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New Life Church on the Rock
Sunday March 30, 2008
Jonah (Part 3)
INTRODUCTION: Go over Jonah Chapters 1 and 3.
1. God asks us to do things we don’t want to do.
2. There’s always a boat going in the opposite direction
3. God may send a storm to get our attention.
4. Jonah’s worst nightmare was just what he needed.
1. God is a God of second chances.
2. Go NOW!
3. To go you might have to let go.
Today we are going back to Jonah Chapter 2.
Jonah 2:1- “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to Lord his God.”
Jonah had stopped praying, like many people who claim to be Christians have done. During the storm while all the sailors were calling on their gods Jonah was asleep in the bottom of the boat.
But in Jonah 2 Jonah remembers the POWER OF PRAYER.
***Story of a small town church who prayed against a local nightclub. ****
From inside the fish Jonah PRAYED to the Lord his God. In other words, God got his attention! Some of you God has finally got your attention and your prayer life is about to come alive.
Jonah 2:2- “He said: In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
Can we even begin to grasp that we have the opportunity to call on the creator of the universe? The One who hung the stars in the sky! The First and the Last, the Beginning and the Ending, the Almighty, all knowing, all powerful God. The supreme judge of all mankind!
WE CAN CALL ON HIM AND HE WILL ANSWER US!
After Jonah said forget you God, Jonah called on God and God in His mercy answered him! DON’T LET THE POWER OF THAT PASS YOU BY!
But how many people have said this? “Things are so bad, we’ve tried everything! All we can do now is pray!
How insulting that must be to the heart of God.
Hebrews 4:16- “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
YOU CAN CALL ON GOD AND HE WILL ANSWER YOU!
(Jonah 2:2) Jonah said, “In my distress…”
Distress- the travail of childbirth, the distress of labor.
In my agony I called on God and He answered me!
(Jonah 2:2) “From the depths of the grave I called for help..”
Grave- the realm of the dead, out of the belly of hell. From this place I called on God and he answered me.
From the place I was farther from God than ever I called on Him. From the place I was miserable, helpless, and desperate, I called on God and He answered.
When I had no place to turn, when I needed God the most but deserved it the least.
HERE’S WHAT VERSES ONE AND TWO ARE SAYING
I was as good as dead but God in His mercy caused me to be born again. I was as good as dead in my own power, I was helpless, I couldn’t contribute a thing.
Even though I didn’t deserve it, God in His mercy and love heard my cry and He caused me to rise from the dead so that I could be born again.
At any point in this story God could have changed things. He could of calmed the storm. He could have allowed the sailors to take Jonah to the shore. God could have sent a giant turtle so Jonah could have rode on its back to shore.
God could have sent a really good looking mermaid.
But God didn’t do any of those things but notice that God was actively working in Jonah’s life. Even though Jonah was in pain!
God was involved in Jonah’s life in every phase.
DON’T MISS GOD WORKING IN YOUR LIFE IN EVERY PHASE!
God is working in our lives even when we don’t recognize it. He’s preparing us for our future.
Don’t forget to embrace the phase your in now and celebrate what God is doing enroute to your ultimate destiny.
Jonah 2:3- “You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me..”
Technically the sailors threw Jonah in the sea but Jonah recognized the hand of God behind everything.
Jonah 2:6- “To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.”
Jonah was saying, “I’m a dead man, there’s no hope for me, It’s over.”
Some of you your life is seems like that. Spiraling downward!
NEVER FORGET THE BUT GOD MOMENTS!
My life was out of control BUT GOD intervened!
My marriage was in trouble and I thought it was over BUT GOD changed my heart and healed our marriage!
The doctor says it’s over, BUT GOD!
DON’T FORGET THE BUT GOD MOMENTS!
Luke 1:37- “For nothing is impossible with God.”
When Jonah was at a point that every physical thing said you will never survive, BUT GOD!
Jonah 2:7- “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.”
When things are going well do we remember God or just put Him on a shelf until the next big crisis?
Jonah 2:8- “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”
Jonah shifts his tone and gives a warning and basically he’s saying, “Don’t do what I did.”
Whatever you do don’t run from God! Whatever you do don’t neglect God and disobey Him!
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”
Grace- loving kindness, the pursuing love of God!
Those who cling to the stupid things of this world that don’t matter, they are unable to receive the pursuing love of God.
WHAT WERE JONAH’S IDOLS?
1. Prejudice
2. Self- I heard God but I don’t care what He said, I’m going to do what I want to do.
We need to surrender the idol of self. If there’s one thing we need to do is lay down the idol of self. I know what God’s Word says but I don’t care!
Jonah 2:9- “But I, with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.”
Some of you are going to make something good today. I don’t know what it is but you do. God has put it on your heart and today you need to make it good.
God has put it on your heart to give a radical generous offering. But this has been your prayer. “Satan, is that you again trying to get me to be like Jesus.”
“God’s called me to be a good steward, so I can’t give that generous offering to the church.” Like giving to God’s church makes you a bad steward.
CONCLUSION: Now look at the last phrase of verse 9.
“Salvation comes from the Lord.”
Remember Jonah couldn’t contribute anything from the belly of that fish. Salvation comes from God.
Ephesians 2:8- “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no-one can boast.”
WHAT DID IT COST GOD FOR YOUR SALVATION? HIS SON JESUS CHRIST!
The only reasonable response to the Salvation of God is this, “HERE’S MY LIFE.”
Jonah 2:10- “And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry ground.”
Whether you’re on the top of the world or in the depths of hell, when you call on the Lord He will answer you!
Let’s pray!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Jonah, Part 3 - Pastor Kenneth Woolf
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Jonah, Part 2 - Pastor Kenneth Woolf
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New Life COTR
Sunday March 2, 2008
JONAH
Part 2
INTRODUCTION: Last week we looked at Jonah Chapter 1 and learned four things.
When God speaks to us it might be something we don’t want to do.
1. When God speaks to us there is always a boat going in the opposite direction.
2. If God has to He’ll send a storm to get our attention.
3. Our worst nightmare may be just what we need.
In Jonah chapter 2 Jonah is in the belly of the fish and we read about Jonah’s prayer of repentance. We’ll come back to that.
Today we’re going to look at Jonah 3.
Jonah 3:1- “Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.”
Many people in life will not give you a second chance at something. They draw the line and say “I’m going to write you off.” You blew it with me.
I. GOD IS A GOD OF SECOND CHANCES
God came to Jonah a second time.
Some of you have blown it with God before, but God is a God of second chances.
Some of you have blown it with church, but God is a God of second chances.
Some of you have blown it with ministry, but God is a God of second chances.
Some of you have blown in marriage but God is a God of second chances.
GOD CAME TO JONAH A SECOND TIME!
Some of you God has come to you in the past and you have yet to surrender your life to God. Well God is coming to you again today!
Some of you today are coming back to God after disobeying Him.
SOME OF YOU WILL EXPERIENCE THE GRACE OF GOD TODAY!
GRACE- God giving you what you don’t deserve!
SOME OF YOU ARE GOING TO EXPERIENCE THE GRACE OF GOD TODAY!
Ephesians 2:4-9- Turn and Read
(ILLUSTRATION)
This is what God wants to do in your life. Young or old!
2Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
TRANSITION: There are those of you like me, who don’t deserve the grace of God. But the Word of the Lord will come to you a second time.
Just like it did Jonah! What was the Word of the Lord for Jonah?
II. GO NOW
Jonah 3:2- “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
GO- Go now, go immediately, go now, go suddenly!
Whenever God comes to you and gives you a second chance the time is always NOW!
The time to go is NOW!
When God says it’s time to GO you need to do it immediately because if you don’t you’ll talk yourself out of it.
God may be saying He wants you to go and forgive someone. God and apologize. God and give something away. DO IT NOW!
GO and repent of some sin, make it right NOW!
Jonah 3:3- “Jonah obeyed the Word of the Lord and went to Nineveh…”
Jonah got it right and obeyed the Word of the Lord.
“God I’ll go where you want me to go but don’t go there.”
THREE TYPES OF CHRISTIANS
1. I want what I want period!
2. I want what God wants but!
3. I want what God wants period!
TRANSITION: Jonah got a second chance to go and he did.
III. TO GO YOU MIGHT HAVE TO LET GO
Jonah 3:4- “On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”
STARTED- to untie or loosen so you can go.
To go the direction Jonah needed to go he had to let go of the things he was holding on to.
Jonah 2:8- “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”
Jonah had to let go so he could do what God was calling Him to do!
YOU MUST UNTIE YOURSELF TO YOU CAN DO WHAT GOD CALLED YOU TO DO!
I don’t know what that could be for you?
1. Your self-will, I’m going to do whatever I want period!
2. Could it be your holding on to a sense of financial security or control? I can’t take that job because this ones just to secure.
3. Could it be you’re holding on to your reputation? What other people think about you. If I do what God calls me to do others will think I’ve lost it?
4. Could it be some sin in your life?
5. Maybe it’s a relationship.
WHAT IS IT YOU’RE HOLDING ON TO THAT GOD NEEDS YOU TO LET GO OF?
UNTIL YOU LET GO YOU CAN NEVER DO WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO DO!
CONCLUSION: What are you holding on to today that you need to let go of?
God is speaking and for some of you it’s a second chance. GO NOW! Let Go and do what God needs you to do.
Jonah 3:4-10- Turn and Read
God had compassion on the Ninevites.
God is a God of Grace. GOD IS A GOD OF SECOND CHANCES!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Jonah, Part 1 - Pastor Kenneth Woolf
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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.”
