Jonah & the Whale

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What happens when God calls us to serve people we despise? Dive into the remarkable story of Jonah—a tale far deeper than just a man and a whale. This episode uncovers the profound spiritual struggle of a prophet who ran from divine assignment because he couldn't bear the thought of his enemies receiving mercy.

We explore Jonah's journey from reluctant prophet to unwilling messenger, examining his desperate flight away from Nineveh, his dramatic three-day entombment in the great fish, and his subsequent anger when God shows compassion to the very people Jonah deemed unworthy. The conversation reveals surprising parallels between Jonah's prejudice and our own modern tendencies to judge who deserves grace.

Through thoughtful discussion and personal reflection, we unpack how God persistently pursued one stubborn prophet to demonstrate a radical truth: divine mercy extends beyond our comfortable boundaries. We examine how Jesus himself referenced this story as a foreshadowing of his own death and resurrection, giving it profound theological significance beyond its surface narrative.

This episode challenges us to confront our own "Nineveh moments"—those times when God asks us to extend compassion to people we've written off. Are we, like Jonah, more concerned with our comfort than with sharing God's message? Do we secretly hope some people never experience divine mercy? Join us for this honest exploration of one of scripture's most misunderstood stories and discover how it speaks directly to our hidden prejudices today.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I didn't think I was going to get out of there again
today Out of work, mm-hmm.
I called Jarvie.
I said I'm telling you what.
We're just going to moveforward with this back surgery.
We're getting it done so I canget out of there.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I had one of those days yesterday, but I guess
you'll have that in living inthe world.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Oh yeah, More often than not.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
All right.
Well we're airing so we've gotokay me, who's me me kind of
sound nasally right now, but Idon't think I am um it's the
weather yeah, we're just talkingabout that roger we're not sure
, 60 degrees high 62 today.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Like what?

Speaker 1 (00:45):
yeah, misty rain all day, all day, yeah, yeah not
where we want to be for thistime of year no, at the end of
may no, it's like we came,actually came home from the boat
on sunday because I'm like I'mcold, I'm aching and I just want
my bed and my electric blanket.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yes In.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
May In May, right?
Yes, yeah, yeah, my dad said Iwas tempted to turn the heat on
for a few minutes just to getthe chill out of the house.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
I ended up doing it today Like if it was.
If it was just me and notCooper, I wouldn't have cared,
but it's almost a game for me,you, but it's almost a game for
me, you know, like October orApril, may, weird thing, yeah,
but like I don't, I don't wanthim suffering.
So, roger, we're not sure ifhe's going to be with us today.
He's uh setting up for therailroad festival with Pastor

(01:38):
Michael, um, but our, I kind ofso.
Did you think of this topic,nick?
Kind of, because of my initialno, really.
Because I was like, yeah, thatkind of.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
I was just amazed that I did, because I'm going
through Memorial Day weekend andevery day I'm like I don't have
a topic.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
I'll get it.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
You know, I'll get it Next day.
I don't have a topic, I'll getit It'll.
You know I'll get it next day.
I don't have a topic.
Well, I'll get it it'll.
You know, well, by uh, mondaynight still didn't have it.
So I woke up tuesday morninggetting ready to go to work and
for some reason, joan is on mymind.

(02:21):
I have no idea why.
Didn't have any you know reasonto have him on my mind.
But all of a sudden, you didyou know what?
I think I'm going to talk aboutjonah.
And then it wasn't until I wentback through reading, reading
it, yeah, and read about how hefell asleep at the bottom of the
boat, and I thought there it itis.

(02:44):
You were just talking aboutPaul and preaching until he put
the guy to sleep.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I was like all comes together.
I was thinking just the storiesthat are unbelievable, not even
unbelievable unheard of.
Clearly, Jonah and the whale isone of the stories that you
have heard, but I think somepeople are.
Is that even believable, youknow, if they're skeptical as it

(03:10):
is.
So I thought it kind of wenthand in hand with that too.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
And we were actually talking about it before we even
logged on to here.
So, we're excited.
I think Beth and Don listenedto a few podcasts about it.
Nick dove into it.
I don't see any papers printedout tonight.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Well, just I had a couple, but by the time I got
through all this I really didn'tneed it.
It was yeah, yeah didn't reallyhave anything I needed to bring
along with me.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
So yeah, I think we'll be, and I have my classic
children's Bible book again.
Oh nice.
I think Jenny got it for me forlike Cooper's baby shower or
something.
It's really.
It's got like I think it's allthe books in chrono Well, not
all the books, a lot of majorstories in chronological order

(04:01):
and it's just like a shortpassage for every one of them.
So yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Did anybody do anything interesting for
Memorial Day?
Anything to share?

Speaker 4 (04:10):
Went to best boat, went out to the houseboat.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
You didn't fall asleep at the bottom of it I did
not.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
I could have fallen asleep on the bed with Bennett,
though, but he kept me awake.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
He kept me busy.
Bennett had a new grandma.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
I was demoted and that's okay, because those video
games and stuff they're justnot my cup of tea.
And he filled Dawn in on it all.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
What kind of video games?

Speaker 4 (04:39):
Oh, they were just I don't know something that he had
downloaded on YouTube and someYouTube stuff.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
He's all about the titanic right now, really yes, I
feel like, um, that's likeright at that age.
How old is he now?
Six, yeah, trip, um, my gosh.
I wanted to say nephew, he's mycousin.
Um, he, I think he was six orseven and he was obsessed with
the titanic and they I can'tremember if they got the Lego

(05:05):
thing to build, but I feel likethey did.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
Yeah, and he had a lot of Lego, yeah, related
things as well.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, and then.
Well, the book that he gaveCooper was Titanic.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
I heard him in there telling Dawn about don't get on
this ship.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
Carnival cruises, bougie baby, yeah that's so
funny.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
But you know what?
It was so funny that him andRosalyn were out playing and I
mean it was cold and it didn'tbother them.
They had their sweatpants allpulled up their feet in that
water.
Rosalyn pulled this big stickup and it had like green algae
and she's like look, it's anallergy, it's my allergies, my

(05:51):
allergies but they had.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
So much fun so they were both up for the whole
weekend.
That's nice.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Now do they have the.
Is there a Titanic exhibit inCleveland?

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Columbus or Cincinnati.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
The last time I was at the Rock Hall of Fame I
remember which has been quite awhile ago, but I seem to
remember there was in a separatebuilding that you could walk to
.
There was this whole exhibitfor the.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Titanic Wasn't there one time that there was one that
they kind of moved it fromplace to place?

Speaker 3 (06:34):
Yeah, I think so.
Maybe that's what it was, butyeah, that could have been.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
I also know they have something up there like a USS
ship that you can tour.
I think it might be on one ofthe bays, like you can see it
from the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame, but it's a few blocks over
, like down by the flats, Iguess.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Okay, but I think, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
That's one thing I like to do when I'm on vacation,
like most of the time it's by athing of water or something.
I just like going on my mapsand zooming in and seeing what
these things are, that you know,geological marks that your map
pulls up.
One time I found it's thislighthouse in the middle of it's
like an hour off of the OuterBanks, I think, or Myrtle Beach

(07:23):
maybe, but it's like rockyshoals, like s-h-o-a-l-s and
people.
It's called the frying fryingtower pan or frying frying pan
tower, but people like livethere.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
oh wow, it's still an operating yeah yeah, but it's.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
I mean, if you see the pictures of it it's likes
like maybe even 1950s, like noupdates.
But how could you update, youknow?
But they do have people likevolunteers.
Yeah, they're quote unquotevolunteers, but you still you
almost have to pay like $900each night that you volunteer
there, just because it's such anexperience.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah, but they have a underground like, oh like,
almost like the bird, the birdcameras, but it's underground,
just so you can see all thecrazy.
You know wildlife and fish andreefs right under it oh wow,
it's really neat.
I think you can take like aboat out there, just to you know

(08:25):
, look at it a little tour.
Yeah, hmm, yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
I went down to the uh Zanesville cemetery this year.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Oh yeah, um for Memorial day, you mean?

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Yeah, all right, every Memorial day I go to a
cemetery.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
I was wondering if I'd see you at union cemetery,
but I didn't.
No, at Union Cemetery, but Ididn't.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
No, I just went, like I said, we went down to
Zanesville.
There was a famous story of asoldier at Gettysburg.
His name was Charles Hazlittand he was killed on Little
Round Top and he was killed.
He was leaning over one of abrigade commander and somebody
he knew really well and he wasleaning over to hear his last

(09:04):
words when he was shot in thehead and killed.
So Gettysburg takes place onJuly 2nd of 1863.
So we go down there.
I find his grave and I'mchecking that out and it's
pretty cool and it's a prettyunique stone.
It's got like a nice bronzeplaque on the front of it and it

(09:24):
tells the whole story aboutgettysburg and how he was killed
.
And then I looked over to myleft and I see this other stone.
It looks exactly the same asthe one I'm looking at.
So I go over there and it's afamily plot, so I go over there.
Well, it turns out his brotheris buried there as well and his
brother had been mortallywounded back on New Year's Eve

(09:46):
of 1862 at a place called StonesRiver in Tennessee, hangs on
until June 7th of 63, passesaway and not even a month later
Charles gets shot and killed atGettysburg and I just thought,
oh my, how terrible for thoseparents.
Can you imagine?

(10:07):
And I never knew that Again, itseems like I always learn
something.
So I was just really takenaback by that.
I thought, wow, I just can'timagine You're probably nursing
your one son trying to nurse himback to health and you lose him
after a six-month battle andthen, not even a month later,
your other son.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
No, as a parent, I can't imagine, I can't fathom
that.
As a kid I used to pray to Godand I wasn't even saved then,
but as a kid I used to pray toGod let me die before my mom
dies.
And then I think, oh how no,absolutely not.
How selfish that was of me.
But you know, my mom was mybest friend, she was my
confidant.
She was my everything and I'mlike let me go before she does.

(10:49):
And then I, now that I'm aparent, I'm like oh boy, that
was like yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Once you're a parent.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
Such a selfish prayer yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
You're like oh no, I wouldn't want to put my not, no,
no, yeah and they were.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
I don't even think they were 25 years old, yeah.
You know they were pretty youngso I just can't imagine that.
But yeah, so that was.
They had a really nice cemeterydown there, really nice
presentation for Memorial Day,and it's like on this hill and
then if you go into the cemeteryyou can go up this other hill
to the very top and you can lookout over the whole city of
Zanesville from the cemetery.

(11:22):
So it's really unique and theyhave a lot of American
Revolution soldiers buried there.
So, there's a lot of history, alot of people that were actually
born in England that's cool andcame over here like Irish and
English.
So yeah, it was really neatjust to walk around and kind of
learn some of the history ofthose people and I always find

(11:42):
that interesting, I do too.
You can learn a lot just bywalking around the cemetery.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Oh yeah, you really can.
Oh yeah, kathy Grandison, Idon't know if you know or not
she had reached out to my auntand I wish I would have known
that they were going to do it.
But Eureksville, she read everyname of every soldier or person
that was buried there that hadserved in the war.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Really and said that you know, she just let my aunt
know that they read my grandpa'sname.
Wish I would have been there.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, I went, so I did the.
They had the Civil War onewhich is in that weird
roundabout area in the cemetery,and then they did that one at
10 and they did the other one at11, which was it's called the
new soldiers plot Maybe plots, Idon't know, but and it's it's

(12:35):
bigger over there because it'swhere all the like it's.
It's probably where you'retalking, beth.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
But down in the left hand corner.
Yeah, all the way in the back.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Yes, yeah, by the flagpole.
But I was like there's no wayshe just read off, because you
see so many of those whiteheadstones and I I'd say she
read off like 11.
I'm like there's no way.
So I actually meant to go homeand like read up on, because
it's, I think, a rule call iswhat she called it.
I'm like, I'm like there's noway she just read all of those.
There's no stinking way.

(13:05):
So I meant to go home and readon that.

Speaker 1 (13:07):
I don't know that Grandpa is over there.
He's in the regular plot.
Our family's out over there.
But, still that theyacknowledge him a lot.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, I have to admit I didn't know that they were
actually doing something overthere.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
The only reason I know is because every year I
know that there's the um.
It's not even a parade, it'sjust the band walks down and
passes my house, and I hear itevery year.
Oh that's right, uh-huh so I'mlike, oh, cooper would like that
.
And I I'm like, depending on ifhe takes an apple, he wasn't
taking a nap, so I'm like youknow what?
He's gonna wake up from thisband anyway.

(13:44):
So I'm I got in his littlestroller or put him in his
stroller, and then um, headeddown and then I was like, yeah,
and I'm like you, nick, I'm likeI want to see, like what can I
learn today, you know?
So we just walked down thereand actually my aunt was there
and ended up, just you know,standing with her and her dad.
Her dad's dad is buried over inthe new plots, so she met with

(14:05):
him and yeah, it was pretty cool.
Though that's cool, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
One more crazy story real quick.
Did you hear about the vehiclethat was hit by the train?

Speaker 2 (14:15):
last night, was that you?

Speaker 3 (14:17):
No, it's not that interesting.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
No, I did Margie and I yeah On.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Wardell yeah, right down from us.
So we had just got to bed.
We're just laying there, kindof chit-chatting, you know, and
we always hear the trains goingback and forth all the time.
And they had their whistle goingthe whole thing.
And it goes by and all of asudden Margie's like that didn't
sound right.
I'm like what do you mean?
She goes.

(14:47):
Something didn't sound rightabout that and I just kind of
looked at her.
No, sooner she said that thetrain, you can hear the brakes,
and it wasn't.
Five minutes after that all theemergency vehicles show up.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
Now that you say that I remember hearing brakes and I
didn't know what it was.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, that's what it was.
Okay, like a weird squeaky yes,yeah, because the brakes went
on for quite a while.
Yeah, it did yeah so, uh, yeah,everybody shows up and and of
course I was like I didn't hearanything and I thought, oh,
hopefully some they didn't hit aperson right, you know so all I
know is a vehicle didn't yield.

(15:24):
Either it just decided to goright across without stopping,
or it tried to beat it.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
I don't think there were any injuries.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
No, they did say I think the driver was injured.
Okay Times Reporter.
If you try to click on a lot oftheir links you can't do it.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
You have the subscription.
Yes, that's where it ends forme.
Yeah, same, yeah, lot of theirlinks you can't do it like you
have the subscription.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
Yes, that's where it ends for me.
Yeah, same, yeah, but yeah,that was.
That was kind of crazy.
Yeah, yeah, and I don't know.
I still don't know how she likepicked that out.
She's like something don'tsound right about them because
you hear it multiple times a dayyeah, that's what she said.
She's like well, I'm used tohearing it all the time, so I
know when something's different,something I was like well, I
didn't hear anything.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
I even know like, oh, that's running late.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yes, so, yeah, I'm kind of interested to hear the
rest of that story.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Craziness Right, jonah.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Jonah and the whale.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Now I'll say this little Bible book, kids book,
says Jonah and the fish, jonahand the fish.
Now I'll say this little Biblebook, kids book, says Jonah and
the fish, jonah and the fish andactually.
Yes and what was it?
Hebrew, the Hebrew word andsomething about, oh wait, fish.
Yes, large fish is Hebrew.

(16:43):
Yeah, I don't know where I wasgetting with that.
Never mind, I was hoping youhad.
Yeah, I don't know where I wasgetting that.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
Never mind, I was hoping you had it, because I
didn't get that.
I didn't.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, I think it was actually in.
I should say I'm pretty surewhere I got that was Wikipedia
and I'm like I don't know howaccurate that is, because can't
a lot of people go in there andedit it now, compared to years
when Wikipedia startedipediastarted?

Speaker 3 (17:07):
you know what I mean news to me no I don't know yeah,
I don't know, but uh well, wewere talking, maybe before we
went live, that you know.
This is a story that you know,you learn as a child.
It's one of the big, you knowchildren's bible stories.
So you know about jonah and thewhale, so everybody's heard it.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
But there's a lot more to the story that you don't
realize until you really diveinto it um, as a child, I don't
think you ever grasped I.
I don't know that I have reallygrasped it until I dug into it.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Same.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
Yeah, because it usually ends up in, you know,
amazing Bible stories.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
You just get the simple.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
You know the simple story.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Well, and I feel like that's why a lot of people
don't dive into it, because it'slike oh well, I already know,
everybody knows that Three daysin the belly of the whale.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
Yeah, spit out one yeah which three days?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
that's like, yeah, right, that's very yes to jesus,
you know but yep, jesus will uhtell that story himself yeah,
comparing it to his yeah, thathe will be, you know,
resurrected in three days.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
So yeah, um, so maybe a little, uh.
So let's give a littlebackstory to try to get into
this.
So Jonah, originally he is oneof the prophets and he is under—
.
Now, I don't know if mostpeople know this and I just kind
of learned this, diving intothis, but Israel was split into

(18:41):
two factions.
So you had the faction ofIsrael and you had the faction
of Judah.
So I don't know, I don't knowif that's because they had
different beliefs or they hadcertain conflicts they couldn't
resolve, but Israel is almostsplit into two factions.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
So almost like the Civil War for us, us like how
that would have been.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
Maybe, perhaps, yeah yeah okay but I haven't died, I
haven't got into enough of thatto really know what the story is
there, but jonah is um.
He is a prophet on the israelside of the faction and he is
mentioned in second kings 1425,so he's a prophet under Jeroboam

(19:26):
the second, which he is theking of Israel from 793 to 753,
and I think our when Jonahreally starts preaching, it's
around 785.
Remember, this is BC, so thenumbers will get lower as we get
closer to Christ's birth and itsays that Jonah's ministry ends

(19:49):
somewhere in 753.
So from 783 to 753.
But this Jeroboam II yeah, he'sthe king of Israel, but he's a
real nasty guy.
He's a real nasty guy, he's areal bad dude and uh, so I'm
gonna guess that this is whereuh jonah begins to get a bad

(20:10):
taste in his mouth for thesetype of people.
Um, so he's going to prophesizeunder them, and then we'll cut
right to the chase.
God tells jonah to preach toand go into Nineveh and preach
to those people.
Now, he's already seen somereally bad dudes.
I guess the people in Ninevehare even worse.

(20:33):
Absolutely.
These people are just completelyhorrible.
I think they listed, let's see,they were guilty of evil plots
against God, whatever that meantexploitation of the helpless,
cruelty and war, prostitution,worshiping idols and witchcraft.

(20:58):
So yeah, so these are.
And these people and theimportant thing I thing to point
out here is, from what I'veread, these people had never
even been given a chance toworship God.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
So they're, they're not even so they were all like
already doing witchcraft likethat, yeah, like they they're
not even like that, yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Like they, they're not even aware that there is got
it Okay, you know.
God as we know it.
So they're just, you knowthey're running rampant, they're
doing whatever they want to do,they're committing every type
of atrocity you could possiblyimagine.
And, of course, god is askingJonah to go into this territory
to preach to these people.

(21:46):
And Jonah, he doesn't thinkthese people deserve it.
This is not what he wants to do.
This is the last thing thatJonah wants to do.
So God is giving him a veryuncomfortable, very tough
assignment and instead of Jonahtaking up the cross, taking up

(22:07):
the challenge, and saying, youknow, I'll give it my best shot.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
He wants no part of it because, number one, he
doesn't believe it's possible.
Number two, he doesn't likethese people, so he doesn't
believe they deserve it.
Uh, don't believe there's anychance that, you know, they're
going to give up their lifestylethat they have.
Yeah, and I'm going to guesstoo, he's thinking this is going
to be dangerous, this is goingto be probably the.
You know, I might not come backfrom this so he wants no part

(22:35):
of uh well, no, because they'rejust killing people, however
they yeah want to.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yeah, I mean just yeah, I read the what the
flocking.
So there was no flesh on theirbodies Impaling we're big on
impaling people.
Very gruesome gruesome people.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
Yeah, I mean, doesn't Jonas say that he'd rather just
be dead?

Speaker 2 (22:59):
Just kill me.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
I don't want to go here and do this.

Speaker 4 (23:01):
I would rather be dead than have to do this.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Yeah, eventually, as the story goes along, he,
finally, he'll finally whichwe'll get to that part of it,
but he'll finally do as God says.
But he's still going to put upresistance, he's still going to
try to put forth his point ofview.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
Where he literally goes in the opposite direction
of what God tells him to go.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
Yeah, and that's exactly what's going to happen
is is he's going to head?
Uh, where he needs to beheading, I think, is East and to
Assyrian, which Assyrian is, Iguess, uh, nineveh and Assyria,
I believe, in modern times, isaround Mosul, which is around

(23:42):
Iraq, I believe.

Speaker 2 (23:44):
So if you would want to, go there today.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
That's where you would be present day muscle.
Yes, yeah, that's nineveh, yeahum, so he's supposed to be
going east, and what's he do?
He turns and he goes as far.
He plans on going as far westas possible and so the way he
decides to do this is he getshimself a ticket on the boat,

(24:06):
pays the fare, jumps in, becomespart of the crew and he thinks,
you know, he can out sail God,basically, he thinks he can get
so far away from the situationthat God will not be able to
reach him, to turn him around.
And he's going to find out that,uh, that is exactly the
opposite case.
And so he's on the, he's on theship with these guys and, uh,

(24:31):
of course, god creates this hugestorm to capture the ship, to
stop it in his path, to turn itaround.
And what's jonah doing at thetime of the storm?
Sleeping Somehow Imagine that,as everybody's probably fighting
for their lives trying to keepthis ship from sinking and

(24:52):
capsizing.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
He's down there just having a nice day.
Yeah, they're throwing theircargo overboard.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
Yeah right, yeah they're starting to throw
everything overboard to keep itbalanced and keep everybody
alive and he doesn't care.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
And that's when they're finally like okay, we
ran out of cargo to throw over,so yeah who's this guy?

Speaker 4 (25:11):
sleeping down here, who's this guy?

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Well, and it says you know to figure this out, they
do the old tradition of castinglots, which, if you don't know
what casting lots is, it'sbasically like you're going to
flip a coin, you're going todraw sticks, anything they can
do to just kind of like a randomyou know, to see who's going to
you know, yeah, to see who hadoffended God to cause this storm

(25:37):
.
Yeah.
So of course they cast theirlot and it lands on Jonah, so
they start asking him questions,like you know well, what are
they asking.
They ask him, like well, how?

Speaker 4 (25:50):
you know who are you.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Who are you?
And number one is like how canyou sleep?

Speaker 4 (25:53):
Yeah, you know, during this.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
And what have you possibly done to offend God, to
create this storm?
And I suppose it's at thatpoint that he confesses.
He says I am a Hebrew and Iworship the Lord, the God of
heaven who made the sea and theland.
And when they heard that, thenthey wanted to know.
Okay, they asked him well, whyare you running?

(26:16):
They wanted to know why he wasrunning.
And I'm going to suppose thathe told them that.
I suppose that he told themthat.
And they say, well, what can wedo to stop this?
And at this point Jonah's justlike, well, just throw me in,
throw me in.
Just sacrifice me.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, you know, and this will put.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
You know God will give up.
You know, if I'm not around, ifI'm dead, you know God can't
use me.
So just throw me overboard.
And of course at first I don'tthink they wanted to do that.
You know they didn't want to beyou know, have that, you know.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
I don't know, I might be tempted to Like if you're
just sitting there sleeping andI'm working and sweating away.
See you later, buddy yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
Verse 13 of chapter 1 says instead the sailors rode
even harder to get the ship toland, but the stormy sea was too
violent for them and theycouldn't make it.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Right.
So then they had no choice butto get their hands dirty and
throw him overboard.
So you throw him overboard andof course that's when God
commands the big fish to swallowhim up and their Jonah will
stay for three days in the bellyof the fish After he was thrown
overboard.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
didn't the storm stop right away?

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, yeah, it did.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
And all of them that were on the ship were saved, and
then in its place comes the bigfish.
And they vowed to serve his God.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (27:48):
So quite a uh, unbelievable story at this point
.
Um, but it's in, uh, it's frominside the fish.
Then you know that, uh, jonahcalls out to god and he says in
my distress, I called to theLord and he answered me from the
depths of the grave.
So he's pretty much looking atbeing in the belly of the fish

(28:09):
as being in his own grave,buried alive.
I called for help.
You hurled me into the deep,into the very heart of the sea,
and the current swirled about me.
All your waves and breakersswept over me.
I said I have been banishedfrom your sight, yet I will look
again towards your holy temple.
The engulfing water threatenedme, the deep surrounded me,
seaweed was wrapped around myhead to the roots of the

(28:31):
mountains.
I sank down, the earth beneathbarred me in forever, but you
brought my life up from the pit.
O Lord, my God, when my lifewas ebbing away, I remembered
you, lord, and my prayer rose toyou, to your holy temple.
Those who cling to worthlessidols forfeit the grace that
could be theirs, but I, with asong of thanksgiving, will

(28:53):
sacrifice to you While I havevowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the Lord,and at that point God commands
the fish to grill him up.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Spit him out on the beach.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
Can you imagine that?

Speaker 2 (29:07):
No.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
That had to be.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
So last week I had a Disney little and then I'm like,
hey, you know what this remindsme of?
And Nick's like, yeah, I feellike a lot of these Disney, or
not even necessarily Disney, butjust movies, kids movies, any
movies.
They take them from bible, youknow the bible, or even other,
yeah, tall tales.

(29:30):
But, um, and I shouldn't saythe bible is a tall tale but I'm
like, well, I feel like thisone reminds me of nemo, does
anyone know which, uh, whicharea?
Whenever they're like I can'teven do it, I'm not gonna do it.
And they're like, hey, dory, doyou speak humpback?

(29:50):
But dory's like you, you haveto trust me, you have to trust
me.
And he's like, oh, of course,this whale's telling you to, you
know, go at the bottom of itsthroat, because he wants to eat
you.
Well, actually, the whale endedup, she ended up going down,
and so did marlin, and then theywent through the whole thing
that they have and back into theocean.

(30:11):
So it just reminded me of it,but not exactly.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
But one thing, uh, when it references in what is it
, matthew?
When jesus talks, talks aboutJonah and the three days, it
makes me wonder.
When the seaweed wrapped itselfaround my head, think about how
they wrap the dead and theywrap their face.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
Yeah, well and like when it says I called to you
from the land of the dead.
Like was, so did he drown.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
Was his soul Beyond.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
Beyond and he's praying from yeah, I mean, what
does that exactly mean?
Yeah, I mean, that's thequestion.
I mean if it correlates, ifthis is the correlation between
the three days.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
Right.
Jesus' three days.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Was he dead, crying, you know, praying from the land
of the dead, and then, whenJesus has the whale, spit him
out on the beach like hisresurrection day?
Yeah, I don't know, that's justsomething that crossed my mind.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
And actually I think I've listened to a few people.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
They kind of referenced that.
Yeah, and of course Jesus saysyou know what he says about
Jonah.
He says, oh, he says that noone greater than Jonah is here,
so he's putting.
Jonah up on this high pedestal,as possibly being the only

(31:49):
other human being that isexperiencing, or has experienced
what he's going to experiencenow.
So he makes direct reference to.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, I read that early and I don't know how early
they mean, but early Christianinterpreters viewed Jonah as a
type of Jesus.
That early, and I don't knowhow early they mean, but early
christian interpreters viewedjuna, juna, jonah, as a type of
jesus.
But I'm like, what do you meanby type, you know?
But I mean, I thought that wasinteresting, you know, even the
interpreters were like, yeah,yeah, I mean.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Well, I suppose, if you can put it in the right
words, right, right makes sense.
Yeah, I mean, he was a prophet,but yeah, you know, but I mean,
he doesn't hold, he's not theson of exactly, yeah, right but
it's just all another part ofthe prophecy that you know that
this story is very importantbecause jesus himself is going

(32:44):
to reference this story.

Speaker 4 (32:46):
Yes, so you know he's going to reference this.
I mean in Matthew and in Luke.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
And that's in Matthew 36.
I'm sorry, yeah, matthew 36 iswhen that story, when Jesus
talks about that.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
Yeah, I have a couple in Matthew.
I've got 12, 39, 41, 4 yeah,yeah, matthew, 12, 36.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, that's where I've got it yeah, okay, so I was
, I was pretty accurate.
The whale in the hebrew textrefers to as large fish now
jonah, in the Hebrew languagerefers to dove, so that's the
whole other thing that you canjust digest.

(33:31):
I didn't read.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I read that when I was studying last night so does
that mean he's meant to be likea peacekeeper?

Speaker 2 (33:42):
peacemaker maybe yeah , and like at that time, did
they, did they view doves aspeacemakers at during that time?

Speaker 3 (33:54):
you know, I don't know well, correct me, but story
of noah, isn't it a?
Dove Is it a?

Speaker 1 (34:03):
dove that comes visiting.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yes, so there's that connection.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
So then yes, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
So, that's how Noah knows that there's life that
there's dry land yeah.
Because the dove comes andvisits him.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
And I guess even you know, like God was just proving
a point, like I'm going to havethis whale spit you back out
because I'm not done with youyet.
You know.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Well, and you have to think about this, you have to
think about okay.
So when he gets out of thebelly of the fish and he finally
decides that he is going to goto Nineveh and he's going to
preach to these people, you haveto think okay, he must be a
very convincing prophet becausehe's going into a land that has

(34:52):
never heard the word before, andit says.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
On day one, jonah entered the city and he shouted
to the crowds 40 days from now,nineveh will be destroyed.
And they said that, like that'sall he said.
He didn't say hey, I have a Godwho's merciful and forgiving,
and all you got to do is repentof your sins.
He just said your city is goingto be destroyed in 40 days.
I wonder what he looked like.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
I mean, is he bleached out from the stomach
gases?
Because?

Speaker 4 (35:18):
they said, people immediately turned from their
wicked ways and just startedworshiping.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So what did he look like?
The burning bush, did he?
I mean, what did he look like?
What?
Yes, that they just that's whatI was about to say or like a
ghost, yeah, or something.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Right, because it doesn't give us any reference to
what he looks like?
Does he look like Jesus whenJesus came out of the tomb?
You know Right, I mean becauseyeah.

Speaker 3 (35:51):
Yeah, and I guess Nineveh was a population of
about 175,000 people, so theysaid it would take three days to
visit.
It was a very important city atthe time, which that just blows
my mind.
I guess, like these cities wereconsidered very important.
And yet you look at theclientele, you're like what?

(36:12):
Like, how did they, you know?
But I guess it always justcomes back to the more you read
into this stuff it's just like,you know, the Israelites, they
just they can't, as you know, aswe hear Pastor Michael preach
all the time, they just can'tget it together and no matter
how many times they go throughthis stuff, they just can't seem
to get it together.

(36:32):
And then, of course, even intheir you know, sometimes you're
like how do you even know yourenemies from your friends?
Because, everybody's behaving sobadly all the time Right.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
You know, until God sends somebody again to
straighten them all out for awhile, and then and I think they
even say with nineveh, theirsalvation only lasted like 60
years, and then they would fallback into the same types of
problems that the israelitesfall into.
So it's just a constant battle,and part of you can't blame jon
Jonah for not wanting to go,because I'm sure he's seen it

(37:07):
all.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
Yeah, and it sounds like when they said that the
king, when Jonah said thatstepped down from his throne,
took off his royal robes,dressed himself in burlap and
sat on a heap of ashes.
The king and his nobles sentthis decree throughout the city
that they would fast and theywould pray, and even the animals
even the animals wouldn't eat,would pray.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
And so even the animals, even the animals
wouldn't eat.
They put sackcloth even on theanimals so the animals even were
fasting.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Yeah, get that I wouldn't be able to get
sackcloth on some of our catsyou know.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
And then jonah was mad.
He was infuriated that god wasnot going to bring down his
wrath on these people becausethey repented.
And so Jonah was mad because hefelt they deserved that death,
and so did he have familymembers that were afflicted, or
something.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
And he says that's why I was so quick to flee.
He said I knew that you are agracious and compassionate God,
slow to anger and abounding inlove, a God who relents from
sending calamity.
So he again said Lord, takeaway my life, for it is better
for me to die than to live Likehe was.
He was so angry about God'sdecision even after he had, even

(38:22):
after God had shown him mercyRight.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
It's OK to save me.
Yeah, because I deserve it,even after God had shown him
mercy.
Right, it's okay to save me.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
Yeah, because I deserve it.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
Don't save Sid over there because she's worse off
than I am.
Her sins are worse than mine.
Yeah, I deserve it.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
I've at least done some work for you.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
Right.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
I'm not perfect but, these people just don't deserve
it.
And if you're going to do this,I'd rather just you know.
If you're going to do this, I'drather just you know.
I realize you just saved mefrom the belly of the fish.
What more can you do forsomebody Right?
And he's still, like you know,just angry.
And of course God is like well,he says, have you any right to

(38:59):
be angry?
And Jonah just decided he'sgoing to go pout again.
He's going to go pout, and youknow, and sit outside the city
and God again shows him mercy.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Under a plant.

Speaker 4 (39:13):
Yeah, cuts him up some shelter, so he's got some
shade.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
God provides him.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
God provides him once again, and of course then he
provides the worm which he'sdivine away, and it gets so hot
that Jonah's going to faint.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
Again he says just leave me die.
Yeah, just let me die, let medie.
Death is certainly better thanliving like this, he exclaimed
yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
So he still wants nothing to do with these people
and their salvation.
So very stubborn, yeah, veryyeah he's angry enough to just
die yeah, I mean that's let medie yeah I feel like if I and he
knows went through that.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
I don't think I would be like let me die, right like
wow, I just survived.

Speaker 4 (39:55):
Yeah, you spit me out of the way.
Yeah, I survived these peoplethey didn't murder.
Yeah, exactly, you gave meshade, but then you took it away
, so now I'm mad lesson learnedyep, and of course, uh.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
God says you know, but nineveh has more than 120
000 people who cannot tell theirright hand from their left, and
many cattle as well.
Should I not be concerned aboutthat great city?

Speaker 1 (40:26):
yeah yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
So I think when he asked that question, you know
he's, he's asking drop, yeah,yeah, it's a mic drop it's like
you feel bad for the plant thatI killed the plant, but you
don't feel bad about these 120000 people that you think I
should yeah bring the raft downon and let them all die.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
But you're worried about this plant.
I let die, so you don't haveshade anymore.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
Yep, and I think that speaks to us today as a people
you know, we can, I think, a lotof times the way that we
worship and the way we look toGod.
Sometimes we're too busy tryingto see it our way, as we would

(41:08):
have it.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
You only want to look at it your way.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
Yeah, yeah, so you have like blinders.
Yeah, yeah, like you feel likeyou're doing everything in your
life to follow God the way thatyou should, and if everybody
else ain't going along, then webecome angry, we become stubborn
, we become blind.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
Complacent.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Complacent, and so that's something that I think
that every Christian, I wouldsay, battles with at some point.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
Is the longer you're a Christian.
Sometimes you feel like youknow, you start getting badges,
you know and you can count thebadges and the stars on your
chest and on your shoulderstraps and you think like you're
more elevated than, yeah,people who are really struggling
just to understand the wordright in its most basic form our

(42:01):
heart isn't aligned with yeahor let's face it, in our world.
It's hard to believe, but thereare people in our modern world
that have never heard the word,that truly don't understand it.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
No.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
And I've had no opportunity to.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Right.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
Yeah, so I mean again , that's really hard to believe
but it's true, but it's true.
You know, and I look at itsometimes because well, maggie,
you know she's going into highschool next year and she'll come
home sometimes and she'll talkabout, you know fellow classmate

(42:37):
and she'd be like, well, youknow, he's really mean and I'll
just be honest, like well, hedoesn't smell very good and he
does this, does that, and justyou know, and she's not really
passing judgment, she's justobserving.

Speaker 4 (42:55):
Dating the facts that she sees, how she perceives it,
how she sees it.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
But what she doesn't see is the fact that she is not.
They have not had the blessingsthat she has.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Right.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
And I'm not even just talking about knowing God, of
having that opportunity.
I mean just the simpleblessings in life.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
That you would think how is it in this modern day
world that every child doesn'thave certain you know benefits
and certain care, and you knowall of those things that we,
just, all of us, kind of takefor granted, because it comes
natural to us, or even beentaught.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Right, yeah, as a child you grow up, you take a
bath, you put deodorant on andyou'd be amazed at how many
children aren't taught that.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Yeah, and they don't realize that maybe the reason
why they are mean and they arehard to be friends with is
because they're angry, yeah, attheir life, even though they
don't quite understand what'sgoing on?
It's like naturally they'reangry because they don't have
those blessings and those things, and I think sometimes that

(44:01):
just carries over into adulthood.
Oh yeah, over into adulthood andyou know, and how we look at
things, that you know we can bevery quick to judge people and
feel like we can look at aperson and just be like you know
there's no, there's no way thatperson is ever going to come to
God.
You know they're just too rough, they're just, they're too

(44:21):
opinionated.
They got, they're set in theirways.
You know there's just don'teven bother, don't even bother.
Let's go work on the peoplethat are already being worked on
.
That's easier.
Let's just work with peopleinside the church.
Yeah, they might be halfwaythere, they might still be
working on stuff, but at leastthat's a good base to start with

(44:43):
, whereas if you got to go andstart with somebody completely
you know, uh, just that, that's,that's but, how many people
would, how many people wouldvolunteer for that job?

Speaker 4 (44:55):
right, yeah, but he calls us to love the unloved it
does and that does, and we'veall disobeyed, yeah, we all yeah
, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
So so I think it's.
You know it's a simple story.
It's a simple Bible story thatwe all grow up learning and
we're all fascinated with thewhale itself.
But you know, the main point ofit is is that you have you have
a man who is given a task fargreater than what most people
are assigned.

(45:25):
And, number one, it shows youwhat happens when you try to run
from things.
You know, when you don't takeresponsibility for the job that
you're given you know, you cansee that there's just a lot of
things through the will of Godthat you're just not going to
outrun.
Yeah, you might outrun it for awhile.
He might let you go around thepass.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
Yeah, you know, even a couple times.
Yeah, even a couple times, butyou know he's, he's.

Speaker 3 (45:52):
if he can show love and compassion towards, uh, the
syrians, toward the people ofnineveh, then he can show love
to anybody, because these arethe.
You know, these are the bottomof the barrel, these are people
completely in the dark, yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
I'm thinking of that place in LA, like two miles long
of just.
We've talked about it Heck, itmight have even been before Beth
and Don were on the podcast,but I think there's a
documentary about it and it'sjust a ton of people that that
there's a lot of homeless people.

(46:29):
There's a lot of you know, likeI'm just thinking that you know
.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
Yeah, I think they do have a name for it, but I can't
think what it is.
So maybe something alley.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Yeah, something like that.

Speaker 3 (46:39):
But yeah, it's just all tents yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah, yeah, I think this kind of opened my eyes in
kind of a different way.
Not necessarily.
I think Jonah for some reasoncarried some anger because of
the people of Nineveh and howcruel they were and there again
he felt that they weren't worthyor whatever.
It made me look in my life athow there's been people in my

(47:06):
life that maybe have ruffled myfeathers or have carried anger
about.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
And you don't give them another chance.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
No, and I don't.
But maybe I should haveextended my hand and showed them
God and maybe that would havechanged that person.
Yeah Right.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
Yeah, yeah.
And of course you know, in ourday and age we can't look at
somebody and say, if you don'tstraighten up, god's going to
destroy everything in your lifein 40 days, Like you got 40 days
to get this right.

Speaker 4 (47:34):
In 40 days you've been right.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
Yeah, your life's going to be completely destroyed
.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
You know, but I think you know I don't know.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
Well, that was God's specific plan.
Yeah, I mean it was yes, yeah,you know.
So if we heard that fromsomebody, we might think that
dude's crazy.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
Yeah, and then how many times have we all rolled
our eyes at a prison salvation.
Right, you know, and who are weto judge that?

Speaker 4 (48:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (48:03):
You know, just you know.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
That's right, they you know.
Okay, you got a serial killeron here and now all of a sudden
they're saved.

Speaker 4 (48:10):
But yeah, you know but those are the people I mean,
but the, when we read, thoseare the people that god used
right, exactly yes, they weremurderers, they were yes, paul
was like a huge hater, huge and.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
And then he ended up coming like you know how many
books did he write?
You know, those are the peoplethat he used and his mercy and
grace yes.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
He gives that to us every day.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Why do we feel that?
Maybe they?

Speaker 4 (48:37):
aren't worthy Right you?

Speaker 1 (48:39):
know, is it society?

Speaker 4 (48:40):
Oh, because we are just too judgmental.
Yes, yes, exactly.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
We are, and it's too judgmental.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
Yes, yes, exactly, we are.
And.
I hate to admit that, but weare, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:48):
Oh, absolutely, it's just and it's a natural sin,
yeah, of living in this world.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
It just unfortunately , it comes natural to us.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:58):
And we can't overcome it without Christ.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
You just can't, that's right.

Speaker 3 (49:04):
It's impossible, and even then it's still hard.

Speaker 1 (49:06):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Yeah, because here we are struggling with it still
Right.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
And I wrote down this question.
I said is it ever our job asChristians to be vengeful of the
wrongdoings of others?
Should we ever take God'sjudgment into our own hands?

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Absolutely not Not that, but, but I mean, yeah
Right, not Not that, but, but Imean we do.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
And the Bible says vengeance is mine, sayeth the
Lord.
I mean, don't ask me wherethat's at, but it's not for us
Vengeance?

Speaker 1 (49:34):
as Christians I don't think, but I think sometimes as
Christians it's hard to givethat mercy and grace that God
gives and that he's requestingus to.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
Oh yeah, If I don't want to show your mercy, I'm
just going to walk away from youand I'm going to keep you at
arm's length.
You can just stay at a distanceand just stay out there.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
I'll pray for you Right.
Oh, bless your heart which, ifyou're sincere about that, it
may have some outcome on thatperson.

Speaker 4 (50:05):
Right.

Speaker 3 (50:05):
But using it as an escape flaws right, you know, to
get out, no, that doesn't workum.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
I thought it was interesting.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
In the hebrew bible there is the book of jonah, and
they say um, that's how hard itis not to say Judah or Job or I
was like I really had toconcentrate like Jonah, Jonah,
yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
But the so it was kind of resembling the mouth of
the whale like a synagogue.
The fish's eyes were likewindows and the pearl inside its
mouth provided furtherillumination.
Where was this In the book ofJonah in the hebrew bible?

Speaker 3 (50:50):
really.
Yeah, it mentions this I guessso huh yeah all right, that's
interesting yeah I don't know it.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
It says, according to Rabbi Eliezer, the fish that
was swallowed was created in theprimordial Is it primordial?
P-r-i-m-o-r dial, some era, andthe inside of the mouth was

(51:27):
like a synagogue.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
The fish's eyes were like windows and a pearl inside
its mouth provided furtherillumination that's one thing
that I've always wanted to do alittle bit more study on the
hebrew their language and thebreakdown, but anything I've
ever found has been so far overmy head, yeah, I'm like, okay,

(51:51):
back off.

Speaker 4 (51:51):
I can't do this, and I am not an avid reader and I
can read the same thing over andover, same and over, and it
doesn't Before it.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
And then I mean, I can do my devotions every
morning, but come evening,evening, I'll be like what did I
read, what did I read thismorning?
And then I'll read it againbefore I go to bed and I'll be
like oh yeah, that's what it was, but I've just never been a
reader and I hate.
I hate that, but I've never.
I love to read.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
I just never have the time yeah, I start reading them
.

Speaker 4 (52:19):
I'm out.
Yeah, it just puts me to sleeplike jonah yeah, just sleep, I
can sleep well, jonah, jonah,jonah then sometimes, if I get a
really good book, I won't putit down.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
I'll stay up all night reading it yeah, I'm not a
reader, but there have been alittle like nicholas sparks.
I was into those growing up Ishouldn't say growing up you
know, 15 to 19 maybe.
But and then there's some ofthem, like there was, there's
some I don't know, just there'ssome easier reading ones that

(52:55):
almost like are like a poetrytype you know, and that's an
easy read for me, but I don'tknow yeah, it's easy for me.
I could read every day sometimesif all day, if I have the time,
I'm trying to sell that inCooper, like I'm trying to read
one book a day.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
Sometimes it's just something about the pages and
the smell of the pages and justthe whole experience.
It's like you know, like I dothe Kindle thing, Like I have a
Kindle and I like to have thatif I'm out and about.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
But there's still nothing like opening up a fresh
book.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Knowing where the page is and the smell like you
said.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.
I think the last book that Iread that I really was into,
that I couldn't put down, wasI'll never say the word right
lineage.
Is that the right word for likethe family?

Speaker 4 (53:42):
The lineage Lineage Lineage.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
It was the women of the bible that played important
roles up to jesus's birth oh butit was written by francine
river.
Who is it's there?
She bases it on the biblestories, but it's on the on the
bible, but it's written in storyform oh okay, a little bit.

(54:05):
You know it's not 100, yeah,but it's easier to read I had a.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
I bought chase a book like that.
It almost does it for the bible.
It's called the crown.
I can't remember.
I see it sitting on his bedstand right now and I can't
remember what it's exactlycalled.
But it's kind of the same thing, like I haven't read, read it
fully or anything.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
She's christian, oh yeah yeah, so she does, you know
some a lot of non-fiction andthen basically this is
considered non-fiction but it'swritten regard.
So you, yeah, like, oh, andthen it makes you want to go
back to read that just to see ifit's accurate.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
What have we got time for some questions?
Yeah, all right, so we'll startwith a really tough one.
So when we look at murderers,rapists, drug dealers, people in
prison, et cetera, can we findtrue redemption in our modern
world for those people?

(55:13):
I think the whole serial killercomment earlier kind of you know
or, you know, do you wish thatthey could experience God's
mercy and forgiveness.
So you know I'll, I'll just belike you know, I'll just be like
you know if you watch.
I know there was a series onJeffrey Dahmer and they claim

(55:33):
that he found God, and I wouldbet that a large percentage of
people would say I don't thinkso.
That's not possible.

Speaker 4 (55:42):
Right.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
So what do you think?
Is it possible for somebodythat has done such horrendous
things that we can't evencomprehend?

Speaker 4 (55:51):
what's possible?

Speaker 3 (55:52):
for any of us yes, so you know.

Speaker 4 (55:56):
Only god knows their heart and how truthful they are
with their repentance, and forthem to be asking and for him to
forgive their sins.
You know who are we to judge,although we do.

Speaker 3 (56:11):
We do.

Speaker 4 (56:11):
You know, just like even recently, this Jelly Roll
and Brandon Lake, you know songthat they've been doing together
, and even on Christian radiothey will say you know people
are saying, well, look at hislife, there's no possible way
he's turned his life over toChrist.
Who are we to say?

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Exactly, yeah, yeah, who are we to say?

Speaker 4 (56:33):
I mean, we've all backslidden.
Oh exactly We've all committedsins since we've been saved, or
at least I know I have.
You know, every day.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
We sometimes have to repent and ask for that
forgiveness I think it's easierif the you are, it's not a
direct family member of yoursthat's been taken yeah, person
yeah yeah for sure.

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Well, that's a great point.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
Yeah, well, even even as a christian, you know that's
what you want for that you know?
Yeah, you want them to be saved, you want them to know christ,
but deep down, you don't.
You know what I mean it's kindof a I don't, you don't believe
it yeah

Speaker 2 (57:14):
don't believe that they don't ever yeah what's best
for them.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
But you don't ever believe that, oh yeah I wish
that was possible, but rightexactly, but yeah, we tend to
think that way.
Sometimes we say but we need toremember, but God yeah right,
yes.

Speaker 3 (57:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Have you ever had theexperience of running from God's
purpose for your life, only tofind yourself doing the very
thing or purpose down the line?
So is there ever a time in yourlife you're like I just ain't
ready for that, it's not what Iwant to do, don't have time, and

(57:50):
then to find like that'sexactly what you ended?

Speaker 2 (57:59):
up doing I know there's people that would say,
yes, I.
I just don't know if I'm thatindividual.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, what about you?

Speaker 3 (58:13):
I definitely think there's some things that I know
aren't that are going to comeback around again.
I'll say that Okay, yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
I will say like yeah, I still pass by.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
Yeah, yeah, there's things like you think like well,
I passed that up once, so itnever could happen again.
But I try to keep that, youknow, open, you know, because
sometimes it's hard to decide,because you sometimes you really
think like, okay, I trulybelieve, like this is not what
God wants me to do right now.

Speaker 1 (58:47):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (58:48):
And you can have people be like well, you're just
, you're just saying thatbecause you don't want to do it
Right.
But I would have to saysometimes you know most things
I'll pray about and I reallywant to come to a good
conclusion about it, and so alot of times I'll feel like this
is not exactly I think eitherI'm not ready or it's not the
right time you know, um, so I dotry to take a really honest

(59:09):
approach to that.
I feel as though I do.
Yeah, now am I just trickingmyself because it's something I
really don't want to do, right,um, but but it's a tough one
sometimes because you I agreeyou know, because there's a
season for everything.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Yeah, and at the same , at the same time, you don't,
it's, you almost don't want togo into everything like oh yeah.
Yep, god's saying to do this,god's saying to do that, because
then you're not even you're notgoing to him and praying and
asking for guidance, and yeah,you almost have to be a little,
you know yeah but have your footin one side.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
Um, yeah, hot and cold, but I mean, I'm sure, as
as soon as you're had, as youhad your son, you know you
wouldn't have like volunteeredfor all the things that you
couldn't handle.
Yeah, but you wouldn't you knowyeah I don't think you know yeah
you would have done that so Ido think you know, just because
there's some people like arelike, yep, this is your time,

(01:00:03):
people will tell you that andyou can think like no, I don't
know if it really is my time.
So I think, if you're honestlypraying about it and you have
that relationship, with Godyou'll know.
You'll know what's right andwhen's the right?
time to do things.
But I will say, though, that,just as with Jonahah, you know
everything comes back around.
You know, yeah, god has purposefor your life right uh, even if

(01:00:25):
he didn't uh fulfill it in oneway, he'll, you know as we say
you know, god's plan b is betterthan our plan a right, yep,
he'll figure it out right so healways does might not resemble
the original plan I'm sure God'soriginal plan wasn't to put
Jonah into the belly of the fish, but just had to be done.

(01:00:46):
Yep, how important is it to gobeyond our comfort zone to
fulfill God's purpose for ourlives.
Another tough one.

Speaker 4 (01:01:06):
He's been working through me lately on my finances
, like you're going to do thisand I'm like no God, I can't do
that.
You're going to do this, andyou're going to do that, you're
going to do this and you'regoing to do that, and I mean
just crazy things that I wouldnot have ever dreamed that I
would feel comfortable doingthat I've been doing, and that's

(01:01:28):
you know, so.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
But because when you do let's be completely honest
when you decide to tithe more,you immediately say I now I
might not be able to pay thatmedical bill I got.
Like I might not as have asmuch money for groceries.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Or you get that $444 gas bill yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01:50):
I mean, there were times in my life that I was
living on pennies or I wasrobbing Peter to pay Paul, you
know, didn't know how I wasgoing to meet the bills and that
type of thing.
And now and still I'm like I'mdefinitely not well to do by any
means, but I've never been agreedy person ever.
Yeah, if I've got it and youneed it, I'll give it to you
yeah, you know, but he's reallybeen stepping me out like yeah,

(01:02:13):
yeah, so I'm just going with itsometimes that's just the enemy
trying to get you oh yeah, not.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
To put that foot forward right as soon as you do
it's, he's gonna find a way todiscourage you, try to make you
change your mind.
So yeah, it's.
Sometimes I think it's workingoutside your comfort zone long
enough yes to you know yes, getover that hurdle to yeah to beat
him back to where you can trulymove forward and have control

(01:02:40):
of that.
I don't know why I wrote thisone.
What is the difference?

Speaker 4 (01:02:53):
between self-pity and true repentance.
Well, self-pity, we're justfeeling sorry for ourself.

Speaker 2 (01:02:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:02:58):
You know I mean true repentance.
You're owning.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
Maybe I wrote that down, because you know when
Jonah says well, just kill me.

Speaker 4 (01:03:04):
Yeah, probably yeah, you know true repentance.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
We are owning our disobedience.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
They're almost like the pure opposite, really.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
Yeah, yeah, I guess what I'm thinking is okay.
So sometimes when you pray toGod, you're praying for him to
get you out of a situationbecause it's become so hard for
you and it's coming down on you.
So that's more of okay.
You're coming to God becauseyou can't take it anymore, not
because you're truly ready torepent.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Yes, you're doing it more out of fear, or?
Because the consequences arejust too much for you and you
have no options left.
Yeah, to me that's more of aself-pity yeah Than coming to
God with a full heart and sayingI'm ready to repent.

Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
Yeah, yes, you know.
Yeah, that's a good point, butdon't you feel that God
sometimes still answers thoseprayers?

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
He does.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
Oh sure, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, and then to show you, I
am here for you.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Right, yeah, I'm sure that he still has control.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
When we have been fortunateenough to receive God's favor
with continual blessing, how canwe guard ourselves against

(01:04:30):
pride, complacency, etc.
How important is it to stayhumble and give ourselves freely
to those who have yet to besaved?

Speaker 1 (01:04:43):
Hmm, I'll read that one more time.

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
I was going to say read the second part, for us.
I was about to say so, justread it again.
Nick, Would you read it againplease?

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
When we have been fortunate enough to receive
God's favor with continualblessing, how can we guard
ourselves against pride andcomplacency?
So again, it's like, okay,you've been under the word for a
long time, you've gone tochurch for a long time, you've

(01:05:15):
got your badges, you've got yourstars, you feel really good
about yourself.
How important is it to rememberokay at one point, you know, my
, my jacket was empty.
I didn't have these ribbons, Ididn't have these stars and
stripes.
You know, I was just a lowly.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
I was just a lowly private, you know yeah, I think
we need to look at it that way,more than anything.

Speaker 4 (01:05:44):
We have to remember that we have to be aligned with
God's heart, not our thoughtsand feelings towards somebody we
have to show God's love, not somuch ours.
Ours isn't always aligned withwhere it should be.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
No, and I'm going to.
I don't know, maybe Jonah wasborn a prophet, or maybe he had
to work towards that.
Maybe at one point he was onthe bottom totem pole and he
worked himself up to you know,being in charge of that to doing
that.
So, I just think a lot of times.
Yeah, we have to alwaysremember.
No matter how far we thinkwe've come, you can't forget

(01:06:21):
where you came from.

Speaker 4 (01:06:21):
Right, exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
You know, you can't forget that, because you may.
Uh, you, I don't see how youcan help people that way.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
Yeah, Right.
Well, I think that when you andwe never fully come to.

Speaker 4 (01:06:34):
I mean cause, if we have, we're no longer going to
be.

Speaker 3 (01:06:36):
We're no longer going to be here.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
Yeah right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:39):
But I think you have to show those people that where
you were, your testimony ohabsolutely Absolutely.
You know, share your testimony,so they see the work that God
can do within you.
Yeah, and still doing.

Speaker 4 (01:06:57):
Oh yeah, we're a piece of work doing, yeah, oh
yeah we're we're a piece of work.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
I say this last I.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
I've just been in a.
It's funny because his my wordwas wait yeah and I've been in
this period of waiting and Idon't like it because it's got
me period.
In this period of waiting, he'scleaning me up, he's breaking
some things off of me, showingme some things about myself that
I didn't think I had.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
Yeah, you know, and yeah, yeah, I wrote down a quote
.
Uh, serving god is not anearned position.
No one qualifies for god'sservice, so that means it
doesn't matter who you are,where you came from, if God

(01:07:44):
decides to use you.

Speaker 4 (01:07:46):
He'll qualify you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
Yeah, you're qualified.

Speaker 4 (01:07:48):
Right, that's all you need.
Yeah, that's all you need.

Speaker 3 (01:07:50):
And if you look through the Bible, you'll see
just that he uses all kinds ofpeople in many, many different
ways.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
What is that saying?
I'll mess it up.
He doesn't call the qualified,he qualifies.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
Yes, he calls Okay, so two more Can.

Speaker 4 (01:08:16):
A true Christian ever fulfill his purpose without
compassion, as a mainstay in hisor her tool belt.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
You got to have that compassion.

Speaker 3 (01:08:21):
So you're not just going to beat it out of them
with the?

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
word no no oh, absolutely not right right, and
you might be the person whoplants the seed, you might be
the person who waters that seed,you.
You might not be the person toget through them, but if you
don't have love and compassionand kindness and yep, all those
fruits of the Spirit, you're notgoing to.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Yeah, you're not going to get anywhere with it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
No, and you may plant that seed and never see
anything out of it run into them20 years later and be wow, you
know.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:55):
What a change God has done in them you know?

Speaker 3 (01:09:00):
Okay, and the last one how important is it to pray
at the most difficult times, inthe most random of places and or
with people you are notaccustomed to pray with?

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
I feel like it's really important, you know Well,
yeah, I mean, that's God justpulling us out of our comfort
zone.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
You know that's God just pulling us out of our
comfort zone.
And if we don't step out ofthat comfort zone?

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
we're out of his will .
Yeah, the reason you have thatoomph is probably because he's
telling you to do it anyway.

Speaker 4 (01:09:30):
Yes, if he's prodding you or giving you that
discernment.
Yes, yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
There was a girl at work that got a diagnosis, it's,
it's a little scary for herMm-hmm and uh.
So I said, you know I'll, is itall right if I put you on my
prayer list at church?
And she's like yeah, and she'snot one that I know that she's a
question or I don't know, thatshe's not right.
Right, um, it's just notsomething we ever discussed and
it was like God was telling meyou need to pray with her.

(01:10:00):
You need to pray with her.
So I kind of just put my handon her shoulder.
I said well, would you like meto pray right now?
All timid, oh please.

Speaker 4 (01:10:11):
I'm like oh, god, yeah, god, give me the words,
because I'll be stumbling allover mine, but you know what my
heart was, you know my heart wasin it, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, but it's, you know it.
Just it was an uncomfortablesituation, oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:10:26):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
But I did it, it might have been uncomfortable,
because he was making youuncomfortable, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:10:33):
Yeah.
Well, I think it's always justimportant to remember that God
is with you in the mostdifficult of times or in times
where you know most people arelike, well, we go to church Yep,
god's there.
Yeah, we go to Bible studyGod's there.
Uh, say my prayers at night,god's there.
But if you're at work or youknow anywhere else, it's like,
oh, he's not there.
Like people tend to forget.

(01:10:55):
Right, but he is Even in thosemoments you know sometimes what
may be our most mundane momentsof our lives, and even in our
most minute difficulty, he'sthere.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
And he can help you through any situation, and
sometimes that is when you'llget the most benefit from prayer
.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:11:17):
Is when you have that close relationship, as though
you know when I'm on that truckworking.
You know on load and steal.
He's up there on load and stealtoo.
Yep Right, you know, so justwhatever you're doing, it's like
he's doing the same thing, andit's important to remember that
and not just well, I can only doit if I get to Bible study
tonight, or if I get to churchtonight, or you know, if we, you

(01:11:39):
know, say prayers at dinner, oryou know no you anytime you
know, in any situation you can.

Speaker 2 (01:11:47):
He's that hotline.
He's there 24 seven yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
Yeah, and you're the number one caller.

Speaker 2 (01:11:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:11:52):
Yeah, he's not putting, he don't put you on
hold.
Nope, nope, no, he does not, hedoesn't put you on hold.

Speaker 3 (01:11:57):
We put him on hold all the time.
Absolutely, you know.
But as Jonah teaches us, likehe's always in a lot of these
stories, it's like he's alwaysready at any moment to come back
and show you mercy, no matterwhat you've done yeah.
You know if you're not.
You know, and of course it'snot only that Jonah doesn't like

(01:12:19):
these people, but they're nothis people, they're not
Israelites.
You know, he doesn't.
He doesn't view them as hispeople.
So why should I have to preachto people that?

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
to these people?

Speaker 3 (01:12:30):
yeah, to these people so it's always important, just
to and aren't we all like that,though?

Speaker 2 (01:12:37):
you know, yeah, oh, absolutely.
We don't want to say we are,but we are, yep yeah, all right,
well, um, yeah, I think that's.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
Uh, yeah, I wrote a couple more, but I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:12:51):
Oh, come on, throw another one out, oh well, let me
see.

Speaker 3 (01:12:54):
What did I do.
There's something I can readhere.
Hold on, hold on.
I gotta read my own writing too.
Right, just kind of scribblethese as I as I think them.
That's kind of generally howI've been doing this.
As I'm reading the word, goingthrough the story, then it'll
trigger a question, a thought inmind.

(01:13:15):
Can a person ever truly rely onconscience alone to make good
decisions without consulting theword?
And what I meant by that wasokay, so you're a believer, you
go to church, you do all thesethings.
So is there ever a time in yourlife where you can say okay,

(01:13:41):
I've done plenty of Bible study,I've been to church plenty of
times, I've read the Bible 15,20 times, I'm good, now I'm on
my own.

Speaker 4 (01:13:49):
Oh, you're never on your own.

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
Now I can fly this plane solo.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
No.

Speaker 3 (01:13:53):
Can you ever get to that point?

Speaker 4 (01:13:54):
Or is it always important that no matter how
much— you better always bedepending on our Savior Jesus
Christ.
We, you better always bedepending on our Savior Jesus
Christ.

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
We better always be praying and depending on Always
praying, always going back tothe word, no matter how many
times.

Speaker 2 (01:14:05):
You've never made it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
Yeah right, yes, yeah .

Speaker 1 (01:14:08):
Well, not only that, this story is one to show us.
No matter how many times we'veheard this story, it's never
applied to me like it has thistime.
Yeah, right, yeah exactly, yeah, right.

Speaker 2 (01:14:21):
Yeah, exactly, yeah, great point yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:14:22):
You can read the same story 20 times and get a
different.

Speaker 4 (01:14:25):
Oh, absolutely, yep, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
Outcome or.

Speaker 4 (01:14:28):
Yeah, outlook on it, depending on what is going on in
my life, many verses have meantdifferent things to me, even
though yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:14:38):
Yeah, so this one wasn't just, I think, bounced
off of that, so should we evercast lots except flip a coin to
determine god's plan for us.
Should we ever leave oursalvation to chance?
No, so so if you've got, so, ifyou've got something, you're
trying to decide in life whatyou're going to do and you're

(01:14:59):
like I don't really know whatgod wants for me.
I want to slip a coin that'lland that'll show me what he
wants pray and wait, no yeah sitand wait because god's timing
and wait.

Speaker 4 (01:15:11):
God is always on time , so we better just pray about
it and wait and wait.

Speaker 3 (01:15:16):
Yeah well, you know, we were kids, we'd flip a coin,
absolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:15:20):
Like let's flip again .

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
Yeah right.

Speaker 4 (01:15:22):
Best out of three.
Flip it again.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
We're going to go out there and tell those NFL
players we're not going to flipa coin, we're going to wait.

Speaker 3 (01:15:32):
We're going to wait, we're going to wait Until God
decides who gets the ball.
Are there any advantages tohaving a self-righteous attitude
?

Speaker 1 (01:15:51):
that's a simple answer, but no right but do you
sometimes, I think,self-righteous people are so
overconfident?

Speaker 4 (01:16:00):
oh yeah, absolutely first thing I thought of.

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
Yes, yeah and not.
I'd like to be a little bitmore confident in myself, but I
don't want to be self-righteous,no yeah, no, I like that okay
yeah, there's a differencebetween confidence and who you
are in god.

Speaker 3 (01:16:20):
God and becoming self-righteous.
Right, exactly yes, where youdon't even counsel him anymore.

Speaker 4 (01:16:24):
You just think well.

Speaker 3 (01:16:25):
I'm going to judge that person based on how
important I think I am in thekingdom.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a no-no, that's ano-no, no.
Well, and then okay.
So this last question I wrotedown, it kind of ties right in
with that.
So then, what ways can our owndisobedience harm the attitudes

(01:16:47):
and actions of others around us?
So I guess, if you think aboutit, if Jonah doesn't do no
matter what God does to him, ifhe doesn't do what God wants him
to do, then the people ofNineveh are never saved.

Speaker 1 (01:17:06):
They never hear the word Right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Yeah, and that's our salvation, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
It's a big deal.

Speaker 3 (01:17:18):
That's the example we set.
Is that you know?

Speaker 2 (01:17:24):
I only do what God wants me to do, what I want to
do, what I want, right?

Speaker 3 (01:17:26):
yeah, yeah, that's no way to to be this relationship
is a one-way street right whichyou know you're my genie, yeah
yeah, yep, yeah and you see thata lot.

Speaker 1 (01:17:43):
I mean, you do see, you do, yeah, yeah, I, I can
remember somebody that claimedto be an atheist and we were
having an audit at work, sowe're pulling things out, going
through the chart and she's likeoh please, lord, let it be in
here.
And I'm thinking like really,wait a minute.
Wait a minute we need you toexplain yes yes, yes, yeah, you

(01:18:09):
don't.
You know, you claim there is nogod, there's no this, but now
you need him big time, so pleaselet him let that paper be in
there explain that to me,because yeah that's funny.

Speaker 3 (01:18:28):
Well, I think that's all I got.
Does anybody else got anythingyou want to share or anything to
button up in this episode?

Speaker 1 (01:18:36):
no, I just think it was a really good one yeah, it
was.
It was really good.

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
I liked it a lot yeah that's what I really enjoy is
just digging into some of thesestories and these people's
experiences and really justgetting to the heart of yes, you
know the core of it and justseeing how it's still, because
I'm I really think people thinkthis doesn't apply anymore,
because these stories are old.
They're fables to them Like inthe fish that's a fable, it's

(01:19:09):
not because it can't be possible.

Speaker 4 (01:19:12):
So they can't find any use for it in their everyday
life.
But just like in Luke the NewTestament, the sign of Luke 11,
29,.
As the crowd pressed in onJesus, he said this evil
generation keeps asking me toshow them a miraculous sign, but
the only sign I will give themis the sign of Jonah.

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):
So he's saying it's already there, I don't need to
perform these miracles.

Speaker 4 (01:19:37):
No, all you need to do is read the word Three days,
yep.
Yeah, in three days, yep.
All you need to do is read theword Three days.
In three days, I'll becrucified, buried and I'll rise
again.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
That's basically how we started the three days.
The three days interpretationVery good.
You guys both weren't here lastweek, I assume it's probably my
turn, because I missed a couplewednesdays.
I think I prayed last week,didn't I?

Speaker 4 (01:20:12):
pretty sure I know you guys were talking about it
and it went back to roger, butyeah, it went back to roger and
then oh, yeah, but but, you'rewrong, but I'm sure it.
But I'm sure it's my turn, allright.

Speaker 1 (01:20:23):
All right, let me get it on here.

Speaker 4 (01:20:30):
Dear precious Heavenly Father, we come to you
with thankful hearts.
We thank you that you are amerciful God.
You're a patient God thatnothing that we do takes you by
surprise.
You know all of our messes andyou know our hearts.
You never turn your back on us.
If we feel alone, it is becausewe have left you.

(01:20:53):
You have not left us and, lordGod, your timing is the perfect
timing.
You're never early, you arenever late and no matter what we
have done and no matter whatsins we have committed, lord
Jesus, we just need to know thatall we need to do is repent and

(01:21:15):
ask for your forgiveness.
Our Savior's arms are alwaysopen and all we need to do is
run to our Father.
We're always open.
All we need to do is run to ourFather.
Lord God, let us put all of ourhope into you, lord Jesus.
You are our cornerstone.
Lord, lord Jesus, just thankyou that you give us this
opportunity, that we have thispodcast, that we can reach

(01:21:38):
people who have never heardabout you.
Lord Jesus, lord, we just thankyou and we honor you and we
praise you and we ask fortraveling graces to get us home
safely and to bring us back atour next appointed time and all
these things we ask and pray inyour son's most precious and
holy name, amen.