Preaching in Nineveh
Notes
Transcript
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.”
“Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.”
Twice the Word of the Lord came to Jonah: Go the the great city of Nineveh!
The first time: Jonah got up and Ran AWAY! It brought a great storm into his life. It brought rather unusual circumstances into his life. God used it to SAVE a boat load of sailers.
And God used a giant fish to humble a prophet.
This second time: Jonah, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you!
Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command.
Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk.
Obedience is always the best thing! When God tells us to do something, it is not our duty to ask WHY! Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord. Lord. Master. We are His servants. It is our obligation, our duty, our privilege, so obey the the Master.
So Jonah goes to Nineveh. Which was a massive city. The Word of God says it was a 3 day walk.
What does that mean: a 3 day walk? You can look up this city in North Iraq. It does not appear that large. Until you remember that this is Jonah has been assigned a large task to go with a large city. He must PREACH a message.
You PREACH to the PEOPLE. This means that he must walk to all the parts of the city and proclaim the message given by God to the people God commanded hear the message. With a city that has a circumference of about 50-60 miles, it would most assuredly take 3 days to preach the message in places everyone could hear!
Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!”
What a message!
Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least.
The people proclaimed a fast. Not the king. not the leaders - the people.
When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
It broke the kings heart.
You never know who God is already working on!
Your obedience may require you to go somewhere absolutely terrifying, someplace outside of your comfort zone. You need to get out of your own head and remember that if God is sending you, HE has already prepared the way!
When God says go: its on Him not you.
What about money, safety, whatever - its on GOD!
Our duty is to TRUST AND OBEY!
Then he issued a decree in Nineveh:
By order of the king and his nobles: No person or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. Furthermore, both people and animals must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing. Who knows? God may turn and relent; he may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.
Look at the influence that this King had!
Let me tell you, you have influence as well!
Teachers you have influence!
Youth to your acquaintances and friends - there is a difference.
Moms to your kids
Ladies you have influence
Especially you husbands and dads! Nothing more influential that a husband who leads his wife, and a father who leads his children.
God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.
Did God change His mind?
NO!
God sent Jonah as a warning! Basically: if you don’t change your ways, destruction is coming!
This is the same message we preach today! In a world full of lost and broken people: There is salvation! It is a free gift! God’s kingdom is real and it is coming! You have been told, you have been warned! If you do not accept this free gift of salvation: destruction is coming!
Literally you have NOTHING TO LOSE IN ACCEPTING JESUS!