "Hey, we need you to call your God. Maybe he's the one that can help us." Here's what I think is interesting. That first line, let me read it to you again. It says, "The Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea." This wasn't just some natural storm that arose arose in the book of Jonah. We recognize that God is a part of all of this. God was a part of sending Jonah to the Ninevites for the message. But when Jonah didn't go and he jumped on the boat, God didn't leave him going, "Well, I guess he doesn't want to follow me. I'll go find somebody else." God didn't get frustrated at Jonah. God didn't turn his back on Jonah. God chased after Jonah. And the way he began the chase, the Bible says, he hurled this terrible storm at Jonah and the boat. See, here's what we have to understand. What God was doing was not punishment. It was pursuit. Let me say that again. What God was doing was not punishing, but he was pursuing. And here's why that's so important for us to understand today. Because we can have difficult circumstances come up in our lives. We can have difficult times arise and we're going, "God, what did you do? Why are you mad at me? Why are you doing this to me?" And so many times God may be allowing those circumstances to enter into your life not because he's trying to punish you and I. He's doing it because he's pursuing us. He's trying to get our attention. Just like on this particular day, God created this big storm in the middle of the ocean to get Jonah's attention. You see, when Jonah was down below the deck sleeping, he was not down there prayerfully trusting God. He was down there because he was spiritually indifferent. Now, watch this. Sometimes it's a greater danger in our lives to be spiritually indifferent than to even disobey God. Let that one sink in. That spiritual indifference in our lives can be just as devastating in our spiritual lives as actual acts of o disobedience. You see, here's what's going on in the life of Jonah. Yes, he's disobeying God because God said go this way and Jonah chose to go this way. But in his path of disobedience, somehow he thought if I can just go take a long spiritual nap. If I can just kind of put God beside me, not apart from me, but just beside me. Maybe God, you walk behind me a little bit. God, maybe you don't do everything I tell you to do. Maybe I don't do everything you tell me to do and I'll just spiritually sleep. And that can be just as devastating in our own relationship and our own obedience and our own following God as simply looking at God going, "God, I denounce you."

And so Joan was downstairs, not praying, but sleeping, not trusting, but being spiritually indifferent. And then verse 7, and then the crew cast lots to see which one of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storms. You see, sailors back in those days felt like and believe firmly that any kind of natural disaster such as a storm, it wasn't a natural occurrence. It was some god. somewhere doing something because somebody had done something wrong. And so this storm's coming up and they're having a hard time battling it and they're thinking, well, there's some God out there somewhere that's in charge of this and we got to figure out why he's mad. And so they tried to figure out when they did this the lot when they cast the lot, which is kind of a dice. It was it was a spiritual a spiritual way of trying to figure things out, casting the lots. And when they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. Why has this awful storm come down on us? They demanded and they went to him. Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?

You see, they were trying to go and dude, why did this what what do you have going on in your life? Where would you turn right when God said turn left? Why is your God mad at you? And they're just digging down deep. Why? because they're concerned about Jonah. No, because they're concerned about their life. This is not just one of those storms that can make you a little seasick. These these sailors, these experienced sailors realize if something doesn't change, they're not going to live. Their boat's going to crash. And then Jonah answered in verse 9, he said, "I am a Hebrew." Now, watch what he says here. I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and land. I want you to look at his answer. And when you look at his answer, I want you to notice the verb tense. What does he say? I am a Hebrew. And he goes, I worship the Lord God. See, it would make sense that if Jonah is leaving God, if God said go this way and he's going this way, it would make sense that he might have said that in a past tense form. I am a Hebrew and I used to worship the Lord God. I used to obey God. I used to do what he wanted me to. But he still claimed God as his personal Lord. He still claimed him. He never denounced his faith. You see, his belief in God was never at stake. But his obedience in God was what was at stake. And I wonder how many times in our lives can that be a very description of us. I don't denounce God. I'm going to hang on to God because I believe in God. I'll show up every Sunday morning and I'll worship God. I'll raise my hand when I worship God. But when it comes to my obedience on Monday, it's not the same as my worship on Sunday. And so what Joan had going on was just just this conflict of who he was and who he believed God to be. Because one might pose the question, can you truly worship God if you don't obey God? Do you truly love God if you don't live for God? And so here was Jonah in this quandry that every one of us from time to time that we find ourselves. Yes, God, I love for you. I just don't want to live fully for you. But he claimed him. He is still my God. Look at verse 10. And the soldiers were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. Now that's interesting. Okay, now watch. This is the first known conversation that we know that Jonah is having with the sailors. But the Bible says this that when he said this, they were terrified because he had already told them he was running away from God. Which leads me to believe when did that interaction take place. We can only suspect, but I I can only imagine when he walked on because it seems like he walked on the ship. There's nothing to do. It's not a cruise ship. There's no shuffleboard to play. There's no drinks to go have on the side on the sund deck. He just walked in and went down. So did he walk in? He said, "Hi, my name is Jonah. Here's my money. By the way, I'm running from God, and if you need me, I'll be downstairs." But somehow these sailors knew he was running from God. Then they asked the question, "Oh, what did you do?" Or, "Oh, why did you do it?" They go down says, "Jonah, you got to do something." He goes, "Remember, I'm running from God." And they looked at him and said,"Wh are you running from God?" Isn't that a great question? You know who the best person to ask that question to is? The mirror yourself. It's a great introspective question. Why are you running from God? Now, if I had my guess, I can probably guess that nobody in here that God has said, "Hey, I need you to go to someplace else and tell them about Jesus. Go to another country. Go to some place where your life is at risk and tell them about Jesus." But I'm pretty certain that God certain that God has asked and told every one of us to do something. It could be something huge. It could be something small. Obedience is not measured in the size. Obedience is simply measured in obedience. And all of us, whether in situations that we find ourselves in now or that we will find ourselves in, will have the opportunity, do I go with God or do I go my way? And those times that we choose to go our way, that we make our choice, that we make our our decisions, we need to ask ourselves, why do we do it that way?

Why?

Why are we running away from God? We probably No, no, no. I'm not running away from God. Let me ask you another way. Then why are you spiritually sleeping on God? Because when we're spiritually sleeping on God, then we're actually running away from God. And why?

Verse 12, Jonah said this to him. Guys, dude, just throw me into the sea. This is one of those Old Testament stories that I wish I could be there in the person to watch this interaction. Okay, they're not sitting around the dining room table having this calm conversation. Remember, the boat is rocking. They're worrying about is it going to crash? They're worrying about their lives. And finally, Jonah says, "Guys, let me just settle it. Stop asking all these questions. Just throw me into the sea." And he said, "It will become calm again. I promise you. I know that this storm is terrible and it's terrible because it's my fault. In verse 13, instead the soldier or the sailors rode even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them and they couldn't make it. And then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah's God. Notice that's interesting. In the beginning, they were crying out to everybody's God. Somehow in Jonah's running there, he's still pointing who God really is. And these sailors, they cry out to his God. Lord, oh Lord, they pleaded, don't make us die for this man's sin, and don't hold us responsible for his death. Oh Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons. Then the sailors picked Jonah up, and they threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once. And the sailors were aruck by the Lord's great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. But wouldn't that be easy if we could get rid of our life's problems by just picking somebody to throw out? It's like, there you go. Woo. Life is a whole lot easier. I'm making listing names right now who I'm going to throw out to make my life a whole lot easier. In verse 17, they threw him out. And next is the part of that story that every child downstairs knows. They picked him up. They threw him in this raging sea. The sea stopped. And here's what it says in verse 17. Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. There's some of you that have been listening to this story and maybe you heard a long time ago and you forgot the details or maybe you've heard it and you're going and that's when you lose me, pastor. There is no way some fish out in the sea, whether it's a whale or you pick whatever type of fish it is, there is no sea in the no fish in the sea that's so big that can swallow man and that man can live in his belly for three days. Like I just don't see how that's physically possible is what you're saying. Can I just let you know this? I agree with you. Like I tried to do some research and I tried to find some scientific fish that lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. They said this fish was big enough and it's possible. You really can't find any good evidence. So if you have a hard time believing naturally that some fish can swallow some man in the sea and that man lives in his belly for three days and three nights. You just can't make it compute in your mind how that could naturally happen. I just want you to know I completely agree with you. Now, don't get me wrong, that doesn't discount the story because the Bible is full of natural or miracles that from a natural standpoint, they don't happen. You see, just because my mind can't understand something, just because my mind can't figure out figure it out, just because I physically can't prove it doesn't make it not true. If you can't believe that, that a man lived in a in a fish's belly for three days and three nights, then you sure won't believe the story about some man put in the grave for three days and three nights and rose again three days later and his name is called Jesus. See, this is where faith comes into. This is where the story really sticks together. See, the real point of this story is less about the fish and more about the God who pursues the person in the fish's belly. You see, this next four weeks, we're not trying to prove a story. We're trying to understand a God. A God that loved a vicious, mean, brutal people that weren't even his people, but sent one of his people to tell them that he loves them. A God that would create a miracle so people will understand more how much he loves them. That's what this story is all about. And so, as we kind of dive into the first chapter, and most people really know the first chapter. They don't really know what happens the next few chapters. That's what we're going to cover the next few weeks. But there's some truths that we can learn in our own lives from this story. If you're taking notes, write this first one down. You can declare faith in God, but still run from him. You can claim him as your Lord, but still choose your own direction.

Your words can say yes while your life still chooses no. And so maybe you're here today and you're declaring your faith in God, but as we're talking about this, the Holy Spirit has just put something in your mind, something in your heart, showed you something in your life where you're not following God, that you're actually running from him. So you can have the faith that shakes this way, but the life that goes that way. And as we run from God, here's a truth we need to understand. When we run from God, no matter what it is you're running from God for, it always affects the people around you. Think about these sailors on the ship. Like they they had to carry the guilt of throwing some man overboard. We never know if they actually knew the whale swallowed him up. If they actually saw the whale or the fish swallow him up, they're not thinking, "Oh, he'll be okay. God's got this one." They had the stress of almost losing their life. They had the tension of all that went on in this storm. Here's what we need to understand that when we choose not to follow God, the people us around us are affected by our choices and our decision. Our our spouses are our children are our fill-in- thelank are.

You see, our disobedience is never private. It may be a secret, but it's never private. And so, that's the reason it's so important that our faith shakes our head this way and our obedience shakes our head the same way. Here's the second truth for you. God pursues you even in your disobedience.

God pursues you and I even in our disobedience.

That's the one we all just ought to stand up going amen for. Right? That shows us how much God loves us. He pursued Jonah when he was disobedient. But there was a whole nation of Assyria over here, the whole entire empire that was completely not just disobedient. They had no desire for God. They weren't even leaning in towards God. And God said, "I'm going to send a man to you so you, an entire nation, can know how much I love you."

Sometimes we have difficult circumstances in our life and we want to throw up our hands or sometimes even shake our fist going, "God, why are you doing this to me?" Do you know what I think God's response is many times? Because I love you. Whether he's doing it to you or simply allowing it, it is his purpose to redirect you back to him. You might be here today going, "But Keith, you don't know how far I've run. You don't know how much I've disobeyed. You don't know just how much I've not even looked, listened, or learned about God." Here's what I want you to know today. God's mercy is always bigger than your mistakes. God's mercy is always bigger than your mistakes. And God will run as far as he has to. He will go as deep into the ocean he has to. He will go wherever you are so you will know how much he loves you.

And here's the last one, last fill in the blank on some truths that we can learn. The way back to God always begins with your surrender.

It's when Jonah said, "Just throw me in. I give up." And I'm not sure at that moment he was running back to God, but there's a surrender going, I can't do it myself anymore.

And when God pursues you, that is the first step back to God. To simply say, "God, I give up. My way is not working. You see, here's what Jonah didn't say. Hey guys, it's my fault. God's mad at me. So, here's what I think you do. Tie that rope around my ankle and just kind of drag me in the water a little bit. Just kind of get me off the boat. Don't like release me from the boat. Just kind of like a little bit. At least God will realize I'm listening a little bit. No, it wasn't until they said, "Guys, just throw me in here. Here here's the truth on that one. We never drift back to God. We surrender back to God. Let that one sink in for a second. It's not a half a step back to God. It's an entire life back to God.

And so the story of Jonah is about us recognizing where we are, but more than that, recognizing who God is. And God is a God who loves us so much. He loves you so much that he will pursue and chase after you until he gets you.

And so, let me wrap up. Well, Keith, what do I do now? Surrender. What's the next step? Let me just give you two quick things on wrap up here. First thing, if you're looking the next, what's the next thing, Keith? What do I do after I leave this church service today? The first one, go allin with God.

Go all in. Just going, God, I'm not just waking up. I'm getting up. Now, here's what's kind of interesting and stick with me on this thought here. When when Jonah said, "I'm all God. I give up." He said, "Throw me in the water." Here's what happened. Jonah just got baptized. Like, it's a baptism that none of us would want to get. Right? I remember I've shared the story with you. When I gave my life to Jesus, I was a Six Flags over Texas. I was a fourth grade little boy and I was standing in line and realized God was going this way and I was going this way. And right there at Six Flags over Teach, Texas, I'm like, Jesus, here's my life. As a fourth grader, I didn't know what all that meant. I just said, I surrender. After I finished in that line for that ride, the next ride I did was the log ride. And I said, that's where my baptism took place on the log ride. And we splashed down. Now, that's not really true, but watch this. I do believe this. When we talk about baptism, a physical act of baptism where you're in the water, your personal you're you're showing your personal relationship with Jesus. I'm in the water and you get dunked up under and you raise again. You're representing that you believe that Jesus is the Lord of your life and that he died and he rose again three days later. I do believe there is something spiritually significant in an individual, a follower of Jesus's life when he fully surreners in baptism. Now watch, baptism doesn't save you, but to stand up in front of people you don't even know and and get dipped in water and dunked in water, it's not unusual. It's not a usual thing that you do, but it's saying, "I'm all in." So, I'm going to throw this out to some of you. What's your next step? Our next step is we all go allin with God. But here's the next step for some, I believe, in following Jesus and surrendering is being baptized. Believer's baptism. Maybe it's something you thought about it. Go, yeah, that's good for some people. Here's what I know. Jesus himself commanded, "Be baptized." And so, there's lots of ways you can go all in. But just as I was putting this sermon together this week, Holy Spirit just said, "Keith, nudge them." There's some that just need to publicly confess Jesus Christ as your savior. All in by following through with believers baptism. And the last one, step towards others. You don't just step towards God and go allin with God. You step towards others. Now watch this. What was Jonah's instructions from God? Go to Nineveh is allin with God had to do with himself and surrendering to God. But his surrendering to God had to do with what he did with his life after he surrendered to God. So he didn't say go home and go to church and worship God and have a good spiritual life. He said take what you have and take it out.

And so as we take a step towards others, I'm going to challenge you. What's a way that you can do that? Go to others. Bring someone to church with you. Take what Jesus has given you, the love that he has for you, and take that love to others.

So, it's an all surrender and it's a stepping out towards others. It's a great Monday process of what you learned on Sunday. And so, this story about Jonah is going to be a story. We're going to find some twists and turns. If you've never read it before, it gets better. But if you've read it before as a little kid, I think God's going to use it to open us up to things he wants in our lives. And so, Father, we come before you today. Thank you for your word. Um, can I just say on behalf of us sometimes we read your Bible and there's such stuff in there, it's sometimes hard to figure out in our mind. But Jesus, we trust you in faith for the truths and the stories and what you give us in your word. And so God, I'm just going to say if you can put a man in a fish's belly for three days and get him out, then I'm going to put all my trust in your son who've got in the grave for three days and you raised him out. So teach us and lead us. In your name we pray. Amen.