"Our God of Second Chances"

Text: Jonah 3:1

And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

Subject: "Our God of Second Chances"

      The Biblical story of Jonah is very familiar to most people. Jonah was
a prophet of God and the Lord sent him on a mission to Nineveh. His message
was to proclaim to the people of Nineveh that if they didn't repent and turn
from their wicked ways, God would destroy them. But instead of obeying God
and going to Nineveh, Jonah disobeyed God and ran in the opposite direction
away from Nineveh. He went down to Joppa and took the fastest ship he could
find that was heading for Tarshish which was almost two thousand miles west
from Nineveh.

      Jonah boarded the ship and in his disobedience he thought that he was
safe and had out smarted God. He didn't realize that you can't out smart God
nor can you get away from him. The Lord speaking through Jeremiah said,
"Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk
ye
in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you",
(Jer 7:23). My friend if things aren't well with you, be like Paul and
examine
yourself to see if you are in the faith.

      Jonah wasn't safe because a great tempest came upon the sea, the
forces of nature are controlled by the power of God. The old folks use to
say that
"you can run but you sure can't hide", in fact no man can free himself from
the presences of God. The things we do behind closed doors and in secret may
be hidden from man but they can't be hidden from God. Jonah went down and
hid in the hold of the ship and there he went sound asleep. Jonah would have
seen his errors if he had recalled the words of David that said, " Whither
shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I
ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there", (Psa 139:7-8).

      Jonah committed wrong after wrong and sin after sin when he disobeyed
God by not going to Nineveh to preach. Eventually the sailors on the ship
were
able to determine that Jonah was the cause of the storm that was just about
to destroy them. Jonah realize his errors and told the men being the hands
of justice to throw him over board. We can't hid our sins forever because
they will soon find us out, what we do in the dark will come out into the
light.
When Jonah splashed into the sea, God had prepared a great fish that
swallowed him and while he was in the belly of the fish Jonah cried out to
God in
repentance.

      This great fish swam to land and there it vomited Jonah upon the
shore. Jonah was laying in the sand and the Lord came to Jonah a "second
time" and
told him to arise, get up and go to Nineveh and preach what I told you to
preach before. The Lord never gives up on his chosen people and we the
church
have been chosen by God from the foundation of the world. When we are
disobedient God doesn't throw us on a trash heap but he will give us a
second chance
with a clean sheet. His blood will cleanses us from all unrighteousness
because he is "our God of second chances".


To get out of a hard situation,
try a soft answer.
Proverbs 15:1
A soft answer turneth away wrath:
but grievous words stir up anger.
YBIC, Thomas And YSIC, Linda.
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