JONAH

By Odon Bulamba (summary only - 10th Sept, 04)

Jonah 1:1-5

Jonah was a servant of God and his gospel was for all the nation of Nineveh. Jonah was selected by God to go to Nineveh but he didn't want to go. Because he didn't want to go, God tried to show to him that he had to go because he was the only person that God could send at that time. God pointed at Jonah and told him that he must go into the night, “I will share with you the gospel because that is very, very important for everyday practical life”.

When God tells me to go and share the gospel with others it’s not really easy.

When Jonah was sent by God to go the first thing that Jonah did was to make the decision, "should I accept to go where God is sending me or shall I say no to God's mission?" God didn't talk to Jonah twice or three times, He only told him and it was up to him now to say the last word, to make the final decision. His decision was negative.

Maybe Jonah didn't tell his friends or his family that God spoke to him because he didn't want to go to Nineveh, he decided that he wasn't going and that was all. Many times in our lives God has been talking to us telling us to stop sinning and to live for Him. He tells us, “I will give you the strength to work, I will give you the ability to speak on my behalf, I will give you the strength to pray for others, to intercede, or to preach or to share whatever you have”. But most of the time we say, “no I don't have time for that because I have to study or because I have to work or because I have to take care of my children”. We have a lot of reasons which stop us responding to God’s mission.

God left Jonah and Jonah continued his life. He took the boat and he wanted to go to Tarsus and on his way God did not speak to him, from his home up to the beach, to the boat, He didn’t speak to Jonah at all. He gave him the chance to think. This is the same for us also as Christians; most of the time when we say no to God's mission, God gives us enough time to change our decision. God is there watching to see what we will do. He will not let us continue until the end of our lives to do the same mistake though, somewhere along the way, God will say, “Stop! It’s enough, no!”

When Jonah was in the boat he found everything was fine but when the waves started to get frightening, he recognized that God's power was next to him and he feared because he knew God wanted to punish him. He decided he should leave that place or others will be hurt so he went down to sleep. For him the solution was to go to sleep because if he is asleep, he won’t know what is happening and he will be far away from people and if he dies in his sleep, it will be fine because he won’t know it.

Time after time God tells us, “I said this in my Word and those people who were living around you, your family members, your friends, they need to know about my Kingdom of God, tell them about Me, show them you belong to Me because you are the light of this world, you are the salt of this world so show people that you belong to Me your creator”. But we think how can I go and talk to my neighbor about Jesus? First of all my neighbor is not a Christian and secondly my neighbor has never thought or talked about God so I need courage to go. That courage is not enough, how shall I go and speak in front of him? Where will I start? It's a really big test and God is there observing and saying, “now you must do it”. Finally you will say, “because I don't find a good opportunity to talk to my colleagues it's better to stay at home and live with people who will not bother me, it's better to live among Christians and not have contact with non-christians and God will not judge me because of not preaching to them”.

When Jesus came down he came with a new strategy because the Israelites couldn't share a meal with people who were not Israelites. But when God came he could visit sinners. He visited for examples Zacheus and he ate with Zacheus and people asked, “how can someone like you who is pure share your dinner with someone like Zacheus who is a sinner?” Jesus answered, “no, I think that I came for people like this”.

And as Christians today and churches and congregations and pastors and evangelists and others teach us that we have to share everything among us Christians. But Jesus wants us to go out and contact sinners and to be with them and talk with them and then they will get that chance or that grace to be saved. Because they are sinners they are spiritually sick, they don't have a normal health spiritually and they need someone to treat them, they need someone to cure them.

You and me who have been given that authority to heal people (that healing is not only physical it is also what we call the spiritual healing) you can pray for someone and that someone will get salvation, you can pray for someone and that someone will get healed. We have that power and that power is between our hands and we just have to say to God, “I’m going to visit that person, I commit that person's life between your hands to save him or her, touch him or her and heal him”

Whenever I'm sick I will go to see my doctor and he will prescribe something for me, maybe Panadol or whatever he wants so that I can feel better. Our souls also need a prescription but one that is different to medicine. When I go to meet with my doctor I will tell him/her I have a headache for example. My doctor will listen to my problem and then write a prescription and I’ll go to the pharmacy and from the pharmacy I will get medicine. We are the doctors of this world. People will come to us or we will go to them and tell them about the life which is Jesus Christ. Then they will find what they need to be healed because spiritually they are sick. Then we will recommend them to read in the Bible verses that will heal their souls. If we don't do that, make sure that people who are around us will die and the death will be on our shoulders.

SUMMARY

- Make a decision to work for God
- Share the gospel with your friends and family
- Pray for those around you to find salvation

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