Jonah: The Call of God

Good morning. Can you hear me? Great. It's now a beautiful day. It seems to be, I feel

very at home with the weather like this. It seems to be raining and then sunny and then

raining. That's just like the UK. If you don't know me, my name's Chris. I oversee community

groups here at Watermark. We've been going through a series in Jonah. Now, some of you

may or may not know, I do a little bit of teaching at Hong Kong Youth Space just a couple of hours

a week, teaching English. I started a course last week. I arrived about 40 minutes early.

And just as I arrived outside the classroom, there was a 70-year-old guy standing there.

And I kind of said, oh, hi, the usual pleasantries. And almost immediately he said to me, you know

what? I'm hopeless. Now, I was a bit shocked. That's not the normal way you do small talk.

And I said, oh, right. Why? He said, my life is just hopeless. I've got no hope for my future.

There is no reason for me to really continue living. And trying to kind of decipher what

was going on, I asked him, okay, why do you feel like this? And he said, you know, I went

to university in London for one year when I was younger. I got kicked out after the first

year. I then went to university in Manchester in the UK for one year. And I got kicked out

after one year. And I said, oh, what did you do after that? And he said, the rest of my

life, I've never worked. I've been in and out of psychiatric hospitals. And so now I feel

like my life is hopeless. I've got no future. And as I thought about it, you know, we often

say things like past performance is the greatest indicator of future results. Yeah. And if he

was to look at his past performance in his life, his future results didn't look very good

for him. And so he thought, my life is hopeless. And that may not be the most happy way to start

thinking about the book of Jonah. But actually, if you were to look at Jonah and you were to

think, what potential does he have for God to use this guy? You would look at his track

record in the past and think, it's not looking too good, is it, Jonah? You see, Jonah seemed

to be very happy obeying God when it was a nice message to give, when it was kind of, you're

going to grow wealthy, you're going to expand. And Jonah was right there to tell everyone about

that. But then God had given him a message to go to the city of Nineveh and to preach

against them. And if you remember the story, God says, arise, go to Nineveh. And Jonah says,

okay, I will arise. And he went as fast as his little prophet legs would take him as far away

from Nineveh as possible. And then he gets on a boat. And when he's on the boat, the storm

raises up. And some sailors say to him, arise, get up, pray to your God. And Jonah says to him,

or says to them, nah, sorry, me and God, we're not on great terms at the moment. I'd prefer that you

throw me overboard and kill me rather than me talking to God. And so eventually the sailors

actually do that. And Jonah is going down, down, plunging into the depths of the Mediterranean

Sea. He didn't bring his scuba diving kit. The marine life was not what he was looking

at at that moment because he's right on the brink of death. And then God sends a giant fish

to come and rescue him and save him. And that's where we've got to in the story. Jonah has a death

and resurrection experience. And then you come to chapter three. Jonah knows that God has saved him

and he knows that God has saved him for a purpose. But in chapter three, we see the story continue.

So we're going to look at three aspects of the story going through chapter three. We're going

to look at a reluctant messenger. We're going to look at an awesome task. And we're going to look

at a God of miracles. Okay, a reluctant messenger, an awesome task, a God of miracles.

So in chapters three and four are really the centerpiece of this book of Jonah.

They're where the action is really meant to take place. Now, if I was Jonah, I think Jonah would have

wanted to stop at the end of chapter two, go back to Galilee, and that's it for the end of the story.

But you see, in chapter three, verse one, it says,

the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Now, some people think that Jonah was kind

of vomited up by the fish. He's on the beach covered in fish sauce. And then God says to him

immediately, get up, go to Nineveh straight away. Okay, he's still got seaweed in his ears and he's

walking along to Nineveh. Now, I don't think that's what happened because I suspect that between

chapter two, verse 10 and three, verse one, there's no time given. And I suspect that God is actually

gracious enough to give him some time to recuperate because, you know, it's a 500 mile hike in the hot

sun, which would take at least a month to get to Nineveh. So what happens is, we don't know, weeks,

maybe months later, God comes again to Jonah and speaks the second time and tells him to get up

and go to Nineveh. Now, it's interesting because if you think about it, I can imagine Jonah lying

there on the beach. He knows what God has called him to do. He's had some time to reflect in the fish

and on the beach maybe about what he should be doing. He knew that God cared for the city of Nineveh.

He knew it. So why doesn't he go? Why does God have to speak to him a second time? Because he knows

what he's got to do. Well, you see, Jonah didn't want to go. Jonah didn't want to go. He, I can

imagine him sitting there with all the excuses going on in his mind. I mean, I can imagine him

saying, okay, yeah, I know I need to go, but, you know, I'm suffering from post fish swallowing

traumatic stress syndrome. Or maybe I'm planning now my new marine park in Galilee with the kind of

fish, human fish swallowing simulation to teach the kids about how they should obey God.

You know, that's what I, that's what I want to do. I mean, it's going to be better than ocean park.

God, I'll do that for you. But he didn't want to go to Nineveh.

He didn't want to go to Nineveh. He'd do anything. He'd tithe. He'd go on a mission trip. He'd do

anything except what God called him to do. Why? Because he despises the people that God has told

him to go to. He knows God cares for them. He knows God loves them. He knows that God's heart is for them,

but he can't get over the fact that they have hurt his people. They have been so brutal towards his

people that he doesn't think they deserve God's grace and his mercy towards them.

And it's fascinating because when God calls someone, there's three responses that we can often make.

And Jonah makes all three of them. The first response is to run. You know, God calls you to

go to Repulse Bay and you go up to Shenzhen for a massage. Okay, that's, that's the first way. You can run.

The second way is you can, God calls you to go somewhere and you just stay there, lying on the

beach, thinking, maybe feeling a little bit guilty, wallowing in the fish sauce of your condemnation

and guilt. But really, you don't want to go. It's so comfortable here. You don't want to put in any

effort to move. That's the second way. We just be passive. Or the third way is to actually obey what

God calls us to do. Three ways we can respond to God. And you know, when God calls you to do something,

there's always a collision between God's word and what you want to do. Do you know that?

When God calls you to do something, there's always a collision between your comfort, your security,

your plans and dreams and what God calls you to do. And even this morning, you have a choice.

You have those three choices to how you respond to what the message that God wants to speak to you

this morning. And so the question is, who are we going to listen to? Who are we going to listen to?

Now, if you think about it, God's call here to Jonah is actually a sign of his grace. It doesn't

sound like Jonah didn't think it. Jonah wanted to be right out of there. But actually this, when God

calls you to something, he calls you to go, it is God's gracious call on your life. Do you know why?

Because if your past performance is the greatest indicator of your future results, Jonah shouldn't

have been on God's list to be used. You know, God should have said something like, I'm sorry,

Jonah, your prophet's resume is not looking too good at the moment. Go back to Galilee, get a couple of

years obedience experience and then come back and then maybe I'll use you. But he doesn't. He doesn't.

Maybe I think Jonah would have preferred that God had said that. But God's grace was evidence in calling

him to a task because he wanted to use him. He'd already saved him. He was already part of his people.

But now he says, I want to involve you in what I am up to in the world. You know, God calls us to obey him

because he wants us to enjoy him. God calls us to obey him because he wants us to enjoy being involved

with what God is involved with in the world. It's a call to enjoy God, actually, obedience.

You know, my friend's disobedient child hid behind the sofa when he heard his daddy coming because he

knew that he'd eaten the chocolate cake that his daddy had told him not to eat. You see, when he

disobeyed, it put a barrier between his relationship between him and his father. And even though he was

still his child, he couldn't enjoy the relationship with his father to that full extent because he

disobeyed. It's the same with us. He knows if we want to live a fully satisfied life in God,

you have to obey him. You have to obey his call and he wants to delight you in him.

But maybe you judge your potential for God to use you based on your past performance. You know,

you tried to be a good parent, but somehow you always end up getting frustrated with your kids.

You try to share your faith with your colleagues, but then you end up shouting at them. And you think,

man, I'm such a hypocrite. How can I share my faith? How can I be someone who is a witness for God

if I am like this? Maybe you don't even care what God calls you to do, what God's go, get up to you

and go is. Because really, you don't want to think about it. Maybe. Maybe it just seems too

uncomfortable and there's too many other things on your mind at the moment. I spent a year in France

studying. And at the time, I was struggling with depression. And God felt about as far away as

Pluto at that moment. I felt totally distant from him. I didn't want to pray. I wasn't reading my

Bible. I didn't even want to obey God. Didn't want to. And then one day, I suddenly started having

all these people, all these French people coming up to me, asking me about Christianity. I had no idea

why. And I remember having one two-hour conversation with a Hindu girl. And at the end of that two-hour

conversation, she said to me, you know what? Talking to you was like talking to Jesus.

She had never talked to Jesus before. And then somebody else became a Christian.

And I was there kind of scratching my head thinking, God, I don't even want to obey you

at this stage. Why are you bothering to use me? And suddenly something clicked. I suddenly understood

that God's grace, God wanting to use me was not based on my performance. It was based on his

graciousness. Because all the time I'd been thinking it was down to me how good I'd been.

And because I wasn't very good, then I thought God couldn't use me.

But God wanted to involve me in what he's up to because he wants me to delight in him and to enjoy

his grace. And do you know what happened? That set off this kind of series where I suddenly thought,

wow, I started to read the Bible. And then God started to speak to me. He started to show me that

in the university restaurant, there were some international students who nobody else would

speak to because their French sounded like they were having an asthma attack. And so I started going

up to them. And that was the beginning as God started step by step taking me on the journey.

I began to enjoy his grace so much more. That's what God wants to do with each one of us. That's why

he wants to involve us in what he's up to in the world because that's when you'll find true living,

satisfying life in God. Past performance doesn't indicate your future results with God because of God,

not because of you. So we mustn't stay on the beach. God calls us to go. That's the second thing.

Jonah is not just a reluctant messenger. He's also got an awesome task ahead of him. He says,

go to Nineveh. Okay, go to Nineveh. And Nineveh, it says in verse two, is a great city. And it's

repeated again. It's a great city to God. I mean, it's a humongous city in the time that they were

living. It was one of the greatest cities in the world at that time. It was a center for mathematics

and science. You know, locks and keys were invented there. You know, longitude and latitude. The first

libraries were there. There was trading all over the empire. But not only that, it was a political

center and a symbol of oppression and exploitation. It was a city of tyranny because the weak were crushed

underneath the power of this mighty city. But this city was great to God. God had this city in his

eyesight. And God said, this city matters to me. Now, I don't think Jonah felt excited by that prospect.

It's an intimidating prospect. But it gets even worse for Jonah to go to Nineveh because God then tells

him, I'm going to give you the message to preach. Now, you might think that's great. God's going to give

me a great message. But you know, the message he gives him, in Hebrew, it's only five words. In our text,

it says, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. There's no, come to God and he'll give you love,

joy, peace and kindness. There's no, raise your hand and make Jesus your special friend here.

This isn't a cool message to go and take to an intimidating city if you are a little foreign

country boy coming into this great city. It doesn't look good because you're going to tell them God's

going to judge this city. I mean, imagine in the Second World War and a Chinese person under Japanese

occupation goes to Tokyo and says, Tokyo's going down. They would probably say, and your head's coming off.

But you know, this was God's word to Nineveh. It's what the Ninevites needed to hear.

And God's word comes on a collision course with everything that this proud, self-reliant, confident

city believed in. It believed in itself. And yet God loved this city. He knew what they needed to hear

and he tells Jonah to go to this city. And you know, we live in a great city.

Hong Kong is a great city in God's eyes. God has got Hong Kong in his eyesight.

And God, you see up here, we have three values, gospel, community and mission. And part of what it

means as a church, what we believe God has called us to is to be on a mission to Hong Kong. That is

God's go to us. Now, what does that mean in practice? I think of that meaning in four categories.

I think his mission is to go to our work or to our schools. His mission is to go to our families.

His mission is to go to our neighborhoods and to the marginalized and the poor. His mission is to go

to our other friendships, the people we meet in the club. This is his mission to this city,

which he's called us to go on as a church. And I don't know where you feel God has called you

and where God is even saying, which one of those aspects is God now calling you to go to?

Maybe it's your office, but you just can't see how on earth anything could possibly change

in your office. It's dog eat dog. You've got to play the system out or you'll get eaten alive.

And you say, Chris, it's a nice idea. Go to my office, but you don't know what my office is like.

No, I don't know what your office is like. But you don't know what Nineveh was like.

You know, you may feel like you'd be flayed alive and stuck up on a pole verbally by your boss or by

your colleagues. But you know, in Nineveh, they were doing that physically. I don't know whether it's

your family. You know, you've wanted your family to change. Maybe it's your husband. Maybe it's your

wife. Maybe it's your kids that you desperately want to see them change to become, to lead spiritually.

You want to see them become more considerate. You want to see them grow to know Christ.

Or you look out on the injustice in Hong Kong and you see it's such a massive task.

Where do I even begin? And you feel paralyzed. And maybe you look at your past record of where

you've tried to engage and you don't feel you've got anywhere. You've tried to change your kids.

They weren't changing. You tried to change your friends and share the gospel with them and they

ignored you. And the task seems too big. So we'd prefer to just lie on the beach, feel a little

bit guilty about ourselves because it's a bit more comfortable than obeying what God calls us to do.

But if it doesn't look very hopeful for Jonah, maybe for us, you've got a disobedient messenger,

you've got a crazy message, you've got an intimidating, hardened audience, it's not a great recipe for success.

Which brings us on to the third thing,

which is a God of miracles.

A God of miracles.

Read verse 5 for me.

And the people of Nineveh

believed God.

The people of Nineveh believed God.

They didn't believe Jonah.

They believed God.

And what's happening here

is one of the greatest miracles

in the whole Bible story.

You have a whole pagan city,

utterly self-reliant,

utterly self-confident,

falling on its knees before God

and saying, God, we need you.

We turn away.

You've got the king of Nineveh

the governor.

He arises

in verse 6.

You see, the word

reached the king,

the word literally means

it touched the king,

it touched his heart.

And he arises,

he gets up from his throne,

from the place where he was trying to control

the world around him,

and he goes out to sit

in the ashes,

outside,

in the lowest possible place.

And then he has his robe,

which is a symbol of dignity

and glory

and honor

and power for him.

And he takes it off

and he replaces it

with this coarse material

called sackcloth,

which people used to put on

at funerals.

You see, what's going on here

is he is being humbled.

He is humbling himself.

It's utter humiliation

before God

because God's word

has changed him.

And it's not even that.

You see, what happens?

He sees God's word so serious,

he's got to go and proclaim it

to everybody else.

He calls everybody else

to turn away

from, he says,

their evil way,

which means just general sins,

on and also

to turn away

from violence as well.

And the violence

is specific sins.

For them,

it was oppressing

the poor

and the needy

and other nations.

He calls them

to turn away.

I don't know about you,

wouldn't you love

to see that in your office?

To see your boss?

To see your colleagues?

Maybe not on their knees

in ashes,

but actually changing?

Wouldn't you love

to see your friends?

Wouldn't you love

to see your family?

Impacted by God's word

and changed?

Just think how different

Hong Kong could be

if that happened.

You see,

this is a miracle

that is better

than being swallowed

by a fish

and coming out alive.

It's a bigger miracle.

And you know,

if I'm honest,

I believe in my head

that God can do miracles

because I believe

he's in control of the world,

he can intervene.

But in reality,

I rarely believe

that God can do miracles

in the people around me.

I rarely believe it.

Because, I mean,

just think for a minute.

Think about the people

around you

that you would love

to see change.

Now,

you want your spouse

to be more considerate.

Okay?

You want them,

your kids,

to just be obedient.

You want them

to be more gracious

to other people.

Maybe you want your boss

to stop exploiting everyone

and making you work

like a dog.

Maybe you want your friends

to come to Christ

and it hasn't happened yet.

Do you know,

sometimes I get frustrated

and angry.

Why haven't you changed yet?

And you know,

what I can tend to do

is I start trying

all kinds of little magic tricks

to kind of make them change.

change.

You know,

I used to teach

and I taught students

in the past

who would never hand in

their homework.

And so,

my little tricks

would be

shouting at them

to try and make them change.

If that didn't work,

I'd try bribing them

with chocolate

or movies

or something.

If that didn't work,

you'd try emotional blackmail.

Don't you see

how I'm suffering

at the moment

as a teacher?

And do you know what?

Sometimes,

sometimes people

do outwardly

seem to change

but really

they're just doing it

because of fear

or a desire

to please me.

Because it's often

outward performance

that looks like

it's changing

but none of you,

none of us

can change the heart

of anybody.

I don't know

if you realize that

but you cannot

ever

change the heart

of anybody.

What you need

if you want to see

someone change,

whether it's your spouse,

whether it's a friend,

whether it's a colleague,

whoever it is,

you need a miracle.

Only God

is the one

who does miracles.

Think about it.

How many times

have you ever said

to someone,

can you just be patient

for a while,

at that point,

did suddenly

an aura of zen

come over them?

Did suddenly say,

you're right,

I am so impatient

at this moment,

forgive me,

I will become

very patient now.

Do they say that?

Normally,

if I say something

like that,

what happens is

sometimes they either

shout back at you

or they shut up

but then you see

the steam coming

from their ears.

You see,

it's not your

responsibility

to change people.

Our responsibility

is to go.

It's not to change

people's hearts.

God's responsibility

is to change people.

This changes everything.

Our responsibility

is to go

to bless people,

to pray for people,

to love people,

to share the gospel

with people.

That's our responsibility

as God gives us

grace to do that.

God is the one

who does the work

of changing.

Think about it.

If it's God's job

to change people,

then for those people

you want to see

change in your life,

you will be engaged

in persistent,

regular prayer

for them

because it's got to be

God who does it,

not you.

How often

are you engaged

in prayer

for your friends,

for your family,

for your colleagues?

If it's God's job

to change people,

then you don't have

to desperately try

and control everybody

around you

by manipulating them,

by emotional blackmail.

Or we just give up

on them

because things don't

seem to happen

in our own timing.

You just say,

okay.

And then you go

and complain to everybody

else that they haven't

changed.

If it's God's job,

we can just trust Him.

We do,

we go.

That's our obedience.

We trust God

to change people.

You see,

I tried reaching out

to my neighbor

when I came

into Hong Kong

and he just moved

into the flat

and I went around

with a box of chocolates

to him.

The next morning

he came around

with a bottle of wine.

I thought we'd end it there

because this could get expensive.

And occasionally

I started trying

to kind of just see him

in the lobby.

I said,

hi,

and hey,

would you like to go out

for a drink sometime?

And he was kind of,

yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I knew what that meant.

That meant,

no, no, no.

And, you know,

six months would go past.

I wouldn't see him.

I'd kind of sometimes

knock on his door

and he was always having a shower.

I don't know why.

But he probably saw me coming

and I heard,

and so for six months

I'd kind of keep asking,

oh, do you want to grab a drink?

I'd be, no, no, no, no, no.

And then I just kind of

forgot about him really.

He just kind of

went off my radar

for a while,

two and a half years.

And then about three weeks ago,

you know,

we had occasionally

seen him on the stairs

and just said hi,

asked how he's doing

and that kind of thing.

And three weeks ago

he came up to me,

I saw him just getting out

of the lift

and he said,

hey,

do you want to go

for a drink sometime?

And I was like,

yes.

You could have said that

two and a half years ago,

but now's okay.

I don't mind.

And it got me thinking,

actually,

because that moment there

was God telling me,

get up and go.

I think I'd been lying

on the beach

for quite a long time.

I'd given up on him.

I'd stopped believing

God could actually work

in the situation,

so I just kind of got

wrapped up in my own things.

And I'd missed the heart

that God had for him.

And God used him

to wake me up

and say,

get up.

And so we did go

for a drink the other day.

I don't know what God's

going to do there.

I trust God

to change his heart.

My responsibility

is just to try

and be a good friend,

to love him,

to share the gospel

with him

when there's an opportunity.

You see,

God's the one

who changes people,

not me.

But we need to go

and God wants

to give us his heart.

Because where's

the whole story going?

The whole story

of Jonah

is not actually

really about Jonah.

You see,

we have a reluctant prophet

who turns

and does what God says.

We have Ninevites

who turn

and repent

before God.

But then we also

have God

who seems to turn

and seems to change

his mind.

I'm not sure

whether he thought,

oh,

didn't expect them

to change.

Oh,

maybe I've got to

stop bringing judgment

on them.

I don't think

that's what God

was doing.

Why?

Why does God

seem to turn?

Because that's the way

God set the whole thing up.

You see,

it's the reason

why Jonah

didn't want to go

to Nineveh

because he knew

that if he went,

God would do something.

And so Jonah

didn't want to go.

So God

was using

his message

of judgment

to wake the people up

because he wanted

to show

his mercy

and his love

to them.

The story's not

about Jonah,

how good or bad

he was.

The story's not

even about the Ninevites,

how wonderful

their repentance was.

The story

is about

a gracious

God

whose heart

is for the worst

of his enemies.

He wants them

to know him

and

that he wants

to turn away

his wrath

and his anger.

And as Christians,

we know

that in Jesus Christ,

God has turned away

his wrath

and anger

and he then

calls us

as his people

who have been

saved by his amazing grace

to get involved

with what he's up to

in this world

because he wants

you to experience

the thrill

and the joy

of seeing God

do miracles

in and through you

to see him

changing people's lives.

That's what God wants.

and you know

you will never

truly understand

the grace

and the power

of God

until you start

obeying him

in what he's calling

you to do.

And that's when

it gets exciting.

But it's not

based on your

past performance

because

whoever God

calls us to,

we are too

sinful,

we are too

broken.

broken.

The potential

for change

in people's life

is not based on us,

it's based on him.

So what's the challenge

for us?

Are you running away

like Jonah?

God calls us

to go to this city

to look around us,

to reach out

to the people

with his message,

the gospel.

But are you

so wrapped up

in your own

busyness?

Are you

unable to see

the people around you

that God wants you

to reach

because life

is all about yourself

or just your

kids' education?

You know,

if you're a Christian

here this morning,

you weren't saved

for the rest

of your life

to be attending

church services

on a Sunday.

Did you know that?

You were saved

for so much more

than that.

God wants you

to enjoy

life with him

by engaging

with what he

is calling you,

the people he

is calling you

to go to.

Maybe it's your

colleagues,

I don't know.

Maybe it's your

family,

maybe it's your

children he wants

you to invest

time in.

Maybe you're

not running away,

maybe you're lying

on the beach

still covered

in the fish sauce

of your condemnation

and guilt

and shame

and you feel like

you're not good enough.

And God's word

comes to you

a second time

and says,

get up

and go.

I've forgiven you,

I've restored you,

I've saved you,

I want to use you.

Look at the people

around you

that I've placed

in your life

and I want you

to take one step

because when you

take one step

you'll begin

to see me

taking steps.

We've seen this

so many times

in the church already,

we see that

with St. Barnabas,

people in the congregation

have taken one step

and God has done

amazing things.

Maybe you've

been going,

maybe you've been

obeying what God

has called

but it's actually

got hard for you.

You felt it's,

you don't feel like

you're getting anywhere.

You're frustrated

that change

hasn't happened

in the people

you want to see

changed.

But remember,

God's job

is to change people.

He's the God

of miracles.

You need to just

keep crying out

to Him again

and again

and again

and trusting Him

for the change.

Don't give up,

keep going.

You see,

I want to have stories,

I don't know about you,

I want to have stories

to tell of you,

to you,

of things that God

is doing in my life

through me

and in me.

Do you want to have stories

to see what God

is doing?

Do you want to have stories

of God doing miracles

through you?

Because if you do,

then get on His mission

and you'll see

God's grace

in an amazing

multicolored way.

If you're like me,

I hear this kind of message

and I think,

yeah, great.

And three weeks later,

I'm back lying

on the beach again

because life just seems

to overtake me.

That's why we need

to remember

this final thing.

The call to go

is not an individual one,

it's a corporate one.

If you look in your bulletin

and look in the text

on the back page here,

I've written three questions.

I'm going to give you

a little bit of time

to reflect on them

because this is not

a message for you

just to say,

oh, that was nice,

I just lie on the beach

for a little longer.

It's a message

that's a call to say,

what step does God

want you to take?

But the thing is,

we need other people

around us.

Number three is,

who can I ask

to pray with me

about this?

That means,

not just once,

that means,

who am I going to share

the people that I really

want to reach out to

so that they can keep

coming back to me

and saying,

hey, how's it going?

Hey, let me pray with you.

When you're frustrated,

hey, remember,

God's the one

who changes people.

That's what community

groups are about.

If you're not in one,

you need to be in one.

If you're in one

and you're not encouraging,

you don't know who

other people are trying

to reach out to,

you need to be talking

about that

because that's what God

has given us

the mission to do

and God will do

amazing things.

So let me

take a couple of minutes.

Jeremy's going to come up

and I want you just

to take a couple of minutes

to look through

these three questions.

Maybe you want to

write down an answer

and to think for yourself,

who is it that God

is calling me to go to?

If you're not a Christian,

God is calling to you

that he wants to save you.

So let's just spend

a couple of minutes

just thinking about this.

Let's get serious

with what God

is calling us to do.

Father, thank you

that you don't call people

who are sorted.

You don't call people

who have got their acts

together in life.

Thank you that there is,

that we're all in so many ways

like Jonah

and yet you want to show

grace upon grace to us.

Father, I thank you

that you were the greater Jonah,

that where Jonah was disobedient,

you were obedient.

Where Jonah went to the depths

of the sea for his own sin,

you went to the depths

of the sea for our sin.

you were resurrected

and then you called

your disciples to go.

Not to go because it's

a heavy burden,

not to go because it's

a crushing weight

on our shoulders

which should make us feel guilty,

but to go because

that's where

we experience

the amazing power

and grace of God

in our lives

and through us.

Thank you that you want

to use us.

You want to involve us.

You want us to share

that excitement

of seeing what you're up to

in this world.

Lord, it can seem daunting.

We may not even know

where to start,

but I pray that you'd help us

to see that you want us

just to take little steps

and you will guide us.

I pray for all of us

who feel

maybe we don't really

want to do it.

We don't really want to bother.

We feel too busy.

We feel we've got too much

on our plates at the moment

to think about anyone else.

Lord, I pray,

change our hearts

to see the people around us

as you see them.

Help us to see the people

in our offices.

Maybe we despise them.

But Lord, help us to see

with your eyes

how you see them.

To see that the gospel message

for them

is a message

of bringing mercy,

not judgment.

Lord, I pray for us

who may be

struggling with

feeling like

we know we should do things,

but it feels too hard.

It feels too difficult.

We've tried.

We've failed.

We look at our own selves

and we think,

God, how can you use me?

I pray that you would show us

that you're an amazing God of grace

and you will get all the glory

when we see you using

and working through us.

Please just show us

very clearly

that one or two people

that you call us this week

to just go and ring up.

And if we're frustrated

and we just,

we feel like giving up,

Lord, I pray that you just encourage us

this morning

that, Lord,

whether things happen

in our timing or not,

you are the God

who is the one

who changes hearts.

So, Lord,

let us see you at work.

Let us be the people

that you've called us to be.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That even if we mess up,

Lord,

that you come to us

another time

and you tell us to get up,

I want to use you.

Your grace is amazing.

Let us enjoy it as we go.

Thank you, Father.

Amen.