What are you doing?

Introduce the Bible

*Welcome & Dat*

*READ JONAH 3:1-10*

Introduction

We’re asking a question at the start of every talk…and this week is:

[Slide] “What are you doing?”

*Interact with them and get them to answer the question*

Context

We are offically in the second-half of Jonah.

He ran from God.

Remember that Jonah is a Prophet.

Take the Word of God.

And deliver it.

But God gave Jonah his Word...

And Jonah ran.

Two weeks ago we sat with Jonah...

As he sat in a fish.

But he ended with him being spat up on land.

Remeber the MAP [Slide]

He started here.

Got told to go here.

Tried to go here.

End up here.

And spat out back here.

Let’s read what he did next.

JONAH 3:1-2 [Slide]

1 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”

For the second time.

The Word of God comes to Jonah.

The Word of God falls to the Prophet.

We are going to see three phases.

Three masks of this Prophet. [Slide]

The Obedient Prophet.

The Half-Heart Prophet.

And yet...

The Successful Prophet.

The Obedient Prophet [Slide]

Jonah 1:1 & Jonah 3:1

They are almost identical.

The difference is Jonah’s response.

At the beginning he ran.

Now...

JONAH 3:3a [Slide]

3 “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh...”

Jonah.

Finally.

Obeyed.

I don’t know about you guys...

But I was one of those kids in primary school...

That if I did something right...

ANYTHING right.

The teachers would be utterly shocked.

I actually had to have a behavioural journal.

What that meant, is that most days the teacher would write a note.

I would have to take it home and get one of my parents to sign it.

And my dad loves bringing out this notebook...

On one page in particular...

It starts:

Ethan was catching flies today...

Next day:

Ethan still catching flies today...

Third day:

Ethan STILL catching flies today...

My point.

When I did something...

Even small and remotely close to “obeying”

The teachers were so, so happy.

And here.

Now.

For Jonah.

After the previous chapters...

This feels like a breath of fresh air.

JONAH.

OBEYED.

And even though.

As we’ve said...

Jonah is still struggling.

I think this shows us...

That obedience to God.

Is not TOO far off.

It is an important and real thing.

And I think when we pick up our bibles.

Or even just look at them.

These big books infront of you.

Right now.

It feels like a big task.

But as we talked about two weeks ago…

It’s not about what you do...

It’s about what Jesus has done.

If you look at that book in front of you.

And try to follow it like a list of rules.

You won’t get very far...

We should obey...

We should DO.

Because of what Jesus has done.

We need to be saved.

Everyone is in need of saving.

But what we do won’t save us...

Trusting in Jesus...

Who has done everything…WILL.

Why am I harping on about this?...

Because even though we do not get saved from obeying.

From acting.

From DOING.

WHAT WE DO MATTERS.

It doesn’t save us.

But because we are saved by Jesus.

Because we have a relationship with Him.

Because it matters to our Heavenly Father.

We Obey.

We Do.

Now...

Jonah obey’s in going to Nineveh.

But...

He may deliver the Word of God.

As is his job.

As is his mission.

But how he does it...

Is questionable.

And there we find the...

The Half-Hearted Prophet [Slide]

He got there.

To Nineveh.

And remember...

They’re the WORST.

Just imagine how he’s feeling.

Surrounded by his enemy.

Some people might say he was scared they might kill him.

I doubt this.

Based on what we have seen from him...

In chapter one and what we will see in chapter four.

His priority is his people and his nation.

If he dies…God’s Word doesn’t reach them.

And as we will see...

To him. This is a win.

Let’s read...

JONAH 3:4 [Slide]

4 “Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

Now I don’t know if you caught a probelm with Jonah’s sermon...

I will point our two: [Slide]

There is no grace.

It’s very…very…short.

What do I mean by “no grace”?

If I walked up to Sam here and said...

You have done horrible things...

In 2 weeks you won’t be allowed back into Youth.

I have not told him what he has done wrong.

(Sam actually hasn’t done anything wrong…)

I have given him a “2 week warning”...

Which you could say is “grace”…but not really.

Because it has no option of solution.

He can’t actually get out of it.

Finally…I have showed zero kindness.

That is what I mean by “no grace”.

But also, as I said…it’s short.

In our English Bibles here, it’s 8 words.

Can anyone guess how many it is in the original language?

*Interact & dat*

Five.

Now I am not saying that Jonah walked about a gigantic city for an entire day saying five words over and over and over...

I think the point of it being five…is that it may not have actually been five…BUT IT WAS NOT A LONG OR GRACE-FILLED SERMON.

Jonah obeyed in getting to Nineveh.

But he half-hearted actually doing it.

However...

Even when we do the wrong thing.

Even when we fail.

Even when we half-heart what we shouldn’t.

GOD IS GOOD.

And so we see The Half-Hearted Prophet become...

The Successful Prophet [Slide]

Really because of Jonah’s efforts...

It should be the Successful God.

But our God is good.

Our God is kind.

And our God works through all his people.

Even the ones who fail...

So.

Jonah’s Sermon...

Short and Ungraceful.

Yet...

JONAH 3:5a [Slide]

5 “The Ninevites believed God.”

Again.

Even though Jonah’s sermon...

Was…aggressively average.

God Works.

And so...

We see what is known as a revival.

This is change of a massive level.

There was 120,000 people in Nineveh around this time.

And all of them, through the preaching of Jonah.

And has we see in verse 7...

An order from the King of Nineveh himself.

Massive Change.

Now, this isn’t the same as the Sailors from chapter one.

As we spoke about three weeks ago...

They changed their hearts and entire lives...

And followed God.

They wouldn’t have called it this back them, but they effectively became what we call Christians. What we are.

Here, in Nineveh.

It is not a Heart Change.

But a Massive Action Change.

And there are historical records of Nineveh for a time becoming...

less...HORRIBLE.

Less...ruthless.

Now it wasn’t forever.

They did return to being…bad.

But...

Jonah preached that God would destroy them...

Significance

JONAH 3:10 [Slide]

10 “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”

Jonah did not preach GRACE.

But God delivered GRACE.

They changed their ways.

And he was graceous.

Now…we know that did not last.

This is arond 750BC.

Nineveh was destoryed in 612BC.

Over 100 years later, God delivered what he...

Threatened & Promised.

I will say again.

What we do matters.

But it will not save you.

Nineveh here…CHANGED.

It was good.

It was great.

It benefited many.

But it did not save them.

Heart Change is what saved the Sailors on the boat.

Not just from the storm.

But for life. And beyond this life.

Only Jesus can save us.

Now, I want to close by really reinforcing...

That WHAT we do matters. [Slide]

Again...

It cannot save you.

It will not save you.

But a lot of people...

Think they can do whatever they want...

That there are no consequences.

They they will go through life and everything will be fine.

I think Nineveh is a great exampe of either...

Doing whatever you want...

OR

Only changing action and not heart...

Will achieve nothing.

To finish lets look at three thoughts on:

WHAT we do matters.

First, Accountability. [Slide]

This is a word that get’s thrown around sometimes.

It’s about having people or things in place to help you do or achieve things.

As an example:

I meet up with someone fortnightly and we both share with each other our struggles, what in that past two weeks have made it difficult to OBEY God. To DO.

Now, I’m not saying you have to make a formal meeting, I think that would be good. But start small. Talk to your friends. Try to create a relationship with them around being honest with each other. Sharing your struggles.

Second, Bible. [Slide]

I know this one can sound like a general, just go and read your bible, or go and read your bible more…“WHAT are you doing!”

Now I think it would be great if you could “read your Bible more”…but the more important question is HOW?

I think doing things in groups makes it easier. Now that might be your friends outside of Youth group…great! But I think tonight what we could do in each group is start a reading plan. Decide in your groups. Short, simple...

Talk to your leaders.

(ALSO. If you don’t have a bible, either physical or ditigal, come talk to a leader and we’ll see what we can do…)

Third, Prayer. [Slide]

Again, this might sound general, but I hope it isn’t.

I think we all need to pray, and especially to pray to DO & OBEY.

It is not easy and we can’t do it alone, we need help in prayer.

Again, I think having groups in which you can message to pray, or pray together in person or online is great. Try to do those things.

But, I think you can definitely do this one alone too.

And I’m going to give you a prayer, you can pray daily. [Slide]

Please Lord, Help me to enjoy Jesus more today. Amen.

The reason to pray to enjoy Jesus more, is that if our JOY is centred on Jesus we will want to DO & OBEY more and more.

It is a short and simple prayer you could pray every morning.

THOSE, are just some tools to help us to take seriously:

What we’re doing...

And to know...

WHAT we do matters.

Father,

d