The apostle Paul wrote a brief letter to his friend Philemon. The aim of the letter was freedom for Philemon’s slave Onesimus (I’ll address that in a later post). Onesimus had run away and heard the gospel of Jesus through Paul and became a follower of Jesus. In the beginning of the letter Paul spoke…

Scripture instructs us to pray for one another and for those who do not know the Lord and for those in positions of authority. We read this command in Paul’s first letter to Timothy who was serving the church in Ephesus. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made…

After God asked him if he was right to be angry, Jonah left the city of Nineveh. He was angry that God would show such terrible people mercy and grace when they repented of their wickedness and sought after him in faith. He knew God would do this, which is why he tried to go…

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. Jonah 4:1 ESV That’s how chapter four begins. Jonah is angry, but angry at what? What would cause him to be exceedingly displeased? When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he…

When God first called Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah instead headed to Tarshish, which is in the opposite direction. He wanted nothing to do with Nineveh, for they were enemies of Israel. God wanted to show them mercy and in order to show them mercy they needed to hear the message of repentance. Jonah…