Show Summary:
Psalm 24:1
James 1:27
Jonah 2
Malachi 3:1
Acts 1:9
Malachi 4:5-6
Luke 7:18-22
Know who you are know
what your purpose is and stay focused, steadfast and firm pressing forward toward the mark!!
You have a unique mission, not to be like what everybody is!
WE MUST NOT BE DISTRACTED
Set apart for a reason !
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Although Jonah was a Hebrew, he quite possibly had a worldview that was influenced by the traditional beliefs of his times.
even when he was traveling into foreign cultures, Jehovah was still sovereign.
The wind and waves belonged to God. The fish, too. “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness” (Ps. 24:1, NKJV). Jonah’s heart was turned to the Sovereign of earth and sea, and so he confessed and was saved.
We, too, can have misunderstandings about God and what He expects of us.
We, too, can have misunderstandings about God and what He expects of us. One common misunderstanding is that God’s desire for us is to focus on our own salvation and to remove ourselves from the wickedness of the world around us. Though we are instructed to keep ourselves “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27, NKJV), our focus should be on how we can bring God’s blessings and hope to those in need.
We can no more save a soul than Jonah could save Nineveh. We can have a “savior” mentality about mission. Our call is not to do the saving but to cooperate with God in His saving work. We give testimony praising God for specific ways He is changing us, but only God can draw people to Himself. We can plant seeds of truth, but only God can convert the heart. We often confuse our role with God’s, which is enough to make anyone find an excuse not to witness. Yes, God used Jonah, but only God, not Jonah, turned Nineveh around.
let God win souls, but through us and our life and witness
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Jonah’s experience in the belly of the fish (see Jonah 2) was a dra-matic show of God’s love and mercy, and Jonah’s prayer reveals that he didn’t miss God’s message of love. But just because he had had an incredible encounter with God didn’t mean that his old thought habits or attitudes would easily change, even though he went to Nineveh anyway.
Whatever Jonah’s personal feelings about the Ninevites, he preached what God told him to, and the results were astonishing. The Ninevites were moved to repentance! Yes, Jonah had to go through a lot, to do what he didn’t want to do, but when he did it, God was glorified.
Mission also requires time and emotional energy. Investing in others’ lives and truly caring for them can be taxing. In an age when we are stressed keeping up with our own lives and problems, providing emotional support can seem just too exhausting.
Whatever form it may take, mission work requires sacrifice.
You don't need to be a COPY when God made you to be an ORIGINAL !!
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