God’s Grace in the Belly of the Fish

We have already started the second part of the book of Jonah. Um it is the prayer of Jonah the Billy of the way a series of messages. for God’s grace in the belly of the way [Music] uh from uh from moving forward we’ll be talking about the God’s grace in the belly of the whale Let’s read Jonah chapter 2 verse1. Praise God. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of his fish fish belly. And we know that from John Jonah chapter 2 verse 1-10 we know that the prayer that he prayed in the when he was in the belly of the fish it is the prayer of repentance. Moving forward by the grace of God I would like to talk more about the the prayer that Jonah prayed. I request everybody to be in prayer uh in a prayer uh attitude of prayer. And one of the thing most important thing when the devil always attack is the the topic of prayer. Devil doesn’t care if we pray. But devil always make sure that we do not pray according to the scripture or according to the law. It doesn’t matter whatever you do in order to pray, in order to reach your prayer into the heaven, we have to make sure that your prayer is according to the scripture. And therefore when we talk about such kind of topic it is very important that we pray because the darkness the rule of the darkness will be always against us. And last time we talk about the Jonah prayed to the Lord. And from the moment I decided to preach on prayer, I thought that I would want to continue with prayer but I couldn’t do it. And therefore I’m trying I’m going to start with a prayer. It says that the Lord when I come into your presence with prayer I please hear my prayer. You are my refuge and my fortress. Therefore I come towards you. every day. I need your grace. Lord, I don’t want to be get tired when I pray. Therefore, I need the spirit of prayer. Lord, I I kneel my I kneel down in your presence. Take away all the burdens. [Music] Fore! Foreign! Foreign! [Music] You may not. [Music] Let us bow our heads in prayer. Our loving father, together as the body of Christ, we approach your throne of grace this morning. Speak to us in an intimate way. What we need this morning is not human words with the wisdom and knowledge. But what we need this morning is your powerful word that can penetrate into the depth of our heart. Your word that can transform each and every one of us. Father, if anybody has stepped into this sanctuary with a broken heart in the name of Jesus, I request you, I plead you lords that every word spoken this morning be a blessing to them. Let it build each and every one of them. We ask you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of his flesh building. Why devil doesn’t like prayers? And no, none of the disciple asked Jesus, can you teach us me to how to preach? They never asked how never asked Jesus, can you teach me how to preach, how to worship? But one of the most important thing that they asked the Lord uh to teach them This last lord, Lord, please help us uh to teach us to pray and the whole world knows that we bent people are known to be prayers. And my request and my prayer is that the Lord raise some pastors to teach us on how to pray. What is the most important thing about this prayer? We know that the Lord the servant who prayed through three times a day in the presence of God and God he was put in the lion’s dens when the Lord sent his angels to shut the mouth of the lion and the prayer of that saint was to bring the angels down to shut down the mouth of the lion. There were three Jewish people who were thrown into the lake of fire. And we can see a man of God who was with with them. Daniel 3:12 it says, And we can see that they speak that the Nebuchar built a idol and they wanted to worship him but they decided not to worship that idol. And when the king has decided that that they send a decree that every man shall hear the sound of the covenant and they shall fall down and worship the golden image. These three people decided that they are not going to worship. And they said that our God is able to deliver us from this fire. If he wants, he can deliver us. And when they decided that they’re not going to worship this golden image, the king decid his he got angry and he decided that he can go he’s going to punish and the the king decided to increase the fire seven times. These three people they know that the Nebuchadnezz the king Nebuchadnezzar is known to be the roaring lion of Babylon and they can if they fall in his hand they are not going to be delivered. Even though they said all these words of faith, there was certain things that come in my imagination that I would like to share. And it is that when Nebuchadnezzar decided to throw them into the fire, these three people decided to hold their hands together and started to pray to the Lord who can deliver them from this fire. They might have thought that this might be our last prayer in this world. [Music] And we serve a God who who hears our prayer, who hears the prayers of the servant and comes down and delivers us. The prayer of the saint who when he kneels down and pray the God will deliver and open the door that is closed for him. And John chapter 2 verse one, it just gives us an introduction of the background of the situation. And we know that Jonah prayed in the fish belly. I would like to share certain things that happened when he was inside the belly of the fish. And we are not perfect people. We have a lot of troubles [Music] and even the people who thinks they who are holy who are decided to move forward in the scripture they still fall. We all fall short of glory. But the history of the Christian, it says that whoever even if they fall, they come to and repent into the presence of the Lord, God delivers them and use them again. Let me give you a few examples here. And we I’m talking about Elijah and Elijah has decided to give up and he’s praying to the Lord, Lord, take me up. And when he was sleeping second time, the angel came down and told them, “Wake up and eat. You have a long journey. [Music] And Elijah when he when he wake up, he did not go to the king Ahab to repent and confess his sin. He did not went to know the the the queen to in order to plead his life. And the angel never mentioned that where he has to travel. He only mentioned that there is a long journey for him. [Music] But he is the one who prays to the living God and he exactly know where he wants to go. The saint who has gone through the trouble and who are surrendered by the troubles they exactly know what to do because they have learned from their ancestors. for and in the ancient times if they if they they have seen the grandparents have prayed and according to Psalms 121 it says that where do I lift up my eyes I lift up my eyes into the Lord where my helps comes from The person who is decided, who is selected by the Lord Jesus Christ, he is not going to surrender his life to the king Ahab. And he went directly to the Lord’s mount and where it’s called, God is there where Mount of And he did not went there to worship God but taking up all those burdens and all those issues so that he can surrender to the Lord. But one thing we have to understand that he when he decided not to go against the with the world but he decided to go against the world and be with the Lord and God helped him and gave him a new kinds of ministry that he can be useful for the ministry of God and God actually forget and forgive and forget that what he did him and he got tired and he gave up. Even when he start decided to give up on the Lord, when he repented into the presence of the God, God decided to anoint him so that he can anoint the kings and the prophets And our God is a God who who took up Elijah who decided to give up his life and used him to anoint the kings and the prophets. And in New Testament we know a saint who has went through this failure. And Peter said whoever whoever know leaves you I will not never leave you. And the same Peter did know he said I don’t know Jesus and that’s the time Peter understood that I told Jesus that I’m not going to leave you I’ll be there with you but he is the one who decided and this is what we read that when He after all this happened, he came outside and he cried. [Music] Let me remind you if you are one who has fallen from from the shout of glory and still not repenting and taking the Lord’s supper and not praying in the presence of God. I want to remind you that come back as soul came back to the presence of God and repented and God is going to help you and deliver you and he will be with you. And if I start to say it will go forward. Let me come in back into our topic. And when I was studying about Jonah, the Lord, the spirit of the Lord was talking to me. And the Lord, the spirit of the Lord actually gave me a question that I never thought, never imagined in my life. The Jonah he was the greatest prophet and how did he fail in his ministry? And the book of Jonah actually gives us that the God Yahovah is not just the God of Jews but also the God of Gentiles. And he nobody knows about the God who is going to love Nineveh instead of destroying it. And therefore God decided to send Jonah into Nineveh with the message of repentance. for and we have to praise the Lord because the God our God that we serve is doesn’t care about your religion, your cast, from where you come from, what is your background. But if you decided to accept the love of Christ Jesus, he will be your savior. [Music] And Jonah actually thought that only the people of Israel is worthy for God’s love and only the people of Israel will be going to the heaven. And that was the main reason for his failure. And in whom I was actually talking to Addie and in our family prayer, Addie and Andrew actually praised and I told that maybe this is what how you prayed all this time. You want I want you to add a few more sentences in your prayer. one sentence prayer. And if you are a parent who is focused on spiritual life of your kids, I want you to tell you that you should teach your kids at least one sentence of prayer. There is one sentence prayer line that you have to repeat it every day. Jesus help me to understand your purpose in my life. And this is what I told Addie to know include in your prayer is that Jesus help me to understand your purpose in my life. Help me to understand the purpose of my life. What is the importance of this particular word? I’m not talking from my human mind but I’m talking because the Holy Spirit gave me this [Music] and Annie asked me what is the meaning of this [Music] and I tried to understand the meaning of this particular time but she is not at age where she can understand this and she will come back again to understand what is the meaning of this word. And even if I’m not here, he she will definitely ask this the meaning of this particular verse with with her parents. And when you when you teach your kids to pray in this particular words, even when we are there with us, we will not be having an issue. But when they are away from us they may all the troubles and all the situation all circumstances whatever circumstances comes to your life in their life they will decide that I’m not built for this particular world but I am built for a world that is higher than this and I’m going come be with the Jesus Christ and most of the time about kids but even us we may ask God I did not understand what was the failure in my life but maybe this is your failure that I never asked God what is the purpose of my life and today onwards let’s pray from our heart that God to to now I have never prayed about my purpose of God, purpose of my life. But I request you to deliver me to show me what reveal me what is the purpose of my life. And in what the verse that we read, we can see two questions. But the first question is to whom Jonah actually prayed and last time we actually understood the answer for that. And the same way there is one more simpler question that from where did John actually pray [Music] even if it’s a simple thing we have to actually discuss about this even though we are discussing about the prayer from Jonah chapter 2 when we link towards John chapter one, we can actually understand the real meaning of this prayer. And from where did Jonah actually prayed? And we can read that Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish. And never think that this the story where the fish actually swallowed Jonah is not a you know illustration or illusion. Even in history there we can see so many stories where people have exposed from the belly of the fish. But no any of these are none of these are the main topic of what we are discussing. And the the the fish that actually saw John actually accidentally did not come in that particular sea in order to come fulfill the purpose of the Lord. God actually you know establish that particular veil in that particular sea and we can read on Jonah chapter 1 vers 17 the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was inside the God actually did not decide to send a whale only after Jonah was thrown into the sea, but it was already pre-prepared. And the first time when he saw this fish, he actually thought that this is a curse. This is a fish who is going to destroy my life. And initially Jonah thought that this particular fish was sent by the Lord as a punishment for the disobedience to the Lord. But when after three days when fish actually put him to Nway then he understood that the fish was not here to kill me but God actually brought it so that it can deliver me from that situation and deliver deal deliver. for Hallelujah. And let’s praise God because most of the time when we are going through certain situation circumstances in our life, we look onto that and we said it might be a curse but now we can look for back and say that this is not a curse but it was a blessing from the lord for the for so that we can be with the lord and therefore this fish it wasn’t a curse but it was a grace of the lord and provide pro provision from the lord but I see this fish and one more step over and more than the prayer of the Lord, I see this particular fish as the grace of God. God actually did not think about sending a fish after Jonah was thrown into the sea, but it was already prepared. And God actually did not select a random fish out of the seas to deliver to care about Jonah. And out of the hundreds of waves that was in the depth of the sea, God actually selected one before Jonah was thrown into the sea and so that he can deliver Jonah. Most of the time we think that if we get a degree from Bible college, God is going to use us in ministry. white collar jobs and there are people so many people who loves white collar jobs. But when we look under the scripture, God is we serve a God who actually prepares and trains us even before he sent us into the field. Why do we need a train? Even before someone is sent as an Indian ambassador to any of the country, he requires certain kinds of training. Civil service exam, IFS, Indian foreign service. First thing is that he has to pass IFS, Indian foreign service, training and in Missouri there are so many trainings for this IFS, IPS and is background and they look onto their backgrounds and the training is very strict. Do you know why they have to go through all these trainings? Do you know why they have been trained? Because if they are sending as an ambassador for India to US or any other country and if they if they did not follow the law of the country, it is a bad for India. And therefore that’s the same thing that God trains us before they he sent us into the field because any words that we speak any action that we do it should not be mocking to the name of the lord and that is the Main reason why a country gives lot of training for their ambassadors or international flight operator pilot basic minimum qualifications and and a pilot who who has to fly a plane they also have a basic requirements 1500 hours of total flight time and they require 1,500 hours of total flight time 500 hours of crosscountry flight time uh the crossount flight time 100 hours of night flight time. And only if they have all these three qualification, they can actually operate an international flight. To practice minimum and even a person if has to practice as a doctor in this country, they require three requirements. He must have completed a medical uh school. Medical school complete. must have obtained a medical license. Medical license, completed a residency program and board certification residency program certification. Why they require this much of trainings? Even if it’s a pilot or a doctor, they are actually caring about the human beings. If they lack training, more millions of people may die. And God decided that in any way one lakh 20,000 people were there and all the lives of those people are in the hands of Jonah. Therefore, God wanted Jonah to go through this training and the training background or the training field was in the field belly of the fish. Blue whale in the lipan 70 to 90 years and a blue whale his lifespan is like 70 to 80. And if there this weight has to live for 70 to 80 or 90 years, how just imagine how much training god might have provided for them under the training of the almighty god. All these 90 years I believe that it was he the way it was under the training of the almighty god. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! When we look onto the other veins of the other fish, great fish in the sea, we can see that they have they they just live their lives in the sea. But there was one fish who was been trained for entire life for one purpose. Just imagine how much God cares for each one of us. blue and from my study I think that this whale is a blue whale and in John 1 vers 17 it says a great And the the blue whale is one of the greatest creature out of every creature in the in in the land and in the sea. And 100 feet length 200 metric tons. 200 micro is the the weight or two kilogram and his the the tongue of the whale has the weight of an elephant and the heart of the whale is like a car 1963 model wagon And in 1963 a Volkswagen car was there in my ADM and we always call them motor car 1963 model Volkswagen. The size of the heart of the whale is actually to the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle car. And this fish was not sent to punish Jonah. The the great blue whale is a is a resemblance for the God’s care and God’s grace for Jonah. But Jonah when he disobeyed God, he could not accept the grace and the care of God. Most of the time we may think that when Jonah lost hope, God could have just talked to Jonah and said, “This is my purpose.” And why should God actually put Jonah in this much suspense? All these three days and night, why did God actually not tell anything about his purpose? And if God has actually told Jonah about the real thing, it might be a great peace for him. And just imagine that Jonah actually started to give up and lost all the hope. And God is talking to John in this way. And God might have said told can tell him that Jonah don’t lose hope or don’t be helpless because I have sent a great blue whale in order to help you. And this this great fish may swallow Jonah and it will bring to N after three days. Just imagine what would have happened there and we are we may know that we are in that situation we might have fainted. Maybe if God has told that particular situation thing in that situation maybe the response of Jonah will be different. Jonah might have asked your God, God, if the great fish swallowed me, how will I be living in that fish? And he may he may ask that God, I will be killed. Instead of becoming a food for fish, it is better that I die in sea. All those times Jonah only saw death and Jonah only thought about how am I going to die? Either this great fish will be make me a food for I will die in this great sea. And always remember that if God has actually showed the purpose of his purpose for to Jonah, maybe he will not ever enter into Nine. And let’s from Jonah, let’s come on back to us. There are so many questions in our life that we have never received answers from the Lord. And we may ask God, God, I’m going through all this situation. Why can’t you answer me? Why can’t you tell me what is the purpose? If we hear the answer from the Lord, maybe we will be tired and we’ll not be reaching in that situation. And the Lord clearly knows that we if we he told everything to us, we will never reach the destination. Most of the time God does not reveal things to our life. It’s because we cannot accept those things. And one day John actually the fish actually and vomited John in that In that city of N Jonah might have thought God how great you are. If he God has told what is going to happen in any way I would have died inside the belly of the fish. And we have a God who is a throne who is being glorified in that throne and he gives only what we want to hear and only what we need to know so that we can reach the destination. Most of the time we will not receive answers for all the questions that we have. But when we reach that eternal kingdom of God, we will understand that whatever things happen in my life, I thought it was a curse. But it was not a curse. It was the love of God, the grace of God that brought me to this destination. And how great is our God. God bless u