The lousiest sermon ever preached converted the wickedest city on earth. What can the power of God's Word do in your life?
Read / Listen to the chapter:
Read the chapter in an outlined format
Jonah 3 Summary
God's will will be done. Just ask Jonah, who had gone as far down and away from God's call as he could.
God humorously realigned Jonah to His will with the help of a great fish who vomited Jonah back onto dry land. But then God got serious again. He told Jonah to get up and go where He had been told to go: to one of the wickedest cities that ever existed.
Jonah went, and preached as he had been commanded. But it was a lousy sermon. At only six words long, it didn't even mention God, call anyone to repentance or make an offer of grace.
But it was still the Word of the Lord that was proclaimed, and that Word has power.
Arguably the worst sermon ever preached converted a massive city know the world over for being so evil.
The groundswell of repentance began amongst the people, and was later codified into law by the king, who commanded all of his subjects to fast, mourn and to call out mightily to God (v8) and to realign their lives away from evil & violence.
God noticed.
And rather than bringing the disaster He had threatened, God gave them grace.
Dig Deeper
We read a few weeks ago in Romans 10 about the necessity of preaching as the primary conduit of God's grace. Certainly that's an incentive for us as preachers to work hard preparing to communicate God's Word to His people each week. The congregation's eternal lives depend on the words we speak!
But it's good to be reminded that it's not the preacher's expository skill or polished rhetoric that saves souls, or even which gives struggling saints weekly strength. Rather, it's the power of the Holy Spirit working through those spoken words that gives saving grace and continuing sanctification.
Rev. Jonah's sermon demonstrates the power that even a lousy sermon has. Keep this in mind as another Lord's Day approaches, and make sure you're positioned to experience the power of preaching.
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father is fully just and will destroy the wicked, but He's also fully merciful and gives grace to the repentant.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you follow the commands of the Ninevite king: repent of your sins, stop doing evil and call out to God.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
