Jonah, Part 1 - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4832939444439438575.post-57712365371685760372008-02-24T10:30:00.003-06:002008-03-24T10:14:39.009-06:002008-03-24T10:14:39.009-06:00Jonah, Part 1 - Pastor Kenneth Woolf<a href="http://www.newlifecotr.com/media/Audio/February%202008/Jonah%20Part%201%20Pastor%20Kenneth%20Woolf%202-24-08.mp3">Download MP3 audio </a> NEW LIFE COTR Sunday February 23, 2007 JONAH Jonah 1:1-17- Turn and Read As you study the Bible you discover the nature of God. You learn the heart of God. Ephesians 1:17-“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. As you get to know God better there’s something you find out. Go is in God! God is always on the go! Many people struggle with this issue and we shouldn’t. It’s settled in the heart of God and it should be in our as well. Go is in God! God is always on the go! Genesis 12:1- “The Lord said to Abram, Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to land I will show you.” Exodus 3:10- “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 1:21- “See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of you fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Isaiah 6:8- “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” Jeremiah 1:7- “But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.” Go is in God! God is always on the go! Luke 10:3- “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” Matthew 28:19- “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Mark 16:15- “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” In Acts 16 Paul was told by the Spirit to not preach the gospel in the province of Asia (or told not to go) but that was only because God wanted him to go to Macedonia. Go is in God. God is always on the go! Therefore it’s not strange that God would tell Jonah, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it…” God is a speaking God! God wants to speak to each of us today. You can hear the voice of God through opening His Word. THE WORD OF GOD WILL COME TO YOU TODAY! You can be obedient or disobedient! TRANSITION: But when the Word of God comes to you I. GOD WILL OFTEN ASK YOU TO DO THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO DO. And many times we don’t want to do it because we think we know what’s best. We don’t obey because we think we know what’s best. WHY DID JONAH DISOBEY? Nineveh was the metropolis of the Assyrian monarchy. It was a great city, great in the number of the inhabitants, great in power and dominion. It was the city that for some time ruled the kings of the earth. The Assyrian empire was so brutal and was feared by all. They would go in and kill all the people. Before they killed the women they would rape them. They would rape and kill the children. Then they would take the husbands as prisoners of war and take them outside the city and then skin them alive. Then they would bury them in the sand. Imagine that. Then they would pull their tongues out and drive a stake through their tongues into the ground. Can you see how brutal these people were? Then after the people were dead they would cut their heads off and stack them in the form of pyramid outside the city so they could communicate to the world that this was a city they conquered. Knowing this information may help you have a little mercy on Jonah. Jonah despised these people. Jonah had some legitimate reasons he didn’t want to obey God. MAYBE YOU CAN RELATE! The Word of the Lord will come to you clearly but in your mind your saying, “Okay I understand, but I don’t want to do it.” Perhaps you can relate in some different ways. Forgiving those God’s word clearly tells us to forgive. I know that’s what God wants me to do but I just can’t. I DON’T WANT TO DO IT! How about tithing? The Bible is crystal clear that we should return to tithe to God as an act of worship. As an act of putting God first. But we say, “I don’t want to. I like my things more than I want to obey God.” I know what God says about sex outside of marriage but I don’t care what God says. I want to do this. It feels good! THERE’S A LITTLE JONAH IN ALL OF US! Or, I’ll do it later. Delayed obedience is really disobedience. ***You can tell the maturity of the believer by the distance between the command and the obedience. The lag time. TRANSITION: The Word of God comes to you and you don’t want to do it. When God speaks to you, and he will II. YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND A BOAT SAILING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION Jonah 1:3- Turn and read God says, “Go to Nineveh,” and Jonah heads to Tarshish, 2500 miles in the opposite direction. One commentator said that it would take about a year for Jonah to get to Tarshish. That’s a lot of running. You of us may be able to relate to that. We’ve been running and we’re a long way from God. The Word of the Lord has come to you and you’ve said no to God and you’ve went the other direction. YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER! We stop going to church, we put down our bibles, we stop praying, all along we’re drifting from God. When we disobey God we are drifting and separating ourselves from Him. There’s a little bit of Jonah in all of us. TRANSITION: The Word of the Lord comes to us. It may not be what we want to hear. When you run you will always find a boat going in the other direction. And while you’re running III. GOD MAY SEND A STORM TO GRAB YOUR ATTENTION Jonah 1:4-8- Turn and read Evidently this was a big strong ship because it was carrying cargo. Because of the storm the integrity of the ship was compromised. They threw some cargo off but that didn’t work. They drew straws to find out who caused this. It was Jonah. Verse 9- “He answered, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” Do you really worship God Jonah? This highlights one of the biggest problems in the Christian church in America. A generation of Christians who say they are followers of Christ but don’t live like it at all! It’s a cultural Christianity. It’s a Christianity in name only. We live like the sinner next to us. A “consumerist” religion. As long as God does good things for me I’ll go to church and serve God. Worshipping God is not something you do one day a week. It’s a lifestyle. Jonah finally humbles himself and realizes, “hey this storm is my fault. I’m hurting all these innocent people because of my disobedience. Verse 12- “Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” The sailors have mercy on Jonah and wanted to row him back to shore. Verse 13(MSG)- “But no. The men tried rowing back to shore. They made no headway. The storm only got worse and worse, wild and raging.” The Storm was Jonah’s greatest friend! So they throw Jonah overboard. Then the sea gets completely calm,. TRANSITION: God has something to say to you. It may not be what you want to hear. There’s always another boat going in the opposite direction. If you take this boat God may send a storm to grab your attention. IV. JONAH’S WORST NIGHTMARE WAS EXACTLY WHAT HE NEEDED. Verse 17- “But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. Talk about a nightmare. But Jonah’s greatest nightmare was just what he needed. “The Lord provided a great fish.” Some of you may be facing your worst nightmare and your saying “I’m done.” Now God says, “Okay, Now do I have your attention.” I don’t believe that everything bad happening in your life is God. But I do believe there are times when God may cause or allow our worst nightmare so tat God can fully GET OUR ATTENTION! Your worst nightmare is because God loves you and He has something for you to do. Proverbs 14:12- “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” CONCLUSION: The storm and the fish was Jonah’s greatest friend at this time in his life. God is speaking to you. He might be asking you to do something you don’t want to do. There’s always a ship going in the opposite direction. If God has to He’ll send a storm to get your attention. And your worst nightmare may be exactly what you need to get you headed in the right direction. “God will never leave you or forsake you.” Quirinusnoreply@blogger.com