{"id":8988,"date":"2020-04-29T20:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T03:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=8988"},"modified":"2020-04-26T17:30:27","modified_gmt":"2020-04-27T00:30:27","slug":"jonah_3_1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/jonah_3_1-10\/","title":{"rendered":"A God of Second Chances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonah 3:1-10 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Jonah 3:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

\n
Jonah 3:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Jonah a second time:
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jonah obeyed the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and went to Nineveh\u2026<\/em>On verses 1-3:\u00a0 The first time the word of the Lord came to Jonah, Jonah ran away.\u00a0 But praise God that in His mercy God decided to let His Word come to Jonah a second time (v1).\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0you and I may not have always responded with obedience the first time God called us, but thank God for those times when, after even we have rejected Him, God calls us a second time, or a hundredth time.<\/strong>\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad that in His mercy God has decided that \u201cGod’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.\u201d (Romans 11:29).\u00a0 Thank You Lord for being the God of second chances.\u00a0 Thank You for Your patience with me.<\/p>\n

Jonah 3:3-9 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0\u2026Now Nineveh was a very important city–a visit required three days.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-9:\u00a0 Jonah preaches to the Ninevites the message God gave him, and the Ninevites respond by the masses (v5), mostly notably led by the king who declares a city-wide fast and calls his people to prayer and repentance (v6-9).\u00a0 I learn a couple lessons from this:<\/p>\n

1. Notice the chain reaction:\u00a0 Because Jonah responded in obedience to God\u2019s Word, it allowed the people of Nineveh to hear and respond in obedience to God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Your obedience to God\u2019s Word directly impacts those in your care and how much they get to hear and respond to God\u2019s Word.<\/strong>\u00a0 So for the sake of your family, your friends, and the people around you, respond quickly and obediently to God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Have a heart that is soft and responsive to the Word of God.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Remember that the condition of your heart is your choice.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Hebrews 3:15 says, \u201c\u2026Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”<\/p>\n

Jonah 3:10 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 10:\u00a0 God watches the way we respond to His Word.\u00a0 Notice that nothing is said here about how well or how eloquently Jonah preached.\u00a0 The focus is on the people\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 When God\u2019s Word is preached, let your number one concern not be how well or how poorly you thought the preacher preached.\u00a0 Instead, make your number one concern how well and how quickly you personally respond in obedience to God\u2019s Word, regardless of how well or poorly the message may have been delivered.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t let the delivery of the message distract you from responding to the message itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You for being the God of second chances and 77th<\/sup>\u00a0chances, how in Your mercy You give us Your Word not just once but repeatedly.\u00a0 I pray that I would have a soft, responsive heart toward Your Word, knowing that when I obey Your Word, it opens the door for others to obey Your Word too.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Jonah 3:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Jonah 3:1-3 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Jonah a second time:\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Jonah obeyed the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and went to Nineveh\u2026
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-3:\u00a0 The first time the word of the Lord came to Jonah, Jonah ran away.\u00a0 But praise God that in His mercy God decided to let His Word come to Jonah a second time (v1).\u00a0 Likewise,\u00a0you and I may not have always responded with obedience the first time God called us, but thank God for those times when, after even we have rejected Him, God calls us a second time, or a hundredth time.\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad that in His mercy God has decided that \u201cGod’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.\u201d (Romans 11:29).\u00a0 Thank You Lord for being the God of second chances.\u00a0 Thank You for Your patience with me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8988"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8991,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988\/revisions\/8991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}