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Transcript

You Must Obey God's Call On Your Life · The Bible Bit Podcast

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  Welcome back. This is Kimmy Miller of Woman at the Well Ministries bringing
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  you another Bible bit for you to enjoy.
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  You must obey God's call on your life.
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  Today, as we journey through the scriptures, gleaning truth from God's word,
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  we're going to start discovering lessons God has for each of us through Jonah's
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  experience running from God's call on his life.
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  The account in Jonah 1 verses 1 through Jonah 3 verse 4 clearly reveals how
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  God mercifully pursues rebellious people, confronts sin,
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  and calls the rebellious to repentance and obedience.
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  Today's Bible bit unfolds how God
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  uses mercy and discipline to bring his disobedient children back to him.
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  Let's look at Jonah 1, 1-4, which says, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah,
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  the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
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  and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.
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  But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord,
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  and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish,
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  so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it
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  to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
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  But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest
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  in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
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  God clearly instructs Jonah to go to Nineveh, but instead Jonah flees to Tarshish.
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  Jonah was a prophet of God, yet he resisted God's command.
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  This goes to show that none of us are immune to the wiles of the devil,
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  Ephesians 6.11, and that we all must be vigilant and on high alert to the schemes and tricks
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  the devil uses to draw you away from God and his purpose in your life, 1 Peter 5.8.
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  Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh, as God had instructed because he didn't
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  like the people of Nineveh.
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  They were not only wicked and evil, they had afflicted his people,
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  and therefore Jonah didn't want any part of them and, to be honest,
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  didn't feel they deserved God's blessings or forgiveness.
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  Jonah felt so strongly about the awfulness of the Ninevites that he judged them
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  to be unworthy of God's mercy, grace, love, and forgiveness.
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  Too often, though we don't say it or admit it, we do the same about others.
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  We seem to pick and choose who we will be burdened for or who we will share
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  the life-giving gospel with.
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  God is no respecter of persons, Acts 10, 34. He died for everyone,
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  even the ones you don't like.
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  God gave clear instructions for Jonah to follow, and Jonah knew exactly what God was asking of him.
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  But Jonah refused to obey.
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  Instead of going toward Nineveh, Jonah fled toward Tarshish,
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  which was essentially in the opposite direction Jonah had been instructed to go.
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  Jonah's problem wasn't confusion. It was absolute rebellion.
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  Jonah was trying to run from where God was and from the purpose God had for his life.
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  I think if we are honest, we all do the same thing, just in different ways.
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  God tells us to do something and we don't like the sound of it.
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  What we think it will cost us, or how we think it will end.
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  So we delay doing it or simply refuse to do it altogether. Delayed obedience is still disobedience.
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  Friends, we cannot follow God while intentionally moving in the opposite direction
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  of Him and His will for our lives.
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  It is true. God may call us to difficult people,
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  uncomfortable places, or a costly ministry, But God is always with us,
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  Hebrews 13.5, supplying our needs, Philippians 4.19, and giving us the strength
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  to do it, Philippians 4.13.
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  I am persuaded and confident that he who has begun a good work in you will perform
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  it until the day of Jesus Christ.
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  Philippians 1.6 Learn from Jonah.
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  His disobedience got him into a lot of trouble.
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  God will not let you go. He will find you, discipline you, and restore you.
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  Remember you are loved. Jesus loves you. Join us tomorrow as we continue to
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  explore the lessons learned from Jonah's attempt to flee from God.
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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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  If you would like to have Bible Bits delivered to your cell phone via text messages,
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  go to our website at WATWM.org to subscribe.