Jonah 4:1-11: Happily Ever After?
“I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (Jonah 4:2)
This week is our last week in Jonah and whilst many people have a good idea of most of the story, very few people know how it ends. It is the most unexpected ending – after everything Jonah has been through and experienced, chapter 4 comes as a big surprise.
The main message is that Jonah is angry; very, very angry. The last recorded words of Jonah are remarkable: “I’m so angry I wish I were dead” (4:9). We’ll look together at why he’s so angry and why would he rather die than see Nineveh saved? It doesn’t make sense and yet it tells us much about the human heart and condition. It points us to the real hope for the world and what it will actually take before we can all live happily ever after.
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”
morning oh wow good morning and let me welcome you this morning to Victoria Baptist Church it’s great to have you with us this morning and if you’re a visitor let me offer you a particularly warm welcome this morning we do have some visitors with us and and it’s lovely to see you I just name some Mary hean I see you over there it’s lovely to have you back it was yesterday was Kenan Jill grimes’s 50th wedding anniversary and they were celebrating they’ve got they’ve got some friends and family with us and it’s lovely to have you with us it’s great to also welcome Mary North and some folks from linking lives eastborn Mary and her husband naer here and that it’s great to welcome you um lots of notices please bear with me I’m going to go through them as quickly as I can ladies evening out they’re going to pomodoros on the 17th of July if you’d like to join the ladies ladies on the 17th of July then sign up in the welcome uh Center there’s a sheet there also tonight is jez’s last Sunday evening Bible Academy um and there’s one more on Thursday evening isn’t it jez yeah that’s it so it’s the last one tonight also no Alpha tonight yesterday we had the alpha way day we had a wonderful day so thank you if you were praying for us about that we had a really super day so thank you for your prayers no Alpha tonight one more next week members meeting this Wednesday CLT elections uh please do join us for the members meeting this Wednesday at 7:30 there is a prayer walk also God dear prayer walk Easten car park to buts brow it’s about three and a half miles but the churches of eastborn are walking around eastborn and praying and it’s a lovely walk from car park to buts brow it’s one of the nicest sections and Eric is doing it with the young people and he wants to invite families to join them so that’s on of ju the 6th of July at 12:30 p.m. all right so you need to be at East car park 6th of July 12:30 it’ll be lovely all right and one last one if you are considering becoming a member of Victoria Baptist Church if that’s on your mind you’ve been thinking about that coming for a while you think yeah I’m trusting in Jesus I want to commit to serving in this church then there’s a prospective members meeting on Sunday July the 7th at 5:00 p.m. which will be downstairs we’ll give you another notice about that next week but prospective members meeting Sunday 7th of July and that is I think all the notices so we’ll close the service now and we’ve come to worship God and that’s what we’re going to do thank you Pete thanks Chris good morning to you seems of some time since I’ve been here up the front actually because the last time I think I was due to lead worship it was the joint service when everybody abandoned the church and went down to the Bandstand but no all good stuff so I just like us to just focus our minds on our worship this morning um we’ve been doing this whole series on Jonah haven’t we and I don’t know what you’ve taken away from that but as I’ve been looking at that there is a couple of things that probably just help us in our worship that the God is good he is a compassionate God and he was he’s been slow to anger and he’s been rich in love for these people that have abandoned him and we find out more about what’s going to happen at the end and the end of the series when Chris comes to speak to us this morning if you got your Bibles want to turn to Psalm 145 unless it’s on the screen I don’t know whether it is or not but Psalm 145 and verse 8 and we’re going to share these verses together it says the Lord is is gracious and compassionate slow to anger and rich in love the Lord is good to all he has compassion on all he has made all your works praise you lord your faithful people extol you they tell the of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might so that that all people may know your Mighty acts and the Glorious Splendor of your kingdom your kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and your D Dominion endures through all generations the Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does isn’t that great he’s faithful in all he does and the Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down the eyes of all look to you and you give them their food at the proper time you open your hand and satisfy the desires of everything the Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does the Lord is near to all who call on him to all who call on him in truth he fulfills the desires of those who fear Him and he hears their cry and saves them the Lord watches over all who love him but all the wicked he will destroy my mouth will speak in Praise of the Lord let every creature praise His holy name forever and ever if we call on the Lord to be near to us this morning he will be gracious compassionate and kind do that so let our mouths speak in Praise of the Lord sh we this morning as we give our worship to him if you’re able and willing let’s stand together and give thanks to the Lord give thanks to the Lord of God and King his love andj forever for he is good he is above all things he’s love ands Forever sing praise sing praise to the mighty hand and an outstretched all his love Andes forever for the life that’s been reformed his love Angels Forever sing praise sing praise sing [Music] praise sing praise forever God is faithful forever God is strong forever God is with us forever forever God is faithful forever God is strong forever God is with us forever [Music] forever from the rising to the Setting Sun is Love Forever by the grace of God we will carry on his love and Forever sing praise sing sing praise sing [Music] praise sing praise forever God is faithful forever God is strong forever God is with us [Music] forever forever God is faithful forever God is strong forever God is with us forever [Music] forever thank you Lord that you are forever with us and be with us this morning as we worship you as we come to you and lift our hearts to you we pray your presence will be with us this morning we ask you Jesus to be with [Music] us Lord I come before your throne of grace I find rest in your presence and fullness of joy in worship and wonder I behold your face singing what a faithful God what a faithful God have what a faithful God and what a faithful God faithful in every way [Music] Lord of Mercy you have my C through the storm you’re the beacon my song in the night in the shelter of your wings hear my heart singing what a painful God what a painful oh God what a faithful God and what a faithful God have faor in every [Applause] [Music] way Lord of sovereign B for let me comfort those serer with the comfort you have I will tell of your great love for as long as I live singing what a fful God what a faithful God what a faithful God and what a faithful God and faithful in every way and what a faithful God have what a faithful God and what faithful God have faithful in every way as the music’s playing I just want to share something with you this week I had a conversation with Bogden as I normally do and he said I asked him how is he doing he said I’m in paradise and I said what does that mean you in Paradise there you are 70 mi from the Russian border and he said because all around me is Devastation all around has been bonded and yet this Center and my house remains intact I have a faithful God isn’t that amazing cuz what a faithful God have I what a faithful God and what a faithful God have I faithful in every way and what a faithful God have what a faithful God and what a faithful God have faithful in way I Love You Lord oh your mercy never fails me all my days I’ve been held in your hands from the moment that I wake up until I lay my head I will sing of the goodness of God oh my life oh my life you have been faithful oh my life you have been so so good with every breath that I I am a I will sing of the goodness of [Music] God I love your voice you have L me through the fire in Darkest Night you are close like no other I’ve known you as a father I’ve known you as a friend oh I have in the goodness of God all my life you have been [Music] faithful all my life you have been so so good with every pray that I am a I will sing the goodness of [Music] God your goodness is running after it’s running after me your goodness is running after it’s running after me with my life laid down I Surrender now I give you everything your goodness is running out it’s running after me your goodness is running after it’s running after me your goodness is running after it’s running after me my life break down I Surrender now I give you everything your goodness is running out it’s running out to [Music] me oh my life you have been faithful all my life you have been so so good with every breath that I am a I will sing of the goodness of God I will s of the goodness of God I will see of the goodness God going to ask Rebecca to just play that um chorus again for us for my life you have been faithful and in our hearts and Minds now let’s just give thanks to God for what you can be thankful for for God’s faithfulness to you remember the things that he has been faithful to you for perhaps that’s something major like coming from a war zone into peace perhaps that’s just thanking him for being faithful at home wherever you are and for loving you unconditionally and that’s just scoot as well [Music] all my life you have been [Music] faithful all my life you have been so so good with every breath that I am a oh I will s the goodness let’s sing that again all my life you have been faithful all my life you have been so so good with every breath that I am a oh I will s of the goodness of God oh I will see of the goodness of God I will see of the goodness of [Music] God thank you Jesus thank you for all you’ve done amen please take your seats morning oh you can’t hear me that’s right haven’t tested the mic yet um right this morning I just want to start with a uh a verse from one Peter and it’s 2:24 I think it’s on the laptop isn’t it so we have the laptop feed up whatever that is doesn’t matter if it doesn’t come up stra away there we go perfect look at that I’m meant to be the techy person not him anyway so yeah I’m so it says he himself or Jesus bore our sins in uh in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness by his wounds you have been healed fantastic verse but I got a pressing question mainly for the younger ones who can tell me what this is go on Bertie is it a football is able what sort of ball a tennis ball thank you Bertie tennis ball it’s a bit big I have to admit probably not going to use this who can tell me what’s going on right now in this town that involv yes India tennis tennis it is the women’s tennis down here International tennis is there men as well sorry I’m men no one cares about men’s tennis women’s tennis is better let’s see if I get away with that one yes tennis that’s something’s going on the other next thing who can tell me oh stay they’re round who can tell me oh thank you very much who can tell me what this is stay there bir yes BK a basketball now it’s a bit of a stretch for this one there’s something else going on this Summer that involves lots and lots of sports and basketball is one of them who could tell me what that is the Olympics well done another fantastic sport that a lot of professionals are going to be playing this summer see if I can do it again they show off it’s the woring one now who can tell with this one is berti a football well done close enough that do hey work football what’s going on now Euros with the way I just did that I could probably play for England the way they played last time football another big sport that’s going on with professionals but there’s one thing that every sport in the whole world has in common who can tell me what that is a boat there’s not balls in we got cycling we’ve got swimming lots of other sports they all have something in common though rules rules is that you well done you can have a gold sticker yes rules they all have rules and we have to have rules in these games because if there isn’t rules it’s complete chaos and nobody knows what’s going on and nobody actually has any fun especially kids you know rules actually make things more fun amazingly it actually does work that way I’m trying but football is one of my favorite sports and I was thinking to myself what what happens when you do something wrong in football what’s the first thing you get in football if you do something wrong one of these and what does that mean it means right you’ve done something bad stop it you got one more chance that’s it and you’re allowed to carry on then inevitably that player would do something wrong again and what happens next what could you get after a yellow card a red card there we go one of those one of these and what does that mean that means you’re done you’re out the game you got to leave you cannot carry on that’s it done and I was thinking about this and thought that reminds me of a story in the Bible right back at the beginning you had Adam and Eve and they were in the perfect place they were with God every second of every day they were doing everything right and then they broke a rule and it wasn’t just a little one it wasn’t a yellow card rule it was a red card rule they were kicked out of Eden they were out of that game they were done and we as a whole human race was split from God just because of their rule break and devastating and if you ever seen a player get sent off some of them break out in tears especially if it’s in the Euros break out in tears because of the devastation of it but later on we got a substitution in came Jesus he said do you know what that red card that we got given I’ll take that and he said that yellow cards that we’ve all been given because we’ve all done little things not we I’ll take that one too and he said every single one of us that’s got one of these red cards as well I’ll take them all and he did something with him he took one of the nails that went through his hands and he nailed him all to the cross with him through his hands through his feet through his blood he took every one of our wrong things every one of our red cards are rule breaks but it means that we can carry on we can stay in that game of life we can stay in the company of God forever because he he came on our substitute and took every single one of them what an amazing God what a good god what amazing thing and what I’d like to do now is just we should pray to start with thanking God for that so let’s bow our heads Lord I want to thank you for your amazing substitution I want to thank you for your Amazing Grace you’re amazing everything else Lord that means that every one of our red cards every one of our wrong things is nailed to that cross with you that we can continually be with you forever amen amen and if you’re willing and able can you stand for me please and we go through the uh Lord’s Prayer which is always on there even better so our Father in heaven Hallowed Be Your Name Your Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as in heaven give us this day our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen amen Children and Youth it is time for us to leave you can come with me as they go we’re going to sing together so you can stand stay standing if you want don’t want to give you too much exercise in the morning [Music] not to us so Lord not to us so Lord but unto your name be the glory from the dawn of time to the sending Sun the name of the Lord shall be praised one song will ring for the ages one Throne will ever remain this world will pass and His glory is made one name forever shall be praised while the Nations rage trusting Idols V Our God stands alone in the heavens in mesty h the highest King the name of the Lord shall be praised one song will ring through thees one will ever his world will come and His glory is one name forever shall be praised one name forever shall be praised [Music] may your face be set may your blessings rest upon us your people beloved Mark Us by your grace that the world would say the name of the Lord shall be praised one will R Through the Ages will remain this world will pass and it glory is one day forever shall be prais one song will R Through the Ages on thr will ever remain this world will pass and his glor one day forever shall be prais one day forever shall be prais one day forever shall be praised [Music] please take your seats one of the blessings of living in eastborn is that there are many great Christian charities in eastborn who who bless our community so a couple of weeks ago we had Street Pastors in and there were people from the church who are involved in Street pastors uh we’ve got nwks and people from networks here there are lots of Charities one is linking lives and we are privileged this morning to have Mary North she’s going to come and tell us about the work of linking lives come on Mary and then there’s going to be a little interview I think with drien pauler is that right so I’m going to let you go first so you click on that one to move your there you go there’s your first one all right and you’ll be on there on this one yeah brilliant thank you so much for welcoming you um my name is Mary Northway and I’m married to no who’s also here um and just by a little way of introduction I thought I’d share three things that have really shaped why I’m involved with linking lives really um so we spent 20 years working in East Africa before we lived here um we were working in a rural community there and one of the sili Proverbs which means person is people has really shaped us in that our identity as individuals is really only fulfilled when we live in community with other people another thing that has really shaped me is that I work as a part-time GP in haam and really seeing how loneliness can impact health and particularly um pushing people very quickly into Frailty when they lose connections with other people um and so that really inspired me to get involved with linking lives and of course then my faith and my love for Jesus and just receiving his kindness and mercy and compassion and knowing that that isn’t us just to keep here it’s us to share with other people and that’s really what’s prompting Us in linking lives is we’ve received God’s kindness and mercy and compassion and we want to now share that with people in the community that are feeling lonely and are socially isolated so linking lives eastborn is a befriending scheme the referrals that come into the scheme are all over 65s and people that are living alone experiencing loneliness and isolation and loneliness is a good thing isn’t it in some ways we all experience loneliness and it’s a feeling that in a way maybe God put there because it makes us go and make connections with other people it makes us fulfill what we’re made for but the issue is when people can’t do that for either physical reasons or mental health reasons or or for a loss of confidence then that loneliness can turn into chronic loneliness and so it’s really people with chronic loneliness that are coming into the scheme our volunteers are all from eastborn churches all of them um all Christian churches and um our ethos is to just provide friendship and connection for people so conversation chatty conversation going into um primarily home visiting so once um a week or once a forn night for an hour’s chat um and just sitting and getting to know people um we also offer some telephone befriending for those that are unable to visit at home and we have a scheme called telephone plus which is mainly telephone befriending but with an occasional Meetup maybe going to a garden center or a coffee shop um or some other outing um we’ve recently started a scheme called the alongside for people that are mobile but have lost confidence it’s a short to term volunteering for 3 to six months to go with somebody every week to an activity of their choice until they have the confidence to be able to go themselves and of course inevitably some of these um turn into a good two-way friendship and so we have a scheme of moving people out of the scheme into into a genuine friendship that’s then not under our supervision these are all the churches that are currently represented by volunteers and one of the great things about my job is that we get to visit some of them and um and really eastborn is an amazing place um the number of um vibrant Christian communities worshiping God on a Sunday together is tremendous and there’s such a Unity among the churches and so it’s really um amazing to see that Unity then going out into local Mission with things like Street pasts and Sanctuary Cafe networks and and with linking lives um and so it’s a real Delight to be working with local churches in this local Mission um I think that’s probably enough for me and I think um you’ve got two members here that are really important and a lot more members as well that are are really important as well that um are volunteers but we’ve chosen um deedre who’s our scheme coordinator and Paula who’s a volunteer with us to come share a little bit about their experience um but please if you’re praying for linking lives as well there’s there’s about eight Volunteers in your church community so find out who they are and pray for them and pray for their their friendships and if anybody would like to um ask more about volunteering with us de and I will be available at the end of the service thank you thank you [Applause] well good morning everybody and um thank you for welcoming Mary and no and um you know us um and I just wanted to just give a just a few seconds of how I came to be involved in linking life so you may recall I wrote an article a few months ago um God really called me into this scheme about 18 months ago and I can’t tell you how it’s changed my life um but I I I will tell you if any of you want to come and ask me afterwards but I won’t tell you now but it has absolutely um Lifted Me and changed my life and um so Paula is here and I just want to ask her really how did you become involved with linking LS um well I got invited by you happen to to to a it was a kind of afternoon tea with information and a is that better yes if you hold this one oh okay there you go is it on thank you El IA invited to an event in St John’s and um we had a presentation about linking lives and I’ve been looking for some way of getting involved with Community because I’d recently retired and um and I’ve always felt it’s very important as Christians to get to get out and reach out to people in the community so um I went along to the presentation and it just seemed to um resonate with what I was feeling led to do and uh so I I volunteered it volunteered um and would you say since you’ve been with us what would what would you say has blessed you during that time um well I’ve got to know some lovely people um we did become good friends um and we we chatted about all sorts of things that we were interested in and um yes it was just um your eyes blessed as much as they were I think it it did make quite a difference to them because they couldn’t get out so um yes it was a blessing to do it and conversely were there any challenges that you found during that friendship I find one of the challenges was because you get to know the people well and they we become friends um there was one lady particular who her health went downhill quite seriously and it was quite sad really that I couldn’t go to see her after that because she needed a lot of medical supervision but um that’s just part of it really that’s just part of caring for people absolutely um so we have all sorts of different needs out there in terms of loneliness what would you say to so many people that are here listening now what would what would you say would be a motivation or an encouragement to want to know more about linking lives or even perhaps to get involved themselves I think or to refer people that you might know out in the community that might need this kind of befriending yeah I think one of the M greatest motivators is just what a difference you you can’t you don’t believe sometimes that you can make a difference to somebody’s life but um but you can you can share God’s love with them and and and they have something to look forward to and they are connected rather than just being on their own we have um one of the things I do is is do a check regularly with both with the uh person referred to us and with the volunteer and with how the match is working and we get some fabulous quotes that come in um one of the quotes that I got was she is worth more than diamonds to me so um thank you very much for I’m on time um thank you very much for listening to us and do come and ask any questions afterwards we’d love to talk to you thank you thank you all so please do I’ll turn this off if you’d like to know more about that if you think you could help with that then please speak to dri Paula or Mary uh after the service so we’re going to turn to the Bible we’re going to continue got to the last session in Jonah chapter 4 Jonah 41-11 if you want to follow it it’s page 928 to9 and it’s the the LA the final pass passage in Jonah chapter 4 so let’s read this together but to Jonah this seem very wrong what did all right well I’ll tell you what did Jonah had been sent to Nineveh he preached judgment he’d announced judgment in Nineveh the people in Nineveh had accepted it they said yeah we deserve that that’s absolutely right and they repented and God forgave them so judgment was announced judgment was accepted and it was averted and the fact that it was averted seemed very wrong to Jonah and he became angry he prayed to the Lord isn’t this what I said Lord when I was still at home’ this is what I tried to forall by fleeing to tarish I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God slow to anger and abounding in love a God who relents from sending Calamity now Lord take away my life for it is better for me to die than to live but the Lord replied is it right for you to be angry Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city there he made himself a shelter he sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort and Jonah was very happy about the plant but at dawn the next day God provided a worm which chewed the plant so that it withered when the sun rose God provided a scorching East Wind and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint he wanted to die and said it would be better for me to die than to live but God said to Jonah is it right for you to be angry about the plant it is he said and I am so angry I wish I were dead but the Lord said you have been concerned about this plant though you did not tend it or make it grow it sprang up overnight and died overnight and should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals and that’s the end of Jonah what a strange ending most people have a rough idea of the story of Jonah they know that God told Jonah to go to Nineveh that Jonah ran away that there was a storm there was a fish and for lots of people that’s where Jonah ends but then other people they know that Jonah went to Nineveh he preached in N there was this great Revival in Nineveh and and that’s where for them the story ends and really if you think about it if you like happy endings that’s the miles the best place for the story to end Jonah God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh Jonah runs away God chases Jonah and brings him back Jonah goes to Nineveh he preaches in Nineveh the people repent they turn to God and everyone lives happily ever after that’s a nice ending isn’t it that’s a nice story so why does Jonah and this way cuz this is a strange ending it’s not a happy ending why does Jonah end this way and I think it’s because it’s going to take more than a nice story for us all to live happily ever after it’s going to take more than a nice story would you like to live happily ever after is that what you’re hoping for to live happily ever after there’s something in the human heart that really wants to live happily ever after and and has this expectation that there is an happily ever after for us all you know all the stories end that way don’t they I mean nearly all the stories end that way loads of stories how many stories end happily ever after Cinderella the ugly duckling nearly all of Dickens novels end happily ever after I’ve not read them all but blee house David Copperfield Nicholas nichel be Tale of Two Cities they all end happily ever after I’ve not read all of Jane Austin but Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility and Emma all end happily ever after I think a lot of Agatha Christi ends happily Ever After Tom and Jerry Postman Pat fireman s they all end happily ever after Rocky 1 2 3 4 and five Jaws 1 2 3 4 and five the GFF they all end happily ever after now now that’s an interesting thing isn’t it where does that come from I mean not every story ends happily Ever After Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet and AOW they don’t end happily ever after but even those I think I might be wrong but I think they work because we expect them to end happily ever after and the ending subverts the expectation but where does the expectation come from because it doesn’t come from life cuz nothing in life ends happily ever after death is the end of life there not a happy ending so where do we get this expectation from that’s in it seems to to be in every human heart that and and and yes you don’t just have to be a Christian to believe this people all over the world believe that Beyond Death there is another Victory there is a greater happily ever after well Jonah doesn’t have one but he does I think he shows us why we need one and he points us to how we might get one so let’s have a look at three things the angry Prophet the patient father and the perfect sacrifice I think we’ll we’ll get these out of Jonah 4 so the the angry Prophet is the first thing have you ever thought to yourself if I just could hear God speaking clearly to me just once then that would be enough for me I would really believe it or if I could see one great miracle or have one great answer to prayer or God Ed me in some powerful way then that would be enough for me and and I would I would be all in I would believe it I would trust God have you ever thought that Jonah had all of that in spades and he ends up at the end of this story his heart is as far from God as it could possibly be look at Jonah the word of the Lord came to Jonah the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time Jonah was used to he knew what God’s voice sounded like he knew what it was like to know that God was there and God speaking he’d also seen God’s power chasing him in a storm like you not seen it says this storm grew WI Wilder and Wilder the waves got higher and higher I mean it’s a big storm and Jonah saw God’s power and then he had the most extraordinary answer to prayer he he says this he said in my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me from deep in the realm of the Dead I called for help and you listen to My Cry he would I mean you don’t get much better personal salvation stories than Jonas and then he ends up in Nineveh and he’s the star of a Revival I mean he goes to ninev he preaches his five-word sermon and ninev is transformed what wouldn’t you give for a testimony like that I mean that that would sell some books wouldn’t it I think it has but that’s an amazing testimony you’d think I I think you’d think that anybody with a testimony like that would be a spiritual Giant and yet Jonah he’s not he’s far far from God his heart is far from the heart of God and he is steaming angry with God he’s so angry he said I’m so angry I wish I were dead he’s not depressed he’s steaming he’s consumed with an uncontrollable rage and he says it is better for me to die I Don’t Want to Be Alive why what is going on that Jonah should be so angry and it and it’s this that Jonah wants God to do something and God isn’t doing it when Jonah looks at nin he sees he sees Sinners deserving judgment and he wants them to get it that’s what Jonah wants and and when God God doesn’t disagree with Jonah about what they deserve God sent him to announce judgment in fact the ninevites don’t disagree with Jonah about what they deserve so the ninevites said let everyone call urgently on God let them give up their evil ways and violence who knows God May yet relent and have compassion and turn from his Fierce anger so that we will not perish we deserve to perish our Des our sins deserve it but who knows if we turn from our sins maybe God will turn from his anger so they agreed with Jonah about their sins when when Jonah looked at Nineveh he saw Sinners deserving judgment and he wanted them to get it and when God looked at Nineveh he saw Sinners deserving judgment and he wanted them to be saved and when they repented he was willing to forgive them and that’s what made Jonah Furious Jonah said look he said I Jonah said isn’t this what I said when I was still at home this is what I tried to prevent by fleeing to Nineveh I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God slow to anger abounding in love a God who relents from sending Calamity Jonah says I knew you couldn’t be trusted to punish Sinners if they repent that’s what Jonah says I I came here to see these folks punished and now you’re not going to do it and Joan is steaming and God says should I not have concern for a great city of Nineveh in which there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals you see when Jonah looks at n he sees one thing when God looks at Nineveh he sees another and Jonah is steaming angry because God won’t see Nineveh in the way he sees Nineveh Jonah wants God to change his mind Jonah wants God to see Nineveh as he sees it and God wants Jonah to see Nineveh as he sees it now I think about that and I think don’t we all have to confess that sometimes we don’t see things in the same way God sees them and sometimes we want God to see things our way and we can get angry about it let me give you a trivial EX example that I think you might nevertheless be able to identify with my previous church was a very small Church the building was very small we had about 70 adults and 30 children we had lots of young children all under the age of about six 30 of them it was Carnage honestly you’re laughing if you would have been there you wouldn’t be our church was was not bigger than the Welcome Center we got 70 adults in there 30 kids it was noisy some people just didn’t like it to be noisy to be honest I didn’t like it they wanted a quiet service and I wanted a quiet service I used to do these all age Services once a month we had to change it to once every other month I couldn’t bear it we had we did them once a month and I was exhausted at the end of it I mean it was oh and some people complained that there too just too noisy too noisy but we had some older people in the congregation and they would say we remember when there were no children at this church and we’ve got friends who are at churches with no children and these children are the future of our church and if it means it being noisy will will put up with it so that our church has got a future they said you know nurser is a noisy graveyards are quiet I tell you not everybody liked it but it was a blessing to have some older Christians who I think saw it as God saw it I think they they didn’t only we all saw the children from our point of view but some people saw them from God’s point of view now that’s over 15 years ago and these kids now they’re they’re all in their late teens and their early 20s and lots of them are getting baptized I mean there lots of them are really going on serving God gone to University got involved in Christian unions and that church is growing and it’s still going and I think it’s because there were some people there who didn’t just see children in church from their own point of view they saw him from God’s point of view too now it seems to me that what you’ve got in Jonah is somebody who had seen his sins from God’s point of view and that’s why he repented so he saw his running away from God and he and he cried out to God he saw his sins he confessed his sins and he was he was saved he’d seen his sins from God’s point of view now he’s got to see ninev from God’s point of view and that question’s in the air it doesn’t tell you at the end of the book whether he does or doesn’t but the message of the angry Prophet is you’ve got to repent and repeat that’s the Christian Life it’s repent of your sins see your sins as God sees them see what he’s done about it on the cross and change your mind and see your sins as God sees them so you got your point of view and God’s point of view about your sins you come to God’s point of view and you’re saved but now you’ve got to learn to see everything else from God’s point of view because there’s loads of things we don’t see from God’s point of view so You’ got to learn to see your marriage from God’s point of view you might see it from your point of view you want to see it from God’s point of view repent come to God’s point of view you might see your money from your point of view you’ve got to come to see it from God’s point of view you might see your work or the poor or people from other nations from your point of view you’ve got to come to see them from God’s point of view it’s repent and repeat you know in Romans 12:2 it says do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is he’s good pleasing and perfect will he’s saying don’t have your mind don’t let your mind be like the world people think in the world but it needs to be transformed to become like Gods repent and repeat in every area start to think as God think and in the end you’ll say hey it looks good from here this is how it’s meant to be this is what God always intended and it works and it’s beautiful it’s holy it’s righteous and it’s good how are we going to all live happily ever after well not with prophets like Jonah you can be sure of that who go around saying I want them all to be destroyed who see only things from their own point of view we’re going to need to start seeing things from God’s point of view that’s the first thing I could talk about that all day and I’ve talked about it too long already all right let’s keep going because the next thing is really vital and so that’s the angry Prophet the next thing is the patient father what I love about this wonderful chapter and this wonderful book is that when God when Jonah gets angry with God God doesn’t get angry with Jonah when Jonah says Jonah says you’ve let me down to God now take away my life for it is better for me to live than die God could have said okay bang squish no more Jonah no no more whining I’m fed up of him I think I might have said but Jonah is angry he’s furious with God but God is Not furious with Jonah he’s appealing to him he’s he’s he’s going out to him very interesting thing I I’ll show you in a minute if I remember but a few years ago uh well no actually just a few weeks ago CLA and I were watching some videos we’ made of the boys when they were little you know you make these videos of your kids and you watch them as you as they as you get older Well we’d got some videos of Callum and Toby when I think it was Callum Toby’s second birthday Callum was about four and Toby’s got these presents and we’re videoing home video Toby’s birthday Callum says on the video can I open one of his presents we said no darling no he said but I want to I said we know you want to but they to’s presents is Toby’s birthday you get presents on your birthday and you open presents on your birthday he says I want to open a present I said what there you go he said I’m not your friend Priceless I said I think I’ll get over it he said I’m not playing with you any anymore I said that’s fine but it’s all going on the video and I’m showing it on your wedding day that’s not great parenting God is nothing like that he’s nothing like that Jonah having a tantrum and God doesn’t ridicule him Jonah’s steaming angry and God is not angry with Jonah he’s appealing to him and what’s really interesting is when go God says to him have you any right to be angry you know what Jonah says nothing he blanks God and and and I think what’s going on here is in chapter one Jonah’s running away from God and God’s going after him in chapter four Jonah’s running away from God and God’s going after him look what God does God provided a leafy plant and Jonah was very happy about the plant God provided a worm to chew the plant God provided a scorching East Wind you know what God’s doing he’s showing Jonah that Jonah sees everything from Jonah’s point of view that his happiness Rises and Falls entirely dependent on how things affect him and God saying but there’s a different point of view Jonah I’ve got a different point of view I want you to come to see my point of view and God is dealing with Jona with great patience and I think it’s the most beautiful thing about the Book of Jonah is the way it reveals the patience of God and I think there are two things we’ve all got to learn about God one is that he’s a furnace of Holiness the other is that he’s an ocean of loving kindness and I think we tend one way or the other and I think my tendency is is always towards the first of those I think yeah I get the idea God’s holy he he he is Holy he’s righteous he’s good and he and and he’s never going to change his mind about anything you got more chance of roller skating up Everest then you have to convince God that to come to your mind on things it’s never going to happen you’re always going to have to change your mind he’s never going to change his mind and and that’s really significant in our society he’s never going to change his mind about sex and marriage he’s never going to change his mind about gender he’s never going to change his mind about lots of things that people really want him to change his mind about but he is also an absolute ocean of patience and loving kindness to Sinners who repent and if you will turn to God if you will say I’m wrong and you’re right you’ll start this journey he is he is not a harsh father he is a tender loving patient merciful gracious father with unending patience he’s not coming after us with a stick he’s like a father teaching a child to walk and and I think the truth is for every Christian any genuine Christian who was who who was walked with God for a number of years can we will’ll have to confess that if it is not if it wasn’t for the patience of God I’d be hopeless he has stayed alongside me long after I would have given up and that’s what he’s like he will never ever ever give up on anyone who turns to him Jesus never turned anyone away and he is extraordinary patient extraordinarily patient how are we going to live happily ever after well it’s going to require the patience of God but he is an extraordinarily patient God you got to know that he’s a furnace of Holiness and and and and glorious righteousness and at the same time he’s an ocean of loving kindness and he will meet you with the tenderest most gracious if you’re struggling I tell you you’re in safe hands the Bible says they’re strong hands they’re holy hands but they are the hands of a loving father and and there’s one other thing as well these hands would have nails through for your sake that’s the last thing oh well I’ll go past that that’s the last thing it’s the perfect sacrifice how does chapter 4 point us to the perfect sacrifice I think it’s in the contrast with Jonah Jonah sees people he sees Sinners repenting and he would die rather than seeing them forgiven Jesus sees Sinners repenting and would die in order that they might be forgiven and that’s the contrast we won’t live happily ever because there are prophets like Jonah we’ll live happily ever after because God sent his son and and you know if you it once you accept the idea that that the real need is to repent and repeat to start to see everything through God’s eyes you know what you really need you need God to become a human being so you can see how he does it what does the world look like through God’s eyes when a human when God has human eyes how does he see the world and how does he behave in the world and the Lord Jesus is exactly that he is God With Us he sees everything through God’s eyes he sees everything from God’s point of view and you look at Jesus and that’s what he’s doing he is blazingly Holy but he is incredibly he’s an ocean of loving mercy and he would rather have nails through his hands then see you suffer they’re strong hands they’re holy hands but they are Loving Loving Hands how are we going to live happily Ever After when we see our sins from God’s point of view and come to him and ask him to forgive us our sins the Lord Jesus came into the world Simon said he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness when you see your sins from God’s point of view and see the cross from God’s point of view you see what he’s done about it and you say I’m making that my point of view I’m coming to God’s view on my sins and on the cross you are saved in that moment forever and ever and ever but it ain’t the end it’s just the beginning and from then on it’s repent and repeat is begin to see everything from God’s point of view we’re saved because He sent Jesus for us and we will live happily ever after we will live happily after after because Jesus came because he served because he died because he rose again because he ascended and because he is coming back and he’s going to come back to rule and to Reign and to bring eternal life to all those waiting for him how are we going to live happily ever after it ain’t going to be through Jonah or prophets like Jonah it won’t be through trusting our own wisdom and our own mind it’ll be by committing ourselves holy to the mind of God and into the hands of the most powerful holy loving gentle father let’s pray together Heavenly Father we thank you for your great great loving kindness to us father we thank you for your great patience with us we confess that in many many ways we are like Jonah we thank you that Jesus came into this world and he gave himself for us we thank you that he has taken all of our sins away we pray that you’d help us to change our minds to begin to see the world not only from our own point of view but from your point of view in every way we say you’d purify we ask that you’d purify our lips our thoughts our actions and our hearts and we pray this father God in Jesus name amen purify puy we’re going to sing together just to on this refined as fire Chris has just asked us to purify we’re going to take a few minutes before we go out to coffee and just to worship to hear what God is saying to us perhaps there are those things in our lives that we want to give over to Jesus and to let to talk to our Heavenly Father who cares so much for us to seek forgiveness to forgive those things to God that we’re trying to control we’s sing this together and I ask as we just meditate on those things Brian and Rachel just going to pray this through [Music] h [Music] hey [Music] purify my heart let me be as go and pray prous silver pufy my heart let as you go bre fin the SP my heart one [Applause] desire is to be holy set apart for you Lord I choose to [Music] be holy set aart for you my master great to do your will [Music] purify my heart me from within and make be holyy my heart CLE me from my S deep within [Music] SP my heart’s one is to [Music] be holy set of God for you Lord I choose to [Music] be holy set power for you my master ready to do [Music] your just feeling is I asked if the uh prayer team can perhaps come to the front who on the prayer this morning and if there’s things you would love to be prayed for then that would be amazing that you today could be prayed for as you perhaps want to let something go things you might want to repent from that you may want to have that Holy Fire with inside you to allow God to purify your heart we’re going to sing this chorus then we’re going to continue to worship and uh just for a few more minutes but if there is those things you want to have somebody pray with you come to the front and allow somebody to pray with you [Music] here holy say head a part for you Lord I choose to [Music] be holy set aart for you my master ready to do your will [Music] if it is your desire to be holy if it is your desire that God should have his way in your life and your heart should be purified and if you’re pursuing that and struggling in many ways and aware more aware of your failures than your successes I I want you to know that that God is for you that he is he is alongside you he’s a father to you and all the power of Heaven is for you and he going to help you in in Philippians it says that I am persuaded that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ you might feel right now I can’t see that happening I’m struggling I I can’t see this work being finished in me it won’t be your power that finishes it it’ll be God’s power that finishes it because once you have placed yourself in his hands you’ll find that they are the strongest safest hands in the world I encourage you to do so we’re going to finish this series and sing God is for [Music] us we won’t the we W bear the night we will walk the Val with you by us you will go before us you will lead the way we have found a refuge only you can s sing with joy now our God is for us the Father’s Love is a strong and mighty foress your voice now no love is who can stand against us if our is for us [Music] even when I Stumble even when I fall even when I turn I feel your love is your you will not abandon you will not forsake you will cheer me on good with never ending PR [Music] with joy now our God is for us the Father’s Love is a strong and mighty your voice now no love is greater who can stand against us God is for [Music] us neither height nor death can us hell and death will not defeat us he who gave his son to free us holds me in his love by the height nor death to separate us hell and death will not defeat us he who gave his son to be us h in his love sing with joy now our God is for us the Father’s Love is a strong and Mighty Fortress your found no love is greater who can stand against us if our God is for us sing with joy now our God is for us the Father’s Love is a strong and mighty for raise your voice now for love is greater look stand against us our God is for [Music] us amen please take your seats we’ve we’ve come to the end of our service amen bless you thank you Kamar [Applause] Kamari was praying for us all to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior and she prays that for us regularly Kamari prays two hours every night for the for children around the world she prays for us I always ask her to pray for me you could ask her to pray for you she will pray for you Faithfully but she’s praying for us as a church to come to faith in the Lord Jesus is that you is it you this morning are you here this morning you’re not trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and you know you know in your heart that he is calling you and you’re running away like Jonah or you’re resisting like Jonah is it you he’s after you he’s after you he will do everything possible to get you but you can resist him forever and ever and ever people do please don’t please don’t but receive him if you receive you’ll never be disappointed you’ll never ever be disappointed we’ve come to the end of our service um if you’d like to respond if you’d like to be prayed for about something else come here these these folks will pray with you if you are a visitor you’d like to find out more about the church have coffee directly out of here and and otherwise just join us in the hall for coffee I’m going to close the the service with these words and now to him who is able to keep us from falling and able to present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy to the young only God our savior be glory Majesty power and authority through Jesus Christ Our Lord now and forever amen the Lord bless you all thank you Pete [Music] [Music] [Music]