Hey, welcome to all of you at all of our campuses, those of you who are worshiping online, and isn't it good to be inside? It is so hot outside that I thought about changing my message and preaching on hell and, and just kinda leading out, you know, you think this is it? It is so hot that I, I was at the pool yesterday with my grandson. He shot me the water gun and it burned my skin. It, it is so hot. Now you're supposed to say, how hot is it? So hot. It's so hot. Chickens are laid boiled eggs. It is so hot. It's so hot. Cows are delivering evaporated milk. What? Last one? It is so hot. It's so hot. The trees are whistling for the dogs. Okay, I forget that. That was not good. Okay, I'm gonna say I'm sorry.

Hey, happy 4th of July and I just wanna say thank you for being a part of worship during this special weekend. And, and I love Independence Day. I love our country. You know, we got a lot of problems, but I've been to 12 other countries and every time I get ready to go, I'm like, I wanna get back home. Uh, because we have all kind of freedoms. And the reality is, we as a people, the people of God can do something in our country to change the things you don't like and it won't be done through your politicians. Okay? I know. Now, look, I'm not saying don't vote. I'm not saying have strong opinions, but it's not gonna happen through your politicians. It's gonna happen through the person of Jesus who begins to work in and through you.

Now, you may not know this about our country. You, you might not write this down because I, I've been fortunate to get to study and think and pray about these things. And you may not know this, but our country was born out of a spiritual renewal over in Europe in the 14 and 15 hundreds. You can go back and study this. The, the Church of England, the church that had connected with the government. The last thing we ever want is our churches connected to the government, because it's not the government that saves you, it's the Church of the Living God. And, and something happened in the 15 hundreds, the printing press was discovered. And many of you, you're into those things. You discover new things and God uses them. And so they were printing the Bibles, but William Tyndall came along and he took the Latin Bible that the Church of England had that nobody could understand, but the priest and the diocese and all those things. And he translated into English and gave it to everybody, every common person so that they could know the word of God. And it changed the world. You, you say they give 10, they all like an award. Do they? They have a special like service for him. You know what they did for William Tindale? You know what the church did? You think you've got church hurt? They strangled him and then burned him at the stake because the people of God now could hear the word of God and they could read the word of God. And we don't ever need to take for granted the word of God because it's the word of God that has the power of salvation to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.

And so in 1620, like this revival broke out in Europe, which is really like, you know, hard to say now because of all this going on in Europe and America. And the people came to America in 1620 in the Mayflower Compact, and they started their whole thing in the name of God. And in the 16 hundreds, amazing things began to happen. And, and there was this amazing awakening that happened in the 17 hundreds. At the end of that century, the 16 hundreds, in the 17 hundreds, this amazing revival happened throughout the colonies. And in July the fourth, 1776, the leaders came together and, and they signed the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. W we were born out of a spiritual renewal. You said, well, what happened? Well, the 18 hundreds, there was another spiritual awakening. It's called the Second Spiritual Awakening. And how did that spiritual awakening, we dissolve slavery, maybe the worst thing that's ever happened, o on the human planet. We said, no, it's gotta go.

Then the 19 hundreds, 1960, you've probably seen the movie of the Jesus movement. How in, in California, of all places, of all places in California, the the Jesus freaks came out of the drug culture and they were so tired of the drugs and the ideology that said, we, we gotta find something that's real. And they turned to Jesus and it spread throughout the country. It it miss Mississippi. I need to tell you this, I've studied this. It went on the fringes of Mississippi down on the Gulf Coast where they're open to everything. Hello Gulf Coast Campus. But the rest of us missed it. There's no way that didn't fit into my box. I I'm not gonna do that. There's no way that can be. Right? And I remember the 1960s when I was in the second grade, Ms. Nixon, every class, this is what she would do. She would start the class with us saying the Pledge of Allegiance. And after the Pledge of Allegiance, we would say a prayer. And occasionally she would choose one of us to pray. And God was doing amazing things. He said, what happened? What? Well, what happened is we like, like the Israelites and like everybody else, we began to go back into our own ways.

Here's the good news. In the next 20 years, I believe we're set up for the next spiritual awakening where God is gonna do something in our country among people that you would never expect it to happen with. And, and things are gonna change in a powerful way. It may be the last great awakening before Jesus comes back. And I have prayed, God, let me stay alive if you would, God, if it's in your plan, let me stay alive to just be in the background on my we, you know, like this on, on my little walking stick, you know, appraising you because I'd like to see it. I'd like to see it before I die.

And today I'm gonna preach a message out of a book of the Bible. That's one of my favorite books because it's happening during a time when there was so much political unrest, there was so much racial division that there was so much anxiety and anger, there was so much fear. You're saying, well that sounds like America. Yeah, nothing's changed. And here's the thing, the gospel's not changed today. I want you to look at the book of Jonah and I want you to see how a guy that was so tapped into his own country, he couldn't see the plan of God. He was so tapped into Israel, he thought, you know, no, it's the people of God. It's Israel like, like only the people of God that they're the only ones that can understand the gospel. They're the only ones that are God's chosen people. Um, you ever feel like that? Like people like you, the only chosen people, us four no more. You know, if you don't vote like me, you can't be in. Look, listen, these Assyrians that they've told me to stay on track, but I ain't the Assyrians, were the people that were going to destroy Israel in about 50 or 60 years down the road. And Jonah is going to be sent to, to the Assyrians. It's Mosel, Iraq. And he's supposed to tell them the good news. The good news is anybody who places their faith in Jesus Christ can be saved. And Jonah says, heck no, I won't go. I ain't doing that. I don't like those people. They're different race or different culture. I, I mean, they're different economic background. They're just nasty people. You ever thought that about somebody? Well, you just giving up on 'em, like there's no way they can be saved.

Can I tell you something? There is nobody beyond the reach of a loving hand of God, I have seen God save people that I had given up on. I'm embarrassed to tell you, you gotta go a long way for me to give up on you. And God has reached out and grabbed them and saved them. It's the power of the gospel When it's unleashed in people like you. That's why we talk all the time about when you go to house church, and when you go to work and when you go to these other places, man, it's the gospel in you. That's the hope of glory. Not just the gospel in me, man. People see me coming. They throwing beers out, they're throwing cigars out. They're throwing their kids out. I don't know why they drink drinking that beer. I mean like, well, they see you coming. You're undercover agents. Okay? That wasn't end the message.

Alright, Jonah, chapter one, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amai, and said, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord. He goes, I'm not going down there. He headed to Tarsus. He went down to Japer where he found a ship bound for that port painted the fair, he boarded and sailed to Tarsus to flee from the Lord. And so the Lord sent a great win, a hurricane on the sea. It was such violent storm arose that the ship almost broke up and all the sailors were afraid and they cried out to their own gods. They had different gods and they threw the cargo in the sea to lighten the ship. And Joan had gone below deck where he laid down, he fell into a deep sleep and the captain went in and said, how can you sleep? Get up, call on your God. Maybe he'll take notice of us so that we won't perish. Then the sailor said to each other, come on, let's cast lots to find out who's responsible for this calamity. And they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah Jonah's the man. So they ask him, tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kinda work do you do? Where'd you come from? Where's your country from? What people are you? And he said, I'm a Hebrew. I, I'm one of God's children. I worship the Lord. I'm in the covenant relationship, the God of heaven who made the sea and the land. He, he's in charge of all this. And this terrified them. They said, what have you done? They already knew he was running from the Lord because they'd already told him so, and the was seas getting rougher and rougher. They asked him, what should we do to make the sea calm down for us? He said, pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will grow calm. I know it's my fault that this has come on you. And instead, the men began to row, they cared about John, unlike John and cared about them, but they could not, for the sea grew wilder than ever before. And then they cried out to the Lord, please Lord, don't let us die for taking this man's life. Don't hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you Lord have done as you please. They're using the cove covenant name of for Lord, the Lord Jehovah. In other words, they're, they're coming to know Jesus in the Old Testament version. Then they took John and threw him overboard in the raging sea. Groom calm. And then Meg greatly fear of the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. Now, the Lord provided a huge fish. Can you go, Don? Okay, okay, I'm sorry. And then three days, he was in the belly of fish for three days and three nights and he began to pray. I guess he did.

Four steps to his spiritual awakening found in Jonah because Jonah's gonna preach the worst sermon ever preached on planet earth and have the greatest revival of all time. Matter of fact, this is the greatest revival that's ever happened in history. And it all began with the call of God where God said, Hey, go to Nineveh, that great city, wicked city, and preach against it. Listen, you, you know where revival starts with the call of God in your life. Five times and five books to the Bible. You know what Jesus said? He said, go and make disciples of all na nations. Baptize him, name the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. Listen, that, that, that's, that's not changed. Look Luke 1910, Jesus said, I came to seek and save those who are lost. He, he said, the healthy don't need a physician, the sick do. He, he said, you need to understand that I am sending you out with good news. You're to be a, a shining city on a hill. That you're to share the hope that you have with the people around you. Because they're beginning to ask questions like, isn't there more? Isn't there more?

I'm fascinated with the Titanic, this deal that happened with the submarine. Man, I don't know about you. I couldn't quit thinking about it. I thought, one, I would never do that. You know, that was the first thing I thought. But it reminded me of when the Titanic sank. And I, I, I'm fascinated because, uh, in the early 19 hundreds on April the 15th tax day, uh, the Titanic went down and 1,522 people died. 700 and few, a few people, uh, lived. But, but on that, on that boat, there was a guy who was an amazing person. And his name was John Harper. John Harper is a maiden voyage. And you know, the, the, the captain said even God couldn't sink this ship. And, and so they're going across, they hit an iceberg. And so John Harper is a believer and he starts screaming at, put all the unbelievers and women and children on the boats. Now, I don't know about you, but I, I'd have to, I'd have to think through that. That water cold, real cold. And he's screaming like he put all the women and children unbelievers on the boats. Of course you know the story. It goes down and he's in the water, treading water. And we know this because he's talking to several people. You know, what he's saying to them is, is they are, they're, they're kind of floating on the water. You, you need to look this up. I'm reading the book about him right now. It's incredible. He's yelling out, repent and place your faith in Jesus in the water and it's freeze your water. We're repent and place your faith in Jesus. Listen, they didn't need to know about icebergs and how icebergs are dangerous. They, they didn't know need to know how to build a better boat. They, they, they didn't need to know about conspiracy theories. Is Hillary on the boat? No. They were drowning. They needed to know Jesus. There was an eight piece band on the Titanic. You need to read about the Titanic. It's amazing. That's why people wanna see it. There was an eight piece orchestra playing on the Titanic when the Titanic was going down and all the, these people were drowning. And that's what so many churches are doing, playing classical music while the world around them is drowning. Without Jesus.

It's the call of God on your life. It's the call of God on my life. Jonah was so angry with God for, for not doing more in Israel. He didn't want those people to get saved. He didn't want those people to be right. I think he was so angry and depressed. I think he started drinking. I don't know this, but you can't be that deep in sleep in the middle of a hurricane unless you've been taking something. He's asleep. And, and I've wondered about our churches. Have we gone to sleep when the world around us is drowning without Jesus? Listen, listen to me. Jonah loved his nation more than he loved his savior. Friends that can never be, it's the call of God.

You say, well, well I ain't doing that. Well, let me it. Number two, it's a crisis. A hurricane comes. Now I need to be careful. Cause some of you, you you're looking at things in your life and you're going, that's cause they sinned. No, no, no, no. Our world is broken. Get cut by it. There's edges of our world, they're gonna cut you no matter what you do. It it, it's the world we live in. But there are times when if you know Jesus and you know what he is calling you to do. I've had this experience and you're saying, I will not obey him, I will not do that. I am not gonna do that. God, I ain't doing it. I ain't doing it. Storm's coming in your life. Why? Because you're his children. He loves you. He disciplines those whom he loves. He loves You. Say, well, I I I'm not gonna do that. God blew up John's life. I mean, when you decide I'm not gonna do what God has told me to do, he's gonna believe, well how about the sailors? They didn't do anything wrong. Can I tell you about believers when maybe you're in a family and you're a believer, maybe you're in a company and you're a believer and and you're just disobedient to God and you're not gonna do what he says. Your irresponsibility becomes somebody else's responsibility. I'll say this to dads. When you decide to do your own thing, your own way, and you go, Hey, it's my life. I can do what I want to do. Other people are taking responsibility for your irresponsibility mama's. When, when you say, Hey, I know, I know I'm supposed to do that. I know that, but I'm gonna do this. Then all of a sudden other people my life, I can do what I want to. It's never just your life. You can do what you want to. Tony Evans said it this way, he's one of my favorite preachers. He said, we might have come here on different boats. We're in the same boat now. And when you decide to do your own thing and say to God, no, I won't go, man, calamity comes.

You know what's wrong with America? Me, God is sending a storm into our country. What you're seeing in our country is a lackadaisical church. You say, no, it's our military. We need a, we need, we need a we, we need a better military. Yeah, you know what? But we need better people in the military. Well, well, what we need, we need this. And the government don't know we need better people in the government. Cuz here's the thing I've learned about Covid. Covid has messed me up forever. Cuz I used to think if you had a, if you had a big enough army and you had, you had the right things in place and, and you had things where you can shoot down nuclear weapons, you'd be fine. It can just be one germ shut you down, bro. Just one germ. Oh, we got these jets. I don't care if they sick. They can't, they can't fly 'em. Covid reminded me of all the ways that, that they can come to us in ways that would destroy us. And the only hope is the gospel.

Listen, people are open to the gospel. They're open. They're open. Listen, they're, they're so open to the gospel. Generation Z I dunno if you know who that is, that's 13 to 17. We got about 900 to a thousand that are active in venture. And I really believe that is the age group that God's gonna use to bring us revival. Where God begins to work in our children. God's begins to work in our young people. That's why they're over right now. And all of our, all of our campuses, and they're working with our children and they're working with our students and they're pouring into them. But because the power that we need in America is the gospel. The gospel, the sailors, they're, they're, they're, they're calling out to their gods. Everybody's got a God. Everybody's got something. They put all their hopes in it. It may be sports, okay? It may be looks okay, it may be your money, okay? It may be your job. Okay? So they're taking all their stuff, like all their cargo and all their food, and they're called all their gods. Listen, when, when times get tough, people's gods are tested and they finally look at Jonah, he said, call on your God. Cause ours ain't right. Call on. Would you call on your God? Yeah. I call ain't I ain't, I'm willing. I'm willing to drown. And, and I don't want you to, I don't want you to know the Lord. I'm not, I don't wanna be wrong. And, uh, and they, they just kept pushing him and pushing him. Finally, they started asking him questions. And the questions were like this. Like, tell us, you know who, who you are. He said, well, I'm a Hebrew. I I'm of the covenant family. So well what God do you serve? I serve, serve the covenant God. Jehovah. Well, well, well, like who is he? Well, he made the, he made this water and he made the dry ground. They're like, they pray to him because our God can't do that.

Listen, when's the last time you, you kinda were willing to share the hope you have in God with someone else? I mean, when's the last time you were, you were willing to say to somebody, Hey, hey, you know what? I'm really praying about that. Cause you know, God's done something in my life. He, I'm a child of God. You know, like, like he's doing things in me. I have hope that you may not have. Can I tell you about it? Or would you come to church with me? He, he, here, here, here's the way it sounds with regard to, to what it means to be a child of God. I've repented of my sins and placed my faith in Jesus who died to pay for my sins and gave me the gift of eternal life. That, that, that's the testimony. I mean, you should be able to say, if you know Jesus personally, you should be able to say, you know, there was a time in my life where I realized I was separated from God and then God spoke to me. And like, like, I just felt like, hey, like I needed God in my life. Now I just didn't know about God. I needed the Lord in my life. And, and now he's in my life cuz I've trusted in him only to save me. And, and, and I know now I'm a child of God. I still sin. I still make mistakes. But I remember when I did this and I was baptized and it changed me forever.

See, God is so gracious. He'll give you some time that they threw Jonah overboard and they prepared. God prepared a fish. It wasn't to punish Jonah. It, it was to show him mercy, to give him time. And while Jonah was so frustrated with God, the sailors were getting saved. Isn't that crazy? While Jonah was pondering the grace of God in the belly of the fish, the say was like, Hey, I'm worshiping. That's the conversion that comes when you respond to the call of God. And you said, well, am I gonna do that? He brings a crisis in your life. Oh my goodness. And then you just kind of badly, you can badly share the gospel and people are converted. They, they started making vows to the Lord, not God. To the Lord. They, they, they started, you know, praying to the Lord. These salty sailors separated from God by race and religion and, and social status and politics. They came to know the Lord. Because nobody is beyond the loving hand of the Lord. It's not God's will that any should perish. But that everyone would have eternal life. God is a God that's filled with mercy and love. God is willing to save. Are you willing to share?

You know, we received a lot of cri criticism for at the movies. I know some of you're like, where are you kid man? Like, it's the greatest time in the world for to invite my friends. Like, you know, we just ought to have the hardcore man. We ought to be hardcore. You know, hardcore. How many people have you led to the Lord at the movies is an opportunity. It's not a commercial. This is a part of who we are at the movies is an opportunity to go, Hey, uh, come to me to church. I ain't going to no church. I'm tired of that. I'm sick of that. Them Christians, they're the worst people. I know. I ain't doing that. I, I've worked with some and they're hypocrites ain't. I know, but it's a movie. You don't have to even see the preacher except being, you know, cameo. And, and people come and you know, that's their first typically experience with venture. And they hear the message where they can understand it. Where they know we'll relate to them and not just talk over their heads to all the deep people and all the theologians who are out there who've never shared their faith in their whole life. I just want more meat. I want more meat. I want more meat. You getting too chubby. You, you need to start sharing your faith. You need to move around a little bit. You need to serve, you need to do other things. You know, we baptized six people this weekend on July the second. That's more than we baptized the first three years I was here. Can I, can I do that? Not for me, but for you. Look at you. You're buying in, you're buying in to share the gospel. You realize God loves the whole world. Not, not just your little world.

John Harper. I gotta finish the story and I'm done. John Harper was floating on like a piece of wood and he was yelling out to people. And this one guy that though the wave brought him in close. We know this cuz he survived and they brought him in close. He said, Hey, have you trusted in Jesus to save you? And God said no. And the wave took him out. You know, he, John Harper's over here and the wave brought him in. He goes, have you repented of your sins? And God says, no. He goes out. Third time he comes up screaming. Yes, yes I have. And John Harper's gone. His last convert wrote a book about him. You keep sharing, you keep sharing with those people. He won't listen. You keep inviting those people that tell you no, you wear them down in the name of Jesus, you wear them down.

Oh, you like top, you don't like Top Gun. I thought everybody liked Top Gun. Well you come watch Top Gun with me, okay? It's gonna be cool. And you know, you know what we do? Cuz this is our people that are here. Okay? If you've invited somebody, they're gonna know or the inside of what we're doing. But then in, in the movie, when they're da da da, then one of our pastors go, Hey, Jesus loves you. He's got a plan for your life. No, what happened? You need to of your sins and come down to Jesus. And it works. I don't understand it either. But instead of us talking about, you know, like who wrote, you know, this book or that book or what the end times are gonna look like, we go, Hey, you need Jesus. And they go, yeah, I do. I don't care. Wrote like James that they wanna know how to be saved from the sorry life they read. It's real simple.

It's coming. It's coming. We're getting ready for it. It's coming. The call of God in your life and mind to go and tell in the crisis it's gonna get worse because he's gonna soften us up just like he did in the 1960s. And then we're gonna start sharing the gospel. And then there's gonna be amazing conversion in life flowing into the church that we hope will take us right into the rapture when Jesus comes back for his church. Because if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, I will come and heal their land.

Would you pray with me? Would you pray for our country? I don't know if anybody is more hurt than I am by all that's going on in our world and especially in our country, the hatred that the media stirs in us toward one another. They don't, they don't really care about you, but they have the algorithm to know how to work you and stoke the fire. Would you just join me and repenting of listening to all that rather than listening to the voice of God? And would you ask God to move in your heart and in the hearts of believers so that we would come back to, to the real power. We have the power of Jesus and the gospel and the hope, the hope that we have filled with joy and peace because the Lord Jesus. And, and it begins to spill out, the hope begins to spill out on other people and there's a mighty movement of God again that changes our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren. Not on the left or the right or the blue or the red, but based on the cross of Jesus. Father, I love you. I love your son. Father I thank you that nothing has changed in, in 6,000 years that, that we've got recorded of the Bible. People still turn from you, God. God I turn from you and you and you call us back. And God, when we share the hope that we have in you, you change things when we're right with you. We have the best life. So Father, move in our hearts, change us. We pray for our country and we pray these things in the name of Jesus.