Woodbury Church of Christ Sermons

There is nothing in the history of literature like Jonah Chapter Two. According to the story, Jonah is composing complex, epic Hebrew poetry, from inside the digestive tract of a huge fish.

Unfortunately for Jonah his poetry is kind of overlooked in the sea of questions like - Can a giant fish really swallow a man out? Is the bible always literal? Was it a whale or a big fish?

Jonah viewed this near death experience as a gift from God and it's here where he discovers the faithfulness and mercy of God.

(Due to some technical difficulties the first 3rd of the message wasn't recorded. But don't worry, there's still lots of good stuff here! You'll be joining us in about verse 3.) 

The book of Jonah is unlike anything in scripture. It’s a sophisticated piece of literary genius packed with wordplay, metaphor and nuance. Unfortunately, that mostly gets overlooked because people tend to dismiss it as a children’s story about a fish. 

Here’s the deal - Jonah is designed to slowly reel you in and then punch you in the moral gut. If we’re not careful, it has the power to change our lives. 

The number one most asked question on a road trip is - "Are we there yet?" We all want to have a sense of progress. We want to know if we're getting close to our goal. Discipleship is no different. If we can't see the finish line it's easy to get discouraged. We are going to use our recent Mexico Mission Trip to highlight how discipleship isn't only about progress but perseverance. (Due to technical difficulties, Paul Maynard's part of presentation wasn't recorded. You can track him down in person and get a recap.)

In this world you will have trouble. It doesn't sound like we should expect a pain or problem free life, yet Christians are regularly confused by struggle and difficulty. How do we live in hope despite trouble? 

Anytime we walk into a church service we are often seeing the "floor model" version, everything is well lit, put together just right and looks inviting. However, real church is more like bringing home a box full of parts that needs to be put together (Ephesians 4:15, 16) It can be messy and difficult and it is totally worth it. 

When we celebrate Graduation Sunday we are taking a real-life look "what ever joint supplies".