This
Weeks Message- (scripture taken from King James Version)
"NINEVEH
REPENTS"
And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah a second time
saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city,
and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the
word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding
great city of three days journey. And Jonah
began to enter into the city a days journey,
and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and
proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of
them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from
his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in
ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and
published through Nineveh by the decree of the king of his nobles, saying, Let neither man
nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,
and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and
from the violence that is in their hands. Who
can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish
not? And God saw their works, that they
turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he
would do unto them; and he did it NOT. (Jon
3:1-10)
The
story of Jonah is a most powerful one. Oftentimes
when Jonah is thought of, he is most remembered for his unfortunate adventure in the belly
of a great fish. But there is so much more to
the story than Jonah being swallowed up by a great fish.
There are many lessons to learn in this book and much is spoken of beginning
with Gods calling upon Jonahs life, his rebellion and disobedience and the
result of such, Gods compassion and mercy on a wicked city, their repentance, and
Gods blessings.
The Lord called
Jonah to go into the city of Nineveh and preach the
words HE would give him, to the people there. Although
the city was filled with all manner of wickedness, God in his mercy wanted to offer the
people a chance to repent. However, Jonah,
having no compassion on the people and judging them worthy to receive the punishment due
them, chose to rebel against the Lords calling and sought to flee from His presence. His attempt to flee from the Lord, landed him in
the belly of a great fish. However, the Lord
in His mercy delivers Jonah from the belly of the fish after Jonah cries out in prayer to
the Lord, and the Lord commands him yet a second time to go to the city of Nineveh and preach his
message there. This time, Jonah heeded the
voice of the Lord and surrendered to his command.
After Jonah
entered the city and spoke the word of the Lord only ONCE, the people immediately repented,
taking the warning of the Lord seriously. They
could have mocked and scoffed at the word of the Lord delivered through his prophet Jonah
as many do today, but instead from the least to the greatest in that city, they BELIEVED
the word spoken through the prophet and thus repented of their sins. They cast aside all manner of wickedness, and the
Lord saw their works and genuine repentance and thus removed the disaster which would have
come upon them had they refuse to listen to the warning of His prophet Jonah.
As spoken
earlier, there are many lessons to learn from the book of Jonah, however we will look at
the 3 very important ones. The first being, a
call to OBEDIENCE.
When the Lord
calls us, He expects us to be obedient. There
is no place where we could run to and hide from the presence of Almighty God. Seeing Jonahs obvious reluctance to surrender
to His calling, the Lord could of turned away from him and sought a more willing
candidate. However, its obvious that
Jonah was the best vessel for this job, for in fulfilling the Lords will, Jonah
would be taught of Gods great compassion and mercy.
Oftentimes the Lord may call us to do something which may seem totally
outrageous or impossible, but we must remember that the Lord already knows the outcome,
therefore he neednt be given any instructions as to who would be the better choice
vessel. If hes called you, you ARE his
choice vessel, the best one for that particular duty.
Needless to say, when the Lord calls, theres no room for debate, only
room to surrender and we must surrender in obedience to what HE has asked us to do and not
man. We are not all called into the same work,
but are called for the same purpose. One may
be called to preach repentance to a rebellious and sinful people, another may be called to
encourage and lift up a weaker vessel, still another may be called directly to the lost
sheep to preach the way of salvation, while yet another is called to shepherd his flock,
to nourish them and feed them the meat of HIS word and not the meat of the doctrine of
lies of man. Thus, whatever the calling we
must be obedient to that. If the Lord has
called you to prophesy, then you must prophesy, if to teach, then you must teach, etc. The Holy Spirit will administer whatever spiritual
gifts which are necessary to fulfill the call of God.
We MUST be obedient to what GOD has commanded.
If he commands Speak thus, then we must do despite our own
reluctance, or the ridicule and persecution by the very ones he may command you to speak
to.
The second lesson
is a call to COMPASSION
Jonah had no
compassion on the people of Nineveh. His concerns were for his own. Much like
some within the church today who distant themselves from those who are lost and bound by
sin, from those who may not belong to their particular denomination and concern themselves
with only those who are. Jonah believed
since being a part of Israel, God should show
kindness and mercy only to his chosen ones and not to all who were
disobedient. However, the word of God says: For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (Rom 9:15) Oftentimes,
many professing Christians behave as Jonah did.
In their arrogance, self-righteousness and pride, they tend to judge those
outside of the body of Christ as though they are to sinful to receive the
mercy and compassion of the Lord and often feel that some may deserve a great punishment,
rather than forgiveness. They forget that they
themselves were once bound by sin, (and some still
are) and the only thing which separates them from those who are still bound is
REPENTANCE, GODS FORGIVENESS AND HIS GRACE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST OUR
LORD. The sins of those on the outside
are no greater nor less than the sins of MANY on the inside.
Thus, within the Body of Christ, the lesson of true Mercy and Compassion
must be learned and put into practice and many must put away the practice of hypocrisy. For such are well able to go outside of the body
and convict the WORLD of their sins, but overlook the fact that those very sins are being
practiced throughout the members of the body of Christ.
Clean the inside first, and exercise compassion to those who are on the
outside and have not the knowledge of Christ.
Finally, the most
important lesson in this message is, a call to REPENTANCE
It took ONE prophet of God to proclaim the word of
the Lord ONCE, for the ENTIRE CITY of Nineveh to repent and turn
from their wickedness. The word of God says: So the people of Nineveh BELIEVED God,
and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least
of them. (Jon 3:5) They heeded to the voice of the prophet Jonah and
took the warning very seriously, so much so a fast was proclaimed. How many prophets must the Lord send to THE CHURCH
today before the church finally take notice of the seriousness of his warnings and repent? Is the church so puffed up and full of pride that
they are fooled into believing they shall not be judged by The Lord should they continue
in rebellion and willful sin? Do they
truly believe that somehow they could continue in sin and bypass His wrath? Seems the lessons being taught in the church today
is we would escape, but those of the world would not.
Such are the blind leading the blind, for the word declares: For the time is come that Judgment must begin at
the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not
the Gospel of God? (1st Pet 4:17) What
parent would chastise another parents child
of wrong doing, and overlook his OWN childs disobedience, rewarding him for such
rather than punishing? And, what employer goes
outside of his company to reprimand another ones employee, without first
reprimanding his own slothful worker. Judgment
begins first with the children of God. Therefore,
we MUST REPENT as The people of Nineveh did who were
shamefully wicked, and yet when they heard the call to repent, they DID! We cannot be so puffed up and arrogant as to think
we could continue to hide from the face of the Lord and remain in sin. As easy as it was to graft the branch
in, so much more it could easily be cut off. Remember
the words of our Lord I
am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit,
he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit (John 15-1-2) Also,
Abide in Me, and I in
you. As he branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in ME (John 15:4)
Today
is the day of Repentance. Let us show our
works to the Lord as the people of Nineveh
did, and with a repentant heart, turn away from ALL wickedness and surrender to ALL that
is of Him.
I love you all so very much. Have a
blessed week in the Lord and remember: Whatever we do, do ALL for the GLORY of
GOD, who ALONE is worthy of the GLORY and the PRAISE!
The Lord be with you this day and always! Shalom Uvracha (Peace and Blessings)
..
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh,
Adonai
Elohim Tzeva-ot
Asher Hayah Va-ho-veh VaYvo
Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come!
May the peace of the Lord be with you
today and always
Khandielese
Daughter & Servant
of the Lord God
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