Jonah (Intro stuff)

For the past several months I have been studying the book of Jonah. It has been an eye-opening and heart-warming (to use some Wesleyan terminology) experience. There is the Jonah I remember learning about in Sunday School and now the Jonah I'm re-learning. For the most part what I remember of the story of Jonah still stands true, but what I've discovered about the person Jonah is a whole new story. He is quite a character. I always thought Jonah was running away from the LORD because he didn't want to accept his call to preach, turns out he didn't like the people God called him to go and preach to.

Anyways, I've created a profile for the book to help me remember its context. Here it is:

Basic info
- The book of Jonah falls into the category of the Minor Prophets. There are 12 of them. 8 of the prophets prophesied before Israel went into captivity, 1 while they were in captivity, and 3 when they returned to their land under the Persian king Cyrus.
- The book of Jonah falls in with the 8 that were before Israel was captured and taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

Background
- When God called Jonah to go and preach in Nineveh, things were going very well politically for the northern kingdom of Israel. There was a lot of political zeal in the land. Their leader, Jeroboam II helped restore the land to what it was under King Solomon. So, many of the Israelites at this time were a happy group of people. They were proud to be Israelites. Who knows? They may have even had a great health care plan that everyone was happy about. It was good!

- However, things were not going well spiritually for them. Underneath all the patriotism the poor were being oppressed and betrayed by their own government. 2 Kings 14:24 says Jeroboam II did “evil in the sight of the LORD”. It also says he didn’t repent of the sins of their former leader (Jeroboam I), which was idolatry and abandoning God. Jeroboam II oppressed the poor and hoarded wealth for himself. His government was corrupt. So, it was not a good situation for every Israelite living in the northern kingdom of Israel during this time. It was a really dark time in Israel’s history. That usually happens in a country when you have no one seeking God and people worshiping idols.

- And it just so happens that during all of this the Israelites enemies, the Assyrians (which is who the Ninevites are), were loosing some of their power and beginning to fall apart and unravel. This was a big encouragement to the Israelites. It was all very good and wonderful to them that their enemies were losing ground and falling apart. It’s during this low point in the Assyrian Empire, and also the low point spiritually in the northern kingdom, that God calls Jonah to go and preach repentance to Nineveh (this key city in the Assyrian Empire), which is right smack dab in the middle of the Assyrian Empire.

Book Outline
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Jonah here is the story of Jonah in a nutshell. If you are familiar consider this a refresher.

Chapter 1 – God’s call to Jonah to go and preach repentance to Nineveh and Jonah’s response. His response was to run away from the LORD and not go to Nineveh because he didn’t like them. These are Assyrians and the Israelites don’t like Assyrians. He tries running away from God by boarding a ship bound for Tarshish and ends up being tossed overboard and swallowed up by a great fish.

Chapter 2 – Jonah is inside the great fish and we find him praying to God Chapter 2 is his prayer to God and ends with the fish vomiting Jonah onto dry ground.

Chapter 3 – God’s call to Jonah to go and preach repentance to Nineveh and Jonah’s response. This time he listens and goes to the great Assyrian city of Nineveh and they listen to his message and repent. As a result, God relents from destroying them.

Chapter 4 –Jonah becomes angry because God had compassion on them. God rebukes Jonah for being angry with Him for sparing the Ninevites.

Any additional thoughts or comments about this introduction stuff is welcome!

Back at it!

I'm trying to get back in the saddle after a week of vacation. I really don't have anything to report or share this week.

We had a blast up in Michigan. I really enjoyed taking Claire swimming in Lake Michigan. It was a great time.

We went to Mars Hill (Rob Bell's church) on Sunday. That was a quite an experience. I'll have to share more later.

I'm going to be preaching again this Sunday. I'm actually preaching twice, once out at our State Park for a service and then in our regular AM worship service. I'm still studying the book of Jonah and will be preaching from chapters 1 and 3 on hearing God. Some really good stuff in the book of Jonah when you really dive into it.

Vacation time!

I'm on vacation this week. Taking the family up to Lake Michigan to do a little swimming. I'll be back next week with a message from Jonah 3:10-4:4.

Prayer & Times of Trouble

Here's part 2 of what Jonah learned about prayer while in the belly of the fish.

What do we do when we find ourselves in troubling situations? How do we respond? Do we pray? Why is it that in times of trouble we find it easy to pray?

Read Jonah 2:1-7.

This leads to the second thing Jonah discovered about prayer:

Times of troube are great times to pray

In his time of trouble Jonah called (or prayed) to the LORD (v.1). I think he learned that times of trouble present us with great opportunities to draw near to God.

I was thinking about our situation in America right now with so many people being out of a job and/or laid-off of work. These are times of trouble. We are in a belly of the fish moment. Could it be that God has allowed this to happen (He hasn’t caused it) because He wants us to seek Him out in prayer? He knows that if we are in times of trouble, or in the belly of a fish, we will hit our knees in prayer. We have become so busy (with our work and activities) that we just haven’t had time to seek first the kingdom of God, so He has allowed us to be swallowed by a great fish. Like Jonah, He is allowing and giving us time (Jonah had 3 days of solitude in the belly of the fish) to spend seeking Him through prayer. The question is will we take advantage of it? Will we let these times of trouble drive us to our knees or drive us further away from God? I hope we will respond like Jonah and seek God in prayer.

Sometimes I think we feel guilty because we only pray in times of trouble. We use God like a band-aid. We only turn to Him when in trouble. I’m not saying we should continue to live like that because we miss out on so much, but I think God lets us use Him in that way to draw us near to Him and help us see that He can be trusted. That He is a good God. He has our best interests in mind.

Times of trouble are great times to pray. I hope and pray that during those times you can discover what the psalmist of Psalm 139 discovered.

Read Psalm 139:7-12.

Re-cap of what Jonah learned about prayer from his time in the belly of the great fish.

1. No matter where we are God hears our prayers.

2. Times of trouble are great times to pray.

The Belly of the Fish as a House of Prayer

I'm preaching today at a local nursing home on Jonah chapter 2 (I also preached this message last Sunday night at my local church). Here's part one of this message, I hope to post part 2 next week.

What Jonah Learned About Prayer in the Belly of the Fish

Opening: I want to focus in on what Jonah learned about prayer when he was tossed overboard into the sea and swallowed by the great fish that the Lord provided. Read Jonah 2:1-10. The first thing Jonah learned about prayer was that…

1. No matter where we are God hears our prayers.

Read Jonah 2:2. The Lord heard Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the great fish under the sea. Jonah thought he was getting away from the Lord. (cf. 1:3). Imagine his surprise to find out God could hear him from inside the fish?

A monk (Cassiodorus) from the 5th Century said this about Jonah’s predicament (being in the belly of a great fish). “The great fish was a house of prayer for the prophet, a harbor fro him when shipwrecked, a home amid the waves, a happy resource at a desperate time. He was not swallowed for sustenance but to gain rest.”

I wonder how many times we end up in the belly of a fish, a bad place, but a place that has potential to become a house of prayer if we let it but we don’t realize it? Our house of prayer could be a hospital bed. A wheel chair. An empty room. A waiting room. A long car ride alone. Jonah’s situation, being in the fish’s belly, teaches us that all of these places can become a house of prayer if we let them. Are we willing to let them? The secret is that no matter where we are, our prayers reach God’s ears.

I’m reminded of the children of Israel and their captivity in slavery to the Egyptians. In Exodus 2:23-25 it talks about them praying and God hearing their prayers. The next chapter in Exodus is about God calling Moses from the burning bush. God hears our prayers. There are Christians right now, around the world, which are in dungeons, holes in the ground, and prisons, whose prayers are being heard by God.

A Roman senator (Paulinus of Nola) and Christian poet who lived during the 4th Century wrote this about Jonah’s time in the fish, “His body was constrained by the great body of the fish, but the bonds of earth did not constrain the flight of his mind. Though enclosed in that belly, he broke out of his prison by prayer and reached God’s ears.”

Some places (like my church’s prayer room) can be better suited for prayer, but the truth of the matter is God can hear us anywhere.

The Early Christians (Acts 2:42d) understood you could be heard by God anywhere. They were no doubt familiar with the story of Israel in captivity and how God heard His people's prayers and the story of Jonah's prayer from inside the fish. I love the story in Acts 16. Re-cap some of the events leading up to this story. Paul and Silas are thrown into the inner cell of prison and what do we find them doing in verse 25? Praying. We know God heard their prayers because there was an earthquake and a jailbreak.

God hears us anywhere we are. Do not forget that. If you do, go and read Jonah 2:1-10.

Holy Roller

A summary of a new book by Water Brook:

Julie Lyons was working as a crime reporter when she followed a hunch into the South Dallas ghetto. She wasn’t hunting drug dealers, but drug addicts who had been supernaturally healed of their addictions. Was there a church in the most violent part of the city that prayed for addicts and got results?



At The Body of Christ Assembly, a rundown church on an out-of-the-way street, Lyons found the story she was looking for. The minister welcomed criminals, prostitutes, and street people–anyone who needed God. He prayed for the sick, the addicted, and the demon-possessed, and people were supernaturally healed.



Lyons’s story landed on the front page of the Dallas Times Herald. But she got much more than just a great story, she found an unlikely spiritual home. Though the parishioners at The Body of Christ Assembly are black and Pentecostal, and Lyons is white and from a traditional church background, she embraced their spirituality–that of “the Holy Ghost and fire.”



It’s all here in Holy Roller–the stories of people desperate for God’s help. And the actions of a God who doesn’t forget the people who need His power.

So, check this book out!

Luke 10 Ministry

This summer we have been doing a Luke 10 Ministry. This ministry is a visitation ministry. We are seeking to visit shut-ins, the sick, and visitors to our church. The ministry is based off of Luke 10:1. Behind what we do is the idea that we are being sent out like the 72 disciples to places and people Jesus will soon visit. Here’s some more of my thinking on this passage of scripture.

Context
It occurs immediately after Jesus’ teachings on discipleship (9:57-62) and right before the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:25-37).

What’s going on in this passage?
I’m just looking at the first verse, but the story is that of Jesus sending out the 72 (some versions may read 70) to preach the kingdom of God. This first verse is interesting because it reveals the real purpose (their purpose was to preach the kingdom of God, but Jesus had something more in mind) as to why Jesus is sending them out. The end of verse 1 reads, “to every town and place where he (Jesus) was about to go.” Jesus is sending these 72 disciples out to not just preach the kingdom of God, but to prepare those they visit for Him. Why would they need prepared?

Jesus reveals a radical picture of God. The Jews of His day were looking for a messiah that would free them from the Romans and restore Israel to what it was under King David. They wanted a warrior-king and a mighty kingdom to go along with it. Jesus’ kingdom differs from that. Jesus’ kingdom is like hidden treasure. It surprises you and causes you to want to sell everything you have to obtain it. The 72 sent ones are building anticipation and expectancy among those who will take time to listen to their message.

Can you imagine how excited the 72 were to be sent out by Jesus with the message of the kingdom? What’s even better is that they knew Jesus would soon be visiting the exact same places they were just preaching at. Those who scoffed at them and doubted their message about this would-be king would no doubt be doing a double-take as Jesus strolled into their towns with crowds of people following Him.

The 72 disciples had Jesus’ assurance that He would be visiting the places they were visiting. Maybe this caused them to take their task of preaching His kingdom a little more seriously. Do we ever look at the places we go as possible places where Jesus will soon visit? Do we ever think of ourselves as sent out like the 72 to people Jesus will soon visit? There is a heavy load on these disciples (see 10:16), but it is a load Jesus believes they can bear. Jesus is still in the sending out business. The Great Commission of Matthew beckons us to “go.”

The Challenge of Jesus (N.T. Wright)

Wanting to go deeper in studying the New Testament has led me to a lot of the writings of New Testament scholar N.T. (Tom) Wright. There’s no doubt he is one of the brightest and best! I doubt I’ll ever be able to read everything he has written (just look at the list of his books on amazon.com), but that doesn’t mean I won’t try. The books I’ve read of his are excellent. When he is arguing something or trying to make a point he really covers all his bases well (he covers the arguments of his critics and even his critics’ critics down to the fourth generation, ha! This can make his writings a little dry at times). So if you are going to set out to read something by Wright be prepared for some serious discussion.

I’ve been working my way through The Challenge of Jesus and have discovered that Tom is very helpful in getting me to see Jesus in his Jewish context. He does an incredible job of revealing what life was like for a Jew in the First Century. The Jews were who Jesus came to first minister the kingdom of God to. Because of this, Wright asserts that many of Jesus parables (e.g., parable of the prodigal son, the parable of the talents) are in some way or another referring to Israel.

For example, we read the parable of the Prodigal Son and assume it is about God’s forgiveness and love for the lost. We assume the prodigal represents a lost sinner. Put on your Tom Wright glasses and you see that this parable is about God the Father waiting for Israel, the rebel son, who has run off and mingled with pagans (remember the son eating and working with pigs?) to return to Him. Now this parable is just as much about Israel (the real prodigal son) as it is about God and His forgiveness and love for the lost sinner. It becomes now about a group of people and not just an individual. The parables of the lost coin and sheep become about lost Israel and God’s intention and desire to see them found again too.

So, why does this matter? Why is it important to place Jesus in His Jewish context? Well, for one it helps us see that Jesus was on a mission to seek and save lost Israel. Not saying He did not come to reveal the kingdom to us (Gentiles), but His first priority was to reveal Himself to Israel and be their King. Israel was really important to God. Israel really was His firstborn son. What God was attempting to do with Israel (Israel was to be a blessing to the other nations, see Gen 12:2-3) was important and mattered to God. He wasn’t about to throw them to the curb.

Second, maybe we need to re-examine some of Jesus’ parables in light of all this. If most of Jesus’ parables were originally understood to be about Israel, we might need to revamp some of the application we draw from such parables (i.e. is the parable of talents/ten minas really about the judgment we will face if we do not use our gifts for God?). I’ve still got a lot more to learn and this post is just the beginning. Honestly, I'm still working on how much difference this understanding of certain parables of Jesus will make. We'll see.

So, if you want to really get a good grip of the background to the New Testament and the context of Jesus I recommend reading N.T. Wright.

General Assembly, Orlando FL 14.0 (GS recaps and videos)

Stan Toler was elected GS yesterday.

Some of you have asked for videos showing the elections of our GSs. I could only find one for Eugenio Duarte on YouTube. Here is the link (just click on the name and it will take you to video):

Eugenio Duarte

General Assembly, Orlando FL 13.0 (Change of plans)

Breaking News

Woke up this morning and found out that Dr. John Bowling (he was elected GS a couple days ago) rescinded. He woke up about 3am this morning and felt no peace about his decision. So, now the General Assembly is in the process again of electing a new GS. I told you this was a historic GA.

General Assembly, Orlando FL 12.0 (Headed Home!)

General Assembly is over for me and I’m headed home (with my dad). When all is said and done we will have traveled over 2,000 miles in a Chevy Impala.

It was neat to be a part of the global NYI Convention and watch and observe the General Assembly. The COTN values people and you can tell that by the way we govern and do business.

Here are some other notable moments from General Assembly:
- Being in Global NYI Convention and having 9 other countries present via Skype. Delegates from these other countries could vote, ask questions, wave at us, talk to us, it was awesome! That was a job well done by the NYI tech crew.
- The worship services were full of energy and encouraging.
- Praying with other Nazarenes from around the world in small groups.
- Seeing and hanging out with old friends (good to see ya again Jon!).
- The service Friday night with Dr. Porter reinforcing the importance of discipleship and mentoring and that it must first start at home.
- Taking communion with 22,000 Christians from all around the world.
- Seeing how missional the Church of the Nazarene is and will continue to be.

On a completely unrelated note, we ate at a little joint called Zaxby’s tonight after a quick run into the Bass Pro Shops. Zaxby’s is a chicken place. It was awesome! I gotta find one of these when I get back to Indiana. They have some finger-lickin sweet-and-spicy chicken wings.

General Assembly, Orlando FL 11.0 (3rd GS elected!)

Just elected our third GS. Dr. David Graves. Here's a pic of him. The GS elections are now over. This GA was a historic moment for us in many ways. Exciting times!

General Assembly, Orlando FL 10.0 (New GS #2)

We have elected another new General Superintendent. It took a little while longer for this individual to accept, but he did. Who is it? ONU President John Bowling. Here's a pic.

General Assembly, Orlando FL 9.0 (New GS!)

We have a new General Superintendent!!! He is from Africa. What a great time to be a member of the Church of the Nazarene. Here's a pic of Eugenio Duarte:

General Assembly, Orlando FL 8.0 (live from the floor)

I’m sitting in a General Assembly plenary session right now as an observer. Four individuals from the NEI District were nominated for General Superintendent (wow!).

Saturday I had a chance to go fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. Fishing is a favorite hobby of mine. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged on it. We were fishing at the Cocoa Beach Pier. It was a great deal if you have your own pole (otherwise you have to rent). Five dollars to fish from the pier for the whole day too. The good about fishing this way is that you don’t have to worry about getting any type of out-of-state fishing license or anything like that (they can be pretty salty too! J).

So, how did the fishing go? Well, it’s the ocean. You never know what you will get. I caught a stingray, two sheepshead, and a saltwater catfish (that’s right, a catfish!). It was a blast! While we were fishing NASA launched a rocket with a satellite on it. I think we were five miles away. It took several seconds for the sound to hit us, but when it did it was awesome! Here are some fishing pics for you. The black and white fish is the sheepshead. Sorry, no pic of the stingray.

General Assembly, Orlando FL 7.0 (Last worship service)

It’s such an honor to be a part of a denomination that ordains women as ministers. During tonight’s service (this was the last worship service) we listened to G.S. Nina Gunter. She can preach! We closed the service with the march of the flags. All the nations where the Nazarene Church is, even the ones we can’t mention because of persecution (they were termed “Creative Access Areas”) were represented by their countrie's flag. People really liked it when the republic of Iraq was mentioned.

We were all given a small manila envelope at the beginning of the service and told to wait until we were told to open it. What was it? A rock with the scripture reference Joshua 3:5 on it. This passage reads,

Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."

From here we were challenged to go forward with our rocks if we would consecrate ourselves to the Lord and the official mission of the Church of the Nazarene (Mission = Go and make Christlike disciples of all the nations).

General Assembly, Orlando FL 6.0 (Sunday Morning Service)

A good Sunday morning service. I think there were over 25,000 people in attendance (I thought there were more). It was pretty full! The Orlando Convention Center is interesting because the place where we have our services is flat. Thankfully they have giant screens up to help you see. The 11 big screens help make all the seats pretty good seats. There was quite a bit of echo where I was sitting.

Paul Cunningham, retiring G.S., gave the sermon which was followed by communion. I think this was the largest crowd I have ever taken communion with. It's a special thing to take communion with such a large body of Christians. A little later I'll post some pics of our fishing trip we took last night to the Atlantic Ocean. It was a blast, literally! I'll explain more later.

Here's a pic I forgot to put in last time. Me and my good buddy John Wesley.

General Assembly, Orlando FL 5.0 (Great Friday service!)

(This post has been updated. See below.)

Last night at the worship service I listened to our G.S. Dr. Jerry Porter share his heart about discipleship. I like him the best out of our 6 GSs. Some say he is liberal, but I have not heard or read anything by him that suggests that. I think he's just aggressive and open to new and creative ways to reach and disciple people for Christ.

He is a big advocate of each person discipling someone and being discipled by someone. The best part of his message was the ending. He had several local pastors come up and asked if they were discipling someone. They said they were, so he had their disciples stand and come up with them. This was so we could see the difference one person can make when they disciple someone. There were at least a hundred people who came up with them. It was neat to see. We also broke into small groups and prayed for one another. I was prayed for and prayed with a couple of guys from the Caribbean Region. It was an awesome service!

As I reflect on the service last night one thing sticks in my mind. Dr. Porter asserted that discipling starts at home with the family. That will be something I will be thinking more and more about as a proud dad of two daughters. I'm not sure of how good of a job I'm doing at discipling my family. My wife does an incredible job at discipling our children. She knows how to communicate and teach truths to children in a way that is exciting for them. This is something she is really passionate about (Actually, right now at my home church she has a Childrens Ministries workshop going on that deals with how to disciple your children at home). What do I do? I read our girls Bible stories using various picture books and pray before meals and bedtime. I wonder if there is more I can do?

*Updated: On a strange sidenote: We had someone drown in our pool this morning between 5-6am. Our pool is right outside our room. The person was a 21 yr old male that worked at the hotel.

General Assembly, Orlando FL 4.0 (More from NYI Convention)

Here is your new Global NYI President (Mark Holcomb) in action.

Here's the view from where I was sitting at this Global Celebration service that followed our business session this morning.

They have 11 huge screens so you feel like you are sitting in the front row no matter where you sit. The picture is in HD too!

General Assembly, Orlando FL 3.0 (New location for NYC 2011)

Can you guess what city this is?

Hint: This is where the next NYC is?

Starts with an "L" and ends with a "ouisville".