Share Jesus Every Week

Background

If we have not had the pleasure of meeting my name is John Colunga and I have the privilige of serving as lead pastor here at New Day Pasadena

I also have the privilige of bringing this weeks sermon

So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Jonah 1

If you forgot your Bible please use the one in front of you and if you dont have a Bible at all, please take home the one in front of you as a free gift to you

We are currently in a Sermon Series called The New Day Way

This series was preached at the beginning of the year as to how we as a church are to grow closer to Jesus Christ and how we can help to fulfill our vision for this year

And as a reminder - this is our vision - That we pursue healthy growth through unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, tender heartedness, humility; and will seek and pursue peace within the church and the world

And so when we first went through this series, we noted how that in order for this happen collectively, it has to happen individaully first

We should be seeking to be more like Christ individually in our walk with Him, and then come together as a church, displaying his attributes with one another as we continue to meet together and serve together

And so that is why The New Day Way starts with “Starting Your Day with God”

This was the message given last week

Our relationship with God is one that should be active every day

We should be growing and developing our relationship with him

As that happens, there should be natural overflows or consequences from that relationship

And part of that overflow is sharing Jesus

As believers in Jesus Christ, we should know that our relationship with him is not one to be horded

Rather, we are explicitely commanded by Him to share who he is with others

And so I ask the question - Who have you shared Jesus to, lately?

For those of you who have been here since our launch, January 29th is when this sermon was preached to share Jesus

That means, if you have shared Jesus every week - you would have communicated the gospel or shared Jesus to some capacity to at least 26 people by now

And as you think about this year up until now, the reson for this refresh of the New Day Way is because we are half way through the year and it is a good reminder to know what we are suppossed to be doing, not just as church members, but as basic believers in Jesus Christ

And if you have shared Jesus with 26 or more people - I want to encourage you that that is great and I want to encourage you to keep moving - And I want to ask the question, what would stop you from sharing more?

And if you are here today and you have only shared Jesus once, I want to encourage you that that is great and I want encourage you to keep moving - And I want to ask the question, what keeps you from sharing more?

And if you are here today and you have not shared Jesus at all, I want to encourgae you to keep growing in him and encourage you to keep moving - And I want to ask the question, what keeps you from sharing Jesus?

And it doesnt really matter where we are at, if we are all honest, we all probably wish we would do more, or know that we could do more

And as easy as it is to kick ourselves in the behind, as easy as it is to look down on ourselves

I want to encourage you that no matter where you are at in your obedience to make disciples, there Grace and Mercy for you from God

And so today we are going to look at a prophet of God who did blatently disregard God’s command

And we are briefly going to look at the story of Jonah and pull some truths out from that book

The author of Jonah is unknown but the writer of Jonah, inspired by God, details this account of Jonah

And while the book of Jonah is part of the books of prophecy - there are only 5 words of prophecy contained within it

Jonah was a prophet whose primary role was to bring the word of the Lord to the people of God

And in one instance, in one change of circumstance - Jonah found himself running from God

And as we expound Jonah chapter 1 we are also going to look at the following chapters to see how his account can be similar to that of our Lord Jesus, and to us

If you are able to stand, I ask that you please do so for the reading of God’s word. I’ll read it as you follow along,

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 down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.” 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

This is the Word of the Lord, you may now be seated

Clear Command

Command to Go

Our story begins with the word of the Lord coming to Jonah

And his command to Jonah is very clear

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

This question answers the natural responses of who what when where why

The Who Jonah

The What is call out against it

The When (Arise/Go - therefore he means right now)

The Where is Nineveh

The Why is because their evil had come up before him

There is no ambiguity in Jonah’s task

And in Jonah’s heart of hearts in following the Lord, his response should be one of obedience

But this is not what happens

Change of Circumstance and posture of heart

Jonah is not tasked with bringing a word to Israel,

Rather, he is tasked with bringing a word to pagans

So this change in who Jonah is to go to is changed and not only does fear set in to Jonah but also pride

Jonah is more than likely looking at God saying,

I do not bring your word to pagans, I bring your word to your people!

That’s not my responsibility - not my job - not what I am called to do

And in his pride, in looking at himself and not turning to the Lord -

Fear sets in and thats where you can almost hear him say, “I can’t go there, they will kill me!”

And so Jonah rose to flee the presence of the Lord

Jonah tried to flee the presence of the Lord

And the author here starts to convey Jonah’s attempt to flee with the word “down”

He went “down to Joppa”

He went “down into the ship”

Jonah went “down to the inner part of the ship”

Jonah’s heart was not postured towards the Lord

His heart was not aligned with God’s will

Jonahs heart was going deeper and deeper into despair

But because Jonah was called by God, because Jonah was one of God’s people

God pursued Jonah

While Jonah was giving up on God, God was not giving up on Jonah

Jonah was giving up on his purpose for living, God looks at Jonah and says that I am not done with you yet

Pursiut with a storm

And so this mighty tempest storm came among the ship and it was so great that the ship was breaking up

And the mariners are terrified - they are not like Jonah who is giving up on life

They wake Jonah up and urge him to cry out to his God

And notice how in his despair - Jonah does not cry out to God

But he does participate in their casting of lots

And of course the lots fall on him

Of course he knows this is due to his heart posture and the actions that have come from it

So he says, ““I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Jonah knows in the depths of his heart who his God is, he can try to suppress it and run from it all he wants, but at his core, in his knowing of who God is, he cannot escape God as truth

So he tells the mariners to throw him overboard, just end my life by feeding me to the sea

Throw me overboard, and you will live

And what we end up seeing is that the Mariners are not wanting to end his life

They do not want to be responsible to God for his death

But they find that the harder and longer they row, the greater the storm gets

And to no avail they do decide to throw Jonah overboared and then they find that the storm stops

And all of this causes them to fear God greatly

Jonah and Jesus

Jonah the Antithesis

If we were to only read chapter one of Jesus, we would think that Jonah is meant to be the antithesis of Jesus

Jonah has to be the exact opposite of Jesus

Jesus did not waiver when God the Father sent him to earth to carry out the Plan of Redemption

Jesus living in glory had to leave heaven to mask his glory in flesh as a baby

He didn’t say on second thought, nah I’m good

And when Jesus was on earth, his heart posture was always one with his Fathers

During his entire ministry he talked about the will of his Father

He stated that he and the Father are one

Before going to the cross, he says “not my will, but your will be done”

And while Jesus may have had human emotions, he did not fall into the despair of humaness

He knew HOW he must die

He knew it would be complete torture

And in the midst of much opposition, much deflamatory remarks, he pursued life until his fortold death

And so it seems that Jonah is the complete opposite of Christ

But this is why we must address all of scripture and the full story

Sign of Jonah

In Matthew 12:38-42 it says this, 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

What we know as we read on in the story of Jonah is that Jonah was not overcome by the storm

When the storm settled, he was preserved by being swallowed by a great fish

Sure, God could have had Jonah drowned right then and there, but he actually sowed Jonah mercy and grace

In perhaps Jonahs physical lowest point, in the belly of a great fish in the sea

Jonah repented as he was in there for three days and three nights

Jonah was then spat out and he went to Nineveh

He went to Nineveh and he gave the words of prophecy

In Hebrew its 5 words, but in english it is translated in the ESV as “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

And the Ninevites did not believe Jonah, they believed God

And they repented of their evil and turned to God

They fasted and turned their hearts toward God

And with their hearts aligned with God, God relented his wrath

Jonah and the Pharisees

The Pharisees knew the scriptures of Jonah

Jesus knows that they know

And so Jesus is openly telling them, you think the story of Jonah is so great!

Recognize that someone great than Jonah is here!

And they may not see it now - but Jesus is telling them that the sign they are looking for

The sign they are to witness and believe is Jesus’ death and resurrection from the grave

That just as Jonah was in the depths of the belly of the great fish for three days and nights

so will the son of man be dead and buried

But through Jonah’s journey - the Ninevites repented and came to God

And in the same way - As Jesus died, and was burried, he arose from the grave on the third day and conquered sin and death!

And because Jesus arose victorious - because he arose as the sign

He is the way of repentance and the way of being made right with God

That through Him, being the better Jonah - being the Messiah - His people of all nations can be made right with Him

That though man is imperfect, through his perfection, we can be saved

Salvation

And this is the good news of Jesus Christ - That although we are spiritually dead

Being Seperated from God, deserving of his wrath and vengence

God did not send us Jonah - He sent us Jesus who never ran, who never stryed from his calling, who never wanted death to be put out of misery

Rather - Jesus being the perfect sacrifice - gives hope to all who puts their faith and trust in him because He and only he is the one who can forgive us of our sins and make us alive to God

And so when we put our faith and trust in Jesus alone for salvation, we know that no matter whappens in life - God will always be with us

He will not seperate from us

He will pursue us with a storm if he has too

That even when our hearts stray from Him

His heart and His love does not stray from us

That once we are a child of God, we will always be his child

And so as we live as His children - we are to walk and grow in Him

We are to be obedient

We just had Kids camp and each of the 4 days they learned a bottom line

#1 Do what Jesus says

#2 Belive who Jesus is

#3 Love who Jesus loves

#4 Go where Jesus leads

And we in this room are not kids but our spiritual walks vary

Some may be spiritually young and new to the faith

And some may be spiritually mature

But the beautiful thing is that the message of Jesus Christ does not Change

#1 Do what Jesus says

#2 Belive who Jesus is

#3 Love who Jesus loves

#4 Go where Jesus leads

Great Commission

And in Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus is very clear and very specific as to what we are to do

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Who - Jesus’ followers

What - Make Disciples

When - Go - Now

Where - All Nations

Why - That they may know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - That they may kknow God

For all the times we wonder what is God’s will for my life

I hope and pray that we be a church that does not diminish or belittle this very clear command

That we do not be too prideful to say well that is beneath me - or that is not my gift

This command is for all believers

So what keeps you from sharing Jesus every week?

And while you may not be called to sell what you have and move over seas - you are called to be a witness to all that you come into contact with

You may not be called or aspire to be in church leadership - but as a member of the body of Christ you are called to finding someone that you can pour into and disciple

And if your not there then you should find someone who is actively discipling you

When people run from this command or want disregard it - it is usually linked with pride, shame, or fear

Pride

Is your pride that of Jonah’s and is keeping you from obedience?

But when our posture is not one with the Lord - when you are just living lukewarm -

When we are not starting our day with God - or am not walking with him daily

It is eay to let pride set in, it can be easy to say that making disciples is not for me or directed to me - and I am going to simply ignore it

That pride will cause our fears of rejection, persecution, abandonment, uncomfortableness to be greater than our will to be obedient to Jesus

We will talk about these in a bit but the overarching theme of fear that stems from pride will keep us living in line with the world

And when that happens we tend to run and we tend to just go about living our life however we want

In my heart I know that there is a God, I know that God loves me, I know that God wants something from me

But because of pride - I am going to live how I want to live

I am going to pick and choose which commands I like and dont like

I’ll still go to church because I know and believe that he is truth

I believe he has revealed himself to me but I dont have to be a doer or goer of everything he says

And thats why scripture says Luke 14:11 “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.””

If you have pride God and you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God will pursue you to be humbled

I want to encourage you that God is calling you somehow or someway to be obedient, and to put Him first

No believer will ever reach full maturity and so God is constantly pursuing us and wanting to teach us and refine us

He is pursuing your heart to be in alignment with his - To not keep him for yourself but to share Him with others

And I want to plead with you not to let it keep going on to where he starts pursuing you in loving storms

But to actively seek Him as to how you can let go of your pride and come to a place of obedience out of love for him

Trust Him that your heart can be aligned with Him -

Repent and confess of being lukewarm, confess for not doing or going, confess for not loving as Jesus loves

Shame

Are you sitting in misery and allowing shame to overcome you?

In Jonahs lowest of lows, in the belly of the great fish, he asked for forgiveness and cried out to God

And maybe you are here today and you are in the lowest of lows because not because of pride - but because of shame

You believe and you know that Jesus is real

You believe and you know that you should be a doer and that you should go to others

But because you haven’t, because you have ran from God, because you have displeased Him

You have thoughts of How or why would he use me?

Who am I to go and share Jesus if I fail him every day?

Shame is a paralyzing emotion because you do not want to move backwards but you do not feel worthy of moving forward

And so I want to encourage you that if you dont share Jesus because you feel shame, then first you need to shift your belief in who Jesus is

Because believing in Jesus means that Jesus has forgiven you of your past and of your sins

He doesn’t make it right, He doesnt make it ok, but he forgives it

To know Jesus is to know that he wants you to walk in His freedom

John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

He does not bring God’s people to life to live a life of paralysis

Rather, he calls them to life so that they may walk in his freedom

This is why following the Holy Spirit is so important

That you lean into the Spirit to learn as you read and pray

That through the leading of the Holy Spirit, you will confess your sins and confess your shame

Believe Jesus that he forgives you - Just as Jonah, even in his running - wash shown forgiveness, grace and mercy

Throw them on to Jesus and start asking God to help you walk in his freedom

The God of mercy and grace has given you the son of mercy and grace, who is Jesus

Fear

Are you letting fear get the best of you?

Lack of knowledge can be a fear

Lack of Trainning can be a fear

There are fears of rejection, persecution, abandonment, uncomfortableness

And just like pride keeps us living as part of this world

The fears that we just mentioned are very real for us as humans - they do take an emotional toll on us

But that is why we are told over and over again not to be concerned with the world but be concerned with the spiritual

In Matthew 10 Jesus sends out the tweve apostles and his first word to them is to “Go”

And he doesnt tell them to go to gentiles or samaritans

But he tells them to go to the lost sheep in the House of Israel - To the people who need to hear about Jesus

To the ones who have lost hope, who have pushed God away, that are openly rejecting God

The ones who believe that they deserve heaven just because they are an Israelite

The ones who have pride and seek status

And can I be honest with you, sometimes it is easier to have a conversation with an unbeliever about Jesus than to have a conversation with a believer who confesses Jesus but is actively rejecting him

Like that is really hard conversation

But Jesus commands his disciples to go out and preach Jesus, to go and show the wonders of Jesus

And as they go, even just within the House of Israel

He then tells them that they will be persecuted

I encourage you to go and read this chapter about the persecution they face

And then he tells them that as you go do not fear

Matthew 10:26-28 ““So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Jesus tells his disciples not to focus on the physical but to focus on the spiritual - That our spiritual well being is more important than our earthly well being

And as we look at Jonah - what does he say in the midst of the storm?

“I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

He knows and he understands that the fear of God should be at the forefront of his heart and mind and not the fear of Nineveh - That God would be with Him as He went to Nineveh - That God is in control of all things because he made all things

And my encouragement for you as believers in Jesus Christ, as members of the body of Christ - Do not forget that Jesus - who is part of the triune God is always with you - The Holy Spirit of the triune God dwells within you

Jesus said it himself - And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Application

Believe scripture as it says in Romans 10:9-13 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

As we go into a time of prayer - I want to encourage you to believe God

To confess any of your sins to God- pray to God who loves, who is faithful to forgive, who extends mercy and grace

If anything said today has convicted you or maybe struck a nerve

Lean into that - Lay that before God -

Ask him for strength, wisdom, and guidence to discern what that is

Ask him to help you to focus on the spiritual

Ask him to show you if you are living with pride or fear

Ask him to soften your heart, to share the gospel with others

It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that has saved you, and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to save others

Lets go before our savior in prayer

Announcements

Connect Card - Please fill out, we want to connect with you

We want to be Kingdom Minded what is your response? - giving, serving, response to Christ

We will have a mens Coffee, Kolache, and Prayer meet on Saturday August 12th at 8:45am

And on that same day Saturaday, August 12th at 10am we will have a school drive outreach event

We will encourage the community to drop off school supplies - all of the school supplies will go to Golden Acres Elementary Teachers/Students

And at the same time of collecting School Supplies, we will be giving out snow cones/popcicles and invite cards

We are gearing up for a busy fall - And we want to start preparing for it now

We will have a church work day on Saturday August 19th from 9am-1pm

Join us next week for our last sermon in this series called The New Day Way

‌New Day Reading Plan - Mon-Fri - 1 Corinthians 8-12

1 Chronicles 16:10-11 “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” Do this Now and Forevermore - Amen