“Just as God in Christ Forgave You”

Ephesians 4:31-32

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Live and love like Jesus. That’s Belmont’s description of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. 

In this passage, Paul gives a list of items that we can all agree have no place in the church, and replaces it with a list that every group of believers should foster. We understand this, but we also understand that the church doesn’t always function as it should. I believe this is why Paul adds the little reminder at the end, “as God in Christ forgave you.” 
When we hold on to offense and allow it to turn into bitterness, wrath, and slander we’re not only forgetting how we should live, but also forgetting that we’ve already enjoyed the forgiveness and mercy of God for being offensive ourselves – to others and to Christ. This not only affects our spiritual health, but it thwarts the work of the church. When we are tempted to react to an offense in a way that seems natural and justified, let’s remember that we have been forgiven for far worse, and we are called to a higher purpose. 

While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions: 

  • Why do you think our natural response to offense is to become angry, bitter, and want to fight back?  
  • How does this hurt the work of the church? 
  • Take some time to meditate on the many ways that God has been kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving to you. 
Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 
Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?
Jon Price, Associate Pastor

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“Bitterness and Finishing strong”

Jonah 4

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

“Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Many of the people in the Bible serve as examples for us. But some of those are bad examples – how NOT to live. When we run our race, how we finish is even more important than how we begin. We could have overlooked Jonah’s hesitancy at the beginning of his story because part of our story is how we grow along the way. And Jonah did take a turn for the better, but it was short-lived, and once again, he ended his mission on a low note. The trip was a success, the nation of Ninevah repented and God was pleased. But Jonah, not so much. He responded with a full-out tantrum. 

Jonah was bitter that God would display the same mercy for the Ninevites that he had earlier needed himself. And it’s because of his childish attitude that the book of Jonah has one of the most unfulfilling endings of any story. History is littered with lives that started well but fizzled out. Run your race with obedience, mercy, and a heavenly perspective. But in your race, allow God to correct you, teach you and grow you so that you can finish strong.  
While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions: 
  • How is your story progressing? Where is God growing you and where do you still need to “grow up?”
  • When have you found yourself missing the point and getting angry about the wrong thing? Why do you think this happens to us? 
Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 
Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?
Jon Price, Associate Pastor

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“Preaching and Repentance”

Jonah 3

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”

Aren’t you glad that the Lord came to Jonah a second time? Jonah was a coward, a flight risk, a baby prone to tantrums. That gives me hope because I recognize those embarrassing traits in myself. When Jonah was given a second chance after giving it a little reflection he obeyed and a mighty nation repented and turned to the Lord. God is a God of second chances, and thankfully we don’t have to be qualified in order for Him to work through us. 
While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions: 
  • Do you ever feel unqualified to carry out what God has called you to do? What do you do in those times? 
  • Have you ever been a part of something that because of your obedience someone was changed? 

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 

Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?

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“A Prayer of Giving Up”

Jonah 2

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.”

While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following question: 
  • Have you ever come to the proverbial “end of your rope?” How did you respond? Did you hang on in dogged determination or ask for help? 
Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 
Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?

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“Prejudice and God’s Mercy”

Jonah 1

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

“But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

“And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

“Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.


“And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

I once heard someone say that we can tell if we’ve made our own god by the simple criteria that he dislikes all the same people we do. Jonah didn’t want to have anything to do with his nation’s enemy, the Ninevites. And so it must have come as a bit of a shock to Jonah when God sent him to warn them of impending doom unless they repented. The people that Jonah despised, God wanted to redeem. Jonah chose running from God over bringing a word to his sworn enemies. But God has a way of getting our attention when we’re being belligerent, and this one was a doozy.  

While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions: 
  • Is there someone or a group of someones that you would love to see get their comeuppance? 
  • What would you do if God asked you to go to them and share His gospel of mercy and grace?
  • Are you currently running from God instead of doing just that?  
Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 
Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?
Jon Price, Associate Pastor

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“Taking the Mantle” – 2 Kings 2:15

2 Kings 2:15

“Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.”

Elijah was a prophet and a fearless leader for God – a man that God spoke to. His name meant “the LORD is my God.” Elisha was Elijah’s apprentice and he followed his master everywhere. His name meant “God is salvation.” This chapter finds Elijah at the end of his ministry. They both know that Elijah will be taken up to heaven by a whirlwind, but Elisha didn’t want to think about his mentor leaving him. As they went to Gilgal, Elijah asked Elisha to stay put while he went on. But Elisha refused to leave his side. God sent them to several towns and each time, Elijah asked Elisha to hang back. And each time, Elisha refused. The sons of the prophets in each town predicted what would happen to Elisha, “ Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master?” and Elisha’s answer was always, “Yes, I know. Be quiet.” 

When they came to the Jordan River, Elijah took his cloak off, struck the water with it, and the water split allowing them to cross on dry land. After they crossed, God took up Elijah and allowed Elisha to see his supernatural exit. But more importantly, God allowed Elisha to take over his mentor’s role as leader of the prophets. He took on the mantle of Elijah both literally and metaphorically. Elisha walked back to the water and struck it just as his predecessor did, the water split, and he went back across. In verse 15, the “sons of the prophets” bowed on the ground before Elisha. They acknowledged that the spirit of God was on him. 

God is still speaking. Sometimes we may wish we had experiences like Elisha and had prophets like him today. But God has shown us himself in the fullest way possible through Christ and continues to speak to us by his Spirit and through his word. Whatever happens to us or to our world, God will not be silent. It can be easy to forget that our God is still at work. Life will bring its fair share of pain, hurt, tears, shame, and shock. But have hope and be encouraged today because God is still speaking and we can have joy, forgiveness, assurance, help, and endless love through Jesus Christ. And God speaks to us through others. Like the relationship between Elijah and Elisha, we can bring others alongside us, pouring into and encouraging them so the ministry goes on well beyond ourselves. 
While using the HEAR method (see below) consider the following questions: 
  • Who is someone who has been a mentor in your life? How did they help to shape who you are today? 
  • Do you have someone that you are investing in as you walk in faith and obedience? 

Highlight – what words or phrases jump out at you? 

Explain – what does the passage mean? 
Apply – how does the passage intersect with your life today? 
Respond – how is God leading you to respond?
Kyle Grantham, Worship Pastor
LifeBridge Church, Kennesaw GA

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