This brings us to the question of Jonah's thoughts and motives as he delivers this message of judgment to the people of Nineveh.  How did his hope in God, both in the present and the future, inform how he acted and reacted in chapters 3 and 4?

First, why did he proclaim this message of judgment to the people of Nineveh?  This is simple: he was commanded by God to do it.  In fact, he was so sure that God was commanding him to do it that the first two chapters of Jonah are an account of Jonah's efforts to disobey God's command.  Eventually, he relents, and in chapter 3 travels to Nineveh to address the people.

So what exactly was Jonah expecting when he proclaimed God's message to Nineveh? What was his end game?  It seems that he felt he was making a simple proclamation to let the people know that when judgment came, they understood that God was the source of that  judgement.  No chance for them to be confused as to why they were being destroyed.  They had been in rebellion to the one true God, and they were about to reap their reward.  

It is clear that this was his intent in the first verse of chapter 4.  He is angered that God stays his judgment because of the repentance of the people.  The prophet's desire was for God, in all of his holiness and glory, to strike down these evil people who had for so long been against him.  There was no thought of any other outcome.  Total destruction of God's enemies was at hand, and he had played the part of the mouthpiece of God proclaiming their doom.

What does that say about his understanding of God and hope?  Could it be that even a prophet who is close enough to God to receive a direct word for a specific audience doesn't understand who God is and what his ultimate ends are?  Did he believe that their was no hope for the people of Nineveh, and that God didn't care about them even has he made the decision to destroy them?   Apparently, that is exactly what he believed.  

What is amazing is that Jonah thought that his own righteous perspective was the same as God's.  While God did care about each of the people of Nineveh, as people created in his own image, even as he was at the point of destroying them for their sin, Jonah did not care about them at all.  He wanted to see justice served, and justice in this case was the destruction of these sinners.  What's more, he actually becomes angry to find out that God has a soft spot in his heart for these rebellious people. His privileged status as a Jew and as a prophet were not all that privileged when God demonstrates his love (as well as his mercy and grace) to a rebellious people.  

His further actions are even more telling: Jonah is much more grieved about the death of his shade tree than he is at the prospect of an entire city destroyed.  His own comfort is much more important to him than the eternal destiny of Nineveh.  He allowed trivial inconveniences and discomforts to completely cloud his perspective on what is most important in the world, that humanity has a hope through the one true God.  

How often in our modern Christian living do we find ourselves acting like Jonah? Like Jonah, all of us (not just those in vocational ministry) have a message from the Lord.  We have been called to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ wherever we are placed.  While I cannot think of any vocational missionaries who would ever have this kind of reaction to the repentance of the people they have been called to work with, I fear that many of us, in our day to day lives living amongst people who we are called to reach with the gospel, have as little care for them Jonah had for Nineveh.  We are blinded by our own desires, our own agendas, our own hobbies, or our own comforts.  These people are all around us, and yet we do not see them.  When we do see them, we see them as enemies, in an "us versus them" kind of way.  

Let's be a people who see the lost in our world, and actually care for them. Let us put our own rights, desires, and comforts behind theirs.  God asked Jonah at the end of Chapter 4, "You pity the plant... 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...?" Sadly, we don't find out how Jonah responds to this.  But how will you respond.  What if God asks you the same question about your city?  "And should I not pity Houston? or Atlanta? or San Sebastián?" Our response: "Yes Lord, and I should too."  

Over the last week, I have had a couple of conversations that have spurred me toward a fresh look at the Old Testament book of Jonah.  The conversations were unrelated, but in both related to the concept of hope, and in both instances, I saw connections with the account of Jonah and the people of Nineveh.  Over the next couple of weeks, I will break down chapters 3 and 4 of Jonah and how those two chapters can help us better understand our Christian hope.  

As I worked through this I idea of hope, and what the book of Jonah has to say about it, I came to these questions: 1) what should the proclaimer believe about both present hope and future hope, and 2) what does this hope mean for those who are receiving the proclaimer's message.

In chapter 3, we see Jonah finally arrive at Nineveh with a message from the Lord.  He goes throughout the streets of the city proclaiming immanent judgment, and, both amazingly and surprisingly, it is met with genuine repentance.  The rank and file of the city respond in repentance, and when the message of judgment makes it to the ears of the king, he too repents.  But he doesn't stop there, he leads his entire city to repentance.

Why was this response amazing and surprising?  Because they were receiving a message of judgment on account of their previous rebellion.  There was precedent for rebellion, but not for repentance.  Why would a rebellious people repent?  After all, they are rebellious, right?

Thankfully, God is in the business of forgiving the rebellious when they come to him in repentance.  Just because the people of Nineveh repented did not mean that they were no longer guilty of their previous sins, or that the judgment God was going to carry out against them was unjustified.  If fact, their repentance confirms their understanding that the judgment that they were facing was indeed justified.  True repentance can only follow a proper understanding of one's sin.  

Before we jump into the discussion about what the proclaimer believes or expects, I want to draw two conclusions from a quick glance at this passage.  

1. When we, a people who are guilty of rebellion against God, recognize our guilt and respond in repentance, God is merciful, and he extends his grace to us that we might come into right relationship with him. 
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​2. Rebellious people aren't "necessarily" (in a philosophical sense) rebellious.  That is, they do not have to eternally remain in a state of rebellion.  There is an opportunity for repentance, and the rebel, upon repenting, can indeed be in right relationship with God.  I once asked a worker for a parachurch organization that was a ministry to high school kids what they were doing to get the kids that they reached plugged into a local body of believers (i.e., a church).  Her response, "Well these are unchurched kids", as if that were a status that could never change. She had completely missed the point of the ministry she was working for.  If the people of Nineveh, a people slated for destruction, could repent and come into right relationship with God, then certainly formerly "unchurched" kids can be churched, and formerly "unreached" people can be reached.  

A couple of months ago I was invited by a pastor friend of mine in Spain to participate in a television interview for EITB, sort of a Spanish PBS television station.  The interview is in Spanish, but if you are interested in checking it out, click here!

This is the third post in a three part series.  I have modified and expanded some of the thoughts I shared at my sister-in-law's wedding.  

Our third challenge is found in chapter 17.
 
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
 
The challenge here is holy living.  That passage starts out “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.”  Let's look first at that proclamation.   How often do we look for excuses for not living blameless lives?  God doesn't start with "We live in a fallen world." He starts with "I am God Almighty."  Sure, the world is a fallen world, but there is still an almighty God who has dominion over it.  

Now look at the command. What a bold command!  "Be blameless!"  As you know, that is not always easy.  Temptation abounds and we do, indeed, live in a fallen world. That is not an excuse, just a statement of fact. Selfishness and the flesh get in the way.  But even with all of that God calls us to walk before him and be blameless.  And here is the cool part.  It is just this kind of living that we need to model for our various spheres of influence, be that our family, workplace, or whatever.    Many of us have parents who have provided, and continue to provide, a godly example of Christian life. Even if we don't, we have someone who has invested in our life, who modeled Christian life to us.   We, as Christians, desire to live that kind of life and and to model that for those around us and to the next generation.  Godly living sets the stage for a Godly legacy.  It was true of God’s chosen people back in Genesis. It can be true of of our families as well.
 
I encourage you to take up these three challenges.  Be obedient: when God speaks, do it.  Be faithful: even in the midst of doubts, trust God.  Be blameless: walk in holiness.  God has a fantastic plan for you.  Continue the legacy that your families have passed on to you.

This is the second post in a three part series.  I have modified and expanded some of the thoughts I shared at my sister-in-law's wedding.  

Genesis 15 brings us to our second challenge.  Abram had already responded in obedience, but we begin to see that he had some doubts.  He actually asks God if he is going to fulfill his promises to him.  Verses 1-6 read this way.
 
…the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
 
The challenge here is faith.  Abram demonstrated an unshakable faith, even as he didn’t understand what God was doing. How many times have we wondered, in the midst of difficult or confusing circumstances, what in the world God was doing?  And yet, coming out the other side of those circumstances, we see so clearly God’s hand through it all. 

About four years ago my family was in the process of returning from Spain after three and a half years of ministry there.  Our organization was shifting personnel, and they requested that we move to a different part of the country.  We just didn't have a peace about that, especially as so much of what we had worked so hard for over our time there was beginning to take hold.  We decided to leave that organization and return to the United States.  We arrived without a job, few prospects for a job, and a real sense of doubt about God's leading.  Why would you bring us back when we were just gaining traction?  I believe you when you say you have plans for us, but right now, it is hard to see those plans working out?  

I imagine that we shared the feelings of Abram here.  God had made him promises, but several years in, Abram hadn't seen any progress toward the fulfillment of those promises.  Doubts abounded, and yet he stood firm in his faith.  True disciples demonstrate faith even, or perhaps especially, when the outcome is unclear.  He had his doubts; he didn’t understand.  But “Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  May our lives be grounded in that same kind of unshakeable faith in God.

On Saturday evening I got to officiate the wedding of my sister-in-law.  One of the things that I often do when I officiate weddings is ask the couple if they have a favorite verse or passage of Scripture, or perhaps some passage that they have recently been studying and has either challenged them or meant a lot to the.  The groom requested Genesis 17, God's covenant with Abraham.  I must admit that, initially, I did not know where to go with that.  Circumcision does not usually get much airtime at weddings!  But after backing out a little bit and spending some time reading through Genesis 12-17 I was challenged anew by Abraham (Abram) and his relationship with God.  In Genesis 12, 15, and 17 we find covenantal language and dialogue between Abram and God, and each of these passages points to a particular aspect of Abram's relationship with God and calls us to emulate that.

We read in Genesis 12:1-5 the following:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan…

​Here we find our first challenge: to live lives of obedience.  God’s blessings to Abram came on the condition of His obedience.  God was calling him to something great…much more than Abram could have imagined at this point, but in order for those plans to come to fruition, Abram had to first step out in obedience.  God said “Go” and Abram and Sarai went.   

What is God calling you to?  Do you believe that he is calling you to something great? Greater than you can even imagine at this point?  In Jeremiah God says through the prophet, "I know the plans I have for you..."  He does not say "I don't know what I am going to do with you."  He has a plan, and he is calling us to action.  When God calls, will you hear?  When God says go, will you go?

I had the privilege of preaching at the Cypress Campus of Houston's First Baptist Church this past Sunday.  We took a look at the book of Haggai and I shared a little bit of how God had been working in mine and Katie's lives through that book over the last year.  

I want to take a few moments and develop a little bit more the third point from that sermon.  The passage is Haggai 2:1-9 and it reads as follows:

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lordcame by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”
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I absolutely love this passage.  Apparently there has been some grumbling amongst the people.  A few have some memory of the Temple before its destruction, or at least they have heard stories of its grandeur from the generation who had seen it, and they concluded that the Temple they were working on would fail to be anything close to the former Temple.  But God anticipated this, and sends a prophetic word to the people by way fo Haggai.  In asking the series of questions in verse 3, God has called the naysayers out.  Those who are being used by the enemy to discourage the work to which God has called his faithful are being identified for what they are: the voice of the enemy!

God's word to the people (and it is stated three times) is "Be strong!"  He knew there would be adversity. He knew there would be discouragement.  Nothing about that surprised him.  That is what happens when the enemy seeks to disrupt the efforts of the faithful! But they are challenged to be strong, to persevere, and to take comfort and be encouraged.  Why?  Because God is with them.  Despite adversity, doubt, and discouragement, God is still there in their midst.  Their work on the Temple is right in the middle of God's will, and no amount of negativity can change that.  When we step out in faith, confident that God has called us to something, we, too, will be attacked by the enemy.  But despite that adversity, God will be with us.

But God's challenge to the people does not stop at "Be strong!"  He also tells them, "Work!"  When we discouraged or feel like we are facing resistance from the enemy, our natural inclination is to stop doing whatever it is we were doing.  But God wants us to press through. He wants us to persevere.  We can be confident that he is with us, that we are doing exactly what he called us to, and that, no matter the resistance, we can (and should!) continue until the work is finished.  

Let's respond positively to the prophetic word of Haggai.  Let's be strong!  And let's get to work on what God has called us to.  He has uniquely gifted each of us for the task to which we are called.  Let's get busy doing his work!

​Ian

​Each week, Isaiah 54:2-3, “Enlarge the site of your tent…,” is prominently displayed at the top of Pastor Jason’s newsletter.  This stands as a constant reminder of our church’s vision to reach out more widely than we might imagine to make a difference for God’s kingdom.
 
It is in that same spirit that I am happy to share with you how God has asked the Brou family to “enlarge the site of our tent.”  As many of you know, before coming onto the staff of HFBC to be a part of the launch of the Cypress Campus, we served with the International Mission Board to an unreached people group, the Basque people of northern Spain.  Despite a strong sense at the time that God was calling us away from that work and to Houston’s First, the desire to be a part of God’s work among those people never left our hearts. 
 
In recent months the pull to return has grown, and we are confident that God is indeed calling us back to that field!   Our recent mission trip Spain really confirmed our decision and also showed us some new, potential opportunities for ministry as we enter that culture again.  Any doubts or concerns, not least our kids’ re-entry into Basque life, school, and culture, were also put to rest over the course of that week.
 
In light of this decision, I am going to be stepping down from my role on the staff at HFBC on June 15 so that I can work full-time toward our return.  Our goal is to be in Spain by October 1, so we will be in and around HFBC throughout the summer.  It is our desire to maintain a strategic relationship with Houston’s First in general and the Cypress Campus in particular, so we hope to see many of you working with us in Spain in the years to come!
 
On behalf of Katie, Bianca, Eliana, Giada, and Francesca, I would like to say “Thank you” for all of your love, friendship, support, and encouragement over the last several years.  You have been used by God to prepare us to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people who otherwise might never hear it.
 
Serving with you,
 
Ian