You're listening to the Miracle Word Podcast. We believe that the Word of God gives you the power to experience never-ending increase in every area. If you're ready for revelation that will take you to the next level, you're in the right place. Here's your host, evangelist, author, and founder of Miracle Word University, 10 Sheltersworth, Jr.
I know you saw that I put danger on the title of the broadcast. Has nothing to do with what's coming. I'm gonna talk about your purpose today, but I'm gonna tell you, I feel God getting ready to do something so supernatural in America. It's gonna blow the minds of natural men.
And I'll tell you this. Tell you this. I personally believe spiritually, that there's a lot of wickedness getting ready to be exposed by the power of God. Supernaturally.
Actually, before I jump into this, let me show you a verse of scripture that I read yesterday. And Carolyn came in the room because she heard me laugh and I was all by myself. And reading the Word. And I started laughing.
And she popped her head in with a quizzical expression like, What are you laughing at? You watch the show? And I was reading the verse. And I said, You know what?
This got me full of joy. And it's probably in a place that maybe a little bit unorthodox. You may not be at this passage a whole lot, but you should mark it down in your Bible. I'm highlighting it again right now in mind.
It's the book of Nehem, Old Testament Minor Prophet. Nehem. And I started reading through it. I was doing a deep study on the book of Nehem yesterday or the day before.
No, it was yesterday. And I just came across this verse and started laughing. Because the prophet, the prophet Nehem is actually prophesying about what's going to happen to Nineveh and Syria. God's judgment's getting ready to come upon him.
And so he begins to talk about it. And I don't know if you know this, but God's speaking to Nineveh and Assyria as though she's a prostitute. A whore. And talking to her like that.
Because what the nation did is that they would seduce other nations. And then when they thought they were all friends and everything was cool, then Assyria would go in and completely pillage and destroy those nations. And so seduce them like a prostitute, God said. And so back then, if you were a prostitute that was being shamed publicly, they would strip your clothes off in public and have you be bare in front of public.
But listen to what God says to the wicked in these wicked nations. He said, this is Nehem, chapter three and verse five. Listen to this. He said, behold, good morning, Ashley and Ted.
He said, behold, I'm against you. Let me tell you, that's one thing you never want to hear God say. I'm against you. Declares the Lord of hosts.
Now listen to the phrasing of this. I'm the ESV. And I will lift up your skirts over your face. And I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame.
Look at verse six. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. I'll let you do you. And I'm gonna tell you something.
Actually, you need to get on in on this because I feel the Holy Ghost. God's getting ready to expose the wickedness of the wicked. And it was like, and I know the context of this passage is Assyria and Nineveh. But I'm telling you, when I read it, it jumped up in my spirit as though this is what I'm getting ready to do again, not to America, but to the wicked around the world.
The globalist agenda. Those that are literally standing for the destruction of nations and the church and Christians. Those that have behind the scenes. You've got a bunch of pedophiles.
You've got a bunch of wicked witchcraft engaged people. And I'm just gonna tell you, you know it's bad when sinners aren't even cool with what's going on. When you've got people that don't even serve the Lord that are like ticked off at the level of wickedness that's in the earth, you know that the devil's overplayed his hand. And I'm telling you, I read this passage yesterday and it's like laughter just started coming out of my spirit.
And I felt like the Lord was saying, this is what I'm getting ready to do again. Let me read it again because it started, I feel the anointing on this. Name chapter three, verses five and six. Behold, I am against you.
I'll leave you. I'm so glad that our God is against our enemies. I am so glad. I am so glad that he's fighting our battles.
I'm so glad that he will just, you know, we talk so much and we've got this kissy, huggy over grace message that goes out as if God's not a warrior. But our God is a warrior. You know, Jesus is the Lord of hosts. He's the Lord of heavens, armies.
God's a warrior. He fights. Because people like, well, you know, God only does good things. Let me give you a hint here when God judges the wicked.
It's a good thing. Let me say it again, in case you've never heard it before, when God judges the wicked, it's a good thing. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing.
Let me ask you a question. That's it Nick. I feel that. All hail King Jesus.
I say that today by faith because He is our commander. He's the commander of heavens, armies. Let me say this. No, I'm in Nahum.
Caitlin, Nahum chapter three, verses five and six. Let me say this to you. God judges the wicked, it's a good thing. Let's say it this way, when God raised up Pharaoh for his own purpose, and I don't know if you know this, the Bible actually teaches in Romans chapter nine that God did that, that God raised up Pharaoh just to destroy him.
I don't sound like the God, I'm sorry, how do you read? No God, Paul wrote it by inspiration, the Holy Spirit, that God raised up Pharaoh for the purpose of making his glory seen and known in the whole earth. Egypt at that time was the greatest kingdom on the earth, greatest on the earth, and opposing and oppressing God's people. And the Bible actually teaches that God raised Pharaoh up to show his power and his glory in the earth, and for his own destruction.
When God destroyed Pharaoh, and God destroyed Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea, it was a good thing. Hallelujah, it was a good thing. Throw a hand up in the comments if you know what I'm talking about this morning. You know people, it's like, I don't understand it, it's like people, is like people don't know that God executes judgment, he's a righteous judge.
And the Bible says he brought his people out of bondage, by his mighty right hand, led them through the Red Sea, and then left it open, I love his. Left it open long enough for, let's say, two million people to go through. And when two million people had gone through the Red Sea, God left it open even longer. And I said, come on, Pharaoh and the whole army.
And God let the whole army and Pharaoh enter into the Red Sea, and then right when they were in position, God loosed his hand and the whole sea came crashing down, and destroyed Pharaoh and the entire army. That wasn't the devil that did that, that was God that did that. That was God that did that. And when God judges the wicked, it's a good thing.
It's a good thing, because our God is a good God, amen. If he's righteous, then anything that's wicked opposes him. And when he executes judgment, it's a good thing. One thing people don't catch is that there's a difference between an unbeliever who needs the gospel, and somebody that is a wicked person, an anti-Christ person, who actively and knowingly opposes God and opposes his agenda.
I was watching these people, I posted on my Instagram, because I was so ticked off by it. I posted, it's probably still up on my Instagram, if you go look at my story, let me see, if it is, it is. I posted it 22 hours ago. You've got Don Lemon, is that who it is?
Yeah, and Cuomo, on CNN, mocking Christians on live TV, mocking Christians on a major news network, acting like we're a bunch of nut jobs, mocking Christ, mocking Christians, wicked, foolish men. There are people who actively oppose God. If you wanna see the difference in the New Testament, you can look at one story, Acts chapter 13. And the Bible says Paul is actually trying to preach to the governor, Sergius Paulus, and give him the gospel.
He was an unbeliever that needed to be saved, but who was whispering in his ear the whole time? Alimis the sorcerer. And so while Paul's preaching, Alimis is saying, don't listen to him, he's trying to deceive you, he's giving you something false. And Paul stops his preaching and executes judgment by the power of God on the sorcerer, and he is immediately struck blind by the power of God.
Now by the devil, by the power of God. That's New Testament, my friends. That is new to, at an Old Testament God, that's New Testament God. And struck that sorcerer blind in an instant, an executed judgment, he had to be led around by the hand.
And Paul, Sergius Paulus saw the miracle-working power of God and heard the gospel preached by Paul. Two different men in a New Testament context, an unbeliever who needed the gospel, and a wicked man with an anti-Christ spirit opposing God, he got judgment and the unbeliever got the gospel. And I'm gonna tell you right now, there's some wicked people that are at work in the earth. And if you're just logging on, you need to share this.
I haven't even got into what I'm talking about, but the Holy Ghost got me on this. And you need to rewind and watch on YouTube if you can, because here in name chapter three, and I know the context for all of you Bible sticklers out there and you, hermeneutical giants. I know the context, the context is Assyria, the context is Nineveh, but I felt this jump up in my spirit as though God was saying the same thing is about to take place now with the wicked, the globalist agenda around the world. I'm gonna read it again.
He's talking to Syria like they're a prostitute, talking to Syria like a whore, and about to give Syria a judgment publicly. In front of the whole earth, listen to what he said, behold, I am against you, verse five, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will lift up your skirts over your face, and I will make nations look at your nakedness, O hallelujah, and kingdoms look at your shame. Now, he's not done. I will throw filth at you.
Think about that. I will throw filth at you. I will treat you with contempt, and I'll make you a spectacle. And I'm telling you, I believe in my spirit.
That's what's getting ready to happen. My father prophesied, we're gonna see a surprise in October, and he said, I feel like it's a good surprise. I believe, I am a nice and suffire, is another great picture of that, Lin-Man. But I believe with all my heart that God, while we're here on the earth, the people of God, Raptor hasn't happened yet, we're still here, but as we're here, God is watching over his people, God's protecting his people, and God is executing judgment against those who are trying to destroy God's people.
And I'm telling you, get ready, because I believe we're getting ready to see some things exposed supernaturally, and as I've been saying, folks are getting ready to go to jail in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. I'm just telling you, look up, because there's something exciting happening in the world, and that is this, we're living in the final moments of time. I don't know if you've seen these prophetic signs, President Trump sitting down with these nations in the Middle East, peace of cords being signed, that's Bible prophecy stuff, my friends. We're in the final moments of time, and God's moving by his power, and I was just wanna encourage you today, before we even get into what I'm teaching, that you should be excited, you should be encouraged, because our God is moving on our behalf.
Hallelujah, our God is moving on our behalf. Don't be dejected, don't be sad, be excited, because God's power is being seen throughout the whole earth, and we've been having a mighty move with the Holy Ghost right here in Billings, Montana, and I'm telling you, I wanna invite you, because that's what I'm talking about, is God's moving, you need to be in some Holy Ghost services, be in some revivals. There's my friend, Matt Perkins, love you, buddy. Let me tell you something.
There's all kinds of opportunities for you to join us. Next week, we're gonna be in Evansville, Indiana, Sunday through Friday. Week after that, I'll be in Botkins, Ohio, a week after that, I'll be in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and it just keeps on going. Two weeks later, I will be in York, Pennsylvania.
All of the details are on miracleword.com, go to the schedule page, find a meeting, jump in and join us, jump in your car, drive to the meeting, jump on a plane, fly to the meeting, and come be a part of what God's doing, because God has an impartation for you personally, not just corporately, but for you personally. It's very important to know. And today, by the way, I wanted to show you something that God put in my spirit so strong, and I wrote it in my notes, and I may even do a book around this eventually, but it's a very, very important thought. And that's what we put in the comments.
Who's are the title? Who's ship are you sinking? Who's ship are you sinking? We put danger because it is dangerous, and you'll see what I mean.
And so thanks everybody, jump on all of this today, take a minute and share the broadcast, wherever you're watching from. This is a very important day today. I'm going to the book of Jonah, Old Testament, go to the book of Jonah with me. It's only four chapters, but there's so much packed in to this narrative.
You know the story of Jonah, but I wanna show it to you in this context. Who's ship are you sinking? Who's ship are you sinking? And I'm looking here at the book of Jonah, she passed a jag and said you don't wanna say that too quickly.
It's a tongue twister you may end up in a YouTube Looper's video. Who's ship are you sinking? It's an important, important thought because I'm talking about your individual purpose as a believer, talking about your individual purpose. Who's ship are you sinking?
And I wanna start at the very beginning of the book of Jonah because I wanna actually point out to you what happened in his life, but not just what happened to him because everybody focuses on what happened to him. But what we wanna look at today is not just what happened to him, but what happened to others as a result of his decisions, as a result of his rejection of God's instruction. So catch this with me and of course you know the story, but the Bible says that the word of the Lord came to Jonah, we're in the first chapter, the word of the Lord came to Jonah and he told him to go and preach in Nineveh, which was the capital of Syria at the time and call out against it for their evil, it's come up before me. And he wanted to, Jonah to preach and call out for people to repent for their wickedness.
However, Jonah so hated Nineveh and Syria because of their cruel, they're really their cruelty in battle, the torture of Jonah's people, many things, they're a very cruel, cruel nation. And he didn't even wanna see him delivered. He didn't wanna see him repent. Jonah would rather have seen the people destroyed than to see them repent.
And literally if you get to the end of the book, even after he obeys the instructions of God, the Bible says he doesn't even go home. He goes outside the city, sits there and watches and waits, hoping that God's still gonna destroy the city, hoping they don't turn and repent. And he's literally sitting there, watching the city from outside, hoping it gets destroyed. Hated the city, hated the people, hated them for their wickedness, didn't even wanna preach to them, didn't even wanna see them repent, didn't even wanna see them preserved or saved.
So what does Jonah do? He runs from his call. He runs from his purpose. God had given it to him, God's the one who facilitates your purpose.
You don't come up with your own purpose, you discover your purpose from the Holy Spirit. And Jonah had a word from the Lord. And there he says, I'm not doing it. I'm gonna run in the opposite direction.
I'm literally gonna go as far away from what I'm called to do as possible. And so I want you to see this with me. Go with me to verse three. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
That's the first mistake. Don't run from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Japa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fair and went down into it.
Stop right here. Notice the first thing, put it in the comments. Jonah paid the fair. I want you to write that in the comments section, every person that's watching.
Jonah paid the fair. He was running from God. He was leaving, going somewhere else. And in order to do something that was outside, hallelujah, of God's instruction, notice this, Jonah, paid the fair.
So he paid the fair and went down into it. When you are outside of God's call, when you are outside of God's purpose, you are required to come up with the provision. You are required to pay all the bills yourself. But when God calls you, when God purposes you, then God's the one who provides for what He's called you to do.
It's like what just happened for us as God spoke to us. And we knew by prophetic word that we were going to get a building which we needed at TV studio. Well, we knew it was common. We got a prophetic word.
We stood on it, believed it. We entered into it. And without anybody knowing, we signed it, signed the contract, and got into the building. Nobody knew it.
Nobody knew it. This is a very important point that you understand. No partners knew that we were doing that. No churches knew that we were doing that.
We were just doing it by faith. We stepped out and did it in the middle of a lockdown pandemic. And do you know that the moment we did it, without anybody knowing, a man who owned multiple businesses felt in his spirit to send one large check in the mail. And when the check arrived, we looked at the amount.
It paid for the entire year of the building. I didn't have to raise money. I didn't have to go on television. I could just please send us such and such.
I didn't have to do any of that. I just obeyed the word of the Lord. And when you're standing in your purpose, and when you obey the word of the Lord, God provides for everything. God did it because God pays for what He orders.
I want you to put that in the comment section. God pays for what He orders. God pays for what He orders. So when you're in His calling purpose, and you're walking in His will, God's the one taking care of you.
God's the one providing for you. Hallelujah. Notice that? I mean, even as the people of God are going through the wilderness in the Old Testament, do they have to go hunting, hunting, hunting every day?
Or do God just provide man on the ground? All they have to do is pick it up and eat it. See, when you're in the middle of God's plan, when you're doing what's called you to do, then God pays for what He orders. That's right.
God pays for what He orders. That was not the case for Jonah. Notice he's running from God, finds a ship to get away from the presence of the Lord. And look at that in verse three, chapter one, verse three.
So He paid the fair. Very interesting. He paid the fair. I don't ever want to be in a place in my life, where I have so missed the calling and purpose of God in my life that I have to establish and come up with my own provision.
That God's hand is no longer providing for me, because I'm so far out of His purpose, so far out of His will, that His provision's not even shown up anymore. I don't ever want to be there. God pays for what He orders. I just want to be right in the middle of what God called me to do.
And if He calls me, and if He directs me, and if He gives me, well, then what does the Bible say? Isaiah 48, 17, I am the Lord your God who teaches you to profit and leads you in the way you should go. So understand, if you're being led in the way you should go, what's it leading you to? Profit, P-R-O-F-I-T.
You will profit. You'll abound. You'll have abundance. He's leading you to profit.
And so I want you to see this, because He ran from God's presence, because He ran from the anointing, He was here paying His own way. Oh, hallelujah. I don't want to pay my own way. And He went down into the ship to go with them to Tarshis away from the presence of the Lord.
Now go to verse four and catch this. So, so powerful. First of all, these men didn't know who Jonah was. They didn't know who he was.
He was just another passenger on board the ship. Look at verse four, but the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, not the devil, the Lord. And there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. I mean, that's how bad the storm was.
It was so bad that the storm was going to break the ship apart on the sea. Verse five, then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to His God. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep.
I want you to see this now. Jonah, who is outside of his purpose, who is outside of his calling, is now attaching himself to these men. First of all, that he should never have been around. If he was going to do what God had called him to do, he would have never met these men, never been on that ship, never been around them.
But notice this, because he's on a path to destruction, because he's disobeying the Word of God, because he's on a path to destruction. Notice this, it doesn't just bring destruction to him, it's actually causing others around him to be destroyed. Notice what they had to do. Notice the first thing they had to do, they had to take all the cargo, the precious cargo, in their ship that they were transporting.
I mean, this was how they were making their money. This was their livelihood. They had to take all their cargo in the midst of this storm that came from disobedience. And they had to throw it into the ocean and it be lost and it be destroyed.
And so look at this, Jonah's disobedience and lack of attacking his purpose going after his call, it didn't just bring him to a place of danger, but those that are around him, that he attached himself to, now they're starting to lose out on their own blessing. It's a dangerous thing. I mean, you think about it, who's ship are you sinking? That's the question today.
Who's ship are you sinking? If you're not doing what God's called you to do, if you're not obeying the instructions of the Lord, if you're walking outside your purpose, disobeying God, who's being destroyed by your choices? Cause I can promise you something, it won't just be you. It won't just be you, because there are always people attached to you.
You look at these guys that are, you know, having problems in the ministry, people that, you know, there's crises going on, you look at people that are going through scandal, it's not just gonna affect them, it's gonna affect everybody around them, it's gonna affect their wives and their children, it's gonna affect their congregations. It's gonna affect those that are on the outside of Christianity looking in, giving a bad name to the Lord our God and to Christianity because of what's going on. It won't just affect them, it'll affect everybody. Who's ship are you sinking?
Because it wasn't Jonah's ship, it was theirs. It wasn't Jonah's cargo, it was their cargo. And now because you've got disobedience in the ship, is about to be destroyed, and first of all, the cargo is lost. There are people that pay the price, you know, there's a price that comes along with disobedience.
There's a price that comes along with the rejection of God's instruction. There's a price for that. What you do affects others, there's a price. There's a price, and notice, even though these men didn't know Jonah, they were paying a price for his disobedience.
Oh my goodness, I know that's a heavy word, but it's an important word, needs to be heard. That's why, thank God, we've got the Victory Tribe, I know you're a mature believer, you're not sitting around being offended by everything that comes across, that's why you're on the broadcast. But I want you to write this in the comments section today, there's a price to be paid for disobedience. There's a price to be paid for disobedience.
And Jonah was not only paying it, but now these men on whose ship he was on, we're now paying it as well. The cargo is lost. The cargo is lost. Sin carries its own debts.
The wages of sin is death. That's what the Bible teaches in the book of Romans, chapter three, the wages of sin is death. It doesn't mean just eternal death, but anything sin touches begins to experience death. If you'll now send to touch your mind, death begins.
Last send to touch your finances, death begins. Last send to touch your relationship, death begins. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. So catch this now.
There is a price to be paid for disobedience. And these men unknowingly, they start to figure it out, but they are paying it. I mean, they're paying it. Here's their livelihood.
Here's their paycheck going out the window, toss the cargo overboard. Let's keep the ship afloat and all of their stuff, all their money, all their finance goes over, over the side of the ship into the ocean. Let's go on to the next thing here. I want you to see it.
They hurled the cargo that was in the ship and jumped down in the bottom, fast asleep. Then in verse six, so the captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper? Arise and call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish.
Now look at this, verse seven and they said to one another, come let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. Isn't it funny that these men who are not followers of Jehovah yet, even they can tell this storm we're in is not a natural storm. This storm we're in is a spiritual storm. Isn't that interesting?
Because they know that like he said, go ahead, let's pray, you need to be praying. So that we won't perish. Call on your God. They know this is not natural.
So let's cast lots so that we know on whose account. They know if this is this storm as a result of somebody on this ship. How is it that like pagans knew that? How did pagans come up with that?
They knew it. Somebody on this ship is bringing this storm on us. It's not normal, it's supernatural. And he said, and the lots actually fell on Jonah.
So he tells him a half truth. And then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil is coming upon us, what's your occupation? Where do you come from? What's your country?
What people are you up? And he said, well, I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea in the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid as they should be.
Well, it is this you've done. What have you done to us? And they knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he told them. Then they said, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?
He said, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. It's because of me. But instead they rode hard to get back to land. They ignored what he asked and just kept trying to do it in their own strength.
Look at this, I want to make this point here. Check this. Verse 14 of chapter one, so important. Look, therefore they called out to the Lord.
Notice now they have actually abandoned praying to their gods. It got so bad, by the way. You can even put it in the comments. There's no atheists in foxholes.
No atheists in foxholes. And they quit calling on their gods. And they start calling on his god, the Lord God of heaven and earth. And they called out to the Lord.
Notice earlier, they were calling out to their gods. Now they're calling out to the Lord. Oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life. This is verse 14.
And lay not on us innocent blood for you, O Lord have done as it pleased you. Let me make something very plain here. From verse 14, nobody's prayers can spare you as long as you're in rebellion to God's commands. There's no prayer that will overcome your personal disobedience.
Catch that. You know, I can keep saying no to God. I can keep saying no to his call upon my life. I keep saying no to his instructions.
But I could have people praying for me. Oh Lord, spare him, spare him, spare him. Oh Lord, it doesn't matter. Because somebody else's external prayer cannot override my personal responsibility to obey God for myself.
I'll give you an example. It's like, when I was an associate pastor with my uncle, Pastor Terry Shuttlesworth, and I'd be working in the office, people would call the church. And they'd say, Pastor Ted, would you pray for me? Would you please pray for me?
I said, well, how do you want me to pray for you? They said, would you just please pray that God would bless me financially? And I'd say no. And they'd say, what?
I thought you were, I thought you were Pastor, I thought you were preacher, aren't you supposed to pray that God would bless people? I said, I can't, I can't. I said, are you a tither and a giver? Well, you know, we're not quite there yet, we're not.
I said, how do you expect me to pray for God to bless you if you're rejecting the instructions from his word that lead to the very blessing you want me to pray for? And I said, let me just show you something. I could pray until I'm blue in the face, but until you obey the instructions of God from his word, there's no blessing coming. That's a hard word people don't like to hear that.
There's no blessing coming because here's the thing. The Bible says that financial blessing comes because we obey God's instruction with our finances. That's how it comes. And so I can say, well, Lord, I pray, bless them.
Oh God, let financial increase, come on. I pray, abundance, prosperity, junker. I pray that till I'm blue in the face. But if they hold back God's tithe, and if they refuse to give and so, it doesn't matter what I pray, because their rejection of God's instruction keeps them outside of the blessing of heaven.
And know this, that's what's happening with these men. They're praying now to the right God, the only true and living God, the Lord of heaven and earth. Oh God, spare us. Don't let this in as a blood.
I mean, they're praying, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Because until God's will is done, you see that? The blessing can't come.
Put it in the comments, until God's will is done, the blessing can't come. Until God's will is done, the blessing cannot come. They prayed, they prayed, they prayed and they prayed, but it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. So they finally picked up Jonah, verse 15, and hurled him into the sea.
And the sea ceased from its raging. Because that's the answer. Get Jonah out of the boat. He's going the wrong direction.
God doesn't want it. Do what God wants. Do what God wants and the storms will stop. Oh, I'll do you.
Do what God wants and the storms will stop. The Bible says, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. And they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. Ha ha ha ha.
Now they're making vows. Oh my God, I'll serve you for the rest of my life. Just keep me. People see the power of God, they start making vows.
They sacrifice these pagan men that had other gods. When they saw the power of the only true and living God, they began to sacrifice offerings and make vows unto the only true and living God. But the sea ceased to rage. Why?
Because now we're back on getting back on track again. Now Jonah is getting ready to go back again and catch this verse 17. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
And by the way, this is not a parable. In fact, Jesus refers to this story as historical fact. People try to act like, this is just really like a story that this didn't literally happen. This is kind of something that was just an allegory.
No, Jesus in the gospels referred to this story as historical fact. And he said in the same way, Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, three nights. So I will be. And actually it's the sign of Jonah that he's speaking of that he'd be dead and under the earth, three days and three nights.
Same thing here. A great fish. Catch this and write it down. Don't wait for something to swallow you in the midst of rebellion before you step out to obey God's purpose on your life.
Don't wait for something to swallow you up in the midst of rebellion for you to choose to turn and obey the instructions of God upon your life. It should have never had to come to this, right? You know how much easier it would have been? Not just for Jonah, for the men on the ship, for those that were connected to him.
They'd have never lost their cargo. Their finances would have never been affected. Their safety would have never been challenged or in danger. Never.
If they would have just gone the easy route. God speaks, hear him, obey him. God speaks, hear him, obey him. But Jonah took the hard route, rejected God, rebelled against God, went the opposite direction.
God told him to go and look what the Bible says. And the Lord, verse 17, appointed a great fish. What an accident. God, the creator of all creation, appointed a fish to swallow him up.
God's got a way to get you back where you need to be. God has a way to get you back on track and to get you where that's actually an encouraging thought. That's an encouraging thought. God's got a way to get you back on track.
God's got a way to take you where you need to be. You know, it's like me, I'm a horrible sense of direction. Confessive, it was just the truth. And you've heard me tell the story that even with GPS as I've made wrong turns, but when a GPS is on, Google Maps on your phone, whatever it might be, when you make that wrong turn and you're off the track, it doesn't send you back to your driveway to start the trip all over again.
What does it do? It just recalculates from where you are currently and then you're only one turn away from being right back on track again, one turn. That's how God is with the Holy Spirit. He doesn't send you back to the beginning of your life to start all over again if you've missed the mark.
He'll just recalculate your route. And wherever you are currently, he'll get you right back on track. Now, let me say this, that doesn't mean you should be flippin' with your life for mistakes because some mistakes are easily recovered from. Some mistakes are hard to recover from and some mistakes you'll never recover from.
Think about that. So you know, it's not that you're flippin' with your life and just say, well, I gotta get me back on track. No, you have to seek the Holy Ghost and you have to hear his word and you've gotta hear his instruction. There was a man, give you the story.
There was a man that my grandfather used to preach with and preach for and he pastored in Texas. And my grandmother will remember this. Everybody's still good on the audio. My grandmother will remember this.
My grandfather used to preach. In fact, Nana, if you're, if you can still hear me, she said she lost the audio. Should still be good. Nana, if you can still hear me in the comments section, put the name of the minister that I'm talking about, because I can't remember his name at the moment.
There was a minister that pastored in Texas that my grandfather preached for. That was a missionary as well, but told the story that the Lord had spoken to him to go to Vietnam and to preach and minister in Vietnam. And kept on telling him, go to Vietnam. And he said, I don't have the support to go to Vietnam.
I don't have the finances to go to. I don't know anybody in Vietnam and just never ended up going. Never ended up going. This was before the Vietnam War, by the way.
And never, never went, never went to preach in Vietnam. And after the Vietnam War took place, I believe what happened was he finally did make a trip over to Vietnam and he came into contact with somebody and he'd never been there before, but the person recognized him. There was a person from a church there and they said, where have you been? And he said, what are you talking about?
They said, we've been waiting for you. He said, I don't think you have, you don't, I've never been here, you wouldn't know me. No, we know you. We've been waiting for you.
Where have you been? They said, the Lord showed us you in a vision and showed us that you were coming to preach and hold revival. And so we raised all the money necessary. Let me think about this.
Raised all the money necessary and you never came. That's what they told him. Raised all the money, had everything ready and you never came. And he used to preach, don't fail God like I did.
What a heavy word to preach. Don't fail God like I did. Nana, if you can hear me, if you're still on the broadcast, what was the name of that preacher? I believe he pastored in Texas, Papa preached for him, my grandfather, and he would preach that, don't fail God like I did.
And he actually felt and believed that if he'd have gone and held that revival and preached in the nation, that maybe the Vietnam War would not have had to happen or taken place and all those people die. If the power of God could have shaken that nation. But what happened? He heard spoke to him and spoke to him and spoke to him and he never went.
Why? He was basing whether or not he could go on the flesh, on the natural, what he had. All the things that he saw with his natural eyes. What he heard with his natural ears.
He said, I can't go and he never went. Not until it was too late. And they said, we've been waiting for you. We saw you.
We had everything ready to go and you never came. Imagine having to preach that message everywhere that you go. Don't fail God like I did. And see, that's the importance of what I'm talking about.
Following the instruction, the voice of the Holy Spirit, it's the most important thing you can do in life. You follow the word of the Lord, the written word. That's the Holy Spirit as well. And the leading of the Holy Ghost.
Holly, will you? We must be led by the Spirit. Don't wait for something to swallow you up in the midst of rebellion. For you to obey the voice of the Lord.
Don't wait. So you step out and God's purpose. I've had people come up to me and church and say, Brother Ted, I believe God's calling me to preach. Okay.
What are you doing with it? Well, he told me 30 years ago, I haven't done anything yet. Well, it's like, you know, God does have an agenda. He does have a job that he wants to accomplish.
He does have something he wants to do. Why wait 30 years to obey the voice of the Lord? Why wait? Don't wait.
Obey when he speaks. Put this in the comments section. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience.
Because they have the same effect, don't they? Have you ever told one of your children to go to their room and clean their room? You ever done that before? Go clean your room.
You go over there 20 minutes later, and in the midst of cleaning their room, they found a toy they hadn't seen in a long time, just started playing with it. And you look in the rest of the room is still messy. You say, hey, I thought I told you to clean your room. I will, I will, I'm just delayed obedience.
It's got the same look and the same effect as disobedience. Looking at this way, their room looks the same in their delayed obedience, as it would if they just were disobedient. Said, I'm not clean in my room. Well, it's still messy.
Even if you say I'm not clean in it, it's messy. If you say, oh, I'll clean it, but I'll do it later. It's still messy. The effect is the same.
Delayed obedience is just disobedience. When God speaks, obey him quickly. When God speaks, obey him quickly, because there's work to be done. See, I don't think people fully understand the greatness of their personal purpose.
I really don't. I think people have such a low view of their personal importance in the kingdom that they think they can be flipping with their life. I said, well, I'll do it later. I'm not the only one working for God.
You know, he's got other people. No, he called you for a purpose. If he didn't need you, he wouldn't have called you. I mean, think about that.
If he didn't need you, he wouldn't have called you. But he does need you, so he did call you. And if he needs you, that means he needs you now, or else he wouldn't have called you now. And so you have to get to work.
That's why Jesus told his disciples, this principle, John 9-4, work while it's yet day. He's pumping urgency into their spirit. Work while it's yet day for the night comes where no man can work. Time's running out.
It's time to get to work. And we can't look at our own personal lives and purpose like it doesn't mean anything. It's important. In fact, I want you to write this in the comments and never forget it.
Put this in just like this. What God called me to do is important. What God called me to do is important. It's like I was talking to a man who's working for the Lord in a place where there's not a lot of people.
That doesn't mean what he's doing is not important. Are you kidding me? So well, I'm not in a metropolis. That doesn't matter.
That doesn't matter at all. He was telling me where he was and how small the population was. He's in the wilderness. And he said, you know, I'm wondering if I should go to a metropolis, but I said, well, I said, did the Lord call you to go to that other place?
He said, no, I feel called where I am. I said, then stay where you are. That's where God's called you. And don't ever think that what you're doing for the Lord is not important.
It's greatly important. Or else God wouldn't have called you there. Don't ever view your purpose as unimportant. What God has called me to do is important.
That's it. Put it in the comment section and don't ever forget it. Don't ever compare. This is why the Bible says, comparing yourselves among yourselves, you're unwise.
Why? Because I'm comparing what God's called me to do was something God called someone else to do. We're not even the same. You know, I could, for example, I'm here at Bethany with Pastor Jordan.
I could compare myself to Pastor Jordan and then get all, you know, I get all discouraged. Well, I don't have a church. Where's my church? Where's my church building that's paid off?
How come I don't have one of those? He's got this beautiful sanctuary. He's got this beautiful building, all this property. He's got these wonderful people that come every week.
He's got all this equipment, all this lighting and stuff. Where's mine? I've been preaching 20 years. How come I don't have a building like this?
How come I don't have a church? Where's my people? Where's mine? I can get all discouraged, looking at what he's doing and what he's called to do.
And then comparing it to what I'm doing and what I'm called to do. And then what do I do? God never told me, you know, in this analogy. If God never told me to start a church, if I just do it because I'm comparing myself to Pastor Jordan, I'm in trouble.
Because now I'm doing what Jonah did and running away from what I was really called to do to do something else and then what happens? I'm paying all the bills. I'm the one that has to come up with the provision. I'm the one that has to figure out all the problems.
Why? Because God was never in it. And that's why the Bible says, don't compare yourself with somebody else. Because their call's not your call.
Their vision's not your vision. It's like if I saw, we got Brother Eric here in the back. He's here in the studio today. And if he had a suit code on, Brother Eric and I don't wear the same suit size.
So I could say, man, he's got a nice suit code on. I wish I had that suit code. I wish it was mine. I don't know why he's got such a nice one.
I got a t-shirt, I got a little short sleeve shirt. I could go then take it off his back and put it on me. But guess what? It's not gonna look good on me like it looks good on him.
Because it fits him, it don't fit me. It's the same with purpose. I could try to snatch somebody else's purpose off their life. So I'm gonna make it my purpose.
I'm gonna make it my calling. It won't look good on me. Because it's not my purpose and it's not my calling. So when you compare yourself with somebody else, you're in danger.
Because the danger is you're trying to assume a role God never gave you. That's why comparison in that way is dangerous. It's dangerous. But when you're in the middle of an instruction from God, the question is, is it just affecting you?
Absolutely not. Who's it affecting? Well, it will affect you, it affected Jonah. But it'll affect those around you.
Think about this. It'll affect those that try to come alongside to help you. Let's say I did that. Let's say I went and did something God never called me to do.
And people said, you know what? I'm gonna help Brother Ted do that. They don't know God never called me to do it. I mean, it'll become evident sooner or later, but they don't know it.
I know it, they don't. They're gonna go help him with that church. We're gonna go, I'm gonna help him do this and help him do that. But when the thing crashes and burns because God never called it to happen, guess what?
I'm not just affected. But the people who said, I'm gonna go give my life to that vision as well. Their lives are affected. Their lives are affected.
Because God never told me to do it. Now my rejection of his true instruction is not affecting me only. It's affecting them. Who will it also affect my family?
It'll affect my wife. It'll affect my children. Because now I'll be in the middle of something that's always making me angry, always frustrate me. I don't know why there's church ain't working.
I don't know why I can't get it. None of the bills are paid. How come the finances aren't coming in? What's going on with it?
And now I gotta come home. I'm frustrated so now my wife is distraught. Cause I'm just walking around irritated. I'm walking around depressed.
I'm walking around angry. Now I'm getting bitter. I'm getting bitter because, you know, whatever. Whatever it might be.
Now she's affected. Now her joy is affected. Her peace is affected. Now what do my children have to see?
A dad that's always walking around with high blood pressure and a red face. Cause I can't get this thing to work. I can't get this vision off the ground. I can't get the finance coming.
How come nothing working out? I can't stand these church people. They're always in my hair. I can't.
What's the problem? Standing in something that's not my calling. Try to put on a coat that doesn't fit me. It's not just affecting me.
It's affecting my wife. It's affecting my children. It's affecting those that are trying to help me do it. And all those that are giving, trying to make the thing work, their car goes being thrown into the sea.
Oh man, I'm preaching today. I hope somebody's catching this. It's dangerous to reject your calling or assume somebody else is calling. It's dangerous.
We don't do it. We can't do it. And so notice this. Only the Lord has to speak to him.
But I mean, he then has the fish swallow him up and take him to where he should be. Nineveh, the capital of Syria, goes in and begins to preach. Doesn't even want to, but does anyway. God puts him there.
It blows my mind that people act like God doesn't have a plan and can't enact his plans. Like did Jonah choose to go to Nineveh by his own free will? No. No, he did not.