Hello…Hello…Hello…to all my followers out there in cyberspace. Yes, I have deputized all of you guys to claim the title of a cyber-deputy whenever you take it upon yourself to share any of my conversation blogs with your acquaintances. I am particularly hopeful that you will want to share this week’s blog because it will be the beginning (Part One) of me relating the entire Bible story of Jonah and The Great Fish in several weekly parts.

In June of 2003, I had an opportunity to teach the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale to a group of young married couples. I had to do some serious praying because I knew that in order to maintain their attention and attendance for the next four weeks, I would have to call on the Holy Spirit to instruct me on how to deliver the moral of the story: God’s universal message of how He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believed in Him would obtain eternal life.

Knowing that each family had multiple things that demanded their attention: like jobs to contend with, small children to care for, household chores, intense time for bible reading and unexpected situations clamoring for their attention… my job was not going to be easy. So, like I said, I had a little talk with Jesus and told Him all about my problem. As I started the chapters, I became excited as the Holy Spirit began to help me paraphrase the verses by incorporating colloquialism phrases used in casual communication. (This method of storytelling would allowed the students to actually become Jonah and to relive Jonah’s experiences with God.) The students even suggested that they participate by performing some role playing of Jonah’s actions.

FOCUS:

• God is Ruler over all the universe
• God is Judge over all the universe
• God is everywhere in the universe at the same time
• God controls nature, events and people everywhere all the time

INTRODUCTION:

The Bible story about a prophet named Jonah helps us to better understand Who God is and all that God is capable of doing. This Old Testament story is about Jonah’s disobedience and how he tried to run away from God and do his own thing. Because of Jonah’s action God made a fish perform like a submarine; a warring nation resemble a crying baby; a plant evolve into an umbrella and an arrogant man stripped of his contrite heart. God did all of this to show love to the world and to show Jonah that God is in control of everything.

PROGRESSION OF EVENTS:

A prophet is a man or woman selected by God to receive His divine message and then go and share the message with others. Sometimes the message is good news and sometimes it is bad news. Which ever it is it doesn’t matter. The prophet still has to deliver the message even if it means the people will get so angry that they will want to kill him.

(Part Two to be continued next week…)

Click http://www.tgifmasterminds.com every Friday for a new post from the Master’s servant manager…ME!