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[Silence] (Music) [Music] [ Background Noise ]

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God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine, to shine upon us. ♪ Where the way may be long, how forlorn ♪ ♪ By slaving threats of our foundations ♪ ♪ Let the people praise thee, O God ♪

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♪ Let the people praise thee, O God ♪ ♪ Let all the people ♪ ♪ Let all the people ♪ ♪ Let all the people ♪

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♪ Praise thee ♪ ♪ God is merciful unto us ♪ ♪ And bless us ♪ ♪ O let the nations be glad ♪

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♪ And sing for joy ♪ ♪ For thou shalt judge the people ♪ ♪ Righteously ♪ ♪ And govern the nations ♪

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♪ Round to earth ♪ ♪ Let the people praise thee, O God ♪ ♪ Let the people praise thee, O God ♪ ♪ Let all the people ♪

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♪ Let all the people ♪ ♪ Let all the people praise thee ♪ ♪ Let all the people praise thee ♪ ♪ May ♪

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♪ Be ♪ - Amen. - Amen. (upbeat piano music) (upbeat music)

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(upbeat music) (upbeat music) [ Music ] The Lord is in my soul, yes He is.

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The Lord is now in my soul, yes He is. We lift up our hands to magnify Your Name, for Your wonderful Name He's working to be great, the Lord is in my soul Yes, He is

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The Lord is in my soul Yes, He is The Lord is down in my soul Yes, He is

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[MUSIC] ♪ He's worthy to be praised, the Lord is in my soul ♪ ♪ Yes, He is ♪ ♪ For He's my salvation ♪

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♪ He's the joy in my strength ♪ ♪ He gives me strength and courage ♪ ♪ To make it through the storm ♪ Hallelujah, you're worthy to be praised.

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The Lord is the King of my soul. Yes, He is. For He's my salvation. He's my joy and my strength.

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He gives me strength and courage to make it through the storm. Hallelujah. You're worthy to be praised. The Lord is the King of my soul.

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Yes, He is. The Lord is my hope when I feel in despair. Whenever I call on the Lord, He's always right there. And when I feel weak, the Lord, He makes me feel strong.

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And when I feel sad, the Lord, He makes me feel glad. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

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You're worthy to be praised. The Lord is in my soul. The Lord is in my soul. The Lord is in my soul.

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Yes He is. Yes He is. Yes He is. Yes He is.

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Yes, He is. Amen. Amen. Hear this word as recorded in the book of the prophet Jonah, first chapter and the first three verses. Now the of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,

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and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah arose up to flee unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa. He found a ship going to Tarsus, so that he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord."

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The subject, "Running from God." Last Wednesday, January 12, there was a news article which appeared in the Dallas Morning news of the headline "Mom Says She Killed Out of Hate. Son's Death Meant to Hurt Dad," she says. A mother from Richardson, Texas told police that she strangled her two young

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sons with a scarf last month because she hated their father and wanted to hurt him. That was what was in her statement which was read to the court Tuesday. Ms. Smith is charged with two counts of capital murder in the deaths of five-year-old William Cody Smith and three-year-old Tristan Thomas Smith, who were on a planned visitation with her. Investigators say that Ms. Smith had lost custody of the children earlier in December.

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She killed them because she wanted her husband to feel the pain of losing the boys. She killed them because of her hate. Hate is like a deadly poison. It weakens, it injures, it hurts, it destroys.

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To hate is to have extreme enmity toward another. It is to have intense dislike toward a person or people. Jonah is a prophet of God, But he has a strong aversion to the Ninevites.

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He considers them the enemy. He would like to see all of the Ninevites eliminated to be as intense dislike for this people. And it's a dangerous thing to harbor hate.

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I remember a song that was popular when I was a boy that expressed the kind of hatred that I'm talking about and it suggests that I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal you.

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I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal you. I'll be standing on the corner high when they bring your body back. (audience laughing)

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I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal, you. So I hated the Ninovites. I'm not quite sure why he hates the Ninovites. Though some of our hatred is based on prejudices,

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based on bigotry, based on racism that's passed on to us as a matter of course, through conversation, through reading, and custom. We hate, as the human family, we have quite a bit of hatred.

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This dear lady in Dallas, Richardson, Texas, is not alone. She has some company. Hate. Sometimes we don't know why, we just hate.

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"I do not like thee, Mr. Fell, the reason why I cannot tell, but this I know so very well, I do not like thee, Mr. Fell." That little rhyme expresses the attitude and the conduct of many people on the face of this globe. Now Jonah is a prophet, but he hates the Ninevites. He's God's preacher, but he hates the Ninevites. He's committed to declaring God's Word, but he hates the Ninevites. He is committed to following God's orders and communicating God's love.

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But he hates the Ninevites. He hears the Word of God directing him to go to Nineveh, a great city, and prophesy against it. These are orders to go, not remain where he is, but to go and preach, make a journey to Nineveh and cry out against it. These are the orders from headquarters. Jonah receives the orders, but he does not obey. Lord, did I hear you correctly?

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Did you say that, what I think you said, that I am to go to Nineveh and preach? You know, I'm a Jew. And you know how Jews feel about Ninevites.

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I hate 'em. I wish they were all eliminated. Ninevites are people I love to hate. You want me to go to Nineveh and preach?

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Yes, Jonah. That's the command. Well, Jonah hears it, but he decides to disobey.

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To disobey God, think about that. To disobey God, the Creator, the one who has control of heaven and earth, who has control of every creature.

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And when he commands to decide to disobey his command, oh how foolish it is. and yet we do it time and time again. He's divinely commanded to go in a particular path,

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but he chooses his own way. Instead of going to Nineveh, he goes to Joppa and takes a ship to Tarshish. He decides that he is going to run away from God.

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Run away from God, yes, that's what Jonah decides. He's gonna run away from the Lord. So he pursues his own course of action. God says, "Go to Nineveh."

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Jonah says, "Go to Tarshish." God says, Jonah says. God says, the serpent says. Jonah decides that he's going to run away from God.

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He decides to flee, as the scripture puts it, to flee from the presence of the Lord. You know, he lives in a mental prison. People who hate live in a mental prison.

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They limit God in their thinking to a particular people, to a special race, a particular class or nationality. People who hate live in mental prisons. They try to limit God

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in his dealings with others. They limit him to some particular space, to some hallowed race of their own choosing. And when we do that, we're trying to run away from God.

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We're trying to flee from the presence of the Lord. But let's follow Jonah on his journey. Joppa, he pays his fare, boards the ship, finds a nice comfortable place and goes fast.

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to sleep. Oh, he's just sailing along, sailing smoothly on the bosom of the deep. Jonah thinks that by leaving a particular place, he has run away from God. As he leaves Palestine, he thinks that he is leaving God behind. He's fleeing from the presence of God by getting on a ship manned by heathen sailors, Jonah thinks he has sailed away from God, but he's

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mistaken. So often that's the case that we'd like to get rid of God. We'd like to get rid of his commands of always hearing his "thou shalt nots." Don't do this and don't do that. We'd like to run away from him and be what we think is free as a wandering breeze. But as Jonah is so comfortable sailing along, the Lord God who creates heavens and earth

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speaks to the winds and says, "Come here, wind. Go get Jonah." And the winds go skipping and dipping and howling and growling, whirling and twirling, till they find the ship where Jonah is riding. And the ship that was once so quiet and peaceful begins to rock.

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The east wind tosses the ship to the west wind, and the west wind tosses the ship back to the east wind. And the north wind tosses it to the south wind, and the south wind tosses it back to the north wind.

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And the heathen sailors who were veterans of many voyages became disturbed. And they began to cast cargo overboard. And they began to cry out to their gods.

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And then as they moved about on the ship to try to get everybody engaged in the prayer meeting, and here they found Jonah fast asleep. Said, "Man, who are you?

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"Where are you from?" What's your nationality? Why are you down here hiding? Jonah said, "Well, I'm a Jew.

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"I'm a prophet of the Lord, "and I'm trying to run from the presence of the Lord. "But if you toss me overboard, "the ship will be able to sail on."

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You know, whenever we find ourselves trying to run from God, we are running not away from trouble but into trouble, trying to run from God. And they reluctantly cast Jonah overboard. And as they do so, there is a great fish waiting for him.

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Scripture suggests that God had prepared this great fish. Whenever we run from God, whenever we run from His command, there's always some difficulties that are prepared for us.

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Great fish. And someone reading this has referred to this as a whale of a tale, this fish, whale, great fish, swallows Jonah.

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And down in the belly of the fish, Jonah begins to cry to the Lord. You know, you find some people when they're trying to run away from God

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and they run out there and they find some trouble, then they run back to the church. They discover what they seem not to have recognized before. He cries unto the Lord. He tried to run away from him

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before, but now there he, he lifts up his voice in prayer to God. Oh Lord, I can hear him now. Lord, if you just let me get out of this fish, I'll do what you want me to do. I'll go where you want me to go, I'll be an obedient prophet.

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I'll stop rebelling if you just let me out of this fish. Sometimes people go to the hospital, you know, and they've been out of the church all day. But Lord, if you just let me get up from this spell

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of sickness, I'm gonna show people how to save you. - Yes, yes. - Trying to run from God is always dangerous. trying to run away from God, trying to flee from the presence of the eternal.

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And that always comes when we live in a mental prison created by hate. Created by hate. This movie, Hurricane Carter, a man who hated circumstances in society, contributed to it. And he says in one point that, "Hate put me in this prison, but love is going to bust

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me out. So it's the love of God that liberates us from a Jonah. Go to Nineveh. I know that they're a different race. I know they have different physical features. I know all of that. I know all of that. There is a difference there, but go to Nineveh. Go to Nineveh. Go So here he is, now God hears his prayers and the fish vomits Jonah on dry land. Jonah goes to Nineveh to preach. He goes to Nineveh.

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It's a lesson for every one of us. Don't try to run away from God. When you try to run away from God, you run out of running room. So don't try to run away from God.

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Where? Where shall we go in trying to run away from God? Take the wings in the morning, dwell in the utmost parts of the sea, He's there. Where shall we go if I ascend into heaven? He's there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, He's there. Where, where,

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where, where can we go and run away from God? He's everywhere. He has made us, He understands us, He's where we're going long before we get there. Where can we go and run away from God?

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So I say don't try it. He's omnipresent, He's everywhere, so anywhere and everywhere, God's there. And that's the message He sends to us in Jesus Christ.

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is with us, no matter what may be our condition, sickness, grief, disappointment, discouragement, whatever it may be, God is there. So rather than try to run away from God, we ought to run to God, to get in a hurry, to get to God, to know

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that he reaches out to us. When we're on the stormy sea, that he reaches out in helpfulness to lift us. And we can say, I was sinking deep in sin.

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Far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. But, all of us are here because of that but.

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But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry. from the waters lifted me. How safe am I. As we come now to the hymn of invitation, we extend the privilege to accept the Lord who has revealed himself to us through Jesus Christ as the Lord

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of our lives and to seek to follow where he leads. It's an door he sets before you. We invite you to come unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer. You may come by letter, by Christian experience, or on profession of faith.

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Come. This is the time of decision. This is the time of commitment to accept the invitation, heaven's invitation. This is the time. Come. Come.

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♪ Use me Lord ♪ ♪ In thy service ♪ ♪ Draw me nearer ♪ ♪ Every day ♪

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♪ Lord I'm willing ♪ ♪ To run on ♪ ♪ All the way ♪ ♪ If I falter ♪

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♪ While I'm trying ♪ ♪ Don't be angry ♪ ♪ Let me stay ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm willing ♪

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♪ Oh, to run on ♪ ♪ All the way ♪ ♪ Pained by heartache ♪ ♪ Scorned by loved ones ♪

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♪ Just a little sunshine ♪ ♪ Every, every, every now and then ♪ ♪ But I'm willing ♪ ♪ Lord, to run on ♪

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♪ All the way ♪ ♪ There are mountains in my life ♪ ♪ That are so hard to climb ♪ ♪ But I promise ♪

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♪ That I'll keep climbing ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm willing ♪ ♪ Oh, to run all ♪ ♪ All the way ♪

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♪ All the way ♪ ♪ All the way ♪ ♪ Lord, I'm willing ♪ ♪ To run all the way ♪

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If I falter while I'm trying Don't be angry, just let me stay Lord, I'm willing, oh, to run on ♪ All the way ♪

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- Amen. Amen. Would you bow your heads? Eternal God,

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help us to run well the race that you have set before us. looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord cause his face to shine upon you

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and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace, now and forevermore. Amen.

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(gentle music) ♪ Amen ♪ Amen. Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (audience laughing)

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