Podcasts about Nineveh

As the book of Jonah comes to a close, the climax of Jonah's rebellion against God is confronted by a question and an interactive object lesson. God uses Jonah's glee and anger over a plant to show why it's important for Him to have mercy on the city of Nineveh. In this final study of the series, we examine the profundity of the poisonous plant and scarlet worm, why the book ends with the word “many cows,” and are personally confronted in our own lives with the central questions of the book.------------» Take these studies deeper and be discipled in person by Nathan, Eric, Leslie, and the team at Ellerslie in one of our upcoming discipleship programs – learn more at: https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/» Receive our free “Five Keys to Walking Through Difficulty” PDF by going to: https://ellerslie.com/subscribe/» For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/daily» If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/» Discover more Christ-centered teaching and resources from Nathan Johnson that will help you grow spiritually by checking out his website at: https://deeperchristian.com/

I thought today I would share with you a book by David Bentley Hart. Hart wrote that translation of the New Testament that I'm very much enjoying, because it mirrors the same language that the Gnostic gospel uses in the Nag Hammadi codices, particularly the Tripartite Tractate, which is what I share with you here at Gnostic Insights. David Bentley Hart is extremely eloquent and erudite. His prose puts me to shame. He is a great writer and a brilliant mind. He's an Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion and a philosopher. And the deal is, he does seem to love God. So his philosophy and his theology goes through what seems to me to be a very Gnostic heart and orientation on his part. So I'm reading this book now called, That All Shall Be Saved, Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation, because I could tell from reading the footnotes in his New Testament that he and I agree on this universal salvation. I seem to be coming at it from a different place than he does. My major reason why everyone and everything that's living now will return to heaven is that everything comes from heaven. So if everything doesn't return to heaven in the end, if most of it, as a matter of fact, was thrown into eternal fires of torment, well, God itself would be lessened. The Father would be less than he was at the beginning, and that's an impossibility, because the Father was, is, and ever shall be the same. He is not diminished by the love and consciousness and life that flows out of him. But if that life, love, and consciousness winds up in a black hole at the bottom of an eternal pit of torment, well, there's so many things wrong with that statement, just absolutely wrong. And that's what David Bentley Hart's book is all about, and he has several ways he's going to explain why that can't be so. The reason I say it can't be so is that all consciousness, life, and love come from the Father. So in the big roll-up, if we accept the proposition that there will be an end to this material existence, which is what all Christians and Jews profess, and if everything that emanated from the Father in the beginning, beginning with the Son, which is the first and only direct emanation, and then everything else emanates through the Son, well, if it doesn't return at the end of material time, then the Father and the ethereal plane would be diminished, because it poured out all of this love and consciousness into this material realm, and it all has to return. The Tripartite Tractate says that everything that existed from the beginning will return at the end of time. In verses 78 and 79 of the Tripartite Tractate, it's speaking about the shadows that emerged from Logos after the Fall, and it says, Therefore their end will be like their beginning, from that which did not exist they are to return once again to the shadows. “Their end will be like their beginning,” in that they didn't come from above—they were shadows of the fallen Logos. And so when the light comes and shines the light, the shadows disappear. Furthermore, in verses 80 and 81, the Tripartite Tractate says, The Logos, being in such unstable conditions, that is, after the Fall, did not continue to bring forth anything like emanations, the things which are in the Pleroma, the glories which exist for the honor of the Father. Rather, he brought forth little weaklings, hindered by the illnesses by which he too was hindered. It was the likeness of the disposition which was a unity, that which was the cause of the things which do not exist from the first. So these shadows didn't exist in the Pleroma; they were shadows, they were imitations of the unity which existed from the first, and that unity is the Fullness of God—the Aeons of the Fullness of God. And it is only these shadows that will be evaporated at the end of time, that will not go to the ethereal plane. All living things will, because we're not shadows of the Fall. We are actually sent down from the unity, from the Fullness of God, with life, consciousness, and love. And so all of that has to return to the Father. So that is where I'm coming from, that God can't be lessened, made less than it was at the beginning. So everything will be redeemed and returned. And of course, practically all of Christianity nowadays believes that most everything that was emanated from the beginning will be destroyed, or put into a fire of torment for all eternity. Anyone who wasn't baptized, or anyone who didn't come forward to profess a belief in Christ—and that's most of the other cultures and people of the world. The conventional Christian church doesn't even realize that animals are going to heaven. I often comfort people whose pet has just passed away, and they're missing them so badly, and they love them so much, and it hurts so much, and I say to them in comfort, “Well, your pet is waiting for you in heaven, and you'll be reunited when you cross over, and then you'll have them again, and you'll all be very happy forever together.” That's my basic approach. franny and zoey sunset As a matter of fact, I'm waiting for my pack—that's who I expect to greet me. I'm not waiting for my dead relatives, or my late husband. I'm not expecting them on the other shore waiting for me, although perhaps they will be. Who I really am looking forward to seeing are my dogs and cats, every dog and cat I've ever had. And I figure they're all up there together as a big pack, playing on the beach. So that's what keeps me comforted, and keeps me looking forward. I'm very happy to imagine that that will be what greets me when I cross over. So this morning, what I'd like to share with you are some of Hart's writing that he shares in his introduction that's called, The Question of an Eternal Hell, Framing the Question. So this is before he even gets into his various apologetics of how it is that everyone will be saved. But I really wanted to share this with you. Hart writes in a very high-minded manner, so I'll attempt to translate it for us all. So on page 16, Hart says, And as I continued to explore the Eastern Communions as an undergraduate, I learned at some point to take comfort from an idea that one finds liberally scattered throughout Eastern Christian contemplative tradition, from late antiquity to the present, and expressed with particular force by such saints of the East as Isaac of Nineveh, who lived between 613 and 700, and Silouan of Athos, who lived between 1866 and 1938. And the idea is this, that the fires of hell are nothing but the glory of God, which must at the last, when God brings about the final restoration of all things, pervade the whole of creation. For although that glory will transfigure the whole cosmos, it will inevitably be experienced as torment by any soul that willfully seals itself against love of God and neighbor. To such a perverse and obstinate nature, the divine light that should enter the soul and transform it from within must seem instead like the flames of an exterior chastisement. That's pretty interesting. He's saying that after the final roll-up, the glory of God, or the light of God, will fill all of space and eternity, and that we will be able to see it and experience it. We will stand before the glory of God. But anyone who is hiding from God, or that is a hateful person, will experience that same glory as flames of fire that torment. And so that will be their punishment. But it's not coming from God. God's bringing glory and love and light. But they, because they are resistant, they will experience it as those flames of hell. So Hart goes on to say, This I found not only comforting, but also extremely plausible at an emotional level. It is easy to believe in that version of hell, after all, if one considers it deeply enough, for the very simple reason that we all already know it to be real in this life, and dwell a good portion of our days confined within its walls. A hardened heart is already its own punishment. The refusal to love, or to be loved, makes the love of others, or even just their presence, a source of suffering and a goad to wrath. And isn't that true? That a hateful person views everything that's going on around them, and anything that someone else says, to be irritating, and worthy of punishment, or worthy of disdain, because it doesn't agree with their own opinion. He goes on to say on page 17, and so perhaps it makes perfect sense to imagine that a will sufficiently intransigent in its selfishness and resentment and violence might be so damaged that, even when fully exposed to the divine glory for which all things were made, it will absolutely hate the invasion of that transfiguring love, and will be able to discover nothing in it but terror and pain. It is the soul, then, and not God, that lights hell's fires, by interpreting the advent of divine love as a violent assault upon the jealous privacy of the self. Now, we've talked about that a lot here on Gnostic Insights, and I cover that in my discussions of Overcoming Death. My argument about Overcoming Death primarily comes from the Tibetan Buddhist book known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and in that book it describes this passage after life. And, by the way, it's not only when the whole entire cosmos melts away, it's every time we die. When your body passes away, suddenly you're in that non-material state. Your ego goes forward without the attachment of the body, and in that state of not being attached to the material world, it is like, at the end of time, when the entire cosmos goes through the same process and is no longer attached to the material world. At that point, delusion drops away, the confusion of this cosmos and the confusion of our culture and the demiurgic culture that we are surrounded with, as well as the pulls of the material upon our bodies. It's gone, it's lifted, it's no longer there, and your spirit is able to see with clear eyes. As Paul said in the first letter to Corinthians, chapter 13, For we know partially, and we prophesy partially. But when that which is complete comes, what is partial will be rendered futile. When I was an infant, I spoke like an infant, I thought like an infant, I reckoned like an infant. Having become a man, I did away with infantile things. For as yet we see by way of a mirror, in an enigma, but then we will see face to face. As yet I know partially, but then I shall know fully, just as I am fully known. But now abide faith, hope, and love, these three, and the greatest of these is love. And in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, it talks about these things called bardos, which are levels of hell, basically, or levels of purgatory that people go through as they are learning to get rid of the mistaken notions that they picked up here during the lifetime. The samskara is stripped away. I would call the samskara the confounding memes that we cling to. We pick up these meme bundles from the people and from the things we read and learn and are indoctrinated into in school and then through the media. Those are memes, meme bundles, and they have to be let go of. You have to drop them in order to get past the ego that's holding on to those memes and rediscover the purity of the Father and the Son in the ethereal plane—rediscover the purity of your true Self. And the longer someone holds on to those memes after death, the more difficult is their passage into purity. And that's explained in depth in the Overcoming Death episode. Well, that Tibetan description of the fires of hell very much resemble the fires of hell that were talked about from these ancient saints of the Christian tradition. By the way, this idea that most everyone and everything is going to hell rather than going to heaven, that is a relatively recent addition to Christianity, but it has been grasped so firmly with the great assistance of the Catholic Church and their doctrines that by now most Christians think that most people won't go to heaven. So even the Protestants who protest Catholicism—that's what the word Protestant means, one who protests—they've lost the original thread of universal salvation that Jesus was teaching. The Anointed came to save everyone, it says, over and over in the New Testament. And in Hart's translation, which comes directly from the original writing rather than down through the Latin that had already been filtered by the Catholics, you don't find the eternal torment of hell. Remember, the word Aeon, which we in Gnostic belief generally translate as ethereal beings or part of the Fullness of God above, Aeon is also translated as a period of time, and throughout most of the translations of the New Testament, which derive from the Latin Vulgate, Aeon is translated as a period of time. And so when it says eternal torment, it's really saying aeonic torment. And in my opinion, it's the torment people bring upon themselves when they return to the aeonic realm. The Aeons aren't the punishers. God is not the punisher. It's our own grasping onto our past lives and the demiurgic culture and the demiurgic memes that we hold onto after death that are experienced like burning flames. But no one's imposing it upon us. It's our own lack of willing to give it up and turn and face the light. The eternal fires of hell are actually the aeonic reckoning that comes at the end of each lifetime and will come at the end of time itself when the material cosmos passes away. At least that's what I think. So when Hart says on page 17 there that “a will, a personal will, sufficiently intransigent in its selfishness and resentment and violence,” intransigence means not giving up, stubbornness, “might be so damaged that even when it comes face to face with glory, it will experience it as torment.” Now, for those of us who have accepted the anointing of the Christ and have come to true gnosis, (that is a remembrance that we come from above and will happily return to the above, that's all you need to know), we will not cling onto this material world. We will not be clinging onto those demiurgic memes that keep us from coming face to face with our aeonic parents in the Fullness of God. We will happily cross over. We will joyfully meet with those who are on the other side, be they family, spouses, or pets, because the grasses and the flowers, the butterflies, the birds, everything that is alive down here on earth will be alive in heaven because all life comes from above. We will not be experiencing that chastening fire—that coming to grips with the lies that we've been holding onto. That's the painful part, coming to grips with our own lies and the harms we have done to other people. If we're not repentant of those harms we have done to other people, we will have to come face to face with those harms after we cross over, and we will see from that other person's point of view what we did to them and how much we hurt them, and that will come back to us. We will experience their pain, and that is the pain and suffering of death, but it's not being imposed by the Father or the Son or our aeonic parents above. On page 18, Hart says, Because Christians have been trained at a very deep level of their thinking, to believe that the idea of an eternal hell is a clear and unambiguous element of their faith, and that therefore the idea must make perfect moral sense. They are in error on both counts, as it happens, but a sufficiently thorough conditioning can make an otherwise sound mind perceive even the most ostentatiously absurd proposition to be the very epitome of rational good sense. You know, there's some big words in that sentence, but I think you can tell by the context what they mean, right? Ostentatiously means open, flaunting. Epitome means the highest. So he's saying that because the Church has taught that everyone's going to hell except those very few, which is an ostentatious point of view, you see, ostentatiously absurd proposition, yet they have been taught that it is the very highest of good sense, and you can't go against it. And so people are conditioned not to question it. And what this book, That All Shall Be Saved, is, is a very thorough and deep description and rationale of how that cannot be true, of how everyone must be going to heaven. I covered my version of why everyone's going to heaven in this episode. Further episodes, I think I'll do a series here, further episodes will each cover chapters in Hart's book, and we'll hear what his rationale is for why everyone is going to heaven. But returning to this page 18 again, he says, In fact, where the absurdity proves only slight, the mind that has been trained most thoroughly will, as often as not, fabricate further and more extravagant absurdities in order to secure the initial offense against reason within a more encompassing and intoxicating atmosphere of corroborating nonsense. In other words, you'll have to spin a bunch of nonsensical rationalizations and excuses about why everyone's going to hell, just to make the story float. Quoting again, Sooner or later it will all seem to make sense, simply through ceaseless repetition and restatement and rhetorical reinforcement. As I'm reading this, of course he's talking about religious ideologies here, but I'm seeing these mechanisms at play in media bias. Do you see that? Just through sheer repetition, over and over, it doesn't matter if things are true or lies. If you say it often enough, people will begin to accept it unquestioningly. And you can see that going on in the politics, can't you? Hart goes on to say, The most effective technique for subduing the moral imagination is to teach it to mistake the contradictory for the paradoxical, and thereby to accept incoherence as profundity or moral idiocy as spiritual subtlety. If this can be accomplished with sufficient nuance and delicacy, it can sustain even a very powerful intellect for an entire lifetime. In the end, with sufficient practice, one really can, like the White Queen (of Alice in Wonderland), learn to believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast. In my limited attempts to discuss Gnosticism face-to-face with people, I discover this continually, that if I present them with the absurdity of everyone going to hell, for example, they will say, Well, it's a mystery. We can't know the mind of God. It's a mystery. Who are you to presume? And this is the way they cover up that it doesn't work, by just shunting it off to God's incomprehensibility. But our God is rational. Our God is logical. Our God doesn't say one thing and do another. Our God doesn't lie. Our God doesn't say it's all about life and living and love and then enslave and slaughter. That is not the God of Gnosticism. The Father that Jesus spoke of is not that God. Going on with page 19, Hart says, Not that I am accusing anyone of consciously or cynically seeking to manipulate the minds of faithful Christians. The conspiracy, so to speak, is an entirely open one, an unpremeditated corporate labor of communal self-deception, requiring us all to do our parts to sustain one another in our collective derangement. I regard the entire process as the unintentional effect of a long tradition of error, one in which a series of bad interpretations of Scripture produced various corruptions of theological reasoning, which were themselves then preserved as immemorial revealed truths and, at last, rendered impregnable to all critique by the indurated mental habits of generations, all despite the logical and conceptual incongruities that this required believers to ignore within their beliefs. He writes with big words. The gist of this entire paragraph was that the church didn't set out to be deceptive. Well, it may have with the Nicene Council when they stripped the Gnosis out, but from about 600 A.D. onward, it's just become such an ingrained thought that by now it's unassailable. By now you can't even question it. But that's what we're doing here at Gnostic Insights. So stay with me for the next few episodes, and we'll go into depth concerning hell, resurrection, salvation, and the ultimate redemption of all living things by the Christ, the Anointed, that will return us all to that paradise above. With love, onward and upward, and God bless us all. This book puts all of this gnosis together in a simplified form. Gnosis is as easy as you want it to be, or as complicated as you desire. This Simple Explanation will guide you through the often confusing terms and turns of gnostic thought and theology. The glossary alone is worth having on your bookshelf. Now available in paperback, hardback, and ebook/kindle, and an audio book narrated by Miguel Conner. Available at amazon.com or through your local independent bookstore. Please remember to leave a review at amazon if you purchase the book there. We need reviews in order to raise the book in amazon's algorithm!

Send us a textWhat if boredom in your faith is a symptom of quiet disobedience? We dig into Jonah's flight from Nineveh to expose how comfort, brand safety, and clean optics can sabotage real ministry to the poor, the broken, and the hostile. From moving a struggling family and sharing the gospel mid U-Haul to confronting cultural pressure to appease, we wrestle with why obedience always demands courage—and why light must advance if darkness is ever going to retreat.Jonah's narrative becomes our mirror: a prophet reroutes, a storm exposes, and pagans encounter Yahweh while God chases His reluctant messenger. We talk about sitting at tables with sinners without caving, refusing hazmat Christianity on one side and hollow “relevance” on the other. The challenge is to confront sin with compassion and then stay to disciple when repentance breaks out. If you've ever preferred the mic drop to the long walk, this is your wake-up call to shepherd, not just shout.We also unpack divine interruptions, the gap between our preferred outcomes and God's purposes, and why returning to the last clear command can reignite a stagnant soul. Expect practical takeaways anchored in Scripture: live awake, redeem the time, be in the world but not of it, and embrace the peace Christ provides for hard places. If you've been avoiding your Nineveh—whether that's a neighborhood, a movement, or a messy relationship—consider this your invitation to go, confront, and commit to the slow work of discipleship.If this conversation pushed you toward courageous obedience, share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe so you don't miss what's next. Where is God calling you to step into the dark this week?Support the show

Everything in the book of Jonah has been swimming toward this end: the reason why Jonah attempted to flee to Tarshish, why he resisted going to Nineveh, and now why he is angry at God. And the reason may surprise you … Jonah is frustrated that God is too good, too merciful, too loving. In this study, we examine Jonah 4:1–4 and Jonah's anger, the reason behind it, and what it all means for our lives today.------------» Take these studies deeper and be discipled in person by Nathan, Eric, Leslie, and the team at Ellerslie in one of our upcoming discipleship programs – learn more at: https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/» Receive our free “Five Keys to Walking Through Difficulty” PDF by going to: https://ellerslie.com/subscribe/» For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/daily» If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/» Discover more Christ-centered teaching and resources from Nathan Johnson that will help you grow spiritually by checking out his website at: https://deeperchristian.com/

Skype of Cthulhu presents a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Curse of Nineveh by Mike Mason, Mark Latham, Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker, and Andrew Kenrick Switchboard. October, 1925 London The investigators barely have time to catch their breaths before they are drawn towards the plight of another victim of the curse. Dramatis Persone: Sean as the Keeper Edwin as Dame Agatha, Authoress Jonathan as Katherine "Kitty" Hall, Dilettante Steve as Connor Shaw, Archivist Max as Oswald Nickels, Big Game Hunter Gary as Heathcliff Hamilton, Military Officer Randall as Montgomery Helmsworth, Librarian Jim as Roger Schindler, Alienist Rachael as Maude Throckmorton, Adventuress Download Subcription Options Podcast statistics

Drop us a text message to say hi and let us know what you think of the show. (Include your email if you'd like us to reply)In which John and David return to Jonah 3 and ponder the king of Nineveh's response. They trace the force of the word that strikes the king, explore sackcloth, fasting, and the language of turning (shuv), and reflect on a repentance that draws in people, animals, and even God's own merciful turning.Episode 226 of the Two Texts Podcast | Jonah Beyond the Whale 22If you want to get in touch about something in the podcast you can reach out on podcast@twotexts.com or by liking and following the Two Texts podcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you enjoy the podcast, we'd love it if you left a review or comment where you're listening from – and if you really enjoyed it, why not share it with a friend?Music by Woodford Music (c) 2021________Help us keep Two Texts free for everyone by becoming a supporter of the show John and David want to ensure that Two Texts always remains free content for everyone. We don't want to create a paywall or have premium content that would exclude others. However, Two Texts costs us around £60 per month (US$75; CAD$100) to make. If you'd like to support the show with even just a small monthly donation it would help ensure we can continue to produce the content that you love. Thank you so much.Support the show

Dealing with Depression: Finding Hope and Victory in the God of All Comfort    Depression is a profound heaviness of soul that the Scriptures describe with raw honesty. The Bible does not employ our modern clinical term, but it portrays the experience vividly: the spirit overwhelmed, the heart cast down, the bones troubled, the soul in despair, even the wish that life would end. Yet the same Word that records this darkness repeatedly declares that God draws near to the brokenhearted, that He is the lifter of the head, that His comfort abounds in affliction, and that joy comes in the morning. Throughout Scripture we see God's choicest servants pass through seasons of deep discouragement. Their stories are recorded not to magnify their weakness but to display God's faithfulness in the lowest places. By examining these lives, and by listening carefully to the voice of God in His Word, we discover divine principles for enduring and overcoming depression from a thoroughly biblical standpoint. I. Elijah: Despair After Victory The prophet Elijah stands as one of the clearest examples. In 1 Kings 18 he experienced one of the greatest public triumphs in redemptive history—fire falling from heaven on Mount Carmel, the prophets of Baal defeated, the people confessing that the Lord is God, and rain ending a three-and-a-half-year drought. Yet in chapter 19, a single threat from Jezebel sends him fleeing in fear and exhaustion. Hear the Word of the Lord in 1 Kings 19:3-4 (KJV): “And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” Elijah, the man who had just called down fire, now prays for death. He feels his labor has been in vain, that he is no better than his fathers, that everything is “enough.” This is the language of depression: exhaustion, hopelessness, isolation, and suicidal ideation. But observe God's tender response. Verses 5-8: “And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” God does not begin with rebuke. He begins with physical care—sleep, food, water—twice. The angel acknowledges the reality of Elijah's limitation: “the journey is too great for thee.” God remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14). When Elijah reaches Horeb, he repeats his complaint in verses 9-10: “And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” Depression distorts perspective. Elijah believes he is utterly alone. God gently corrects him in verse 18: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” Then God gives Elijah new work and a successor. God meets Elijah in his depression with physical provision, truthful perspective, renewed purpose, and the quiet whisper of His presence (verses 11-13). II. Job: Prolonged Suffering and Overwhelming Grief Few stories portray sustained depression more graphically than Job's. A righteous man suddenly stripped of wealth, children, and health, Job sits in ashes, scraping his sores, wishing he had never been born. Job 3:1-3, 11-13, 20-26 (KJV): “After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived… Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest… Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in? For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; but trouble cometh.” Job's anguish is physical, emotional, and spiritual. He cannot eat without sighing; anxiety and dread consume him. His friends' misguided counsel only deepens the wound. Yet through forty-two chapters God allows Job to pour out every complaint. God does not silence him. Finally, in chapters 38–41, the Lord speaks—not with easy answers, but with a revelation of His sovereign wisdom and power. Job's response in 42:5-6: “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Seeing God afresh brings repentance, humility, and eventual restoration. Job's depression lifts not when circumstances immediately improve, but when he encounters the majesty and goodness of God in a deeper way. III. David: The Psalms of the Cast-Down Soul No biblical figure gives us more transparent language for depression than David. The Psalms are filled with his cries from the depths. Psalm 42:1-11 (KJV): “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Notice David's pattern: honest lament (“my tears have been my meat,” “all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me”), self-exhortation (“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? … hope thou in God”), remembrance of God's past faithfulness, and confident expectation of future praise. Psalm 43 continues the same theme, ending with the identical refrain. Psalm 77 shows Asaph following the same path—remembering God's mighty deeds until hope revives. Psalm 88 is perhaps the darkest psalm, ending without explicit resolution on earth, yet still addressed to “LORD God of my salvation.” Even unresolved sorrow is brought to God. IV. Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophet Jeremiah's ministry spanned decades of rejection and judgment upon Judah. He is called “the weeping prophet” for good reason. Lamentations 3:1-20 (selected verses, KJV): “I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light… He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer… He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood… And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.” Jeremiah feels God has become his enemy, that prayer is blocked, that hope has perished. Yet in the very center of Lamentations comes one of the most hope-filled passages in Scripture, verses 21-26: “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.” Jeremiah preaches to himself the truth of God's character. Remembering God's steadfast love and faithfulness becomes the turning point. V. Other Examples: Moses, Hannah, Jonah, Paul Moses, burdened with leading a complaining people, cries in Numbers 11:11-15 (KJV): “And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? … I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.” God responds by sharing the burden with seventy elders and providing meat—practical help and companionship. Hannah, barren and provoked, is “in bitterness of soul” (1 Samuel 1:10). She pours out her soul before the Lord, and though her circumstances do not change immediately, “her countenance was no more sad” (1:18) after entrusting her grief to God. Jonah, angry at God's mercy to Nineveh, prays in Jonah 4:3 (KJV): “Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” God patiently teaches him through a plant, a worm, and a wind. Even the apostle Paul knew despair. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (KJV): “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” Paul's despair drove him deeper into dependence upon the God who raises the dead. VI. The Lord Jesus: Sorrow Without Sin Our Savior Himself entered into sorrow. In Gethsemane, Matthew 26:38 (KJV): “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” He sweat as it were great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Yet He submitted: “not my will, but thine, be done.” Hebrews 5:7 speaks of His “strong crying and tears.” Christ identifies with our weakness and intercedes for us as One touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). VII. God's Promises of Comfort and Deliverance The Scriptures abound with assurances: Psalm 34:17-19 (KJV): “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.” Isaiah 41:10 (KJV): “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (KJV): “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” Psalm 30:5 (KJV): “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” VIII. How Believers Today Can Deal with Depression and Gain Victory from a Biblical Standpoint The examples and promises above yield clear, scriptural pathways for fighting depression today: Bring every feeling honestly before God. The Psalms model unfiltered lament. Do not hide your despair; pour it out. God invites it and can handle it. Preach truth to yourself. Like David and Jeremiah, recall God's character, past faithfulness, and unchanging promises. Speak Scripture aloud when feelings contradict truth. Care for the body God gave you. Elijah's story reminds us that exhaustion, hunger, and isolation exacerbate depression. Sleep, nourishment, exercise, and medical care when needed are acts of stewardship, not lack of faith. Seek godly community. Elijah felt alone, but was not. Isolation feeds depression; fellowship counters it. Confess faults, bear burdens, receive prayer (James 5:16; Galatians 6:2). Fix your eyes on Christ. He endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). Our light affliction works an eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). The gospel assures us that nothing can separate us from God's love (Romans 8:38-39). Wait upon the Lord with hope. Seasons of darkness do not last forever. “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). Victory is not always immediate deliverance from the feeling of depression, but it is certain triumph through union with Christ. Even if the night lingers, the Morning Star has risen in our hearts (2 Peter 1:19). One day He will wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4). Until then, we walk by faith, anchored in the God who has never forsaken His own. The same God who sustained Elijah under the juniper tree, lifted Job from the ash heap, turned David's mourning into dancing, and carried Jeremiah through the furnace is your God. He is faithful. Hope in Him, and you shall yet praise Him, who is the health of your countenance and your God.

Skype of Cthulhu presents a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Curse of Nineveh by Mike Mason, Mark Latham, Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker, and Andrew Kenrick Switchboard. October, 1925 London The investigators uncover the reason for the crimes but the shadows are closing in around them. Dramatis Persone: Sean as the Keeper Edwin as Dame Agatha, Authoress Jonathan as Katherine "Kitty" Hall, Dilettante Steve as Connor Shaw, Archivist Max as Oswald Nickels, Big Game Hunter Gary as Heathcliff Hamilton, Military Officer Randall as Montgomery Helmsworth, Librarian Jim as Roger Schindler, Alienist Rachael as Maude Throckmorton, Adventuress Download Subcription Options Podcast statistics

Send us a textThis is our second episode in the series on fasting for 2026. John 3:3030 He must increase, but I must decrease.Psalm 35:1313 …I humbled myself with fasting;…Jonah 3:4-54 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.Exodus 32:88 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!' ”Deuteronomy 9:1818 …I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.Matthew 6:1616 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.1 Samuel 15:2222…Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,…Isaiah 58:6-76 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?Daniel 9:3So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting.Colossians 3:22 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Spending decisions aren't just financial—they reveal what, and whom, we value. That was the central insight Dr. Kelly Rush shared in today's conversation on Faith & Finance, where she unpacked the Old Testament story of Jonah through the lens of money and stewardship.Dr. Rush, Professor of Finance and Financial Planning at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, explained that Jonah's story isn't only about a prophet running from God. It's also a revealing case study in how financial choices often mirror the condition of the heart. Her core conviction is simple but challenging: every spending decision is a spiritual decision.According to Dr. Rush, money functions like a mirror. It reflects what we care about, what we trust, and what direction our hearts are moving. That principle, she noted, is woven throughout Scripture—and Jonah provides a surprisingly clear example.Many readers miss the fact that money appears twice in Jonah's short book. The first instance comes right at the beginning. When God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah runs in the opposite direction. Scripture tells us that he paid the fare to board a ship to Tarshish. Dr. Rush noted that this is one of the few passages in the Bible where the cost of travel is explicitly mentioned. The detail matters. Jonah didn't just flee spiritually—he financed his rebellion. Running from God came at a financial cost.That decision didn't affect Jonah alone. When God sent a storm, the sailors were forced to throw their valuable cargo overboard to save their lives. Dr. Rush emphasized that poor stewardship rarely stays contained. Our financial and spiritual misalignment often impacts others—families, churches, workplaces, and communities. At the same time, she noted, faithful stewardship creates ripple effects of blessing.The story then turns. In Jonah chapter two, inside the fish, Jonah repents. He cries out to God and vows obedience. This time, Dr. Rush explained, Jonah's “payment” isn't money but repentance and follow-through. When Jonah's heart is realigned, his response changes as well. Repentance redirects both priorities and spending.Dr. Rush connected that pattern to modern life. Faithful follow-through today, she said, looks like honoring a budget, keeping commitments to generosity, giving as worship rather than obligation, and acting with honesty and integrity in saving, investing, and repaying debt. These practices aren't merely financial—they're spiritual expressions of trust and obedience.Budgets, Dr. Rush explained, tell a story. They put dollars and cents to what we prioritize and reveal whether we're seeking God's Kingdom or quietly running from Him. That can be uncomfortable—but it's also hopeful. Jonah's story is full of second chances. God didn't give up on Jonah, and financial mistakes don't disqualify us either.Dr. Rush closed with a practical starting point: begin with prayer, intentionally place generosity at the top of the budget, invite wise counsel, and remember that spending decisions are always spiritual decisions. Money tells a story—but by God's grace, it can be a story shaped for His glory.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:When I think of investing, I think of putting money into something that helps it grow. If I buy a stock that doesn't pay dividends, it can feel more like a speculative bet—just hoping the price goes up. Even if I'm a passive investor and don't benefit until I sell, does owning that stock actually help the company grow in a meaningful way, making it more of an actual investment rather than a bet?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)Wisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on MoneyLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every workday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God's resources. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Skype of Cthulhu presents a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Curse of Nineveh by Mike Mason, Mark Latham, Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker, and Andrew Kenrick Switchboard. October, 1925 London The investigators continue to learn more about the recent crimes when they met a most unusual man. Dramatis Persone: Sean as the Keeper Edwin as Dame Agatha, Authoress Jonathan as Katherine "Kitty" Hall, Dilettante Steve as Connor Shaw, Archivist Max as Oswald Nickels, Big Game Hunter Gary as Heathcliff Hamilton, Military Officer Randall as Montgomery Helmsworth, Librarian Jim as Roger Schindler, Alienist Rachael as Maude Throckmorton, Adventuress Download Subcription Options Podcast statistics

What do you do when you're stuck, uncertain, or surrounded by resistance?In Ezra 8, God's people faced a dangerous journey with no clear path forward. Instead of relying on the easy solution, Ezra proclaimed a fast. The result was divine direction, supernatural protection, and breakthrough that could not have happened any other way.PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION for WORLD EVANGELISM:• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe for only $3/month on Supercast⁠: https://taking-the-land.supercast.com/⁠• ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe for only $3.99/month on Spotify⁠: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taking-the-land/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠• ⁠Subscribe for only $4.99/month on Apple Podcasts⁠: https://apple.co/4owjo5ZPreached by Pastor Paul Stephens in El Paso, TX, this message calls believers to rediscover fasting and prayer as more than a ritual. It is a spiritual weapon that provokes God's intervention.This sermon explores:• Why fasting accelerates breakthrough• How humility unlocks God's guidance• When fasting is necessary for deliverance• Why the Church must fast to fulfill its missionThis message was preached ahead of our fellowship-wide three-day fast and is especially relevant for anyone believing God for clarity, protection, restoration, or advancement.Chapters00:00 – Why Fasting Won't Kill You (Opening Illustration)01:05 – What Breakthrough Really Means02:25 – Provoking Divine Intervention03:46 – Ezra at the River Ahava05:15 – The Easy Solution vs God's Solution08:35 – Trusting God When Help Is Available10:36 – Why Believers Proclaim Fasts12:10 – Esther, Nineveh, and National Crisis13:55 – Humility: The Starting Point15:23 – Seeking God for Direction17:20 – Not Every Open Door Is God's Will19:48 – Fasting for Protection22:41 – Spiritual Warfare and Vigilance23:50 – Fasting for Deliverance26:10 – Fasting and the Mission of the Church26:56 – “And He Answered Our Prayer”27:47 – Why Fasting Gets God's Attention30:43 – Resetting Your Spiritual Life32:26 – Invitation to Join the Fast33:57 – The Gospel Call39:25 – Corporate Call to the AltarShow NotesALL PROCEEDS GO TO WORLD EVANGELISMLocate a CFM Church near you: https://cfmmap.orgWe need five-star reviews! Tell the world what you think about this podcast at: • Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://apple.co/3vy1s5b • Podchaser: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/taking-the-land-cfm-sermon-pod-43369v

The story of Jonah confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: we can know God deeply, serve Him faithfully, and still resist His call when it challenges our comfort or contradicts our prejudices. This message unpacks the tension between obedience and disobedience, revealing how Jonah—a prophet who knew God's character intimately—ran in the opposite direction when commanded to bring mercy to Nineveh, Israel's brutal enemy. We discover that Jonah's problem wasn't confusion about God's command; it was his inability to see God's goodness extending to people he deemed unworthy. The powerful question emerges: where are we choosing control over trust? What commands are we resisting because we don't see the benefit? The transformative insight here is that our disobedience doesn't just affect us—it costs others the opportunity to experience God's mercy. When we do things God's way, even uncomfortable things, we participate in results that transform entire cities. But when we cherry-pick which parts of God's mission we'll embrace, we shouldn't be surprised when we get human results instead of divine ones. This message challenges us to examine whether we're obeying God externally while resisting Him internally, and whether we've made God's grace selective rather than universal.

Skype of Cthulhu presents a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Curse of Nineveh by Mike Mason, Mark Latham, Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker, and Andrew Kenrick. October, 1925 London Some investigators learn more about the recent robberies while others speak with a victim of an attack. Dramatis Persone: Sean as the Keeper Edwin as Dame Agatha, Authoress Jonathan as Katherine "Kitty" Hall, Dilettante Steve as Connor Shaw, Archivist Max as Oswald Nickels, Big Game Hunter Gary as Heathcliff Hamilton, Military Officer Randall as Montgomery Helmsworth, Librarian Jim as Roger Schindler, Alienist Rachael as Maude Throckmorton, Adventuress Download Subcription Options Podcast statistics

Send us a textJonah had one job: Preach to the city of Nineveh. He paid for a one-way trip to Tarshish, about as far from Nineveh as you could get. But God had a way of getting His wayward prophet going the right way. Pick up your Bible or phone and turn to Jonah 4 to hear the story.This episode is based on the God's Word for Life, Winter 2025–2026, Adult Lesson Guide entitled, "The Prophet Jonah" (January 4, 2026).Find an Apostolic church that preaches this glorious gospel and our response at UPCI.orgThis episode is produced by the Pentecostal Resources Group and is hosted by LJ Harry. To order resources of the God's Word for Life curriculum, visitPentecostalPublishing.com and PentecostalResourcesGroup.com. Share your God's Word for Life stories with me at pphcurriculum@upci.org.

Skype of Cthulhu presents a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Curse of Nineveh by Mike Mason, Mark Latham, Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker, and Andrew Kenrick. October, 1925 London Theodore Price comes to the investigators with a mysterious crime wave while Agatha experiences strange dreams. Dramatis Persone: Sean as the Keeper Edwin as Dame Agatha, Authoress Jonathan as Katherine "Kitty" Hall, Dilettante Steve as Connor Shaw, Archivist Max as Oswald Nickels, Big Game Hunter Gary as Heathcliff Hamilton, Military Officer Randall as Montgomery Helmsworth, Librarian Jim as Roger Schindler, Alienist Rachael as Maude Throckmorton, Adventuress Download Subcription Options Podcast statistics

In this episode, we finish our Advent journey in Jonah 4:1-11. In this chapter, we have an opportunity to see Jonah's response to God's mercy on Nineveh. Together we discuss Jonah's feelings of resentment towards both Nineveh and God, and how God uses the circumstances around Jonah to hold up a mirror to Jonah, functioning to expose Jonah's heart and working towards transformation into God's likeness. From this we identified that when we direct our focus and attention to Jesus, in the midst of our pain and hurt, He can help us move beyond that pain as we open up the space for Jesus to fill us with His hope, peace, joy, and love, regardless of what has happened to us.

Skype of Cthulhu presents a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Curse of Nineveh by Mike Mason, Mark Latham, Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker, and Andrew Kenrick. July, 1925 London The investigators learn more about the recenter murders and manage to turn the tables on their shadows. Dramatis Persone: Sean as the Keeper Edwin as Dame Agatha, Authoress Jonathan as Katherine "Kitty" Hall, Dilettante Steve as Connor Shaw, Archivist Max as Oswald Nickels, Big Game Hunter Gary as Heathcliff Hamilton, Military Officer Randall as Montgomery Helmsworth, Librarian Jim as Roger Schindler, Alienist Rachael as Maude Throckmorton, Adventuress Download Subcription Options Podcast statistics

Jonah 2025 Jonah 1:1 NIV   1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:     Jonah 1:2-3 NIV   2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.     Psalm 139:7-12 NIV   Where can I go from your Spirit?   Where can I flee from your presence?   8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.   9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,   if I settle on the far side of the sea,   10 even there your hand will guide me,   your right hand will hold me fast.   11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me   and the light become night around me,"   12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;   the night will shine like the day,   for darkness is as light to you.       Jonah 1:4-17 NIV   4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god.   And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish."   7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" 9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."   10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) 11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?" 12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, "Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.   17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.       Jonah 2:1-10 NIV   2 1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:   "In my distress I called to the Lord,   and he answered me.   From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,   and you listened to my cry.   3 You hurled me into the depths,   into the very heart of the seas,   and the currents swirled about me;   all your waves and breakers   swept over me.   4 I said, 'I have been banished   from your sight;   yet I will look again   toward your holy temple.'   5 The engulfing waters threatened me,   the deep surrounded me;   seaweed was wrapped around my head.   6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;   the earth beneath barred me in forever.   But you, Lord my God,   brought my life up from the pit.   7 "When my life was ebbing away,   I remembered you, Lord,   and my prayer rose to you,   to your holy temple.   8 "Those who cling to worthless idols   turn away from God's love for them.   9 But I, with shouts of grateful praise,   will sacrifice to you.   What I have vowed I will make good.   I will say, 'Salvation comes from the Lord.'"   10 And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.       Jonah 3:1-5 NIV   3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."   3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. YAY! Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown."   5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.       Jonah 3:6-10 NIV   6 When Jonah's warning 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.   7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:   "By the decree of the king and his nobles:   Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."   10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.       Jonah 4:1-3 NIV   4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, "Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."       Jonah 4:4-11 NIV   4 But the Lord replied, "Is it right for you to be angry?"   5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."   9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?"   "It is," he said. "And I'm so angry I wish I were dead."   10 But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?"      

In this episode we carry on into Jonah 3:1-10 (again the entire chapter). Finally, here in Jonah 3, we see both Jonah's obedience as he arrives in Nineveh and shares the message from God and the response of the Ninevites. Together we talk about the miracles of obedience, belief, repentance, humility, and salvation found throughout this chapter. We reflect on God's loving nature as the God of second chances and examine the depth and completeness of Nineveh's repentance. Ultimately, we recognize that as people sent by God, our calling is not to condemn, but to offer salvation to those around us through Christ.

Around 170 years ago, British archaeologist Sir Austin Henry Layard excavated much of Assyrian King Sennacherib's palace in ancient Nineveh. In the royal throne room, there stood a stunning 3-meter-high carving of a majestic city that was utterly unique in all of Sennacherib's reliefs. Atop the tallest tower in the city was one individual holding up a royal standard. Could this be a depiction of ancient Jerusalem and could the lone figure be Judah's King Hezekiah, of whom Sennacherib boasted that he besieged as a “bird in a cage.” Revealed: A 2,700-Year-Old Depiction of Jerusalem and King Hezekiah

Jonah 1:1–3, 11-12[1] Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, [2] “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” [3] But Jonah rose to 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. (ESV)[11] Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. [12] He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” (ESV)

Welcome to Wellspring Church!In this message, Pastor Billy Waters invites us into the tension and beauty of the Fourth Sunday of Advent by turning to the surprising ending of the book of Jonah. Rather than a neat resolution, Jonah 4 leaves us with a question—one that exposes our hearts and God's expansive mercy.Jonah is angry that God shows compassion to Nineveh, and God gently confronts him: Is it right for you to be angry?Through this exchange, we see how easy it is to celebrate God's grace for ourselves while resisting it for others. Advent, Pastor Billy reminds us, prepares us not just to receive Jesus, but to be transformed by the wideness of His mercy.

Continuation of teaching on the judgment of Nineveh by the LORD GOD due to their ungodliness.  Scriptural referenceL Nahum 3:1-6

The entire book of Jonah hinges upon a single concept: God's mercy. The Hebrew word hesed (chesed) is at the focal point of Jonah, and if we miss the depth and importance of this concept, we will miss why Jonah is so rebellious to preach to Nineveh. In this study, Nathan walks through Scripture discussing the mercy and lovingkindness of God, why this attribute is at the heart of God, and what it means for our lives today.------------» Take these studies deeper and be discipled in person by Nathan, Eric, Leslie, and the team at Ellerslie in one of our upcoming discipleship programs – learn more at: https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/» Receive our free “Five Keys to Walking Through Difficulty” PDF by going to: https://ellerslie.com/subscribe/» For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/daily» If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/» Discover more Christ-centered teaching and resources from Nathan Johnson that will help you grow spiritually by checking out his website at: https://deeperchristian.com/

Apologies for my voice and the lack of graphics. Been sick again and barely got this out today.Episode 179 examines the founding, construction, abandonment, and rediscovery of Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad), the short-lived royal capital built by Sargon II of Assyria in the late eighth century BCE. The narrative begins with the history of early Mesopotamian excavation through the career of Paul-Émile Botta, whose 1843–1844 work near Mosul and Khorsabad helped inaugurate Assyriology and introduced Europe to monumental Assyrian palace architecture, relief sculpture, and royal inscriptions. The episode follows Botta's unusual path into Near Eastern exploration, placing his expeditionary background within wider nineteenth-century networks of travel, collecting, and emerging archaeological method, and contrasts the French discoveries at Khorsabad with the subsequent British excavations associated with Austen Henry Layard at Kalhu and Nineveh.From this modern historiographical prelude, the episode turns back to 717 BCE and reconstructs Dur-Sharrukin as an ideological and administrative project of empire. It discusses the city's location, scale, labor regime, deportee settlement, and the programmatic symbolism of a purpose-built capital dedicated to the “true king.” Particular attention is given to the citadel complex—palace, temples, and ziggurat—alongside the logistical systems required to sustain rapid construction, long-distance procurement of materials, and the production of large-scale court art such as lamassu guardians and carved orthostats. The episode also engages changing archaeological interpretations of the site, including how later excavations and recent geophysical survey have revised older claims that the city was never fully completed or inhabited by demonstrating a substantial lower town and more complex occupational history.The final section addresses the political and religious implications of Sargon II's death in 705 BCE and the resulting abandonment of the city under Sennacherib, framing Dur-Sharrukin as a case study in the relationship between royal charisma, omen interpretation, and the volatility of capital cities in the Neo-Assyrian world. In doing so, the episode situates Dur-Sharrukin within broader Near Eastern patterns of state power, forced migration, monumental construction, and the archaeological afterlives of imperial projects.I am also doing daily history facts again, at least until I run out of time again. You can find Oldest Stories daily on Tiktok and Youtube Shorts.If you like the show, consider sharing with your friends, leaving a like, subscribing, or even supporting financially:Buy the Oldest Stories books: https://a.co/d/7Wn4jhSDonate here: https://oldeststories.net/or on patreon: https://patreon.com/JamesBleckleyor on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCG2tPxnHNNvMd0VrInekaA/joinYoutube and Patreon members get access to bonus content about Egyptian culture and myths.

Skype of Cthulhu presents a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Curse of Nineveh by Mike Mason, Mark Latham, Scott Dorward, Paul Fricker, and Andrew Kenrick. July, 1925 London A visit to the British Museum yields new clues while an interview with a surviving member of the expedition suggests danger is shadowing the team. Dramatis Persone: Sean as the Keeper Edwin as Dame Agatha, Authoress Jonathan as Katherine "Kitty" Hall, Dilettante Steve as Connor Shaw, Archivist Max as Oswald Nickels, Big Game Hunter Gary as Heathcliff Hamilton, Military Officer Randall as Montgomery Helmsworth, Librarian Jim as Roger Schindler, Alienist Rachael as Maude Throckmorton, Adventuress Download Subcription Options Podcast statistics

Welcome to Wellspring Church!In this message, Pastor David Norris invites us into Jonah chapter 3, where we see what happens when God's word finally breaks through hardened hearts—and how real repentance always begins with conviction.Jonah's message to Nineveh is short and uncomfortable, yet God uses it to awaken an entire city. Pastor David reminds us that repentance isn't about surface-level remorse or religious behavior; it's about being cut to the heart by the Spirit of God and turning fully toward Him. When we respond with humility, God meets us not with destruction, but with mercy.

Drop us a text message to say hi and let us know what you think of the show. (Include your email if you'd like us to reply)In which John and David reflect some more on Jonah's bewildering sermon, its response, and the mysterious work of the Spirit in both preaching and hearing. We explore humility in proclamation, the difference between talking and true preaching, sackcloth and repentance, memory as yearning, and why Nineveh's response reveals far more about God than about Jonah.Episode 225 of the Two Texts Podcast | Jonah Beyond the Whale 21If you want to get in touch about something in the podcast you can reach out on podcast@twotexts.com or by liking and following the Two Texts podcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you enjoy the podcast, we'd love it if you left a review or comment where you're listening from – and if you really enjoyed it, why not share it with a friend?Music by Woodford Music (c) 2021________Help us keep Two Texts free for everyone by becoming a supporter of the show John and David want to ensure that Two Texts always remains free content for everyone. We don't want to create a paywall or have premium content that would exclude others. However, Two Texts costs us around £60 per month (US$75; CAD$100) to make. If you'd like to support the show with even just a small monthly donation it would help ensure we can continue to produce the content that you love. Thank you so much.Support the show

The greatest revival recorded in Scripture is found in Jonah 3—the entire city of Nineveh repents and turns to God. In this study, we examine Jonah's second commission, the response of Nineveh, God's mercy to Nineveh's repentance, and conclude with five practical thoughts for what it means for us today. This is the heart and climax of what God wanted Jonah to do, and the outcome was far more than anyone could have expected.------------» Take these studies deeper and be discipled in person by Nathan, Eric, Leslie, and the team at Ellerslie in one of our upcoming discipleship programs – learn more at: https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/» Receive our free “Five Keys to Walking Through Difficulty” PDF by going to: https://ellerslie.com/subscribe/» For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/daily» If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/» Discover more Christ-centered teaching and resources from Nathan Johnson that will help you grow spiritually by checking out his website at: https://deeperchristian.com/

Thoughts on the Bible Readings December 11th (Job 13; Nahum 3; 1 Peter 1)In chapter 13 Job concludes his answer to Zophar with the response that, despite what he has suffered, he will continue to place his hope in God. Job tells us that his friends have not helped his understanding. Job will, if possible, put his case before the Almighty. You, he says to his friends, are happy with appearances and not with actualities. Don't pretend, Job continues, that you know enough to speak for the LORD. Verse 15 is a wonderful confession of Job's - "though He slay me, I will hope in Him" (ESV). Job says that he will only keep silent after he has put his case to his Sovereign. All you, my so called, friends want to do is to make me your enemy in the mistaken view that I am a wrong doer.The third chapter of Nahum is a woe directed against Nineveh. The first 4 verses describe the panic and loathsome chaotic mess within the city of Nineveh. The prophet, speaking under God's inspiration, declares the Father's contempt towards the Assyrians. Your empire, says Nahum, was of no greater importance than the recently overthrown strongholds of the Egyptian empire. Nineveh's doom would be the same as that of the mighty Egyptians. Nineveh will be like a staggering drunk attempting to flee, and their fortresses of no more use than a fig tree. The soldiers of Nineveh are compared to helpless women. Ironically, the prophet tells the Ninevites to draw water and that any of the fortifications for the siege are useless. The multitude of Nineveh's military are likened to cold grasshoppers in a hedge (3verses17). Nineveh's shepherds sleep and none will rouse them for the coming contest.

Today's Word for the Day is "NINEVEH" If you listen to Word for the Day on audio and have never checked out the video, you can do so on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/@fbmmediastudios. To receive your Word for the Day by e-mail, go to http://fbmaryville.org/wordfortheday to sign up.+  

Today we come to one of the most fascinating times in the history of the kingdom of Judah, an amazing king who does amazing things by the power of an amazing God. But first we take a look at King Ahaz who ruled from 731-715 BC. In 2 Kings 16:2-3 we read that Ahaz did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He followed the ways of other kings, even sacrificing his son in the fire. King Ahaz     ⁃    Finds himself under attack by Pekah and Rezin     ⁃    Discovers there is a price to pay when you turn your back on the Living God     ⁃    Seeks help from the Assyrians - Assyria was a massive growing super power.     ⁃    Then God brings a rebuke through the prophet Isaiah (a most effective and influential prophet) but Ahaz refuses to listen.     ⁃    Ahaz continues to turn away from God and desecrated the Temple of God as he continues to rebel against God.     ⁃    His rebellion brings sadness and tragedy and he continues to suffer military attacks. During Ahaz's reign in Judah, we read in 2 Kings 17:5-6 that Israel is defeated by the Assyrians after a 3 year siege. At the end of Ahaz's reign we see that in spite of the faithlessness of God's people, God remains faithful.  The next king of Judah is one of the best. King Hezekiah is Ahaz's son and Hezakiah rules 715-686 BC. King Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 2 Kings 18:3.   King Hezekiah     ⁃    In the first month of the first year of his reign he had the Temple cleansed. 2 Chronicles 29:3-5     ⁃    Then Hezekiah holds a national Passover celebration inviting all of Israel and Judah. They had a 2 week Passover celebration. 2 Chronicles 30:1.     ⁃    Hezekiah destroys the sacred stones, high places and Asherah poles and also brakes into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had used to God's glory but that had become an idol of the Israelites who had been burning incense to it. 2 Kings 18:4      ⁃    Hezekiah is facing the enemy of Assyria as they are coming to conquer Jerusalem and so in 2 Kings 20:20 we read that he built a tunnel and a pool. In the 1880's the Siloam Inscription was discovered. It tells the story of the building of the tunnel. Hezekiah built this tunnel to ensure there would be water when under siege by the Assyrian army by diverting the Gehon spring into Jerusalem leaving no fresh water available to the Assyrian army.      ⁃    Then the siege begins against Jerusalem. 2 Kings 18:28-29 the king's commander, speaking in Hebrew, calls out that the king of Assyria says that Hezekiah has deceived you because he will not be able to deliver you from me and my army. The king of Assyria is trying to get the people in Jerusalem to just give up.     ⁃    Then Hezekiah prays a beautiful prayer - 2 Kings 19:15-16 and God listens and the King of Assyria is defeated by God Himself. 2 Kings 19:35-36. The Assyrians withdraw and return to Nineveh and the siege is ended.     ⁃    Then Hezekiah becomes very ill to the point of death. Isaiah comes to Hezekiah to tell him to put his house in order. Hezekiah weeps and prays and God sees Hezekiah's tears and hears his prayer and God heals him. 2 Kings 20:1-5      ⁃    Hezekiah is visited by the Babylonians, a rising power that will ultimately defeat the Assyrians. 2 Kings 20:13 we read of Hezekiah being tempted by pride. The prophet Isaiah then brings a word to Hezekiah telling him that everything you just showed off to the Babylonians will be taken by Babylonians. Hezekiah repents.     ⁃    The prophets Micah and Isaiah were very active during Hezekiah's reign.     ⁃    Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings the nation had ever known. 2 Kings 18:5-6 tells us that Hezekiah trusted the Lord, that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, both before and after him, that Hezekiah held fast to the Lord and did not stop following God and that he kept the commands of the Lord. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. View live or on demand: https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

In Job 12 we have a continuation of his response to Zophar. This chapter tells us Job accepts that all that has happened to him is from the Almighty (Shaddai - a Hebrew word which expresses two different aspects of God's character - it means "the destroyers" and also, "the nourishers"). In chapter 42verses11 we are told that Job's suffering was from God. Job starts chapter 12 with supreme sarcasm, "No doubt you (my 3 friends) are the people, and wisdom will die with you" ESV verse 1; i.e. you're know-alls so why should I, Job, bother talking to you. Can't you see the wicked also prospering, he contends. In verse 10 we have another Hebrew parallelism i.e. the first expression meaningfully correlates to the second - the life of the beasts equates to the breath of humanity (Ecclesiastes 3verses19).Nahum was an Elkoshite from the southern kingdom of Judah. His name means "comfort" (a similar idea to the "parakletos" - Comforter of the New Testament). Jesus made Capernaum (city of comfort, or consolation) his base of operations in Galilee. The comfort of the prophecy of Nahum was that Judah's oppressor would be dealt with by the Almighty. The book was written between 624 AD and612 AD when Nineveh was overthrown by Babylon. As Egyptian power declined from the middle of the 7th century BC Assyria rose to prominence. Firstly, Nineveh and then Babylon assumed the dominant position in the threatening Assyrian development. Then in 612 BC Babylon conquered Nineveh and she no longer had a rival. Judah rejoiced for although the Babylonians, who God would bring against them in His chastisement, were exceedingly cruel they were more humane than their Ninevite brothers. Chapter 1 of Nahum deals with the Almighty's wrath against Nineveh. Verse 2 describes God's jealousy - Nineveh had been the nation who had brought the LORD's punishment upon God's guilty people. But the Assyrians had delighted in the cruelty meted out on Israel. Israel's Sovereign demonstrated His power over nature. When Yahweh is aroused to judge who can withstand His might. But after chastisement has been given our Potentate will compassionately pardon His people and destroy their oppressors. Chapter 2 details the destruction of Nineveh. All of Nineveh's powerful defenders and defences would be useless against the coming Babylonian onslaught. The panic within Nineveh is graphically portrayed. Colourful and emotional language describes the chaos experienced by the Ninevites. The den of the former ravening lion has itself become plundered.

Nahum is the sequel to the book of Jonah. Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh, was exceptionally bloodthirsty and evil. The repentance there under Jonah was unprecedented and never repeated anywhere. God used Nahum to predict the total destruction of the city which returned to wickedness: Nahum 1:1 (LSB): "The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite." From the few things Nahum writes which allow us to zero in on the timing, it appears it was only 20 to 50 years from Nahum's prophecy until the total destruction of Nineveh. There's nothing complicated in Nahum, just the sober and straightforward word from God that He was going to judge the evil nation Assyria and her capital Nineveh for idolatry and cruelty. The repentance of the Ninevites was genuine–Jesus Himself said so. But alas, as majestic as was the glory of God's grace showered upon Nineveh in the days of Jonah, genuine faith in the true God waned in the following generations. Old patterns resurfaced. Assyria crumbled from within because they spurned God and forfeited His blessings. It's interesting that God didn't tell Jonah what was ultimately going to happen to Nineveh. God knew all about it, but it wasn't Jonah's place to know. Remember that! Living by faith does not come with details about what's going to happen. You need to seek God's wisdom, make your choices, and trust Him to work through them. God does not owe you explanations. The opening line in the trailer to the movie sequel to Jonah would be "Nahum: God's Vengeance" if not "Nineveh: The Sequel." 1 - Wrath Is Poured Out Like Fire (Ch 1) 2 - Behold, I Am Against You (Ch 2) 3 - Your Wound Is Incurable (Ch 3)

In this episode we explore the Advent theme of Hope. while working through Jonah 1:1-8. This passage explores Jonah fleeing from God's call, and the great storm that Jonah encounters. From our conversation on Jonah 1:1–8, we see that Jonah's limited understanding of God's presence may have shaped his reluctance to respond to God's call. Believing he could escape God, Jonah attempted to flee from the Lord's presence. Yet the hope in this passage is unmistakable: God is ever-present, and God pursues. God pursued Nineveh through Jonah, and God pursued Jonah through the storm. Just as God sought to draw near to Nineveh by inviting Jonah to participate in restoring their relationship through his prophecy, God still desires to draw near to all people today. The question, then, is this: Are we willing to answer God's call in our own lives and allow ourselves to be instruments of relational restoration?

“The Lord is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and rage. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and continues to rage against his enemies! The Lord is slow to get angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished.” - Nahum 1:2-3The book of Nahum, the 34th book of the Old Testament, is somewhat a companion to Jonah. When we read Jonah, we saw God send Jonah to Nineveh to repent of their ways and, what do you know, they did! Well Nahum picks up a little while later and we see Nineveh has gone back to their old ways and Nahum is now foretelling God's judgment on Assyria and its capitol, Nineveh. Nahum isn't long, it's only three chapters, so you may be wondering, “How on earth is this episode on Nahum an hour and twenty minutes long?” Don't let Nahum's length fool you - it is an incredibly rich portrait of who God is and, specifically, his relationship to evil. To help us navigate the book of Nahum is Dr. Thomas Renz, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Oak Hill Theological College in London and author of a commentary on Nahum. In this conversation, Dr. Renz takes us deep in the heart of Nahum - I reckon you can't get a better overview of this book anywhere else. Doable Discipleship is a Saddleback Church podcast produced and hosted by Jason Wieland. It premiered in 2017 and now offers more than 450 episodes. Episodes release every Tuesday on your favorite podcast app and on the Saddleback Church YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/saddleback).Subscribe to the Doable Discipleship podcast at Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/doable-discipleship/id1240966935) or Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/1Zc9nuwQZOLadbFCZCmZ1V)Related Doable Discipleship Episodes: Navigating the Bible: Micah - https://youtu.be/Tcm3HykhkS8Navigating the Bible: Jonah - https://youtu.be/PxhIyhLSgJQNavigating the Bible: Obadiah - https://youtu.be/jB6W-TM5Y-oNavigating the Bible: Amos - https://youtu.be/8DqVHu7leDUNavigating the Bible: Joel - https://youtu.be/Ilg6r300q4UNavigating the Bible: Hosea - https://youtu.be/nWZ4TuAUSRQNavigating the Bible: Daniel - https://youtu.be/bnQ-PioWxfgNavigating the Bible: Ezekiel - https://youtu.be/hlg6gBYxqsgNavigating the Bible: Lamentations - https://youtu.be/6rrizlXeYXENavigating the Bible: Jeremiah - https://youtu.be/lXPjWl8PdRkNavigating the Bible: Isaiah - https://youtu.be/NZJLaPkgEgsNavigating the Bible: Song of Songs - https://youtu.be/Sg0CYlNBVMgNavigating the Bible: Ecclesiastes - https://youtu.be/-Wr7LCh8F9ENavigating the Bible: Proverbs - https://youtu.be/DytRT5AsZg8Navigating the Bible: Psalms - https://youtu.be/oZeesooAYUINavigating the Bible: Job - https://youtu.be/14jaf2T1eCQNavigating the Bible: Esther - https://youtu.be/7RZ7ATWQZucNavigating the Bible: Nehemiah - https://youtu.be/Gok4WDgwn5INavigating the Bible: Ezra - https://youtu.be/aBC0nEjYeyoNavigating the Bible: 2 Chronicles - https://youtu.be/OG3rHTgMgEINavigating the Bible: 1 Chronicles - https://youtu.be/lQ_Qc4zbfgANavigating the Bible: 2 Kings - https://youtu.be/04q9gDhBKTkNavigating the Bible: 1 Kings - https://youtu.be/aS-KoeQXl2kNavigating the Bible: 2 Samuel - https://youtu.be/ZbpafGgOW7cNavigating the Bible: 1 Samuel - https://youtu.be/lY8wPElSFMYNavigating the Bible: Rute - https://youtu.be/YaH-t-ZzTaMNavigating the Bible: Judges - https://youtu.be/qNGcOf2o0NUNavigating the Bible: Joshua - https://youtu.be/hF28aThBtFsNavigating the Bible: Deuteronomy - https://youtu.be/HzmNgPOM4zUNavigating the Bible: Numbers - https://youtu.be/H1HO6V9HDxsNavigating the Bible: Leviticus - https://youtu.be/08RhDCXYex4Navigating the Bible: Exodus - https://youtu.be/NB9UTpS1F3MNavigating the Bible: Genesis - https://youtu.be/ddhjMfOoasAInspiring Dreams by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoonMusic promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/Creative Commons CC BY 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Thoughts on the Bible Readings December 3rd (Job 3, 4; Jonah 4; Hebrews 10)The initial suffering of Job is intensified in chapters 3-41 as we are told of his education. Following the drift of the conversations and the unfolding drama in Job can be complex. Recommended reading to assist the above is available from CSSS -"The Education of Job" by David Baird. In chapter 3 Job is in such despair that he mourns his birth. Surely many of us have been there at some time in our life, but we should never lose hope - when we cannot help ourselves, God can and is willing and waiting for us to commit ourselves to Him in continual prayer. If it wasn't for the pathetic situation Job found himself in, the imagery and poetry is magnificent. One after another the metaphors of his tragedy are multiplied. Job 3verses13-19 tell us that in death people are unconscious and are as though they had never existed. From verses 20-26 the question is asked, "Would it have been better to have never existed, than to be enlightened and find oneself in the condition that Job now found himself?" Job 4 is about the response of Eliphaz who most likely was the eldest of Job's friends. The great error of his discourse that was widely believed at this time was, that God pays back people swiftly for their actions - right, or wrong. It is known as the doctrine of exact retribution. So, the argument of Eliphaz is that the innocent never suffer. And since you, Job, are suffering you must be guilty. Verse 7 is the key to Eliphaz's discourse. From verse 8 to the chapter's end Eliphaz says, this is what I have found in my experience. The record of the book of Job is not an endorsement of the beliefs of any of the friends. It is simply a record of what was said among them. In chapter 4 several of Eliphaz's views supposed spiritual views on the spiritual world are found to be false.Jonah 4 concludes the book with the mission, which God gave him, being accomplished. Yet Yahweh must still teach the prophet some important lessons. In those lessons we find a great contrast between our God's compassion and the prophet's anger. Jonah, still the great patriot who knew what God would bring upon guilty Israel through the Assyrians, said to his Sovereign, I should not have done what you asked, since You are true to Your revealed character. God now will re-educate His prophet. Jonah left the city in a bad mood brooding on what would follow. The temperature intensely rose and Jonah's misery increased. And so, Yahweh in His kindness caused a gourd grow to rapidly and shade the prophet. Jonah was thankful for this. But then, just as quickly a grub destroyed the gourd. Jonah was outraged and complained to God, who told the prophet that the Almighty had worked two miracles, as was His right, to teach Jonah that Assyria was God's and did not belong to the prophet. Even the animals of Nineveh were under God's care. Today, the modern city of Mosul is built on the site of ancient Nineveh. The Taliban constructed massive tunnels beneath the city. And though there is no record of where Jonah went, or what he did, after the book's end, archaeologists have found beneath the city of Nineveh a tomb with the inscription, "Nabi Yonas" (i.e. the prophet Jonah). So, it appears the lessons were learnt and the prophet continued to labour preaching God's Word to the Assyrians.

He was a Galilean of the tribe of Simeon. The Old Testament book that bears his name foretells the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, by the Medes, and the restoration of the Kingdom of Judah; all of this came to pass. Nahum is counted as the seventh of the Minor Prophets. He reposed in peace. His name means 'consolation' or 'repose.'   Five of the Prophets (Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Daniel) are commemorated in December. At one time a Feast of the Twelve Prophets was celebrated on December 4 at the Church of the Resurrection, but this feast is no longer on the calendar. The days leading up to Christ's Nativity contain many commemorations of the faithful remnant of Israel, all of whose hopes were fulfilled in the birth of the Messiah.

He was a Galilean of the tribe of Simeon. The Old Testament book that bears his name foretells the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, by the Medes, and the restoration of the Kingdom of Judah; all of this came to pass. Nahum is counted as the seventh of the Minor Prophets. He reposed in peace. His name means 'consolation' or 'repose.'   Five of the Prophets (Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Daniel) are commemorated in December. At one time a Feast of the Twelve Prophets was celebrated on December 4 at the Church of the Resurrection, but this feast is no longer on the calendar. The days leading up to Christ's Nativity contain many commemorations of the faithful remnant of Israel, all of whose hopes were fulfilled in the birth of the Messiah.

Throughout the book of Jonah God reveals His character to us. He demonstrates His sovereignty and proves His love is for all people everywhere. He taught us of the greatness of His mercy and the lengths He will go to prove His love to those who don't deserve it. For those of us who know God's mercy and have benefited from it, how can we do any less than treat others the way God treats us! --- God wants all people everywhere to know His great love for them. And long before the Great Commission was given to the church, God chose a prophet named Jonah to tell people in Nineveh about God's amazing grace. Jonah knew God was merciful and initially responded in disobedience by not bringing God's message to a people he saw as his enemy. Throughout this sermon series we will see how God gives second chances, demonstrates His compassion, and proves His love for all people everywhere.

1. His Rebellion2. His Affliction3. His MissionToday's sermon explored the life of Jonah and the consequences of running from God's calling. Through Jonah's journey—from his rebellion and flight to Tarshish, through his affliction in the belly of the fish, to his eventual mission in Nineveh—we saw how sin always costs us more than we want to pay and takes us farther than we want to go. Yet we also witnessed God's incredible mercy, not only toward the wicked people of Nineveh, but also toward His rebellious servant. This message challenges us to examine our own lives: Are we sleeping while storms rage around us? Are we running from God's clear calling? And do we care more about our own comfort than the eternal destiny of lost souls?Takeaways:- God's call is clear and direct, but obedience is our choice. Just as God told Jonah to "Arise, go to Nineveh," He has called each of us with a higher purpose. We must ask ourselves: Who has chartered our course? Are we sailing toward God's priorities or our own?- Running from God always leads downward, and sin will cost us. Jonah paid the fare, went down into the ship, and descended into the belly of the fish. When we rebel against God's calling, we always go down—spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. The good news is that God's mercies are new every morning, and He is the God of second chances.- Our concern for souls should outweigh our concern for comfort. Jonah cared more about a plant that gave him shade than 120,000 people who escaped eternal judgment. We must examine our hearts: Do we have urgency to reach the lost and lonely with the message of hope, or are we more focused on our own convenience and comfort?As we move forward this week, let's commit to listening to God's voice, responding to His calling with urgency, and extending His love and mercy to those around us who desperately need to hear the Gospel.

1. His Rebellion2. His Affliction3. His MissionToday's sermon explored the life of Jonah and the consequences of running from God's calling. Through Jonah's journey—from his rebellion and flight to Tarshish, through his affliction in the belly of the fish, to his eventual mission in Nineveh—we saw how sin always costs us more than we want to pay and takes us farther than we want to go. Yet we also witnessed God's incredible mercy, not only toward the wicked people of Nineveh, but also toward His rebellious servant. This message challenges us to examine our own lives: Are we sleeping while storms rage around us? Are we running from God's clear calling? And do we care more about our own comfort than the eternal destiny of lost souls?Takeaways:- God's call is clear and direct, but obedience is our choice. Just as God told Jonah to "Arise, go to Nineveh," He has called each of us with a higher purpose. We must ask ourselves: Who has chartered our course? Are we sailing toward God's priorities or our own?- Running from God always leads downward, and sin will cost us. Jonah paid the fare, went down into the ship, and descended into the belly of the fish. When we rebel against God's calling, we always go down—spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. The good news is that God's mercies are new every morning, and He is the God of second chances.- Our concern for souls should outweigh our concern for comfort. Jonah cared more about a plant that gave him shade than 120,000 people who escaped eternal judgment. We must examine our hearts: Do we have urgency to reach the lost and lonely with the message of hope, or are we more focused on our own convenience and comfort?As we move forward this week, let's commit to listening to God's voice, responding to His calling with urgency, and extending His love and mercy to those around us who desperately need to hear the Gospel.

Welcome to Wellspring Church!On this first Sunday of Advent, Pastor Billy Waters invites us to begin the season with a heart check—not merely preparing for Christmas, but preparing our hearts for the second coming of Christ. Walking through Jonah 1, he shows how the prophet's reluctance exposes the gap between knowing God's heart and actually sharing it with the world.Jonah is called to preach to Nineveh, a violent enemy of Israel, yet he runs—fast and far. Not out of simple fear, Pastor Billy explains, but because Jonah knows God is merciful… and he doesn't want that mercy extended to people he considers undeserving. Even still, God's mercy moves relentlessly: toward pagans, toward enemies, toward stubborn prophets who would rather drown than obey.

Drop us a text message to say hi and let us know what you think of the show. (Include your email if you'd like us to reply)In which John and David explore Jonah's five-word sermon, noticing how its brevity holds layers of meaning and ambiguity. We reflect on the tension between judgment and invitation, the dual possibilities within the word “overturned,” and the surprising breadth of compassion revealed in God's dealings with Nineveh. We trace how the sermon's grammar, its echoes across scripture, and Jonah's own desires shape the message, and how Nineveh's response becomes a lesson in hearing God rightly. Together we consider the complexity of prophecy, the nature of repentance, and the character of a God who overturns in order to restore.Episode 223 of the Two Texts Podcast | Jonah Beyond the Whale 19If you want to get in touch about something in the podcast you can reach out on podcast@twotexts.com or by liking and following the Two Texts podcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you enjoy the podcast, we'd love it if you left a review or comment where you're listening from – and if you really enjoyed it, why not share it with a friend?Music by Woodford Music (c) 2021________Help us keep Two Texts free for everyone by becoming a supporter of the show John and David want to ensure that Two Texts always remains free content for everyone. We don't want to create a paywall or have premium content that would exclude others. However, Two Texts costs us around £60 per month (US$75; CAD$100) to make. If you'd like to support the show with even just a small monthly donation it would help ensure we can continue to produce the content that you love. Thank you so much.Support the show

Book of Jonah, Pt. 5 – A Pitiful Prophet and a God of PityJonah 4:5-11 | King's Chapel Live StreamJonah's story ends with one of the most honest and revealing moments in the book. Jonah sits outside the city, angry, uncomfortable, and waiting to see what God will do. His heart is exposed for what it is: frustrated when God shows mercy and pleased only when his own comfort is secure.But while Jonah is pitiful in his posture, God is patient in His compassion. The Lord teaches Jonah through a plant, a worm, and a scorching wind, revealing a mercy far greater than Jonah's bitterness. God has pity on Jonah. God has pity on Nineveh. God has pity on all His creation. And by the end of the chapter, we see a God who is slow to anger, rich in love, and filled with compassion for people who do not know their right hand from their left.Jonah 4 invites us to examine our own hearts. Do we desire God's presence more than His blessings. Do we celebrate His mercy when it is given to those we struggle to love. Do we trust His heart even when life feels uncomfortable.If you have ever wrestled with bitterness, frustration, or confusion about God's mercy, this message will help you see His compassion more clearly. His pity is not weakness. It is the depth of His love reaching broken people like us.Connect with King's Chapel in Longwood, FL - ▶️ www.kingschapelfl.com▶️ https://www.facebook.com/KingsChapelfl▶️ https://www.instagram.com/kingschapelfl/For the GLORY of our Great GodFor the GOOD of our NeighborJonah 4 sermon, God of compassion, Jonah Bible study, King's Chapel Longwood FL, God's pity in Jonah, Jonah and the plant, mercy of God sermon, Jonah heart lessons, Old Testament prophets, God's grace and compassion, gospel in Jonah

Send us a textDo you ever feel like you should have “arrived” by now? The truth is, sanctification is a lifelong process, and God's grace is still at work in us. Crowder reminds us of this in his song “STILL”, and this week we'll use it as inspiration to dive into Scripture. In this episode, I introduce a new Bible study method called WHALES that helped me uncover fresh insights in the book of Jonah. Jonah's story is a powerful example of God's patience and steadfast love—even when we run the other way. If God was still working on Jonah, we can trust He's still working on us. Key PointsSanctification is progressive—we never fully “arrive” this side of heaven.Crowder's lyrics remind us that God's grace is ongoing.Jonah's rebellion shows that our choices impact others, not just ourselves.Recognizing God's hand isn't enough; obedience matters.How Michael Chanley's WHALES Bible Study Method moves us from first impressions to transformation. - Keith Ferrin's Interview with Michael ChanleyScripture ReferencesJonah 1:1–6 – God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah flees in the opposite direction and falls asleep during a violent storm.Jonah 1:7–16 – The sailors discover Jonah is the cause of the storm, reluctantly throw him overboard, and the sea calms, leading them to fear and worship the Lord.BITEs (Bible Interaction Tool Exercises)Read in context (all four chapters of Jonah)Journal your thoughtsUse the WHALES method: Word – Start with ScriptureHook – What stands out?Anchor – How does it hold you steady?Learn – Seek outside insightExamine – Revisit and refine your thoughtsSail – Move forward in prayer and sharingPray and share what you've learned with a friendUse outside resources (study Bible, commentary, Michael Chanley's book)Additional ResourcesDownload the free Episode GuideLyrics - New Release TodayKeith Ferrin's YouTube BibleTalk Episode #66 with Michael Chanley - YouTube LinkChasing WHALES: A Spiritual Dive with Jonah by Michael Chanley - Amazon Paid LinkBible Interaction Roadmap Bible Study - videos and assignments that will equip you with habits you can use over and over in your own Bible Study - Learn MoreLearn more about my favorite Bible Study Software with a 30-day free trial and links to my favorite Bible resources - Logos Bible Software Affiliate LinkThis Week's ChallengeTry the new Bible Study Method I introduced (W.H.A.L.E.S.) to study the book of Jonah. Really lean into the examine step as we move from first impressions to deeper understanding and transformation.Purchase your copy of A Seat at the Table today! Change your music. Change your life. Join my free 30-Day Music Challenge. CLICK HERE.

God is passionately pursuing the world with the transforming truth of the Gospel. In this study of Jonah 1:1–3, we look at God's commission to Jonah, his rebellion and attempt to flee, and two key reasons behind why Jonah refused to go to Nineveh.------------» Take these studies deeper and be discipled in person by Nathan, Eric, Leslie, and the team at Ellerslie in one of our upcoming discipleship programs – learn more at: https://ellerslie.com/be-discipled/» Receive our free “Five Keys to Walking Through Difficulty” PDF by going to: https://ellerslie.com/subscribe/» For more information about Daily Thunder and the ministry of Ellerslie Mission Society, please visit: https://ellerslie.com/daily» If you have been blessed by Ellerslie, consider partnering with the ministry by donating at: https://ellerslie.com/donate/» Discover more Christ-centered teaching and resources from Nathan Johnson that will help you grow spiritually by checking out his website at: https://deeperchristian.com/

Book of Jonah, Pt. 4 – An Angry Prophet and a Gracious GodJonah 4:1-4 | King's Chapel Live StreamJonah's story reaches its most surprising moment in chapter 4. After an entire city turns from its sin, Jonah is not celebrating. He is angry. And not just frustrated, but deeply upset that God showed mercy to people he believed did not deserve it.In these verses, we see the tension between Jonah's heart and God's heart. Jonah is consumed by anger and self-interest, while God reveals Himself once again as gracious, patient, and full of compassion. The prophet cannot control or contain Him.Jonah 4 reminds us that God's grace often challenges us. It exposes the places where our desires do not match His and reveals how deeply we need His transforming work.If you have ever wrestled with God's timing, His mercy, or His purposes, this message will help you see His heart more clearly. He is the God who saves, the God who pursues, and the God who loves far beyond the limits we set.Connect with King's Chapel in Longwood, FL - ▶️ www.kingschapelfl.com▶️ https://www.facebook.com/KingsChapelfl▶️ https://www.instagram.com/kingschapelfl/For the GLORY of our Great GodFor the GOOD of our NeighborJonah 4 sermon, angry prophet Jonah, God's grace in Jonah, King's Chapel Longwood FL, Jonah Bible study, God's compassion, wrestling with God's mercy, Old Testament prophets, Jonah and Nineveh, God's character in Jonah, gracious God sermon

JONAH WAS a vindictive man who cared more about a plant than he did for the 120,000 people of Nineveh. Reading the short Book of Jonah aloud makes it clear that the story is as much about Jonah's desire for the destruction of Nineveh as it is about God's mercy and desire that all people would repent and return to Him. Not only did Jonah try to run away from God, but when he finally did proclaim God's imminent judgment on the great city (reluctantly), he was so upset that God spared the city that Jonah asked God to kill him! This is one of those sections of the Bible that would surely have been rewritten to show Jonah in a better light if the text had been changed over the years—although we note that the time given the Ninevites to repent was changed from three days to forty between the time of the Septuagint translation (around 200 BC) and the Masoretic text on which our English Old Testament is based (about 900 AD). This week's question: What do we make of Jeremiah 30:6 and the description of men of Israel in such distress they're like women in childbirth? Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, has been diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek's new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources: Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821)Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF) The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser's two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch Follow us! • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation | @thebiblesgreatestmysteries• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site! Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store. Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the left-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.