We are now drawing to a close of our weekend together, although there will still be swimming, and other activities this afternoon. I was pleased yesterday to get a fastest lap time on the gokarts of 21.150. If any of my readers were here and got a faster time, do feel free to let me know!

Terry came to speak to us again on Jonah 2 and 3. Perhaps the key verse in this passage is God’s word coming again to Jonah. God is glorious and holy but gives people a second chance repeatedly in the Bible. For example Abraham took over and tried to do what God was meant to do. He made something happen. Moses spent 40 years in the desert.

The Jonah Prayed – Wouldn’t you? In the deep in the belly of a great fish where else has he got to turn? He should have started by praying, but at least he finished by doing so. The prodigal son turns when the unpredictable struck. God sends crises to teach us to get to know him. Life can be very hard. Real prayer isn’t just worrying out loud. Those who cling to idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs (NIV) We often allow certain values to become more important than our God -eg worrying about schools.

What did Jonah Pray? He cried for help. John Wimber used to encourage us to pray “God, Help!” He knew that God had brought him to this place. He couldn’t run away from God really. Don’t resist the tug of God, you can’t guarantee that God wont banish you. Romans 1 says “God gave them up”. Hell is when God gives up on you.
He turns back to the temple, recognizing that he is in covenant with God. He said he would pay his vow. Psalm 66 says “I will pay you my vows…” We must say “I will do it Lord!” Don’t think you are disqualified.

What did God do? Jonah is at his lowest point, and then God acts. God can command anything – even a fish! God commanded the walls of jericho, the red sea, the river jordan, the lions, the flames. Jesus is in the mission with us. He is not back there wondering how we will get on. He says to Paul “I have lots of people here”.

God doesn’t send him back onto the water, but onto dry ground. He hits the ground walking. God can get you right out of your trouble. God can control our circumstances. We MUST be strong in prayer.

God forgives him absolutely and he is completely reinstated. He took things up back where he left off. We have to learn how to re-gather and pick up the broken. There are not many who never trip. We need to get people back on their feet again. Jonah then obeyed “according to the word of the Lord.” In our marriages, in our workplaces, everything must be done according to Biblical principles. Eg we still do marriage! But we do it God’s way. The son has always submitted to the Father, so our marriages reflect that. He will always be submitted to the father. That is his happy lifestyle. He is totally equal to the Father, but loves to do his will.

God was then mightily with Jonah and a revival struck. But, God’s blessing on him still did not make him the perfect man. He messed up in the last chapter. God didn’t say “stay in the fish till you are thoroughly sanctified”.

Terry began by giving a report about his trip to Australia and New Zealand which really helped to put his talk into the context of a movement that spans the globe and is on a mission together. It was so exciting to realize how small we are here in this conference even though we are here with 3600 people on a site that is fully booked. This conference is a local one just for a part of the UK. Across the UK and across the world other similar conferences are happening and groups of churches are gathering to form this grace-filled movement. Events like this remind me of how glad I am to be a part of Newfrontiers. Terry then turned to Jonah 1 and read the whole chapter.

2 Kings 14:23-28 tells us Jonah was a popular prophet in a successful state when God interrupts him with a call to go to Ninevah. The whole story turns on the phrase “but Jonah”. God had already told Abraham that through them he would bless the ends of the earth. Jonah had slipped away from that, and wasn’t interested in other nations. Jonah has only 8 words of prophecy, and the rest of the book is all about him. Its the book of Jonah, not the taking of Ninevah. 120,000 saved is the biggest revival in the Bible, yet God calls it the book of Jonah. He is interested in us as individuals when big challenges come on the scene. God didn’t move to plan b when Jonah backslid and ran away. God is always interested in winning back his children.

Jonah failed to submit to God.  He was not too impressed with what God had to say. When God speaks, you are supposed to arise and go (as Abraham and Elijah for example responded to God), not run in the opposite direction. God wants obedience, not just in the big calls, but also in the thousands of words you find in the Bible. God says lots of things very plainly, and we need to very plainly obey. God doesn’t give up on people. He wants to include you. He doesn’t just want to take Nineveh he wants you to have a story. He loves people and wants them to come through to a place of trust and obedience.

Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord In his disobedience, he trusted his own reasoning. A prophet needs presence. Hebrew word for presence is “face”. Jesus said “he is always with me, I always do what pleases him” He refuses to leave the presence of the father. Jesus came from the glory of the father and modeled sonship. We should always make it our aim to please him. Not living as legalists, but living as sons. Our Father is always with us. Beholding the beauty of the Lord sustains us. Beware the danger of living by rules. The prodigal son had run away, but his brother who was compliant and home-staying son but although he had never left had never really been in the fathers presence. He didn’t appreciate what it meant to be a son of his loving father.

Jonah found a ship We can sometimes think ” it just all fell into place”. People sometimes say “we were just thrown together” we were led by circumstance. That can be an excuse for sinful relationships.  We are not led that way. We mustn’t throw away everything because of what is in front of us.

Jonah fell asleep He got into the ship that was going nowhere and lost all his sense of direction. Sometimes sleep is totally appropriate. But there is a sleep of lethargy and aimlessness. We can be extremely busy but very lazy at the same time. You can be on a shop that’s going nowhere. The sluggard rarely says no. He just makes little decisions that robs him of obedience. A sluggard is hinged to his bed. Christians get spiritually depressed because they don’t get control. We must press through. While Jonah was asleep he failed the world. Things don’t stay the same. You cant afford to be asleep because you don’t know when a storm is coming. Suddenly the world is in a storm, its time for the church to be awake. We need to show the world God has the answers. The church is the answer to the world. We are the salt of the earth.

Jonah Found Himself  As the storm breaks, and people are worried, Jonah says “its all about me”. He uses the technical language “I fear the Lord” but the reason he was there was because he didn’t! But suddenly he was beginning to again. He realized he had missed the boat. He suddenly woke up to the fact that he could have been a blessing. The rest became very afraid. That is revival. Revival happens that way. People who know God begin to express fear of God. People start to pray, and blessing can go right around the world. When the world sees that the church really fears God they begin to take God seriously. Jonah says just throw me away to save you. For the first time he begins to care about other people. Hes not yet a whole man. But he is saying I want to get back into line with God and I don’t want you suffering because of my disobedience. Jesus looked on our plight and said I unreservedly give myself for you. Jonah 2 could be Jesus’ prayer. Jesus has paid a price so that even when we have messed up we can be reinstated. We must take seriously what God has told us to do. We must give up our right to take our own decisions. God wants an obedience that is rooted in faith.

This morning I again plan on sharing only a short summary of Dave Stroud’s talk.  He spoke about how we are called to be salt and light in the world.

This bit of live blogging will definitely not be as detailed as usual. You can blame my tiredness from the three hour plus drive. Friday night traffic had me wondering if I should have gone round the M25 the opposite way. But when I got here I found that everyone from Jubilee had the same experience whichever way they had chosen to try and get here. So, by the time we had unpacked the car, got to our room, eaten some dinner and got the kids out of their school uniforms, and found the family-friendly overflow we had missed all of the worship and most of Steve’s Talk.

Steve spent most of the time I was able to listen speaking about his personal history and his perspective on the Newfrontiers history to date. He spoke of restoration, the gifts of the spirit, exuberant dancing, camping in the wet and other such things that we have shared together for more than three decades for some of us. He spoke about how that sense of restoring the church had led to a sense of mission to found churches all over the world.

Steve spoke about Paul’s missionary journeys and drew some lessons for today from them. He told us to keep our vision clear, and become caught up in our local church and all that God is wanting to do there. He spoke about the future, and in particular the need to plant more churches in large cities such as London, mentioning Islington specifically.

I interrupt my automated blogging to give you a bit of good old-fashioned live blogging from a Bible Weekend. Don’t expect too many posts, or the posts to be long posts. I won’t even be recording any interviews at this event. Why? Well, if you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that aside from my busy regular job, being a father of five, a husband, and part of the leadership team of Jubilee Church London, a small matter of a book project has been rudely intruding on the spare time I usually devote to blogging. So I am determined this weekend will also be a break for me.

So, I suspect a few of you are itching to know how its going. Well, so far I have at least a very rough draft of every chapter. Some of the drafts are less rough around the edges than others, but NONE of them are ready to go to the publisher yet.

I am due to submit on 1st April – perhaps appropriately as looking at it now I sometimes feel like a fool for agreeing to do this, even with the 2 years I have had to work on it. Can it ever be complete? Its currently too long by at least a quarter which I suppose is a good thing as editing something down is much easier than staring at a blank page wondering how on earth I am meant to fill 90,000 words (yes you read that right, its no slimline paperback this one!)

So why interrupt my work to go to a conference? Well as much as I am busy, and love the local church, there is something special about conferences. They uplift us, train us, inspire us, cause us to worship and leave us full of vision ready to return to the work we have to do each day. A good conference supports the local church and helps us to reboot and calibrate ourselves ready for the next season. This conference is particularly special as I am attending with my wife and children, and also a rather large contingent from Jubilee. I am really looking forward to it.

By the time you read this I will be there. I am not 100% sure I will be able to get wifi, so if I don’t then you can expect the live blog posts to appear when I return. If the thought of me being at a conference reminds you that you have yet to book into your 2009 conferences, then may I encourage you to do so. I will be at two more conferences this year- New Word Alive and Together On A Mission. Both are taking bookings, so go get yourself a place right now!

By the time you read this me and my family should be enjoying the delights of Butlins including go-karts, rides, food prepared for us, the sea air, o and yes worship and teaching with thousands of believers!