Month: May 2013

God of the 2nd Chance

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God had been very merciful to the Prophet Jonah by sparing his life but also by giving Jonah another chance to fulfill the mission of God. It is clear that Jonah did not deserve to get a 2nd chance but God graciously extended another opportunity for Jonah to be an instrument of mercy for the city of Nineveh, with the mercy he himself had received. Jonah ran from God and experienced divine discipline through a great storm & a great fish which God appointed. He spent three days and nights in the belly of that great fish and “then he prayed” and cried out to God. The Lord spoke to that fish and it vomited Jonah out on dry land. “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time…” (Jonah 3:1 ESV).

Notice that God used a man who was significantly flawed and underserving to accomplish His mission. God used his life to bring one of the greatest revivals ever recorded. God granted him a 2nd chance and entrusted Jonah with His message to speak to the Ninevites. Jonah had been humbled by the merciful discipline of God and expressed gratitude to God for sparing his life. God is the God of the second chance. Throughout the Bible there are instances of God granting mercy and grace to his servants who had failed to obey Him perfectly. Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul … God’s ability to redeem & restore is greater than our ability to mess things up. Rest in God’s grace that He grants you and respond in obedience to His will by His grace.

Running From God: Learning from Jonah

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Since the fall of mankind at the beginning of creation sinful man has tried to run and hide from God (Genesis 3:8-10). It is the natural thing for sinners to do. Our sins separate us from God (Isaiah 59:1)  and our running from God reveals that we have sinned.

Running from God is vain – Jonah 1
Jonah discovered that he couldn’t win at the game of Hide & Seek with God. God sees and knows everything (Prov. 15:3, 1 John 3:20). God is everywhere (Psalm 139:7-12) and is All-Powerful (Revelation 19:6). There is no place that we can hide from God that he cannot see. God declared this through the Prophet Jeremiah saying “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD (Jeremiah 23:24 ESV).

Running from God is tiring – Jonah 1:5
Jonah “laid down and was fast asleep” not because he had a perfect peace but because he was exhausted from running from God. Any person running from God and resisting His will is going to get tired and weary. It is exhausting of one’s strength to remain in sin. David wrote about his experience with this drain of life and strength because his sin saying “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer Selah” (Psalm 32:3-4 ESV).

Running from God may lead you to a storm – Jonah 1:4
Sometimes storms and trials come because you’re walking upright before God and sometimes they come because we rebel against His will. So whether you’re right with God or running from God storms and trials will come. But often we find ourselves in a storm or trial because of our disobedience and this was the case with Jonah.

Running from God will result in divine discipline – Jonah 2:3
God was not going to let Jonah live comfortably in a state of rebellion towards the will of God. God lovingly made Jonah miserable. Charles Spurgeon said “God never allows His children to sin success-fully, and Jonah is proof of the truth of that statement”. “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12:6 ESV). Like a loving father who disciplines his children, so God does with His own children who rebel against Him.

Running from God affects those around you – Jonah 1:5-16
Even the pagan sailors on the ship Jonah was aboard discovered somebody on that ship was in sin. Your sin affects those around you, and especially those closest to you. Often your friends and family can tell something is wrong when you are running from God.

Running from God reveals a disconnection from God’s heart-Jonah 4:1-2
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:1-2 ESV).
Jonah’s actions revealed where his heart was at and it didn’t line up with God’s heart. God delighted in showing mercy to Nineveh but Jonah had great displeasure that the city wasn’t destroyed.

If you are running from God right now stop and consider how good God has been to you. God has given you the grace of life, breath, food, health, family, friends etc… God has best displayed His goodness to you by sending His Son Jesus to suffer & die in your place and reconcile you back to Himself. Jesus experienced death on your behalf and rose from the dead three days later so that you may live forever with Him. Taste and see that God is good by placing your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Call upon Christ for Salvation. Let His goodness lead you to repentance. Run to the Father not away from Him.

The Heart of God & Mission of God

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The gracious and merciful heart of God for people and cities full of people is revealed in the book of Jonah. God loves and cares much about people, thus He loves and cares much about cities which are full of people. God shared His heart and mission with Jonah by telling him to go and preach to “Nineveh, that great city” (Jonah 1:2 ESV). The purpose of God in sending Jonah to preach a message warning of judgment was to bring Nineveh to a place of repentance. Jonah would have preferred for a swift and sure judgment upon Nineveh. He knew that God is a “gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster”. So Jonah decided to “flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3 EVS). God’s heart of compassion for all peoples is great, which moves Him to give a great commission to His people. Those who are not connected to the heart of God will not partner in the mission of God. But those who carry the compassionate heart of God will be moved to pray for and proclaim the saving message of Christ to the lost. Christ told His disciples “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38 ESV).Then He sent out His disciples to be the feet to those prayers (Matthew 10). After Christ sent them out, He himself “went on from there to teach and preach in their cities” (Matthew 11:1 ESV).

God is moved with compassion for people, are you? Are you living more like Jonah who was disconnected from the heart and mission of God or like Jesus who did what pleased the Father?
Will you pray for laborers? And will you go to where God sends you to proclaim the gospel?

 

The Role of Reasoning In Evangelism

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One important aspect in evangelism is the use of reason. This is something that God did with His people of Israel through the Prophet Isaiah. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson,they shall become like wool”(Isaiah 1:18 ESV). God is reasonable and He invites us to reason with Him. His desired outcome in reasoning with us is that our sins would be washed away.

This is also something that the Apostle Paul did in his evangelistic strategy.
“And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you” (Acts 24:25 ESV). The three things that Paul specifically reasoned with Felix about were righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment. It appears that Felix was feeling convicted of his sin and wasn’t ready to repent so he told Paul to “Go away for the present”. Reasoning with people who don’t know Christ about righteous, self-control and judgment can be the means that the Holy Spirit uses to convict and draw someone to Christ.
If you are going to reason with a person about righteousness, then the 10 Commandments are the essence of what to use for reasoning. The commandments show us what is right and what is wrong. I do this personally with those who don’t recognize their need to be saved from their sin. I learned it from Ray Comfort’s teaching titled Hell’s Best Kept Secret. It’s really simple to do but it is not comfortable for either parties. Talking about sin usually isn’t. What I do usually do is ask them if they have ever lied, stolen or lusted. Then I ask them what that makes them and if God were to judge them by that standard would they be innocent or guilty. Would they go to Heaven or Hell? All this can help prepare someone to see the good news of the gospel. For so many the good news makes no sense because they don’t understand the bad news.

Watch these two videos to see examples:

Making Disciples & Motherhood

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God has given every mother a noble calling and a vital role in the lives of their 20130506-160845.jpgchildren. I’ve heard numerous testimonies of wayward and rebellious children whose godly, praying mothers were instrumental in their coming to Christ. So many mothers have done an excellent job at making disciples by the influence upon the lives of their children. The Bible likens making disciples to the parental role of a mother. Paul, the Apostle, described his ministry to the Thessalonians as such: “But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us”(1 Thessalonians 2:7-8 NASB).

Making disciples is an expression of love for the people you are leading. It is about imparting love and truth not merely through your lips but through your life. It is great to impart the gospel into peoples lives because they may believe and find eternal life through believing (John 20:31). Yet it is an even greater expression of love to impart and invest your very own life, like a mother who sacrificially gives her time, energy, love and affection to her children.

Motherhood is no easy job! Making babies may be easy but having them and raising them is a major commitment and investment. Waking up at various hours of the night to a crying baby who is hungry is not convenient. Changing dirty diapers and cleaning up blow outs while being away from home or in the process of leaving the house for an event is not pleasant. Picking up toiletries dumped out on the bathroom floor and trying to get tasks done around the house with fussy children is difficult. Caring for and comforting sick children, while feeling helpless to make them better is a tough trial. Though the task motherhood & making disciples is hard work that requires faithfulness and sacrifice the joys are great. The Apostle John wrote “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4 ESV). This is the great joy mothers and disciple makers experience.

20130506-160831.jpgMy respect for mothers and the role of motherhood has significantly gone up since my wife and I have had children. The sacrificial service that my wife gives to our children has displayed a glorious reflection of the love of God. I am greatly honored and delighted to have such a godly wife who lovingly nurtures and cares for her children, seeking to raise them up in the ways of God.
I am also so thankful for my own mother who is a joyful follower of Christ. I have seen my mom sacrificially serve others in the name of Christ. She boldly reaches out to people with the gospel and loves to encourage other believers. God has so blessed my life through my own mother. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the sacrificial investment that my mother has put into my life. With Mother’s Day approaching this Sunday let each of us recognize and reflect upon the grace that has been imparted into our lives through our mothers.

Let’s honor our mothers for their God-given role and give thanks to God for the good and perfect gift of motherhood.

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