In Psalm 73, the Psalmist frets over the prosperity of the wicked.
They seem to be living a carefree life…while the righteous are
continually plagued and punished. When he tries to understand it,
it’s too oppressive for him..UNTIL . . .
I picture my walk with the Lord as a fine-tuned engine. When I maintain my
spirit through Bible study, prayer and meditation, it purrs. I can easily
avoid the pitfalls the devil throws in my way, be at peace with life’s
interruptions, and get great mileage from the fruits of the spirit. But, . . .
How is it possible to actually have power through weakness? God revealed many things to the Apostle Paul, some so magnificent he couldn’t even write about. But along with these revelations, God gave him a thorn in his flesh. Why?
Are you tired of being weighed down by the sin in your life? What can you do about it? Is forgiveness possible? How? Barbara Sandbek shares how in today's episode of "Grace Notes".
How do we crucify ourselves and still live? Christ’s sacrifice was beneficial to us, but how is our sacrifice beneficial to Him? Why does it matter what sacrifice we make? Why would specific order matter in making them?
The best illustration I can think of to help me understand why Peter
denied the Lord, and how he felt afterwards, was in my own life. When I
was turning six, my mom . . .
There’s more to repentance than just feeling guilty. Judas Iscariot felt
remorse over his betrayal of Christ, but instead of turning to the Lord for
forgiveness, he chose to end his life. Why repent?
Barbara Sandbek is beginning a new series today on the subject of POWER. Through these studies we’ll learn about the power of God for us and the power of God in us. We’ll address such things as power in prayer, power in purity, power in God’s presence and more.
One of the things people like to do is to buy the PERFECT GIFT for that special someone. A good gift is one of high quality and is usually expensive.
Our Heavenly Father desires to do the same with the gifts He gives. He gave His best when He sent us Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin.
On this program, we will cover several other gifts under the tree. This is the last program in our Christmas tree series. Have you started making your ornaments? Time’s awastin’.
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.
