This message was preached by Colin D' Cruz at Word of Grace Church Pune, on the 2nd of February 2014
Are we in step with God's purposes for our lives and through our lives? .
To listen to the AUDIO please CLICK HERE
Jonah was an established,
practising prophet (2
Kings 14: 25). He was the one who prophesied in the Northern kingdom of Israel.
He was prophet to the Jews. One day, God tells him to go somewhere else i.e.
Nineveh- a world power at that time. The Assyrians were powerful, ruthless and
cruel and were hated by the Jews. Years later, God uses Assyria to bring
judgement on Israel. Now Jonah has to go and give them a message of mercy which
he did not want to do. He wanted them punished. So he ran away and was out of step with God i.e. that God was not
just interested in Israel but the nations of the world. We can be cosy and
comfortable here but God wants more.
When Abraham and Moses were told that God would
destroy the world, they pleaded on their behalf. But Jonah wanted them
destroyed. As Jonah was away- the book is more about Jonah than Nineveh. In
fact, (3:4) the prophetic word was only one sentence, i.e. repent. This book is not about the revival of a
city but God’s love for a rebellious child. God loves us inspite of our
rebellion and he is committed to you. God is committed to working through
Jonah. God is committed to working through our lives. Jonah being a prophet was a man who spent a lot of
time in God’s presence to hear God speak.
Jonah is now running away and he finds a ship. Be careful of circumstances guiding you-
was that God’s boat? We need to be guided by the WORD. Jonah tries to flee-
Has he not read Psalm 139? So he
goes to Tar shish and in verse 3 in the boat, he fell into a deep sleep. In
verse 4 God sends a storm. Can God send
a storm? Yes he can because he is committed to his child. Heb 12- God
disciplines his children and in different ways. Here God sends a storm (some
come from the devil, but this was from God). The sailors try everything but
Jonah was sleeping. He has to be shaken awake.
The world is crying out to their own gods and we can
be like Jonah- asleep, watching T.V., getting on with life, our career and we
can miss out on the cries of people all around.
Q. Are we awake to the purposes
of God or just pre-occupied with our own lives?
God is concerned for us and sometimes, a storm hits to
rouse us from our slumber to the purposes of God.
In verse 8 Jonah is now found out. He tells them that
he is a Hebrew and that he is running away from God.
In Verse 12, it looks that Jonah knew the solution. The sailors acted with compassion and tried
not to throw him over. But the irony is that Jonah had no compassion.
In verse 15- the raging sea is calmed and the sailors
saw the power of God and they became believers. God can use our mistakes to turn things around. This is the amazing
thing about the sovereignty of God.
Jonah is thrown overboard and swallowed by a giant
fish. This is not a fairytale but a true story. Even Jesus refers to it.
Judgement hangs over the whole world. But we have one
greater than Jonah. Jesus, who was not thrown in the sea but hung on the cross
for you and me. The nations are waiting. Ephesians 2:10- there are good works
prepared in advance for us to do. We need to be a part of a local church, plug
in and serve, loving one another and be a people who are missional for the
nations. We will look at the next part
of the story next week.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that have people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. To know more about us please log ontowww.wordofgracechurch.org.
English Language Service Sundays at 10am. Please check google maps for directions!
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