How y'all doing today? Good. I'm not gonna lie, it is, honestly, one of the things that scares me probably the most is coming up to a pulpit. And not just because I'm an introvert at heart, but because if one thing is said wrong, it could lead people astray, and it could lead them away from the Lord, I just want you to know that I don't take this lightly. And the word of God is very important to me. And I pray that I'm very clear as much as possible and everything is true. Well, one thing I do know for sure is that what I'm about to preach is true because God really invests this message in my life. And and I hope it's a blessing. So if you don't mind, turn your Bible to Jonah chapter one. Jonah chapter 1. Jonah chapter 1. So starting in verse 1, it says, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out the great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. Let us go ahead and bow in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, I want to thank You for this opportunity, Lord, to come up here and give Your Word. But God, I know I cannot do this, and it can't be me preaching, Lord. I just pray now so that You break me and use me, Lord, and that You would just speak through me, Lord. Convict us, Lord, and show us Thy Word Help us to change our ways, in Christ's name I pray. Amen. So, we already know the story of Jonah, and we've read Jonah all our lives. It's one of the stories that even kids know at the earliest age. But I remember reading this one day for school, and just reading those few verses, just those five verses, and seeing how Jonah relates to all of us. We all slip at some points, we all fall, we all might even get to a place where we just simply don't care what goes on around us. And I can tell you this testimony in my life, that was me back in middle school and high school, where I just did not care. But there was a question through, there was a statement that was said in one of those verses that really spoke out to me. It was right in there in verse five at the very end. And he lay and was fast asleep. So I want to talk to you about is a question. Why would you sleep? I'm not talking about sleeping as in like actually sleeping, although that would be a wonderful thing, especially when we lay on the pillow and we're just knocked out. But To try to define what I mean by sleeping, it's simply to walk away from the Lord and His will to the point of ignoring all that's around you and living comfortably in your own sin. In other words, from being from a place where you're in the presence of the Lord and you're serving Him and you're going where He tells you to, but then you decide that you do not want His will and you decide to live for yourself and you begin to live comfortably in your sin. And that's what I mean by sleeping. And that's why I would ask, why would you sleep? Because I see here, I see a church and I hear the testimony of this church and I'm very encouraged by it. And I see that you're all wanting to serve the Lord, but there's always that temptation for us all to just give up and run away or to live for yourself. In fact, Last two weeks ago, my friend and I, we went canvassing for Neighborhood Bible Time, and I knocked on this one door, and I met a man named, I think his name was Todd, Todd Hardway. And he's trying to give me a live speech of, you gotta live for yourself. You gotta do experiences. You're 22, what are you doing? Just live for yourself. Have parties, have fun, have experiences. And that all sounds very interesting, but it's so sinful and wicked. And the Lord, I mean, the Bible never tells us to live for yourself. That's selfish, that's prideful. But yet God says, live for me. And there's always that temptation that comes at us. Live for yourself, forget about what the world does, forget about. your country or the sins around you, forget about the church, just live for yourself. Just fall asleep in this world. There's always that temptation, but that's why I ask, why would you sleep? And there's three points. Like a good old Baptist, three points. Then point number one, why would you sleep when you have a message to preach? In chat and divert first verse says now the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai saying Arise go to Nineveh that great city and cry against it for their wickedness is come up before me We all have a message Jonah had a message to preach to Neva because because none of us witness was so terrible that it was bringing up to the side of the Lord and God was about to destroy it But yet God has given us a message. When the day you were saved, you asked Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin. You had a message. God in March 1650 says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. This message is not meant to just keep inside of you, but it's meant to give out to everyone around you. We see that. It is a responsibility, it is a duty for us to give the gospel to other people. You have a message. To go ahead and turn to Revelation 21 verse 8. Revelation 21. Revelation 21 verse 8, it says, but the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and the whoremongers and the scourge and the sorcerers and the idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire, which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." And we know this. I mean, obviously we go to church and if you're saved by the grace of God, you know the consequences of our sin and that there are so many people out there that are on their way to hell. There are people out there that have never heard about Jesus. There's people out there that think their way is the best way. But ultimately we know that that is the wrong way. The only way is through Jesus Christ. And let me tell you something, if you're not saved here today, what that verse just says, that's where your sin is going to take you. If you don't ask Jesus to forgive you of your sin, you don't ask him to save you, you will end up in a fiery place called hell. And it's not a fun place. It's not a great place. It's a terrible place where there's torture forever. And yet there are people out there that are going there. and we have a message to give to them. It's not for you. I mean, it's not for you to keep to yourself. It is our duty to tell the world. But then we also see that there is power in the gospel. The power of the gospel, we see that the gospel saves. When people hear the gospel, there's no doubt that God is speaking to them. And in the book of Hebrews says the word of the Lord is sharper than any sharper than any two-edged sword. It's sharper than anything. It's more powerful than anything you could possibly imagine. And so many times we take the gospel of God for granted. We hold it on our chest. We keep it with us. We walk around with it. But so little times there's somebody out there that God says, hey, talk to them. And we just keep it with us and we just hold on as we keep on going. But yet God tells us to go into the world. There is power and they can change that one soul life. There's a there's a scientist at my college name is dr. Whiteside You might know him because he is a very famous scientist in nano nanotechnology He was on he was on many magazines science magazines New York Times and he lived in a mansion. He was rich But he lived for himself He actually would mock people like us. He would mock Christians, and he would laugh at them, and he would make fun of them and persecute them. And one day, one day at college, he saw a Christian girl pray over her test. As simple as that is, but what a powerful thing to do in a public school where everyone's taught that God does not exist. And she's over here putting her hand on her test and praying over it. And Dr. Wise said he would make fun of it and he would laugh at her, make fun of her, but she gave a clear testimony and said, hey, God's the only one who's going to save you. She gave a clear presentation of the gospel to him and he rejected it time and time and again. But yet when he got sick and he was about to die, he heard that gospel one more time. He thought in fact he thought about it before you heard again. He thought about that one girl who prayed over her little test When she gave the gospel he thought about that that night he received Christ as his Savior And right now he's serving at a college teaching people about the Bible and what's how science in in science and how how science supports the Bible but He's serving God. It went from a man that would make fun of people, that would just laugh at them and persecute Christians for loving God and serving Him, and now he's at a point where he is saved and he's serving God. He's no longer laughing at them, he's now laughing with them. There is power in the gospel. But we see that you have a message to preach, that God gave us a message, that powerful gospel. Why would you sleep when you have a message to preach, but also to when there's a storm? Go ahead and look in verse four. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken. The mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. We see that Jonah's in a storm and he's sleeping. I mean, honestly, let's be real, who does that? And you're in a ship and there's waves and thundering and the ship seems like it's gonna break, it's probably cracking. And yet Jonah was laying asleep in the midst of a storm. During that time, Jonah had a storm in his life. But we have a storm in our life right now in our country. Our country is falling itself apart. And I wonder, I look at that verse and it says, and the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there is a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. I wonder if God allowed a storm to just come about in our country just so our country could break. Just imagine, there's so much confusion within our country, how a boy can be a boy or a girl can be a girl. How a boy can be a girl and a girl can be a boy. You know what I mean. How people are so confused. They don't know what to think. They don't know who to trust. Everyone's lying. There's no truth in our country where we once went from being a Christian nation to whatever we are now. There's a storm in our country. And it's getting worse and worse. I remember going in public school and I remember going from the shift from we'll teach a little bit about the Bible. We'll teach a little bit about Jesus just because that's part of talking about religion, to now, if you say Jesus, you're an outcast. You can't say Jesus in public schools. Our country is just tearing itself apart. There's riots in the streets, there's corruption, there's violence, there's lies, there's just so much wickedness within our country, and it's a wonder why people think the way they think. I believe today, the reason why people are the way they are today is because too many people were like Jonah, and they slept when they should have been awake and serving. The Bible tells us that there are some that would pervert the gospel of Christ. There are people out there that are changing the Word of God every moment, every second. I remember walking across the street, and next thing I see, somebody wearing a shirt that says, Love is love. because the Bible says it. It was a pride heart. And they gave a Bible verse, which doesn't even make sense, because it's saying, love ye one another. They're twisting the word of God, and they're using it to pervert and to promote what they want. There was a woman, a woman pastor. There was a woman pastor, and she gave an example prayer. gave her example prayer, she said, oh Lord, non-binary God, thank you for making man to make their own decision of being whatever they want to be, whether male or female, homosexuality or whatever. And she would continue and continue down a rabbit trail of heresy, of fallacy, of wickedness. I see the way our country is today and it's... What happened? I hear all the stories of how we used to talk about how God was... Everybody went to church. Everybody believed in God. Everybody knew that God was real. Everyone knew that God made the earth everyone knew that a man was a man and a girl was a girl But yeah, now we get to this point of where there's people thinking that God is non-binary Like for one God is a man and the Bible in Genesis. He created thee them And then we see that they keep describing God as something wicked. They say he's gay now They say he he they say that Jesus Christ is a fornicator. They say they do this, but God is not gay He's not a fornicator. And by the way, when they say love is love. Love is not love. God is love Love does not find God God defines love And I get so sick and tired of the wickedness of our country. And it's all because we've sat back. And I'm saying I am, too. I sat back and I went to sleep. And in the Christian, us Christians have went back and lived our own lives in our own little bubble. How could we sleep when there's a storm? God's given us a gospel and we know we know that the word of God is powerful. But why could we sleep when we know that the gospel could change everything? There's a storm out there. There's a storm in our country, in our home, and we ought to do something about it. So why would you sleep if you have a message to preach? Why would you sleep when there's a storm? And finally, why would you sleep when there's hope? Why would you sleep when there's hope? Go ahead and turn to chapter three of Jonah, reading in verse four. And it says, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey and cried, and yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believe God and proclaim the fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. Eight words, eight words it took to change a nation Just eight words. And yet, when we think about... how it seems there's hopeless. Everywhere we go, it seems like it's hopeless. I mean, we see how it's all about feelings and it's honestly seems impossible because it's like you say something and you're afraid they're going to get mad or yell at you or just hit you for some reason because everyone's so offended by everything. It's all about feelings. And we see the wickedness and how it's so big and how it's so tall. That seems like it's impossible, but yet, God used Jonah to say eight words in a wicked nation that would do everything. They would chop people's heads, put them in sticks and just show it off. They would go from the very lowest of the low to the highest of the high. They would just be wicked beyond all measure, worse than our country is today. And yet he still revived a nation that was built on wicked things. There is hope for revival. If God could use Jonah who was bitter, and we can see he's bitter because at the very end he wished he was dead instead of seeing Nineveh revived. If God could use a bitter man to revive a nation with eight words, God can use you with the gospel. And our hope isn't in ourselves. The hope is in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the one who made the lame to walk and the blind to see. Jesus Christ was the one who did the impossible. He died on the cross and rose from the grave. He paid for our sins. And yet so many times we think there is no hope. I mean, God, thank you for what you've done for me. But it's an impossible situation here. We see so many times in Israel's history where it was an impossible situation. David and Goliath, they were cornered. If you look at the geography, they were in a valley that was cornered off. And all and all of Goliath's army was around about while they were in the middle. And they had to face a giant. It was an impossible situation, yet God used David with a little stone just to knock out Goliath. God can do anything. Jesus is all powerful. And we read the scripture says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But how many times do we actually do that? How many times do we actually use that and trust in the Lord and ask him to give you the victory? I remember in training, in R&R, we would talk about, this was about sin, and how all we need to do is just open the door and let God in, and he will forgive us, and he will cleanse us, and he will help us have the victory over our sin. But how many times when we're in a situation will we open the door to let God bring the victory over the world? God said, I have overcome the world. God said that you can overcome the world because He lives inside of you. Are you willing to serve God? Are you willing to trust in that hope? If there is hope in Jesus, then will you serve Him? This is a testimony that was passed down in my family. Just, well, immediate. But my grandpa, He wasn't, for most of his life, he wasn't saved. He was a hard man, but he got saved later on in life and he died when I was just probably about two. And then, you know, my dad is heartbroken that he's dead, but he didn't even know if he was in heaven, honestly. But then a male nurse came to my dad and he said, I want you to know that he went to heaven. And of course, my dad was like, how do you know? He goes, well, that had his one patient. He was a rich man. He had everything. But at the end of his life, he was paralyzed from the neck down. And he was laying in that hospital bed. Right before he died, he began to jerk around. His body started to move. And then he began to tear off his clothes and he would dig into his skin and he would yell, it's hot, it's hot. And he would climb against the walls and he's yelling, Lord, save me. But then he fell to the ground dead. And then he talked about my grandpa. And when he died, he died with a smile on his face and a tear down his cheek. And I think his last words were, I'm home. I say that, say this. Somebody gave the gospel to my grandpa. When it seems like there's no hope because he wouldn't even go to church. It was like it was almost like he was against it. And yet. He got saved. And there's a man right now in hell burning forever who had everything. But in the end, he has nothing. How selfish of us when we don't trust in that hope, how selfish of us when we have a message to preach, but we're not willing to give it. How selfish of us when there's a storm, there are problems around us, and we're not there to stand up. I was encouraged by his message this morning to stand up in the midst of a battle. We are in the midst of a battle in spiritual warfare, but are we standing up? Are we standing up? So why would you sleep? Why would you sleep when you have a message to preach? Why would you sleep when there's a storm? And why would you sleep when there's hope? I say this to encourage, but I also say this as a warning. Because it can happen to all of us. It doesn't matter how young we are or how old we are. It's so easy to fall in that sin of just living for ourselves. It's so easy to fall in that place where we're just so depressed about everything that goes around us. But yet, God gave us a mission. It's so easy to fall in that step. I want to encourage you, don't fall asleep because we have so much opportunity. We have vacation Bible school going on, and that's exciting because we get to tell the gospel to the next generation. And when the next generation grows up and maybe hopefully they'll stay in church and they and they grow in the word of God in the next generation, they can tell their kids about God and maybe just maybe there will be revival. But of course, we know that revival has to start with us. So I ask you one last time, why would you sleep? Pastor. Well, that's good. Why would you sleep? Bible says in Romans 13 11 and at knowing the time that is now high time to awake out of sleep For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed That's a good message brother. That was very good Got the whole three points down. It was easy to take the notes better than better than me I rushed through everything but no it was as good message brother. Why would we sleep? There's a storm around us? There's there's battle to be fought. There's there's hope Wonderful message. Thank you for that