{"id":13288,"date":"2023-01-15T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-15T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/?post_type=ctc_sermon&#038;p=13288"},"modified":"2023-01-17T10:36:38","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:36:38","slug":"turning-back-to-god","status":"publish","type":"ctc_sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/sermons\/turning-back-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Back To God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-gdm-google-drive-embedder-viewer\"><iframe width='100%' height='100' frameborder='0' scrolling='yes' src='https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1_0iEyIqwRQ_z3vH6toTbE60PErHwcvL9\/preview?usp=drivesdk' allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n<h6 class=\"p1\"><b>Read<\/b><\/h6>\n<p class=\"p2\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Jonah 2:1-10<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"p1\"><b>Consider<\/b><\/h6>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Reading Jonah 2, one of the first questions that comes to mind is whether Jonah actually confesses his sin before God.\u00a0 If you are able, read those ten verses and consider for yourself.\u00a0 Although it is a beautiful prayer, I would argue it is slightly incomplete.\u00a0 When we come before God without confessing the sin that has fractured our relationship with the God of the universe, we miss out on the joy found in confession.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">When we confess with a broken heart before God by acknowledging our wrongdoings, we experience the joy and freedom that comes from following the way of Jesus through the Spirit.\u00a0 My hope for us is that we will be a people who confess before God &amp; each other and this will strengthen our ties with each other &amp; bear witness to the gospel that is at work among us.<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"p8\"><b>Pray<\/b><\/h6>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.\u00a0 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me \u2026 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"p8\"><b>Diving Deeper<\/b><\/h6>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Read King David\u2019s prayer of confession (Psalm 51).\u00a0 What are the differences between that prayer and Jonah 2?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Read Matthew 3:8.\u00a0 What does it mean to produce fruit in keeping with repentance?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p9\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Tough question: In what way have we been disobedient by not turning from a particular sin?\u00a0 Can you name that sin?\u00a0 How can we confess to each other so that we can walk in the ways of Jesus?<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Spiritual Practice<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>Practice #1:<\/strong> Read Nehemiah 1:5-11.\u00a0 Discuss in your group what resonates with you about this prayer and pray in response to it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>Practice #2:<\/strong> Read James 5:16 as a group.\u00a0 Give people a time of silent reflection to consider \u201cwhat sins hold me back from following Christ wholeheartedly?\u201d\u00a0 Then give people the opportunity to share with each other and pray for each other.\u00a0 Make sure you model vulnerability by going first as the leader.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><strong>Additional Resources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/how-to-repent-5-steps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How to Repent: 5 Steps<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonah 2:1-10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":13237,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","ctc_sermon_topic":[],"ctc_sermon_book":[142],"ctc_sermon_series":[536],"ctc_sermon_speaker":[525],"ctc_sermon_tag":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/13288"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ctc_sermon"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/13288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13293,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon\/13288\/revisions\/13293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_topic?post=13288"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_book?post=13288"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_series?post=13288"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_speaker?post=13288"},{"taxonomy":"ctc_sermon_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scbc.com\/em\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctc_sermon_tag?post=13288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}