Pastor Deborah
JONAH 1:1-2 EASY
The Lord spoke a message to Jonah, Amittai's son.
He said, ‘Go now to the great city of Nineveh.
Tell the people in the city that I know how wicked they are.
Tell them that I will punish them because of their sins.’
JONAH 1:3 EASY
But Jonah did not want to obey the Lord's command.
He decided to run away to Tarshish.
He went down to Joppa.
There he found a ship that was ready to sail to Tarshish.
After he had paid for the journey, he got into the ship.
He wanted to go on the ship to Tarshish, to get far away from the Lord.
JONAH 1:4 EASY
Then the Lord sent a strong wind on the sea.
The storm was so powerful that it almost broke the ship into pieces.
JONAH 1:5 EASY
The sailors were very frightened.
Each of them called out to his own god for help.
They threw into the sea all the things that the ship carried.
They wanted to make the ship as light as they could.
Jonah had gone down into the bottom of the ship.
He was lying down and he was asleep.
JONAH 1:6-7 EASY
The ship's captain went to Jonah.
He said, ‘Why are you sleeping like that?
Get up now!
Call to your god for help!
Maybe he will listen to us and we will not die.’
Then the sailors said to each other, ‘We should throw dice to find out who has brought all this trouble to us.’
So they threw dice.
The dice showed that Jonah had caused the storm.
JONAH 1:8 EASY
So they said to Jonah, ‘Tell us, who has caused all this trouble for us?
What is your job?
Where do you come from?
What country do you live in?
Who is your family?’
JONAH 1:9 EASY
Jonah answered them, ‘I am a Hebrew man.
I worship the Lord who is the God of heaven.
He made the sea and the land.’
JONAH 1:10 EASY
This made the sailors even more afraid.
Jonah had already told them that he was running away from the Lord.
So they said to him, ‘Why did you do a thing like that?’
JONAH 1:11-12 EASY
The waves in the sea were becoming bigger because of the storm.
So the sailors asked Jonah, ‘What should we do to you so that the sea becomes quiet?’
Jonah replied, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea.
Then the sea will become quiet.
It is because of me that you are in danger from this great storm.’
JONAH 1:13 EASY
But the sailors did not do what Jonah said.
Instead, they tried to use oars to drive the ship back to the land.
But the storm was too strong and they could not do that.
JONAH 1:14 EASY
So the sailors called aloud to the Lord.
They prayed, ‘Lord, please do not punish us with death if we have to kill this man!
Do not say that we are guilty because we have killed someone who has done nothing wrong.
Lord, we know that you have sent this storm because you wanted to do it.’
JONAH 1:15 EASY
Then the sailors took hold of Jonah and they threw him into the sea.
The storm stopped and the sea became quiet.
JONAH 1:16 EASY
When they saw what had happened, the sailors became very afraid of the Lord's power.
They offered a sacrifice to him and they promised that they would serve him.
JONAH 1:17 EASY
But the Lord sent a great fish to swallow Jonah.
Jonah was inside the fish's stomach for three days and three nights.
JONAH 2:1 EASY
From inside the fish's stomach, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.
We will experience better comfort and goodness of God.
If we forget to talk to God in times of comfort and blessings and God has called us to do something, He will send the wind.
JONAH 2:9-10 EASY
But as for me, I will sing to thank you.
I will offer a sacrifice to you.
I will do everything that I have promised to do.
The Lord is the one who saves people!’
Then the Lord told the great fish to spit Jonah out from its stomach.
So it dropped Jonah onto the shore.
JONAH 3:1 EASY
The LORD SPOKE to Jonah a SECOND TIME.
Our God is a God of second chances.
JONAH 3:2-3 EASY
He said, ‘Now go to that great city, Nineveh.
Tell the people there the message that I will give to you.’
Jonah obeyed the Lord and he went to Nineveh.
Nineveh was a very large city.
Somebody would need three days to walk all through it.
Sometimes the man and woman of God need this storm to bring them back to God.
It is God who gives us the power to get wealth.
To the Ends of the Earth.
Despite arrest (Acts 4:1-4), beatings (5:40), and the threat of death (9:1), the early Christians continued to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen.
As they continually opened their lives to the power of the Holy Spirit, they experienced a burning desire to share the gospel with others.
Not two months after seeing his Master arrested and crucified, Peter boldly told those responsible for the cross,
ACTS 2:36 NKJV
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Similarly, having just seen their brother Stephen die at the hands of the Jewish elders, all the disciples who fled Jerusalem “went about preaching the word”.
ACTS 8:3-4 NKJV
As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house,
and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.
When the men and women of God are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Devil, death, persecution cannot stop them. In fact, it will put more oil and fire inside them to preach the gospel.
The love of God is greater than their wives, children and families.
No other love can compare to them.
In Samaria, “the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did.”
As a result, “there was much joy in that city” (Acts 8:6,8).
Later, Luke tells us, “Those who were scattered . . . traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word” (Acts 11:19).
Because of this small group of men and women, the fire of revival spread through all of Asia Minor.
Why did the disciples risk so much, even to the point of persecution and death?
Again, Apostle Paul gives the answer:
“The love of Christ controls us because we are convinced that one has died for all”.
The love of Christ that has been poured by Holy Spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-15 TPT
For it is CHRIST’S LOVE that fuels our passion and holds us tightly, because we are convinced that he has given his life for all of us.
This means all died with him, so that those who live should no longer live self-absorbed lives but lives that are poured out for him—the one who died for us and now lives again.
What does Christ love do? It fuels their passion for Christ.
Fire grow bigger and bigger.
Holy Spirit is the one who pour out that love to us.
It will fuel our passion for Christ.
We were not worthy but Jesus still died for us while we were still sinners.
Paul said “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who live in me.”
The EVER-DEEPENING EXPERIENCE of GOD’S LOVE, coupled with an ONGOING SURRENDER of their LIVES to CHRIST, led the disciples to want to tell everyone they could about the salvation that was available to them in Jesus.
A true experience of God’s love with the surrender of their lives will cause them want to share and tell others about Jesus.
The Holy Spirit touched the disciples so deeply that they experienced a longing to be with Jesus and see him face to face.
This Spirit, who is “the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Ephesians 1:14), gave them a taste of what eternal life with Jesus would be like, and so the early church cried out, “Amen, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
The FIRST CHRISTIANS understood that life in this world was only temporary, and that their true and final home was in heaven, united with the Lord.
It was, in fact, this faith and hope in Jesus’ return that sustained the church in times of hardship and persecution:
“If we endure, we shall also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:11-12).
Our final home is in Heaven.
What could be more hopeful than the promise of life eternal, glorified with the one who has loved us so faithfully?
Thank God for sending the Holy Spirit as the wind to put us back on the course that God has set for us in our journey on this earth.
Jonah was called by God to serve the Lord and preach the gospel.
God didn’t give up on Him.
As a result of the wind, Jonah finally preaches to Nineveh.
If God didn’t send the wind, Jonah would have missed his destiny to fulfil what God has called him to do.
Let the Holy Spirit fill us more.
Thank God for Holy Spirit, the helper.
Let the Holy Spirit burn in our hearts as we surrender our hearts to him.
When Holy Spirit burns in us, we take a different direction and he will cause havoc.
When Holy Spirit comes in, He will redirect the course of our lives and lead us back to the purpose and journey that God has for us.
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