Title: Downhill and Uphill Road of Life
The ups and downs of life.
Jon 1:1-17
Everyone! When we live in this world, we stand centered on God, and if God commands us, we have to take such an attitude that we absolutely obey even if it will cause harm to us. This kind of belief that if it benefits me, I follow God, and if it hurts me, I forsake and turn away from God is not faith. For this reason, when we believe in Jesus Christ and follow God, we must throw away what we reject and follow what we follow. The Lord said that if you love your parents or your country or your wife or children more than me, you are not worthy of me. When the Lord called Abraham, he told him to leave your parents, your land, your relatives, and your father's house and go to the land I will show you. We cannot separate our affections. We must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our heart, and with all our soul, and follow God even if it is God's will or command, even if it causes harm to us or to our country and people.
Ultimately, following God is a great benefit to individuals and nations. Because the Bible says, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Therefore, if we do not stand centered on God but believe in God with convenience and try to use and live, we are already walking a downhill path. Jonah went down to Joppa because he felt that he should do something for himself and for his people, even if he disobeyed the word of God. It has already started going down. And from Joppa he boards a boat to Tarshish, and the Bible says that Jonah went down to the bottom of the boat. So, while sleeping on the bottom of the boat, a great wind wave arose, and the crew found out that Jonah was running away against God, so they thought that the waves had arisen, so they picked up Jonah and threw it into the water, and the fish ate it up.
It sat in the belly of the fish and now it has descended to the root of the mountain. Jonah's life is a life that keeps going down. A life that turns your back on the Word of God and disobeys the Word of God will go down to Joppa, go down to the bottom of the boat, then into the belly of the fish, and then to the root of the mountain. Everyone! The downhill road of life is not an easy one. Here Jonah sees that he had paid for the boat to get on the boat to Tarshish. The way down is the approaching economic loss. On the way I turn my back on God and go down to the world, there will be economic ruin, business failure, fraud, and a lot of economic loss. I have to pay for that. Now God doesn't help you go downhill. And Jonah met a great storm at the bottom of the boat.
The way to go down with your back to God is the way to receive God's judgment and the way to be whipped. Thousands of people turned their backs on God and went down, and met a great storm in their lives. I have seen countless people who get sick, have problems with their children, break down their families, collapse their businesses, and face devastating storms and storms in their lives. Going downhill is not easy. People should not go down, but rather go up, but I have seen many people who are frustrated while walking downhill through the temptation of the devil and because of the greed of the flesh. Eventually, it goes into the stomach of the fish. Enter the belly of despair. It goes into the belly of death. Jonah went into the belly of the fish and sat down, and it was amazing. This is what heaven and earth are all about. North, East, West, and North cannot be seen. It's frustrating, I can't put it into words. The fish ate one yogi for lunch, but it couldn't be digested. So, to digest it, the fish was sprayed with digestive juice, and Jonah was baptized with the digestive juice. And to digest it, it floated on the water, came down, and then swam and fluctuated. Jonah got motion sick and vomited in the stomach of the fish.
It smells and the pain is indescribable. The life that descends into the belly of the fish is a life that has been cast out, a life of abandonment, and a life of despair. Today, some people have already entered the belly of the fish of despair, some people have gone into the belly of their families, and there are those who have entered the belly of their personal lives and are now in darkness. Going downhill is not an easy road. The downhill road is painful. be judged. He suffers many wounds and ruins in his life. In the Bible, God explains the circumstances of humans who walked downhill like this. It is said that a man left Jerusalem and went down to Jericho. Jerusalem is a great place. Jerusalem is the city of God. How good are you? It is the place where the word of God is preached, and Jerusalem is the city where worship of God is held, devotion, faith, and praise are there. Jerusalem is the city of God's promises, grace, and blessings. He lived well in Jerusalem, but somehow he was tempted by the devil and tempted by the flesh. He left Jerusalem and turned and started going down to Jericho.
Jericho is the city of rebellion. When the Israelites left Egypt and entered Canaan, they rebelled most violently in Jericho. So, after God destroyed Jericho, he cursed Jericho through Joshua. Again the builders of Jericho cursed that the firstborn would die when the first foundation was laid and the youngest would die when the last one was laid. It is a cursed city. Jericho is a place of oppression of faith and moral corruption, a den of demons and Satan.
But this man left Jerusalem and went down to Jericho. I left the bosom of God and walked towards the world. From a life centered on the Lord, it is now starting to descend to the center of the world and the center of one's body.
So, there is no other choice but to meet the robber. Everyone! When we go down to Jericho, we meet robbers individually, we meet robbers collectively, and we meet robbers as a whole. If you leave God and go down into the world, there is no other way than to be met by robbers and covered in blood. There's no way robbers will benefit us. The robbers take ours, beat them and make them bloody. The Lord said in the Bible that the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. You robbers are talking about demons and demons. The devil is a bad devil. The devil catches those who come down to Jericho and does bad things, not good things. *