With the vast majority of our culture changing its perspective on what it believes and where the true foundation of our great nation originated, it is imperative that those who name Jesus as their Lord continually focus on and submit to His authority.
We cannot afford to allow socioeconomic, cultural, skin-color, attire, or any external factor influence the way God wants to proclaim His message through us.
Bottom line…We cannot simply allow the phrase “we have always done it that way” be the deciding and foundational principle of the way we conduct business as believers.
Change is in the air. We are at a fork in the road and there are only two paths to choose.
Revival Is Continuously Active, Not Singularly Impressive
Revival is not limited to the church. After all, Jesus did not die for the church but the entirety of humanity.
Not realizing that God has always had a great affinity for mankind is a sad mistake.
Background
Ninevites were not Israelites; they were pagan
Jonah means dove…Holy Spirit is likened to a dove
Jonah was an Israelite
He was a prophet of God (meaning that God spoke to him personally and gave him specific direction). He was the only prophet Jesus compared Himself to.
Note: We are not like Jonah in that God speaks directly to us through His Son and Spirit; we do not necessarily need someone to hear God for us
Scripture
Jonah Chapters 1-4 ESV
Chapter 1: Jonah’s rebellion…Jonah is like us; he knew the right thing to do but didn’t do it
Jonah 1:1-3, 17 ESV
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Chapter 2: Jonah’s repentance…Jonah gets right with God
Jonah 2:1
1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish…
Just like Jonah…We pray when we know we’ve messed up and missed God
Chapter 3: Jonahs’ obedience…Revival comes
Jonah 3:1-10 ESV
1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against 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, three days’ journey in breadth.
4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,
8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Chapter 4: Jonah’s resentment…God’s Mercy
Jonah 4:1-11 ESV
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.
Note: I only covered the first five verses and summarized the rest
6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.
7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.
8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”
10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.
11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
Note: there could have been as many as 600,000 people
Excuses We Use
But they deserve what they get…
Why should I witness to them, they’re never going to get it…
I cannot believe that God blesses them more than He does me…I never lived like that
They don’t even look like us…
They don’t act like us…
Questions to Ponder
Why are we like Jonah?
We are just like Jonah in that when God instructs us to do something we know we do not like…We try to run from it
Who has God told you to minister to?
Most of the time God desires for us to minister to people who are not like us in the way they live their life.
Why?
To exercise our faith and get the “religiousness” out of our life
What if I do nothing?
You might end up in a position similar to Jonah…In the dark, in a stinky, filthy, putrid place where there is nothing living but you.
Why did they respond?
Jonah had been in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. His physical appearance could have been changed in that his skin may have been bleached and he looked (probably smelled) different.
When we have an encounter with God, a face to face encounter, we are changed and we look different.
What Does True Revival Require?
Last week: In a word, revival starts in me (you)…
This week: We must look past our own agenda and even look past our “position” and see humanity through the eyes of God…They are worth saving
Do You Want Revival Today?
Humble yourself or be humbled by God
God has a way of getting our attention as His children
Luke 20:17-18 KJV
17 And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?
18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
It is better to come willingly to agreeing with the will of God than to have the will of God fall on us…Either way He wants all of us
Pray or be placed in a position where you have to pray
If our lives are so consumed with worldly things, the worldly things will place us in a position where we have to pray and seek His face.
Seek the face of God in a position of willingness to be used by Him
No matter where you find your self…Be open to what God wants to do
Repent; get the junk out of your life
Don’t resent the work God does in other people’s life
Jonah wanted the people of Nineveh to die in spite of their repentance
He had more compassion for a plant than 120,000 people because they were not like him and God spared them anyway
We must keep our Divine perspective or we will become as reluctant and resentful as Jonah
Closing Scripture
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Stephen Cochran
Scripture references are from the English Standard Version or King James Version of the Bible
Back In Town
Well, to all of you that were looking for the consistent updates I promised…It didn’t happen. I was out of town on a business trip and was not able to connect to the internet except one time and I had to do some work. It is amazing that life has become so busy.
I should get back on track this week and will post my notes from my sermon tomorrow.
Keep praying and stay focused…We have but one goal, to please our Creator.