Jonah 3: Preaching and Teaching-

Sparking a Revival!

EOT-Jonah obeys God the second time resulting in a major revival.

EOS-Revival Living..

DDS-Embrace revival living by being an inviter to our vision.

My coached had a saying don’t tell me you want to win when you are not wiling to do what it takes to win. After my freshman year in College I wanted to do whatever it took to win.

After the season I put together a very strenuous workout program and when I got home that summer I talked to my old coach who trained us. One of the things that he had us do that summer was run three miles every day and I hated running just to run. Me and my best friend from high school would pull up at 6 AM at his house and he would be sitting in his lawn chair and when we got there we would take off. Man how I hated that run.

That year was the best basketball I had ever played.

I did not just way I wanted to be the best basketball player, I put the work in.

I think if we asked most Christians do you want to see a revival happen? Most if not all would say yes.

And if I got a little more personal and said do you want to see revival happen in your life? Again most would say yes.

But like my coach said many times what we say and what we do are not in line.

When is the last time you have seen God move mightily in your life?

Is God moving mightily in your life right now?

Today I want to talk about living a life of revival.

As much as I loved basketball and wanted to excel, My hope and desire today is that we would want to see God work in and through our lives and church so that we can see him do great things in our community, city and the world.

“I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show Himself mightily on our behalf.” -Jim Cymbala

Today I hope this is the our cry. I don’t want to exist just to exist, I want God to show himself mightily on our behalf.

If we want experience revival we must embrace:

1. God’s call on our life (1-2).

God has a call and a commission on your life. He has a master plan for you. Just like he called Jonah to something bigger than himself he is calling you to something both general and specific greater than yourself.

General: Love God, Love Others God created us out of delight that we would enjoy him and that we would enjoy him. Just like he gave Jonah a commission he gave us a commission to Make disciples.

But he also has something very specific for each one of us. Some preach, some work, some raise kids, but he has a specific call for each of us.

Jonah 3:1 NASB95

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,

The Grace of God is our greatest motivator.

Jonah is the only prophet who God had to give his commission to twice. Notice he did not shame Jonah, he could have given this job to someone else he just gives him the commission, because he is our loving father.

We see clearly that God is more concerned about his worker than he is his work. Isn't it great that we have a God who loves us this much.

One of my favorite verses is Lamentations 3:22-23.

I am grateful God’s love and mercy does not run out on us.

I am so glad that God is not the God of second chances, but the God 1 million second chances.

Grace is the basis of our relationship with him. We can be connected to God even though we don’t deserve it, as a matter of fact we deserve death and separation and he give us life, heaven and forgiveness.

Jonah 3:2 NASB95

“Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”

It starts with the people of God.

Many times we complain about the world not having it right, when many times the church does not have it right. As we have seen in this story of Jonah the non believers had it right more than Jonah.

When Corona Virus started I told my kids: How can we expect to win out there when we can’t win here. In other words if you don’t work hard in our house how are you going to work hard in practice. If you can’t love your sibling how are you going to love you classmates. If you don’t walk with God daily how are you going to live for him.

What is everyone’s responsibility has become no one’s responsibility.

God has a call on your life and you need to take responsibility for what he want to do in and through you.

We must remember who the author of our story is

Many times we read the Bible as if we are the main character. But the story of Jonah makes sure to remind us that God is the main character. Have you ever read Genesis 1. If it is boring to you it is because it is all about God. God is the main character and author of our story.

Be Amazed 1. The Marvel of an Undeserved Commission (Jonah 3:1–2)

“The life of Jonah cannot be written without God,” said Charles Spurgeon; “take God out of the prophet’s history, and there is no history to write.”

If we want to obey the call of God we have to remember God is the author of our story and he is a better writer than Tom Clancy, Ernest Hemmingway, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Virginia Wolfe, Jane Austin, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling and even C.S. Lewis.

Like Jonah we have to stop trying to be the author of our story and let God write it.

I wonder if anyone had heard about what had happened to Jonah after the whale gorged him out. if so his story would have spread like wildfire. Why did it spread like wildfire because God was the author.

Application:

Are you embracing God’s call on your life?

General

Specific

If we want experience revival we must :

2. Get off the bench (3-4).

The old adage goes that 20% of the people do 80% of the work.

Jonah went from being on the sidelines to being in the game. How many of us are content of being bench warming Christians.

God is a missional God. We are in his image to mirror him. He wants us to live on mission.

But for many of us including myself at time we are content with being bench warmers.

Jonah 3:3 NASB95

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.

According to the word of the Lord. There are a lot of different opinions about so many things.

Christian denominations

Political

Favorite fill in the blank

But here for the first time in the story it says according to the word of the Lord.

When we live according to the word of the lord it is a form of worship to God an aroma.

Notice the author tells us again that it was a great city.

When we decide to work for God it is beautiful.

This man had just been gorged out of a whale because he had been running and now God had worked in his life in such a way that he was taking good news to a hated enemy.

This was beautiful.

Isaiah 52:7 NASB95

How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Romans 10:15 NASB95

How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

What Jonah was doing here was beautiful.

After I became a believer in Jesus I got to experience some of this beautiful.

My brother and I were talking this week and he was talking about how my life changed when I became a follower of Jesus. The year before I left off to college I was 18 and my brother was 14, and I snuck him into a inappropriate movie. That year I went off to college and the next summer I was not taking him to inappropriate movies I was sharing the good news with him. He was reminded of how I took him and his two good friends through the bridge illustration.

Living it does not give us an excuse not to share it

Jonah 3:4 NASB95

Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”

Have you ever thought about this. We have the greatest news in the world, but one of the reasons it is so great is because the alternate is so bad.

Track-Bad News is about Man

Good news is about God

Yesterday I saw our people share good news with people unashamedly.

If we are going to be a church that experiences revival we must Get of the bench by sharing the hope of the world.

Application:

Charles Spurgeon-Wish I could go throughout all of London and if someone was elect they would have a mark on their shoulder and I would preach to them but because that is not how it works i will preach to everyone.

Church these last few weeks have been filled with prayer, questions and seeking the face of God. But one of the things I want to see happen is God grow this group to thirty. How are we going to do that invite people we are going to have to work for God.

Here is the reality church, we cannot guarantee that anyone else will join renovation City Church. Only God can do that. But we can do is share God’s word, invite people into discipleship and be faithful to what he has called us to.

What if we bring good news wherever we go, to our homes, to our neighborhoods, to our work, everywhere we go it will be good, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

If we want experience revival we must :

3. have a vision for the world (5-10).

God loves the world.

Revelation 7:9 NASB95

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;

Jonah did not have a vision for the world. God had to literally take him to the bottom of the sea before he would even

The world is ready to hear this message

How would a people that were evil and bad respond to this message?

Let’s see!

Jonah 3:5–9 NASB95

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”

It went from God working in one of his children to the people believing to a king believing to the entire country believing. Just like sin multiplies, the power of God multiplies.

Jonah 3:10 NASB95

When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

God loves pouring out mercy to those who turn to him.

Stories-EE TAW

Conclusion

“I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show Himself mightily on our behalf.” -Jim Cymbala

This week I was in the gym talking to gonzales from Cuba