Journey of Jonah, Part 3: A Place to Change

  (Jonah 3: 1-2) "Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."   (Jonah 3: 3-5) "Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth."   (Jonah 3: 6-7) "When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink." (Jonah 3: 8-9) "But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.""   (Jonah 3:10) "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened."     A Place to Change   How can we change direction in our lives?   1.     Listening to someone's story Share your story, email us at: [email protected] (Revelation 12:11) "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."   2.     Fear of Consequences (Romans 3:18) (NLT) "They have no fear of God at all."           (Hebrews 10:31) (NKJV) "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."    (2 Thessalonians 1:9) (NLT) "They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power."   (Psalm 32:3-4) (NLT) "When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.  Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.  (Psalm 32:5) (NLT) "Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the Lord."  And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone." (Psalm 32:6-7) (NLT) "Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment. For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble.  You surround me with songs of victory." 3.     Change our behavior (Isaiah 58:2) (NLT) "Yet they act so pious!  They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me.  They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God.  They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me."   (Isaiah 58:3-4) (NLT) "'We have fasted before you!' they say. 'Why aren't you impressed?  We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don't even notice it!'" "I will tell you why!" I respond. "It's because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me." (Isaiah 58:5) (NLT) "You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes.  Is this what you call fasting?Do you really think this will please the Lord? "They hurt enough that they have to" "Nobody changes until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change"     4.     There is a time limit (2 Peter 3:10) "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night…"   For more information on the vision of Freedom Church, please visit our website at www.freedom-church.org.