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Rock Bottom

7/18/2016

 
by Linda Johnson

“The only good thing about rock bottom is that you’ll finally look up.”  Did you know that Jonah prayed, finally.  It’s in Jonah 2:1-9.  The old axiom holds true.  When things get really bad, when you don’t see any other way out, when there’s no one else to turn to, when things are desperate, then we turn to the Lord.  Thank God that He never changes and is ready to hear our pleas. 
    This is the third sermon this month taken from Jonah.  The quote at the first of this article was one voiced by Pastor Josh.  When he gets revved up, he will surprise his listeners with zingers like that.  Jonah, after being awakened, was made aware of the crises the crew was in.  The storm was so unusual Jonah realized it was because of him, the ship would sink and all would perish.  So, he jumped overboard into the sea.
     Here he is in the middle of the sea, far from land.  It’s certain he will drown.  What does God do?  He sends a submarine (whale) to swallow Jonah.  After 3 days and nights in this whale, Jonah finally turns to the Lord.  Talk about stubborn and hard headed, Jonah takes the cake.  It’s fair to say that he had finally reached rock bottom.
     Jonah was a prophet who didn’t want to carry out God’s plan.  He went the opposite direction, took a ship to get as far out of reach as he could, jumped off a ship to drown, and basically held his breath for three days and nights before he did the right thing--pray and repent.  God, in his goodness, directed the whale to take Jonah to his destination and spit him out on dry land. 
     The weaver weaves the thread of the gospel through this story.  And our pastor is adept at pointing out to us how we can be like Jonah in our lives.  And, how much better it would be for us to emulate the whale.  The whale was more obedient.  He saved Jonah and took him where he needed to go.
      There were two other statements he made in Sunday’s sermon that are also timely.  (l)  Be all the help you can be and God will bless you for it.  (2)  The only way we fail is not doing what God gave us to do.

Victimless Crime?

7/11/2016

 
By Linda Johnson

​“Sin is not a victim-less crime.”  Now that’s an attention getter but that’s the statement made right after Brother Josh was talking about Jonah.  Jonah was awakened by the mariners.  They said, “Why did you do this to us?”  That’s paraphrased but it’s there in Jonah 1:10 for the correct wording.  Call me a little slow but it hadn’t occurred to me that these sea-worthy men were suffering for another’s sin.  For me, that was a revelation.  They were suffering a lot more than Jonah because he was fast asleep.
     This wasn’t the beginning of last Sunday’s sermon.  The opening was about the storm before the calm.  Usually it’s stated in the reverse but Jonah’s story begins with a storm.  Of course by the time of the storm Jonah has turned tail and headed as far west as he can get.  Running from God must be pretty exhausting.  Jonah was sure exhausted from it because he went to sleep.  Sleeping is significant.  It’s a way to escape problems and Jonah had created a lulu of one.
     As our pastor pointed out, these mariners were seasoned veterans of the seas.  They had to be or they wouldn’t be sailing ships to the farthest reaches of the known world.  Sailors have reputations for correctly predicting weather.  This storm they were dealing with was like nothing they had ever had.  They had tried everything known to them to save their ship and passengers.  Nothing had worked and now they were down to praying to their gods.  Isn’t that the way it goes?  When all else fails, it’s time to turn to God.  That’s exactly what these mariners did.  Jonah?  He’s asleep.  
     When the mariners wake Jonah up, he realizes that he’s the cause of the storm.  He tells them that his God is the God of heaven, the maker of the sea and dry land.  He tells them to throw him off the ship and their problems will be solved.  Even then the mariners are reluctant to throw Jonah to his death and they row harder.  In the end, though, they toss him off the ship and the seas are calmed.
     Sin really isn’t a victim-less crime.  Innocent people are hurt by the actions of the sinner.  And the sinner in this story dulled himself to his actions (he slept) until someone pointed it out to him.  

Jonah

7/4/2016

 
By Linda Johnson  
​

   Sunday’s sermon was from the first four verses of Jonah.  Most everyone knows the story.  God commissions Jonah to go to Nineveh and cry against them because their wickedness has come up before Him.  Jonah takes off in the opposite direction.  It’s obvious he wants nothing to do with it.  He winds up being swallowed by a big fish and spit out three days later.  It’s also obvious God is not throwing in the towel so Jonah relents and goes to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.  He goes there and delivers God’s message.  The Assyrian king takes it seriously and the city repents.
     A little background is needed.  Jonah went to Nineveh and may have spent some time there.  The best dates available are around 785 to 775 B.C.  By then Israel was already split into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom which was referred to as Israel or Samaria (its’ capital) and Judah.  Jonah was born in the northern kingdom of Israel, not far from Nazareth, and grew up well acquainted with the troubles involving Assyria and Syria.  In addition to that, Israel was idolatrous.  First Kings 12:28-31 tells of the first king setting up golden calves to worship.  This resulted in fighting with Judah, the loss of territory, and the continuous threat of battles with both Syria and Assyria.  Jonah definitely had an attitude about these two empires.    
     The book of Jonah is one of the books of the prophets.  However, this book is different in that it tells a story that is not like the oracles of the other books of the prophets.  But the story itself is unlike anything else in the Bible.  For openers God tells Jonah he wants him to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.  God wants him to warn the people of Nineveh that their wickedness has come up before Him.  This is around 785-775 B.C.  These events are important for several reasons.  Jonah is Hebrew and made a missionary trip to Gentiles.  God used Jonah to extend his mercy beyond the Jewish people.  Jonah shows the hostility he feels about going to these people who are not Jews, but Gentiles.  God is relentless and insists on Jonah carrying out his mission.  Thus, Jonah becomes a missionary servant.  This definitely sticks in his craw as evidenced by the rest of the book.  God is patient with Jonah but He’s also making a point.  Narrowness, prejudice, and exclusiveness was not what He intended for His chosen people.
 A little historical perspective is always good.  But even better is how our pastor, with the blessing of God, can take a biblical event and make it relevant for today.  It was a good sermon and one worth listening to.  You can hear it here.
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    Linda Johnson

    Linda Johnson moved to Douglas County with her husband Tom 12 years ago after retiring from teaching. Following Tom's death in 2016, Linda began facilitating a grief support group called GriefShare through Sweden Church.​ She serves as the Sunday School teacher for our High School class. Her "Layman's Pen" articles are also published in the local paper, The Douglas County Herald. 

    Andrea Strong

    Andrea is Pastor Joshua Strong's wife. She also serves Sweden Church as Church Secretary, website administrator, and Sunday School teacher to the Intermediate Class.

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