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Friday, 16 November 2012

Jonah 3 - How to be a successful evangelist

God gave Jonah a second chance, the same command comes to him. Note that he is to give the message that "I tell you", ie that God gives him. This time Jonah obeys the Lord, having realised that resistance is futile. 
It is often said that "if you won't do it, God will find someone else to do it". Well sometimes this is true, but at other times it isn't, and Jonah is one of these instances. For some reason God specifically wanted Jonah to do the job.
Jonah's message was brief and to the point. Presumably he said a little more than this, but maybe not. There isn't even any call to repentance, though from what we read later Jonah didn't want them to repent! 
Despite this, and the distinct lack of cultural relevance and accessibility of the message, the people believed God and they all repented. This again is a warning about nice pat ideas about what is necessary for evangelism to succeed. Moreover, Jonah did not "have a heart" or "a burden" for the people of Nineveh, yet is the most successful evangelist ever!
The term "revival" is sometimes bandied around rather too freely. Here we see the true sign of revival, a people responding to the word of God with repentance and obedience.
They called on God to have mercy on them, and God did indeed have mercy.

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