In The Felly Of A Bish Part 6: Scene 5, YHWH, The Great and Gracious Elohim

and let's just start with a quick word of Prayer I'm going to read some testimonies here but I want them to be on the sermon that we put up on on YouTube so let's start with prayer father in heaven thank you for that profoundly beautiful and spiritual and moving prayer that Robin just prayed Lord I just want to ask now specifically that you will be with us in the study of Scripture may the inspiring spirit the spirit that moved upon holy men of old as they wrote may he now come into this room and be the instructing spirit and may we come away with a better understanding of who you are of who we are and what the world is teach us father how to live not as the world but in the world a part of it and teach us how to live for its benefit and for its good this is our prayer in Jesus name let everyone say Amen well I want to start not getting right into the sermon every week I get testimonies from people and I often feel selfish because I get to read these testimonies and I just think oh man these are so amazing these are great and many of you don't get to hear them so would you like to hear some testimonies from people that are being benefited by the programs that are on our on our youtube channel and also from hope channel as well so this is from David in the United States he says David I just have to say the first Adventist pastor I heard was you I disagreed with you disagreed with everything I had ever believed but I kept listening anyway then I began to study for myself to prove you wrong all I did was prove you right and that was eight years ago god bless you my friend even though we have never met David this is from caring she writes dear pastor Eric I'm so grateful for your ministry my husband is a truth seeker and is growing in grace through your concise and succinct truth filled historical and biblically based messages I am grateful for your method of presentations and Adventists from birth and by choice I appreciate the more in-depth historical presentation which has brought my beloved husband to know that God is love your God series on hope channel has been tremendously helpful and enlightening I have watched my husband grow from fearing hell claiming that he's just a puppet and feeling betrayed and hated by God to a man depending and praying to God and telling him that he loves him loves God my husband will be in heaven because you have accepted the call and have devoted your life to sharing the love that you know the love of our amazing Heavenly Father blessings to you and your ministering family sincerely Keri amen beautiful dear pastor Eric this is it really sad when I won't read the whole thing here but I just wanted you to eat a feel for the kinds of people that are listening to these programs dear David Eric we are two young men aged 30 and 27 we are suffering from cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis since birth so our lives are pretty miserable dark and with only a little hope for the future we live in a dull dreary nursing home where almost nothing happens and our parents left us here when we were very small they have not visited us since then our childhoods have been very lonely without any mother or father figures they then go into a long email describing how they've been blessed by the programs and they say 1,000 thanks in advance you are an inspiration to us love from Sweden can he say Amen thank you Jesus my dear David I am an old owl that every day tries to find new sermons lectures and seminars of the from the members of light bearers online I can't get enough of the insights that you guys received from the Holy Spirit my soul reverberates with the Lord through you guys when I learned about the recent cyclone my first thought was Australia kingscliff David and his church family I pray to God that you would not be in the path of disaster and I knew the arrives program was going on and that was something that could mess up their Bible studies little did I know that all the students were out giving such hands-on lessons about the gospel in such a manner with his love and mine patty from Houston Texas amen people praying for our local church in our local community from all over the world hi Pastor David just a note to say thank you for a great Bible study yesterday an excellent exegesis of the Book of Jonah both left the church feeling spiritually fed these are people that were with us in our church dear pastor David I've wanted to contact you for many years you were such a blessing to many especially me I've I have been a fan of you for years as I mentioned however my husband Reggie claimed he couldn't watch you as it made him nervous your back and forth moves and rapid-fire deliver delivery were just beyond him knowing Reggie this didn't surprise me he was speechless when I told him that I would record and then watch you on DVD mode at one point three-speed which saves about 20 minutes per hour requiring complete attention and focus on my part but still doable when I found you on youtube I suggested to my husband that maybe we could tolerate just 10 minutes of you David and it worked now he will watch an entire sermon with me and we were both blessed and amazed at how deep you get us into God's Living Word accustomed to watching older series that you were already uploaded we were almost disappointed to see that we have to wait for the next week installment of in the Feli of a bish where hopefully hopefully we'll watch part 3 tonight we can't wait for it to upload from sherry a couple more oh this is a from somebody right here local dear David I live in Burley waters and was visiting your church yesterday for the first time I now intend to be there as often as possible if not every Sabbath I thought your talk was very interesting informative and enjoyable and that your delivery was enthusiastic expressive engaging at about the best I've encountered in an Adventist Church of which I have been apart and now I'm a member for about 25 years thank you and well done I have seen far too much of the opposite blessings Christopher and Christopher's here today I met him just this morning sitting right there Thank You Christopher for that lovely email okay two more hi Pastor Eric this is from Jamaica I have been keeping up with your church's latest Studies on the books of on the Book of Jonah and I feel impressed by the spirit to tell you to keep doing what you're doing to give your congregation a sense of its god-given identity I'm a part of the seventh-day Adventist Church here in Jamaica and he goes on so long email thank you so much for your work and then finally I thought this was kind of a cute one this is from an Australian and I saved this one for last because I knew you'd like it hi David your publicly-available sermons on YouTube are a great saying thank you and all of your colleagues for that and thank you to Violetta for her ministry of love and support I really like the way you are addressing everyday seemingly small temptations in your sermons for adults and teenagers alike the world has many insidious evils that numb us to its perils however I note with amusement your perennial battle with getting Aussies in your congregation to express themselves loudly and publicly one day you'll get our understated miss perhaps you do not now perhaps you do already get that understated niskanen something more American from us in our communication by the way I think your congregations efforts in the flood aftermath spoke volumes may God bless you all love and blessings to you and your family sue from Tasmania amen beautiful you know as I was going over some of these and these are literally just a few of the testimonies that we get some of them are really long and beautiful and some of them are frankly really heartfelt like the and painful to read like the the two young men there that are in the nursing home in Sweden and when you read these and when you hear them it just get you to thinking about the fact that these are real people amen real people they're not just emails they're real people that are in real places whether it's in America or Estonia I got one this week from Estonia or Jamaica or even here in Australia and I just think it would be so amazing if these real people could come to our church and tell us their testimonies how would that mean not just reading but actually hearing testimonies from some of the people that have been benefited by our churches programs can you say Amen okay great well your wish is my command I'd like to invite Jerry and Innoko to come up here why don't we give them a hand [Applause] this is Jerry and Innoko depute and they're coming to us all the way from Tasmania and I'm not going to tell you any more than that because I want to interview them and you can meet them for yourselves thank you okay so uh Jerry Zdenek oh we had breakfast yesterday morning at so so how was the breakfast by the way so sorry it was so so so so so at so zone but now yesterday was not the first time we had met where are you from okay a bit of a history lesson here both Zdenek and I Dutch migrant children we came out to Australia in 1956 and 1957 we were both brought up in the Reformed Church in Holland and here in Australia for which we were thankful because of the pure biblical background that we received we've been married for 47 years amen yeah and according to Genesis 2 verse 20 God has provided me with a suitable helper and I'll praise his name for the Amen now we're all part of a story which is bigger than ourselves amen and David has invited us to tell you part of our story yes so do you want me to go ahead oh well where are you so you were raised now you say in the Dutch Reformed Church now some people here might not know what that means that's that's basically Presbyterian strong Calvinistic Presbyterian Church very strong church especially in Holland yes and my biggest struggle and dinner kiss biggest struggle within that church was it was a doctrine of do good get good hmm do bad get bad and we found that so difficult to live with hmm yet we were Church attending all our lives with our children and then one day I had an accident at work I'm an investor I was industrial electrician and I got a severe back injury so I was bedridden prior to this my wife Denikin had been watching a guy by the name of Jimmy Swaggart American evangelist American evangelist on TV and I said they're so delicate don't watch this guy I'll bet you at the end of the show you'll be asking you for money and sure enough he did and I felt justified some weeks later I was bedridden love watching the footy on TV Danika says let me help you to the couch you can watch TV me natura go to church I said off you go I'm laughing because they know the story I'm sorry I'm laying on that bed on the couch sorry I could not move denne could turn the TV on and guess who came on Jimmy Swaggart I thought oh no dinegar what have you done to me did she purposely put Jimmy Swaggart on purposely purposely okay yes she is that sort of woman yeah she's a suitable helpmeet as well yes exactly so I thought well I I you see in those days we didn't have remote controls our TV had three knobs want to turn that on an off one for the sound I went for the channel so no remote controls I couldn't do it from our damn stock those were hard days so I turned my back to the TV and I thought I don't have to watch him but I had to listen so you literally turned around on the couch yes with difficulty then Zdenek it came home towards the end of that program and I was in tears yeah and him a blubbering mess this man had shown me that there was such a thing as a personal relationship available to me yes there's this doctrinal stuff it was just it was man-made it wasn't what God wants from ya and that was the start of our journey beautiful how many years ago was that J 19 I t6 okay okay what happened then so you you hear the gospel I mean Zdenek is already already on this journey so you hear that I'll take that got it so you hear this story and are you hear this sermon you're a blubbering mess she comes home what happens then where does your journey go from there we again started going deeper and deeper into the scriptures den occur at this time was bedridden I came home from work because I was a shift worker but I went into day shift to care for my wife all she was doing during the day was listening to sermons reading the Bible I'd come home from work and I'd get sermonettes and I thought wish she would do something to get better because I can't put up with this much longer this led us to believe as baptism she caught the bottom of it within the reformed church we were baptized as infants this led to believers baptism believers baptism then led us into the charismatic churches okay so we've gone the full gamut of strict Calvinism full-on Pentecost internationalism yet and here we are now it's the a ISM we are not seventh-day Adventists we go to a Baptist Church in our community correct I was getting to that [Laughter] however again our spiritual journey I we have been married forty seven years we've moved over 20 odd times relocated to different mining sites of different work situations and in that time we could see God breaking down the church wall barriers we were coming across people who weren't Reformed Church who love God loved God and and it was just amazing Jenica was doing a course through the seventh-day Adventist ministry of our right local radio and it said there will be no door knockers I said go ahead have fun so she was doing that but she'd requested a DVD one day there was a knock at the door no door knockers no door knockers but this guy stood there he from El Salvador a better seventh day Ventus Minister yeah Alfredo Campos was his name and he introduced himself and I thought what have we got here so I had to let him in I could not leave him standing there and at that time we were going through a very tumultuous experience in our personal lives yes and this man reached out and prayed with us he walked in his sense there's something going on here which is not good which is not right and he picked up on that and we're so pleased that the love of God breathed his spirit in yes situation also at one time prayer just the power of that was a apparent power of a prayer Wow I was working at the Beaconsfield gold mine this may be familiar to some of you people through beyond the search there was one aspect there where we all need to be saved and there were those two miners who got saved at Beaconsfield in the mine it's Osmania I was working alongside that mine on a special project I had an engineer from Western Australia who happened to be a servant day Adventist so this quiet became quite clear that he was and I wasn't but we worked together well one day I had a very very bad electric shock it was high voltage and I woke up in the ambulance and I could just hear somebody say before you go just a minute I don't know what is normal it was the voice of the Lord and this man the seventh identies engineer crawled into that ambulance grabbed my hand and he said Lord God don't let this man die hmm and it worked amen obviously when he said just before you go did he mean like go in the ambulance er before you go before ambulance died oh my god okay can not open that and and and all this time God is working in us yes he's putting us through the the difficult areas of our lives and we find ourselves now through hope TV yeah through hope channel on the radio dinegar you you say something through life bearers we've been constantly watching and listening and just can't get enough of David of James Jeffrey of Ty Gibson I even tried Ty's sandwich with yeah yeah Andy sandwich some of you might know about that crazy sandwich bananas chocolate with water we got a photo we've got the photo so I went to Tasmania I went to Tasmania last year ended up at the seventh-day Adventist camp meeting and so after I think the first day that I spoke what you approached me both of you and you said hey you were kind of like yeah we're not sitting hey can they be here is this all I but that's enough I'll take over because of dinegar studies we're encouraged to go to that camp meeting specifically to listen to David which I hope 50 kilometers every day to listen to David of you it just seems that every time I meet David it cost me money he had okay that's enough turn these microphones off he had one session there and he said now if you're really interested there's a DVD that you can buy in that building over there and blah blah blah so I walked in there $400 later I had a pouch full of DVD I didn't do that I wasn't selling those things yesterday did yesterday the other day we had breakfast together no I said David what's the dress code in your church he said anything from board shorts songs and Hawaiian shirts he told me a porcupine because I can't see any of I told some people a porcupine asked me where I was from and I said Nelson Bay which is quite correct because we're traveling around Australia we came from there or somebody to get here but we are from Tasmania and when that first served at the first time David spoke I went up to him and we talked and I said but there's a problem I said I love your ministry or we're encouraged by it we just want to encourage you with the word you're doing the work you're doing beautiful and he said what's the problem I said we're not seventh-day Adventists and he put his arm on my shoulder and he said but we are brothers and sisters in Christ yes beautiful and all of a sudden of burden that lifted because I thought this man is doing what I'm trying to do is break down the barriers hmm and the barriers of doctrinal stamp you and I just love this guy I love his ministry love his wife love his family and we just thank you so much that as I'm standing here I'm looking at the body of Christ amen yes you are and it doesn't matter we can do nothing to to save ourselves that's right except I just thank you for God's love because the God's present what do we go sit down I shall go and sit oh no should we go sit down no you please yourself honestly we just overwhelmed by the presence of God amen in our lives in other people's lives and we are constantly opening ourselves up to hear from God no matter what denomination yeah because that's not a question that will be asked when we stand before him hmm and I just thank you for time I we pray God's blessing over you all and especially the ministry amen say man let's give him a hand Thank You Jerry Thank You Dennis god bless you both now you didn't say everything I think you missed a few things in the script I gave you there oh man it's so beautiful to think that there are people all over the world even at the bottom of the world in Tasmania hearing the gospel can you say Amen so thrilling all right let's open our Bibles to the Book of Jonah join me there Book of Jonah right toward the end as you know of the Old Testament we continue our study of Jonah our series titled in the felling of a fish now let's remind ourselves of where we are I'm going to push that there see if it's working good so just three or four quick slides to remind ourselves where we came from last week last week we were in Jonah chapter 3 verses 1 to 3 and we had that really pregnant passage of Scripture there the word of the Lord came to Jonah ah does anyone remember a second time and we concluded among other things last week that Yahweh is the god of second chances another slide from last week as a recipient of Yahweh's mercy patience and saving judgment is Jonah ready to extend that mercy to others he's on an errand now to Nineveh will he be able to extend the mercy to others that he himself has been the beneficiary of now we noted this last week that a number of textual indicators are setting us up for an unexpected outcome to this amazing book right whether there's already been all along we're here on our what is this our fifth presentation we've already been hint after hint indication after indication that that what we might think is going to happen as a Jewish reader of Jonah's account is not what's actually going to happen we're being set up for an unexpected and an unforeseen ending we're going to talk about that now so here we are in our fifth of six episodes right we're graying out all of the episodes that we've been through so we've been through the first half right to set up the build-up to speak up we're now in the second half The Book of Jonah very symmetrical and it's basic structure ok we'll return to this slide a little bit later but now we're in the build up Jonah and the Gentiles were in Jonah chapter 3 and we're going to read the rest of chapter 3 next week will be in Jonah chapter 4 and we'll wrap up Jonah chapter 4 last next week will be our final sermon on the Book of Jonah and Joel will come back about a week after that and I'll be away for the next four weeks at light-bearer's convocation and filming the next episode of tabletop or the next season of tabletop so our presentation today sermon today is titled scene 5 Yahweh the great and gracious Elohim Yahweh the great and gracious Elohim and so let's remind ourselves with this quotation that we've looked at several times this is from Kevin youngbloodz book Jonah God's scandalous mercy and he says there remarking on the prayer that Jonah prayed in the belly of the fish there was a shallowness to that prayer we've already noted this we won't review it here but the shallowness of Jonah's repentance shapes the remainder of the narrative we're going to see how that shallowness the shallowness of his repentance I use repentance in quotation marks works its way out this is going to become really really obvious to us here let's go to Jonah chapter 3 let's read verses four five and maybe a little bit of six Jonah chapter 3 beginning in verse four and Jonah began to enter the city what city is he entering everyone what's that city called Nineveh very good and trying to begin to enter the city the first on the first day's walk or literally one day's walk then he cried out and he said in 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown in in the Hebrew language it's just four words or five words rather five words forty days Nineveh will be overthrown okay very terse very succinct very short and abbreviated message verse four and Jonah began at verse five it says so the people of Nineveh believed God proclaimed fast and put on set cloth from the greatest to the least of them we'll just stop there for now so several things that we want to note first of all not only do we see a reluctant prayer that Jonah the Prophet prays from the belly of the fish we're now going to see a rather reluctant proclamation even here there are textual indicators that Jonah is only begrudgingly going about his duty in other words he's not had this amazing conversion experience inside of the fish he's now fully understanding and aware of him as a recipient of Yahweh's tremendous grace and mercy and he's now ready to communicate that that would be an over simple in fact an incorrect reading of the text we are we are in place after plays situation after situation in nuance after nuance and subtlety after subtlety being alerted to the fact that Jonah is only reluctantly only half-heartedly only begrudgingly going about his task whether it's the task of praying or now the task of Proclamation here are at least six reasons to believe that Jonah is going along with the task of proclaiming to Nineveh its destruction in a very grudging and half-hearted manner number one we have experienced serious reluctance up to this point up to this point Jonah fled to Tarshish he finds himself you know in the quite apart from his desire in the belly of a fish so we see significant reluctance on the part of the Prophet up to this point and we have no indication except for an external cooperation to go to Nineveh that there's been any heart change inside of Nineveh number two we've talked about the rather shallow conversion that he had in the fish's belly right there's no admission of wrong there's no admission of guilt there's no sense of forgiveness or an asking for forgiveness number three this is quite fascinating in both halves of the two halves of Jonah in chapters 1 & 2 and also in chapters 3 & 4 a three-day journey occurs in both right because Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days there's a three-day journey and we just read a moment ago in Jonah chapter 3 verse 2 and 3 verses 2 & 3 right I should say last week we read it that Nineveh was a three-day journey okay now scholars debate exactly what that means does that mean it was three days across that seems unlikely that would be a gigantic City we know that Nineveh wasn't that large scholars debate exactly what the precise meaning is of Nineveh a three-day City but the point is that the author of Jonah knew what it meant and when he writes it he is saying not only was Jonah three days in the fish but Nineveh was a three day jurnee we mentioned that maybe this is a reference to the nether world or that there was a three-day journey could be that but notice in what we just read that even though Nineveh is a three-day journey how many days did did Jonah travel into the city did you notice it one day so if you go one day into a city that's a three day journey have you completed your task now you've just begun the task right that would be one third of the of the total task that's been in front of you and so three day journey he goes one day in and begins his Proclamation in 40 days Nineveh will return number 4 notice that very a typically four prophetic warnings there is no thus sayeth the Lord you find again and again these Oracle's of doom or these Oracle's of judgment in the Old Testament and the prophets will often say thus says the Lord and Oracle against Edom thus says the Lord and Oracle against Judah thus says the Lord and Oracle against Israel is none of that Jonah's whole message as the author of Jonah puts it into his mouth is five simple words in the Hebrew in 40 days Nineveh will be overturned there's not a mention of Yahweh there's not a mention of God there's no it's just the most terse possible message it's like the it's like the the petulant child that you say clean your room and he or she does the minimum possible requirement to get their room over the threshold of clean marginally clean passively clean God says to Jonah go to Nineveh and cry against it and he literally says the least possible that he would have to say in 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown number five there's no reason for judgment given right when God originally gave the commission to Jonah back in chapter one he said go cry out against Nineveh because her wickedness has come up before me but Jonah makes no mention of this Jonah just says in 40 days Nitta will be overturned and then finally number six there's no indication of a possible repentance so there are textual indicators that not only are we dealing with a reluctant prayer from the fish's belly we're now dealing with a reluctant proclamation from the prophets mouth yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah along with it not an inward renewal of the heart but an outward compliance we asked this question last week last week yes Jonah is outwardly compliance but is his heart renewed and the author of Jonah is sending discernible understandable signals to alert us to the fact that what's going on here is more of a capitulation it's more of a compliance than a real move movement by the movement of compassion and Yahweh's mercy Jonah's obedience and proclaiming to Nineveh comes off like his prayer it comes off as half-hearted he goes one day into a three-day city and says five words fascinatingly from that point on if you take a look at the whole of Jonah after verse four Jonah disappears they're still going to be five six seven eight nine ten there's going to be another six verses in this chapter and there's not a mention of Jonah right God says to Jonah go into this city a three-day journey he goes in one day he makes this you know short sort of announcement and yet the response of the Ninevites is overwhelmingly positive and unforeseen we'll come back to that just a moment okay his half heartedness stands out in sharp contrast as we're going to see to the Ninevites repentance this shouldn't come as a surprise to us we've already been set up for this because in Jonah's original interaction with Gentiles on the ship that was bound for Tarshish Jonah comes off as fatigued he comes off as as aloof he comes off as disinterested but it's the the Mariners that are actually worshiping calling out crying and eventually even praising Yahweh Jonah's own God and so there's going to be this amazing contrast that we're going to see now one of the most interesting things is actually found right in verse 4 and it's something that you might not what you wouldn't pick up in the English in fact I looked at like 60 English translations this week and none of them give the sense of ambiguity that the Hebrew does okay I want to introduce you to this idea here Jonah chapter 3 verse 4 says then he cried out yet forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown and one of the words there is huh that's the word overthrown Nineveh will be huh okay check this out the word here the Hebrew word means to turn about to turn over to change or to overturn like to flip something upside down and you can see why that would kind of have the connotation of destruction right if you take a cake and you turn it upside down it's destroyed if you take a plate of food you turn it upside down it's destroyed so the idea that that Nineveh will be a it will be overturned it will there's the idea but there's this other there's this other nuance this other element contained within the Hebrew word and it can mean to become to change or even to be converted now this is let me just give you a couple instances of how that word that same Hebrew word works itself out in other passages in the Old Testament Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 5 you might remember the story when Balaam the rebellious profit goes to curse Israel God is going to huff ah he's going to change that curse into a blessing watch this nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but the Lord your God turned there's our word the curse into a blessing because the Lord your God loves you now I want you to notice a word that we could substitute in this context is reform reform the Lord your God reformed that curse into a blessing it was intentioned as a curse but God reformed it and turned it into a blessing two more quick instances both of them from First Samuel chapter 10 this is the story of the anointing of Saul by the prophet Samuel then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you this is Samuel speaking to the first king of Israel Saul the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you saw and you will prophesy with them and be a fact into another men you will be turned into another man you'll be reformed you'll be changed you'll be converted just three verses later in the same chapter so it was when Saul had turned his back from Samuel that God gave him another heart he affect him another heart and all those signs came to pass that day now with this in mind there is an ambiguity in Jonah's message that's actually very fast dating the passage could be rendered like this then he cried out and he said yet forty days and Nineveh will be reformed yet forty days and Nineveh will be changed there is an ambiguity within the very text of Jonah's message the warning of Jonah is suggestive and ambiguous and the question I suppose for us is does Jonah himself discern this ambiguity all indicators within the narrative are that he does not he does not discern that the ambiguity within the word have fact that the idea is not only might it be overturned but maybe it will just be turned around maybe there will be a repentance maybe there will be a reformation maybe it won't just be utter destruction from a prophet of Israel who like the rest of Israel could not conceive that something that was good for Nineveh could also be good for Israel I mean just by definition in the US in them world of Jew and Gentile in the US in them world of Israel in Assyria if it's good for Assyria it's bad for us and if it's bad for us it's good for Assyria Jonah's us in them world is having a really difficult time compartmentalizing this radical notion something could be good for Israel and good for Assyria now we've already noted that Nineveh was a city belonging to Yahweh that God had an interest in Nineveh because God's people were there God's children were there God is not parochial he's not provincial God doesn't occupy an us-and-them reality God occupies an us reality can somebody say Amen there is no bifurcation of humanity in God's basic reality and and Jonah sees the world as many of us do in us in them we're going to get to this in just a second let's talk a little bit more about this Kevin Youngblood in his book god scandalous mercy says in Jonah chapter 3 verse 4 however the ambiguity appears to be aimed at the Prophet himself why why the ambiguity he says to expose Jonah's bitterness toward Assyria if this is the word Yahweh used when he gave the message to Jonah in chapter 3 verse 2 Jonah may have made his journey to Nineveh under the impression that nineveh's destruction was inevitable the impression however was not created by Yahweh but by Jonah's own deep desire to see Assyria destroyed now this is where the textual indicators are bringing us and we're not even to chapter four yet when we get to chapter four we're going to find that all of these clues that were picking up on about an unforeseen and an unexpected ending are actually driving us exactly where we suspect the author to have been driving us because when we get to chapter four next week we're going to find that not Jonah is not pleased he's not happy he's not elated that Nineveh has been spared I love this idea that what's really going on here is not that Yahweh said it's inevitable I will destroy but that Jonah interpreted what Yahweh said through his own paradigm through his own prejudice through his own bias and he assumed as many of us do that what we are saying about God is what God is saying about himself I want to say that again many of us assume that what we are saying about God is actually an accurate reflection of what God is saying in fact as as what God says comes through the channels of humanity we can and sometimes do I would say oftentimes do change Sulli manipulate and even pervert what God is actually saying we see this even here with Jonah one final slide here from Youngblood his deep-seated dislike for Assyria dilutes Jonah's experience of Yahweh's mercy preventing him from sharing Yahweh's gracious disposition toward Nineveh don't miss them Nineveh Nineveh will not receive a message of mercy and a forgiveness and of compassion from Jonah not because that's not Yahweh's posture toward Nineveh but because it's not Jonah's posture how many of us communicate in ways both subtle and not-so-subtle that the world really is an us-and-them us seventh-day adventists and you non seventh-day evidence us Christians and you non-christians us Protestants and you non-processed us theists and you non theist or atheist right there are many different bifurcations and divisions of reality and and we tend to view the world because it gives us a sense of belonging it gives us a sense of place it gives us a sense of identity to divide the world into us and them but God's world again is in ice world and when God's us message goes to Jonah Jonah takes that message and appears to at least undersell it and perhaps even downright perverted and communicates not in us not an inclusivity not a positivity toward an enemy nation they might be Israel's enemies but are they God's enemies he takes that message and makes it his own does this happen in our day and age can people take the message of Scripture the message and where in the Old Testament we're in the Old Testament we are not at this point yet in the glorious and grand New Testament where God in the person of Jesus comes down and opens the doors wide to the prostitute to the Centurion to the leper to the tax collector to the Samaritan we're still in the Old Testament and yet many of us would feel really comfortable ostracizing alienating and and looking down with doom and judgment on others is this the message of God is the message of God that God has given to the church to communicate wrath and anger and judgment I'm not suggesting that there are not times when that is the appropriate message but fascinatingly here we have a prophet of doom on an errand in which the message that he's given is sufficiently ambiguous to communicate not a message of doom but also a message of the promise and the possibility of reform and transformation not out of the threat of death or of or of hostility but out of a drawing a wooing and inviting from Yahweh's love and mercy and grace something else is going on here's something really cool man there's so much in this and I'm just going to make a couple announcements just a couple slides observations here there's these are tips of icebergs that we could explore and would be mind-blowing but we'll just quickly note them well part of the message here and this might be heavy for some of you to endure you know just wear this and trust me this is what texts to saying if you don't believe it look at it yourself facts do that with everything that I say profits can deliver messages that they themselves do not really comprehend amen prophets can say things that they themselves are not in full possession of next slide here prophets can be less than fully converted and still be used for good by Yahweh did you know that a prophet a preacher a spokesperson for God can be used by God and not himself or herself be fully in possession of an experience with Yahweh's mercy and character it's possible prophets are people they can be stubborn they can be ignorant they can be fallible church members can be stubborn they can be ignorant they can be fallible seventh-day evidence can be stubborn they can be ignorant they can be fallible but Yahweh cannot it needs to Amen see here's a reorientation away from me in my denomination in my church and I've pretty much got it all together in my congregation pretty much has it all together to an orientation to God who actually has it all together right when I met Jerry and Innoko there at the Tasmanian camp meeting and they say hey look we're not 70 evidence this is an opportunity to build a bridge or a wall and I love these two people and I'm so glad that God moved on my heart and has moved upon my soul to extend bridges to people not walls right many of us and our preaching of the love of Yahweh and the goodness of God and the forgiveness of Jesus and his amazing character what we think we're saying is not what we're saying what we think we're saying is not what people are hearing okay let's move now to the Kings response let's read beginning in chapter verse 6 all the way to the end of the chapter then the word came to the king of Nineveh a bit of a unique phrase that the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid aside his robe he covered himself with sackcloth and he sat in ashes and he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his Nobles saying here's the king of Nineveh decree let neither a man nor beast heard nor flock taste anything do not let them eat or drink water but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God yes let everyone turn from his evil way from the violence that is in his hands who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away his fierce anger so that we may not perish now there is so much going on here let's start first of all with just a quick observation about the chiastic structure of the Kings response to to the the warning of Yahweh notice the Abda structure a structure that we would be familiar with up to this point in our study of Jonah notice this first of all he arose from his throne which corresponds with he's going to sit in ashes this is a radical this is unexpected for an ancient Near Eastern monarch if you rise from your throne is to do something regal is to do something important it's to do something a gust but he rises from his throne to sit in ashes and notice he laid aside his robe to put on sackcloth okay the chiastic structure and the language the repetition he did this he did this he did this he did this is designed to show you the thoroughness and the authenticity of the Kings repentance this is not the kind of repentance that Jonah has exhibited up to this point in fact Jonah in the belly of a fish doesn't say anything about his wrongs doesn't ask for forgiveness but notice how radically different the response of the king of Nineveh is Jonah hadn't even said why Nineveh would be destroyed and they themselves identify the the offending characteristics of the offending sins they say turn from your evil ways and the violence in your hands there's no indication that Jonah has said any of this but the Spirit has moved on their heart and pricked their conscience in the same way that the spirit is moved on you many times in your life and prick your conscience and somebody just said something general and you heard something very specific because the spirit told you that the spirit convicted you the spirit minister do you check this out 10 points as contrasted with the half-hearted shallow and perfunctory repentance of Jonah look at the Ninevites repentance it becomes a model for biblical repentance first of all their repentance begin with belief in Yahweh's word hello if you don't know if you saw that or not but take a look at verse 5 so the people of Nineveh believed God man that harkens back to the single most important text in the entire book of Genesis and abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness this is steep this whole passage is steeped in Genesis and it's steeped in the Abrahamic narrative as we have noted before Abraham's response to Yahweh was to believe the Ninevites response to Yahweh is to believe no wonder that the promise to Abraham was not a parochial or a provincial promise it was a promise not about borders but about blessings about bringing the good news of Yahweh's goodness to the world and so as with the Abrahamic story the Ninevites story begins here with belief in Yahweh's word number two their repentance is followed by immediate sincere actions this is where true repentance separates itself from quasi repentance or non repentance when an action follows the the verbiage I'm sorry are you behaving in a way that communicates you're sorry I wish I hadn't behaved in that way does your behavior do your actions intimated that what you're saying is the case we all know that we say actions speak number three one of my favorite parts about this is that the word of Yahweh just destroys and dissolves all hierarchical distinction oh this is amazing here you have an ancient Near Eastern monarch who is humbling himself down to the very level of his citizen ring you're sitting in ashes I'm sitting in ashes you're wearing sackcloth I'm wearing sackcloth right when the word of Yahweh comes there's no us in them on the horizontal level but neither is there an us-and-them on the vertical level there's no Kings and peasants there's no rich and poor there's no haves and have-nots when the word of Yahweh comes when God brings true repentance to people there will be no vertical there will be no socio-economic there will be no racial there will be no national differentiation and neither will there be horizontal the King finds himself in the same boat so to speak as the common citizen number four this is a grassroots movement reaches the king you get the sense that soon after the the Ninevites have heard the word of Jonah they run with it Jonah's not even mentioned in the rest of the passage they lay hold on it they hear the word of Yahweh and even though it's given in a timid and somewhat recalcitrant way the Word of God is powerful it can do things that we could never expect or anticipate can you say Amen God's Word is powerful it will not return to Him void the king is moved by the warning and he's moved by his own people sincerity number six he then publishes it for all to hear I'm going to talk about that in just a moment number seven quite an extreme response I mean it there's hyperbole likely here I don't want ox drinking or cattle drinking or animals drinking and put them in sackcloth to just to show to use exaggerative language to show the depth of the repentance of Nineveh number eight the centerpiece of this repentance is cry mightily to God number nine they're all an identification of their sins as we mentioned and then they're turning from sin in 40 days Nineveh will be well is it overthrown or is it turned around then finally number 10 notice that they are not trusting in their own repentance this is hugely contrasted with Jonah who you might remember when he's in the belly of the fish the climax of Jonah's repentance is when I get out of this fish if and when I get out of this fish I will vows right trusting in his own righteous deeds trusting in what he will do but the the thoroughness and the the authenticity of the Ninevites response and repentance is not found in their own repentance but it's found in Yahweh it's not in what they have done it's in what Yahweh has said and in his amazing mercy Jesus uses Nineveh as a template as a as a case in point for what authentic repentance looks like in Matthew chapter 12 verse 41 the men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah Jesus says you want to know what repentance looks like go back and read that story go identify those 10 points maybe you can identify some of your own of what true repentance looks like here's an important point the minimal revelation of Jonah his short little five word sermon brought about repentance for the Ninevites and yet the Pharisees the religious leaders of Jesus day refused to repent despite God's very presence in Jesus a minimal revelation brings about widespread repentance and Reformation and then Jesus comes and he pleads and he asks and he begs and he does everything possible and there's just hard heartedness that's Jesus point now this is an important point here we we put this slide back up to identify that in each of these symmetrical episodes to build up the the set up the build up in the speak up we are invited by the author of Jonah to interpret the second episode in light of the first because there are parallels Jonah's with Gentiles on the ship Jonah is now with Gentiles in Nineveh and so we're going to interpret these two in light of one another and there's some really cool stuff so let's compare the Mariners on the ship the Gentile Mariners with the Ninevites number of amazing similarities first of all they're both Gentiles and presumably idolatrous ITU's ie non-jewish people okay number two both respond in a fearful situation the Mariners eye there's a terrible storm and now Nineveh destruction is coming number three the Nineveh the Mariners cast Lots which I don't have time to go into this right now but it's a very Jewish thing to do it was the only form of divination allowed in Jewish culture divination it's basically like rolling dice okay so when the Mariners are depicted as having cast lots this is a subtle hint that the author of Jonah is giving you to say hey look they're doing something that's pious they're doing the right thing in the situation well look at what happens here another very Jewish thing fascinates that cloth in our ashes that is the Jewish response to a Oracle of doom from Yahweh you're supposed to be making connections here both have immediate and sincere action in both animals are involved in the accounts we'll talk about this next week animal is involved with obviously the whale is involved with those great sea creatures involved in here even the animals respond number-6 both cry out to God number seven both upstage the reluctant prophet in cases the Gentiles come off looking far better than the Prophet the prophet of Israel okay number eight three day journey and both accounts as we've mentioned number nine both have unexpected outcomes in the case of the Mariners the unexpected outcome is they actually worship Yahweh in the case of Nineveh they turn to God in repentance and preserve their City and number 10 both receive you always mercy so where does we're invited by the author to interpret these events in light of one another and the punchline is we've noted before and we'll note here again is that in each case this is the punchline salvation or deliverance comes from Yahweh can somebody say Amen that's the punchline for the Mariners it's also the punchline for Jonah when he's rescued by the fish but he himself doesn't even discern the depth of his own fallenness in the need of his rescue and it is the experience here of the Ninevites salvation belongs to that guys got they never even call him Yahweh we'll get to that point as we close that'll be our final point James chapter 2 verse 13 says for judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy that sounds like Jonah and then this single sentence mercy triumphs over judgment can somebody say amen to that I tell you you and I'd be in a mess if that wasn't true mercy triumphs over judgment that is the Nineveh story as the Jonas story Jonas struggled to reconcile the good of Assyria with the good of Israel he perceived if it's good for us it must be bad for them and if it's good for them it must be bad for us now I'm going to spend the last about 10 or 15 minutes talking about the elephant in the room this isn't just the elephant in the room it's the elephant in Christian theology and it's going to take a little bit of thinking and I'm going to race through this but I'm going to talk about the tip of an iceberg here that I guarantee every single person in this room has wrestled with you might not be a philosopher you might not be a theologian but there's not a person in this room who hasn't wondered about what we're going to talk about right now the elephant in the room okay and the elephant in the room can be found in the final verse of chapter 3 and God saw the works of the Ninevites that they turn from their evil ways and God relented and God what did he do he relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them and he did not do it we are here confronted with the conditionality of God's judgments and prophecies God says I will do this there's a change and God says I will now no longer do that let's talk about that you always character these are three slides that we've already noted before Yahweh's character and his loving saving intentions never change can somebody say Amen we noted this before but often our actions prompt him to accommodate a new situation such as why would God put one of his prophets in a fish well God wouldn't put one of his prophets in a fish unless the Prophet put himself in a position where God had no choice but to put him in a fish God accommodates decisions made by creatures by people okay let's continue let's talk about the elephant in the room simply put God's accommodation to our failings and fallings and rebellions is what brings about finally our salvation so this is communicated forcefully in jeremiah chapter 18 this is where God says to Jeremiah go down to the potter's house and look at the way the Potter shapes and forms a vessel on his wheel Saamy makes into bowls others he makes into Voss's others he makes into plates look at what the Potter does look at he says look at what the Potter does and then he says the Jeremiah the instant I speak concerning a nation to pluck it up to pull it down and to destroy it sounds like the Oracle of doom against Nineveh if I've underlined that for you here if that nation against you might have spoken turns from its evil and then this is implied then then I will relent that's the word we just saw a moment ago in Jonah chapter 3 verse 10 of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it the reverse is also true look at what God says here same passage and the instant I speak concerning a nation concerning a kingdom to build it up and plant it if it does evil in my sight so that does not obey my voice then I will relent concerning the good with which I saw to benefit it okay so what's happening here is that God is reacting to freedom he is reacting to the decisions that his creatures make and this resonates profoundly and powerfully with the basic freedom love risk responsibility paradigm that I've talked about here in this church before and I've written about it extensively my book got in pain if you want to get your hands on that but basically there are four ideas that follow one from the other number one love requires freedom number two freedom involves risk number three risk entails responsibility and then finally responsibility is the only thing that enables moral growth so here's a good example this morning I came in my Nissan Pulsar chariot to church and my son drove me first time I've ever come to church that way yesterday was his 16th birthday passed his driving test and drove me to church now for those of you parents who have had teenagers that you have given the keys to and then seemingly against all good sense gotten into the car in the driver in the passenger seat are you taking is this a risk yeah it's a risk that's brought about by love and freedom love requires freedom freedom entails risk risk involves responsibility but the only way that Landin or any other person is going to learn to make good decisions morally superior decisions is if they're given opportunity to make those choices well God understands this as good as any parent better than any parent now watch what happens here all throughout scripture we find God doing things like this God relents we've seen that twice God responds God reacts God repents God adjusts can you say Amen now this is what's key all of these assume and affirm the reality and the authenticity of creaturely freewill right they're assuming that God is actually investing human beings with genuine freewill with genuine choice and the choices that we make then reverberate and actually impact the choices that God makes Nineveh is a case in point I will destroy Nineveh in 40 days Nineveh returns they repent so God says I repent i relent I won't do what I said I would do so God now adjusts or accommodates a situation that came about as a result of the free will of individuals so far so good okay it seems profoundly incoherent to say that God predetermines the free actions of mankind right how could we say God predetermined your free actions does that even make any sense it's a square circle right it's a dry desert or it's a wet desert it's a dry ocean it's a modest Kardashian right it's incoherent if our actions are predetermined they are not free and if they are free they are not predetermined so what do we do we have a God who is all-powerful omnipotent and who is sovereign over the universe yes but we are able to make choices that then cause God to respond to react to relent or to adjust or to accommodate decisions I've made how do we hold these two things in tensions tension that God is sovereign and I am free and the answer is not easily the answer is not easily Joshua chapter 24 verse 15 verses like this assume creaturely freedom choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve but as for me in my house we will choose to serve the Lord you choose and I'll choose you choose the reality of choice is assumed here this is Elijah on top of Mount Carmel how long will you falter between two opinions if God is God choose to follow him if Bale is the Lord choose to follow him God is taking our freedom and the risk inherent in that freedom seriously make the right choice so people have tried to wrestle through this idea all of Scripture is premise on the reality of free both God's freewill and humanity's freewill now historically this has been dealt with in one of three ways okay when people think about God and the free will of creatures they they basically create systems and Jerry and Innoko mentioned that they were raised in a Dutch Reformed system and the Dutch Reformed system would be number one Calvinism and the strong emphasis and the reformed tradition or the Calvinist er tradition is God's sovereignty God is sovereign over the universe nothing happens outside of his purvey and nothing happens outside of his providence another way to deal with God and choice sovereignty and free will is what's called Arminianism now Arminianism is named after a 16th century Dutch theologian named Jacob is Arminius and Arminius emphasized yes God is sovereign but there's also freewill and then a more recent addition to this conversation is what is called open theism open theism suggests that the future is not only open for human beings in terms of who will I marry and what will I do when where will I end up but in some sense is also open for God to okay so these are the three systems that human beings have attached to try and understand how God's sovereignty relates to human choice now I'll just give these to you very briefly in some sort of illustrations this would be how you would show Calvinism in a simple diagram right looking forward starting in point a as God creates there will only be one possible outcome because God has ordained that outcome there's no such thing as an alternative here there's no such thing as an option here and the Calvinist might say well wait a minute why did God say that he would destroy Nineveh if he knew he wasn't going to right they would interpret what looks like a change in God's mind as as basically what God was in planning and intending to do all along because he had ordained it this way it's not just that it happened this way it's that he ordained it this way so there really only is one show in town and show is God's sovereign choice this is sometimes referred to as predestination or determinism okay now this is how you might draw Arminianism Arminianism looks like this you have not only the one solid line that is to say God knows what your choices will be that's the solid line he knows what your choices will be he knows the decisions that you will make but he also knows that there were other possibilities that you could have made but didn't or better wouldn't okay so so god knows what will happen definitively and certainly but he also knows that things could have been other than they were okay now for those of you that are fascinated by this idea those other little dots there those lines that are possible outcomes is what is referred to as middle knowledge middle knowledge God's awareness of alternate realities or possibilities for example I married Violetta and we had landed in jabil but I could have married someone else and Landon and jabil would have never come and God is aware of that reality there's no sense in talking about this in a in a Calvinistic worldview because there are no other options because God ordained the only option follow okay here's our final option then oh by the way I just thought this was really cool I looked just kind of refreshing myself on Arminianism and all of this in preparation for the sermon I looked up Arminianism and Wikipedia yesterday and I like this many Christian denominations have been influenced by Armenian views on the will of man being freed by grace prior to regeneration there's the emphasis on free will and look at this this is cool the Baptist's in the 16th century the Methodists in the 18th century and the seventh day evidence in the 19th century so seventh day evidence have historically been well and truly in the Arminian camp we are not Presbyterian we are not reformed we don't believe in predestination we believe we put a strong emphasis on choice and free will is that true okay so here's the final diagram open theism would look something like this open the ISM would look like well in any given situation you have lots of decisions you could make I could decide to jump down or not to jump down I could decide to run across the stage or I could decide the moonwalk the stage right that at any given juncture in your life you're faced with lots of possible choices okay and so that's all these different lines that go out but choices that you make for example jumping down well now they create other choices that need to be made like well do I want to get back on the stage well I do actually so I'm going to go over here but if I had never gone off the stage I wouldn't be faced with the question of do I want to now get back on it so open theism says that in fact what we have is thousands and millions of choices and then our thousands of millions of choices impact others in their thousands and millions of choices and there's just this whole symphonic seemingly infinite variety or or this whole uh what sort of looking for here this grand smorgasbord of opportunities there could have been there could have been any number of millions and trillions of possible outcomes okay that's what I put over here on the right all of these are actual possibilities and actual probabilities now this is very important the open theist says this is how God knows the future God doesn't know the future because he decided what the future would be Calvinism God doesn't know the future because he knows what it will be and he knows that other things are possible but they won't actually happen they say God knows the future because he knows every possible outcome of every potential interaction of every agent so nothing could happen that would surprise God okay that's called open theism now here's just a few quick statements from Ellen White that are quite interesting Heath Allen white one of the founders of the seventh-day Adventist Church she says he who is mighty in council has taken his survey of all the possibilities and probabilities okay so there are possibilities and there are probabilities and God is aware aware of them she says again when we place ourselves in his hands he shows us the possibilities and the probabilities in front of us and he bids us to go for help to the one infinitely higher than earing human beings again God is working out his great plan for eternity his agencies are to be multiplied we are all acting our part in obedience to the laws of cause and effect so I make a decision that impacts your life well we can be sure this cannot be determinism it cannot be Calvinism it could be Arminianism or it could be something approximating open theism so we've moved away from the first option for a variety of reasons and we're moving toward an option that embraces and emphasizes creaturely freewill a couple more statements here from ellen white we do not comprehend the infinite condescension of Christ in consenting to war with the end the enemy or the infinite risk he ventured in engaging in the controversy on our behalf this is troubled a lot of people they've said wait a minute how can God have taken an infinite risk if he knew for certain the outcome how can something be risky if you know the outcome definitively it's a very good question think about the insider trading of stocks it's illegal to have inside information when trading stocks because you take out the risk element if you know that the stock is going to go up it's not risky to buy in if you know that the stock is going to tanked it's not risky to sell in what sense is it risky for Jesus to come if God knows that it's all going to work out in the end this is not an easily answered question a final one here Christ was conqueror over the powers of darkness and took the innocent at risk of consenting to war with the enemy that he might conquer him on our behalf I guess there is one more he not only became an exile from the courts of heaven for us he took the risk of failure and of eternal loss okay let me tie this up so we have three options here Calvinism arminianism and open theism I can say for myself that I am absolutely certain that I am NOT a Calvinist number one is unappealing to me on a variety of levels theologically experientially etc so I just take that off the table okay number two I find really attractive at number three I find elements of it also really attractive I would say for me I think if you could draw a line halfway between Arminianism and open theism something like option 2.5 I would be right in there something that emphasizes God's sovereignty but also does not deny the reality of creaturely freedom and actual choices now here's the punchline of everything I want to bring to you you'll notice something very interesting verse three says so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh he brings a message from Yahweh but then something fascinating and purposeful happens the author of Jonah stops using Yahweh and he starts using the more general Elohim which means God let me read that to you verse five so the people of Nineveh believed Elohim not Yahweh Elohim verse eight in the Kings decree cry mightily to Elohim verse nine who can tell if Elohim will turn in relents verse 8 then Elohim saw their works that they had turned from their evil way and God Elohim relented from his disaster why the switch because Jonah knows the covenant name of God his name is Yahweh the Ninevites do not the Ninevites are just responding to God God be God in the sky God Elohim on the ship when when the storm had come they said they should cry out to your Elohim to your God Yahweh is like the name David it's like the name Blair or Emma it's God's covenant ulm aim Elohim is like saying human it's not exactly that was very close to that so when the Ninevites respond they don't respond to Yahweh because they don't yet know Yahweh they're just responding to Elohim transitioning people from the general Elohim God to the personal Yahweh is the calling of the church it's what Jesus came to do Jesus came to say it's not just God it's not just Big Daddy in the sky let me show you what he's like of course Jesus was himself the incarnate Yahweh let me show you what God is like the call of the church is to take people who believe in the universe or God or people will say I believe there's some purpose something out there friends this there's the world is filled with people who believe that something is going on out there and the call of the church as was the call of Jonah is to take people who have a preliminary or a perfunctory interest in or fear of or curiosity about Elohim and introduce them to Yahweh the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God who forgives the God who is gracious the God who is amazing Psalm 113 praise Yahweh not just God no Yahweh why praise o servants of Yahweh Thank You Mel and and Brit and Karen and everybody Dylan and everybody for your service today that was great Brendan praise Yahweh praise o servants of Yahweh praise the name of Yahweh not just an Elohim not just a God but this God blessed be the name of Yahweh from this time forth and forevermore from the rising of the Sun to its setting let you always name be praised Yahweh is high above the nation's his glory is above the heavens who is like Yahweh our Elohim can you say Amen I hope you are more enthusiastic than Jonah was who dwells on high who humbles himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth he raises the poor out of the dust he lifts the needy out of the ash heap the Ninevites were needy and they were in the dust and they were in an ash heap they were covered in sackcloth and ashes they were responding to a nameless Elohim but Jonah could have and should have and I hope that I would have introduced them not just to Elohim in his wrath but to Yahweh and his mercy that he may sit with him princes with princes of his people he grants barren women a home like a joyful mother of children praise Yahweh transitioning people from the general Elohim to the personal Yahweh is our calling from the general idea of some God to the Covenant making and covenant keeping God and his name is Yahweh he is the God of Abraham he is the god of Isaac and he is the God of Jacob this is not a task church to be endured grudgingly I guess I'll have to tell people about God's amazing grace right or worse yet announced judgment on them because we're just sure that we're going to end up on the right side of judgment and all of them will finally be destroyed I've had people say to me I can't wait for Jesus to come and do away with all this wickedness I'm like me too can we be sure he won't be doing away with our wickedness this is not a task to be endured grudgingly but one to be enjoyed cherished and loved salvation or deliverance belongs to Yahweh and so we conclude first we receive Yahweh's salvation into ourselves and then we release it to the world we receive to release Jonah received Yahweh's pardon mercy and salvation but he did not release it he did not go in with enthusiasm and passion and a desire to bring the good news of Yahweh's mercy and goodness to the world how many of us in our moments think man I just can't wait for Jesus to come and just put an end to all this be careful be careful our prayer should be Lord wait a little longer let more be told of your goodness let more people there's never going to be a time we'll be converting people to Yahweh through eternal ages so let's not hasten a second coming too much let's let people know how good Yahweh is let's let people know how good Jesus is let us praise Yahweh the great and gracious Elohim father in heaven we respond to you because you are awesome this is not about us it's about you it's not about our response it's about your actions today we do not want to be jonna's begrudgingly half-heartedly and only reluctantly complying externally with religion we want our hearts to be melted and moved by your compassion we want to praise you with enthusiasm with joy with happiness on our lips father there's a world wondering if there's a God and if there's a God what is he like and father help us the kingscliff Church in the seventh-day Adventist Church and other Christian denominations that have the truth to stand in the gap and to announce the great good news that the Elohim that is out there the Elohim that exists is an amazing gracious kind forgiving saving God and his name is Yahweh salvation belongs to him and in Jesus name we pray let everyone say Amen hey greetings from beautiful and sunny kingscliff Australia want to take just a moment of your time first of all to thank you for tuning in watching the program I trust it was a blessing to you and your soul drawing you closer to God and His will for your life I also want to let you know that we are planning a significant expansion of our existing media ministry here at the kingscliff Church to find out more about this expansion and how you can get involved go to bring it kingscliff com you can go either to the home page or to the our gifts page to find out how you can come alongside us and support not just with your viewership but also financially and with your prayers hey thanks again so much for watching and take care

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Published: Sun Jun 25 2017