THURSDAY, August 14th, 2008

Alright everyone! Remember to stay faithful as we prepare for our next reward trip. To qualify you must do 85% of your devotions between now and September 13th. Those who qualify will be going to the Magic Kingdom with us, on September 20th. We are going to have a wonderful time! Don't forget... God rewards the faithful and SO DO WE!! :)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!
Many of you mentioned Friday Night (tomorrow night) to get together and hang out at the church and watch the veggie tales movie. I talked to Katie and she is good with that. So PLEASE RSVP on your comment to let me know if you will come tomorrow or not. We can meet at the church at 6:00PM

ALSO: Let me know what eating option you choose:
A: Eat before you come
B: Everyone bring $2.00 for Pizza
C. Everyone bring $3.00 for Cheeseburgers
D: Other...

I will post the decision tomorow morning! Please check before you come so that you will know to bring money if you need to!


A Few Thoughts From Yesterday:
Rachel: You put that so eloquently... you don't want to come out as barf! :)
Michael: That is right, it doesn't have to be a false God to be an "idol" really anything that we put in front of God in our life becomes something we worship... that makes it an idol.
Kervin: Thanks for coming to church last night! I am sorry for interrupting your nap! :)
Gaby: Glad you are back on here girl! Finish that summer homework :)
Marvin: Thanks for coming to church yesterday! (like you had a choice!! :) No but really... thanks!
Lucy: Good to see you in church last night!
Tyler: you are funny man! We must obey God so that we are'nt walking down the street and suddely swallowed by a fish or something! Ha! lol
Bethany B: I am glad you are on here! Tell you bro. to stay faithful! :)
Mallory: We certainly did miss you! You missed a great time... we had our own "Baby Olympic Games" it was pretty fun! Keep up the good work on the devos!!
Kacey: I will talk to Katie and post the movie time up today!!
Jessica M: Those are very wise words. I am glad you know all of that. Now don't forget to remember it whenever Satan is trying to get you to believe some lies about the circumstances: Life is not over. God is Good!! Katie and I love you very much! (And you are blessed with a great family)

Jonah 3:1-10

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”
3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.
4 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.
6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

This story seems to get better and better. First of all, we see that God is a God of second Chances!!!!!!!!! Jonah totally turned his back on God and went the opposite direction, but the first verse here says: "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time" No matter what you have done, or where you have gone... God will forgive you if you turn and repepnt today!

Not only does God forgive Jonah, but God forgives the entire city of Nineveh. This was a wicked, ungodly, violent city that hated God, but whenever Jonah came into town: Verse 5 tells us that they "believed God". How great is that.

Jonah walked into the city and believed God. How much easier would it have been to obey God in the first place?? Well one book that I read explained that Jonah probably looked very scary because he had been eaten for three days by the stomach acid inside of this whale. The book explains that his skin was prbably bleached, all of his hair was singed off, and he could have even had sores...

I don't know about you, but if some dude came walking up to me looking like that and telling me that God was about to destroy me (too) then I would definitely listen.

I think God can use our past failures for his glory as we see Him do in this passage through Jonah! It is so wonderful how the people of Nineveh instantly got right with God. They instantly proclaimed a fast, and told everyone to change their clothes into sackcloth and ashes... This was a sign of repentance.

The last thought is this: The people of Nineveh did not even know if God would have mercy on them... Jonah never said if you get right He will forgive you... Jonah simply told them that God is going to destroy them... They decided that they would find out if this God is a mercyful God and HE TRULY IS!!!! He showed mercy on Jonah, on Nineveh, and He will show mercy on you, if you turn to him in repentance!! God is Good! Love For Him!!!!!