MAC KIRK

 Jonah the first few verses of chapter 1. Our responsibility, God's Will and Our way Jonah. The First Few VS . Series. Today we will dive into Jonah. vs. 1-4 of ch. 1. Jonah "the prophet" and "servant" ( from 2 Kings 14:25). The word servant in Hebrew is the same word for slave, abad. This is true in the NT as well used for Christians who are servants, slaves of the Lord. A prophet is nabi in Hebrew , a spokesman or speaker for God the Lord. God spoke to this man, son of Amittai (truth of God). When God speaks to an individual, this is a wonderful thing, yet it is a terrible thing as well. We as Christians , believers in the Lord are carriers of God's Word to others. I say this is an awesome and wonderful responsibility. As the Apostle Paul said about this in I Corinthians 4: " Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.....he that judge

 Jonah and the Sea Jonah - A Beginning Overview for Summer Series Certainly this book is a sea story and for any of us who ever been to sea it is captivating. It is a book for all, and I say it is a book that is a book of imagination and that is especially true for young people. It is also a book for all people to know of the purposes of God, especially for Israel and their relationship to others. This has application for us as in the church for the church is for all people as well, and not just the officers, the members and the attenders. But what I like most of all is that is not just a wonderful record of a big fish ( whale?) and a spell binding story. It has a theme. DR Morgan of London said it well: " The incidental things are the ship, the storm, the whale, the gourd, the wind and Nineveh... The essential matters of the book are the transactions between Jehovah ( God) and Jonah." That is the rub is it not? That is true for us as well. The incidentals are our lives and w

 Jude 20-25    The last section of Jude closes with a benediction for his followers that follow Christ.  20-23 is a  practical section about how to made value judments about people around us.  Outwardly this seems contradictory of Jesus' famous words in Matthew 7 " Judge not lest ye be judged" , but it actually fills these words out.  We are obviously making judgments every day.  Jesus is saying watch out how we judge. Jude's comments about discerning others actions and words follow positive thoughts in vs. 20 " But ye beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,  keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." But we are to discern between people who are in great need of our compassion and those  who we " save with fear, pulling them out of the fire" vs 23  So it is how we judge that Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7.   Jude, his brother, certainly says