Complete Sermon Notes
The God of Many Second Chances
Anger & hurt over circumstances or what has happened.
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We dig a pit & there’s no way out – bitterness & brokenness begin to rear their ugly heads.
3:1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
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“The Word came a second time” – the key early: OBEY / Reposition
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“Preach what I tell you” – Why meditating, praying, and worshiping are vital.
No billboards or social media – God still uses our voice. Speak what I tell you – it must come from a humble, broken person. . . A FISH WILL HUMBLE YOU
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The message wasn’t popular, but it was powerful.
40 days often has to do with testing, or judgment – turn, or burn – STRENGTH to carry weight – “probation” or “trial.”
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Testing before the reward – fasting before feasting – heart wrenching prayer before revival
God inspired preaching brings Revival or Rioting. ⇙
5 So the people of Nineveh believed [TIES IN WITH OBEYING] God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
Fasting revealed the magnitude: The hardest thing we can do is deny the flesh – quench its appetite. If it doesn’t cost you anything it won’t mean anything to GOD.
The flesh got me into this predicament – starving it is going to help get me out.
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A sign of humility – genuine repentance and sincere humility have fruit!
How do you engage the power of the Spirit – you disarm the competing passion.
In Joel 1:14 we see the power of fasting, “Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly [NOT JUST ANY ASSEMBLY]; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.”
BESEECH !! The magnitude determines the response . . . “Not by might, nor by…
6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?”
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Leadership often determines the temperature [in the home too].
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They appeared to men to be fasting: Leading by example.
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Aligns with Isaiah 58 – Turn from wickedness [sin/wrong habit] when fasting.
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“Cry mightily to God” – Passion is often the gauge for sincerity.
“Who can tell if God will relent” – The God of many 2nd Chances – REPOSITION!
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way [IT DOESN’T SAY “HE SAW THEIR FASTING”]; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
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Change the course of history, DESTINY, and your spiritual health and the health of your family by changing your direction, OR MAINTAINING…
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In short – HAVE the fruit outweigh the failure?
