The Book of Jonah

The Book of Jonah – May 24, 2026

Read the passage: Jonah 4

Today, we get to the end of Jonah’s story.

Let’s first quickly review the story so far. At the beginning, God told Jonah to warn the Ninevites of impending judgement. Remember, the Ninevites have done atrocious things too!

They would cut off their enemies legs and one arm, leaving the other arm and hand so they could shake the victim’s hand in mockery as he was dying. They forced friends and family members to parade with the decapitated heads of loved ones on elevated poles.

The Ninevites were a very violent society. Jonah didn’t want to warn the Ninevites. He didn’t want to give them a chance, he would rather they stay the way they are so God can just destroy them. Nothing would make Jonah happier than an obliterated Nineveh.

So, Jonah runs away and he finds out the hard way that he can’t run away from God. So, he reluctantly goes to Nineveh and warns them of looming judgment if they don’t change their ways. And lo and behold, the people of Nineveh shockingly take the warning seriously.

They turn from their evil and violent ways and God shows them mercy. He doesn’t destroy them. And this brings us to our passage, let’s see how Jonah responds when he sees that God had spared the city. When he sees that God has shown mercy to this violent city.

The Book of Jonah – May 17, 2026

Read the passage: Jonah 3:3-8

I think we all go through life assuming that what we see, how we think, the things we do and our reactions to issues – it’s all true and straight and level. What if it’s actually slanted and untrue.

A good hint that you’re living slanted is when you look at your life and it seems straight. But when you look at God and who he is, his truths and his reality and his words, your entire life seems a little bit crooked and off. My gentle suggestion is: maybe he’s true and level and straight, and we are the ones who aren’t. We’re slanted. Maybe we’ve lived in a slanted world so long that God’s trueness feels crooked to us.

Why am I bringing up all this stuff about slanted-ness and being disoriented?

Because I think that what our series in Jonah is trying to do to us. It’s this short book that messes up all our expectations and assumptions about God, it’s trying to suggest, maybe we got some leveling out to do in our lives.

The Book of Jonah – May 10, 2026

Read the passage: Jonah 2:1-10

The Bible tells us, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).

In other words, every Christian messes up and falls into sin. Now, there are different kinds of sin. Some sins are more obvious, like lying, stealing, and sleeping around. Sometimes, sins are less obvious, like greed, and a lack of love. That can be just as bad, if not worse. So there are different sins, and pretty much every Christian falls into some pattern of sin. But we have a God who takes our sins seriously.

My big question today is: “What can we expect from God when we fall into a pattern of sin?”

I want to show you that God responds like a good parent. He responds with discipline and unconditional love. Seeing that it’s Mother’s Day I think it’s worth pointing out that many of our mothers have given us those two things. And in doing so they’ve done God’s work. Because we all need discipline and unconditional love.

The Book of Jonah – May 3, 2026

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Read the passage: Jonah 1:4-16

We all wonder sometimes what is God doing. You may have big dreams, but at times it seems like everything is just falling apart. Maybe this year has been really painful. Our Bible story today helps us make sense of our trouble.

It reminds us that God is working in ways that we might not expect, that he’s using our trouble to empower and draw us to himself.

Last week, I talked about Jonah and how God wanted him to warn the Ninevites of impending judgment. But Jonah didn’t want to help them, so instead, he ran away from God. He got on a boat and tried to sail as far away as he could.

The Book of Jonah – April 26, 2026


Read the passage: Jonah 1:1-6

Maybe you had big plans for your life, but it never worked out, leaving you confused and disappointed. That’s how I felt, when people were leaving all around me as I pastored a small church. I wanted to run! Yet God was teaching me that I still need to love and obey him, right where I was at.

That is what our Bible story is about today. It helps us understand the core basics of God’s will for our lives. Our story teaches God’s will is love in the big picture and faithfulness in each moment. We’ll see this pattern in the book of Jonah!