This week, we continue our series in the book of Psalms titled "Longing for the Savior", where we study a different Psalm each week. We look at Psalm 133 with a simple and timely message. That unity in the church is good, pleasant, and desired by God. Unity in the church is unique and of the kind not encountered anywhere else. It is through God's grace poured out on His church that we can experience the beauty of unity. Ultimately, there is much more that we share in common and outweigh differences.

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This week, we begin our new series in the book of Psalms, titled "Longing for the Savior" by starting in Psalm 1.

Everything in our world is always progressing and changing, even ourselves. We are cautioned against walking in the path of unrighteousness, because we will only progress down that path until we find ourselves mocking those who are righteous. Instead, we are exhorted to be delighting and meditating on the instruction of the Lord and be in this self strengthening cycle. Rather than have our happiness rely on the circumstances of life that will change, Psalm 1 show us that the happy ones are those delighting and meditating on the instruction of the Lord.

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This week, we conclude our series in the book of Jonah titled, "Outrageous Grace" by looking at chapter 4. Through Jonah’s story, we saw God's patient effort not only to guide Jonah in his mission but to shape his heart to reflect God's own compassion. We see that Jonah is angered by God's grace and mercy for others, despite the fact that Jonah was a recipient of His grace and mercy as well. Jonah's anger caused him to try and disengage from God and also exposed his wrong priorities in life. Despite all this, God was working in Jonah's life to expose Jonah to his own heart and prepare his heart for redemption.

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This week, we continued our series titled, "Outrageous Grace", studying the life of Jonah. After Jonah was brought to repentance in the belly of the fish, God delivered him to dry land and repeated the same call on Jonah’s life as He had originally given him: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.” Jonah obeyed this time, entered Nineveh, and preached the bad news of judgment on their wickedness. Nineveh repented, and God showed mercy to the Ninevites. Sometimes, bad news is necessary in order for good news to be seen as truly good.

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This week, we are continuing our series studying the book of Jonah and looking at the journey Jonah takes away from God and how He ultimately redeemed it. Through the book of Jonah, he describes many of the events as having to descend. Jonah went down to Joppa to flee on a boat, down into the belly of the ship, fell into a deep sleep, and went down the belly of a whale. Once in the belly, Jonah prays and recognizes the Lord at work in redeeming Jonah's descent into rebellion. Jonah was shown severe mercy through the circumstances he endured to reach a place where he could finally repent and cast away the other idols taking God's place in his life.

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This week, we are continuing our series studying the book of Jonah and looking at the obedience of the sailors and their response to the work of God. The sailors had sought out Jonah for instruction on how to quell the storm, but rejected the idea of tossing Jonah overboard to save themselves. Only after realizing the futility of their own efforts, the sailors asked God for forgiveness, tossed Jonah overboard, and repented when they saw His power to calm the storm. As we'll study today, Jonah's sacrifice had many parallels to the gospel story and the sacrifice Jesus made. The sailors' response to the Lord is likewise a response to the gospel and displays what a heartfelt response looks like.

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When Jonah and the boat were struck by a great storm, the sailors were able to see that the storm had divine origins and the sailors began to investigate why it had struck. They asked Jonah relatively simple questions, the kind that we would ask someone we have just met. Where was he from? What did he do? What was his purpose? These questions didn't just identify who Jonah was, but who Jonah worshipped and served. Like Jonah, our answers define ourselves but also reveal problems underneath the surface. Jonah claimed to have feared God, but his answers revealed contradictions because of his priorities, actions, and philosophy.

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As we continue our series titled Outrageous Grace, looking at the book of Jonah, we look at Jonah's rebellion and disobedience to God's calling and the consequences because of it. Rather than preach to the pagans, Jonah fled to Tarshish and faced a storm on a boat. Again, Jonah tried to escape his reality through a slumber, and it was only the pagans who recognized the divinity of the storm and urged Jonah to seek out God. Rather than ignore God in the midst of our storms, we need to turn to Him who already faced reality fully and know that in Him we can too.

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