‘God’s last word to Jonah'

[0:00] Good morning and a warm welcome to the service this morning. It's good to see everyone and there's at least one regular visitor with us today and if there are any more that I haven't spotted yet, I feel especially welcome. Tea and coffee at the end of the service, please stay if you're able to and enjoy fellowship. No evening service tonight in the church here or the community centre here in Tarbert. But there will be a service in Leverborough this evening at half past six. The communion in Leverborough have been over the course of this weekend and the service will be at half past six and after the service there's a fellowship as well in Leverborough. So I would encourage you to go and as they supported us and encouraged us by their presence with us over the communion weekend, let's if we're able to go and worship God with them together and do about it tonight. If you're needing transport there, then speak to one of the elders please and that could be provided. The ladies' bio study meets at 8pm tomorrow. Where is it? Where's the location to be tomorrow? Location to be confirmed? Probably the Queen Street. Ladies' bio study and clarify that. First Fruit Fellowship meets at half past seven on Tuesday in the Church of Scotland Hall. Road to Recovery meets on Tuesday at 8pm in the community centre here. The prayer meeting on Wednesday at half past seven in Kilda Cruises and discipleship explored continues in the restroom of Living Tell Hebrides on Thursday at 8pm. I'm preaching over the course of next weekend in then Carloway for the communion season there, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So I would value your prayers for these three days. And the services next was they will be paid in the morning by Mr Ian McRae from CrossCost. The children will all know Mr McRae very well from the school. And Mr McRae, see the wipes your eyes now, can't they? Mr McRae will be preaching here next Sunday morning and he would value our prayers for that. In the evening, I'm sure Mr Farrakhan

[2:17] McLeod will equally value our prayers as he leads worship here and preaches next Wednesday all being well. We had a congregational meeting on Friday night. Most of you would have been there and I expect those who weren't there will have heard something of the substance of what might honour in the course of the evening. I'm going to ask Anthony. I'm going to ask Anthony to come up and say a wee word to bring those who weren't present up to date and say whatever else he's prepared.

[2:48] Yes, we had a congregational meeting on Friday which was about the church buildings. That is the proposal to acquire a church building and also a manse.

[3:07] And I think it was a very positive meeting. I think at the end of it, those of us who were there felt actually a real sense of God moving us forward on this.

[3:22] So I'll just outline very briefly, some of you may not have been able to get to that meeting. Essentially, for the church, we are hoping to put in a bid to buy the Harris Inn. Now many of you will already know that. In many ways, it's a very appropriate place. It's right in the right position in Tarbert.

[3:49] We've been into it and we've done surveys and so on. I can't say a lot about it just now, obviously. But we are hoping that we will be able to put some sort of a bid in for that, to renovate it. There's a lot of work to be done on it.

[4:06] We are also very pleased and grateful to Gordon and Jillian because their house, which is the one that is just opposite of where we live at the moment, is being made available as a possible manse.

[4:22] We've also been into that. We've also been into that. We spoke a lot about it on Friday. Now, obviously, to acquire these buildings and to do all the renovations costs a lot of money.

[4:36] So we have to say, and all of us agreed, when you look to the figures, that really what we would get is extraordinarily good value.

[4:46] Nevertheless, it is a lot of money. We would have to go to the free church to get a loan which would be paid back over 20 years. Now, if you haven't already got one, there's a form on the way out. You pick up one from the table to spare, which explains a bit more about that.

[5:06] If we were to get both buildings, then we would actually have to put up front about £100,000. If we were to get up that, and then we'd have to pay off a loan, which would be a lot more than that, over 20 years.

[5:26] We have some money in the bank account, and so we could use some of that. And so we're not sure how much we would, in the end, have to raise, but it might be in the region of £80,000, £70,000.

[5:41] But that has to be put up front, and then the free church would consider whether we are able to give, if we are sufficient in our giving, to be able to give us a loan over 20 years.

[5:56] If we do go for the two buildings, then our monthly giving, as a whole, convocation, would have to increase by about 20%, by about £1,000 per month.

[6:13] We feel that's achievable, but we don't know. We're leaving this entirely up to God, really. We're just praying about it. And we're going to see, over the next week or two, what the pledges are from the congregation, as yourselves.

[6:27] And indeed anybody else outside the congregation who may want to help us. Have a look at these forms, if you don't already have one. Take one with you. Think prayerfully if you want to pledge to give something as the immediate lump sum, and whether you want to increase your giving over and above what you give already to the church and ministry.

[6:51] I think that's probably everything, Dave. Is there anything else you should have said? I'll be well. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Anthony.

[7:10] Those who just came in, a special welcome. So I'm tightening the baby coming in. I don't know if this is a new congregation. Yes, that's a back row there. So it's good to have you.

[7:20] We have two wee talks today. And so we thank God for them and we welcome you. Let's pray for a moment. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this your day.

[7:36] And we thank you for our being together in this place. And we thank you for all that you have provided for us and all that we trust you to provide for us day by day and week by week.

[7:47] We thank you that you have made provision for our salvation in Christ. And that is our absolute focus. That is the reason that we are here.

[7:59] And that is the reason that we would come together in Christ's name wherever. And Lord, we thank you for Jesus. We pray that our focus would be upon him in the time that we are together this morning.

[8:15] We thank you for his perfect life lived for us. We thank you for his death in our place. We thank you that he has risen and he reigns and he rules. And one day he will return and take his church, his people, to be his God eternal.

[8:33] And so we pray that as we consider these things which are necessary, Lord, guide us and move us in our hearts that we would respond as you call us to.

[8:44] And Lord, we ask that now with the various things that we've talked about in terms of meetings in the week and the decisions of past week, we ask that you would take from our minds now anything that would deoccupy us and distract us in a way that would take away from our focus upon you.

[9:06] Lord, lift our eyes to the hills and beyond. Take away our sin. Fill us with your spirit. And enable us together to worship you. We pray this in Jesus' name.

[9:18] Amen. We send now to God's praise. Just before we do, I've got one more information stuck in my book here.

[9:30] It says here, soup and pudding lunch, Saturday, 5th March, 11.03 in the community centre to raise funds for women for mission. We worship God now. We sing to his praise.

[9:41] And we sing from Mission Praise 31 and the words that are on screen. Mission Praise 31 and the words on screen. I made some grace.

[9:52] How sweet the sound that saved. A wretch like me I once was lost. But now I'm found. Was blind. But now I see. Boys and girls, would you like to come out the front, please?

[10:08] Come on a howl today. How are you all today? All fine? Good, good. Going for two, well, nah. I'm not going to. Two volunteers?

[10:18] Well, no. I want to start with the, I want to start with the youngest ones. Not quite the youngest ones. Start with the boys as well, I think, today. So I'm going to pick on Alistair and John Roddy.

[10:31] And pull your trousers up, Alistair, and come out. We can't have that. Over here. Don't front the air, okay?

[10:41] I want you to start off here, right? Start off. You can be the leader. And you can follow on. Do you know what marching is? Mm-hmm. You do what, you know what marching is?

[10:53] So, I'll be the sergeant major. And I'll say quick, not yet. When I say quick march, you start the march. And then I'm going to tell you to go different ways. I'm going to do a wee test here.

[11:04] Quick march. That way. Left turn. Quick march.

[11:20] Left turn. Turn around. Turn around. John Roddy, you're now the leader. John Roddy's now the leader.

[11:30] Stop there. Hulk. John Roddy, you come to the front. Now, you're the boss, okay? You're coming along here. Quick march. Right turn.

[11:41] Right turn. Excellent. Come on back here. Thank you very much. Now, we'll have two girls.

[11:55] Let's have Emma and Bethany. Is that okay? Over here. Same story. Quick march.

[12:09] Right turn. Left turn. About turn. Now, Emma, you're the charge. We're going to face that way now.

[12:21] Quick march. Left turn. Okay. About turn. Right. Back here you go. Well done. There's two more.

[12:38] Tammy and E&E. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Quick march.

[12:54] Right turn. Back and go. Thank you.

[13:05] Thank you. Why on earth? Why on earth are we doing all this? Do you know why I did that? I did that because I wanted to show that when you're very small, you struggle to know which way is right and which way is left, don't you?

[13:25] It takes a little bit. It takes a little while to learn these things. It takes a little while to learn these things. You learn these things in school and then you get them into your heads. And some people, even when they're much older, struggle to know they're right and they're left.

[13:36] And you're right. But usually when you get a little bit older, you know you're left. And you know you're left. So when you're walking along and somebody says, turn right, then you know which way you're going.

[13:48] When you're very small, if I got Ailey and Lois and Katrina out, I think they'd probably struggle to know which way is left and which way was right. Alistair and John Roddy are just, they're learning when it's still quite confusing.

[14:00] But when you get to the older ones, usually they've got a pretty good idea which is left and which is right. Now, in church in the mornings, after you all go to Sunday school, we've been reading through a book in the Bible called Jonah.

[14:17] Does anybody know anything about Jonah? Put your hand over if you know something about Jonah. Yeah, Bethany. What happened to Jonah? He was God's prophet and God said, Jonah, I've got a job for you.

[14:29] I want you to go to Nineveh. And Jonah said, I don't want to go to Nineveh. I think I'll go in a different direction. And so he went in a different direction and then it got stormy and Jonah ended up over the side of a boat and God came and rescued him by sending a big fish.

[14:45] He swallowed Jonah, kept him safe and helped Jonah to understand what he needed to do. Jonah wasn't a very happy prophet.

[14:57] He wasn't a very happy man. He wasn't very good at obeying God. And Jonah eventually went to this city called Nineveh and he started to tell him about God.

[15:11] He didn't care about the people very much. He didn't love the people very much. He didn't really want to believe in God and be saved. And so do you know what God said to Jonah?

[15:23] Listen to what God said to Jonah. Jonah was on the side of a hill. Everybody in a sulk. Jonah was on the side of a hill and he was going, I don't want to be here.

[15:35] I don't like Nineveh. I don't care about these people. And God came along to Jonah and this is what he said. He said, Jonah, listen to me, Jonah.

[15:49] He says, in that city that you don't care about, there are more than 120,000 people who don't know the right hand from their left.

[16:03] Who is it that doesn't know the right hand from their left? Children. Be children. And God says to Jonah, Jonah, there are over 120,000 little children in that city.

[16:18] Shouldn't I love them? Shouldn't I be concerned for them? And of course, the answer was yes. And God was. He loved the whole city. But especially, he said to Jonah, how much we should love the children.

[16:32] Remember when Jesus was on this world. He was busy going this place and that place and the next place. And one day there was some children who were coming up to Jesus.

[16:44] And the disciples said, get the children out of here. Get them away. We're far too busy for this. Jesus said, let the children come to me.

[16:54] Why did he say that? Because he loved them. And still, God loves the children. Jesus loves the little children.

[17:06] And he wants you and he wants all of us to trust him. And to become his friends. By asking that he'll take away our sin and come into our lives.

[17:20] We're going to sing about that in a wee second. We'll pray first. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are God and you do not change. And just as you said to Jonah, how much he should love these little children, especially.

[17:40] And that whole city. We thank you that today. And still you are saying that to us. Just as Jesus said, let the children come to me. Don't hinder them. We thank you that today.

[17:53] You are still calling the little children to come in faith to you. We thank you, Lord, as we come to you. You give us rest. You give us peace. You give us your love.

[18:03] And Lord, you never let go of us. Thank you that although we may struggle with lots of things in this world, you never fail us. You never let us die.

[18:14] And so we pray that the little children would come to you. And we thank you for all the little children that we have here today. From the tiny wee babies, Ezra and all the way up to the older ones.

[18:29] And Lord, we ask that you would bless them. He with baby Ezra, he with Joyce as the girl as well. And we ask, Lord, that you would bless them and bless all the children in some of us.

[18:42] And we'll help the teachers as they speak to tell them about Jesus. And Lord, we pray that you would all hear us to hear today of your love for us. We pray this in Jesus' name.

[18:54] Amen. We're going to sing now. And the words are on the screen. And they'll also be in the hymn book, the red one, at number 418. 418 in the hymn book.

[19:12] And it's a very familiar hymn. So I want to hear all the wee ones singing up really loud. Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong.

[19:23] They are weak, but he is strong. We're returning our Bibles to Jonah. And chapter 4. Jonah chapter 4.

[19:43] And we'll just read in from verse 10 of chapter 3. We know from having followed this that Jonah came with a message to the Nabi, albeit reluctantly. The people heard God's warning to them.

[19:57] And they turned away from their evil ways, from their sin. And it says in verse 10 of chapter 3. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

[20:13] But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord. Oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? This is why I was so put to flee to Tarshish.

[20:26] I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abiding in love. A God who relents from sin and calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life.

[20:38] For it is better for me to die than to live. But the Lord replied, Have you any right to be angry? Jonah went out and sat down at the place east of the city.

[20:51] There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort.

[21:05] And Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn, the next day, God provided a worm, which chewed the vines that it withered. Then the sun rose.

[21:16] God provided a scorching east wind. And the sun blazed on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint. He wanted to die and said, It would be better for me to die than to live.

[21:28] But God said to Jonah, Do you have a right to be angry about the vine? I do, he said. I am angry enough to die. But the Lord said, You have been concerned about this vine, though you do not tend it or make it grow.

[21:44] It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But none of you, it's more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left. And many captive as well.

[21:56] Should I not be concerned about that great city? Amen. And may God bless that reading of his word to his Father for the only reading of the Sintra.

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