Book of Jonah # 10 5 signs of true revival

Jonah 3: 4-10

Jonah 3: 4a

When Jonah arrives in Nineveh he walks around the city for 3 days announcing God’s message to the people

The people of Nineveh respond to the message and God brings a true revival to the City – 120, 000 people are saved (Jonah 4: 11)

You will notice I said, ‘true revival’

To understand what a true revival is we must first understand what a true revival is not

Some churches around the World plan one week (7 nights) of special church services, having a meeting every night of that week – these churches will call those services – ‘revival’

True revival is different

True revival is a work of God and has nothing to do with planning a week of special services

The revival in Nineveh was a true revival – it was a pure work of God!

The wonderful thing is – God is still in the business of true revival today!

Illustrate: One of the greatest true revivals in history, in our lifetime, was in Argentina in 1951

‘Thy God Reigneth’ by Ed Miller

Pg. 21-23 4 nights of prayer led by Ed Miller
Pg. 34-35 Tommy Hicks appointment with the President of Argentina
Pg. 37 True revival comes to South America
Pg. 39 True revival is sovereign

Would you love to experience a true revival like that here in our city and in our Nation?

From our text Jonah 3: 4-10 we find 5 signs of true revival

1/ in true revival ONLY the Word of God is preached

Jonah 3: 4b ‘forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed’

Notice, Jonah ONLY preached the message God gave him

In English, the message is only 8 words – in Hebrew it is only 4 words long!

A lot of preaching in popular churches today is not faithful to the Word of God

The messages in these churches are designed to appeal to peoples’ greed for more money and more success in life

Let me give you a few examples of some of the popular message titles preached by these, so called, ‘relevant’ churches:

(I am not making these up!)

‘Your Best Life Now’, ‘Become A Better You’, Think Better, Live Better’,
Business Secrets Of The Bible’, ‘Learn How To Re-Boot Yourself’,
‘You Need More Money’, ‘From Imagination To Manifestation’
A lot of people love these messages because they promise wealth and success in their life

Going into 2018, as a Church, we need to decide if we are going to be a ‘relevant’ Church, or, that we are going to be faithful to the Word of God!

I personally believe that there is a greater need in the World than wealth and success – and that need is salvation for the lost through a true, God sent revival!

True revival will only come when we ONLY preach the Word of God

Jonah’s 8 words were minimal but the result was maximum – 120, 000 people saved!

Think about Jesus ministry

Jesus Christ was the greatest preacher who ever lived and the longest message He ever preached (reading the Sermon on the Mount) was 15 minutes long

And His ministry changed the World!

When we preach the Word of God ONLY – people will get saved and we will experience true revival, because the Word of God is the power of God to save

Romans 1: 16 ‘I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes’

And when true revival comes, God will get all the glory!

Next time: the 2nd and 3rd signs of true revival

Book of Jonah # 9 Jonah reluctantly goes to Nineveh

Jonah 3: 1-3

Jonah 3: 1 ‘The Lord spoke to Jonah a second time’

Dear friends, God is the God of the ‘second chance’

The Lord could have called someone else to go to Nineveh when Jonah refused to go (1: 3) – but He didn’t!

God called Jonah to go to Nineveh – not someone else

The Lord could have left Jonah to die in the ‘heart of the sea’ (2: 3) – but He didn’t!

God saved Jonah from death in the sea and 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish, and ordered the great fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach (2: 10)

God’s purposes in Jonah would succeed regardless of Jonah’s unwillingness to obey God!

Psalm 33: 11 ‘the LORD’s plans stand firm forever; His intentions can never be shaken’

Dear friends, when God calls you to serve Him – He means it!

You have a choice, either serve Him the easy way, obey Him immediately, or do the hard way, be like Jonah

Jonah 3: 2 ‘Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh’

Here’s Jonah’s second chance!

Jonah 3: 3 ‘This time Jonah obeyed the Lord’s command’

For the first time in the Book of Jonah we see Jonah obey the Lord!

But, the question is this: is Jonah obeying the Lord willingly/joyfully, or is Jonah obeying the Lord reluctantly?

I think Jonah is obeying the Lord reluctantly

The journey to Nineveh, of 650 km would have taken Jonah about 4 weeks to get there

And, I think this would have been a miserable time for Jonah

Almost as bad as his experience of drowning in the sea and being swallowed by the great fish

Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh because he suspected that God would save the people of Nineveh – Israel’s enemies

And, God did save them

Jonah 4: 1-3 ‘just kill me now’

He was so reluctant to go to Nineveh he would rather die!

Jonah’s reluctance to serve God gives us great insight into Israel’s disobedience, as a nation, to serve the purposes of God

In the beginning, when God called Abraham, the ‘father’ of the Jewish people, He called Abraham to be a blessing to all nations

Genesis 12: 1- 3 ‘All the families on Earth will be blessed through you’

God repeated this command to Abraham’s decedents, Isaac (Genesis 26: 4) and Jacob (Genesis 28: 3, 14)

As Israel became a great nation, the Jewish people, like Jonah, refused to serve God’s purpose in blessing the nations

Israel considered the blessings of God to be exclusively theirs

Romans 9: 4-5 Luke 13: 28

But, Jesus went on to say that the purposes of God to bless all nations would succeed with or without Israel’s willingness

Luke 13: 29 ‘And people will come from all over the world—from east and west, north and south — to take their places in the Kingdom of God’.

So, how about you?

Are you serving the Lord willingly/joyfully or reluctantly?

When we are reluctant to serve the Lord it shows up in many ways:

We are reluctant to pray, read our Bible, reluctant to be in the House of the Lord on Sundays – we come late for the Service and leave early

We are reluctant to volunteer for any ministry

Just like Jonah, and just like Israel, we become so consumed with God blessing us; we have no time to be a blessing to others

Dear friends, in closing, let me say this:

I would rather serve the purposes of God willingly/joyfully

And, I’m going to be quick to take the blessings of God to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen and receive them – Amen

Book of Jonah # 8 Jonah prays (Part 2)

Last week: Jonah 2: 1-10 Jonah prays (Part 1)

This week: Jonah 2: 1-10 Jonah prays (Part 2)

5 things we learn from Jonah’s prayer

1/ Jonah only prayed when he was in trouble

Jonah 2: 1a ‘I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble’

2/ Jonah’s prayer was strongly ‘Word’ based

Jonah 2: 2-9 quotes from the Book of Psalms

3/ Jonah’s prayer recognizes the sovereignty of God

Jonah 2: 3 ‘You threw me into the ocean depth’

Dear friends, we make a big mistake blaming our suffering on the devil

Why?

Because, in our mind, we think all the devil wants to do is hurt us for no reason – that is true! All the devil wants to do is hurt us for no reason!

Here’s the difference; God doesn’t hurt us for no reason!

God will bring suffering into our lives for a purpose – that is, that we repent of our sin and turn back to Him

Job 2: 10 ‘Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?’

Job 42: 6 ‘I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance’.

When Jonah went ‘down’ in sin and rebellion against God: ‘down’ to Joppa, ‘down’ into the hold of the ship (Jonah 1), ‘down’ into the heart of the sea, ‘down’ to the roots of the mountains (Jonah 2) – did he repent? No!

So, God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah – God put Jonah inside the fish and only God could get him out!

Jonah could not run from God anymore

Jonah only had one option left – repent!
Just like Jonah, when we are all out of options, we repent too

Example: King David

2 Samuel 24: 14 ‘I’m in a desperate situation…let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great’.

4/ Jonah’s prayer is a prayer of repentance

Jonah 2: 9 ‘I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the LORD alone.’

Jonah now repents and vows to obey God and asks God to save him

If Jonah had obeyed God in the beginning, he could have avoided all this suffering and his ‘last minute’ repentance

5/ Jonah’s prayer brings an end to his suffering

Jonah 2: 10

When the great fish spit Jonah out onto the beach it represented a picture/type of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

That’s why Jesus compared His death, burial and resurrection to Jonah’s experience

Matthew 12: 38-41

Jesus went on to say in

Luke 11: 30 ‘what happened to him (Jonah) was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that He was sent by God’

Jonah was a sign from God to the people of Nineveh – they repented of their sin and turned to God and were saved

Jesus is a sign from God to us – when we repent of our sin and turn to God we will be saved

Here’s the amazing thing: When we are saved, we too become a sign from God to the lost!

When we are saved, we too experience a type of resurrection from the dead, to receive new life in Christ

Ephesians 2: 1, 4-7

Dear friends, never forget this: Like Jonah, we are saved to serve the purposes of God

Ephesians 2: 8-10

‘He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago’

‘He creates each of us by Jesus Christ to join Him in the work He does, the good work He has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing’. (The Message Bible)

Summary: Jonah 1- 2 Jonah is unwilling to serve the purposes of God

Next time: Jonah 3: 1-3 Jonah reluctantly serves the purposes of God