“God Can… So You Can”
Jonah 3:1-10
Pastor John Bright
Jonah 3 “1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?”
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”
I doubt anyone here can tell me how many times they have sung these words – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” You have sung it over, but do you understand the depths of wretchedness?
The man who wrote those words was John Newton. Before he was a priest in the Church of England – just like John Wesley – he was the captain of a slave ship. God still used him… after a storm and a U-turn. Does that remind you of Jonah?
There were plenty of folks in Bible, used by God, who were less than perfect: Noah was a drunk, Jacob was a liar, Gideon was afraid, Samson had long hair and was a womanizer, Rahab was a prostitute, David was an adulterer (not to mention a murderer), Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist ate bugs, Peter denied Christ, all the disciples fell asleep while praying (and ran away when Jesus really needed them), Martha worried about everything, the Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once), Mary Magdalene was demon-possessed, Zacchaeus was too small, Paul was a Christian-killer, and Lazarus was dead!
If God can use those folks – and Jonah – He can and will use you and me!
We probably don’t want Jonah’s job. God sends him to a city of blood-thirsty, idol worshipers. God tells Jonah to share a message of coming destruction – complete and utter destruction coming in 40 days (v.5). How do they respond – the king calls everyone to fast and change. Even the animals! God sees their response and does not destroy Nineveh. Why?
Today, I want to share three great truths of our Christian Faith.
Here’s the first truth (and it’s “flip-side”):
We have a God who loves us and an enemy that hates us!
We start with a God who loves us. God loves you in spite of what you have done, not because of what you have done. Do you realize the power in that statement to set us free from trying to earn the love of our Heavenly Father? Let me put it another way – there is nothing you can ever do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can ever do to make God love you less. (Let that sink in for a minute.) Is this God of powerful love news to you? This is the same God that sent a big fish to rescue and save Jonah. This is the same God that threatens to destroy Nineveh.
We live in a day when some claim that if God really loves us, there would be no hell. They seem to forget that we live a “cause & effect” world/universe. For example, consider the parenting style of the last few decades that did away with consequences for the children’s actions. How has that worked out? Not sure, ask any teacher in a public school.
We did the same thing in the Church and I call it “The Great Experiment.” It changes 2000 years of Christianity. Here it is – “I can claim to be a Believer while I say, and do, and think and believe anything I want.” So, how has that worked out?
We have a God who loves us and an enemy that hates us. His name is Lucifer and Satan is his title. Why does the devil hate us soooo much? We are made in the image of God (just like those Assyrians who lived in Nineveh). Genesis1:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (There are so many things I would like to say here about the raging debate over gender identity – just remember what God made!)
Believers are the most hated people on this earth. Here some info from The Esther Project:
• More than 70 million Christians have been martyred in the course of history. More than half were martyred in the 20th century under communist and fascist government (Gordon-Conwell Resources).
• In the 21st century, roughly 100,000 to 160,000 Christians were killed each year (Gordon-Conwell Resources and World Christian Database, respectively).
• Roughly 1,093,000 Christians were martyred, worldwide, between 2000 and 2010 (World Christian Database).
• 322 Christians are killed for their faith every month (Open Doors).
• 214 churches and Christian properties are destroyed every month (Open Doors).
• 772 (acts) of violence (beatings, kidnappings, rape, arrest, etc.) are committed against Christians every month (Open Doors).
http://theestherproject.com/statistics/
Here’s the second truth for this morning –
God put you here to use you, not to please you!
It doesn’t matter where you came from or what you have done. Did any of that matter when God chose to use Jonah? NO!
Listen to these verses:
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
1 John 4:4 "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."
Do you believe God’s Word to be the truth? Do you believe these words are for each of us? If you answered “yes” to both of these questions, I have another for you. Will you allow yourself to be used by God?
The people who called themselves Methodists used to gather yearly and renew their covenant with God. They would repeat a prayer written my John Wesley. I have put part of that prayer on your teaching sheet. This prayer is the exact opposite of what the prosperity gospel folks try to sell us in their books that promise your best life now. Say those words with me now:
“Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.” Amen!
If we want to be servants of God, this should be our attitude each and every day.
Here’s the third truth for today and it might be the scariest of all!
God can use you to change the world!
The world of today needs to hear the life changing message of Jesus! Yet, the laborers are few. Have you ever heard of Jeremiah Lamphere? In 1857 he was a 46-year-old man who lived in New York City. Jeremiah loved the Lord tremendously, but he didn’t feel that he could do much for the Lord until he began to feel a burden for the lost and accepted an invitation from his church to be an inner-city missionary. So, in July of 1857 he started walking up and down the streets of New York passing out tracts and talking to people about Jesus, but he wasn’t having any success. Then God put it on his heart to try prayer. So, he printed up a bunch of tracts, and he passed them out to anyone and everyone met. He invited anyone who wanted to come to the 3rd floor of the Old North Dutch Reform Church on Fulton St. in New York City from 12 to 1 on Wednesday to pray. He passed out hundreds and hundreds of fliers and put-up posters everywhere he could. Wednesday came and at Noon nobody showed up. So Jeremiah got on his knees and started praying. For 30 minutes he prayed by himself when finally, five other people walked in. The next week 20 people came. The next week between 30 and 40 people came. They then decided to meet every day from 12:00 to 1:00 to pray for the city. Before long a few ministers started coming and they said, "We need to start this at our churches". Within six months there were over 5000 prayer groups meeting every day in N.Y. Soon the word spread all over the country. Prayer meetings were started in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington D.C. In fact, President Franklin Pierce started going almost every day to a noonday prayer meeting. By 1859 some 15,000 cities in America were having downtown prayer meetings every day at noon and thousands were brought to Christ. The great thing about this revival is that there is not a famous preacher associated with it. It was all started by one simple man listening to God’s leading to pray.
Wow – I love this story of one person who was faithful to God’s calling to pray. Prayer changes things, amen? In our reading for today, the people of Nineveh prayed. Why? Because God used Jonah. God uses so many underserving and underestimated people in the Bible. God used John Newton and John Wesley. God used Jeremiah Lamphere.
God uses ordinary people today –
• Not all will save a city of 20,000.
• Not all will start a nation-wide prayer movement.
• Some will save just one
We offer them hope – just like Jonah did - Jonah 3:10 “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”
There are folks today who say all religions are the same. Let me share a story to show you that is just crazy talk - According to an old legend, a man became lost in his travels and wandered into a bed of quicksand. A follower of Confucius saw the man's predicament and said, "It is evident that men should stay out of places such as this." Next, a Buddhist observed the situation and said, "Let this man's plight be a lesson to the rest of the world." Then a Muslim came by and said to the sinking man, "Alas, it is the will of God." Finally, a Christian appeared. Looking at this man with the love of God he said, "Take my hand, brother, I will save you."
Without Jonah to preach to Nineveh, 20,000 people would have been lost. Jesus is calling you and me to reach folks today. We may not be able to change the whole world, but we can help change a person’s whole world. Amen.
TEACHING SHEET
Jonah 3:1-10
Series: “Jonah: God’s Reluctant Prophet”
“God Can… So You Can”
Who was John Newton? Newton was nurtured by a Christian mother who taught him the Bible at an early age. As an adult, he eventually came to work on the slave ship Greyhound, a Liverpool ship, in 1747, and on its homeward journey, the ship was overtaken by an enormous storm. Newton had been reading Thomas a Kempis's “The Imitation of Christ”, and was struck by a line about the "uncertain continuance of life." He also recalled the passage in Proverbs, "Because I have called and ye have refused, … I also will laugh at your calamity." He converted during the storm, though he admitted later, "I cannot consider myself to have been a believer, in the full sense of the word." John Newton became a pastor in the Church of England and wrote many hymns – including “Amazing Grace.”https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/pastorsandpreachers/john-newton.html
There are so many stories in the Bible of God using those who would appear unqualified: Noah was a drunk, Jacob was a liar, Gideon was afraid, Samson had long hair and was a womanizer, Rahab was a prostitute, David was an adulterer (not to mention a murderer), Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist ate bugs, Peter denied Christ, all the disciples fell asleep while praying (and ran away when Jesus really needed them.), Martha worried about everything, The Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once), Mary Magdalene was demon-possessed, Zacchaeus was too small, Paul was a Christian-killer, and Lazarus was dead!
Three great truths of our Christian Faith ????????
We have a God who loves us and an enemy that hates us!
• God loves you in spite of what you have done not because of what you have done
• Satan wants us to suffer because we remind him of God
Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, according to The Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC). They report that 900,000 Christians have been 'martyred' in the last decade, equating to 90,000 a year and one every six minutes. (Jan 13, 2017)
God can use you!
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Will you allow yourself to be used by God?
“Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.” John Wesley
God can use you to change the world!
Jonah 3:10 “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”
Without Jonah to preach to Nineveh, 20,000 people would have been lost. Jesus is calling you and me to reach folks today. We may not be able to change the whole world, but we can help change a person’s whole world.
