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God's Conviction Is A Warning Call · The Bible Bit Podcast

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  Welcome back. This is Kimmy Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  bringing you another Bible bit for you to enjoy.
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  God's conviction is a warning call. Today, as we journey through the scriptures,
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  gleaning truth from God's word,
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  we're going to conclude our series regarding lessons we must learn from Jonah's
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  experience running from God, as revealed in Jonah 1-1 through 3-4.
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  Our final lesson that we are going to glean from Jonah's experience is that
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  God's conviction is a warning call for each of us.
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  God did not change his mission due to Jonah's failure to obey.
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  Though the messenger of God's word and the deliverer of God's plan may fail,
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  God's redemptive plan for all people remains.
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  Jonah resisted, but God's plan remains securely intact.
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  Jonah was asked to go to Nineveh and warn the people that judgment was coming
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  and that they had better heed Jonah's warning and repent.
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  Jonah was delivering God's message that the wickedness of the Ninevites was coming to an end.
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  Either they were going to repent and turn from their wicked ways,
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  or God was going to overthrow them.
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  God sent Jonah into Nineveh to declare God's warning upon the people.
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  Jonah 3.4 says, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey,
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  and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and none of us shall be overthrown.
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  Jonah proclaimed a brief but serious warning.
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  His message was simple but urgent.
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  Jonah was warning the people that sin carries consequences and that God's divine judgment is real.
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  Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
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  It is important to note that Jonah's message was urgent, but it also communicated
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  an opportunity for Nineveh to be spared the wrath and judgment of God.
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  Jonah was delivering God's message of the necessity of repentance for sin.
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  This same message rings true today.
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  When we sin, we must repent of our sins so that there is nothing between us and God.
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  Jonah was delivering a powerful message of repentance, but was allowing the
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  Ninevites to know that forgiveness is available when we repent of our sins and
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  turn from our wicked and evil ways.
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  God extends mercy and grace to each of us, but we must receive his mercy and grace on his terms.
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  Jonah was delivering God's message based wholly upon God's authority.
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  Jonah was proclaiming what God commanded. One must understand that powerful
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  messages that convict are from God.
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  They are not opinions of the messenger. Faithful preaching doesn't modify God's
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  message to make it more comfortable or more pleasing for the recipient to hear.
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  No, the messenger of God has the responsibility to be obedient to God's instructions
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  and to deliver God's message just as God gives it.
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  The response to the message is up to God.
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  This warning of judgment gave the people of Nineveh 40 days to repent.
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  It gave them an opportunity to change their ways, to deny self,
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  and to submit to the authority of God.
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  A careful examination of God's instructions to Jonah revealed that God's justice
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  and his mercy was on full display in the urgent message Jonah delivered to the people of Nineveh.
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  Even when God is announcing his judgment, God is graciously calling sinners
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  to repent and turn to him.
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  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
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  but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
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  but that all should come to repentance.
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  2 Peter 3.9 As we compile the lessons Jonah teaches us in this passage of Jonah 1.1-3.4,
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  we correctly conclude that God mercifully pursues rebellious people.
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  He confronts sin, and God calls the rebellious, disobedient people to repentance and obedience.
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  Jonah 1-3-4 teaches us all these lessons.
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  God calls us to obey, not merely to believe.
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  Disobedience harms us and often negatively affects those around us.
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  God uses discipline to bring us back to Him.
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  God will never give up on us. He will completely restore the repentant servant.
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  God's mercy reaches the lowest of sinners and the most faithful of servants.
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  God's warning and conviction are an invitation to repent. Where is God calling you to obey?
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  Are you running from his command, resisting his purpose, or faithfully taking the next step?
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  The God who pursued Jonah still pursues rebellious hearts, and he still calls
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  his people to arise and go.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Please visit Woman at the Well Ministries at WATWM.org for more resources,
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  podcasts, and to connect with us.
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