March 27, 2022 • Pastor Phil Burdoin • 2 Peter 3:9, Jonah 4:5–11, Ezekiel 18:23, Ezekiel 33:11
We see Jonah’s real motivation for preaching to Nineveh when he goes outside the city to wait for God’s wrath. But it never comes; instead, God forgives them. God’s grace is an amazing gift we want for ourselves, but we often hope his grace will be withheld from our enemies. Jonah is happy when he receives comfort from the shade of a plant and angry when he suffers from the heat. He wept over the plant but would not weep over the lostness of his enemies. What about us? We often believe that God takes pleasure in judging sinners, but he does not. He takes pleasure when people repent of their sins and turn to Him. We should weep over the sad situation of those far from God and do all that we can to love and serve them and share the truth of the gospel with them. God is patient, wanting us to go to them so that they may hear. The question for us is the same as God asked Jonah: Should we not be more concerned for lost people than we are about our own comfort?
Motivated by Compassion
Jonah is Angry
March 20, 2022 • Pastor Bill West • Jonah 4:1–4
The people of Nineveh were evil and depraved-they hated everyone, including Israel, and did all kinds of horrible things to them and others. The Jews despised them, and God’s call to Jonah to preach to them was an offensive call-that is why he resisted. God’s grace is an amazing gift to us, but we often want it to be withheld from our enemies. There often seems to be a contradiction between God’s justice and His mercy. Jonah knew that God was gracious and merciful and would be willing to forgive the people of Nineveh. That is why he did not want to preach to them, and even when he did, he still hoped they would refuse to repent and receive God’s wrath. We often struggle with taking the message of God’s grace and hope for some people because of their lifestyles and actions. We often hope for God’s justice for them and, like Jonah, may become angry when we see God’s grace and mercy extended to our enemies.
Jonah is Angry
Reluctant Obedience
March 13, 2022 • Buky Ventura • Jonah 3
God works to get our attention because he desires to give us a second chance. He is always willing to provide us with a second chance. It is never too late to do the right thing in your life. Where, in your life, is God giving you a second chance? Who in your life needs to hear the message of hope and grace?
Reluctant Obedience
Running From Grace
March 6, 2022 • Pastor Phil Burdoin • Jonah 1:17—2:10
God will often put or allow roadblocks and challenging circumstances in our lives when we refuse to obey. Sometimes our disobedience puts others at risk, and disobedience always brings consequences. God’s commitment to us is so great that he will make us miserable, hem us in, put us in tough situations, and even terrible circumstances to get our attention and bring us to the end of ourselves and our efforts. God used the belly of the fish to reveal Himself to Jonah and let Jonah know all that he had been trusting in could not save him, and his life was in God’s hands.
Running From Grace
Who Are You?
February 27, 2022 • Pastor Bill West • Jonah 1:5–17
God will often put or allow roadblocks and challenging circumstances in our lives when we refuse to obey. Sometimes our disobedience puts others at risk, and disobedience always brings consequences. These pagan and hardened sailors are godlier in their response to the storms than Jonah. Jonah refuses to speak to these pagans about his God, and God turns the tables and uses the pagans to speak to Jonah about his God. They cry out for help while Jonah falls asleep, totally oblivious to the life and death circumstances around Him. It makes me wonder how often we are sleeping when God calls us to be awake to the needs of those around us. It’s as if we do not know who we really are. God extends his grace and mercy to everyone here. He saves the sailors and even Jonah during this experience-yet Jonah has much more to learn about God’s grace and mercy and what God has called him to do.
Who Are You?
Running from God
February 20, 2022 • Pastor Bill West • Jonah 1:1–6
God calls Jonah to leave his country and go to Nineveh, Israel’s enemy, to preach against it. Jonah refuses to go and runs in the opposite direction. Many Christians are upset that we live in such a lost and depraved society, and we pull away from it even when God calls us to reach out to love and share God’s gospel with them. We seem content to sit back and condemn it rather than reaching out and engaging it. It appears that we hope they will receive God’s judgment instead of His mercy. Jonah’s refusal to follow God’s will and run will bring him and others great danger. We lose when we refuse to reach out to those around us. The message of God’s grace, love, and mercy must be made available to the entire world. Yet we turn away from those who need it most. There are those around us who are far from God and very different from us. God cares deeply about how we relate to and treat those not like us. God calls us to treat those who are from other races and religions in respectful, loving, generous, and just ways. Jonah is refusing; what are we doing?
Running from God
