Nineveh

Jonah 4 reveals how easy it is to want God’s grace for ourselves while resisting it for the people who have hurt or frustrated us. Jonah was angry that God showed mercy to Nineveh, exposing his desire for justice for others while receiving grace himself. Through Jonah’s anger over a plant, God shows him that He cares deeply about the people of Nineveh, just as He cares about us. The sermon challenges us to identify the “Ninevites” in our own lives and respond to them with the same grace we have received from God by doing good, speaking well of them, and praying for them. As we pray for those who have hurt us, God not only works in them but begins to change our own hearts toward them.