"The story is told of a young man who approached the conference speaker and said, “I’ve never felt any compelling call to give my life for missionary service”, to which the speaker replied, . . . "
"under the pressure of many responsibilities, little by little, this time began to be shortened. Why, I’m not sure. Somehow I assumed I was just too busy to give special, regular time to be with Christ. This was not a deliberate decision, you understand; it just seemed to happen that way. Eventually, . . ."
"There’s one more matter of critical consequence I would like to share with you. Once day I found Him waiting for me at the front door. An arresting look was in His eye. As I entered, He said to me, . . ."
"That evening I spent some miserable hours. I felt rotten! What kind of a friend was I to Jesus? Deliberately leaving him out of part of my life, doing things and going places that I knew very well He would not enjoy?"
"Jesus gives us faith to believe as He is the author of faith, but it is our job to work diligently to add these qualities through the help of the Holy Spirit God has placed inside us." Which qualities?
"In the secular arena, ambassadors represent the leader of their country in an official capacity in communities and foreign nations. They are charged with protecting and promoting national interests, maintaining diplomacy, organizing visits, welcoming visitors, and supporting resolutions. Now let’s liken that to the spiritual realm."
Faithfulness…what does it mean? Webster defines it as loyal. And ‘loyal’ is defined as faithful to a trust or confidence – true to duty or love. Is that the definition you had in mind? On this Grace Notes program, Barbara begins a new series which will take us on a journey with the prophet Elijah. We’ll see how God worked THROUGH Elijah to demonstrate His faithfulness to His people, Israel, despite their unfaithfulness.
We’ll also see how God worked IN Elijah to groom him to truly be a man for the times. So, buckle your seat belts, and get ready to roll with the prophet of old.
In describing Jonah’s personality, one commentator wrote…
He was a proud, self-centered egotist: willful, pouting, jealous, and
blood thirsty; a good patriot and lover of Israel, but without proper
respect for God or love for his enemies.
What a poor assessment of a man who is supposed to be God’s spokesman. Do you think God will use Jonah with an attitude like that? We’d say ‘no’, but that’s where God’s mercy comes in. God extended mercy to Jonah by saving his life, and in His mercy, gave him another chance to obey. The poet Robert Frost said, "After Jonah, you could never trust God NOT to be merciful again." …So true.
God is a God of second chances and we’ll see that demonstrated on our program today.
So far in our study of Jonah, we’ve learned that God wanted to REACH out to the pagan Gentiles of Ninevah with His mercy, so He REVEALED a message to His prophet, Jonah, and told him to go there and preach it, but Jonah REACTED by RUNNING away. On this program, we’re going to reenact what happened as a result of Jonah’s disobedience. The setting is Joppa, a seaport about 35 miles northwest of Jerusalem - known today as Jaffa. A ship is docked there and about ready to leave. It’s destination - Tarshish, a mining colony in Spain.
Looks like a nice day for a cruise. Hey…there’s Jonah boarding the boat now.
The definition for the word ‘repent’ is ‘to feel remorse, contrition or self-reproach for what one has done or failed to do’. Oswald Chambers writes…
Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying “I have sinned.”
The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means
it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes.
On this program Barbara Sandbek, will look at Jonah’s prayer from inside the fish and see if he is truly repentant.
In our study of the book of Jonah we’ve seen God SPEAK a command to Jonah, Jonah SIN by running away, God SEEK out Jonah, Jonah SURRENDER to the call, God SPARE Jonah’s life, and finally God SPEAK His command to Jonah a SECOND time.
God was merciful to Jonah in saving his life and in giving him another chance. It’s now time for Jonah to extend God’s mercy to the Ninevites. Jonah still doesn’t agree with what God is going to do, as we’ll see later, but he does yield his will to do what God commands. On our program today we’ll follow Jonah to Nineveh and see why God was so insistent on having this mission completed.
