Running Back to God
SERIES: Nurturing Faith Life
Jonah 3:1-4 GNV
1 Once again the Lord spoke to Jonah.
2 He said, "Go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to the people the message I have given you."
3 So Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh, a city so large that it took three days to walk through it.
4 Jonah started through the city, and after walking a whole day, he proclaimed, "In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed!"
Jonah 4:2 GNV
2 So he prayed, "Lord, didn't I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That's why I did my best to run away to Spain! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish.
PIC: Roy “Wrong Way” Riegels
Jonah 1:3, 5, 17 - 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord; 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep; 17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
On the map of every life there are two cities:
1. God’s will – Nineveh
2. Our will – Tarshish
Why would anyone run from God
1. Sin (John 3:20)
2. Suspicion (1 Thess. 5:24)
3. Sadness
You can always tell when you are running from God
1. You harm yourself (Jonah 1:3, 5, 17 KJV; 2:3 GNV)
2. You hurt others (Jonah 1:4-12; 2:10)
3. You hinder God
How to run back to God
1. Recognize you can run from God but you can’t out run God. (Ps. 139:1-12 MT)
2. Reevaluate the consequences of running from God. (Jonah 2:2 GNV)
There is a difference between lamenting and repenting.
3. Reach out to God in prayer. (Jonah 2:1 KJV)
4. Rely on God when you are in the dark. (Jonah 2:10 GNV)
When It’s Time to Break Huddle
SERIES: Nurturing Faith Life
James 2:14-26 GNV
14 My friends, what good is it for one of you to say that you have faith if your actions do not prove it? Can that faith save you?
15 Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don't have enough to eat.
16 What good is there in your saying to them, "God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!" - if you don't give them the necessities of life?
17 So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead.
18 But someone will say, "One person has faith, another has actions." My answer is, "Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions."
19 Do you believe that there is only one God? Good! The demons also believe - and tremble with fear.
20 You fool! Do you want to be shown that faith without actions is useless?
21 How was our ancestor Abraham put right with God? It was through his actions, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar.
22 Can't you see? His faith and his actions worked together; his faith was made perfect through his actions.
23 And the scripture came true that said, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." And so Abraham was called God's friend.
24 You see, then, that it is by our actions that we are put right with God, and not by our faith alone.
25 It was the same with the prostitute Rahab. She was put right with God through her actions, by welcoming the Israelite spies and helping them to escape by a different road.
26 So then, as the body without the spirit is dead, also faith without actions is dead.
Why do we need to break the huddle?
1. No team makes progress in the huddle.
The difference between the have and the have-nots can be traced back to the dids and the did-nots.
2. You are on the clock.
Opportunities come and go, they don’t come and stay.
3. Because of when the play came from.
James 4:17 – Anyone who knows the good he ought to and doesn’t do it sins.
Matthew 26:39 GNV -