How Not To Talk To Your Friends About Jesus | Jonah 1
August 4, 2024
How Not To Talk To Your Friends About Jesus | Jonah 1

Can You Outrun Grace?

Jonah is an example of how not to take the good news of Jesus to people. His actions, heart, and focus were all wrong. But God won’t give up on this failed prophet—he goes after him in love.

 

Listen to an audio version of the message

 

Songs for this week: Spotify

  1. Why can it feel hard to talk about Jesus with people? Are there specific fears that stop us from obeying his command to "go into all the world and preach the gospel"?
  2. As far as Jonah was concerned, the people of Nineveh didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness. Are there people in our culture or circle of friends who we feel are beyond grace? What could God be saying to us about them? 
  3. Jonah missed what God was doing around him because he was asleep. How easy is it for you to pay attention to God at work in the lives of your friends and neighbours? What distracts you from noticing God’s activity?
  4. God didn’t give up on Jonah, the failed prophet—he chose him and then chased him down when he ran away. What does this tell us about God’s character and his heart for us?
  5. Who is God inviting you to go to with the good news of Jesus? What is the next step for you?
Share with a friend

Recent Sermons

April 28, 2025
Acts 3:1-21 - Now what? The story of Acts is what happens after the death and resurrection of Jesus. God takes ordinary people, fills them with His Spirit, and sends them out into the world. It's a crazy idea! Peter and John transform an everyday visit to the Temple into a medical miracle and preach a compelling message to boot. Hundreds of people come to trust Jesus. Just another day of walking in the Spirit.
April 20, 2025
John 20:24-29 - All through his ministry, Jesus took time to speak with individuals. Even after the resurrection, he never changed course. John records an interaction with Thomas that speaks to doubt and the struggle it is for each of us to believe.
April 13, 2025
John 12:9-19 -When Jesus rode into Jerusalem to the shouts and cheers of the crowd, there was no mistaking what was happening: the King was back in his rightful place. There were several responses to this long-awaited event: some celebrated, some grumbled, and then… everyone went home. It may have looked anticlimactic, but Jesus wasn’t going anywhere. He had come to do what only the true King of Israel could do.
April 6, 2025
John 14:1-14 -John’s biography of Jesus slows as he chronicles the week leading up to Jesus’ death. Jesus has a long, careful conversation with the disciples, and today, we listen to the beginning of that conversation. He begins with a strong command: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He then reinforces it with three unshakable assurances: He is going ahead of them, He has cleared the way to the Father, and He will send supernatural power so they can continue His work.
March 23, 2025
John 8:48-59 -Jesus’ friend John was very careful to record the things that Jesus said about Himself. As an observant Jew, John knew that there is only one God. From time to time, God sent prophets, ordained priests, and crowned kings so that the people of God had someone to lead them to Him. Everyone knew that these leaders only ever pointed to God; they never claimed any status beyond being messengers. But when Jesus came, He was different. He claimed to be “the Light of the World,” “the Truth that sets you free,” and “the Resurrection and the Life”—all of them ridiculous claims for anyone but God to make. That was exactly His point.
March 16, 2025
Luke 15:11-32 - Jesus tells a story about a father with two lost sons. The rule-breaking younger son was lost in self-indulgence, and the rule-keeping older son was lost in self-righteousness. The father loved both generously and even recklessly. Both needed to be found. Were they?
All Sermons