Dark, Frantic, and Broken

Dark, Frantic, and Broken

"Seaweed was wrapped around my head." I don't remember this being a part of the story. For some reason this time it struck me with a clear picture of humiliation and being dragged into the depths of despair.  Of his being plunged to his darkest hours. How did Jonah get to this point?

Have we all, at some point, rebelled to the point of such despondency?

Jonah would not let go of his anger, resentment, and pride long enough to obey God. He needed to repent of his holier-than-thou attitude and simply give a group of people a chance to turn to God. It hurt so much to release these people of their guilt that he ran until he was swallowed by a fish. Even then, though he turned to God, he didn't say he would go. Not until later in the story did he make his way back to Nineveh. 

So easy to be judgmental of Jonah, isn't it. But I have been in this place where, until I really took in  the tumultuous waves and darkness around me, did I bring myself back to where God needed me to be.  A turn of thought or a change of perspective can rescue a heart from brokenness and frantic fear. When God allows us to go off on our own He reminds us how dark it can be without him. The struggle we find ourselves in is not the hard part, it's facing these  consequences without the help of God.

God needed Jonah to repent. He needed Nineveh to repent. When an archer aims their arrow at a target and misses, the term that is used to help them get back on target is to repent. Repent to one side or the other. Repent farther out or closer in. 

The story of Jonah is about repentance and of mercy. 

Who is Your Nineveh?

Who is Your Nineveh?

Bomb them all! Send them all back! One death deserves another. Don't take my money and give it to them. I'm not racist, you're a racist!  They don't deserve forgiveness. Why bother?

That is what Jonah would have said about Nineveh. You see these evil ones killed and tortured more people than ISIS. They sinned against God in more ways than a satanist cult. Nahum 3:2 says, "Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!"

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach repentance. He refused. He ran away from God. Tried to anyway. God loved Jonah and wanted to use him. He sent a fish to swallow him and bring him back to his senses.

Jonah could think of so many reasons why he should not go and preach repentance. The Ninevites  didn't deserve forgiveness, his time, or a second chance. He knew God would forgive them if they turned themselves around. To Jonah this did not seem fair to all the good people that had been hurt by these savages.

Jonah did finally preach to Nineveh. The biggest miracle here is not being swallowed by a big fish and living to tell about it, but that these people did repent. All of them, children, parents, they even put sack clothes on their livestock. 

Do you have a Nineveh? Someone that you've written off? Maybe a whole group of people you've heard bad things about and God whispers, "Drop the stone walls and open your heart." It could be someone on the other side of your politics, or a noisy neighbor you can't get along with. Can you let down your guard enough to share a conversation? 

Though this theme is not exactly where Pastor Greg lead us that day in his sermon, here is where I went with it. 

Love you enemies. Pray for those that persecute you. (disagree, or call you names.) Love your neighbor, like you love yourself. (Not just the kind ones, either. Or the ones that voted like you.) Press on in genuine love, mercy, and seek justice.  Yes, always, seek justice by being slow to judge and quick to listen when prejudices are uncovered or the hurt are crying for help. 

Downside up

Downside up

Have you ever felt like you're stepping over ceiling fans and tripping around chandeliers? The rest of the world is relaxing on couches and having dinner with table and chairs planted firmly on ground. Your drink tends to fall up as you sit by the crown molding.

Do you live upside down, or the downside up? Either way can make you disoriented. Christians live in this tumultuous world, led by our Messiah. Pastor Todd Spieker preached on this topic. He named ways Christ lived with gravity pulling up. Many of these I had never thought of before.  

I can see that we must step out from the crowd and choose helping the marginalized and poor instead of  being afraid of them. It makes more sense to be concerned they are taking advantage of us. "After all, how can we help anyone if we give too much away?" they say.  

Here are the ups and the downs Todd spoke of, and a few of mine. In case the words are hard to read on my sermon sketch. 

Crown of gold vs Crown of thorns

Lifted up on throne vs Lifted up on cross

About me vs Not about me

First best vs Last best

Love self vs Selfless

Greed and hate vs Generosity and love

Kingdom disciples make more disciples. Disciple apprentices teach us to love God and others.

Look for more of Todd's sermons on SoundCloud under BethelCov.

3=1

God is the Trinity

3=1? This is mind bending and difficult to understand. Finishing up on The Attributes of God series, Pastor Greg tackled the trinity.

The part of the sermon that struck me the most was that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. For some reason this hit me in a new way. It made so much sense in terms of understanding the trinity. In my sketch I tried to show Jesus coming out of the invisible God. The Holy Spirit, and God the Father billow behind Him as He steps out for us to see Him. 

Quotes from the Bible reveal Jesus has no beginning. He is the Word that was God and with God. All things were created by Him. 

Greg then talked about the old example about water. It can be ice, steam, and liquid. Three in one.

This gives us a bit of understanding but to me it does not reveal the full explanation. Because ice, steam, and liquid do not exist all at the same time. This is where God differs. It is as if you drew three circles but not beside each other, or even intertwined with one another. It would be more like if after you drew the first circle, you place your pencil right on top of the line you had just drawn. The molecules actually mingle together. The third line is drawn on top of the other two. All untied as one, but three circles at the same time. 

Below is the part of the picture that shows this for me. It is the names of God one on top of the other intertwined, three in one.

God is Our Shepherd

 

God is our Shepherd

"I just wanna to be a sheep." That's a funny camp song. Why would I want to be sheep? They're timid and fearful. Sheep will foolishly follow whoever is in front of them. They can be helpless and easily distracted. Oh, wait, maybe I am a sheep.

Jesus takes unworthy sheep and protects us. With a hook He pulls us from trouble. A rod is used to guide us along the right path. He leads by the quiet waters to give drink. A sheep's nose is just above his mouths and could drown at rough streams. Jesus gives us a place of peace to rest, green grass to eat. He anoints the scratches and wounds with healing oil. 

I guess if we have a shepherd that takes as good of us as Jesus, then . . . I want to be His sheep.