Albert Tate – God is enough
Jonah – God was enough but not really – Jonah stopped and listened and moved but failed to trust – God was something but not enough.
God said go. So he went but not to where he was called to go.
Jonah saying me overboard is not about saving anyone it was about Jonah controlling things. He was saying I would rather die than do what God wanted him to do.
When people leave we freak out because our identity is tied to their presence.
[Tweet “God’s love provided a fish for Jonah to hold him together until he got it together. Albert Tate”]
Jonah gave up on God but God never gave up on Jonah. Jonah tried to end things on his terms but God said I’m sovereign.
Chapter 2 in Jonah is about how rude God is because he has a grace that interrupts us. He sovereignly over-rights our story.
Jonah 2.4-6
Our problems are real. The waves and the storm are surrounding. The reality is that we have a God’s truth can overwhelm the facts we are facing.
God is enough. Even when you are drowning He is able.
The whale brought Jonah back to Joppa – God uses our situations to bring us back where we need to be.
God has put you right where you need to be.
Jonah messed up royally yet God used him significantly.
The story of Jonah is not about God saving Jonah from a fish it’s about God saving Jonah from himself.
The question you have to ask is “What do you want?” Is God enough.
We daily receive the grace of God if we are not careful we will fail to give the same grace we have been give.
[Tweet “The story of Jonah ends with a question mark because Jonah fails to put a period after God’s grace.”]
Where are you living questionable when you should be living declarative.
The problem with you loving Jesus for a living is that you can end up loving Jesus for a living it becomes a job not a calling.
Where are the areas in your life you need have the God of our salvation say “I am enough”
Jonah missed God because of his pride and his inability to forgive.
– My Thoughts –
So appreciated Albert’s session – The importance of the God being enough is something that everyone struggles with. In the American church we are held back more by our lack of a full understanding of the sufficiency of Christ than anything else. When we fail to see Christ as sufficient in everything we fill in the gap with anything.
As pastors we have a dual responsibility because we are watchmen on the wall. We are called to speak truth of the sufficiency of Christ to ourselves first and then to others. The problem comes as Albert said because we love Jesus for a living and we then start loving him for a living and our calling turns into a job. We forget our source. We forget we have all we need in Christ and we end up doing things to fill the gaps we that were always meant to drive us into the heart of God not into the arms of whatever will promise to meet our needs outside of Christ.
How do we see Christ is sufficient? I believe as a minister it starts by seeing our lack. It isn’t until you become aware of your needs that you become more acutely aware of Christs willingness and ability to meet that need. It isn’t until you are in the middle of the ocean drowning that you realize that the very thing that you are asking God to rescue you from is what He sent to rescue you from yourself.
I love how Albert closed the night with this challenge. “Where are the undone areas in your life you need have the God of our salvation say ‘I am enough’? ” God is enough, period. He is sufficient.
