Souls depend on our obedience.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 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. 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!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
Jonah 3:1-5 NKJV
The love of our Savior never fails.
The Bible says that God shows no one partiality. There are no favors or favoritism with God!
He gives all the opportunity to come in repentance. Those that repent, accept and follow His Son Jesus as Lord and Savior will have everlasting life!
But who can come to Him in repentance?
We see the world crumbling right in front of our eyes! Everyday it seems as if evil is prevailing. What are we to do?
Jonah was called to be the Prophet to go forth and tell Nineveh of God’s coming judgment. The people of Nineveh were evil and wicked to the core of the being!
Jonah knew this. He saw the corruption. He knew of the evils they had done. The people of Nineveh were God’s sworn enemies.
The Father still wanted to reach out to them.
Jonah did everything he possibly could to avoid the command of The Lord.
All because he believed that they were only worthy of God’s judgment and wrath, not His love and mercy
He ran from it rather than run to it.
The Lord had to rebuke Jonah, and sent a big fish to swallow him whole.
In darkness and separation from the Father himself. I think he realized how it would be for all those people. Dark, empty, total separation from God, forever!
I can’t imagine the thoughts that would run Jonah’s head.
But God in His grace and mercy preserved Jonah.
The Holy Father gave him orders to go and preach the Good news to even the ones that deserve it the least. Jonah repents from his sins and God calls him again.
Everyone is usable to the Kingdom of Heaven. But we have to submit.
Submission is the ability to see that God’s ways and thinking is far greater than ours!
We will never be able to compare or comprehend why the Lord does what He does. He knows and that’s all that matters!
After Jonah asked for forgiveness and repented the fish spit him out!
Our God is a God of second chances.
He will call you out of the depths of hell. He will call you out from a spiritual death. He will restore, reuse and retain you for His work. But we have to be like Jonah and reconsider who needs AMAZING GRACE!
Jonah’s mission is restored and renewed. The God of second chances will do miracles through a man or woman that is willing to repent and rely.
This shows how amazing the love of God is to His people even when they choose to stray from Him.
Even though Jonah did everything he could to resist the first call of God, after Jonah repented God called him again.
God was under no obligation to do it. He did it out of mercy and grace.
Revival will start though a repenting heart. And a repenting heart will have the desire to do whatever the Master calls His servant to do.
Just as Jonah’s rebellion against God affected all those around him, so did his repentance.
There is power in the repentant heart. There is a turnaround in a repentant life.
Just because we may live our lives in total rebellion to God does not mean that His instructions change. His requirements don’t change for us. We are still called to the Great Commission work of the Kingdom!
God tells Jonah to get up! Arise. Means to be awakened, to get up.
Now Jonah listens to the Lord.
But he had to learn the hard lesson that resisting and going against the will of God is both completely worthless and counter-productive, Jonah now obeys the call and goes to Nineveh.
We never know who needs to hear about Jesus and the Good News only He can offer. We don’t know whose hearts God is going to change. What bondage they could be freed from.
People that need God will miss out on the message that God is giving if WE are not obedient to go and tell them!
If He has told you to share about the freedom that awaits and we don’t go, they end up missing out on what may save their lives, their souls!
We must turn from wickedness in our own hearts so that we can arise for the Glory of the Kingdom!
Our responsibility is great but our needed obedience is greater!
The Lord is calling His people to be the Light of the world. He is calling His people to arise and tell even the greatest sinners to come and repent.
Repentance has to start in our own hearts first before we should ever step out of the door! Learn from Jonah’s mistake. Jonah thought that just because He was called to be a Prophet of God that he could make the decision for God. Jonah didn’t believe that mercy, grace, love, salvation, restoration should be available.
Everyone needs to hear about the soul saving life resorting Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
The lesson of Jonah reminds us that God is the God of all people. Regardless if we think that they deserve the same love, grace and mercy that He has shown us through His Son Jesus.
Jesus didn’t die on the Cross for just a select few. His Blood was shed for ALL that needs to be washed clean! Even the wickedness of the most hardened heart.
The Holy Spirit is going to lead you and prompt you to speak to someone. He might lead you to the darkest ally. It might be to the person that has hurt you the most. It might be someone that you yourself have spoken destruction over. But always remember that even the most evil, vile person deserves to hear about the same mercy that the Lord has shown you.
It is getting harder to preach the Gospel these days! It is up to us to herald the Good News, it’s not up to us on who should hear it!
Listen to His call!
Hear His voice!
Be His hands and feet!
Speak the Word of God to the ends of the world to any ear that is willing to catch it.
Then watch and witness what the Lord can do to the hardest of hearts!
Their souls depend on our obedience.
Be obedient
Pastor Ed
