Psalm 148 ~ Praise Him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!

Psalm 148

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!

3 Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord!
For he commanded and they were created.
6 And he established them forever and ever;
he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy wind fulfilling his word!

9 Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10 Beasts and all livestock,
creeping things and flying birds!

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and maidens together,
old men and children!

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his saints,
for the people of Israel who are near to him.
Praise the Lord!

Lord I want to be in that number!

Psalm 19
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Isaiah 49:10-11
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
And I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.

Psalm 11
In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
    “Flee like a bird to your mountain"

Psalm 97:6
The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.

Deuteronomy 32:1
Listen, you heavens, and I will speak; hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.

Ezekiel 43:2
And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east. And the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.

Revelation 21:11
It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Psalm 19:5
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Revelation 21:2
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Isaiah 43
Now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior"

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Mark 12 ~ has put in more than all those who are contributing to

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Mark 12

And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.


13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.

18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”


28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.


35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.


38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”


41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Let's make a new 'SUBTITLE' for Mark's Gospel - the Twelfth Chapter - and call this - "The Really Huge Day Jesus went to God's Temple to Teach about Remarkably Large Earth Changing Events versus our perception of minute."

Jesus, our Redeemer, God's Son is feeling like the bully boys are sitting in front of the School waiting for Him. For women, we are going to feel like we want Jesus to have a new robe woven without seams so He knows we love Him while He faces the tough guys. Men feel like Jesus is girding up to do like Ephesians 6 and Gird with Truth for the Fight is on.

This is the Huge Governmental Temple Bureaucracy versus the man from Capernaum. Formerly Nazareth, Joseph's boy 'what was that story, help me remember'.

This Chapter really is the Huge and Lasting versus Small to Universal. These men have thought up a way to have Rome come get Jesus. And He simply applies a very Genius Fitting Word and disappears among them to warm the hearts of the people.

Jesus is now HUGE.

That argument turned out far differently than the Religious anticipated. Jesus knew the Scriptures and the Power of God. The greetings in the marketplace were all for Jesus this day. Those who accepted the Cornerstone, those who recognized, the most importance of The Lord our God, the Lord is be loved with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. They realized God is a God of the Living. Jesus was collecting as the best seat in the synagogues and the place of honor.

The Temple seems busy and bustling to us as we read the Chapter. And Jesus has someone to see. The Father is going to His child. All of the Temple is enthralled. Jesus specifically looks for one child of God. The one way down, tucked way at the end of the story of His day. The lone widow putting in all she has. And for millenniums we understand that to the Alpha and the Omege. Lord and Shepherd of our Souls. Wanting to save the World. That woman has changed the way we understand what matters to God in the splendor of His Temple.

Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.

Ephesians 1:19
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.

There really is not a parallel of this story. Perhaps Noah, continuing to hammer a board.
God takes our small tasks for Him and builds our lives, which He hands back to us as a gift. And in HIS Great Love and Mercy tells us the Kingdom of Heaven is, now, at hand. Telling us He is at work and multiplies our talents like the loaves and fishes when we Expect His Mercy, Love and Favor.

Mark 1:1
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God

Romans 8:31
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

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Exodus 34 ~ present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain

Dead Sea Scroll of Deuteronomy inset below

Exodus 34

The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

10 And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.

11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

17 “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.

18 “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.

21 “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. 23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

25 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. 26 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.”

27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.


29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

34 Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Deuteronomy 27 
The Altar Stone above is the only Altar found on Mount Gerizim. Mount of Blessings. This is a cross and is a modern stone.

High Places was the discussion in a Bible Study I remember with Father Bill Clarkson in High School Youth Group. We were asked if having a service on a Mountain top would be something we would enjoy. The response in Dallas, Texas was unanimously positive. We were then educated High Places are where the Baal - infant killed for prosperity - and idol worship takes place. Silence ensued.

But wait - we were all so discouraged - the Transfiguration! And weddings outside - God's Temple is within - having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! Not only that - there wasn't always a Temple and Moses was called up from his routing to the top of Mount Horeb and/or Mount Sinai (are used interchangeably) in the Bible.

Did Moses believe prior to the unthinkable? Difficult to tell. But being called away from your everyday to a jaw dropper, is a memorable event.

Union General Lew Wallace wrote Ben Hur. As he started the novel, Wallace wrote- I do not think myself good enough to be a communicant. When he finished writing, "When I had finished [the writing], I said to myself with Balthasar, "God only is so great." I had become a believer."

Professor of Archaeology Adam Zertal, University of Haifa, has undergone a transformation of faith. From finding a High Place.

“The altar was supposed to be nonexistent, a legend,” says Zertal, leaning on crutches, a legacy of wounds he suffered in combat during the 1973 Yom Kippur War against Egypt and Syria. “At first we didn’t know what we were excavating. The stones at Mount Ebal are crucial. “If this corroborates exactly what is written in that very old part of the Bible,” says Zertal, “it means that probably other parts are historically correct. The impact is tremendous.”

Zertal believes this is the altar the Bible Moses wrote saying build on Mount Ebal, after the Israelites arrived in the promised land. This is where land is given among the 12 tribes, and where the Israelites “became a people,” as the Old Testament puts it.

"We are digging up Bible stories!" Adam Zertal commented: "We discovered this place, all covered with stones, in April 1980. At that time I never dreamed we were dealing with the altar, because I was taught in Tel Aviv University - where anti-Biblical tendencies say theories are untrue, and Biblical accounts were written later. I didn't even know of the story of the Joshua's altar. But we surveyed every meter of the site, and in the course of nine years of excavation, we discovered a very old structure with no parallels to anything we had seen before."

Carbon dating of artifacts play out.

Artifacts of Egyptian Public Lists have interesting patterns as well.

The name of the city Jacob-El was recorded for the first time in Thutmose’s III era. Yahweh was also recorded for the first time during Thutmose III. During this time period, according to Egyptian historical documentation, Israel was not a recorded as a name, the people were recorded as hyksos. On a statue of Amenhotep III at Kom el Hetan is Amenhotep’s funeral statue and on the base of the statue is Joseph-el.

Dynasty 15 - 1663-1555 BC. (5 Kings) Hyksos Rule. Hyksos sacked Memphis about 1720 BC. Josephus quotes Manetho in "Against the Jews" (Book I) about this period. Manetho identifies Israel with the Hyksos which where expelled by Ahmose from Egypt. Josephus quotes Manetho describing this expulsion by saying: "Then the kings of the Thebaid and of the rest of Egypt rose in revolt against the shepherds (Hyksos)..

Luke 10:5-9
"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. ... "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God has come near to you.'


Father God, 

New Faith is found on Moun Ebel - where an altar was created and re-built several centuries apart. Drastic political struggles were discarded to bring this altar excavation forth. 

In our own lives, for this blog and the work of ministry - each day we put out our hands to know Your Will and to please You Father God. So Father, release healing leading to salvation across our nation this day. In our cities, Churches, families and home. Blessings upon the people seeking Your will. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen

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Luke 11:29-32 ~ no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah

Jesus heals in the Temple, painted by Tissot

Luke 11:29-32

29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.


What was Jesus thinking when He rode triumphantly in to the Temple on Palm Sunday? We are not sure if HE rode a colt with a donkey or a colt horse or both.


Matthew 12
I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Here was Jesus. The Son of God. Not born in the palace. Growing up an ex-patriot in many ways. Like the Children of Israel, Jesus spent time in Egypt. Jesus might have even spoken with a non-Hebrew accent. God making amends. When HE is not even called to make amends.

To whom did Jesus proclaim "I am the Messiah?" A woman. Well Dinah did not receive son-ship. Her descendants did not even receive biblical names in Genesis 46. The remnant left by the exile to Babylon were the Samaritans. Thrown out by the people with pedigrees. Now known to be 3 tribes of Israel. Jesus, in John's Gospel proclaimed His Son-ship to a daughter of Jacob. Cast out and with few choices in life. God makes amends when He does not have to. And His Ark did not reside in the Temple. Which is what the Holy of Holies revealed when the curtain was torn.

 

What was Jesus thinking when Matthew 12 was written

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

1,000 years go by.
Why is God interested in signs, Jonah in 8 B.C. 
200 years after Solomon. And the Queen of Sheba...

Well the Queen of Sheba - Ethiopia - we see in history Ethiopia began to speak Hebrew during the years they mined so much gold from the ground. There is a copy of the Ark of the Covenant. The Queen of Sheba traveled on a personal pilgrimage to do her God given job/life and saw beyond Solomon to the Presence of God. The Legends took the good Queen into the arena of 700 of Solomon's women. In the day of the Queen of Sheba - Queens are precariously placed with rivals - one would become Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, or Guinevere for not being virtuous. The Queen left Ethiopia stronger today for her faith. Jesus was setting the record - straight. God making amends when He did not have to.

Jesus links Solomon back to the Queen of the South. Let's extrapolate together and say Solomon improved in his old age. Because Jesus remembered them together - perhaps it's like Africa today. The Church of England is seeing Revival because the flame was carried in faith and now the favor is returned by Africa. Just maybe, Solomon was wistful when he said who can find a good woman. After all, God does like to repeat situations in Scripture.

Let's think of another repeat. Definitely not the Buddhist repeat of souls. Because like the mathematician George Carlin said - suddenly the world has more people alive today than... in the history of ... the world.

Paul said fight the good fight.
Let's look and count the Score (mentions) of Luke 11.

Signs 16
Generation 5
Greater 3
Jonah 4
Nineveh 2
Queen 2
Solomon 2


God likes to repeat... i.e...as Jesus was coming back from the transfiguration...

Matthew 17
9 And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” 10 And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 11 He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. 12 But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

What??? Elijah was part of the Transfiguration! Jesus is saying that John the Baptist was a repeat of the task of Elijah - "Make Straight the Paths of the Lord!" Clear the way - Jesus is coming! This is the Good News and we are invited.

So, Jonah is the big question today.

Let's look at Jonah.

He is looking a trifle stunned.
 It's only because he is placed in the Sistene Chapel above - Judgement. 

[Where the story is ... Michelangelo gave Minos, the Judge of the Souls, the semblance of the Pope's Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, who complained to the Pope about the nudity. Many other figures, as well, are portraits of Michelangelo's contemporaries. The artist's self-portrait appears twice: in the flayed skin which Saint Bartholomew is carrying in his left-hand, and in thelower left hand corner; who is looking encouragingly at those rising from their graves. The artist could not have left us clearer evidence from Michelangelo's poetry; at this point in his long, long life - he was feeling more devout and concerned about the fate of his own soul. He placed his self-portrait hovering precariously over hell and midway, in a diagonal line, between Christ, and the famous image of the man who has just realized that he is being pulled down toward hell.]



What in the world could God be repeating in...Jonah - who has his own Book in the Bible. 25 Times in The Old and New Testament he is mentioned.

Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher - begins in 2 Kings 14:25

Johan had said from the Lord that the Lord wanted the border of Israel restored, He would not blot out the name of Israel, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash, King of Judah. An intervention.

That is a heroic intervention. Wouldn't we all like to be remembered heroically.
Hero to Two Nations!

Next assignment - radically change more enemy nations - What???

2 Kings 18-19, which reports that Sennacherib's invincible army was laid low by the angel of the Lord, after which Sennacherib returned to Nineveh where he was murdered by his sons. Okay off you go Jonah. Easy. Well...maybe God had put forth a straight path. Rather like...

Nineveh was the Fort Knox of the day. Sennacherib’s “palace without rival” had reliefs depicting the campaign against Teumman of Elam and Dunanu of Gambula in 633 BC. One Particular relief would have caught his attention. On it, Elamite captives are shown being tortured. The caption above stated, “Mr. (blank) and Mr. (blank) spoke great insults against Assur, the god, my creator. Their tongues I tore out, their skins I flayed”

Good times. Good times. Off you go. Um not I, Captain Bligh. Swim with the fish.
Fast forward -

The nice part about being 'Written' - you can't fail. 
Jonah is supposed to love this generation.

• Jonah goes up and down with Psalm 107.

•  He is a Double National Hero !!!

• He flees from Hearing from... THE LORD...

• Jonah went:

 flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

• Jonah likes to talk. And tells a lot.  

For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

• Jonah is a born negotiator -

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land

• Jonah offers himself instead...The very definition of 'Ish' a moral man of God.

• As a result of Jonah proclaiming God -

 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.       Jonah is good at his job.

• Jonah has this rare capacity to take misadventure, Praise and humor.

But I with the voice of thanksgivingwill sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

• Jonah could be sarcastic and drastic.

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

• Jonah - with a word he gets what he came for - “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

• And Jonah being the guy people actually like very well was pleased - except -

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

• Jonah sulks. God adores Jonah and gives him instant comfort.But Jonah was just a mite too concerned with his own comfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.

•  And the Lord said, “You pity the plant?" God gets so mad, God stalks off leaving Jonah unanswered. Not like Job.

Why would God want to repeat a situation like Jonah? Jonah did return to publish a Book in His Word. We pray good things for Jonah.


Well. Gideon. God didn't want to leave a good man unsung.  Every now and then the Scriptures record God acts a little rashly. Remembering like Gad - to minister without love is not fruitful. God doesn't have to make amends really.


What would you do if God told you that you were to go to Nations and be Jonah? 
Doesn't He give all believers the Great Commission?

Matthew 9
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore spray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Not fuss. Not fret.

The Scriptures are quite real. Like the Cross this is a symbol of Life over death - this is where man intersects God. God equips men. Noah swung a hammer to a board. Not one of the workmen was perfect. The works went on. His Plan. They made mistakes they did deliberately. They were tired and worn out and weary and sometimes worried. The disciples spend a lot of time walking with Jesus is awe and in confusion and worry.

Love the Lord and pray. Love others. Give Justice with Mercy. Walk humbly with God. When life is difficult, rest your mind upon His shoulder. Psalm 131

Proverbs 16
The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.

The Lord has made everything for its purpose

By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.

When a man's ways please the Lord,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

The heart of man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps!

It don't have a job
Don't pay your bills
Won't buy you a home
In Beverly Hills

Won't fix your life
In five easy steps
Ain't the law of the land
Or the government

But it's all you need...
Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter
to weather the storm

And I'll be my brothers keeper
So the whole world will know
That we´re not alone

It's waiting for you
Knockin' at your door!
Every moment of truth
When your heart hits the floor

When you're on your knees then...
Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter
to weather the storm

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright s´gonna be alright

It's gonna be alright s´gonna be alright

I've read the last page of the Bible, it's all going to turn out all right!

1 Corinthians 15:57
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.



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