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Scripture: Jonah 4:5-8 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: August 29, 2010

Jonah has finished preaching to the great city of Nineveh. Mission accomplished. Now he can finally go home - but he doesn't. Instead he builds a shelter outside the city and waits to see what would become of it. Perhaps their repentance will be short-lived. Perhaps God will destroy the city after all. Even now, Jonah doesn't have God's heart for the city. And so God pursues the prophet's heart through a vine, a worm, and the wind. God displays His great power in ruling over all of His creation to accomplish His great purposes and fulfill His great plans. Today we consider the truth that God great and God is sovereign. His invisible hand is at work throughout Jonah and through history accomplishing His will for His glory and our good.

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Scripture: Jonah 4:1-4 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: August 22, 2010

The last chapter of Jonah takes an unexpected turn. While God is exceedingly pleased and happy with Nineveh's repentance, Jonah is exceedingly displeased and angry. The prophet's heart looks nothing like the heart of the God. Jonah is grateful for God's mercy and compassion when it is extended to him. Yet when it is poured out on Nineveh, Jonah despises God. Jonah is a hypocrite. There's more Gospel work than needs to happen in Jonah's heart - and ours.

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Scripture: Jonah 4:1-4 Speaker: Siby Varghese Date: August 15, 2010

At the end of Jonah 3, the vilest, meanest, wickedest city on the plant repents and turns to God. Revival breaks out in the city from the greatest to the least, from the king to the commoner. So you would expect that chapter 4 begins with a party hosted by Jonah celebrating the mercy of God and the success of his mission. Instead, you read that Jonah is angry - angry enough to die. Jonah hates Nineveh and hates that God would be merciful to them. For Jonah, God belongs to us, not them. Grace and mercy are fine if it's being poured out on his people, but it is despised if it is poured out on those people. God is still working on Jonah and his racist, exclusivist heart. God has redeemed the city, but there's more to redeem in Jonah!

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Scripture: Jonah 3:1-10 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: August 8, 2010

Picture the man standing in the middle of the city with the cardboard sign. The one who's screaming about the end of the world and the coming judgment and the need for people to repent and turn to God. What do we do with that guy? We ignore him, or brush past him, or mock him. His message is hardly ever heard or taken seriously. Yet in Jonah 3, the prophet goes to the metropolitan city of Nineveh, preaches a 5 word sermon about coming doom, and the entire city repents! Revival breaks out in the city from the greatest to the least, from the king to the commoner. God accomplishes a great change in the city and does so through an unlikely messenger. Today the city of Nineveh gives us a good look at repentance and what it is and what it is not.

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Scripture: Jonah 3:1-3 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: August 1, 2010

Jonah's story has three major players. The leading role is played by God. In supporting cast, you have Jonah the prophet and the city that he has been called on mission to. This week we introduce the great city of Nineveh. The city that Jonah, the religious moral man hates, but God loves. Together we'll consider our view of the city, God's view of the city, and how we might respond and relate to the city.

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Scripture: Jonah 1:17-2:10 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: July 25, 2010

At the end of chapter one, Jonah has been tossed overboard and thrown into the raging sea. He descends to the depths. Sinking. Drowning. Dying. Jonah has been brought the end of himself. He cannot save himself. And in his helpless and hopeless state, he cries out to the Lord. He remembers God. And God saves him! The Lord appoints a great fish to play the part of a submarine for His prophet. And from there, Jonah offers a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to the God who brought him up from the pit and gave him new life.

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Scripture: Jonah 1:1-16 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: July 18, 2010

The story of Jonah begins with a man who runs from God. Fortunately, that's not where the story ends. In God's great mercy, God pursues Jonah. He chases after him, though He does so in a ferocious fashion. God hurls a great storm at Jonah's ship and will not stop until Jonah is hurled into sea. Yet what appears as condemnation is actually God's mercy. Jonah hides but God seeks. Jonah runs but fortunately God pursues. 

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Scripture: Jonah 1:1-3 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: July 11, 2010

The story of Jonah begins with Missio Dei - the mission of God. The merciful heart of God longs to save the sinful city of Nineveh. Nineveh was renown for it's wickedness. Yet God is renown for His mercy. And so God calls Jonah to be His missionary and deliver his message of mercy. Only, Jonah runs. He flees from the presence of the Lord and heads in the opposite direction. We are Jonah - for we too run from God in our sin. Today we consider why we run and consider our idols and the sin beneath the sin.

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Scripture: Jonah 1:1-2 Speaker: Ajay Thomas Date: July 4, 2010

Perhaps you’ve heard the story before. A man swallowed by a whale who lives to tell the tale. But here’s the thing. There is so much more to the book of Jonah. In fact, Jonah is not a story about a great fish at all. The whale is just a prop in the narrative. It’s actually a story about a great God. A gracious God who relentlessly pursues rebels. A sovereign God who rules over everything for His glory and our good. A missional God who, unlike Jonah, loves the city. A merciful God who pardons the prophet and the pagans. A patient God who seeks the self-righteous religious and the sinful irreligious alike. In entering Jonah’s story, we get a better look at God’s heart and ours as well. That’s because this story is our story. We are Jonah.