Lessons From a Mad Prophet

Well, we do not do very well at obeying traffic signs, do we? And the traffic sign that probably takes the most abuse is the one on the screen, the stop sign. We really don't understand what that means. We think it means roll on through the intersection, or just don't bother at all. But one town, a suburb of Chicago, Oak Park, Illinois decided to reinforce the message of the stop sign. And they did it by adding a few words along with the word stop. So in Oak Park, Illinois, they put this on their stop signs. One of them reads, stop, you really gotta. Another one reads stop, it's self-explanatory. Another one quotes the famous John Wayne expression, stop right there Pilgrim. And another one quotes the famous Diana Ross song, stop in the name of love. There we go. You remember that one, right? My favorite stop sign. Oh boy, that's what I get for trying to do that. My favorite stop sign of all is one right here in Princeton. When I was in high school, and the high school is where the junior high is now, I would walk to school every day, and I'd walk up center street, cut down North Walker, and right there on the corner where Mike and Donna are, and the group home up there is a stop sign. It says stop. Well, later they put a traffic signal at that intersection. They didn't bother to remove the stop sign. They just added some other lettering. Stop unless light is green. Only in West Virginia. Stop unless the light is green. Okay, all right. Well, we've been studying about a prophet who did not obey God's traffic signs. And the sign in this case was not stop. It was go. God told Jonah go, go to Nineveh. And we know the story just briefly to rehearse and remind ourselves of the story in chapter one, Jonah fleeing. Jonah runs from God. God says go to Nineveh. Jonah says no way. I'll take a U-turn. I'll go the other direction. I'm going to go to Tarsish. And so God chastens him and brings him back. And in chapter two we find Jonah praying out of the belly of a great fish, which God had provided to be his actual rescue. A provision of grace. And Jonah prays to God in chapter two. And chapter three, Jonah speaking for God, preaching for God. And we find that on that second gracious opportunity that God gives him to go to Nineveh. Jonah obeys and he goes and he preaches God's message. And there's a great revival in the city of Nineveh turns to the Lord in repentance and faith. And they come to know the true God. What a great revival. And if the story of Jonah were to end with chapter three, we would say what a great prophet Jonah is. One of the greatest prophets of all times. One of the greatest moves of God and all the scriptures found in the book of Jonah. But the book of Jonah doesn't end with chapter three. There's a chapter four. And the reason it doesn't end is because the story is not done yet. Because God is not through with Jonah yet. God still has some lessons for him to learn in his own heart. And what I want us to do this morning is we examine Jonah chapter four is to learn some of those lessons from a mad prophet. Now to begin with, we just want to make our way through the story and find out the story of this mad prophet. Then we'll look at the lessons that we can find from this story. Jonah chapter four, verse one, let's look at the story of a mad prophet, verse one. That includes you into something. Remember chapter three, Jonah is faithful to preach the message. Nine of it turns to God, great revival, people coming to know the true God. But Jonah was greatly displeased. Interesting word. It's the word that is translated a couple times in verse ten. It's actually the Hebrew word for evil or calamity. In verse ten of chapter three, God has seen the evil or seen what the return of Nineveh, the repentance of Nineveh. He saw what they did, how they turned from their raah, their evil ways. He had compassion and did not bring upon them the raah, the destruction, the calamity that he intended to bring upon them. But Jonah still had raah, evil, calamity in his own heart. He's the only one still dealing with this. Nineveh has repented of the evil in its heart. The Assyrians have repented of the evil in their hearts. God has held back from the raah, the calamity that he had said he would put upon the Assyrians. It's only Jonah that still got raah in his heart, evil in his heart, a desire for calamity on the people of Nineveh. How gripping that is. The Ninevites have repented. God has removed his anger, but Jonah is still struggling with evil in his own heart. So Jonah was greatly displeased and the Bible says became angry. The expression if it were translated exactly literally would be, he was turned to anger or even more literally it burned to him. It burned to him. He literally was burning up inside. That's how angry he was. He was burning up. Mad, angry at God, evil in his heart, wishing calamity upon the Ninevites and so mad he was burning inside. What a response to a revival. How could the One who preached the meetings. How could the One who preached and saw God work so much, feel that way? Verse 2 gives the answer. He prayed to the Lord. There are so many interesting twists and turns in this book. Second time this expression is used in the book, it was used in chapter 2, verse 1. He prayed to the Lord God from the belly of the fish, but this prayer is very different than his first prayer of thanks to God and turning and committing to the Lord. He prayed to the Lord, oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? This is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. The word so quick can also be translated in the Old Testament. This is what I was trying to prevent. And probably that's the idea here. God didn't I tell you this? Didn't I say this when I was back home when you called me to go to the next? This, this very thing that we've seen happen is what I was trying to prevent by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that the people might repent and I knew if they did, you would not judge them. And that's what I was trying to prevent. I did not want to be your messenger of grace to those people. And I didn't want to see that happen. And so he goes on to say, I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and a bounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. That is almost a direct quote of Exodus 346 and Moses, great declaration about the character of God. Jonah knows his Bible. He knows who God is. He knows what the Bible says about God. But instead of being grateful about that and happy that God would show his love to people, he doesn't want God to do that. Why? He probably knows, probably understands from contemporary prophets of his day, Amos and Hosea, who have already declared that Assyria will be God's judgment upon Israel. Assyria, the Ninevites will be God's instrument of judgment. And Jonah is hoping, Jonah is hoping that the Ninevites will be judged so that they will not be spared to inflict this judgment on his people. He knows what kind of fierce warriors they are. He knows what kind of cruel army they have. He does not want to see them spared to judge his people. Israel. So he said, God, I knew this would happen. I knew it. I told you before I left. Why didn't want to come? That's why I tried to prevent this by fleeing the Tarsish. I knew that you would forgive them. And they would be spared to wreak havoc upon our people. Well, look at what God says to him. Or what Jonah continues to say in verse 3, Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live. That's the depth of despair. The Third Prophet, the Old Testament, to ask God to kill him. Moses was the first. Elijah was the second. Jonah is the third. All three of them in such despair that they ask God just to take their life. They'd rather die than continue living and continuing to minister. Here's God's reply, verse 4. But the Lord replied, have you any right to be angry? Now, you know this by now, but God's questions in the Bible are never for information. God never asks the question to get information. God knows everything. The reason why God asks questions is to probe us, to cause us to examine ourselves, to cause us to think about what we're doing, what we're saying, what we're doing, what we're thinking. So Jonah is questioning God to encourage self-evaluation. And he's saying to him, do you have a right to be angry? By the way, the answer to that question is no. We never have the right to be angry with God. Now, we all get angry with God. Let's face it. In our confusion and lack of understanding, we all lash out at God sometimes. But we have no right to do that. If we only knew everything as God knows it, we only saw everything as God's season. If we only could see the big picture from God's perspective, we would realize we do not have a right to be angry at God. Question him out of confusion? Yes. But a right to be angry at God? No. I've done it. I've been angry at God. I've lashed out at God. Many of you have too. But we never have the right to do that. God is probing. God is wanting him to think about what he's doing. He's wanting to examine his own heart. And this is Jonah's response, verse 5. Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter. Sat in its shade. So not only is he burning up emotionally, he's burning up physically. So he makes this little lean to provide some shade. And the Bible says, and waited to see what would happen to the city. Now notice, Jonah is not going outside the city and waiting to ponder the deep question that God has just provided him to examine himself by. That's not what Jonah is doing. Jonah is waiting to see. Is there some possibility that God might still judge the city? I'm going to wait and see what happens. He still wants Nineveh to perish. He still wants the city to be judged. And he's going to wait to see if somehow God might judge that city. Verse 6. Notice what God does. God has ordered God provided a vine. Interesting. Provided. It's used four times in the book of Jonah. He provided a fish. He provided a vine. He'll provide a worm in the next verse. And then he'll provide a scorching east wind. God is always in control. He's always in control of what he's doing. It was God that was causing these events to happen. One of the amazing things about the book of Jonah is the control that God has over his creation. He sent a storm. He will send a worm. He sent a fish. He will send a scorching east wind. He provides a plant. A vine. The Bible says here in the NIV. The word vine may lead us to think of something that kind of crawls up a trellis or up the side of a house. And that's not the idea at all. The Hebrew word here is probably the word for a caster oil plant. How ironic that God would send Jonah a bit of caster oil. Some of you can remember that. Taking caster oil. And it was so nasty that whatever you were sick from, you forgot about real quick. So God raises up a caster oil plant, which the plant that would grow 10 to 12 feet high had big shady leaves. That's the vine that's spoken of here. God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head. And to ease his discomfort. The Hebrew word can also mean to rescue, not just to ease, but to rescue similar ideas. But they build on one another I think in this passage. And discomfort is that same word, evil calamity. So yes, for the moment, God is easing his discomfort, providing him some comfort, some shade. But ultimately it is God's intent to rescue him from the evil in his heart. And that's what God is really going after here. So this temporary ease of discomfort has an ultimate goal as we will see at the end of the chapter. To rescue him from the evil attitude in his heart. And notice Jonah's response there in verse 6. And Jonah was very happy about the vine. Direct contrast to verse 1 where Jonah was very displeased because of God's goodness to the people. God's forgiveness. But here he's very happy about his own physical comfort. And hang on to that thought because that contrast is the biggest lesson of the book. Jonah is very happy about his physical comforts. Verse 7. But at dawn the next day, God provided a worm which chewed the vine so that it withered. So Jonah's comfort is taken away. And verse 8 when the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind. And the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. How many of you in this room this morning have been in Iraq? I know we've got some former service people here. Don't we this morning? I don't see any hand. We had somebody in the first service. I know we've had some folks in Iraq. They're just not here this day. But those who've been over there will tell you stories about the Shorako, what it's called in the Middle East. The scorching east wind that will blow out of the desert and create these huge sandstorms. And then the intense heat, 120, 130 degrees. The intense sun blazing. Well Jonah is in Iraq. He's in Mosul. Iraq. That's where Nineveh was. Today it's Mosul. Iraq. He was in those kind of conditions. He was withering himself under the sun and the scorching east wind so that he grew faint. The end of verse 8 says he wanted to die and said it would be better for me to die than to live. And then notice God asks him another question in verse 9. But God said to Jonah, do you have a right to be angry about the vine? Same question. Again, not for information, but to get Jonah to be thinking. And this time God adds about the vine. Do you have any right Jonah to be angry about the physical comfort you had when you had that vine? And then you lost it. Do you really have a right to be angry about that? And notice Jonah's response. Jonah snaps back at God. I do, he said, I am angry enough to die. Jonah snaps back at God with a bitter sarcastic response. Jonah, do you have a right to be angry about losing that vine comfort you had and losing it? Yes I do. God, I have a right to be. I am angry enough to die. The expression angry enough to die, literally angered to death, is a very familiar expression that we often use. Maybe not with anger, but we will say I am bored to death, which means I am as bored as I can be. Or I am scared to death, I am as scared as I can be. The Bible uses many terms like that. His soul was vexed to death, which means he was as upset as he could possibly be. Solomon uses this expression. Love is as strong as death. In other words, love is the most powerful feeling and emotion you can have. And so when Jonah says, I am mad enough to die, he is saying, I am as angry as you can possibly get God. I do have a right to be angry. That is his response to God. And it sets up God's rebuke in verses 10 and 11, which become the major lesson of the book. Everything in the book has been pointing toward this lesson, and we will get to that in a little bit. But let's explore some other lessons. First, there are several lessons in this story from this mad prophet. Lessons that we need to learn. First, there is a lesson about pouting. Lesson about pouting. And the lesson is this. We can outwardly obey and inwardly rebel. That was Jonah's response. Outwardly obeying, inwardly rebelling. And God is more concerned about the status and condition of his heart. And when Jonah serves God, it is not enough for Jonah to be obedient to the call of God. When God says to the second time, go to Nineveh. It is not enough for Jonah to obey and go and preach what God told him to preach, or the book would have ended with chapter 3. God is after this man's heart. And he is more concerned with us about this condition of our hearts than just what we do on the outside. You see, just obeying God, which is great, and we should all obey God. God values obedience. But we might look at Jonah and say, wow, what a dedicated prophet. What a selfless sacrificial ministry this man had to go to a city like that and preach God's message. What a dedicated, faithful, sacrificial prophet this was. And God would say, huh, huh, huh, look a little deeper. Look at his heart. His heart is full of rotten evil. The evil has gone out of the hearts of the Nineveits. It is still in Jonah's heart. Remember the, it is still in Jonah's heart. Still there. And God is going to go after it. You see, God is more concerned about the status of his heart than just about the fact that he obeyed. That is the real purpose of the book. God is going after him to get his heart on the same page. God's heart is on. It is awful easy for us to do the right things. Come to church. Sing the songs, pray the prayers, give our gifts. Go through what we are supposed to do. Maybe even serve in ways like Jonah served, teach class, help with children, visit the sick, and all the wild have rotten evil in our hearts. And rotten attitudes, even about what we are doing. God is after this man's heart, and he is after your heart, and he is after my heart. And he wants to teach us a lesson about pounding. That while we are outwardly obeying, are we really inwardly rebelling against him? Lesson number two, we should learn from Jonah, is a lesson about prejudice. And here is the lesson. We must fight the tendency to see ourselves as better than others. You see, that was part of Jonah's problem. Part of Jonah's problem was he valued his nation, his kingdom, his people. To the point that those Assyrians, those Ninevites, they are wicked, they are evil, they are ungodly, they are not like us. God, we may be bad, but there were certainly don't spare them. There was at least a bit of prejudice in Jonah's heart toward others. There were, there was on the part of many Jews in the Old Testament, and into the New Testament, feeling like our people, we are God's people, we are special. Other people, nah, they are below us. Prejudice is one of the greatest destroyers of a heart for ministry. If you are prejudiced in any way, then it will, it will cripple you as far as being used by God in effective ministry for him. Now there are different kinds of prejudice. There is racial prejudice. Some people still believe that people who are of different races are below them, somehow inferior to them. That is a stench in the nostrils of God. That is sin. I read a story one time about Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop of South Africa, who was walking down a street in a major city in South Africa, and closed off the sidewalk for one of those construction projects, and just left a little opening, long enough covered opening for one person to pass through at a time. You may have been in major cities, I have seen a lot of those in Chicago. So he started into one end of that, and on the other end, a white man was coming toward him. Obviously a man who had a lot of racial prejudice. And the white men on the other end, they knew they both couldn't pass through. The man on the other end said, I don't make way for any gorilla. And Desmond Tutu stepped aside, motioned with his hand for the man to pass, and said as he passed, aw, but I do. And he was right. He was exactly right. Racial prejudice is a sin. God has made all people groups, loves them all equally, wants them all to be in his family, wants them all to be a part of his kingdom. And we dare not, dare not, shame on us if we let racial prejudice keep us from effective ministry to other people. But that's not the only kind of prejudice, they're social prejudice. You know, some people can get the idea that others are below them because they've not had the same social advantages we've had. You know, they've not had the same culture or upbringing or education or whatever. And so I'm a little better than that person, they come from the wrong side of the tracks. God forgive us for ever letting any tracks make us feel like we're better than someone else, another sin against God. But there's also national prejudice. Now be careful with this. Sometimes we think we're better than anyone else in the world because we're Americans. God forgive us for that kind of prejudice. Now please don't question my patriotism. Nobody's blood runs bluer than mine and redder than mine than I love America. But sometimes especially when we deal with international people or we travel on a short term mission trip, we give the impression that we Americans know how it's to be done. We know everything about ministry. Let us teach you. And we're very condescending and haughty and proud and arrogant. Every missionary worth his or her salt will tell you we've got a lot we can learn from these folks about how to do ministry in their culture. And a missionary who's really doing what God wants them to do and thank God for missionaries who are this way. I think the majority of them are. They will say we are coming here to partner with to learn from and help people who are doing the work here to train. To offer what we can offer. But it's give and take we can learn from them too. God help us for thinking that just because we're Americans we've got it all together we know everything and we can teach other people how to do it. That kind of haughty ugly American attitude has created a lot of conflict for missionaries in other countries prejudice prejudice. But there's a third lesson lesson of pride. Here's the lesson we must translate good theology into godly living. You see Jonah knew his theology well. Jonah knew his Bible as we've already seen he knew Exodus 34 he knew the book of Psalms he knew his Bible and he knew about God. He knew the character of God he could list for you the attributes of God. He did several of them back in verse two. He knows his theology his theology proper is down pat. And so he can tell you oh yes God I know you're a gracious God. Wait a second Jonah what does that mean? When you say I know you're a gracious God you know what that means Jonah that means God longs to show favor to people. Does Jonah long to show favor? No. So he knows but he's not living it. Jonah can say of God God I know you are a compassionate God the word means tender affection does Jonah have tender affection for the Ninevites? No. So I know about God but I don't know how to live it out. Jonah can say God I know that you are slow to anger. What he says about God in verse two I know you're slow to anger which means not hasty or eager to punish the wicked. But Jonah sure is eager and hasty of punish the wicked isn't he wants to see him all die and go to hell for all I care I don't care. I just want him to die. So Jonah knows about God but it's never translated into the way he lives. Jonah says about God I know you're a God abounding in love that great Old Testament word. Which means covenant faithfulness love mercy. Jonah uses it of himself in chapter two verse eight. It's translated grace in the NIV Jonah was glad when that mercy and grace was shown to him but he doesn't want it shown to the Ninevites. Oh he knows a lot about God knows he's viable well knows it's the out of you well it does not translate into the way he lives. Now I don't want to be too critical of Jonah because Jonah has done some things right but God is after his heart here and God's going to go deeper than just outward obedience. God wants to go deeper with us than just our knowledge of the Bible. God wants to know has it translated into Godly living yet. Does it change the way you live? Does it change the way you think and relate and act with other people? Do you understand who I am in terms of how that should make you live and relate to other people then? Remember what Paul said knowledge puffs up love builds up. If all you have is a knowledge of the Bible which is wonderful. I think we should know everything we can possibly know about the Bible. But if that's all you have and it never translates into a heart, passion and fire to show who God is like to others then you've missed the point. And I know what some people say some people say well the answer to that is don't do any more Bible study we already know our Bible is enough that quit studying the Bible just do what you're supposed to do. We know our Bible well enough already no we don't. No the problem is not too much Bible knowledge the problem is too little. We've got just enough knowledge to be dangerous but we really don't know God. We can quote the theology about God but we don't know him. We don't really know him or we wouldn't act the way Jonah acted. You see Jonah needed to learn that truth is not only to fill your mind it is to inflame your heart. It is to set your heart on fire. It is to give you a passion to be more like the one whom you're learning about. To live out the principles of scripture that you're learning. Every time you study your Bible don't do it just to pack more knowledge into your head but do it to learn more how you ought to live. What you ought to be how you ought to think how you ought to represent God better on this earth. That's what God is looking for. Otherwise you'll just build up a lot of knowledge it will make you very proud and arrogant of your Bible knowledge. If all we have is Bible knowledge and it does not translate into Godly living then we need to be put in our place just like God put Jonah in his place. We need to learn the lesson of pride. Good theology must be translated into Godly living. There's a final lesson in this book and it's the most important one of all. So lesson in priorities. Here's the lesson. We must constantly guard against misplaced priorities. And that really is the lesson of this book. Some people's priorities are hard to understand. Elderly man by the name of Slim. He went by Slim. 90 years old and he had decided to re-marry into Mary a 55 year old woman. And his friend Rufus said, Slim, what are you doing marrying a 55 year old woman? You're 90 years old. Is she really beautiful? He said no, no, she's not rude pretty. And so Rufus said, well, is she rich? You marrying a firm, no, no, she doesn't have any money. Well then she must be a good cook. No, she can't cook very good either. Well, Slim, why are you marrying this 55 year old woman? And Slim said, well, she can still drive after dark. Difficult to understand some people's priorities. Isn't it what's really important to some people? And it's difficult to understand Jonah's priorities until we're willing to move beyond Jonah and take a good, hard, honest look at our own hearts. Here it is, verse 10. But the Lord said, you have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It's spring up overnight, died overnight. But Jonah, but Jonah, Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell the right hand from their left, which probably simply means they are morally ignorant. They don't know right from wrong. And many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city? Now please let this contrast sink in. God is saying, Jonah, you have rejoiced over your own comfort when that vine, that cast your oil plant, provided you comfort, you rejoiced over that and you were saddened to lose that comfort. I rejoice, Jonah, over people, and I am deeply saddened that they are lost. Jonah, you were all excited over that and that Hebrew literally is that little, little plant when it says this vine, this little plant. But Jonah, I am concerned about that great city, little plant, great city. The contrast is obvious. Jonah, you were concerned about something you didn't put any work into. You didn't plant that plant, you didn't tend that plant. You wouldn't even have the concern of a gardener because you didn't do it. It was a gracious gift. It was given to you. And you're concerned over that plant. I am concerned over people that I have made. I have put labor into this. They're my creation. Jonah, you're concerned about something that is so temporary. It's spring up one day, it was gone overnight. I'm concerned about people who will spend an eternity somewhere, Jonah. Do you see the contrast? And that the book ends with this question. Should I not be concerned about that great city and the book ends? There's an uneasiness about the way this book ends. Many have written and talked about this. This book ends in a way which kind of leads the reader with unanswered questions. It's an uneasie way to end. It's like a movie that right at the end takes a sudden twist in the plot and then the credits start rolling and you're thinking, what happened there? That doesn't make sense at all. It's like watching a play and the curtain drops before the last act is finished and you're wondering, well, wait a second, how did the thing end? And we find ourselves asking, what happened to Jonah? Did he ever answer that question? Did he ever respond to what God was doing? Did he ever learn that lesson? I'd like to know more. What, why does the book end this way? And God intended it in this way. Because God wants that question left ringing in our ears. And he wants this lesson impressed upon our hearts because God doesn't want us necessarily to know how Jonah answered the question. I'm convinced he answered it well or he wouldn't have gone on to write the book. But God's not concerned that we know how Jonah answered the question. God is concerned that we face the question ourselves and we answer it for our own lives. And that is a question about priorities. God wants to put us face to face with the fact that our lives are so centered around ourselves and our creature comforts. The little plants, the vines that God has given us to bring us comfort. And God's graciously allowed us to have them, but our lives get wrapped around them. Our focus gets on those things. How attached we become to temporary things and forget all about the people God has made and where they're going to spend eternity. How attached we can become to our house, our car, our truck, our boat, our camper, our motor home. How attached we can get to our electronic devices, our computers and smartphones and kindles and nooks and iPads. How attached we can become to our big screen TV and our Blu-ray machine, our music collection, our Xbox. How attached we can get to those things and how sad we are when something happens to them. And not give a rip about a neighbor who's dying and going to hell. We never think about them. We never pray about them. We've never talked to them. But we'll tell everybody about what happened to our camper or our big screen TV. Please, please don't miss my point here. Don't think I can never invite John to my house or you'll see that I've got a nice TV. And you know, well, well, well, that'll come up in the next sermon. No, no, no. I have some of those kinds of things too. That's not the issue. The issue is not as it's right or wrong to have things that God, I've got a wonderful music collection. I love music. I have to ask myself the question. Am I wrapped up in my music collection? Am I proud of that? Would I hate to see it all burn up? Am I more concerned about that than I am about my neighbor? You see, God is trying to grip our attention with the way this book ends. Some of us today are more concerned about what the stock market has done to our future financial portfolio than we are about what the future is going to be for our neighbor who may be in hell forever. And we're more bent out of shape about the stock market of all things. That's going to all go by the wayside someday. We're going to leave that all behind someday. Some of us in this room this morning are more concerned about our political agenda and who's in the White House than we are about who's in heaven and who's going to be in hell. God, forgive us for focusing on those kinds of things. Some of us are more concerned about my political party, my political agenda and making things right in the White House. I believe we ought to be responsible citizens. But God, forgive us for becoming so consumed with that that we never would witness to our neighbor. And we're never concerned about people where they're going to spend eternity, not just about government programs and how we're going to do with them. God, forgive us for having a wrong focus in life and God's trying to wake us up here with the way this book ends and hit us right in the face with, do you have the wrong priorities in life? Do I have the wrong priorities in life? Am I more concerned about my stuff? Am I more concerned about my own petty things that I want to see and I want to do in life? Then about people who are dying and it greets the heart of God. In the book ends, let's pray. Lord, I confess that too many times I do not share your heart. I'm not even aware what's going on around me. Father, help us in our lives not to get so wrapped up in the things of this world that will all pass away that we forget what we're really here for. Help us not to be so concerned about our vines that we don't share your concern for the hundreds of thousands of people that are dying every day, spending eternity apart from you. Forgive us, Father, for wrong priorities. May we adjust our lives to have your missionary heart, to have your heart for others. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.