THE BIG IDEA: To review men in the Bible that God called and used in His service to make Him great among men.
BIBLE FACT: God uses His own sovereignty to process and to call whom He wills into His employment to represent and to serve Him.
How God Chooses The Man
God calls the man (Divine invitation)
God breaks the man (Divine motivation)
God makes the man (Divine dedication)
God blesses the man (Divine inspiration)
God uses the man (Divine exaltation)
Jonah: God’s Most Reluctant Repentant Leader
(Hearing God’s voice and making my repentance real)
Lesson 2
On the stormy southwest coast of England there is a church whose towers are silent. No bells ring for the living or toll for the dead. There is a legend that a ship was once beating its way along that shore, having on board bells designed for the church of Bottreaux. A sailor lad, hearing the neighboring bells of Tintagel sounding over the sea, thanked God for the favor that would soon bring them safe to port.
But the godless skipper told him to thank the steersman, the good ship, and the ready sail. As if in answer to his blasphemy, the sea rose and the waves dashed the ship and its godless master on the rocks. Now they say that the bells which went down with that ship may be heard above the surge of the ocean as it breaks on the iron cliffs, pealing out the invitation of the Church, the invitation of God, the coming of death, and after death, the judgment.—More Sermon Illustrations
I. Jonah’s penitent activities
II. Jonas’ penitentiary experience
A. Jonah’s interrogation for the cause; 1:11
B. Jonah’s intercession for his crime; 1:12,15
C. The attempts to escape Divine intervention calling; 1:13,14
D. God makes intercession for Jonah in his penitentiary; 1:16,17 (Matthew 12:40; 16:4; Luke 11:30)