Friends, for today's bible study we are going to learn that Jonah was a pouter and not a shouter. Jonah was not concerned about winning lost souls to the Lord Jesus in Nineveh and would do anything to not preach to or rejoice with his enemies in Nineveh. Jonah had to suffer and go through many troubles for refusing to tell the Ninevites about the Lord Jesus. I pray in Jesus name all my friends that read this everywhere can avoid the troubles of Jonah and rejoice to win souls to Jesus and bless the poor, even our enemies, with the good news that Jesus is God and died for them on the cross and rose again to give them victory over this troubled world.
Friend reading this I encourage you to do something each day to tell people about the gospel and how Jesus died for lost sinners to deliver them from this troubled world. Jesus said at Mark 16:15 Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. I pray in Jesus name all my friends reading this can be blessed with compassion to reach the lost and save souls for Jesus everywhere. Jude said when we have compassion on lost souls, we pull them out of hell fire and save their lives forever. Friends, let's all do Jude 22: And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
OK, now I will tell you why Jonah in the pictures above was thrown off a boat, swallowed by a great fish, and then found himself on a beach willing to preach to people he hated in Nineveh. God told Jonah to go preach to 120000 wicked people in Nineveh. God loved the people of Nineveh but Jonah did not like the people of Nineveh and wanted nothing to do with them. Jonah disobeyed God and went the opposite direction from Nineveh and paid a fare to board a boat to Joppa.
Because Jonah disobeyed God and did not want to save lost souls, a storm arose while Jonah was on the boat and the shipmaster tried everything to stop the boat from sinking. When Jonah was sleeping on the boat, notice the words the shipmaster said to Jonah at Jonah 1:6 that says What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. This bible verse should speak to all of us and even Brother Bob where we should all arise from our sleep and tell the nations everywhere about the Lord Jesus and pray for the lost to obtain the peace of the Lord Jesus forevermore.
Ephesians 5:14 says Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly (diligently looking to Jesus and the Word daily), not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Romans 13:11 says And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light (note that Jesus is the light so a quick way to put on the whole armour of God listed in Ephesians 6 is to put on Jesus by daily remembering by faith with your heart Jesus Christ crucified).
OK, back to our story about Jonah. Jonah confessed to the shipmaster that the storm was his fault because he was running from God and not preaching to his enemies in Nineveh. Jonah said that he had to be thrown overboard for the storm to stop. After Jonah was thrown overboard, God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. After three days, Jonah began to pray and the whale let loose of Jonah on dry land.
After Jonah escaped from the whale, Jonah took off lickety split and went to Nineveh preaching on the way pulling the seaweed out of his hair. Pictured above, we see that when Jonah got to Nineveh, he started preaching immediately when he got to the gate. Jonah still did not like the people of Nineveh and only gave them an 8 word sermon at Jonah 3:4 that said Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Only 8 words but Nineveh made a gospel out of those 8 words and all the 120000 Ninevites repented and stopped sinning.
The king of Nineveh got off his throne, took his crown off, took his robe off, and got down in sackcloth and ashes, repenting and fasting, and seeking God. Even the little maid behind the mill in Nineveh got down in sackcloth and ashes and began to pray. Jonah 3:10 says And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not. But notice how Jonah reacted when God blessed Nineveh and did not harm anyone because all the 120000 people stopped sinning. The bible said at Jonah 4:1 this caused Jonah to be displeased exceedingly and very angry.
Pictured above we see that Jonah chose to be a pouter and not a shouter. Jonah left Nineveh and sat on a hillside waiting for God to destroy his enemy, the Ninevites. Jonah built himself a little one man booth and God prepared a gourd to cover the booth for shade. After Jonah was happy about the shade from the gourd, God prepared a worm that smote the gourd, causing it to wither. Finally, God prepared a vehement east wind, and when the sun began to beat upon the head of Jonah, Jonah fainted and wished in himself to die.
Wow, God tried to prepare four things: a great fish, a gourd, a worm, and a vehement east wind to get old Jonah the backslider straightened out. But after all this trouble, Jonah was only concerned about a trivial gourd and did not care about the lost souls of Nineveh who found the Lord Jesus. God rebuked Jonah and said at Jonah 4:9 Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? Jonah 4:10 goes on to say Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand: and also much cattle?
Notice that Jonah was angry that God forgave and blessed his enemies in Nineveh. Because Jonah chose to be a pouter and not a shouter rejoicing in the revival at Nineveh, Jonah suffered and wanted to die. Today in many churches we see things have not changed and there are still two powder rooms: a powder room for the ladies to make their face look right and a pouter room for the crybabies. Jesus tells us to not be like Jonah and bless our enemies and rejoice when our enemies get saved and become children of God. Matthew 5:44 says Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. This would be like Israel praying for Iran to have a revival or a chicken praying for Colonel Sanders.
Friend, one other note to learn when you see Jonah above pouting about a trivial gourd. Don't waste your time on trivial matters, when the whole world lives in darkness and people could go to hell. I heard a story about a family that drove hours to the Nashville, Tennessee McDonalds to get the last Ty baby to finish their set. Wow, what a waste of time on a trivial Ty baby like Jonah's trivial gourd with no concern for lost souls that need Jesus to avoid hell. We need to pray that the people of America will begin to be more concerned about lost souls instead of worthless trivial gadjets and useless material objects.
I pray in Jesus name, unlike Jonah, anyone reading this will care for lost souls in all the nations and take time to preach the love of Jesus with all people. This week, Brother Bob was able to share the goodness of Jesus from Ohio in the USA with a good friend named Ruth in Uganda. This made Brother Bob so happy that I stayed up until 2AM talking to Ruth about Jesus by email. Jesus brought together an orthodox Jew and an African whose countries Israel and Uganda used to be enemies. But with Jesus, I am honored to say that Ruth is my sister and Ruth called Brother Bob her brother and hopefully one day soon I can personally meet Ruth from Uganda and Lake Victoria and rejoice with her about our Lord Jesus. Unlike Jonah, Brother Bob prays and rejoices that all the people of Uganda will get saved. Get saved today, repent, decide to stop sinning, confess that Jesus is God, and believe the gospel that Jesus died on the cross for you, was buried, and rose again.
OK, let me ask all my friends a question? What was the last thing Jesus did on this earth before He died? The answer is pictured above where Jesus saved the dying thief beside Him on the cross. Jesus did this to show us all that it is very important to take time to win lost souls to Jesus. The dying thief said to Jesus at Luke 23:42 Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
You see Jesus said at Matthew 9:13 For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And Jesus said at Luke 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Luke 15:10 goes on to say Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Friend reading this, I pray in Jesus name we can all be more concerned about lost sinners needing Jesus than our own selfish needs. James 5:16 tells us pray one for another, that ye may be healed. Notice this bible verse says pray for others and not for yourself to receive a healing. When we pray for others and want to see people of all nations be blessed to know Jesus, healing and peace will fill all our lives.
For my final picture today, Brother Bob wants to rejoice about a great man in the bible named Philip. Philip was willing to leave a multitude of people in the city of Samaria and go preach to one black ethiopian eunuch in the middle of the Gaza desert. I pray in Jesus name, all my friends everywhere can be like Philip who was willing to preach to one lost soul and win that lost soul to Jesus.
The story about the above picture is found at Acts 8:26 that says And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is the desert. And he arose and went: and behold a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. Jesus used Philip to save and baptize the ethiopian eunuch who returned to Ethiopia rejoicing with Jesus.
In closing, let us all have a desire to preach the Lord Jesus everywhere and see lives changed and blessed with the peace and goodness of our Lord Jesus. Remember Proverbs 11:30 says The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. One last story. I heard that in history a cowboy killed an Indian and later the Indian's mother got saved along with the cowboy and they both knew Jesus and became good friends and blessed each other every day on the earth. Hallelujah, Jesus can change the darkest situation into a peaceful bright blessing.
I pray in Jesus name that this bible study blesses multitudes everywhere with great joy, peace, and strength. Feel free to contact Brother Bob anytime at rz9tlm@gmail.com or write to Brother Bob Malkin, 2233 Pinetree Lane, Apt. N., Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068. (614) 604-7133. Till we all meet again soon to lift up our Lord Jesus, everyone have a blessed day in Jesus name.
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