Amazing Grace: Jonah (sermon notes)

Always have to start my sermons with something funny:
This is just plain silly: Biblical songs...
Noah: "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" Adam and Eve: "Strangers in Paradise" Lazarus: "The Second Time Around" Esther: "I Feel Pretty" Job: "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues" Moses: "The Wanderer" Jezebel: "The Lady is a Tramp" Samson: "Hair" Daniel: "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" Joshua: "Good Vibrations" Peter: "I'm Sorry" Esau: "Born To Be Wild" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: "Great Balls of Fire!" The Three Kings: "When You Wish Upon a Star" Elijah: "Up, Up, and Away" Methuselah: "Stayin' Alive" Nebuchadnezzar: "Crazy"
and last but not least
Jonah: "Got a Whale of a Tale"

Today we continue a new sermon series on Amazing Grace…
You may be wondering why we’re talking about Jonah today…this guy is not a good model for amazing grace…he wants God to treat Ninevah the way He treated Sodom and Gomorrah…
Truth is, I want to use poor Jonah to reveal the church’s faulty grace…
Read all of Jonah this week!
I bring a simple msg. today…
Some motivation for living a grace filled life!
3 thoughts from this story of Jonah’s Need for Grace…

1. God uses our blunders!
This is such good news! (especially for someone as IMPERFECT as me)
I noticed something this week in my study that I hadn’t really seen or had pointed out to me before in the story of Jonah…
God used Jonah’s disobedience, his foolishness, his running from the Lord to save a ship full of men!
VERSE 16 says…then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows…
These were heathens praying to false gods moments before they threw Jonah overboard…
God uses our blunders!
This is why the church should be a place of failure!
Stick with me, some of you are looking at me like I’m crazy…
We all fail, we all make mistakes…if you’re going to mess up, the church should be a safe place to do it…
I’m not talking about lasciviousness or a nonchalant attitude toward sin…
I’m talking about 2 steps forward, one step back
failing forward
as a matter of fact, the church needs to be a free environment to fly or flop
especially when it comes to trying new ministries or finding where you fit in ministry
I think really the only true failure is to not try…

Once upon a time there was a little grape stem. This stem was so glad to be alive...She drank water and minerals from the soil and grew and grew She was young and strong and could manage quite well... All by Herself But then, the Wind was cruel, the rain was harsh, the snow was not one bit understanding, and the little grape stem suffered She drooped, weak and suffering. It would be so easy to stop trying to grow, to stop trying to live. And the grape stem was poor! The winter was long, and the stem was weary. But then the little grape stem heard a voice. It was another grape stem calling out to her... "Here, reach out... hang on to me." But the stem hesitated. "What would this mean?" she thought For you see, the little stem had always managed quite well, All by herself. But then, ever so cautiously, she reached out towards the other grape stem. "See, I can help you", it said."Just wind your tendrils about me and I will help you lift your head." And the little stem trusted...and suddenly she could stand straight again. The wind came... and the rain ... and the snow, But when it came, the little grape stem was clinging to many other stems. And although the stems were swayed by the wind... and frozen by the snow, They stood strongly united to each other. And in their untired strength... they could smile and grow. And then, one day the little stem looked down and saw a tiny stem, swaying, frightened. And our little grape stem said, "Here, hang on ... I will help you." And the other stem reached up to our grape stem... And together all the stems grew... Leaves budded...flowers bloomed... And finally, grapes formed And the grapes fed many.
What a picture of what the church could be!
God uses our frailties, our blunders, our needs
lean on Him, lean on one another

2. God is waiting for a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
In verse 9…Jonah prayed: But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving…and then the Lord spoke to the fish and vomited Jonah onto dry land…
Again the Lord opened my eyes to a profound truth found in Jonah!
Mabye His deliverance will come if you will change your attitude…
My goodness, are you in the belly of a whale?
If Jonah can give a sacrifice of thanksgiving from the belly of a whale, what’s your excuse?
Mabye God is waiting for a sacrifice of thanksgiving despite the circumstance and then He will perform the miracle!
If you wait to be thankful when your circumstances warrant it, you probably won’t be a very thankful person!
Praise takes sacrifice!
Rather than being annoyed, be amused.Instead of getting angry, become curious.In place of envy, feel admiration.In place of worry, take action.In place of doubt, have faith.Negative energy is just positive energythat's flowing in the opposite direction.There's no need to fight or run away from that negative energy. All you need to do is change its direction. The more negative you are, the more positive you can be. An automobile that can travel 70 miles per hour to the east... can also travel just as fast when going west. But first, someone must turn it around.When you sense yourself becoming negative, stop and consider what it would mean to apply thatnegative energy in the opposite direction. Turn your sadness into caring. Transform your complaints intouseful suggestions. Change your bitterness intodetermination. The energy is already there,All you need to do is change its direction.

3. God chooses kindness over anger.
Jonah and the older brother in the story of the Prodigal have a lot in common…
Jonah threw a fit when God expressed his amazing grace, his overflowing kindness instead of anger just like the older brother…
The church is full of Jonah’s, the “elder brother” spirit is alive and active in the body of Christ…
But, I don’t want it at RRAG
Truth is, Jesus had kindness for the sinner and anger for the Pharisee…
A young lady who has been caught up in the backwash of church drama wrote this on her facebook profile…I hate religion, but I love Jesus!
I’m so thankful that she hasn’t let the older brothers of the church, the pouting Jonah’s of the church, the demanding Pharisees of the church steal her love for Jesus!

A traveler became lost in an unnamed desert. Realizing his only chance for survival was to find civilization, he began walking. Time passed, and he became thirsty. More time passed, and he began feeling faint. Reduced to crawling, he was on the verge of passing out when he spied a small shack about 500 meters in front of him. Barely conscious, he reached the shack and called out, "Water! Please, I need water!" An old man appeared in the door of the shack and replied sympathetically, "I am sorry, sir, but I have no water. However, would you like to buy a tie?" With this, he brandished a collection of exquisite silken neckwear. "You fool," gasped the man. "I'm dying! I need water!" "Well, sir," replied the old man, "If you really need water, there is another shack about 2 kilometers south of here where you can get some." Without knowing how, the man summoned sufficient strength to drag his parched body the distance to the second tent. With his last ounce of strength he tugged at the door of the second shack and collapsed. Another man, looking enough like the old man to be his brother, appeared at the door dressed in a costly tuxedo. Looking down at the crumpled mass at his door, he inquired, "May I help you sir?" "Water..." came the feeble reply. "Oh, sir," replied the man, "I'm sorry, but you can't come in here without a tie!"
In the name of Jesus, I pray the church will stop caring about things that do not matter, while the world is desperate for some WATER!
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Amazing Grace is the water
the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is the water
Stop and think
When you have experienced the blessings of His amazing grace how can you not share the wealth?

I pray this is the message you needed to hear today…
Mabye you needed the hope that comes from knowing God even uses your blunders…
Mabye you need to make a sacrifice of thanksgiving
Mabye you to choose kindness over anger, grace over judgment, maybe you just need some more grace...come to Jesus