{"id":3553,"date":"2017-07-09T09:30:08","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T13:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scbc2017.com\/scbcwpsite\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&#038;p=3553"},"modified":"2019-06-29T23:22:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T03:22:35","slug":"the-god-who-is-able-to-save-anyone-anywhere-anytime","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/sermons\/the-god-who-is-able-to-save-anyone-anywhere-anytime\/","title":{"rendered":"The God Who is Able to Save Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-gdm-google-drive-embedder-viewer\"><iframe width='100%' height='100' frameborder='0' scrolling='yes' src='https:\/\/drive.google.com\/a\/scbc.com\/file\/d\/1gm-FG2icgTG_dEoll5zyGgcPFUvRP7e5\/preview?usp=drivesdk' allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-gdm-google-drive-embedder-viewer\"><p><span class=\"gdm-drivefile-embed\"><img src=\"https:\/\/drive-thirdparty.googleusercontent.com\/16\/type\/application\/pdf\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/a\/scbc.com\/file\/d\/1Z0oiE2LvTJojJKz-j4iMnXboYLwhZ-N6\/view?usp=drivesdk\" target=\"_blank\">View\/Download Sermon PowerPoint<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p>A quick survey of Scripture demonstrates that God is able to save anyone, anywhere, anytime. &nbsp;He is able to interrupt people\u2019s lives and bring them to the place of repentance and restoration even when they are far from him.<\/p>\n<p>We see it illustrated for us in chapter 1 of the book of Jonah. &nbsp;When the prophet runs away from the Lord he heads for Tarshish on board a ship that is maned by idol worshipping sailors. &nbsp;&nbsp;They don\u2019t know the living God, nor do they think that they are about to encounter him. &nbsp;In fact, when the Lord sends a great wind on the sea and a violent storm arises they cry out to their own god in fear. (Jonah 1:5)<\/p>\n<p>And the whole scene is not hard to imagine. &nbsp;We can see in our minds eye the terror on their faces as they recognize they cannot battle this storm. &nbsp;&nbsp;They are looking at death squarely in the eye and calling out to the only gods that they know.<\/p>\n<p>But as you read the text you discover that their fear shifts from the fear of death to the fear of the Lord. &nbsp;After they identify Jonah as the cause of their predicament he confesses to them that he worships the great God \u2013 not a localized, puny god \u2013 but the great God who created the sea and land. (1:9) &nbsp;And with shock the sailors &nbsp;exclaim, \u201cWhat have you done?\u201d &nbsp;(1:10). &nbsp;They can\u2019t believe that someone could think that it was possible to run away from such a God.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, after Jonah convinces them to throw him overboard the sailors witness how the sea grew calm and at \u201cthis they greatly feared (that is, revered) the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.\u201d (1:16). &nbsp;Clearly, a change has occurred in their lives. &nbsp;The sailors are converted \u2013 they used to call out to their own gods but now worship the living God and revere him and make commitments to him.<\/p>\n<p>My point is, God is able to work in people\u2019s lives in ways that we cannot imagine. &nbsp;He is the sovereign God who \u201cdoes not want anyone to perish but all to come to repentance\u201d (2 Peter 3:9). &nbsp;And this is good news. &nbsp;Some of you who are reading this may feel that you are beyond God\u2019s reach. &nbsp;His grace is not big enough to cover your sin and his love does not extend far enough to embrace your life. &nbsp;If you feel this way please know that you have bought into a lie. &nbsp;God is able to rescue you, he is able to cleanse you and make you into a new creation. &nbsp;He reached out to the sailors and rescued them through a disobedient prophet, a raging storm and calm winds, and he can do the same for you.<\/p>\n<p>But you may say that you need more evidence. &nbsp;How can you be sure that he is able to rescue your life from sin? &nbsp;And I can only answer, \u201cHe did it for me and for millions of others.\u201d &nbsp;He reached us not through a disobedient prophet but through his obedient son Jesus, who took on the horrors of sin and death. &nbsp;So my testimony, like many others, is that when I placed my faith in his sacrificial death the terrors of the storms of life grew calm and I fell down in reverent awe before the Lord. &nbsp;If he did it for me, he can do it for you.<\/p>\n<p>Our Lord is able to save anyone, anywhere, anytime.<\/p>\n<p>In thanksgiving for you, Tom.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonah 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_sermon_topic":[],"ctc_sermon_book":[142],"ctc_sermon_series":[294],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[105],"ctc_sermon_tag":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/3553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3553"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/3553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8528,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/3553\/revisions\/8528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=3553"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=3553"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=3553"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=3553"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=3553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}