Michael Addison Ministries

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Jonah. For some reason I can identify with the humanity that Jonah displays. The "children of Israel" were a divided kingdom in Jonah's day, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jonah was the fifth prophet to prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel. The King of the northern kingdom at the time was Jeroboam II, an evil king that did not observe the law of Jehovah God. As a matter of fact of the 19 kings that reigned over the northern kingdom of Israel, none of them observed the Law of Moses. The popular religion of the day was Golden Calf worship, most likely imported by many of the wives that

Solomon had taken from Egypt. Golden calf worship had been a part of the Egyptian culture for decades. In Exodus 32 we see the first influence of this Egyptian religion when Aaron made a golden calf for the children of Israel to worship since they did not know what had happened to Moses.

Though Israel had a state religion of calf worship, God still sent prophets to speak to the kings and the people. Jonah was one of those prophets. Jonah had achieved some notoriety with King Jeroboam II. In 2 Kings 14:25 Jonah prophesied that Israel would reclaim its proper borders through the leadership of King Jeroboam. This came to pass and though Israel did not recognize Jehovah as God, Jonah found favor with the King. Jonah had found a very comfortable place in his life. In midst of his comfort zone God speaks to Jonah and says you must leave this place and go to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, one of the oldest cities mentioned in the Bible, (Genesis 10:11) and had a reputation of being a vicious people. Wow!! God takes Jonah from the comfortable confines of the kings palace and tells him he must go speak to the despised and rejected. Jonah says no and runs to Joppa, to catch a boat to Tarshish.

It was during this cruise that Jonah found himself cast overboard, swallowed by a big fish and crying asking God that he could die. What Jonah didn't understand was, it wasn't about himself, it was about the people of Nineveh that needed to hear a word from God. I want to challenge you this month. Take time to leave your personal comfort zones. Reach to those that no else want to reach to. You may have the word from God they need to hear.

In Christ Alone,

Mike Addison
Associate Pastor
New Hope Ministries
8254 Ky 1232
Corbin,KY 40701-6270
Phone: (606) 528-5575
email: youthpmike@michaeladdison.org




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