Sweden Church
  • Home
  • Listen
    • Sunday Services
    • Real Time >
      • Heroes of Faith
      • Matthew 9 Series
      • Where We Find Jesus Series
      • Temptations of Christ Series
      • Sermon on the Mount Series
      • Prodigal Son Series
    • Revival 2022
    • Sweden Celebration 2020
    • Revival 2019
  • Sermon Series
    • Revelation Series
    • One Thing Series
    • Deuteronomy Series
    • 1 & 2 Kings Series
    • Titus Series
    • Jonah Series
    • What Kind of Man Series
    • Advent 2019
    • Ten Commandments Series
    • "No More" Sermon Series
  • Pictures
  • Our Blogs
    • The Pastor's Pen
    • The Layman's Pen
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us

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.

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    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.

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2015
    November 2013
    October 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012