Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this Wednesday. We will gather for our Wednesday Evening fellowship and study this evening at 6 PM, with a full meal prepared with much love and served with much care. In our study this evening we will be looking at John 2. The context of this passage is the wedding reception at Cana of Galilee.
I received this note from one of my friends on the reflections on Jonah. " I very much enjoyed your two recent devotionals from Jonah. As always there was an abundance of great material there to engage the mind and spirit with profit for both. "
This note propelled me to look into the second chapter of Jonah once again. Praise the Lord for His Word, which is so simple and yet so profound. It is so mundane and yet it is so majestic. It is so earthy and yet it is so divine.
Jonah cried to Lord from of the belly of hell. Jonah’s prayer was not a prayer for deliverance. His prayer was actually one of praise and thanksgiving for having been delivered from certain death. I am convinced that during those three days and nights he endured something that changed him forever. I certainly do not mean that he was perfect when he exited the fish. The remainder of the book stands as evidence that he was still far from perfect, but I believe he was a changed man.
The words, "the waters encompassed me," would be mere words to everyone else but Jonah, but to him, those words were connected to vivid terrifying memories. There was only a hair's distance between him and death at the time.
The winds of change had moved through Jonah’s life. It was a very tough experience, but it had moved Jonah back into a relationship with God.
Though Jonah was not hopeless, for the time being he was helpless. The Lord prompted him to faith from the depths of his despair. As Jonah lay in the fish’s belly he must have reflected upon the miracle that he was still alive. His was the prayer of those whose lives have been shipwrecked, who are at the end of their rope, for whom the bottom has dropped out. They may have lost a loved one, a job or experienced the break up of a marriage. As with Jonah, the disaster may even be of their own making. When we find ourselves in the depths of despair, darkness, distress, and doubt, and at the gate of untimely death, we can cry out to the Lord. We have a God who loves us when we mess things up, who cares about us even though we cause our own problems. That’s the kind of God we serve.
The Bible is is full of stories of God forgiving people who did not deserve another chance.
Phillip Yancey, in His book "What's So Amazing about Grace", wrote:
"There is a simple cure for people who doubt God’s love and question God’s grace: Let us to turn to the Bible and examine the kind of people God loves. Jacob, who dared take God on a wrestling match and ever after bore a wound from that struggle, became the eponym for God’s people, the "children of Israel." The Bible tells of a murderer and adulterer who gained a reputation as the greatest king of the Old Testament, a 'man after God’s own heart.' And of a church being led by a disciple who cursed and swore that he had never known Jesus. And of a missionary being recruited from the ranks of the Christian-torturers. I get mailings from Amnesty International, and as I look at their photos of men and women who have been beaten and cattle-prodded and jabbed and spit on and electrocuted, I ask myself, 'What kind of human being could do that to another human being?' Then I read the book of Acts and meet the kind of person who could do such a thing - now an apostle of grace, a servant of Jesus Christ, the greatest missionary history has ever known. If God can love that kind of person, maybe, just maybe, he can love the likes of me. Grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less. It means that I, even I who deserve the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God’s family."
Jonah reminds us that no matter how far we have strayed from God He is eager to welcome us back home. There are consequences for rejecting God and His ways. The consequence for Jonah turning away from his assignment was to be thrown into the sea and to spend 3 days and nights in the fish. However, God forgave Jonah. God eagerly waits for us to turn to Him so that He can forgive us also, and give us the fresh start we long for.
This note propelled me to look into the second chapter of Jonah once again. Praise the Lord for His Word, which is so simple and yet so profound. It is so mundane and yet it is so majestic. It is so earthy and yet it is so divine.
Jonah cried to Lord from of the belly of hell. Jonah’s prayer was not a prayer for deliverance. His prayer was actually one of praise and thanksgiving for having been delivered from certain death. I am convinced that during those three days and nights he endured something that changed him forever. I certainly do not mean that he was perfect when he exited the fish. The remainder of the book stands as evidence that he was still far from perfect, but I believe he was a changed man.
The words, "the waters encompassed me," would be mere words to everyone else but Jonah, but to him, those words were connected to vivid terrifying memories. There was only a hair's distance between him and death at the time.
The winds of change had moved through Jonah’s life. It was a very tough experience, but it had moved Jonah back into a relationship with God.
Though Jonah was not hopeless, for the time being he was helpless. The Lord prompted him to faith from the depths of his despair. As Jonah lay in the fish’s belly he must have reflected upon the miracle that he was still alive. His was the prayer of those whose lives have been shipwrecked, who are at the end of their rope, for whom the bottom has dropped out. They may have lost a loved one, a job or experienced the break up of a marriage. As with Jonah, the disaster may even be of their own making. When we find ourselves in the depths of despair, darkness, distress, and doubt, and at the gate of untimely death, we can cry out to the Lord. We have a God who loves us when we mess things up, who cares about us even though we cause our own problems. That’s the kind of God we serve.
The Bible is is full of stories of God forgiving people who did not deserve another chance.
Phillip Yancey, in His book "What's So Amazing about Grace", wrote:
"There is a simple cure for people who doubt God’s love and question God’s grace: Let us to turn to the Bible and examine the kind of people God loves. Jacob, who dared take God on a wrestling match and ever after bore a wound from that struggle, became the eponym for God’s people, the "children of Israel." The Bible tells of a murderer and adulterer who gained a reputation as the greatest king of the Old Testament, a 'man after God’s own heart.' And of a church being led by a disciple who cursed and swore that he had never known Jesus. And of a missionary being recruited from the ranks of the Christian-torturers. I get mailings from Amnesty International, and as I look at their photos of men and women who have been beaten and cattle-prodded and jabbed and spit on and electrocuted, I ask myself, 'What kind of human being could do that to another human being?' Then I read the book of Acts and meet the kind of person who could do such a thing - now an apostle of grace, a servant of Jesus Christ, the greatest missionary history has ever known. If God can love that kind of person, maybe, just maybe, he can love the likes of me. Grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less. It means that I, even I who deserve the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God’s family."
Jonah reminds us that no matter how far we have strayed from God He is eager to welcome us back home. There are consequences for rejecting God and His ways. The consequence for Jonah turning away from his assignment was to be thrown into the sea and to spend 3 days and nights in the fish. However, God forgave Jonah. God eagerly waits for us to turn to Him so that He can forgive us also, and give us the fresh start we long for.
In Christ,
Brown
On FEBRUARY 11, 2012 Saturday, at First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott, at 5:30 PM - There will be a Special Banquet prepared by Joe Walker, including a variety of international Cuisine... It will be a great celebration. At 6:30 PM there will be a Hymn Sing with Aric Phinney at the Grand Piano and Yancey Moore at the Organ. Dave Berry will lead the Hymn Sing.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Praise and Worship Service
First United Methodist Church, Endicott
Sponsored by Union Center UMC
6 PM Gathering - Coffee - Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship
Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Brown Naik
On FEBRUARY 11, 2012 Saturday, at First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave., Endicott, at 5:30 PM - There will be a Special Banquet prepared by Joe Walker, including a variety of international Cuisine... It will be a great celebration. At 6:30 PM there will be a Hymn Sing with Aric Phinney at the Grand Piano and Yancey Moore at the Organ. Dave Berry will lead the Hymn Sing.
On FEBRUARY 4 & 5, the Movie, “Courageous” is to be shown. On Saturday, at First United Methodist Church, 53 McKinley Ave, Endicott the Doors will open at 5:30. On Sunday the movie will be shown at Union Center UMC, doors opening at 2:00. As vividly illustrated in COURAGEOUS, the impact of fathers in the lives of their children is immense. This powerful film has been the starting point for a movement of fathers creating a legacy of Godly families. A free will offering will benefit the youth retreat in April.
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