Leading The Way

Guest (Male): If Jonah chapter 3 teaches us anything, it tells us several things we need to know about the secret for a genuine Holy Spirit revival. Whether that revival is in your home, whether that revival is in your city, whether that revival is in our nation.

The two things that the Bible teaches us here is that there has to be an authentic messenger and secondly there has to be an authentic message.

Dr. Michael Youssef, leading you into the real life story of Jonah on this episode of Leading the Way audio. Jonah's life is an exciting adventure containing multiple plot twists, ultimately leading to a revival that impacted the entire world.

Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, long-time pastor and author of more than 50 culture-shifting, life-changing books. Today Dr. Youssef unpacks ingredients necessary for revival in 2026 by revealing what ultimately led to revival in Nineveh. To allow just as much time as possible, let's listen to Dr. Michael Youssef as he unpacks this intriguing account of Jonah.

Dr. Michael Youssef: When God calls His children to reach and bring someone into the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, He does not use the word "anyone" because that is a question which calls for action which is wonderful as it is. It is different when God is calling you as a believer to be His servant, His ambassador, His spokesman.

Rather He calls you by name. Not anyone, but He'll say Bob, Joe, Sue, Bonnie. He will call you specifically by name. And He calls you by name because His saving plan is not just a call for action, important as it may be.

But because God already knows what He's about to accomplish in the lives of those who are around you. And therefore in His sovereign will, He wants you by name to be an instrument to bring that certain individual to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

In His sovereign will, He wants you by name to be an instrument to bring about the greatest miracle that we can ever experience. And the greatest miracle some of you are asking is what? Is salvation. That's the greatest miracle that we can experience.

In fact, I want to tell you that the greatest miracle in the book of Jonah was not the storm, it was not the fact that Jonah survived in the belly of the great fish for three days. It was not even the mode of transportation by which God brought him to Nineveh.

But the greatest miracle in the book of Jonah is the salvation of the Ninevites. That's the greatest miracle of all. This would be like the president of Iran go on national television and say to all the Iranian people, "We now believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the only way to salvation. He is the only way to heaven. And we call upon all the Iranian people to repent and turn to the Lord."

That's how it was. I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing. Michael, that's impossible. That's a fantasy. That's just being unrealistic. No, you understand how Jonah felt.

And now you understand why he cried out to God and said, "God, surely not me and definitely not them." That's why. But listen, beloved, God would not mock us with an impossibility. God never calls us to do anything without He already preparing the way.

God never commissions us to failure. God never leads us where He had not gone ahead of us. God never wants us to sit in despair and say, "What can one solitary person do? There's such a huge problems in the world. What can I do as an individual?"

In fact, that's not what God wants you to do because when Moses asked that question, God answered him by conquering the heart of the most powerful man on the face of the earth, the heart of Pharaoh. When Nehemiah asked that question, God answered him by conquering the heart of the king of Persia, the most powerful man of the day.

When Elijah asked the question, God answered him by conquering the heart of wicked King Ahab. When Peter in denying Christ was basically saying the same thing, and God answered him by using him to bring 3,000 people to faith in Christ in one sermon.

William Wilberforce asked that same question and God used him single-handedly to end the horror of slave trading. And Jonah was basically asking that question and God used him to bring about the greatest revival that's ever known in all of biblical history.

And all God is asking you to do, all that God is asking me to do is to seize the opportunities that He brings to us. If Jonah chapter 3 teaches us anything, it tells us several things we need to know about the secret for a genuine Holy Spirit revival.

I'm not talking about emotional manipulation, I'm talking about a genuine Holy Spirit revival where souls are saved, where people repented of their sins. Whether that revival is in your home, whether that revival is in your office, whether that revival is in your school, whether that revival is in your neighborhood, whether that revival is in your city, whether that revival is in our nation.

Here we find the ingredients to a genuine Holy Spirit revival. Some people think that a revival is you get a big stadium filled with tens of thousands of people who are shouting and hollering and they say, "Wow, there's a revival going on."

That's not a revival. That's just a mob who is temporarily being motivated. The two things that the Bible teaches us here is that there has to be an authentic messenger and secondly there has to be an authentic message.

Look at verses 1 to 4: there has to be an authentic messenger. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Aren't you glad that God is the God of second chances? Aren't you glad? It came to him a second time. Verse 3: Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord.

Beloved, let me tell you we cannot change the world without changing our hearts. We cannot give to others what we are lacking ourselves. We cannot proclaim that Jesus saves until the evidence of His salvation is loud and clear in every one of our lives.

Until people see the peace of God that passes understanding filling you up. Until people see the joy of the Lord, the joy of being forgiven, is permeating deep down into every part of your heart. Until people see you totally trusting in the plan of God and in the purpose of God.

Until people sense our genuine love for the Lord and our genuine love for them. They will not hunger and thirst after God. Beloved, when we have an authentic walk with God, we don't have to go around to prove it. It will ooze out of every pore of your body.

I was as struck this week as I was, I went back and looked at the account of the Gospels again. And in every one of the four Gospels, I have not seen the Lord Jesus Christ constantly on every turn going to His disciples and He's saying, "I love you guys. I love you guys. I love you guys."

I know that some people need to say I love you, but let me tell you something: people know when you love them. They understand. The disciples knew without a shadow of doubt that He had such deep love for them that cannot be explained in words.

People sense authenticity and God uses authentic messengers. In fact, there's a true story that took place at the early part of the last century in Detroit, Michigan. There was a mechanic who worked in the Ford Motor plant. And somebody led him to the Lord.

He was so thoroughly converted to Christ that his life was totally changed. He got baptized in the Detroit River as a public testimony to his conversion to Christ, the change that took place in his life. But then he was facing a dilemma. It's really more of a crisis.

For years, this man has been stealing tools out of the plant and taking them home. Whenever nobody's watching, he will steal some tools and he will take one and I guess back then before the days of the metal detectors, you know, he would slip one in his pocket, one in his bag and he will take.

Until he ended up in his home with a large box of stolen tools. And he knew that now that he is a child of the living God, that Jesus Christ is his Savior and his Lord, that he's got to do something about it.

But he also knew that most likely he was going to be fired. He knew his boss well enough to know that the moment he goes to him and confesses to him, he'll fire him. As he struggled in prayer one morning, he carried that box and he brought it to his boss and landed it right there at his feet.

And he told him with tears about how Christ changed his life. How Christ came into his life and no longer he's a thief anymore and how he wants to even make restitution to the company. And the man really didn't know what to do with him.

He didn't want to fire him, but he also didn't know how to punish him. So he went to the plant manager. He said to the plant manager, told him the story, showed him the box, and he said, "What would I do?"

The plant manager said, "He's a good worker and I tell you, I don't know what to do. Let's go to Mr. Henry Ford himself." So they went to see Henry Ford. Henry Ford was in Europe, actually inspecting one of his new plants.

And so they decided to send him a long cable, a long telegram. And they told him the whole story. How this man repented of his sins and how he turned to Christ and how he's baptized into Christ and how his life changed and how he brought the stolen tools.

And then came a cable back from Henry Ford. I want to read it to you. Here's what the cable said: "Dam up the Detroit River, stop. And baptize the whole city, stop." Beloved, authentic, repentant, restored life has far greater power than you can ever imagine.

Sir Henry Stanley said after a brief encounter with David Livingstone, he said the following: "If I had been with him any longer, I would have been compelled to be a Christian and yet he never spoke to me about it at all."

Revival will come when we become authentic believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Today there are many churches that are preaching a cheap grace and cheap repentance and cheap gospel. There are so many people are preaching a gospel that if you have sinned to a certain extent, you'll be saved to a certain degree.

What a tragedy we have found ourselves in. The problem with our Christianity today is people who claim to be Christians continue to live like they were before they're Christians. We have problems today.

Churches are filled with people who have never been changed. Their heart was never converted, their heart was never regenerated. And so an adulterer will continue to commit adultery, but now he's a Christian adulterer.

And a drunk will continue to be a drunk, but now he becomes a Christian drunk. And a fornicator continues to fornicate, but then he becomes a Christian fornicator. A thief continues to steal, but now he becomes a Christian thief.

An abortionist does not forsake his blood shedding and just becomes a Christian abortionist. A homosexual does not forsake his homosexuality, he becomes a Christian homosexual. Dishonest people, dishonest business people do not forsake their dishonesty, they just become dishonest Christians.

No wonder the church has lost its mooring. The church has lost its impact on our society. No wonder we are not able to lead the world to Christ. Yet God loves and uses obedient and authentic messengers.

Beloved, let me tell you something: repentance has to take place in the believer's heart. Repentance has first to take place in the Christian church before it can go out into the world. And God uses authentic messengers, but secondly He uses an authentic message.

Do you know the core of problem today with the evangelical church or so-called evangelicals in the evangelical churches is that they have an utter confusion. Confusion between genuinely loving sinners, genuinely loving them, and wanting to be loved by them.

That's really the core of the problem. You go around it sideways, you're going to find this is the core of the problem. This confusion runs so deep into the very heart of the evangelical Christianity. I want you to listen to me.

I am not talking about those who give Christianity a bad name. I'm not talking about those who give Christianity a black eye. I'm not talking about those who come across as angry and vindictive and hateful. No, no, listen to me.

I'm not even on the same orbit as these people. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about those who for the sake of personal popularity water down the Gospel message to the point of preaching another gospel.

I'm talking about those who for the sake of personal gain, they have preached a gospel of greed until it's no longer the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm talking about those who for the sake of being accepted by society, they have denied the existence and the power of sin and therefore the greater power of the Lord Jesus Christ to give them victory over sin.

For the sake of not offending anyone, they preach a do-it-yourself gospel. Oh, to be sure, these false messages would draw a big crowd, would fill stadiums. But they will never produce salvation.

These inauthentic messages may sell lots of books, but they will take people to a Christless eternity. These false gospels may make some people temporary feel good, but they will never bring a true genuine Holy Spirit revival.

And that is why Jonah did not change the message, did not modify the message, did not try to popularize the message. And he said, "Man, these Ninevites are vicious people. They could kill me. I better say it in a nice way. I better sort of put it in a way that they can understand it. I better just soften it a little bit."

Because it says basically the bottom line is 40 days and that's all you got and the judgment of God is coming upon you unless you repent, which is understood here. There was no formula. There was no program.

There were no 20 hoops that you have to go through. No 15 steps to loving yourself. There is no three-point sermon. It was a very simple message: 40 days, that's all you got and God is bringing a judgment unless you repent.

Beloved, God uses authentic men, women, boys, and girls, but also God uses authentic message. Look at the result of Jonah's preaching of an authentic message, verses 5 and 6.

The whole city, this notoriously wicked city, this pagan city, this violent and vile city, old and young alike it says. From the king to the pauper, they all repented in sackcloth and ashes. You say how come?

Beloved, God wanted us to know that revival started in Jonah's heart first. That's where it started. It started in his heart first. But secondly, you have to understand that back in that part of the world before in the Old Testament times, oral tradition and messages are spread verbally throughout the land.

That these Ninevites have heard and have known about Jehovah God. They have heard and they have known that He is the God who parted the Red Sea. They have heard and they knew that He is the God who sent terror on the heart of the Canaanites and the walls of Jericho came collapsing.

They knew and they've heard that He is the God of power and might. That He is the God of justice, that the God of mercy. They knew and they heard that He was the God who means business and when He speaks, He means it and He keeps His word.

And so when He said 40 days, He meant that's it. They knew that's all they got: 40 days. Today we try parapsychology and pop psychology and pseudo-psychology. The power is not in psychology.

The power is in the authenticity of the message. Look at verse 8: they turned away from wickedness and violence. That's what God was after all along. You see, that's what the drama of Jonah going in the ship and God pursuing him and in the fish and... that's what it's all about.

God loves to see sinners repent. It is the desire of God that not sinner should perish but come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. The desire of God for the Ninevites to repent and turn to Him.

Beloved, there can be no genuine salvation without genuine turning away from sin and repenting. The message that says all you need to do just take Jesus for a friend and keep living just the way you always lived, that is not an authentic message.

Hear me on this one. I am not talking about perfection. I am not talking about perfection, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the evidence of salvation as we saw in the case of that mechanic.

And I'm talking about an aversion to sin. I'm talking about once sin was second nature to us, but now it's a strange thing and causes us pain and causes us to repent and turn away and turn to the Lord.

I'm talking about the sin that once was a common place now it's a source of irritation and a cause for confession. That's what I'm talking about. And that's the mark of authentic salvation.

Guest (Male): Thank you for making time in your day for Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Today's episode is just one part of the powerful series "Surely Not Me... Definitely Not Them," a look at uncomfortable obedience in the life of Jonah.

Want to hear more compelling content from Dr. Youssef? Well, start right here on this station when you listen to Leading the Way. You can also subscribe to the podcast, listen through the Leading the Way app, or ask your smart speaker to play Leading the Way.

More about all of these at ltw.org. Now before time for today comes to an end, there are details about a life-changing way that you can stand with Dr. Youssef in extending the reach of the Gospel through Leading the Way.

Leading the Way is mobilizing for the next Great Awakening in North America. Join Dr. Youssef in this bold five-year mission to passionately proclaim uncompromising truth in three strategic areas: here at home, the Middle East, and remote villages.

It's the Open Door campaign. Thanks to generous ministry partners like you, we are seeing a dramatic increase in Gospel impact in North America. We've stumbled and we've gone a different way, but we can always come back and God is there and He's willing to bless our communities, bless our neighborhoods.

And even greater opportunities on the horizon through Wake America rallies in key cities, cutting-edge tools like My Faith Assistant, timely biblically-based resources, LTW's new smart TV, and biblical teaching on every available platform.

I had lost my first love for so many years. Now I've rededicated my life to Jesus after listening to your messages. I want to thank you for your ministry counselor who called me back within 24 hours. He answered my questions about Jesus.

The door is open, and only God in heaven knows when will it be closed. Will you commit to joining me to boldly walk through these open doors together? Learn more at ltw.org. The website to stand with Dr. Youssef and Leading the Way: ltw.org.

Or you can always call 866-626-4356. That's ltw.org and 866-626-4356. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.