well, good morning to his family. I want to start off this morning by having you think back to the very first car that you owned and some of the teenagers in the room are looking longingly at their parents right now and that's okay. But I want you to think back to your very first car that you owned. My first car was, it was an 87 cavalier with 230,000 miles on it That I bought for $500. It was spray painted. It had the felt on the inside coming down. You remember that for those who had the car that the felt coming down. Um, and we bought it kind of in the spring and summer and I did not realize when we purchased the car, that the heat and the defrost did not work. And we lived in Ohio. And so, Ohio has some intense winners. And so I wasn't driving the car very far. I was just going from house to school to uh, you know, basketball practice and other things like that. And so I didn't want to put the money in to fix a car that I only spent $500 to purchase. And so I said, you know what we can make this work. I'll just throw on some extra jackets in the morning. And so I would go and I would throw in multiple jackets in the morning and for my short commute to school and the window would fog up and I would drive like this. Sorry mom. I never shared that with her because I don't want to lose the car. Um and so she's learning this just now for the first time. So anyway, um, I made it, it's safe. I'm alive. So um and so I would drive because it would continually fog up and it would be freezing and I would, I actually was so grateful to get to school and go inside. But uh you know, it was tough to see because with the, the differences in temperature and your body is warm, it's cold outside and so it would just frost up and cover the window. And and if you've never had that experience in a car where the window is fogged up, maybe you can think of uh you've taken a shower in the morning and then you want to get out and you want to start getting ready. But the mirror is completely fogged up and you can't get ready. You can't, You can't get all pretty right when you get your hair all done without, without being able to see yourself. Well, this morning's messages entitled mirrors and windows, mirrors and windows. And that is because the story of Jonah as we're wrapping it up today in Jonah. Chapter four is both a mirror in a window. You see, Jonah is a mirror because it reflects who we are, see when we read about Jonah, What we're really reading about is ourselves and it's very easy to have a foggy view of yourself to have a better view or or a mixed up view of yourself and and just an unclear picture because we live in a very noisy, very busy, a very chaotic, a very divisive world and so what the story of Jonah does is that through this narrative that took place thousands of years ago, we can do a deep dive into the story and see ourselves within that story and that we actually see our reflection in the actions of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet who was just kind of an unlikely prophet because he was both good and he was bad, he was right and he was wrong. In fact, the closest description we have of Jonah or a type of person that we have in Jonah in the new testament is actually the story of the prodigal son and a story where you have two sons, an older brother and a younger brother, both misplacing their identity as Children of the father of the home. And so one son actually is seen as the rebellious son And he says give me all my inheritance and I'm and he goes and he wastes all of it. And so he literally runs away from the family business and he squanders his wealth and he and he sins and he gets caught up in a bunch of stuff and what we actually have in Jonah. Chapter one is just this, this prodigal son, this rebellious son God gives him a command to go and preach repentance to Ninevah and literally Jonah runs in the opposite direction. Just like the prodigal son. But we're going to jump into Jonah chapter four in just a moment. And what we're going to see is that this part, this story, this part of the story actually really reflects the religious or the judgmental son. You see in the story of the prodigal son, he returns and the father throws a big party and celebrate and the older brother says wait a second, you didn't throw me a party, you didn't do this, he ran away and now you're doing everything for him and he becomes bitter, he becomes judgmental and he misses the point of the greater grace that's available from God our father and so in Jonah we have both the rebellious son who runs away then for a moment he obeys, comes back and preaches in Geneva. But then we see this religious, judgmental guy on the other side, in if we're going to be honest with ourselves, I think we find ourselves in both categories. So the story of Jonah is a mirror and that it gives us a reflection into our own hearts, but it's also a window because through this story we get a deep, incredible view of the compassion and the grace of God because he, in the story God has compassion on all the characters. We talked about a few weeks ago how God had compassion on Jonah God had compassion on the pagan sailors and actually allowed them to be saved when they threw Jonah overboard and God used a fish an underwater Uber to catch Jonah and save him for three days and then to spit him back on dry ground and then gives Jonah another chance which we talked about last week and we learned how God's grace is ultimately bigger than our past. It's bigger than our performance because Jonah only preached a five word sermon And Hebrew was only five words. He basically walked into this massive city and said, Hey you have 40 days to repent. Like you didn't even give it that full of a try. But yet God used those words in an entire city from the king all the way down to the animals in the kingdom, 120,000 people repented and God's grace save that city. And so we see God's grace is bigger than passes bigger than performance and it's even bigger than our prejudice because while we're quick to judge Jonah, the truth is that nine even existed where present day Iraq has found and that the great, great, great, great, great descendants of the ninja fights are actually the basis where we get ISIS and some of the terrorist groups. So before were quick to judge Jonah. Imagine if God gave you the mission to go into the middle of the capital of the ISIS group and say okay, we want you to preach to that group. We might be hesitant to run as well. But Jonah, we're gonna pick up the story here in chapter four, Jonah actually does it even though he's reluctant, he's hesitant, he only gives a really short sermon. He doesn't give it his best try you know. But he goes in and he obeys and said okay God he told me to do this, I'm gonna do it and everybody gets safe. And so literally the largest revival in world history up to that point just took place. So you would think that joan is going to go out and celebrate and have the biggest party ever. As they just witnessed the greatest miracle, the greatest revival of a terroristic type city turning their lives repenting and believing and trusting in God. So does Jonah do that. No, he gets upset, he gets angry. If you have your bibles let's go ahead and read this together in Jonah chapter four, Chapter 4: verse one. But this displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord and said Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in my country. That is why I made haste to flee to tarsus for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love relenting from disaster. Mhm. God I knew you were going to save them. I knew you would, this is why I didn't want to go, can you sense the judgment in his heart and in his spirit. He is angrily saying, God, I knew you had steadfast love. Like think about how crazy this is. But yet again, it's a reflection of our own hearts. Is that just think about the person that frustrates you that hates you, The person that if they showed up at church this morning, you would make sure you sat on the other side. Maybe it's the person that betrayed you. Maybe it's the person that broke your trust. Whoever that is, imagine that person walking in and God's saving and forgiving them and you're seeing their life turn around, you're like, wait a second. God, that's not fair. That's what john is saying here, is that that's not fair. It says therefore, now our Lord verse three, please take my life from me. For it is better for me to die than to live. He is so upset that he's willing to end his life. Think about how extremist is and that's not, that's not gonna be the only time he says that, let's keep reading. And the Lord asked the question here, check this out. He says, do you do well to be angry? It's like the parent to the child saying, do you really want to do that, Jonah really like that's largest revival and world history, Is that your response, right? Have you ever given something to a child and they complain about it and you're like, no, I think you mean thank you. Right, that's what's happening here. Okay, but let's continue. So Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself. There he sat under it in the shade until he should see what would become of the city. Now, in other words, he went outside on a hill. So you know what, they could not have really repented. So I'm gonna watch this city burn. I'm gonna see if something's gonna happen. God's gonna bring judgment, I'm gonna watch it, okay? And if you don't think we, as humans love to watch the downfall of people just turn on television, right? How quickly does something go viral? When someone gets caught making a mistake? We're like, oh man, that is awful share, right? We love it. We love grace for ourselves, judgment for other people. We hate to admit it. But it's true because this is what Jonah is doing. He's going on. He said, look, I'm just gonna make a nice little tent, a nice little booth out here and I'm gonna watch this stuff. Go down, get him God! Okay, but notice what God does. And now the Lord God appointed a plant. Okay, He appointed a fish. Now he's appointing a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of this plant. So an entire city is saved nothing. A plant that offers shade. He's super happy. Okay, But when Don came up the next day got appointed a worm. Okay, So we had a fish, We have a plant. Now we have a worm. This is a worm attacked the plant. And so it withered. I now understand why my plants have died in my front yard when the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and he asked that he might die and said it is better for me to die than to live Now. I never understood the idea of a scorching win until I moved to phoenix. Arizona everyone says it's a dry heat. Okay, But so is an oven. And so when it's 100 and 20 and the wind blows, that's you think, oh, it's gonna comfort. It's even hotter. Right? You know what I'm talking about? I never understood what that meant until I read this here. And you see scorching heat, This is the exact picture of Jonah. So imagine him going to pinnacle peak or going to camelback and to sit on the top of the hill and overlooking this great city of phoenix saying, okay, God do your thing. And then this heat is coming down and the scorching wind and jones. I can't take this anymore Verse nine. But God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant. And joe said, yes, yes, I do well to be angry angry enough to die. Does this not sound like a toddler? Right. No. Right. This is what he's doing. But sadly this is us. This is a mirror. This is a reflection of who we are in our hearts that he's so frustrated. So obviously upset. He said, I'm done, I'm done. He took the plant. God, I'm out. And the Lord, verse 10 And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor. Nor did you make it grow which came into being in the night and perished in the night for those that are old enough to remember remember Mr t saying, I pity the fool right, anytime. Maybe it's just my weirdness, right? I just picture it almost like you pity the plant. Okay? And and I just think it's bad. I know, but it's just how my mind works. So just walk with me here through the story. And and so here is Jonah. I pity the plant. Okay? And he's like, you pity the plant. You grieve for this plant that came up overnight, went away overnight and you did absolutely nothing to create or destroy it. But yet this makes you grieve. And then He says in Verse 11. And should I not pity Nineveh. The great city In which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also much cattle saying this city filled with life. The city filled with morally ignorant people that do not understand spiritually what they're left is from the right. They do not get it, but this city filled with even animals in life and all of creation right here within this city, should I not pity them? And then we go on to verse 12 or so I thought because the book ends there and I'm like, what? You don't end on a question, right? That reminds me one time when I was I used to watch and still do watch the show Survivor. Have you ever watched that? And uh and we would watch the show and they always get to the end where the vote happens and they didn't they like a sporting event was finishing up earlier in the day until things got pushed back just a hair. And I had recorded the show. And so for those that record shows, let this be a lesson for you. Let myself be a warning, make sure you add a couple of minutes to the end of your recording because if you don't, it ends right at that time clock. And so I'm watching the show. And so um Burnett walks up with all the votes and they're about to reveal who's getting voted off the island. He says, now I will read the votes and it says, And would you like to erase the recording? And I'm like, wait a second, no, what happened? It's like I missed the very, I missed the most important thing. That's the feeling I have here is see in Chapter one, God spoke to Jonah and chapter to Jonah in the belly of the fish, repented and spoke to God. In chapter three, God spoke through Jonah, he said repent. An entire city gets saved. And in chapter four, we have this conversation back and forth. And so God asked the question and so we find ourselves thinking, okay, what's his reply? But it ends, it ends on a cliffhanger. It ends. And the reason why I believe it ends on a question is because the question is not for Jonah, the question is for you and for me, should I not pity this city? Should I not but still Grace upon the people that I have created? Or are you so judgmental that you have more grief over the loss of something small than a city? That is great Phoenix is slated to become the fourth largest city in the country by 2030. Here we are smack dab in the middle of a desert. And when we started this church, we did research to find that 85-90% of this area is not going to any local church. And so the question that we have to ask ourselves is that should God have pity and show grace and show love to the city of phoenix. Should God have pity and show love to your workplace, even that boss that you cannot stand even that coworker who betrayed you, even those people, in the fact that you cannot get along with even the people that you get so frustrated with should God have grace upon them. And the reason he is asking that question is because he just received grace, but yet Jonah was not willing to extend it. So what did Jonah do technically we don't know because the book ends there, there were recording stops and we don't know how the story pans out. But my own personal take on this is that I think at some point Jonah figures it out. And the reason I say that is because we have his words, we have his words In his prayer in Jonah chapter two we have these words where you had the conversation with God and so the thought is that at some point he recognized the grace of God and it challenged him so much that when it was put into scripture, it was put in and left as a cliffhanger because it's meant for us. The main character of this story is not Jonah, it's God, God is the only consistent person in this entire story, God's grace is available for Jonah for the sailors, for the ninja fights God commands creation storms, obey him fish, obey him, plants, obey him worms obey him. The only person that disobey God in this story is Jonah and he's supposed to be the christian in the story. Yeah. Even Jonah receives that. So while it is a mirror reflecting our heart and Jonas heart, it's also a window through which we can see and we can picture and we can see the depth of the compassion and the love of who God is. Now imagine if that became a reflection. Too many churches right now are driving around with that foggy window or that foggy mirror that people are trying to peer in and they can't see jesus because they're caught up in something political. They're caught up in our hypocrisy. They're caught up in our judgment and they can't see through the window. They can't see into the mirror and see the reflected heart of God. If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down because I believe this is the main thought behind Jonah is that we will reach this community. When we reflect the heart of God, we will reach the greater valley and beyond. When we reflect the heart of God. When we remove the fog, when we defrost the window and through our lives and through our love and through our actions they can see the compassion and the grace that is available for all. There's a story about a man who was going to give another house. He said, I want to give you this house completely free. The only thing is that I get the back of the front door. That's it. That's kind of weird. Yeah, I just sometimes like to hang things on the back of the front door to remind people of the previous owner. And so I just want to be allowed to hang whatever I want on the back of the front door. But you can have the entire house, full property, all yours. Great. Where do I sign? And so the person moves in In the first week, nothing on the door. 2nd week, nothing on the door. Month goes by two months like, oh, this is nice, fully adjusted. About four months in. The person goes in and says, okay, I'm ready to hang something on the back. It's like, oh awesome. And it actually takes a hunter, it takes a dead animal just hanging out to dry on the back the door. Like that's really weird. It's like, no, that's my one spot. You can't move it. It's like, okay. And so the day goes by, you're like, that's okay. Just don't look at it. Don't look at it. Two days go by, okay. A week goes by. Like, all right now, just use the garage door, don't go in the front, but pretty soon the smell of that goes from the living room, into the dining room, up stairs, into all the rooms and to where the smell just infiltrates the whole house to the point where the person had moved and said, hey you know what, I can't take this anymore, Take the house back. Mhm. Now why would I share that story? It's because I believe that house and since represents our heart and we say God, okay God have all of it. But then we have this one little sin, we have this one little thing that we keep hanging on to and he said well it's just once in, its just one battle, it's just one issue and and pretty soon it starts to infiltrate the other side of our life and the rest of our life and fill up in that sense and and like we're like okay God I'm going to give you everything but there's just one thing, just ignore it, it's ok God and we are afraid to give our whole heart our whole house everything up to him and we just let one thing that starts off small and we let it grow and fester and infiltrate the rest of the house. What are you hanging onto right now that you need to give to God, what do you need to get rid of in their house so that the grace of God can come through because in Jonas's heart with bitterness. When Jonah saw the city, he got bitter when God saw the city he saw a blessing. So when you look into society, when you turn on the tv, when you go on social media, when you go into the workplace, into your community, do you start to get bitter at all the things that are going on or do you enter the room with the idea that I'm going to be a blessing because bitterness never saved anyone, but all of us are saved by the blessing of others. Yeah, when you bless the city, God builds his church when you bless your family, God builds your family. When you bless your workplace, you serve you love you have compassion, you then remove that fog off the window off the mirror and people start to see the reflection in the heart of God and that becomes something that is attractive that they want to know more of. I've had conversations with people in the community that have said wow before I started talking to the people of Mission Grove, I didn't realize the church could be like that, that's why we are for the community, that's why we serve, that's why we are putting on a sports camp next week to love on kids and families within the community. That's why we're gonna go to the fourth of july fireworks right here in the park next door and we're gonna hand out water why? Because our heart is not about being bitter to those who have rejected us but being a blessing to those because God has saved us so we can share with others, john chris the comedian made famous that catchphrase, check your heart just and while we joke with that and we joke around the idea the truth is where is your heart is your heart like Jonah? Is it rebellious? Like Jonah was in Chapter one, is it Overly religious and judgmental like Jonah Chapter four or is it like the compassionate grace filled God that was consistent throughout while Jonah is a reflection of our hearts, there's good news and that is that jesus is the greater Jonah, jesus is the greater Jonah, Jonah ran from his mission, Jesus ran to us, Jonah spent three days in the belly of a fish to calm the storm, Jesus spent three days in the grave to conquer death, Jesus came to our Jonah came to bring the word of God, Jesus came as the word of God, Jonah proclaimed repentance and salvation is available And Jesus did as well except Jonah then went outside the city for 40 days waiting for it to burn, Jesus went outside the city for 40 days preaching his resurrection and so we have this god that is available that can change lives because when we reflect the heart of God, we will reach this community and while we're quick to judge Jonah, let us find ourselves in that when's the last time you complained to God? When's the last time you were frustrated really God because compared to a plant, it's probably not that much different really, I remember I was going through a difficult time and I went out in my backyard and I was just, and I went and even into our neighborhood just started walking around. I was like, God, how could you, have you ever had one of those conversations? God? How could you? And I realized though at a certain point while I was walking that I was using the very breath that God was giving me to question whether or not God was in control. Do you see how crazy that is? I was using the very fact that God gave breath into my lungs to proclaim back to God, I don't know if you're doing the right thing. Never mind the fact that we sit on a planet that rotates at like 1000 MPH or for a second, whatever it is, I'm not in science and then rotating around the sun, a sun that's 93 million miles away that I can't go outside without putting on sunscreen for something that is 93 miles away a million miles away because it's gonna burn me. And so like, I can't like, I get frustrated when um the area doesn't work right? Like last week, those that don't know this like the air wasn't working in this room and we were like, ah and thankfully we got it working and it was awesome. But even in my heart, in that moment, I'm like, God, seriously, God, seriously? I know how full it is. Like, seriously? Like we're coming here to do church, we do this every week and you're gonna not let the air beyond Okay, I'm like God, you took my plant right? Really? I created and sustained the entire universe. Your sin separated you from God. I came down, jesus. His name literally means God with us lived the perfect life died on a cross rose again so that you can receive eternal life so that my holy spirit can come inside of you so that I can walk with you day in and day out and give you guidance. You have the word of God before you. You can sing praises to my name, you can think and talk and pray and have conversation to me with me and you can have meaning and joy and purpose in your life and you are upset because there's no a C. I mean if you're gonna put it that way alright, don't we? Where Jonah, we get frustrated. But the good news is that jesus is the greater Jonah and that if he can speak and command creation that he has control in our life. If that he gives hope and grace and offer salvation to nine invites there's hope for this valley and if he uses Jonah, the reluctant disobedient runaway prophet, he can use you and he can use me. So what do we do now? What can we do? I think it's three things. Here's the band comes up on stage first as a church, we have to be willing to receive God's grace, we have to receive it. The nine invites repented of their sins and God gave them salvation. So what is that thing hanging on the door? What is that smelly thing? What is that, Whatever it is that's causing order in your life, causing the disconnection? Are you willing to give that over to God? Are you willing to receive his forgiveness and Grace? Secondly, we can live God's mission, just as God called Jonah to preach and invites God called us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love others as he did, and then to go and make disciples. Once we've received God's grace, we can go and live out his mission and tell other people about it. That's why we're doing sports camp, that's why we're doing service project like fourth of july, that's why we encourage you in your workplace and your relationships and your families to share that because lastly, number three, that we've been called to show and share God's love while Jonah reflects are it's also a window into his grace and that if we decide to reflect God's heart, we will ultimately reach this community, don't get bitter be a blessing. And if we receive God's Grace. If you live on God's mission and if you share God's love, I think God can radically transform and bring salvation to the city to this community to your family, to your workplace, to the relationships that you have God's grace can abound and it's available for all. Let's pray. Do you have any father? We asked that you would just move in her life. God removed the fog from the window. Let us see through. Let us look through and see your heart, which is one of compassion and grace. God help us to reach our community through reflecting your love. God, God help us not to be rebellious as Jonah ran away. Help us not to be this overly religious and judgmental and get bitter towards those that we don't agree with. God. Help us to understand that it's not about rules, but it's about relationship God and that we put our trust and our faith in you. God, may we receive your grace. May we live on mission. May we share your love. I thank you for everyone that's in this room. And I asked that you would forgive our hearts God just as you forgave Jonah, just as you forgave the device. And when we accept your compassion that is available for all God, we ask that you would just help us build this life not ours but yours. God. That we can reflect your heart to the community around us. We love you God, it's in your son's name. We pray amen