Evangelism 101, Day 13 It’s not fair! Read Jonah 4:1-3. Well, we saw that God made the decision to spare the people of Nineveh at the end of the last chapter. However, not everyone is happy about that. Jonah’s really angry with God about God’s decision to spare the people of Nineveh. In fact, Jonah gets so angry that he starts starts telling God that it’s not Fair and that he would rather die than live. In the verse before this, Jonah even mentions the characteristics of God that in other places in the Bible are used as a positive description of God. However, here Jonah is using them as…

Evangelism 101, Day 12 God’s grace. Read Jonah 3:10. Jonah had delivered the message. The people had heard and even though they didn’t know how God would respond, they recognized their sin and they repented and turned to God. They fully understood that God might not forgive them and might bring judgment anyway. However, God makes the decision to show mercy on the people of Nineveh. However, nowhere does it say that God told them what his decision was. It doesn’t that God gave Jonah a second message to share with the people. It doesn’t say that God sent another messenger. All it says is that the people repented and…

Evangelism 101, Day 11 Repentance. Read Jonah 3:6-9. Nowhere in his message did Jonah mention anything about repentance. Nowhere did he say that God would relent. However, the king decided that they would trust in the nature of God and would repent anyway. Often people say they come to God because they want to avoid the punishment of their sin. But, true repentence understands that we actually deserve the punishment. We will still seek to praise God and follow Him, even if he didn’t promise us heaven. Are we willing to, like the people of Nineveh, just come to God and repent regardless of what God offers us in return?

Evangelism 101, Day 10 Believing in God. Read Jonah 3:3-5. Jonah was finally obedient. God had given him a command and this time, Jonah obeyed. He went to the city of Nineveh and he shared the message with the people. He really didn’t even give them any kind of hope and he talk of repentance or anything like that. Jonah’s message was simply that God was going to judge them and they would be destroyed. The people believed in God and they turned to God even without any promise or hope of salvation. When we say we believe in God, do we recognize that God doesn’t have to do anything…

Evangelism 101, Day 9 Take two! Read Jonah 3:1-2. Jonah had sinned, but he repented and as a result, God brought him back to the decision where he went the wrong direction. Jonah was given the same command that he was given at the very beginning of the book, with the same opportunity for him to be obedient to God. So often that’s exactly how God works. When we mess up, God allows us the opportunity to repent. He has mercy and is willing to forgive us, but then he brings us right back to where we left off and we have the same choice to make again. Will we…

Evangelism 101, Day 8 God’s command. Read Jonah 2:10. Just one verse we are looking at today, but it’s an important verse. This verse can only come after the verse from yesterday. It wasn’t until Jonah submitted himself to God’s will, that is what makes this verse possible. Jonah’s submission brings about God’s command. God sees Jonah in his situation and he chooses to change ot. God is responsible and capable of commanding the weather, the animals, and everything. We are never beyond his ability to change our circumstances, if he chooses. Are we submitting to God’s commands? Are we committing wholeheartedly to all that He desires? Once we submit…

Evangelism 101, Day 7 Finally. Read Jonah 2:2-9. After 3 days and 3 nights inside the belly of a fish, the words that God had been waiting to hear from Jonah finally come forth. Jonah declares that he will share that salvation is from the Lord. All God had been asking of Jonah was for him to take that message to the people of Nineveh. But, Jonah didn’t want to share that message. Jonah refused to share with the sailors on the boat, but God still displayed his glory to them anyway. Now, after 3 days, Jonah is finally willing to share that message with others. What will it take…

Evangelism 101, Day 6 When do you pray? Read Jonah 1:17-2:1. These two verses tell a very interesting story to me. We find out that Jonah has been swallowed by a huge fish and he is inside that fish for 3 days and 3 nights. The very next verse says that Jonah prayed. I find this so interesting, because I wonder how many ways Jonah tried to free himself before he finally decided to pray? If he waited three days to start praying to God, that’so odd to me. When we find ourselves in difficult and challenging situations, how often do we spend our time trying to figure out our…

Evangelism 101, Day 4 An innocent man. Read Jonah 1:11-14. As we pick up from the story yesterday, we see that the men are terrified and they are in the midst of a storm. Where is Jonah? He is in the bottom of the boat asleep. So they wake him up and ask him what’s going on. Jonah admits to them that this whole storm is his fault. He has been disobedient to God and God is punishing all of them because of it. Jonah tells the men to throw him overboard. Still, when the men refer to him in the next verse, they call him innocent. They pray to…