The call of God and our identity, purpose, and mission - May 7, 2023
NewLife Christian Fellowship's Podcast
English - May 10, 2023 02:00 - 44 minutes - 30.3 MBChristianity Religion & Spirituality eric stillman wethersfield hartford connecticut Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
This morning, I am beginning a new sermon series through the Old Testament book of Jonah. Now, when you say the name Jonah, most people instinctively know that Jonah is that guy who was swallowed by a whale, or a great fish as the Bible actually puts it. But this story is not just a cute Sunday School story for children; it is a masterfully told story with a lot of relevance to our lives today. We are going to begin by reading the first three verses today:
Jonah 1:1-3 - The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
Before we dive into the relevance of this passage for our lives today, a few background questions need to be answered. Is this a historical story? What is a prophet? And what is the significance of Ninevah and Tarshish?
First, is this a historical story? Maybe. We do know that Jonah is a real person, for he is mentioned elsewhere:
2 Kings 14:23-27 - In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. 24 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. 25 He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. 26 The LORD had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them. 27 And since the LORD had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash.