it truly was an amazing week.
keep an eye out over the next few days as JP and i post our message notes so you can get to experience the camp in a way also.
hope you enjoy
Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet
Ok, not the best start to any Bible story, but for legit reasons:
Assyria: Nineveh was the capitol
· One of the most feared nations
· They were brutal
· Rumored: whole nations would commit suicide, rather than deal with their torture
· Raped all women and girls
· Hang all boys
· Skin all the men, bury them in the dessert up to their necks
· Stake their tongues to the ground…all night make them listen to JUSTIN BEIBER CD’s
· Take all the heads and pile it outside the city gates
Jonah had a great reason not to want to go.
WHEN GOD CALLS US TO DO SOMETHING, ITS USUALLY GOING TO BE SOMETHING WE DON’T WANT TO DO.
· You will feel a tug on your heart, and its something that you don’t want to do
· Or it wont make sense
· But we are called to do it anyways
THE TOUGH THINGS WE FEEL GOD CALLING US TO DO WE ARE SUPPOSED TO ACT ON THEM BECAUSE WE ARE FAITHFUL TO HIM.
A prophet during that time, was called to be a messenger of God. we can say that today, ALL Christians are prophets because all of us have this call.
Every prophet/ Christian is called to do 3 things:
· ARISE
· GO
· Cry (not wah-wah cry, but go cry out God’s love to others)
Jonah AROSE, HE WENT…. But he pouted like a baby and ran the other way.
It says he went down to JOPPA, then PAID his way on a boat, to TARSHISH. If you were to look at a map, TARSHISH and Ninevah are about 2000 miles apart.
Jonah didn’t run, HE SPRINTED!
1) has felt God call us to do something, but we went the other way.
· We are like, “NOPE! Not doing that God. anything else.” Ill talk to anyone else. Ill invite anyone else to church. God that is too hard. Do you even know what that will take of me?
2) some of us have not even given God a chance to even talk to us.
· Meaning, you are so not even sure. You say you are a Christian, but you don’t read His Word, you don’t talk to Him through prayer, you don’t listen to what pastors say at church.
· You are just here. A skeleton.
JUST CAUSE YOU ARE HERE AT CAMP DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE CLOSE TO GOD.
· Some of you are sitting right here, but inside you are truly the furthest thing from God and His calling from you.
My question is:
· Why are we running? How dare us run from God? do we really think we will out run Him? Do we really inderstand who it is we are running from?
· Think about it…its like when a 2 year old trys to run away from their parents, their little steps get them no where and in 2 steps the parents pick them up.
We think that if we run far enough away, God will be able to use someone else who is better/closer for it.
· IN YOUR OPINION
· But God didn’t call them, he called you
You SEE:
· If we run the other way, God will tell somebody else to go talk to that person sitting by themselves at school, God will tell someone else to step out in faith and preach and interact with the people who you know do not know who God is.
· If we run, then we don’t have to listen or follow his rules.
But, you see, to run from God is like trying to flee from light. The only thing you wind up with is darkness.
· It's like turning in your wealth for poverty.
· It's like making an exchange of wisdom for ignorance.
· It's like turning in joy for sorrow, peace for chaos, usefulness for uselessness, fruit for leaves, reward for punishment
The trap we all fall in is:
· THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A BOAT GOING IN THE OTHER DIRECTION
· Jonah was able to find a boat going in the complete opposite direction.
· We are always capable to find excuse after excuse not to do something.
· Excuse after excuse why we shouldn’t fully follow God.
BUT AGAIN MY QUESTION IS: WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE FOOLING?
· When we think God for a fool, he will make a fool out of us…in a hard, hard way.
Jonah 1:4-11(click HERE to read)
The thing about running from God is: He will sometimes send a storm after you to catch your attention
THE STORM:
· God wasn't through with Jonah, and God was in the business of pursuing. God came after Jonah, and God had infinitely greater resources at His disposal, and so He just blew over the Mediterranean and created a storm. Remind yourself that rebellion never escapes God. Eventually God will appear to say, "you are the man, I am the GOD.”
· God may let a man go to a certain point before He steps in, but, believe me, He'll step in; and God moved in the storm.
· When the storm hit, all the men on the boat started to pray.
Isn’t that a normal thing? When things get hard, that’s when we pray.
· We have it back wards. When things get hard, what do we do? Whats the order?
· Problem, talk to your friends, text your bff, talk to your boyfriend or girlfriend, God forbid talk to your parents, talk to a pastor…oh man I did all that I guess I should pray.
· Prayer needs to be our first instinct. We need to pray first! (Nouwen text)
We are all going to encounter storms. Its going to happen. Its what you do in that storm that will make you or break you.
During storms we should not be:
· WHY IS GOD PUTTING THROUGH THIS STORM? WHY IS HE DOING THIS TO ME?
· What we should be asking is…
· WHAT DID WE DO/OR NOT DO TO CAUSE GOD TO GIVE ME THIS STORM? What am I am I not paying attention to?
· What am I afraid of?
Look at verses 4 and 5 again. Go back to that.
THE SAILORS WERE SCARED TO DEATH AND WERE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF JONAH’S DECSIONS.
· When we do something, and rebel, how many people suffer because of our decisions.
· We become completely selfish, and others suffer.
NOT EVERYTIME WE REBEL AND FLEE WILL GOD PURSUE US.
· In Jonah’s case, God pursued him.
· Our God is living. He is pursuing after our love daily.
· But sometimes he does not. He lets us walk off.
Mark 10: The Rich Young Ruler (click HERE to read)
· God tells him that he needs to sell everything he has in order to follow Jesus because he knew that things and money meant everything to him.
· The man became sad, and walked away.
· JESUS LET HIM! HE DIDN’T CHASE HIM DOWN.
· What??!?! Have you ever noticed that?
Sometimes God will let us go, in hopes one day we will return to HIM.
Luke 15: Prodigal Son (click HERE to read)
· The son rebelled against his father.
· He left home will all the father has given him
· The father did not chase after the son…he let him go.
· BUT THE FATHER WAITED, HOPING FOR THE SONS RETURN.
· When child finally relized he needed his father, he returned home
· THE FATHER RAN TO HIM. WITH OPEN ARMS, AND WELCOMED HIM HOME
When we REBEL, and flee from what God has called us to do, and He lets you go. ITS NOT OVER!
· He just will be waiting for you to come to your senses and he is standing there with his arm wide open, waiting to welcome you back into a relationship with him.
TRUTH IS:
· Some of us are running right now. You have felt that God tug on your heart. And youre just ignoring it.
· Some of us are just avoiding God completely. In everything, because in your mind, if you don’t acknowledge HIM, he wont ask you to do anything that is uncomfortable.
· Some of you are doing it right. You are answering the call. Amazing! Keep doing it.
For those who are running:
· Remember who you are running from. You cant outrun HIM. If He has called you to do something, and you are disobedient, expect a storm coming your way.
· Remember He is the God of the universe. They God who created you.
· We are supposed to show God’s love to everyone, no matter how hard it is.
THE NICE THING ABOUT JONAH:
· Even though he ran, he rebelled, God pursued Him.
· He ended up going in the right direction.
· It just took a big fish to get him there.
THIS TRIP IS YOUR BIG FISH.
· You have been running long enough. You are tired. Its time to turn the right way. Towards God.
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