Jonah
What Difference Does Easter Make
April 21, 2019 • Mark Rowland
Holy Week is the most important week in the Church year. It is a time when we celebrate in a special way the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We remember His actions, reflect on His messages, and recommit to living as His disciples in the world today. We will use the readings from Luke this week as we prepare for Easter.
The Sign of Jonah
April 14, 2019 • Mark Putman
When asked by the Pharisees for miraculous proof that He was indeed the Messiah, Jesus answered them by saying that none would be given except the “sign of Jonah.” Jesus recognized the religious leaders’ hardness of heart and refused to give them further proof of His identity. It wasn’t long after this encounter that Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The leadership turned up the fire on Jesus and was successful in ending His ministry—and His life. But the “sign of Jonah” would turn out to be Jesus’ greatest miracle of all. His resurrection from the dead would be God’s primary sign that Jesus was Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and would establish Christ’s claims of deity. Even after this, many in leadership still did not believe in Jesus as the Christ and prevented others from doing so. We need to help others overcome anything that would hinder them from putting their faith in Jesus.
Jonah's Anger God's Compassion
April 7, 2019 • Mark Rowland
Jonah had experienced God’s grace in several ways through the storm—the captain, the sailors and finally the fish. We saw God’s grace capturing Jonah through his prayer and in giving him another chance. But when Jonah saw God’s grace poured out and lavished upon the Ninevites, he was angry. Jonah knew when God had called him the first time to go to Nineveh that there was the possibility that they might repent and he didn’t want anything to do with that. One of the most important commands Jesus gave to us is to love everyone as he has loved us. God wants none to perish; He wants all to come to a saving faith in His Son, and He uses us to help others see how loving and compassionate He is. We all need to have a heart for the lost as He does.
God of Second Chances
March 31, 2019 • Mark Rowland
Despite Jonah’s failure to heed God’s call, God never gives up on him, and he never gives up on us. God is the God of the second chance. God surely could have let Jonah die and found a more willing servant; instead He showed him mercy despite his rebellion. Only after being plunged into the drowning waters and revived by his saving God can Jonah hear and respond to God’s second call. Repenting does not mean saying we’re sorry and continuing down the same path. It involves a total “about face,” where there is not only sorrow over sin, but a change in attitude, priorities, and lifestyle. We ought to be more like the sailors and Ninevites who responded in humble faith to God’s word, who put faith into action
Saved In The Storm
March 17, 2019 • Mark Rowland
When Jonah made the decision to flee from God’s call, God did not choose to send someone else. Instead He sends the perfect storm; He employs the wind to bring order out of Jonah’s chaos. By interrupting Jonah’s plans to flee, God is saving him. Like Jonah who slept during the storm in the inner most recesses of the ship, we sometimes need to be awakened from our spiritual slumber. When the storm hit, the crew of the ship knew it wasn’t just an ordinary storm; the strength and suddenness of it was something they had not experienced before. They knew that something or someone had caused this storm to happen. And Jonah knew it too. God saw his repentant heart and He provided an extraordinary rescue.
I Don't Want To
March 10, 2019 • Mark Putman
God sometimes calls His people to assignments that are not always convenient or comfortable. Jonah did not answer God’s call to preach His word to the feared and hated enemy in Nineveh with a resounding, “Yes, send me!” Instead he was silent. Without any arguing or debating, Jonah went to Joppa and got on a boat to go as far as he could in the opposite direction. He chose to blatantly ignore and disobey God. And like it or not, we all have pulled a Jonah in our lives, most likely numerous times. You see, the story of Jonah is really all of our stories. Each of us can look back and see where we have attempted to run from God in one way or another. The good news is that, like Jonah, we can run from God but we can’t outrun God