Introduction: Jonah tells the story of the reluctant Prophet Jonah and his prophecy against Nineveh. Although best known for it's big fish story, the real big story of the book of Jonah is its big revival story. The book tells us about the greatest revival in the Bible, and how it surprisingly occurred among a pagan people rather than among God's chosen people.someone
Jonah 1:1-3 — What’s your Nineveh? What is it you refuse to do that God wants you to do? Is it forgive someone you have a grudge against? Is it witness to someone you are burdened for? Or is it to perform some service God is calling you to perform?
Our "Ninevehs" can nullify our usefulness to God!
Jonah 1:1-17 — Notice, when Jonah was running from God he went down to Joppa, down into a ship, down into the sea, and down into the belly of a great fish. The moral of this story is obvious, the only way you can go when you're running from God is down.
How do you run away from an omnipresent God, since He is ever-present everywhere?
Jonah 1:14 — The book of Jonah teaches us the intricacies of divine sovereignty. God used wind (Jonah 1:4; 4:8), a great fish (Jonah 1:17), a gourd (Jonah 4:6), and even a worm (Jonah 4:7) to do what pleased Him (Jonah 1:14). None of it was coincidence, all of it was Providence!
“If there is one maverick molecule in the universe running around loose, totally free of God’s control, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign He is not God.” (R.C. Sprout)
Jonah 2:1-7 — Nothing does more for your prayer life than to find yourself sloshing around in the digestive juices of a sea monster.
Jonah 2:8 — Those deceived by and dependent upon worthless idols deprive themselves of divine indulgence and intervention.
"God will put up with a great many things in the human heart, but there is one thing He will not put u with in it—a second place. He who offers God a second place, offers Him no place." (John Ruskin)
Jonah 2:9 — To be thankful to God in a delightful situation is one thing, but to be thankful to Him in a dire and desperate one is quite another. The former is sufficient thanksgiving, which Is expected, the latter a sacrifice of thanksgiving, which is extraordinary.
Jonah 2:10 — The fact that the whale vomited Jonah out on the dry ground proves that nothing is more nauseating and sickening than a backslidden preacher.
Jonah 3:1-3 — God gave Jonah a second chance. How many has He given you?
Aren't you glad God is a God of second chances?
Jonah 3:4-9 — Jonah’s message to Nineveh was of impending judgment period, for human repentance is only made possible in the face of inevitable divine retribution.
All revival is born in desperation! If we believe we can do without it, we will! However, if we believe revival is a matter of our survival, revival may come.
Jonah 3:10 — It was not when God heard the Ninevites’ words, but when He saw their works, that He was convinced of their repentance and spared them from His judgment.
It is only the confirming fruit of repentance in our lives that spares us from the certain and coming judgment of God upon our sins. (Luke 3:8)
Jonah 4:1-11 — There are too many gourd preachers in pulpits today; that is, preachers who are more concerned with their own ease and reputation than with the souls and wellbeing of those to whom they preach.
No one concerned about their reputation will follow Him who made Himself of no reputation two steps outside the camp. (Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 13:13)
