Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
dart4lod
  • 2 days ago
Transcript
00:00Concerned with Repentance
00:07In that city of Nineveh there are more than 120,000 people who cannot tell right from wrong,
00:15and many cattle are also there. Don't you think I should be concerned about that big city?
00:22Jonah 4 verse 11
00:24When pop culture portrays God we often see two stereotypes, a harsh, angry God that can never
00:31be satisfied or a soft, loving one who forgives everything. Who is the real God? In the book of
00:38Jonah we get a clearer picture. God speaks to Jonah, a prophet in Israel living among God's chosen people,
00:46and tells him to give the people of Nineveh a message. But Jonah disobeyed. The problem in
00:53Jonah's eyes was that they were Israel's enemies, wicked people whom Jonah would rather see punished
00:58for their many sins. Jonah tries to run away from the task, but God convinces him to do it.
01:05Jonah obediently preaches about God's coming wrath. The people of Nineveh repent and God forgive.
01:12But then, rather than rejoicing over God's grace, Jonah gets angry. We're left with God's haunting
01:19question to Jonah. Don't you think I should be concerned about them? It hangs there still for us
01:24to consider. So, we see here a very involved God, one who sees the sins of many and the heart of one.
01:32We see a just God who will not let evil continue forever. He wants everyone to repent. And we see
01:40a compassionate God who sends a storm, a big fish, and a preacher to save a city and to pursue the
01:47stubborn, unrepentant heart. Spiritual fitness training. Although the book of Jonah deals with
01:53serious themes, it's written in a humorous way, dripping with irony. Try reading it aloud this week.
02:01Jot down what stands out to you. Inspiration. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable,
02:08because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.
02:12C.S. Lewis, British professor in the mid-1900s and author of the Narnia series.