The God of Many Second Chances — Shane Idleman

Jonah and the God of Many Second Chances

The message tonight is on Jonah, as you know, Jonah chapter 3, verse 1. If you have your Bibles, you can turn to Jonah chapter 3, verse 1. And the title is, the God, I had actually the God of second chances, and I changed it yesterday, because, as we all know, He's the God of what?

Many second chances. If we was just the God of second chances, we'd be in trouble, myself included. And He's the God of many second chances, and I'm excited about this type of topic, because, often, whether it's in here, not really, but out there, isn't the view of God today, is that it's this mean, tyrannical God, who just wants to destroy you, and judge you, and cast lightning bolts at you, and put you in hell, and this mean God that doesn't want us to have any fun?

I mean, that's usually the image that's painted in society, and throughout our culture. But, the God of the Bible is the God of many second chances. He gives us the opportunity to fall forward, to get back up, to progress, to get back up, to progress, to get back up.

Sound familiar? Right? It's a God who says, listen, get up, I'm going to help you. And I just thought of tonight, I don't know about you, but those were some pretty good worship songs, that really just did something to my soul.

Worship as a Response to Redemption

And I started to think, Lord, why do I worship you so passionately? I mean, 25 years ago, I would have just laughed. I mean, are you kidding me? But when you realize that He saved you, and redeemed you, paid the price, saved you, redeemed you, sanctified you, cleansed you, and then He says, just follow me.

Let me lead you. Let me guide you. Let me sustain you. I'll be there whenever you need me. I'm the rock that will never sleep. I'm the sure foundation. You might die for me. You might lose your life, but just follow me.

How can you not worship that kind of God? I mean, it's not just salvation. I mean, this is the full package. Walking with you through life. Being there for you. You can rest in Him. You can ask for comfort.

You can ask for direction. He understands the pain. He understands the shame. And He begins to cleanse. I don't know about you, but that would force worship. That would, I mean, we get excited in Vegas, right?

If you've been there, I haven't in a long time. But, you know, you win a roulette, or you win gambling, and you get excited. And how much more that a God who gives us second chances, and third chances, and I'm probably up to my thousandth chance.

Bitterness, Brokenness, and Falling Back

But what happens, the reason for this message is, many people, they have anger, and they have hurt over circumstances, or what's happened to them. And instead of getting back up and progressing, what do they often do?

They fall back. And we dig a pit, and sometimes we see no way out. As a result, bitterness and brokenness begin to rear their ugly heads in our lives. There are many people I know right now who are not at church, who should be at church because of this.

They've been hurt. They've been, whether it's, I mean, there's a whole list of things. But they feel sometimes that they've been either hurt by the church, or hurt by Christians. There's bitterness, and they begin to get resentful at different things.

And it begins to hurt their walk with the Lord. And God still, even in that, is the God of second chances. So that's kind of the setting here. Jonah just got swallowed by a fish. It took him a few days to kind of get to repentance.

Jonah's Second Commission and the Call to Obedience

And then we read in verse 1 in chapter 3,. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. I bet he's saying, okay, now that I've got your attention. Remember, God doesn't change his mind. He doesn't go, you know, you kind of, you know, you had a good point there.

You don't want to go to Nineveh. I'll honor that. He says, no, get back on track. Go a second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, yet 40 days, 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Can you imagine this guy? He just starts, 40 days. It reminds me, you ever see the guys on the street corner with the signs, you know? And getting that message out like a human billboard. And you would think it wouldn't be well received, but it actually was.

But let's stop there for a minute because this is interesting. The word came to Jonah a second time. Now, when it comes to repositioning yourself with God, the God of many chances, the God of many second chances, here's the first thing I want you to understand.

We find the key very early on. Jonah obeyed this time. He obeyed. And really getting back in alignment with God's will is it's a repositioning of yourself. He gets back up on track, doesn't head for Tarshish like he did before he got in trouble.

He heads to Nineveh. He got back on track. He obeyed the word of God. You can never go wrong obeying the word of God. And I'm pretty sure there's some things in your lives right now where maybe you're not obeying the word of God.

And there could be a dryness, a deadness, a dullness, a lack of joy because of this issue. Because what obedience does is it puts us back in alignment with God's will. And when there's alignment, right, like in tires, my car's not aligned very well.

This doesn't feel good. It's not driving well. Getting back into God's will puts us in alignment with his heart and his nature, his character, what he's called us to do. So there's peace and there's joy in realigning.

That's where that word comes from. You're realigning. You're getting back on track. Also, he said, preach what I tell you. Preach what I tell you. This is why meditating, praying, and worshiping are vital.

Because how do you know what God is telling you if you're not aligning your heart with his? And this point right here is probably the number one question I get from members of the church and different struggles they're having or different things.

How do I know if this is God's, fill in the blank, will? How do I know if this is God's will? I've got these choices. I've got this situation. I've got this thing that came up at work. How do I know if this is God's will?

How do I do, or how do I know what God is telling me to do, really telling me to do? And that goes back again to meditating, praying, and worshiping. Getting back into what we know, right? None of this stuff is new.

It's like, I never thought of that before. But if you're having a hard time discerning God's will, knowing what he wants you to do, get back into that position in your heart and your mind in that direction.

And remember, there were no billboards. There was no social media. God still uses our voice, just like Jonah. God still uses our voice. Speak what I tell you. It must come from a humble, broken person.

When God tells you, speak what I tell you, it must come from a humble, broken person. And just like Jonah, a fish will humble you. So anytime you go through a situation, a difficult situation, or maybe you do something you regret, or, gosh, I got caught in this, or I should have did this, or God humbles you, use it to your advantage, not your disadvantage.

Use it to be filled with God's Spirit. The message Jonah was giving wasn't popular, but it was powerful. How many times do I say this? We see it all over Scripture. Everybody, the culture wants popular, popular, popular.

Tell me good things. Tell me what I want to hear, but it's not popular, it's powerful. Do you think the people of Nineveh wanted to hear this? They're going about their day, and if you watch VeggieTales, they're slapping each other with fish and different things.

And here comes this man, probably not quiet. He's saying that God's going to judge Nineveh. God's going to judge you. See, not popular, but powerful. And that's always with the Word of God. Sometimes it hurts before it helps.

The Meaning of Forty: Testing, Judgment, and Preparation

Now I want to talk about this for a minute. Yet 40 days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. Let me give you just a nugget of advice I learned on the Bible many years ago, or about the Bible. Don't get too caught up with numbers.

But don't ignore them. Because you can get so caught up. Have you ever listened to Chuck Missler? He'd pull stuff out, and it was just amazing. I don't know where he'd get it. It's just amazing. But there's other groups.

There's books written on these numbers, and this Bible code, and what this really means, and what it doesn't. And really let the Scripture speak for itself. Don't get too caught up in that. I did that first season.

It wasn't very fruitful. But God does use numbers. They mean things. They have value. There's consistency to some of these things. And this number 40 is very interesting. Because, as you know, it is used quite often in Scripture.

What happened when a flood was on the earth? And it rained 40 days and 40 nights. Moses, before he received the Ten Commandments, fasted 40 days. Elisha fasted 40 days. Jesus fasted 40 days. A person is killed, not on the 39th stripe, but on the 40th lash.

Samson delivered the children of Israel out of the hands of the Philistines after 40 years. And there's a lot of different things. I'm sure I missed a few. But it's this number of 40. Now, here's the interesting thing with that number.

Often it has to do with testing or judgment. It's testing. Jesus was tested. Moses was tested. Elijah was tested. The world was judged. Israel was judged in those 40 years. And you'll see this happening throughout.

So 40 often, often is a time of testing or judgment. It gives us sometimes this 40 days. It gives us strength to carry the weight. It's like a probation or trial period. It's almost like, you know, you've heard from secular society that, you know, you can form a new habit in 21 days and know it takes 30.

But biblically speaking, you really want to get some weight behind you? 40 days is a good number. 40 days of fasting. People say, oh, my, I can't even imagine that. Well, I'm not talking water only. That would be pretty tough.

But there's a season there of getting the body ready and getting the heart ready. And there's testing. There's always testing before the reward. There's always fasting before feasting. There's always heart-wrenching prayer before revival.

Rarely will you see a quick little prayer and then God break loose in a church or in a life. Isn't it heart-wrenching? Travail? It's a struggle. I mean, this personal opinion, and I'm doing a 40-day fast.

I'm hoping to share with the congregation at some point. It's not water only. I'm not Jesus. But I'm going to share it at some point, hopefully, God willing. But there's a, it's almost like how bad do you want it?

Do you want this bad enough to set aside some time and to seek me? And to just seek me with all of your heart, even when you don't see the results. Even when you don't see what I'm doing behind the scenes.

Even though your prayers don't seem to be being answered, they actually seem to be going the opposite direction. Has it ever happened to you? I'm praying, and the more I'm praying, I'm like, Lord, this isn't going the right direction.

This is the opposite. Do I need to stop praying? No, sometimes, so it's a wonderful opportunity. If you ever set aside 40 days, God would honor that. It could even be, Lord, I'm going to just stop. Whatever you're addicted to, media, food, different things.

You begin to starve the flesh. You put it aside for 40 days. And you begin to seek God. Really, we're at an interesting point right now. Because I don't want to get too caught up on Ash Wednesday Lent and different things.

Because there's some roots in Roman Catholicism. But there's also good things about it. As well as we remember the 40 days coming up to Easter. Remember the period, the weeks that happened before. I'm not even going to go into that.

This is a rabbit trail, by the way. But it's a good time to start. Is there anything you need to get out of your system and really give it to God? I've got people that I know right now. I'm emailing, I'm trying to help from everything.

From alcohol, to opiates, to they can't stop coffee. It's a nightmare. To nicotine. The Christian is just, I can't stop smoking. What is wrong with me? Sometimes you need to go into a 40 day fast and fight this demonic influence.

This kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting. And I fasted before all day. I'm like, this isn't worth it. This stinks. My attitude stinks. I'm hungry. I don't feel good. This is pointless.

But the fruit comes after you plant the seeds. And to me, 40 days, it represents a time of testing. I mean, I've thought about this. I've read books on it. I've read commentaries. I've meditated on the scripture.

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days. To me, there's significance there. It would not be so specific. If Jesus himself needed it. And I think sometimes it does reboot our system.

It reboots our body. Certain habits. We begin to prepare for warfare. Prepare for what God is strengthening us and calling us to do. And just telling you, as a pastor, going through a lot of different things.

Many things that we're wanting and contending for and fighting for don't come overnight. It's not microwave Christianity. And we get frustrated. We pray and it's not happening. Forget it. Actually, though, God wants you to press in.

Press in. Press in. Even when you don't feel like it. And I don't want to get on too many rabbit trails tonight. But I remember a story. A lot of these are legitimate men and women of God. They are legitimate.

And they're not liars. And they're not making up things. Anytime we talk about healing, you know, sometimes people throw you in the camp. Oh, here we go. You know, look at the guys on TV. But I believe God heals.

I mean, I've heard so you would not. The stories of people in third world countries from Afghanistan or Libya or Iran or Iraq or the Sudan or Africa. And the healings that take place. I mean, either all these people are lying.

And God doesn't do that anymore. And they're just spirit-filled believers lying, trying to give God some credit. Or things are happening. And I have my opinions on why we don't see a lot here in America.

And I've shared that before. But it was a story. I remember a man telling. And he was praying for this old woman's sight to come back. And night after night, it just wasn't happening. And she would come forward and just appear to be touched by God.

And, you know, like the seventh time, he's like, of the crusade or different thing, he's like, oh, I feel bad. I don't know what to do. And she was healed that night. She received her sight. And she was ecstatic.

See, you can't contain worship when it's genuine. She was running around, hugging the people, just tears falling on her. That's legitimate. You can't contain that. And he felt, it was later on, the Lord impressed upon him.

At least, again, his story. I'm just throwing it out there for different things. But he said it was like God was showing him that there was like the enemy had a demonic, like tentacles, like an octopus around her.

And the prayer each night was one. The next night was the next one. The next night was the next one. And it took time of contending and warfare for that final bondage to be broken from her life. That's why you don't just quit after the first prayer.

Spiritual Warfare and Persistent Prayer

I mean, praying for our children, forget it. It's useless. Look at this anger problem. Look at this lack of, look at this respect. They're getting worse. Forget it. How do you know it's not bondage that has to come off one brick at a time?

One concrete barrier at a time? Actually, the more I get into growing in my faith, that's the lesson I've been learning a lot lately. Warfare is not quick. And somehow we've been conditioned to this quick, right?

Microwave, fast food. You want me, you got me right now. But when it comes to prayer and contending, we seem to put that on microwave mode. And I've seen things. I've seen people struggling with addiction, crying they can't be released.

And we pray, and we pray, and we get frustrated. And we pray, and we pray, and we get frustrated. And we get fasting, and then finally a breakthrough comes. Finally, after all this time. And I don't know the spiritual ramifications behind it.

I don't like it personally. But there's sometimes, there's something to a fight. You appreciate it more. There's warfare because the enemy will not let loose very easily. And that passage, that this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.

Is it possible that there are some demonic strongholds that are so strong that it's not just going to take a quick prayer. That there's a stronghold that's been built. Have you ever tried to dissolve a stronghold?

Has anything ever had you, right? Soft drinks? Things you smoke? Things you eat? I mean, I think my car, I'm pre-programmed to get up and go get coffee and donuts in the morning. It's just like, right in my DNA.

I should do a DNA study and see if that runs in my family. It's like, no matter how hard you try, right? No matter how hard you, even when I came out of alcohol. Oh my Lord. Just want to drive the truck.

Where's my truck going? Where's my truck? What is this? I can't beat this. And you would cry. You would weep. Lord, help. Take this away. Take this away. Why does it just vanish right now? Why struggle?

Why? I can't continue to do this. Brick by brick by brick by brick. Layer by layer. It's warfare. It's a fight. I think it's good to encourage ourselves in this. So here's the point also. God-inspired preaching either brings revival or rioting.

Nineveh's Response to God-Inspired Preaching

Jonas preaching. It's either going to bring revival or it's going to bring rioting. God-inspired preaching will do one of the two. Preparing for Sunday, I came across this quote from Martin Luther. I don't remember the exact quote.

I'll have it Sunday. But he said, preach so that they will either hate the sin or hate you. So that's my life story. Isn't that true, though? You know, God-inspired preaching gets people so they either hate sin or they hate the messenger.

So God-inspired preaching, powerful preaching, that God is going to judge. God is going to judge. I'm going to talk actually about this Sunday. I really encourage attendance if you can make it on Sunday.

God gave me that whole message in one hour, in one day of fasting. I just wrote down four pages. That was easy. Thank you. Can we do that again? And so here's what happened. Did they riot? You would think this city would riot.

But in verse 5 it says, so the people of Nineveh believed. They believed. See, this ties in with what I said earlier. Believing God, obeying God. The God of second chances, we have to obey him. He's not the God of second chances until we obey him and realign our life in the right direction.

So the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast. See, I'm not silly. Right? They proclaimed a fast. They put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. So let's talk about this for a minute.

Fasting, Repentance, and the Humbling of the Flesh

Fasting revealed the magnitude of what was happening. That's basically, if you look at fasting in the Old Testament and even some in the New Testament, when Paul met the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he didn't go get a tri-tip.

He did exactly what you'd probably do. He sat in darkness because his eyes were blind and he just fasted. I'm learning more and more about this subject. It's a fascinating subject. I wish I learned 15 years ago.

But there's something there. There's something there about fasting. The hardest thing we can do in our physical body is to deny the flesh and quench its appetite. If it doesn't cost you anything, it won't mean anything to God.

So it costs them. They're fasting. They're saying, God, this is so important that we are denying ourself. This is costing us. Fasting costs you, doesn't it? Have you ever tried? Just try to miss a couple of meals.

I mean, either the monster comes out or the missionary. Right? This costs me something. This costs me something. And God looks at that. He honors that. Basically, fasting says this. The flesh got me into this predicament.

Starving it is going to help get me out. Does your flesh ever get you in trouble? Do you ever have any problems right now with people because of this? Or this, I should say. Right? The flesh. It gets us in trouble often.

That's why we're in trouble. The flesh gets us in trouble. So starving it helps us to get us out of the trouble it got us into. It's also a sign of humility. It's a sign of humility. Genuine repentance and sincere humility.

So when somebody says, I am repentant. I have humbled myself. There will be fruit. There has to be fruit. If not, it's just lip service. So that's what's happening here. They're showing that they're genuinely repentant.

If you just stop eating. If you say, God, I am so sorry. Or, God, I want to reconnect with you. This means so much to me. I'm just not eating today. Do you think God would say, oh, you're not serious?

You're not serious. I mean, I've got to tell you. I'm so curious what's in here. And I'm like, oh, Lord, what is going on? You've got to be. I'm not going to look just yet. But the flesh is like, see?

Glazed. Chocolate. It better not be broccoli. Chocolate sprinkles. Right? Chocolate sprinkles. Better show for the camera. But it's a pull, isn't it? It's a pull. And if I open it, it is broccoli. See how the pull has stopped?

But see how the flesh can be controlled? You switch it. Now it's broccoli. I'm like, forget this. So that's one area about fasting. Now, the spiritual benefit. The spiritual benefit is the best thing.

But the physical benefits are amazing. The physical benefits of fasting are amazing. Just this week. I'm just going to tell you this. I won't tell Sunday service probably. But I finally hit my high school weight.

It only took me 30 years. But that's from, see, the physical. No, don't clap. I don't know if it's good or bad. Morgan's still with me. But the physical. Anytime God calls you to do something in the spiritual, there's always physical benefits.

Feeling better. Trusting in him. Feeling better. There's always physical benefits. So how do you engage the power of the Holy Spirit? You disarm the competing passions. So if I want to, if you want, do you want to engage the power of the Holy Spirit in your life?

Then you have to disengage that competing passion. That's why fasting for a season has tremendous benefits. And we see in Joel 1 .14, we see the power of fasting. And I'm only saying this because that's what the people of Nineveh did.

In Joel 1 .14, we see the same thing. We see the power of fasting. Consecrate a fast, Joel said. Now this is Joel. Consecrate a fast means call a fast. Call a sacred assembly. Not just any assembly. Not just any coming together.

But he says go and get believers who want to fast, starve the flesh, and call a sacred assembly. Call together those who want to hear what I have to say. Those who truly want to worship me. And we get so focused on numbers.

God could care less about numbers. He wants the heart. Gideon who had thousands and thousands and thousands of men. God said get them down to 300. You're crazy. That's an invitation for defeat, not victory.

God said I don't care about numbers. I care about the heart. And I care about me getting all the glory and all the credit. No flesh shall ever glory in my presence, thus saith the Lord. No flesh shall ever glory or boast in his presence.

That's why I think God sometimes uses the least likely and the foolish things. Because when you get to this spot and you're preaching, you're saying, but if it was not for the grace of God, there go I.

All this is just God. It's God moving. It's God orchestrating. It's God leading. So he gets all the glory and all the credit for everything. No flesh should glory at all in his presence. I believe that's sometimes why he takes people out sometimes before their time.

Corporate Fasting and Seeking God in Crisis

Because they've taken glory and they begin to go in a wrong direction. So Joel says, well I guess I should have painted the picture. Locusts have devoured the land. He says something like what the chewing locust consumed, the flying locust got.

What the flying locust missed, the other type of locust got. Basically he just covered the entire land. Have you ever ran into a swarm of locusts? I did in the alfalfa fields many years ago. It was in construction.

Those things are, there's nothing I can do. I'm dead if they start going in my mouth. Right? And just kill it. But you're just walking through these things and they're just everywhere, everywhere just hitting you all over.

And can you imagine just going and devouring the whole land? So God was judging his people. So Joel said this. Here's the cure for it. Consecrate a fast. Call a sacred assembly. Gather the elders. In other words, gather the leadership.

This is serious. Gather all the inhabitants of the land into my house, thus saith the Lord, and cry out to me. Call a fast. Isn't that interesting? Well, don't try it, but think about this next time you eat too much.

You can't worship God. It's very difficult to worship God. You can worship the NFL. But there's something about consuming and consuming and consuming that hurts and hinders our prayer life. So God said call a sacred assembly, call a fast, come hungry for me, and I will answer.

And we often see throughout the Bible beseech, this word beseech. Have you read it in scriptures? I beseech you. God says beseech. It's this word that means, God, unless you move, I am lost. I am toast.

God, I beseech you. So it's calling down heaven. Then verse 6, then the word came to the king of Nineveh. Uh-oh, is he going to kill Jonah? And he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe. This is verse 6.

Covered himself with sackcloth and ashes as well. Then he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout all of Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.

Do not let them eat or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. See, it's not the fasting. It's not they just missed a meal. The fasting positions the heart in the right direction.

It's the crying out to God, whether you do it on a full stomach or not. But it's this crying out to God that he would hear us. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way.

See, it's not the fasting. It's the turning from the evil way, from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish?

Now, this is an interesting concept because throughout the Bible it says God repented. It doesn't mean the same word that we use, repenting from sin. It really can be rendered relented. God was going to cause this, but he relented because of the actions of the people.

So he was going to judge Nineveh, but he relented because they repented. He was going to judge a king on his deathbed, but he relented because that person repented. He was going to judge other groups, but he relented.

He changed his mind. Now, it is interesting because sovereignty, God's will, man's responsibility, different things, but we know that God can turn. That's the whole point. See, it's interesting. When judgment, let's say, because we can look at our nation, right?

A good example. And anybody look at the news and say, God help us. God help us. Now, there's a segment of people that just irk me. They say, well, brother, we're in the last days. It's a Laodicean church.

They're going to be deceived. Look at what's happening. God's going to judge us. No, impending judgment is God wanting his people to do something about it. We don't just sit back and wait for judgment.

We actually respond in a way that pleases God to possibly advert that judgment. That's why we're warned. But people say, brother, that's just the end times. Haven't you read the book of Revelation? Things are getting tough.

Not much we can do. No, we're not called to be passive. We're actually called to engage and to stop whatever judgment we can, to petition God, to call a sacred assembly, to call fasting, to call prayer, that God might relent from the harm that he is going to do or allow, I should say.

Revival, Leadership, and National Repentance

Do we have any clue, any clue at all, what God has stopped in our lives, in our nation, because we sought him? And that's my heart. Until I'm gone from this earth, I will preach revival. I will preach, God, stay your hand.

Give your people an opportunity. Wilt thou not revive us again? Can we turn the tide of history? And often, because we see what's going on in Washington or the rainbow parade and churches renaming churches and gay clergy, and we see all these things, we're like, oh, God.

But God's call is not to Hollywood. God's call is not to Washington, D .C., right? God's call is to his people. So like, oh, look what they're doing on TV. Yeah, but what are we doing in the house of God?

This will determine what happens out there. If my people humble themselves, if you humble yourself, pray and seek me, I will turn. They're already judged, other things, the other people going sideways in different directions, and judgment will fall at some point.

But God says, if my people turn, I will begin to rebuild and restore. He says here, who can tell if God will turn and relent? Who can tell? So a couple points here. Leadership often determines the temperature of revival, or leadership often determines the temperature of a church.

Leadership often determines the temperature of your home as well. Men or moms, if the man's absent, you determine the temperature of your home for your children. Call them to seeking more of God. And also it says here, they appear to men to be fasting.

But doesn't the Bible say, don't appear to men to be fasting? Yeah, but this is a corporate fast. You can call a corporate fast where people are well aware that our goal is fasting. You're not going around tooting your own horn and different things, you're calling them to fasting.

This also aligns with Isaiah 58. Turn from wickedness, turn from the sin. See, so if we want the God of many chances, we have to turn from the things that is hurting us. If we've been knocked off track, right?

That's really what we're talking about. God, give me another chance. I've been knocked off track. Okay, we have to get back on track for that second chance to be manifest and revealed in your life. We can't stay off track in the sin that we know is wrong, in the spot of failure, and just stay here defeated and say, but God, give me a second chance, but I'm not willing to get out of this spot here.

I like this that defeated me. I know it's wrong. Are you still the God of second chances? Yes, but you've got to, come on, big boy pants here, pull up your bootstraps and get back on the right track. That's how the God of second chances becomes that God, is you get back on track, obey what He's called you to do, and He helps you along the way.

It's almost this picture of, come on, Shane. No, you have to be willing. Have you ever picked up a child that's not willing? Oh, my Lord, it just happened to me in Walmart. I was so embarrassed. She wanted all this candy.

I'm like, no, we're not getting any candy. Come on, you're getting up. Exploded. You know how their backs go out? They twist and hits me. Like, oh, no, we're not going that direction. Don't pastors have perfect kids?

No, that's a lie from the pit of hell. Stop believing it, right? So anyway, where was I with this? Oh, so it was so hard to carry her, right? But had she been willing, right? Hold, okay, isn't that better?

Same thing with God. We have to get our hearts in a willing position to be held by the Father. Are we fighting? Is our back out of joint? We're headbutting Him? That is happening, right? But you've got to get back in alignment with God's will.

Who can tell? Who can tell if God will relent? The God of many chances. Reposition yourself. Verse 10, then God saw their works that they turned from their evil way. It doesn't say He saw their fasting, but He turned from their evil way.

And I really want to get that point across because some people fast or they do things, but they stay in disobedience in this area, thinking the fasting will be a cure for the disobedience. And it never is.

They go together. I'm preaching to myself, by the way, right? I've tried to, my wife will tell you, I knew for sure, I've explained this before, but God told me to get off coffee, right? I know all this.

And I'm like, okay, but I'm going to fast, but I still like my coffee. I'm going to fast. No, no, no. I know these things seem trivial and things, but to me it was a big deal. And sometimes people don't understand in our own lives where something for a liberty for you might be a stumbling block for someone else.