How many times does it take someone to tell you to do something before you do it? Sometimes, my wife Julie has to tell me something 2-3 times before it sinks in – usually it’s because I’m only listening with ‘half an ear’ and haven’t got the full picture of what needs to be done – then there are the other times when I just don’t want to do it and procrastinate, doing everything else but what I’m meant to do. The fact is, in life whatever we choose to do or don’t do, there are always consequences – there’s no such thing as a consequence free decision.

How many of you know the children’s book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’? Willy Wonka, a chocolate maker whose workings inside his factory have remained a mystery for many years, runs a competition where 5 golden tickets have been hidden inside millions of chocolate bars – each ticket is for one child accompanied by an adult and their prize is a tour of the chocolate factory, not to mention the lifetime supply of chocolate. Four of the children are either spoilt brats or obnoxious and don’t follow Willy Wonka’s rules. Here’s what happens to a couple of them:

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Last time we found Jonah suffering the consequences for not doing what he was told to do by God in the first place – and his consequences were rather unique – being swallowed by a big fish and having to spend what must have seemed like a very long time inside it. If only he had heeded God’s command in the first place – yet, we know from chapter two that in that moment – no doubt one of his lowest, most depressing moments in his life, he cried out to God, from his heart, with a true heartfelt cry, and God heard him and delivered him from his situation.

Now why on earth would God want to help Jonah, after all, Jonah had turned his back on God and had rejected God’s command? Because God hadn’t given up on Jonah because he still wanted him to do a job. Even though Jonah had deserted God and not done what God wanted, God still had plans for him. Yes God could’ve said ‘that’s it, I’m not going to ask you again. You failed me once – and you blew it big time!’ But he didn’t – he still wanted Jonah.

How many times in life when we strike out once – when we fail people just once, are we written off? For whatever reason – whether we didn’t try hard enough, or not at all, or perhaps we did give it our best shot? Being rejected can be pretty difficult to handle. What feelings do you have when you’re rejected – when you’re written off?

The truth is that the world knows how to reject people – it’s a master at it – it knows how to make you feel worthless, it knows how to make you feel useless, it knows how to make you feel as if you don’t even matter, it knows how to make you think that if you were to die today, no-one would care at all. All this though is a lie, because the world doesn’t want you to know the truth – the real truth – the genuine truth - the absolute truth – the complete truth – the unqualified truth – the unconditional truth that you do matter to God – just as Jonah mattered to God, so each one of you matters to God! Let me say that again – each of you matters to God. Regardless of what you’ve done, regardless of what you’ve said, regardless of what your life has been like to date, you matter to God and nothing you can say or do will ever change this fact. You do matter!

And to show you how much you matter, God took the necessary steps to reach out to you and to me. Even those who live what appear to be ‘good’ lives, all need God to reach out to them because no one is ever good enough for God and no one can ever earn his love. It’s because he freely gives it – all because he cares for us. And that’s the point – his love is available to all no matter where we are or what we’ve done. You can feel as if you’re not loved by anyone and that the world’s all against you telling you that you don’t matter, but this does not change the truth that God loves you just as much as the person you’re sitting beside!! The question is, what will your response be?

Yes, it demands a response from you, just as it demanded a response from Jonah. And remember Jonah, got it wrong too at times. In the same way, we’ll still get it wrong at times, because following God is always our choice – we don’t suddenly turn into robots or zombies doing God’s bidding because he wants us to freely follow him.

When we do choose to follow God, then our lives will be transformed – this is a promise. In our passage tonight, we find a changed Jonah – his encounter with God in the Fish had changed him so much he went to Nineveh in a different ‘frame of mind’ to deliver God’s message. What was the difference? Well, Jonah now knew from first hand experience the power of God at work in his life – he knew that the God of the wind and waves, the God of the Sea and its hidden depths, the God of heaven and earth and his God, would walk with him and help him to do the job. He had no doubt. He was now a man on a mission – not a different mission, but ‘the’ mission that he had been first called to!

Regardless of Jonah’s failings in the past, God still wanted Jonah for this mission and no one else. Yes, God could’ve used any number of other people to do his work, but Jonah was still the one God wanted. And the response to God’s message of doom and gloom is staggering. From verse 5 we read:

‘The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from the throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation…v8…Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.’

They believed! Wow! When people feel something so strongly in their gut, when they know something ‘like the back of their hand’, they speak with a conviction. Knowing the power of God at work in ones is energising to say the least. Here Jonah is all fired up because he now knows first hand the power of God at work in his life, and the people believe – isn’t that just the most exciting thing that could happen. And it wasn’t just lip service these Ninevites were paying to God – it was true heart felt repentance for their evil ways.

You see, when the power of God is released in lives, it transforms lives – the question today for us, is will we allow God to release his power in our lives – will we say yes to God and let him lead each one of us. It’s our choice – no one else can make it for us – only you – will we let our lives be firmly rooted in God? If we say yes to placing our lives into God’s hands; if we say yes to unconditionally surrendering them to God; if we say yes, God, have your way in my life, then God fills each of us with his Spirit.

As ‘The Potter’s Hand’ song goes– Take me, mould me, use me, fill me… I give my life to the Potter’s Hand…Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me. I give my life to the Potter’s hand.

Will we place our lives in the Potter’s Hands (that is God’s) tonight so God can use us and work his miracles through us? The prayer team is available to talk about this and to pray with you. If you know that God is speaking to you tonight, don’t leave without talking to someone.