The Church Called Jonah

# 4 - The Mighty Tempest  Jonah 1:4 - “But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.” But the Lord sent out a Great Wind on the Sea  Jonah had just boarded a ship to Tarshish and was doing a good job of blending with the other travelers, as if nothing was amiss in his life – after all, who knows our thoughts and intentions but God, and we ourselves. And if God doesn’t reveal them to other people, we’re safe isn't it? He had found himself a comfortable place on the ship – at the bottom of it, and settled in for the journey.  Just when Jonah perhaps thought all was well, and taken care of, did the Lord enter the scene again. Verse 4 says, “But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea..” Jonah didn’t seem to take into account a couple of important things; one was that He couldn’t out run God, who was omnipresent, and the other was that, when God wanted to do something, no one, and not...

Jonah 1:3b -   “He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the  Lord .”   He went down to Joppa We’ve seen how Jonah made up his mind to ‘flee from the presence of the Lord,’  I t isn’t long before a rebellious attitude is followed by a rebellious act, and that’s what Jonah did. He was to ld to go to Nineveh (which was in the east), but he decided to go west to Tarshish instead. He headed Joppa, which was his connecting point, from where he would then board a ship to Tarshish. In all my years of travels (with my mother and brothers before marriage), when we traveled across India for no particular reason, I remember the many connecting points we touched to get to where we were going. We know from 2 Kings 14:25 that Jonah hailed from Gath Hepher , which is present day Mashhad , which is at an altitude of 985 metres (3250 feet). We don't know where Jonah was w...

# 2 - The Rebellion  Jonah 1:3a  - “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord...” 1. BUT  In verse 1, God clearly told Jonah to go and preach against Nineveh as it's wickedness had come up before God. Verse 2 begins with the word, ‘But.’ The verse could have begun with the word, ‘So,’  but it didn’t. The word, ‘So’ would have meant that he decided to obey the Lord and go to Nineveh. By the verse beginning with the word, ‘But,’ we immediately get a sense that something’s amiss. It creates in us a sense of curiosity, as to where this story could be going.  Rebellion seems to be wrapped up in the heart of man and is evident in us humans, right from our childhood. It began in the Garden of Eden and it hasn’t changed since. It’s almost like something comes alive inside of us when we hear an instruction to do something, and we immediately question it, and even before we have a reason to disobey, we decide to do so. Once we decide to r...

               Devotion # 1 – The First Commission                  Introduction   We are all aware that the story of Jonah as recorded in the Bible is a true story of an account that took place in history and one that cannot be disputed. But what I’d like to do in these 31 devotions, is compare the story of Jonah as recorded in the book of Jonah, with The Church at-large, and see what learnings we can glean from it – hence the name, ‘The Church called Jonah.’ Who is not familiar with the story of Jonah. It’s been taught right from childhood in every Sunday School across the globe. But it’s usually told in a way that is meant to entertain children, to the extent, it’s even taken on a very fable-like feel, with many even decrying the authenticity of the story. With this approach, it’s not often meditated upon by adults and therefore we forfeit learning the things we can from it. I h...