Sermon Notes

“Cliffhangers are devices used to add suspense and anticipation by adding a plot twist into a plot-line. Cliffhangers occur at the end of chapters or even at the end of books. This is done intentionally presenting a complicating event or plot twist that is left...

“Jonah’s story reminds us that few believers follow an unbroken ascent from unbelief upward into gloriously victorious faith. Instead, we tend to progress with steps and halts, advances and slips. Jonah shows us that when it comes to growing in God’s grace, none of us...

1. The road to self-deception and disaster (18:1-3). 2. Living on yesterday’s faith— a feigned prayer for guidance (18:4-17). 3. Behind the curtain— the unseen spiritual realities behind our everyday experiences (18:18-27). 4. The providential outcome— Jehoshaphat’s...

1. The people of Nineveh believed in God and repented of their sins. “Repentance is a change of mind issuing in a changed life.” —J.I. Packer “If Jonah’s reemergence from the great fish spurred the Ninevites to a hopeful repentance, how much more ought we to be...

The Lord graciously restores Jonah. “God forgets, and never holds the thing against you. Think of how wonderful are the implications of that one fact for your life. God simply does not hold grudges against his people who humble themselves and ask his forgiveness...

I. King Jehoshaphat’s Works of Faith a. His military preparations & strength (17:1-2, 12-19) b. His religious/spiritual leadership of the nation (17:7-9; 19:4-11; ch.20) c. His heart after God (17:3-6; cf. 20:3-4 he “set his face to seek the Lord”) What does it...

“No human heart will learn its sinfulness and impotence by being told it is sinful. It will have to be shown—often through brutal experience. No human heart will dare to believe in such free, costly grace unless it is the only hope. It is a combination of hard...

1. The Lord creates a great storm (4-6). “Either you will embrace the difficult doctrine that God is in control of all things, or you will slide into viewing God as a helpless observer of your plight. Some people worry about the implications of believing that God...

“This book is about the disturbing possibility that, having pledged your life to Christ, you may end up spending much of that life avoiding the God you set out to serve. It’s about the conflict in the heart of every Christian and the grace of God that, when you see...

Living in the good of the gospel means that we must trust God each day of our lives, and by faith we must seek to sow to the spirit instead of the flesh. 1. We will reap what we sow. “The image of sowing-reaping indicates that the process of moral consequences is much...