Sermon Notes 08-23-09

August 23rd 2009 “A Successful Failure”
“Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah 3:1-2

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of man's first steps on the moon, many argue that the feat marked NASA's finest hour. Others, however, consider NASA's finest hour to have been Apollo 13, which was two missions later. In that mission, a serious explosion severely crippled the command module and jeopardized the astronaut's ability to return to earth. Even though the ultimate mission, to land men on the moon, was a failure, NASA's remarkable engineering feats led to the safe return of the astronauts. Thus, the mission of Apollo 13 was dubbed "The Successful Failure". Like Apollo 13, we can think about the Old Testament figure Jonah as a successful failure too.

The Great Billy Graham said: “Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called welfare…We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefather and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!”

Does America need to Return Back To God?
Jonah’s Failure was met with God’s great stament:
Jonah 3:1 “And the Word of the Lord, came to Jonah a second time!”
One of the great lessons of Jonah’s failure and forgiveness is that God can continue to use those who return to Him.
Thankfully, we serve the God of a second chance.
Many spiritual leaders received a second chance to do what God called him to do. Adam sinned in the garden and God covered him. Moses murdered a man and God called him. Elijah quit and complained then God re-commissioned him. Peter denied the Lord and then God used him at Pentecost.
America is looking more and more like a “Successful Failure” unless we Return Back to our Founding Father’s Values!

Jonah’s third chapter reminds us that authentic revival impacts both the individual and the culture.

The Second Chance:
1st Come to Me! The voice of the Lord is different than those of the world!
Jonah 3:1 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:”
We serve the God of the Second Chance!

Moses had seen the suffering of the people and he knew that he was to be the deliverer but he was impulsive. He got ahead of God, he developed his own plan and his own timetable.
The end result was that he killed an Egyptian taskmaster and was forced to flee for his life. He has now spent the last forty years in "God’s School of The Desert."

In forty years, under Pharos’s teaching, in Egypt: Moses had learned the skills of worldly leadership. In "God’s School of the Desert" he had for forty years been taught the qualities of spiritual leadership: patience, maturity and sensitivity in listening to the voice of God.

Then God Calls Moses for the second time: Exodus 3:1-5 we read,
"Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. "And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed." In verse four it says, "When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look…" and verse five says, "Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."“Holy Ground” latterly means: “Separate” God was telling Moses: “"I want you to separate yourself from your past failures. I want you separate yourself from your present fears. I want you to separate yourself from every human thing. I want you to give me your undivided attention. I want you to listen to what I am saying."

The Second Chance:
2nd Go to Nineveh!
Jonah 3:1 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”Who disserves a “Second Chance?” Jonah 3:1 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:” Jesus said to the Woman at the well: John 8:10-11 “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” 11“No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jonah was re-commissioned Jonah 3:2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
Jonah was sent to what was at that time the chief city of the gentile world. Proclaim to it the message I give you.
Jonah’s successful preaching campaign had nothing to do with Jonah’s ability: Going to Nineveh was all about Obedience!
The way God dealt with Jonah is the way he deals with every believer—He calls and then Empowers: Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

B. Why Nineveh? Well, Why San Francisco? Why Los Angeles? Why New York? Why Santa Maria?
Nineveh was the capital of the most hated people of Jonah’s day and they were lost and without God!
Is Santa Maria lost? God is calling us just as much as He was calling Jonah!

John 3:16 “For God so loved the WORLD, that that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHO-SO-EVER believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The Second Chance:
3rd See the Response! See what God will do!

Jonah 3:3-8 “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.”Why did they listen?
Some commentators have suggested that the gastric juices of the fish bleached Jonah’s skin pure white!

They listened because:
Jonah 3:3 “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD”
B. Paul, the Apostle, had a similar experience with God: Acts 9:3-6 “3As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6“Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Serving the Lord is impossible in our own strength, but with God all things are possible. Only when we recognize our weakness do we know that with God all things are possible.
We serve the God of the Second Chance!

Hezekiah needed a second chance: 2nd Kings 20:1-6
“In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the Lord: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.'" Bad news!
Hezekiah’s response: “Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, "Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." God’s Response to Hezekiah: “And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. And I will add to your days fifteen years."We serve the God of the Second Chance!