Jonah 3:1-5, 10
“And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.”
“10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
There is a journey that every one must take. It is a journey with only two directions….one direction leads toward God. The other direction leads away. The former is a life lived according to God’s will. The latter is a pursuit of self-will.
Our journey is complicated by the fact that many don’t take the time to read the ’warning signs’ along the way…warnings like "Enter ye in at the strait gat…" and "wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction", and narrow is the way, which leads unto life" (Matthew 7:13) We are often too busy pursuing our own will to notice God’s will for our lives.
Life that has failed is tragic…. but even worse is a life that has succeeded, only to find in the end that what was achieved is not GAIN at all, but ASHES. A journey without God breeds a sense of non-fulfillment and disappointment, no matter what the achievements. But a journey WITH God opens up the windows of heaven.
Consider the unsaved millionaire who comes to the close of a life that afforded him every luxury. Like all unsaved men, he has but one thought… “Life is almost over. Why do I feel as though I have missed something?"
Indeed, a life lived without God misses the whole point of our existence. Man’s soul is God-given, and man is meant to JOIN his soul with his MAKER. St. Augustine wrote, "Thou hast made us in Thy likeness, and our souls are restless until they repose in thee." Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
God gives man the authority to choose his own path, but not without consequences. For Jonah, his first journey was a choice to go it alone…without God. When he boarded a ship for Tarshish, he was operating on self-will. But when a violent storm suddenly overtook the ship, Jonah was cast overboard and swallowed by a big fish, and had a few days to rethink his choice. Life gave Jonah a second chance. He finally saw the detour sign on the road of life, and that sign led him back to God.
Man is anti-repentant. We hate to admit that we are wrong, or weak, or imperfect, or incapable of supplying our own needs and making our own wise choices. So we stubbornly plunge ahead…running from God and His guidance…like a Jonah heading for disaster. We end up with husbands and wives that make us unhappy; we end up in careers that are unfulfilling…and the pain of our choices last FAR MORE than three days.
But we serve a God of second chances. For Jonah, that second chance brought him back in line with God’s will. He learned to follow the direction of the Lord, no matter how difficult, and in the end…he witnessed the great reward of repentance and service to God.
Jonah awoke on that third day to find himself spewed upon the shore…given a second chance to choose another direction for his life. And the second time around, he finally did obey God’s orders to go to Ninevah and preach to a people whom he had previously deemed unworthy of his prophetic knowledge. The end result was that the entire city of Ninevah repented and was spared from God’s wrath.
Consider for a moment, the impact of our own repentance. When we finally get life RIGHT, and obey God…how many after us will find salvation by our example. A father, who repents and takes his children to church, is choosing not just to correct his OWN path, but also to set a new path for his children and his grandchildren. Our generations can be blessed or cursed by our own choices.
Imagine how desperately Jonah wanted to preach at the moment he was spewed on shore! The penitent prophet Jonah was no doubt eager to fulfill his neglected duty. But notice that he did not presume his commission was still valid. After all, if God commands us to go, and we refuse, we cannot assume that He won’t assign another to the task. The punishment for disobedience is often SILENCE. It is God’s mercy that allows us a second chance to obliterate our disobedience with a demonstration of new enthusiasm. God showered His mercy on Jonah, and issued him a second commission. This time Jonah would not fail.
Jonah was charged by God to PREACH. The word ’preach’ is instructive. It means, "to cry"…in a manner that is befitting those who carry God’s message. They should preach it loudly, plainly, urgently, and with earnest emotion in their voice. Some would ask why a preacher has to shout his message. Soft whispers will never wake the sinful sleeper. Unless the messenger is earnest, the message will fall flat. God commanded Jonah to "preach unto [Ninevah] the preaching that I BID THEE". The preacher is a crier, not of his own imaginations and spins, but a messenger who preaches all that GOD BIDS HIM TO REVEAL; The less the prophet shows of himself, the more effective his message.
But this charge which came to Jonah, and comes to many who are called to preach, is a charge that comes in some lesser degree to everyone who becomes a disciple of Christ. The story of our repentance is our TESTIMONY. And the story of CHRIST and His salvation IS OUR WITNESS. We owe it to Christ to share His gift with our whole community.
For Jonah, that community was Ninevah. Ninevah was a full three days journey in circumference. Jonah had only his feet to carry him. Imagine what a task it was for a solitary stranger to thunder out his loud cry throughout that metropolis! Yet he was obedient. I wonder why then, in this 21st century, with cars, and planes, and buses, and subways, and telephones, and email and faxes…. the church of Jesus Christ is today struggling to get its message to the lost? It’s not the message that fails…it’s the messenger ({the disciple} when we deliver it on our own without the Holy Spirit, or when we fail to deliver it at all.)
Ninevah, a great military power, heard Jonah’s message and repented of their sin. Beginning with the leadership of that great city, the entire population heeded Jonah’s warning and repented in sackcloth and ashes. From the Ninevites we learn the true meaning of repentance. They brought no sacrifices or offerings to appease God…. they just poured out their sorrow, demonstrated their self-abasement, and cried out for forgiveness.
The loftiest lesson a sinner must learn is this…that God forgives a broken and contrite heart! God’s forgiveness of Ninevah should give us the confidence that He will also forgive us our sins…if we pour out our sorrow.
Probably the whole purpose of the Lord’s use of the story of Ninevah, was to show wayward Israel that despised and dreaded heathens are sometimes more susceptible to the voice of God than His own chosen people. That should bring great comfort to the sinner who feels that he can never measure up to the saints of God. There is no sin so great that God will not forgive the sinner!
The book of Jonah teaches this… that God specializes in second chances. For Jonah, it was a chance to do it over and get it right. For us, it is the opportunity to repent of our own self-will, and conjoin ourselves with the Will of God. It is a story of the blessedness of true repentance,
When we repent and submit to the Will of God, our lives are changed. We shift gears and change our direction. Instead of running FROM God, we run WITH God. And the evidence of that change in our direction is clear…
Our burdens become bearable;
Our problems become solvable;
Our relationships become enjoyable;
Our homes become livable;
Our trials become surmountable;
And our faith becomes inexhaustible!
Will you join this army of repentant believers in Jesus Christ and give Him your heart today?
Jesus is the Only One to whom you can confess your sins and be given a second chance!
IN CLOSING: We do not have to question GOD on where he is sending us all we have to do is obey HIM and give HIM praise and thanksgiving.
Praise sets the atmosphere for deliverance. Praise brings things from the supernatural into the natural. Psalms 22:3 say, “God inhabits the praise of His people;” in other words, God dwells in the atmosphere of Praise.
As we began to praise God, the Bible says in Acts 16:26 that “suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.”
Praise can bring about immediate results. Why do you think the devil fights you so hard when you begin or desire to praise God? The devil knows that there is power in your praise!
You may be asking yourself, "Am I qualified to praise God?" If so, let me help you out, the Bible says in Psalm 150:6, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord." Put your hand in front of your mouth and blow. Now, if you felt wind on your hand, then that qualifies you to give GOD praise.
Now, not only do we need to praise and obey GOD, but also we need to praise HIM until the power comes down. We need GOD’s power to come and deliver us from the hand of the enemy. We need GOD’s power to come and rescue us from the prisons the enemy has put us in.
... Prisons of the mind
... Prisons of the heart
... Prisons of Family
... Prisons of Relationships
... Prisons of Self
When we get to a level of praise where the Power comes down, Gods power will lift us up and take us to the next level in our walk with Christ.
“THANK! “THE GOD OF ANOTHER CHANCE!”
ILL.: About 15 years ago I was visiting my wife (we were dating back then) and I was playing with her little sister. As usual she was jumping all over me so we started play wrestling. I had her in a pretend headlock and she couldn’t get out (she was 4).
She called a time out and said she needed to go to the bathroom. It was taking her quite a while, so after about five minutes I called for her. She answered and said she was on her way. When she returned to the den she yelled time in and jumped on me.
Every time I tried to grab her arms or head she would slip away from me and then laugh cause she got away. I realized she had something on her that was stopping me from getting a good grip.
I said, Ashley what do you have all over you? She giggled! I asked again, Ashley what do you have all over you? She replied, AWKMENT oil {ANOINTMENT or ANOINTING}! So I didn’t understand her and after asking her several time she said hold on I’ll show you!
She comes out of the bathroom with a huge tub of industrial size Coco Butter (every since then her nickname has been Coco) and said here this is what I put on so you couldn’t hold me. I said oh you put on Coco Butter so I couldn’t get a tight grip? She replied, I told you AWKMENT OIL!
So if you find yourself trying to do your own will or the ways of the world and you are born again I would like to suggest. That all you need is to go to the LORD and get some FRESH OIL! Let GOD anoint you with HIS spirit so that every time that Satan tries to get a grip on you and your life that you can do like Ashley said she did with her arms, she said she dipped them down in the big tub of AWKMENT!
Is there anybody here that needs to dip in the Living Waters of Christ?
Is there anybody here that needs to dip in the Fullness of GOD?
Is there anybody here that needs to dip in the Love of GOD?
Is there anybody here that needs to dip in the Presence of GOD?
Is there anybody here that needs to dip in the Peace of GOD?
Is there anybody here that needs to dip in the Joy of the LORD?
Is there anybody here that needs to dip in the Will of GOD?
DIP, DIP, DIP, DIP & DIP!
I don’t know about you but I didn’t come to worship GOD and leave the same way I came! I’m looking for to GOD for a new thing.
I’m going to DIP until my change comes!
Dip until Hell is destroyed in my life!
Dip until I’m healed!
DIP until my bills are paid!
Dip until I have the Garment of Praise to destroy the heaviness that comes with life!
DIP until people around me are changed!
DIP until I make a difference!
DIP until someone says, what must I do to be saved?
DIP until people see more of GOD and less of me!
DIP until I’m not seen at all!
Dip until we change our community!
DIP until we change our county!
Dip until we change or state!
Dip until we change our country!
DIP until we change the world!
I’m trying to take my seat but GOD has been just to good to me to keep HIM to myself. Is there anybody here that knows that we serve a mighty good GOD? Say YES!
Say YES!
YES!
YES to HIS will!
YES to HIS way!
OH MY GOD! HE’S AWESOME!
DIP Until your problems drop!
DIP until something happens!
Slap your neighbor a hi five and say DIP until
“The Second Time Around”!
Thank GOD for another chance!
We didn’t deserve it!
We still don’t deserve it but I thank Jesus for a “never the less”! I thank GOD for Jesus!
Part of this sermon idea came from another Sermon Central contributer!
God’s servant and Jesus’ brother:
Overseer D. Gene Sample, Jr.
If you are interested in fellowshipping with our ministry or me send me e-mail:
pastordgs@msn.com
Also I travel doing revivals and workshops and would love to come and be bless and be a blessing with you! My motto is; “WERE BREAKING MAN’S TRADITIONS DOING GOD’S WORK”!
