YP Talk—Micah Sorensen
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Well, good evening. I am very excited to talk to you tonight. It's funny because.
I'm very nervous so work with me.
I hope all of you fall asleep while I'm talking.
That would be helpful for me.
You guys, most of you in here know me and I'm not a very serious person.
Ever, for the most part, but tonight I want to talk to you about something very serious.
I'm not going to be joking around.
Because to me.
This was something that I dealt with.
And really, most of you, a lot of you are actually older than I am, but most of you are just a few years younger than I am. In fact, I remember the first young people's meeting that I sat in. It was only six years ago.
And tonight?
This subject to me is just very, very important because I'm a planner. I plan out my entire life. I plan out every detail of my life, every little thing, every little day, every move I'm going to make, whether or not I go to college, Whatever it is, I plan it out.
When I was in high school, that was the details that I thought about. I remember when I was in high school, I was going to a church.
And I.
I just, I had all of these little detailed plans for my life.
At the time, I even thought I knew who I was going to marry. I had everything like set out. That was the way my life was going to go. And then God turned me around. And I want to talk to you about God turning you around and specifically somebody we know about that God turned him around from going running from him. I want you to turn to Jonah. If you have your Bibles, we're not going to spend a lot of time reading, so don't feel like you have to open.
If you don't want to, but everybody here knows the story of Jonah. I'm not going to get into some deep theological meaning behind anything here. I'm just going to share a simple thought.
Jonah chapter 4.
Something that just just.
Came off the page at me. I'll read part of it here.
We know the story, and I'll kind of go over it real briefly. Jonah runs from God.
And he's going to Tarshish.
And anyway, you know, Jonah gets followed by a whale. You guys all know the story. And he goes to Nineveh like he's supposed to. He tells Nineveh what he's supposed to, and what happens? He tells Nineveh that they're going to be destroyed if they don't repent. They repent and then God doesn't destroy them. And so Joan is embarrassed.
It's a little silly. God told him what to do. First he runs, then he, you know, then God takes him where he needs to be. He does what God tells him to do. And God doesn't destroy the city. And Jonah's embarrassed.
It's a little silly, so let's read there and says in chapter 4. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly. It's verse one.
He was very angry.
And he prayed in the Lord, and he said, I pray thee, Oh Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before you under Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and great kindness and repentance thee of the evil.
Therefore now, oh Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.
This is the serious subject I'm going to talk to you about tonight.
Everybody here is having a great time. I suppose everybody in your life, you really want everyone to think you're always having a good time. I mean, that's social media. That's everything we really want to like, have everyone think that we have the worst life.
We want everyone to know we have the best life.
I mean, I do. I want you all to think that I'm successful.
I'm good looking, I know it's hard to believe.
I want you all to think things about me, but the truth is, deep down, I'm just like you.
Everyone of us have things that we deal with. Everyone of us have pain. I'm going to tell you a story about a young guy.
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17.
He's going to church. He's doing the right thing. He does everything that he's supposed to be doing according to what people believe.
Everyone his whole life had told him he was going to marry this girl. And even he thought it, she thought it and they were, you know, they were whatever dating, I guess. And and he just kind of like goes on and believes that this is what he's supposed to do. He's got this plan to go to Bible college. He's going to do all this stuff, you know, he's going to become a pastor. Whatever the plan is, he's good to go because this is what he's always wanted.
And then through the course of a few different events that happen.
The girl and the guy break up.
And it ends. And this guy, just like Jonah.
That that pain was so great.
That he just couldn't see any life ahead for himself.
He just couldn't see. I mean, what's the point? This was the plan. I mean, you disrupt the plan. What's going to happen?
This was his plan. I mean, isn't that what you want? God, if that's what I want, right?
So often we try to make our plans, God's plans for us.
And it's very the reason this is so serious is because it's so easy to do. It's so easy to get caught up with our plans.
And then when disappointments come like Jonah here, you know, he's like and we all.
It's a very, you know, it's a silly thing, but you know, God, why aren't you destroying these people? I just went and told them you were going to destroy them.
I mean, it's a little silly. I mean, God's not going to destroy the people. And now he's upset about it.
There's thousands and thousands of people.
And then you look at this young guy, you think.
This is a little silly.
I mean, he just got his heart broke. It's going to disrupt all his plans. I mean, soon.
You know, just like it says here.
With Jonah, the young man became angry at God for ruining his planes. The young man just continued on in his life. But really, I mean, he's not being an example of anybody. He's not really helping anybody. It's just that bitterness is eventually coming out in little areas of his life. I mean, you look Jonah here, Jonah had already been swallowed by a whale. You can already see the amazing things that God can do to bring someone back.
But John is still angry. So then the rest of the chapter there and it's really it's really kind of neat, but God takes this. He grows up this basically like a Reed to cover up Jonah to shade him from the sun when he runs away from the city. And then he creates a worm that comes and eats and you know, the Reed dies and Jonas so angry about it.
How many times in our lives do we use that ourselves where we, you know, we little things that come up, we're like.
God's doing such a great work in our lives.
And then we got takes it away. It's like, God, what are you doing? This is what I wanted. I thought that's what you wanted for me. We didn't do anything to get it. We didn't do anything to have the life. And we have to begin with. I mean, just like it was red today, all things were created by him and for him. Every single one of you today, every one of you is extremely important.
I mean you.
You're the future.
Every little thing you do today effects tomorrow.
It's the little things.
It's how you act when things don't go your way. It's not about how you act like things are going well. I mean, we see those examples all the time. It's really easy when things are well.
But when it really counts is when.
Plan.
We might stop.
The reason I told you that story?
Is because.
That young man.
Is me.
And I wouldn't be here today.
Had it not been for God taking me?
Out of that position.
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And it was the toughest thing I ever went through.
And for a few years, I was so bitter.
I just did what I thought was what I wanted to do, running from God.
And eventually.
Through extreme circumstances.
God brought me back to where He wanted me.
And it was so painful.
And I'm so grateful today because of it. I'm now married to the most beautiful woman in the world.
And I'm standing here telling you this story.
And at the time, I could never have told you that I was going to be here or that I would be able to give this talk at all, because at the time I had a plan.
But got a different one.
I want you to turn with me over to first, Peter.
First, Peter.
Chapter 5.
Verse Verse 6.
Says Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God.
That he may exalt you in due time.
Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he made a vow.
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.
It isn't about when things are easy.
Because.
A lot of the time when things are easy, we're really not looking to God.
It's about when things get tough.
It's about when things get tough, especially as young people, we have to accept those challenges.
It's about little relationships, whatever they may be, if it doesn't workout.
No, God has a different point.
Those details.
Aren't for us to know. Sometimes it just doesn't workout the way we plan.
Everything you do today effects tomorrow.
The examples you are is young people to other young people. That affects those young people. We look at it like it's just affecting us, like Jonah in this.
Chapter.
We look at it like it's only our life.
But it's all those around us.
And you can see it in your parents, you can see when there's when there's things that are in between the assembly. You can see it everywhere else. But a lot of time we don't want to address it in ourselves. It's the little things.
Did Jonah have a right to be angry?
God.
No. Do we?
No.
We don't.
He created us for one purpose.
To serve him.
To bring honor and glory to Him.
And that should be our entire goal with our lives.
And we need to cast all of our care and.
Because he cares for us.
It's the little details.
Thank you guys. Let's let's close in prayer and also pray for the food.
Dearly Father, we just thank you so much for this day. Thank you for everything that we've learned. Lord, we just.
Pray that you would bless the rest of this evening, Lord, and pray that you bless the food to our body strength and just help us to in our conversations to honor and glorify you. We thank you again for everything that you've done and everything that you're about to do. Your name, we pray these things, Amen.