“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
This word of unwanted grace from the LORD called him to action: Arise and go – get up and get going.. There is immediacy, urgency in this word from the LORD..
This word of unwanted grace from the LORD called him with direction: to Nineveh.. Nineveh was what he did not want to hear – Nineveh was what made this word a word of unwanted grace..
Nineveh was the capital of an ancient called Assyria, located in modern Iran.. Nineveh was 550 miles from Samaria where Jonah lived.. Nineveh was a city of 600,000 people.. Nineveh was a Gentile city, and no one spoke Hebrew there, although many spoke Aramaic there, so Jonah could make himself understood.. Hebrew prophets would not be all that welcome in Nineveh..
Nineveh was a cruel city.. The kings of Assyria developed the concept of captivity, in which a conquered people would be moved from their home territory and settled elsewhere, while alien people would be settled in their former home.. One of their Kings boasted he had make a mountain red like wool by cutting off the head of some warriors he had defeated and piled their skulls as a pillar in front of their city.. Others boasted of flaying their enemies alive (cutting off their skin) and stretching their skin on the city wall..
At the time Nineveh was in trouble.. In the recent years before Jonah received this word from the LORD, they had experienced two plagues and also a total eclipse of the sun, which they took to be a bad omen of something bad about to come upon them.. They were divided politically and in a very weak condition.. Left to themselves, they would collapse in a short time..
Summary: The prophet received word from the LORD that called him to action and gave him direction..
That word also gave him motivation..
God was concerned about their wickedness..
Jonah was given the opportunity to have greatest evangelistic impact in history, but he didn’t want it because he was politically and culturally opposed to Nineveh and did not have God’s heart for them..
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
B. Unwanted Grace Comes as an Intrusion
It is quite evident that Jonah wasn’t looking for the privilege God has in mind for him..
It was much more of an intrusion than anything else..
It disrupted Jonah’s life and called him to do something he didn’t want to do..
Jonah was one of 16 men in all of history who were called to be prophets in the way he was called.
Jonah’s life was the way he wanted it to be..
He was a prophet..
He was recognized as a prophet..
He was a successful prophet according to II Kings 14:25..
He had said his king, Jeroboam II, would expand his kingdom’s border greatly and it came true..
This meant success, blessing, economic prosperity, and Jonah was a prophet with a popular message..
But the God unwanted grace comes along with a new word, a word Jonah doesn’t want. Even though it is a word of opportunity..
It was much more of an intrusion than anything else..
It disrupted Jonah’s life and called him to do something he didn’t want to do..
Jonah was one of 16 men in all of history who were called to be prophets in the way he was called.
Jonah’s life was the way he wanted it to be..
He was a prophet..
He was recognized as a prophet..
He was a successful prophet according to II Kings 14:25..
He had said his king, Jeroboam II, would expand his kingdom’s border greatly and it came true..
This meant success, blessing, economic prosperity, and Jonah was a prophet with a popular message..
But the God unwanted grace comes along with a new word, a word Jonah doesn’t want. Even though it is a word of opportunity..
Friday, June 13, 2008
1. God Sends Unwanted Grace. (Jonah 1:1-2)
Jonah 1:1-2 ~ 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.”
A. Unwanted Grace Comes as a Privilege
The word of the Lord was.. Jonah didn’t ask for it.. He didn’t plan for it.. He did nothing to get it.. He did not earn it and it was just there – it just showed up..
We don’t know how he got it.. We don’t know if he heard it.. Or sensed it.. Or felt it.. Or saw it.. Or he just received it..
Now remember this is the word of the LORD..
Every time we see LORD un upper case letters we must remember it means Yahweh, God’s formal name, His covenant making and covenant keeping name..
Yahweh is God’s initiating name – the name used to speak of His initiative to enter our lives.. In the Garden of Eden, with the call of Abraham, the commissioning of Moses – all the way throughout the Old Testament Yahweh initiates and this initiation is always an act of grace, even when it is not welcome in the lives of those with whom He initiates.
Yahweh is also God’s covenant making name, His commitment making, legal contract signing name, and everything He does grows out of the covenant He has made.
So unwanted grace comes from the covenant keeping god who is constantly making grace initiatives in our lives..
A. Unwanted Grace Comes as a Privilege
The word of the Lord was.. Jonah didn’t ask for it.. He didn’t plan for it.. He did nothing to get it.. He did not earn it and it was just there – it just showed up..
We don’t know how he got it.. We don’t know if he heard it.. Or sensed it.. Or felt it.. Or saw it.. Or he just received it..
Now remember this is the word of the LORD..
Every time we see LORD un upper case letters we must remember it means Yahweh, God’s formal name, His covenant making and covenant keeping name..
Yahweh is God’s initiating name – the name used to speak of His initiative to enter our lives.. In the Garden of Eden, with the call of Abraham, the commissioning of Moses – all the way throughout the Old Testament Yahweh initiates and this initiation is always an act of grace, even when it is not welcome in the lives of those with whom He initiates.
Yahweh is also God’s covenant making name, His commitment making, legal contract signing name, and everything He does grows out of the covenant He has made.
So unwanted grace comes from the covenant keeping god who is constantly making grace initiatives in our lives..
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
unwanted grace - intro
How do we respond to God’s unwanted grace?
How do we respond when God’s grace comes charging into our lives?
When it doesn’t knock on the door – or ask permission, or say how do you do, or have a nice day, or could we sit down and talk?
When it just barges in and takes over.
That’s the problem with grace, you know – it cannot be controlled; it is not predictable or rational; it cannot be owned.
Grace does exactly what grace wants to do when it wants to do it.
I can hear many of you protesting, objecting to the idea of unwanted grace.
Perhaps you’re saying, I want all of God’s grace I can get. There’s no such thing as unwanted grace.
Perhaps. Let’s see if this is true. Let me ask you a question.
Suppose we put two signs over these two doors,
One that says “Grace to have a great life, a wonderful family, a challenging and satisfying career, financial security, with excellent health right up to the end.”
And we had a sign over this door that says “Grace to die with cancer.”
Which line would you get in?
We don’t want the grace to die of cancer if we can possibly avoid it. Of course we want it if there’s nothing we can do about it, but none of us would get in the cancer line. That is certainly unwanted grace. None of us unwanted grace.
Or let me ask you this.
Let’s say your life is going well – a ministry that is strong and stable, or perhaps you’re very satisfied in a support role, very satisfied as a leader in your ministry, but you were challenged by someone in another strategic area, different from what you’re doing now – leading by email, contacting people by cell phone, not direct ministry – you don’t want to move up the ladder, to move into greater responsibility, to face greater pressure to travel and be gone one-third of the time.
But the pressure is there, and God’s unwanted grace is calling you, disrupting you demanding that you do something for God you don’t want to do.
How do you respond to God’s unwanted grace?
How welcome is God’s disruptive, life changing, redirecting grace?
How do we respond when God’s grace comes charging into our lives?
When it doesn’t knock on the door – or ask permission, or say how do you do, or have a nice day, or could we sit down and talk?
When it just barges in and takes over.
That’s the problem with grace, you know – it cannot be controlled; it is not predictable or rational; it cannot be owned.
Grace does exactly what grace wants to do when it wants to do it.
I can hear many of you protesting, objecting to the idea of unwanted grace.
Perhaps you’re saying, I want all of God’s grace I can get. There’s no such thing as unwanted grace.
Perhaps. Let’s see if this is true. Let me ask you a question.
Suppose we put two signs over these two doors,
One that says “Grace to have a great life, a wonderful family, a challenging and satisfying career, financial security, with excellent health right up to the end.”
And we had a sign over this door that says “Grace to die with cancer.”
Which line would you get in?
We don’t want the grace to die of cancer if we can possibly avoid it. Of course we want it if there’s nothing we can do about it, but none of us would get in the cancer line. That is certainly unwanted grace. None of us unwanted grace.
Or let me ask you this.
Let’s say your life is going well – a ministry that is strong and stable, or perhaps you’re very satisfied in a support role, very satisfied as a leader in your ministry, but you were challenged by someone in another strategic area, different from what you’re doing now – leading by email, contacting people by cell phone, not direct ministry – you don’t want to move up the ladder, to move into greater responsibility, to face greater pressure to travel and be gone one-third of the time.
But the pressure is there, and God’s unwanted grace is calling you, disrupting you demanding that you do something for God you don’t want to do.
How do you respond to God’s unwanted grace?
How welcome is God’s disruptive, life changing, redirecting grace?
- time to reflect -
By Bill Lawrence Th.M., Th.D.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Don't read if you are immature.. Seriously..
Why do we ((sleep)) in [[school]],
But stay ((awake)) through a [[3 hourmovie]]?
Why is it so ((hard)) to talk about[[God]],
but so ((easy)) to talk about [[sex]]?
Why are we so ((bored)) when we look at a [[Christian magazine]],
but find it ((easy)) to read [[Playboy]]?
Why is it so easy to ((ignore)) a [[Godly]] bebo bulletin,
Yet we ((repost)) the [[nasty]] ones?
Why are ((churches)) getting [[smaller]],
But ((bars and clubs)) are [[expanding]]?
Why is it so easy to purchase {beer} and {drugs}?
But so hard to donate 25 cents for a {Charity}?
Why is it so easy to worship a {Celebrity}?
But very difficult to engage with {God}?
Think about it, are you going to repost this?
Are you going to ignore it,cause you think you'll get laughed at?
Repost this as "dont read if u r immature ....seriously"80 % of you wont repost this.
The Lord said: If you deny Me in front of your friends, I will deny you in front of My Father..
Got this post from a friend's blog.. Think about it..
But stay ((awake)) through a [[3 hourmovie]]?
Why is it so ((hard)) to talk about[[God]],
but so ((easy)) to talk about [[sex]]?
Why are we so ((bored)) when we look at a [[Christian magazine]],
but find it ((easy)) to read [[Playboy]]?
Why is it so easy to ((ignore)) a [[Godly]] bebo bulletin,
Yet we ((repost)) the [[nasty]] ones?
Why are ((churches)) getting [[smaller]],
But ((bars and clubs)) are [[expanding]]?
Why is it so easy to purchase {beer} and {drugs}?
But so hard to donate 25 cents for a {Charity}?
Why is it so easy to worship a {Celebrity}?
But very difficult to engage with {God}?
Think about it, are you going to repost this?
Are you going to ignore it,cause you think you'll get laughed at?
Repost this as "dont read if u r immature ....seriously"80 % of you wont repost this.
The Lord said: If you deny Me in front of your friends, I will deny you in front of My Father..
Got this post from a friend's blog.. Think about it..
Monday, April 21, 2008
Prayer
Last week i had attended Bethel's family camp. The title of the camp is ' Teach us how to pray'.
This camp has struck me. Let me share something that I have learned in this camp.
( Driven to pray)
Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. Mark 1:12
This verse show that Jesus was drive to pray. So, are we driven to pray? Driven is what we would do every single day and constantly, not fitfully. Many people do not drive to pray. If we not driven to pray, slowly we will stop praying after some times. Therefore, we need to make prayer as the most natural thing in our life. When we encounter something in our life, the first thing come to us is prayer. If we want to make ourselves driven to pray, we need to touch our feeling. We are unable to pray for somebody or something without any feeling. Beside that, we also need the Spirit of God to help us because we won't be driven on our own, we have to work with Spirit of God and Spirit of God will helps us.
There are many things will block us to pray, demon will try what ever he can to stop us pray.
So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Luke 5:16
This show that Jesus prayed oftenly. So we also need to pray oftenly.
Luke 11.1
Jesus didn't teach his disciples to pray until they asked him how to pray. We need to have the desire to pray. We would not pray if we dont have that desire. Have you ever asked God how to pray? we have to really learn desire to pray.
Hypocrisy is a severe problem of prayer as well.
Matthew 6:7 said that when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. God would not interested in these prayer that have been repeated again and again. Moreover, prayer is about the whole relationship with God. We can build a good relationship between us and our father. As God is our father, we need to be polite when we pray to God and learn how to respect our father. We also need to practise our prayer everyday.
(Determination)
Prayer must be followed by action. So, say less and pray more. A feeling has to be aroused to be pray. Driven lead to determination. Do we have the determination to pray? Do we concentrate in our prayer? If we have the determination, our concentration will be increase by second to a second.
(Discernment)
Discernment will bring us wisdom. Daniel 2:21 - he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. We have to seek God in prayer.
We have to work hard in our prayer life. Do not say we cannot make it. We have to believe that power of God is working in ME. Are you believe this in all your heart?
These is part of the thing that i have learned. Will share the other in the next post. Hope you all understand what i am trying to convey.
This camp has struck me. Let me share something that I have learned in this camp.
( Driven to pray)
Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. Mark 1:12
This verse show that Jesus was drive to pray. So, are we driven to pray? Driven is what we would do every single day and constantly, not fitfully. Many people do not drive to pray. If we not driven to pray, slowly we will stop praying after some times. Therefore, we need to make prayer as the most natural thing in our life. When we encounter something in our life, the first thing come to us is prayer. If we want to make ourselves driven to pray, we need to touch our feeling. We are unable to pray for somebody or something without any feeling. Beside that, we also need the Spirit of God to help us because we won't be driven on our own, we have to work with Spirit of God and Spirit of God will helps us.
There are many things will block us to pray, demon will try what ever he can to stop us pray.
So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Luke 5:16
This show that Jesus prayed oftenly. So we also need to pray oftenly.
Luke 11.1
Jesus didn't teach his disciples to pray until they asked him how to pray. We need to have the desire to pray. We would not pray if we dont have that desire. Have you ever asked God how to pray? we have to really learn desire to pray.
Hypocrisy is a severe problem of prayer as well.
Matthew 6:7 said that when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. God would not interested in these prayer that have been repeated again and again. Moreover, prayer is about the whole relationship with God. We can build a good relationship between us and our father. As God is our father, we need to be polite when we pray to God and learn how to respect our father. We also need to practise our prayer everyday.
(Determination)
Prayer must be followed by action. So, say less and pray more. A feeling has to be aroused to be pray. Driven lead to determination. Do we have the determination to pray? Do we concentrate in our prayer? If we have the determination, our concentration will be increase by second to a second.
(Discernment)
Discernment will bring us wisdom. Daniel 2:21 - he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. We have to seek God in prayer.
We have to work hard in our prayer life. Do not say we cannot make it. We have to believe that power of God is working in ME. Are you believe this in all your heart?
These is part of the thing that i have learned. Will share the other in the next post. Hope you all understand what i am trying to convey.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
走吧!我不需要你!
看了这篇文章的标题, 有没有一种我要和某人分离的感觉? 哈哈.. 其实.. "你"是指撒旦..
干嘛我会无缘无故说起它呢? 刚刚看了我干儿子的部落格.. 有感而发.. 他发现最近每个人都很忙.. 连他自己也是.. 嗯.. 我也忘了他是怎样发现的.. 他发现其实使人忙碌也是魔鬼的技俩.. 它很成功的让人因为忙碌而没时间或忘记敬拜神, 与神亲近..
为了三餐温饱.. 没有缺乏金钱烦恼.. 人.. 忘记了神.. 或把爱我们的神挤出头等舱了..
不过.. 神还是爱着我们的.. 耶稣在两千多年前为我们死在十字架上.. 他的宝血洗净我们以前和现在的罪.. 既是这样.. 只要我们向他承认我们的过犯.. 求神的灵再次管理我们的生命..这是神所喜悦的..
最后.. 我要大声的说:
走吧! 撒旦! 我要把你赶出我的生活.. 因为我根本不需要你.. 我不会再让你有机可乘..
干嘛我会无缘无故说起它呢? 刚刚看了我干儿子的部落格.. 有感而发.. 他发现最近每个人都很忙.. 连他自己也是.. 嗯.. 我也忘了他是怎样发现的.. 他发现其实使人忙碌也是魔鬼的技俩.. 它很成功的让人因为忙碌而没时间或忘记敬拜神, 与神亲近..
为了三餐温饱.. 没有缺乏金钱烦恼.. 人.. 忘记了神.. 或把爱我们的神挤出头等舱了..
不过.. 神还是爱着我们的.. 耶稣在两千多年前为我们死在十字架上.. 他的宝血洗净我们以前和现在的罪.. 既是这样.. 只要我们向他承认我们的过犯.. 求神的灵再次管理我们的生命..这是神所喜悦的..
最后.. 我要大声的说:
走吧! 撒旦! 我要把你赶出我的生活.. 因为我根本不需要你.. 我不会再让你有机可乘..
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