The Heartbeat of God — Greg Locke

Good singing, and I appreciate all of you being here tonight. Thank you so much to all of the visitors that are here. I believe Pastor said there's about, what, 10, 11, 12 churches that are represented tonight, and for that I am grateful.

In November, I was at the Broaddus Memorial Baptist Church of Concord, North Carolina, and we had 43 churches show up on Friday night for the revival meeting, and it was standing room only, and 39 of those churches were Baptist churches from in the town.

I'm telling you, that is unheard of for 43 churches to come together for revival. I appreciate all of you being here tonight. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, and do support your pastor and your local church ministry tomorrow night.

Of course, if you don't have a good Bible-preaching church, you come here tomorrow night. We'll preach the Word of God to you, have some good music, and then, of course, Thursday night and Friday night, let's do our best to fill the building and to fill the pews because we're only responsible for those who come into the building.

So let's get a lot of people in here so we can preach the Word of God to them. And so we can help some people. Because I'll tell you, what America needs is not a showboat and a circus. America needs music and the preaching of the Word of God to serve them and to change them.

And I tell you, I'm thoroughly blessed, and I'm thoroughly honored. My wife and I count it a privilege to have the Robertson family travel with us. I believe it's been a little over two years, two and a half years, something like that, they've been traveling with us.

And I praise the Lord for the good music that they have implemented into our ministry. And it has increased my ability and my awareness of the pulpit because I don't have to worry about the music. I don't have to pray for the Holy Spirit to come back when somebody gets done singing a special.

All I got to do is just get up, and my mind is focused on the preaching. And I thank God for that. And I appreciate them so very, very much. And you do not know, unless you travel, you go to churches, you do not know what a struggle it is and what a battle it is to find good, solid, Christian, fundamental music.

And so I appreciate their ministry. It helps mine so much. And it's good to have all of you tonight. Appreciate Brother Reynolds coming. Appreciate Brother Walker coming tonight. And thank everybody for being here.

Jonah's Disobedience and the Call to Nineveh

Jonah chapter number one, let's stand, please, out of respect for God's word tonight. You notice there are four chapters. I'm going to preach through every single one of them, but I promise I'll not keep you very long tonight.

Jonah chapter number one, please, and verse number one. Jonah one, in verse one, the Bible says, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittiah, saying, Rise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.

But Jonah rose up to flee into 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 him unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Verse four. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. There was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariner, that's a Bible word for the sailors, 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. So the shipmaster, or the captain, if you will, came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper, arise?

Call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. And they said, Every one to his fellow come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lots fell upon Jonah.

Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is that occupation, and whence comest thou? What is thy country, and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which is made to see in the dry land.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he had fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?

For the sea roared, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to land, but they could not, for the sea roared, and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood.

For thou, O Lord, hast done it, please thee. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from a raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows, verse 17, please.

Now the Lord hath prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Tonight I bring you the simple subject, The Heartbeat of God. Thank you very much.

You may be seated. Let's bow our heads and hearts, and let's pray. Let's ask the Lord to bless our service tonight. The Heartbeat of God. Now Lord, I do pray that you would help me as I preach the Word of God.

I pray that you would empty me of myself, you would fill me with the Spirit. I pray I would say everything that you ask me to say, and I would not say one word that would dishonor you tonight. I pray, dear Lord, that you would help me to preach the Word of God as a dying man to a dying congregation.

For truly this may be the last sermon I ever preach, and this perhaps may be the last sermon that some of these people ever hear. And so, Father, tonight give me unction, give me urgency, and give me the power of God more than anything else as I stand in this sacred pulpit tonight.

Dear God, for these, my friends, I pray that you would help this congregation as they listen to the Word of God being preached. And I pray, dear Lord, that you would change us, that you would convict us, and that you would show us some things tonight in your Word that would make us less of what we are by nature and more like the lovely Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

As we've heard sung about tonight, and ever since you've learned, since you were a wee little tyke and kid for Christ, or a wanted club, or vacation Bible school, or more than likely Sunday school, we've heard about, we've told about, we've heard preached, we've memorized, and we've sung funny little songs about the man Jonah.

Now, Jonah is a very interesting book. It's only four chapters long. Each one of those chapters does not have very many verses, and so it will not take us very long to preachingly peruse through the book tonight.

But as my title implies, I'm going to preach on the heartbeat of God. But you're going to have to be patient and bear with me because the heartbeat of God is not revealed until the end of chapter number four, which obviously is the last chapter of the book.

But in order to understand what the main thrust of this book is, in order to understand what the main theme and what the main flavor of the book of Jonah is, we're going to have to quickly study chapter one, chapter two, and chapter three.

Somebody said that a short pencil is better than a long memory, so I hope you'll write these down. Jonah chapter number one is simply what I call Jonah's disobedience. Jonah's disobedience. Notice verse one, please, as we begin our message tonight.

Jonah chapter one and verse number one. It says, now the word of the Lord. Now, notice that it does not say the word of a preacher. It doesn't say the word of a man or the word of denomination. It says the word of the Lord, and that's what makes the difference in this story.

Now, the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittiah, saying... Notice, please, verse two. Here's the command. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me.

Notice verse three. Tragically, but Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. And so we see in Jonah chapter number one, the first few verses, what I call for sake of an outline, Jonah's disobedience.

In verse number two of Jonah chapter one, we learn two things about the city of Nineveh. Now, historically, we know that Nineveh was the capital city of a wicked, godless group of people called the Assyrians.

From Genesis 1 -1 to Revelation 22 -21, any time God mentioned the Assyrians in this Bible, it was never on good terms. It was always on bad terms. And here is a wicked capital city of one of the most godless nations and groups of people on the face of God's earth.

But we learn two things about this city. God said, number one, it was a great city. Now, please don't misunderstand that. Interpreting that, He's not saying it was great as far as its influence was concerned.

He was saying it was great because it was a very, very large town. It was not what I would consider to be one of these southern towns, a poke-and-plumb town. You poke your head around a corner, you plumb out of town.

That was not Nineveh. Nineveh was a large place. It was a place that had many, many, many acres and many, many, many miles. And so God said it was a large city. But secondly, God said it was a wicked city.

Now, you write something down, ladies and gentlemen, and remember it well. When God said a place is wicked, it must be a very, very wicked place. Here was a group of people that had no Bibles whatsoever.

Here's a group of people that had no Bible colleges. They had no seminaries. They had no fundamental pulpits. They had no fundamental preachers. They had no pulpits that were preaching the Word of God.

There was no gospel message. There was no preacher voice running up and down the land. There were no gospel tracts being passed out in the streets. There were no Bible printing societies. There was nothing like that in Nineveh whatsoever.

And yet God said, Jonah, you're the man for the many. You are the prophet for higher. You are the man to whom I want to go down to Nineveh's land and preach to them, thus saith the Lord. That I know about you.

But if God were to entrust me with something that special, if God were to entrust me as an evangelist with something so honorable as to preach to a group of people that had never heard the name Jesus Christ, that were not gospel hardened, that knew nothing about the Word of God, I'm telling you, I do believe I would jump at the opportunity.

And Jonah did, but he jumped in the wrong direction. Because God said, Jonah, I want you to go to this big city to a city full of lost people, people who are deplorable. They are depraved. They are wicked.

They are godless. They have no Bibles. And I want you to go and preach the Word of God. And God said, go. And Jonah said, no. Now, suppose tonight we could raise our hands and have a discussion class and we could come up with a lot of good excuses for why Jonah did not go.

But I'd like to remind you, ladies and gentlemen, there's no good excuses for disobedience to the will of God. He got up and went in the opposite direction. God said, I want you to go and preach. And Jonah said, I've got better plans.

Now, historically, not scripturally, so take it for what it's worth. But historically, we learned that his father Amittiah, which, by the way, is only mentioned one other time in your Bible, in the book of 2 Chronicles, believe it is.

But his father Amittiah, history tells us, ten years prior to the writing of the book of Jonah or the happenings of this book, his father Amittiah was slain in a battle by none the less than the Ninevites.

And if that be indeed historically true, you can already see the apprehension in his heart for why he does not want to go to that wicked group of people. You see, Jonah could have cared less if the Ninevites went to hell.

That didn't bother him. They were wicked people. In his mind, they deserved to go to hell. In his mind, they deserved the wrath and the judgment of Almighty God. But I'd like to remind you, ladies and gentlemen, everybody in this room deserves to go to hell.

Everybody deserves the wrath and the judgment of Almighty God. But I'm glad for Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ, for by grace are you saved.

And so Jonah did not want to go in the direction that God wanted him to go. But isn't it interesting that God always knows what buttons to press in your life to get your attention when you're disobedient.

Look in your Bibles, please, in verse number 4. Jonah chapter 1, please, in verse 4. 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.

Then the mariners or sailors 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 drawn down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep.

So the shipmaster or captain came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Rhymes called upon by God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. And they said, Everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.

So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Now, ladies and gentlemen, here is a man that is on a boat who is not only the only preacher or prophet on the boat, but according to my Bible and yours, he's the only believer on the boat.

He is the only Christian that you can find on this boat. So how do you know that? Because the Bible says when the distressing storm came, every man cried unto his own God. Little g, little o, little d.

These men were heathen. These men were pagan. These men knew nothing about Jehovah God. And here's this great big boat, it's going over the high seas of life, and all of a sudden it's being tossed around like a toothpick in a bathtub.

And I mean the water's getting bigger, and I mean the waves are getting bigger, and the billows are coming inside of that boat, and those men begin to scratch their heads. And they sit around the table and they say, what in the wide world are we going to do?

And so they come to Jonah, and they have a little discourse, and Jonah says, listen, fellas, I'm running from God, and it's my fault that we're in the mess that we're in. It's my fault that this storm is here.

It's my fault that the lightning's streaking its way through the sky like a snake's forked tongue. It's my fault that the thunder has come, and that the rains are falling, and that this boat is about to sink.

And if you would just throw me overboard, God's wrath would be appeased, and everything would be all right. They didn't think that'd be a good idea. Because if you study your Bible, you'll find out two times that they rode hard.

Nevertheless, they rode hard to bring it to the land. See, they got all the boxes, and they began to push them off the boat, trying to get that boat just a little bit lighter, to bring it up out of those swales, to bring it up out of the waves, so they could bring it to the land and wreck it on the sandy beaches if they had to.

They just wanted to get out of that terrible, terrible storm that they were in. And so they said two times, we're not going to have to throw you overboard. You'll be fine. And so they throw off the extra boxes of clothes.

They throw off the extra boxes of cheese, and maybe the Cracker Jacks, and some of the other food that they have. Maybe they were shipping some cars over to China illegally, or something like that. But whatever they were shipping, they kicked it off.

And they were trying to get that boat lighter, but the lighter they got it, the more the judgment of God began to fall. And finally, they got the picture, and the light bulb went off, and the bells and whistles, and they said, you know what?

We're going to have to get rid of you, pal. And so they picked him up, man overboard, one, two, three, heave ho, they threw him into the water. And the Bible said that the sea ceased from horizon. And there was a great calm on the ocean, on top.

But down below, there was a great, great temperance that was taking place. Look in verse 17, would you? Jonah chapter 1, and verse 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

I don't know about you, but I do believe that would do something to get my attention, that's for sure. Somebody says, well, brother Rock, was it a great fish? Jesus called it in the book of Matthew a great whale.

I don't know what it was. It was a custom-built boat ride for Jonah, and I don't want to see one in my bathtub, that's for sure. And here is a man that because of his disobedience to God, God swallowed him up for three days and three nights into the belly of an actual, physical, factual whale.

I don't understand that. I can't explain that, but I take it for faith value because it's right here in the pages of the Word of God. There was a lady in about 1976 or so that came to Dr. B. R. Lakin.

He was preaching in Southern California. He was preaching on prophecy, and one night he preached out of the book of Jonah showing how it was a picture of the Lord Jesus being in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

And he preached it just as I preached it, that it was a literal, actual, physical, and biblical fact. Well, she came to him after the surgery, and that head was just a-bobbing back and forth, and she shook his hand, and she said, Mr. Lakin, there's one thing about the story of Jonah that we don't agree about.

I do not believe that it was an actual whale. She said, I think it was an allegory. She said, I believe it was a parable like Jesus taught in the New Testament. She said, I believe it was just a earthly type of an illustration to present a heavenly meaning.

And he said, ma 'am, because it's in the Word of God, I'm forced to believe that Jonah was actually, physically, and factually swallowed by a great whale because that's what God said. So she argued back and forth.

And he said, ma 'am, I'll tell you what. It's obvious that you're not going to sway my thinking. It's obvious I'm not going to sway nor change your thinking. So I'll tell you what. We'll shake hands. We will agree to disagree.

She said, that'll be fine. He said, I'll set your mind and your conscience at ease. He said, how about when I die, when I get to heaven, the first week I am in heaven, I will look up Jonah, and I will tap him on the shoulder, shake his hand, and when I get to heaven, I will ask Jonah if it actually happened.

She said, wait. What if he's not there? He said, then you can ask him. But the truth of the matter is this. According to the word of God, Jonah was swallowed by a big fat fish. I don't understand that, but it's right here in my Bible.

Somebody says, well, you Bible thumpers are foolish to believe something like that. Well, you knotheads are foolish not to because it's right here in the word of God. And if it's in the word of God, ladies and gentlemen, we must take it for faith value because God said Jonah was swallowed by a whale because of his disobedience.

Jonah's Distress and Prayer from the Fish

Now, because of his disobedience, you have chapter two. Chapter number two is Jonah's distress. And you know what I've learned in my Christian life? Most of my distress is self-inflicted because of my disobedience.

I usually bring on most of my discouragement. I don't find anywhere in the Bible where God discourages his people. I don't find anywhere in the Bible where God causes his people to be backslidden or disobedient.

I do not find that in the word of God. But I do find where God's people get away from God and because of their disobedience, because of their rebellion, and because of their backsliding, they do get filled with discouragement.

They do get filled with distress. And I believe Jonah was one of the most distress-filled men in all of the Old Testament. Look in chapter two, please, in verse one. Jonah chapter two in verse one. The Bible says, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly.

Now, you know, I could preach on that verse for a long time and make a lot of applications, but I'm not going to. But let me just in passing say this. That verse, as an evangelist, greatly encourages my heart.

I'll tell you why. Because I go all over the country preaching not that God will revive America. That's not the point. The point is that He can revive America any time He wants to. I did not say He is going to give us revival this week, but He can give us revival this week.

Now, let me tell you why this verse encourages me. Because I preach in local church, at the local church, at the local church. God can give revival. God can give revival. And you know what? I believe if Jonah can have revival in the belly of a fish, then we can have revival at the Brush Harbor Baptist Church, that's for sure.

And so he prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. But what did he say? Well, it was one of the most distressing prayers in the Bible. Look at verse 2. And he said, I cried my reason of mine affliction unto the Lord.

And he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Thou hath cast me into the deep, into the midst of the sea. And the floods come past me about, all thy billows and thy waves cast over me.

Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight. Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters come past me about, even to the soul. The depths close me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head.

Now, you think about that. There's a funny verse right there in your Bible. We have the idea that Jonah was sitting down there eating caviar, that he had on a nice little three-piece suit and his nice little Vaseline, fit-shined polyester shoes.

He had himself a nice little lapel microphone and a black-backed, Schofield-leather Bible. That's not what he looked like, ladies and gentlemen. Everything that went inside that whale's mouth gave him square death in the face.

I mean, when that whale opened his mouth and poured in all that salt water, right down his little doozle it went. I mean, all that shrimp and all that stuff he was eating and all that sand and all that mud and all the juices and all that mess that was poured inside that great big old whale.

We have the idea he was in a hilt and high rise. No, he was in a mess. He was filled with distress. And he said, I have died! And from the pains of hell, I am calling to God to ask Him for help. And here this man is in a mess.

He said, the seaweed was wrapped around my head. Can you imagine that? You know, we go to a restaurant sometimes and, you know, I enjoy Chinese food. I'm a noodle nut. I'll take a noodle any way you can give it to me.

I believe it was manna in the Old Testament. Believe what you want to, but I'm preaching not to you. But I believe manna was noodles in the Old Testament. And I love a good old fat noodle. I don't care how big it is.

I had noodles today. I had noodles yesterday. I mean, I had noodles all the time. I enjoy them. That's why I'm a little string bean. But nonetheless, as I eat noodles, I like to go to Chinese restaurants and I like to go to Italian restaurants.

Now, more so with Italian than with Chinese. You know what happened to me, and don't you laugh, fellas, because you've done it before too. And honestly, you're a liar if you tell me you've never done it because the most comfortable person in all the world that I can be around is my wife.

I can ask my wife things I wouldn't dare ask you. Do you know that? I can tell my wife things I would not dare tell you and vice versa. But I can come out of a restaurant and before I get in the truck, maybe I got to speak or maybe I got to shake somebody's hand or maybe I got to meet somebody or maybe I'm fixing to do something, this, that, and the other.

You know, something and tell it. And I'm fixing to look at somebody. You know, I want to make sure I ain't got no spaghetti sauce all over my face, you know. I want to make sure the thing's just right and the hair's right and the tie's straight.

But you know what I ask my wife sometimes when I come out of a restaurant after I've been eating something that's got herbs and spices and Mrs. Dash and all that kind of stuff? You know, let's cover those because you've done it before too.

I look at my wife and I say, Honey, have I got any greenies in my teeth? And she says, You got any greenies in your teeth? I say, Yes. I got anything green in my teeth? I need to run back real quick before I shake this person's hand.

Have you thought about greenies in your teeth? Here's a man who had a mouth full of seaweed. How's that for you? Here's a guy who had seaweed wrapped about his face. I mean, in his ears, plugged up in his eyes, up his nostrils.

I mean, this man was in a mess of disgrace. Now, you'd think that's bad. Look at verse 5. Would you? The water... Excuse me, verse 6. I went down to the bottom to the mountains. You don't go any lower than that.

The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet Hestov brought up my life from corruption, O Lord, my God. He said, I was in there, but I at least appreciate the fact you didn't let me rock. He said, I at least appreciate the fact you pulled me out before corruption set in.

Then he said in verse 7, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. My prayer came in under thee into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with a voice of thanksgiving.

Notice, I will pay that that I have vowed salvation unto the Lord. I believe what Jonah is saying here from the belly of this whale. I believe he's referring to the time when he completely surrendered his heart to the will of God.

Maybe it was at a revival meeting and he came to an altar. I don't know. Or maybe it was inside his bed. Maybe it was at the feet of his mother. I don't know where he surrendered, but at some point in Jonah's life, not only was he saved by faith, but he surrendered to the will of God.

And he said, Lord, I make a vow to you. Here is what I'm going to do with my life because that's what you want me to do. And he said, you know what, God? I went back on that vow. He said in chapter number one, because of my disobedience, I'm filled with distress and with discouragement.

I went back on that commitment that I made. I went back on what I told you that I was going to do. And he said, Lord, if you get me out of this mess, I will pay that that I have vowed. I'll preach anywhere you want me to.

I'll hold a revival meeting on Mars if you want me to. Just get me out of this mess that I find myself in. And so God honored his word. Look what happened in verse number 10. And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Isn't that a wonderful thing? In chapter number one, God speaks to his man, the prophet, and he disobeys. In chapter number two, God speaks to a fish. There were no questions asked. He immediately obeys.

It's pretty bad when fish are more obedient than badness, that's for sure. And here is a man because of his disobedience. He was still in distress. But chapter three is my favorite chapter. Notice it, please.

Jonah's Declaration and Nineveh's Repentance

It's what I call Jonah's declaration. And if there was ever a declaration in the Bible, if there was ever a message that was preached straightforwardly, it's the message you're about to read about in Jonah chapter three.

It says in verse one,. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time. Now, thank God for that verse right there. You see, I'm glad I don't serve a God that speaks one time and gives up. I'm glad my Bible says in 2 Peter chapter three in verse number nine,.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men shall slacken. But his wrong suffering, boy, I like that word, wrong suffering to us, we're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come unto repentance.

And I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that we have a God that'll speak once, he'll speak twice. Thank God some of you know that he's the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh time God. And the Bible says that he came unto Jonah and he asked him to do something the second time.

Thank God for his mercy. But you will notice, ladies and gentlemen, Malachi chapter three, verse number six, I am the Lord, I change not. Hebrews 13, eight, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Although God spoke twice, the command was still the same. He killed since the man on the same mission that he was disobedient to in chapter one. Let me show that to you, please, verse two. Chapter three in verse number two, please.

Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I did thee. So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

And Jonah began to enter into the city of days' journey. And he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Here the Bible tells us that this fish, and if you look upon a map, you will find out that Nineveh and Tarshish were about fourteen to fifteen hundred miles diametrically opposed to one another in the opposite direction.

And that was a supersonic spiritual fish, if you've ever met one friend. And I mean he did some quick swimming in just a couple of days. And he took Jonah back and he fed him up onto the dry land. Now I know some of you in here have some weak stomachs, Miss Lamb, but nevertheless, here is a preacher who is laying around in sand and, excuse me, according to my Bible, he's laying around in sand and whale vomit.

That's what the Word of God says. I didn't make it up. It says he vomited up Jonah upon the dry land. Now I know some preachers that were going to that and had preachers on just about everything laying around there, but I'm not going to, but I'm going to tell you something.

He was in a mess if there was ever a man in the Bible. You talk about stinking. You ever drove by a pond that had one dead fish in it? It'll smell up the whole community. Can you imagine a man that lived inside of one for three solid days and three solid nights?

Everybody he preached to probably had a clothespin on their nose for three days. I mean he went from point A to point B. He went from one bed to the other door. He went from one house to the next house.

I mean for three solid days. He went from one side of the city all the way to the other. And you know what he said? He had an eight worded sermon. That's it. Eight worded sermon. Yet 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown.

Yet 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown. By the way, unless you misunderstand your Bible, had those people not repented, God would have destroyed every one of them in 40 days just like he said he would have.