Month: January 2020

Digging in Deeper: Jonah 4:10-11

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“So the Lord said, ‘You cared about the plant, which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. But may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left, as well as many animals?’”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

What do you care about most? Don’t just go with the first thing that comes to mind. What is the thing on which you’ll spend the most money? To what do you give the bulk of your time? About what do you get the most worked up in the shortest time? The answer to those questions will point you in the direction of what is truly your greatest concern. What we see here at the end of Jonah is a glimpse at what is most important to God.

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Digging in Deeper: Jonah 4:1-3

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“Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. He prayed to the Lord: ‘Please, Lord, isn’t this what I thought while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever gotten mad about something God did? That’s kind of an odd question, I’ll grant you, but think about it for a minute. Maybe God did something good for someone you deemed undeserving. Perhaps He allowed someone you love to go through a season of suffering or die. It could be that someone else didn’t get what you thought they deserved for something they had done. Whatever it was, there are times in our lives when we get mad at God. Jonah certainly was here. What do we do in these times?

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Morning Musing: Jonah 3:10

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“God saw their actions — that they had turned from their evil ways — so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the greatest Christmas movies of all time (after Die Hard) is Home Alone. And whether you agree with me or not, it is a fact that it’s the third highest grossing Christmas movie ever (behind the recent remake of The Grinch at number two and Iron Man 3 running away with the top spot). In any event, one of my favorite scenes comes right at the very end when Kevin walks downstairs Christmas morning and finds his mom standing there. She apologizes earnestly for their forgetting him when they left on vacation and there’s this moment where it looks like he’s deciding whether to forgive her or not. Then he breaks into a big grin and everybody lives happily ever after (except the bad guys). That scene could have been inspired by what happens here in Jonah.

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Morning Musing: Jonah‬ ‭3:5-6‬‬

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“Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth — from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever witnessed something incredible happening? I’m not worried about exactly what it was right now, but have you seen it with your own eyes? Better yet, have you ever seen something incredible happen that was the direct result of something you had done? What happened right here in the city of Nineveh was incredible. But, while it may look like it, it had a lot less to do with what Jonah did than you might think.

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Celebrate Sunday

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Yesterday was Celebrate Sunday in the life of First Baptist Oakboro. We spent the morning celebrating all the great work our faithful God has done in our midst for the past year. It was a fun morning to say the least. This wasn’t about being excited about what we’ve got going on, but rather about delighting in what our God has done and prayerfully seeking to abide in Him so that He can do even more in the year ahead. This all being the case, I didn’t have a regular sermon to deliver, but because I think it’s worthwhile sharing what God has done and because I’m really proud of what He’s doing here, this is what I said. Thanks for celebrating with us.

A Celebration of Generosity

Isn’t it good to just praise the Lord together, to sing His praises among His people? This kind of stuff moves my heart in a way few other things do. I love this Sunday morning. I look forward to this every single year. There’s just something special about celebrating what God has done. This isn’t about what we’ve done. This isn’t about any particular program, this is about celebrating what God has done and what we are looking forward to Him doing more of as we follow Him into the great future He has for us.

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