Jesus teaches us by his own example what kind of people we are to be. He wants us to become like children, eager to know him, not too puffed up with self-importance, and willing to acknowledge how much we need him. Jesus invites us into the light, and he shows us a better path that leads to brighter places.

As we journey through “Glimpses of the Savior”, we talk this week about how God filled every role that we needed him to fill, and did the thing for us that no one else could.

In the first sermon in our new series “Glimpses of the Savior”, Mark talks us through who Jesus is as our resurrected, reigning Lord and shows us how different artists have depicted aspects of Jesus.

God’s relentless compassion for Nineveh confuses Jonah. But God’s relentless compassion for Jonah can redeem him. Ultimately, Jesus became God’s prophet to a hostile people and endured harshness that Jonah imagined, but was spared from experiencing. Jonah’s story ends with a question, leaving it up to us to answer, “Will I show the same compassion for others that God has shown to me?”

When we treat a good thing as the ultimate thing, it becomes an idol for us. Jonah put national interests ahead of Kingdom interests, so when God’s merciful agenda didn’t lean toward the judgment he wanted, Jonah’s lack of priorities was on full display. It is important to put our loves in the right order so that we treat God as our ultimate priority.

This week, special guest Mike Gillaspia explains the rule of the road, and how intentions, hopes and dreams do not determine where we end up.

It is easy for us to write off people we think are beyond saving, especially if we are tempted to think they don’t even deserve the opportunity. Jonah wrestled with these feelings toward Nineveh. Who would ever imagine they would respond to a message from God? You never can know just how God might lead someone to repent.

Even after a traumatic experience that forced him to rethink his life from rock bottom, Jonah still needed help to see the world as God does. God’s healing and guidance are not a one time experience, but a continual part of our walk with God, through which he helps us to grow.

It is easy to get caught up in our higher thinking about God, even to the point that we become detached from the world we live in. Jonah’s story reminds us that any faith that is of real value is faith that is of public value.

This week, Mark begins a new series on Jonah and the mysterious mercy that God shows not only in this story, but in our lives.