LEGACY BIBLE CHURCH > Embrace, Embody, Entrust, & Engage the Gospel

Jonah is crying out in prayer to God, and in his desperation is awakened to his need for God’s grace. He realizes the depth of his sin, and the greatness of God’s grace. With this in mind, we are able to see that God sends a rescue for us as well, not only for the penalty of our sin, but also from the power of sin. The “fish called grace”, is actually summed up in the physical image of God, Jesus Christ!

What does a guy running from the Lord, a bunch of pagan sailors, and a raging storm have to do with Jesus?

When God gives you an order, are you an Abraham or a Jonah? One displays trust in God and the other displays trust in self. Jonah wants control of his life, he believes he knows what is best. We are not competent to run our lives until we accept the fact that we are incompetent. God asks each of us to trust Him, regardless of the circumstances or the request.

As we dive into this study of the book of Jonah we will find that it is about more than Jonah, it is about each of us. We are all running in our sin from God and He in His infinite grace is pursuing each of us. God asks each of us to trust Him and walk in faith. Our circumstances are gifts from God, with the most difficult ones presenting the most profound opportunities for us to be molded and shaped into the image of Christ.

We all desire a love that is unending, one that is strong, secure, affectionate, one that relentlessly pursues and never yields. While we were created for this love, on our own we are incapable of achieving it. Jesus Christ alone exemplifies this love. He alone can love us and enable us to love others with a love that not only satisfies but flourishes.

Confession and reclamation are both essential parts of the Christian life. Christ tells us we will be known as His disciples by our love for one another. If that is true then we must be willing to give our lives away for His glory as we humble ourselves and confess when we have sinned against another and seek to reclaim those who have strayed.

Do you really want God's will done in your life? Does that drive you? As we pray the Holy Sprit works in our hearts and intercedes for us. God begins changing and shaping us so that we live differently and begin to carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ. A life that is unexplainable begins with prayer.

Are you a grumbler? Are you patient with God? James warns us about grumbling and a lack of patience; both of which can be cancer to our hearts, destroying us from the inside out. We must acknowledge our impatience and even indifference toward God and let the depths of His mercy and patience toward us penetrate our hearts so that we don't just know the gospel but can begin to live it out.

Do we live our lives in anticipation of Christ's return asking ourselves, "How can I further the gospel, how can I change a life"? To often the desires of this world rule our hearts causing us to seek after only our own comfort. As the gospel penetrates our hearts the question becomes, "How should I give in light of what Christ has given to me"?

Does your speech reflect a desire to build up or tear down? When you make plans do they reflect God's will first or is He more of an after thought? As we study through the Book of James, we consistently see that James' goal is to preach one theme, that of applying the gospel in our lives. To seek the truth of scripture and apply it to our hearts. In these verses James asks us to open our hearts and reveal what is at the root of both our speech and our plans.