Bro. John Wilkinson - Sunday Morning 1/29/23

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Isn't God good to us? He is a good and a gracious and a mighty God this morning. I'm so glad to know the Lord Jesus as my Savior and my Lord, our soon-coming King. If you have your Bibles this morning, we'll be looking in the book of Jonah, chapter 1. And a bit of a reading this morning, quite a few verses. I hope that's okay to read God's Word in his house. Jonah chapter 1, and I'll begin reading in verse number 15. Jonah chapter 1 and beginning in verse number 15. Again, thank you to Brother Micah and the church for the invitation to be here. Thank you, Jesus, for your spirit and your presence. Thank you for standing for the reading of God's Word this morning. Jonah chapter 1 and beginning in verse 15. And the most holy, most infallible, most immutable, most inerrant Word of God reads in Jonah 1, verse 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered sacrifices unto the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods can pass me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters can pass me about, even to the soul. The death closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever, yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. I'd like to preach for a few moments, if the Lord would help us, and the Holy Ghost would anoint us on the thought, God knows best. God knows best. Church, would you mind raising your hand this way and praying with us before we get into the message? I thank you, Lord, for your blessings upon us today. I thank you, Lord, for your word that we were able to read here in freedom, Lord, without fear, God, that we can publicly proclaim and read your word in our nation. And I thank you for that freedom that we have. I thank you, O God, for this congregation gathered together in your name and in your midst. And, Lord, truly you are here, for your word has told us where two or three are gathered together in your name, that you're in the midst. And, Lord, I am convinced there are at least two or three here today in your name, and more, I believe, that came in the name of Jesus. I pray, God, that your Spirit would have his free reign here today. The Holy Ghost move among us, that the anointing, the power of the Spirit would rest upon us to preach. And, God, your anointing would rest upon the congregation to receive. We pray, O God, that the church would be edified in what is said. We pray that the Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, would be lifted up. We pray, O God, that everything would be done to your glory, for we ask in the lovely, mighty, wonderful, powerful name of Jesus, and the church said, Amen. Amen. You might be seated in the presence of the Lord this morning. Well, I imagine most of us here this morning are acquainted with the story in the book of Jonah, this history that is given to us in God's word. And perhaps some of the kids here today, perhaps all the children here today, know this story about this prophet, this prophet of God, who was, God told him to go to the city of Nineveh, and he decided he did not want to do what God told him to do. And the Bible tells us in the first part of chapter 1 that he was going to take a ship, he went down to Joppa to go on a ship to Tarshish to flee away from the presence of God. And the Lord, God, you know, isn't it something when we try to run away from God? The Bible tells us in the book of Psalms how that he is everywhere. The psalmist even says, If I descend to the depths of hell, behold, thou art there. There's nowhere we can get to get away from the presence of God. Aren't you glad this morning that God is everywhere? He is a God that is in every place. And his eye was on Jonah, and he knew he had told Jonah what to do, but yet Jonah is trying to get away from God. He's trying to get away from the presence of God. And he gets on this ship, and the Lord causes a great wave and a great storm to come across the sea where Jonah was, and this great storm comes up, and Jonah is asleep in the bottom of the ship, just sound asleep, and all the mariners are worried what's going on, and they wake up Jonah, and they said, Sleeper, how are you sleeping? Don't you know what's going on? We're all going to die. And Jonah tells them how that he is fleeing from God, and you just throw me overboard. He basically tells them, and indeed they do. And then we read here in chapter number 2, Howard, end of chapter 1, how the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Wow, what a... You know, talk about the original submarine. God chose this great fish to swallow up Jonah, and here he is in the bottom of the sea, and the seaweeds, the Bible tells us, were wrapped around his head. And you know, people talk about how reading the Bible can be boring, and they haven't read the book of Jonah. When you think about all these things that are going on, and how the drama that's involved with Micah, and how God presents this to us, that this prophet that he had chosen to take his message to this city of Nineveh, flees away, and there's a great storm, and he's swallowed by a fish, and here he is in the belly of the fish, and all the seaweeds are wrapped around his head, and he's crying out to God from the middle of this fish's belly for God to deliver him, and indeed God, in His mercy, does. And God causes the fish to vomit Jonah out onto the dry land. The Bible talks about how he goes to Nineveh, and he preaches to Nineveh, and they repent. And then Jonah, it didn't go exactly like he was hoping. He really didn't care for the Ninevites. The Syrians were very evil and wicked people, and if you read their history, and how wicked they were, it gives you some understanding of why, perhaps, Jonah was so resistant to go and preach to them, because they were indeed enemies, great enemies of the Hebrews, and they were very wicked people who had no mercy for those who would not subject themselves to their rule. But it didn't go exactly like Jonah wanted, and he's under a gourd that the Lord allowed to come up in the night, and the gourd died in the night, and Jonah's mad about it. And God tells Jonah, you know, do you have a right to be mad about that gourd, and all these people were going to die, but yet I sent my mercy. So that's the book of Jonah. If you didn't know the story, you know it now. If you did know it, here's a recap of what happened in these four chapters. If you haven't read it recently, I encourage you, when you go home this afternoon, get out your Bible and read the entire book of Jonah. It only takes a few minutes, and it's just amazing the things that God has packed into those verses in this book. I was wondering, as I thought about Jonah and all the things that happened with Jonah, why Jonah? Why Jonah, Sister Laura? Why did God choose Jonah? And when Jonah didn't want to go, and Jonah takes this ship, and he's trying to get away from God, and he's going down to Tarshish, why didn't God just get somebody else to go? Certainly there was another prophet somewhere there in Israel that could have went to Nineveh. Why did God go through all of this trouble of having this fish swallow him up and work on Jonah so hard? Why Jonah? As we read this book of Jonah this morning, as you read it this afternoon, as you think about it, and as you read God's Word in any place, as we're reading this book of Jonah, this book of Jonah, it tells us, yes, about Jonah, but I want to present to you today that although it tells us about Jonah, this book is not so much about Jonah as it is about Jehovah. As we, hallelujah, I said, as we read the book of Jonah this morning, we learn something about this man, Jonah, but this book is not so much about him as it is about God Almighty and who God is, and the great lengths that God goes to to show us who He is and to prove His love to us. Woo! Hallelujah! I say, God goes to great lengths to prove to us who He is and how much love He has for us. Oh, God could have just allowed Jonah just to go on down to Tarshish. God could have allowed Jonah to go on his own merry way, so to speak. God could have allowed Jonah to continue on the way that he was going, which was away from God. Oh, but that's not who God is. He's a God of compassion. He's a God of love. He's a God of mercy, and in God's great love and His great mercy, He reached down to Jonah to bring him to where God had planned for him. Oh, hallelujah! This morning, I want to let you know, young people, I want you to know, middle-aged people, I want you to know, kids, I want you to know, elderly, that we're serving a God this morning who is a God of love and a God of compassion. Oh, and a God who goes to great lengths to show us how much He indeed loves us. We read the book of 1 John, and he tells us, in fact, that God is love. We read in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 3, The Lord hath appeared of Odin to me, saying, Yea, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Hallelujah! Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Oh, we read in the book of Romans, chapter 5, verse 8, But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We read in the book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 4 and 5, But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Him. By grace ye are saved. 1 John 3, verse 1, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. You see, God showed His great love to this man Jonah. God showed His love to the Ninevites, who were a wicked, wicked people. And the things that they did, the torture and the hurting, and the maim and behead and kill, all those that were against Him, God showed His great love. And taking this man Jonah, He didn't give up on Jonah, did He? He could have allowed Jonah just to continue on his own merry way and do his own thing. But because of God's love, God does not coerce us into doing His will. God does not force us to surrender to who He is. God does not make us like... We talk about demonic possession and how people are possessed by demons and spirits. Indeed, they still are today. And I think there's probably a lot more of that going on in our country than what we realize. People controlled by demons and by devils and possessed by devils. And indeed, when they're possessed, God takes them about like a pig with a ring in its nose and tells them what to do. And they must surrender in their servanthood to their Master. Oh, but God is the God of love and that He does not cause us and make us do anything because we are a free moral nation. We have our own will. But God will indeed steer us. God will steer us in the direction that He would like us to go. His love for His people is so great that He deals with us time and time and time and time and time again. Oh, He will continue to deal with us because of His love for us. But His love for us, He doesn't make us, but He will bring us to that place like He did Jonah. Jonah still, even though all these things happened, Jonah didn't have to go preach the Word of God because he still had his own will. How does God steer Jonah? Is He steering you this morning towards anything? You know, sometimes God deals with us about something and, oh, that was just something in my mind. Maybe that was something I just happened to have that feeling. We toss off when the Lord is dealing with our hearts about issues, about things, about times to pray, about times to read His Word, about witnessing to others. That is not just some other feeling that come over you. Oh, but the Lord can direct your steps. It's time to say that Word to someone to witness. It's time to pray. It's time to read God's Word. I tell you, the devil's not going to tell you to pray. The devil's not going to tell you to read God's Word. The devil's not going to tell you to witness to somebody else about the love of Christ. But God, He deals with us and He proves His love to us. This man Jonah, there was another man in the New Testament you might be familiar with. His name was Saul. His name was Saul. In the book of Acts 9, verse 4, the Bible says, and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the bricks. And he trembling, astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Skipping down to verse number 15, the Word of God says, But the Lord said unto Ananias, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Here is this man, Saul, and the Bible tells us how he went about persecuting the church. And he was there when the first martyr Stephen was stoned. In fact, the people that were stoning Stephen threw their coats at his feet. And he was there as all was going on. And he was very zealous about persecuting the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, he was on his way to Damascus with letters from Jerusalem that he could bring the followers of Christ bound back to Jerusalem. He had went to the chief priests and he had these letters. And I'm going to bring back people who are following this man named Jesus. But God knows best is the name of our message this morning. God knows best. Here Saul is on the road to Damascus. Do you know how much God loves His people? Here's this man named Saul who was busy about to go and persecute God's people. Busy and going to kill them if he could, take their life. Persecute the church. But yet God in His love shone a light down from heaven on this man Saul. And that persecution that was going to happen from the hand of Saul at Damascus never happened. Because God intervened. And this man named Saul had his name changed to Paul. And as we know, as we read the New Testament, he wrote the majority of the books of the New Testament. God used Paul, who used to be named Saul, to pen these words for us to read. And God knows best this morning. God knows best this morning. And he told Ananias. Ananias was scared. God told him. Jesus spoke to him in a vision and said, go pray for him. And Ananias was like, God, don't you know what's going on? The Lord had forgot that Saul was the persecutor of the church. But Ananias didn't know what all had happened. How that Saul's life had been changed by that bright light. And how that he was going to show him how many great things he must suffer. He must suffer for Jesus' sake. Saul caused a lot of suffering for the people of God. But Paul endured a lot of suffering for the cause of Christ. Wow. Saul was a persecutor of the church. Paul was persecuted for the cause of Christ. In fact, we read in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23, he makes a list, beginning in verse 23, of all the things that he went through for the cause of Christ. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 23, he says, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. He says, In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft, listen to his list, of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck a night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeyings often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the day, in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Here Paul makes this list of all the things that Ananias said, that Jesus spoke to Ananias, that he's going to suffer many things for my name's sake. And indeed, Paul did. Paul did, but God knows best. God knows best! He knew the best for Paul's life. And if you were to read in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 21, it talks about how he was going up to Jerusalem He was going to go to Jerusalem and someone there, a prophet there, took his girdle and bounded about him and said, whoever owns this girdle, when you go to Jerusalem, they're going to bind you as well. They're going to deliver you up to the chief priest under the unction of power of the Holy Ghost. And sister and master, as I've read that so many times, I was like, was the Holy Ghost telling Paul not to go? You know, that's the thought that goes through. We would think that this prophet's coming up and saying, this is going to happen but no. And Paul said, you know, it doesn't bother me that that's going to happen. It doesn't bother me. I'm ready and willing to die for the name of Christ. This man, who was the persecutor of the church, came to the point in his life that he knew that God knew best. That Jesus shone that bright light upon him. That he had that experience with God that changed his life forever to the point that he was willing to not only go and suffer persecution for Christ, but he was willing to go and die for the name of Jesus. Indeed, history tells us that after the end of 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter that we have in the Word of God and how he said that he had fought a good fight and he was ready to be offered and indeed, he did lose his life for Christ. But God knows best this morning in His love for us, He knows best. This great man by the name of Jesus Christ, I want to talk about Jesus a minute before we're finished today. First of all, about Jonah. Second, about Saul, whose name became Paul. And third, about this man. Oh, why we're gathered here today. Why we're gathered here today. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. Oh, hallelujah. There's a name above all others wonderful to hear bringing hope and cheer It's the lovely name of Jesus evermore the same What a lovely name Oh, what a name the name of Jesus Hallelujah. His name, that's why we're here today is because of this man, Jesus. And Jesus, you know, He is the name of Jesus and His name is the name of Jesus and His name is the name of Jesus and His name is the name of Jesus You know, He is We read through the Bible and there's all these great examples of how to live The Bible Paul tells us these are all written as in samples so you'll know how to live and what to do and what not to do Oh, church but our greatest example today the one young people were to pattern our lives after His name is Jesus Hallelujah The one that we're to live like His name is Jesus The reason why Hallelujah I said the reason why we're living today The reason why we have the joy of the Lord which is our strength The reason why we have the peace that passes all understanding Woo! Oh, the reason this morning is this man by the name of Jesus He is the whole reason There's a song I know a lot of songs You know He's the only reason I live But oh what a reason You know that man Jesus Hallelujah Woo! Hallelujah He's the reason why we live today church Oh, Hallelujah He is the reason why we live today The Bible tells us this man Jesus Brother Micah He knew He knew He knew that God knows best He knew that His Father Here He is eternally dwelling as the Son with the Father and the Holy Ghost He knew the Father knew best In fact the Bible tells us even when He was only 12 years old 12 year old young man or 12 year old boy whichever way you want to say it His mom and dad left Him at the temple somehow they forgot They forgot Jesus behind I hope we never forget Oliver someplace But they had forgot Jesus behind at the temple and they found Jesus and they're like Mary's like We've been worrying about you son What you doing? You know Have you had I'm from Florida This is North Georgia but I guess y'all are about to say something What you doing son? What are you still doing here? Weren't you with us in our caravan going back home? And Jesus told Mary How is it that you sought me? 12 years old How is it that you sought me? Wished you not that I must be about my father's business? Sister Laura 12 years old and He knows that God knows best He knows His Father's mission for Him and He's busy about doing the Father's business Young folks Middle aged folks Elderly folks Can I encourage us all to be like Jesus? And be busy about our Father's business? Not busy for the sake of being busy No Jesus told us about the Father's business and He's busy about doing the Father's business Young folks Middle aged folks Elderly folks Can I encourage us all to be like Jesus? Not busy for the sake of being busy No Jesus told us about the cares of life and we have a lot of cares today don't we? And a lot of things that keep us busy But busy about doing the will of God They don't keep a lot of busyness out of our life We're busy doing the will of God He told His disciples in Luke chapter 9 verse 51 and it came to pass He's not speaking yet but this is about what was going on In verse 51 of Luke 9 it came to pass when the time was come that He should be received up He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem See Jesus knew His mission Jesus knew where He was going to go Jesus knew what He was going to do Jesus knew what was going to happen He tells them in verse 56 The Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives but to save them The Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives but to save them For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever is with Him should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved Hallelujah He had told His disciples earlier in Luke chapter the same chapter I just read out of Luke chapter 9 verse 22 He tells them The Son of Man must suffer many things Jesus knows what's going to happen I'm glad I don't know what's going to happen In so many ways There's so many things I can look back in my life at the years I've lived and say I'm glad I didn't know about that before it happened But Jesus knew The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day Jesus knew He knew what was going to happen but He set His face to go to Jerusalem regardless He knew that He was going to have a triumphant entry that was going to be very short-lived Here He comes in and everybody's saying Hosanna and worshiping Jesus and throwing off their robes for the donkey to walk on and throwing the palm branches on the ground and less than a week later here He is at a mock trial before the heads of the religious system of the time and having them accuse Him of things that were untrue bringing false witnesses up and He doesn't even try to defend Himself but He becomes a convicted sinner and He becomes convicted of things that are untrue and He is crucified the Bible tells us how that He bore the stripes on His back all for our healing how that the crown of thorns was placed upon His head how that they put the nails into His hands and into His feet how that they put Him on the old rugged cross and raised that cross up in between the two thieves how that while He was on the cross they mocked Him and made fun of Him how that one of the thieves cried out to Him and how Jesus said today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise how that Jesus was there and how that He cried out Eloi, Eloi lava sabachthani which is being interpreted My God My God why hast thou forsaken Me how that He died oh and how that the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom how that Jesus died that day how they came and they took the sword and pierced the other side and forth came the water and the blood out of Jesus Christ but not a bone of Him was broken that the Scripture might be fulfilled oh this man Jesus knew all these things were going to happen to Him He knew how He was going to be betrayed by His own people He knew how that the ones He had come to save were the ones that were going to crucify Him He knew the agony while He was in the garden how He prayed and His sweat became great drops of blood yet He knew that God knows best He said not My will but Thine be done not My will but Thine be done this man Jesus God knows best this morning read the book of Hebrews chapter 12 wherefore seen we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight I could use my coat this morning as a weight lay aside the weight the Bible tells us lay aside that weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us Paul says that sin easily besets us the sin that doth so easily beset us oh the devil uses his ammunition very wisely and he knows that the sin will beset us very easily and let us run with patience the race that is set before us he says I'm going to keep on running the writer of Hebrews says keep on running he said don't stop he says don't give up he said God knows best keep running this race with patience that is set before you run the race with patience I can't decide if I should run this part of me wants to run around you know because that's what it says run this race with patience we got to keep on running we don't stop and quit but we run the race God knows best this morning we don't we don't know best but God does so we keep on running this race with patience run the race keep running why would you quit why would you stop why would you why would you give up why would you not trust God because he knows best God knows best I'm going to keep on running the race keep running the race run the race with patience that is set before us we don't choose which way to run because the race is set before us it's already been marked out which way we're to run where we're to go what we're to do how we're to follow it's already been marked out this is the way I'm supposed to take you this direction run the race with patience looking unto who looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shaman and is sit down now at the right hand of the father whoo I tell you makadabashadabai dabai dabai hoshanadabai we look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith who tells us that God knows best this morning we look to Jesus this morning we look unto Jesus this morning oh we run the race with patience oh my with the coming of the Lord so close or death so close one of them's going to happen first everybody here either death or the Lord or the Lord will come for every single one of us here and it's soon it's soon it's soon brother Messer in life tells us the book of James sounds like a vapor and I think back 2007 I met brother and sister Messer and Micah and Laura at the holiness baptist camp meeting and Douglas Georgia and Micah your hair didn't have that gray in it back then and neither did mine we were painting the bathroom one time and back I guess a year or two ago I don't know how it goes and we were painting the bathroom and I see the mirror I said Rachel I got paint in my hair nine years in June what? how did that happen? I'll never be nine months old on the third what? how is this going by so fast and some of you could tell me more and more it's coming and it's going to be here soon the Lord's going to come or we're going to meet the Lord one on one one way or another He's coming for us run the race patience don't give in don't give up continue on look to Jesus look to Jesus look to Jesus knowing what He knows best God knows best this morning and He wants to lead us can we all stand around the church this morning praise the Lord can we pray Father I thank you for this opportunity to minister your word I thank you God for each and every one that's here and their attendance I thank you for this opportunity to minister your word I thank you God for each and everyone that's here and their attention I thank you Lord that you're here thank you Lord for the Holy Ghost thank you Lord for the Holy Ghost thank you for your word thank you Lord that you do know best and press upon our hearts your direction your divine direction for every single person here I pray especially for the young folks I pray especially for the young people that Lord would move upon them in their lives I pray especially for the young folks I pray especially for the young people that Lord would move upon them in their lives in the name of Jesus Brother Micah would it be in order for us to pray for the young people at the end of the service if you're a young people anybody who's a young people if you don't mind coming up front let's pray for you this morning all the people who's a young people I'm 48 and still think I'm a young people sometimes my brain says I'm 25 anybody else who's a young people wants to get prayed for can we have some of the church whoever feels would like to help us pray let's come up and pray can we pray for them this morning for God's direction for their lives that God will bless and help them