The Shortest Sermon

[Song] “Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life.  Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life.”

Hello, my name is Miss Barb!  Welcome to Lifeline English, the podcast that helps you know God and know English.

You can read the written script for today’s lesson online at lifelineenglish.com.

Today I want to teach you two words.

The first word is destroy.  To destroy means to hurt or damage something so much that it ends or dies.  The ocean waves destroyed my sand castle.  The washing machine destroyed his cell phone.  

The other word is believe. To believe means to trust or agree that something or someone is true.  I believe it will rain tomorrow.   I believe the weather forecast on TV.  Do you believe in space aliens who travel in UFO’s?  Does he believe Barack Obama was a good president? 

I also want to teach you about cardinal and ordinal numbers.  I’m sure you already know the cardinal numbers in English.  Cardinal numbers are used for counting things.  They begin with one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.  Ordinal numbers are used for putting things in order.  The ordinal numbers begin like this: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth.



Today’s story has three cardinal numbers and one ordinal number.  Listen, and you will hear them! 

In our last story, God rescued Jonah from dying in the ocean.  God sent a big fish to swallow Jonah.  Then God told the fish to spit Jonah out onto the dry land.  But God was not finished with Jonah!  Today’s story is called, “The Shortest Sermon”.

When I ask you a question, I will leave a space.  You can answer my question.  Then I will say the answer and you can compare your answers with my answers. 

God spoke to Jonah a second time.
Did God speak?  Yes, God spoke.
To whom did God speak?  God spoke to Jonah.

“Go to Nineveh, the big city.”
What was Nineveh?  Nineveh was a big city.
Who must go to Nineveh?  Jonah must go to Nineveh.
Did Jonah ask to go to Nineveh?  No, God told Jonah to go to Nineveh.

“Preach against it the message that I give you.”
Who will give the message?  God will give the message.
To whom will God give the message?  God will give the message to Jonah.
What must Jonah do with the message?  Jonah must preach the message.
To whom must Jonah preach the message?  Jonah must preach the message to Nineveh.  He must tell them God’s words.

Jonah did what God said.  He went to Nineveh.
Did Jonah obey God?  Yes!  This time, Jonah obeyed God.
Who went to Nineveh?  Jonah went to Nineveh.
How many people did God send to Nineveh?  One.  God sent only one person, Jonah, to Nineveh.

Nineveh was a big city.  It took 3 days to walk through it.
How big was Nineveh?  Nineveh was so big it took 3 days to walk through it.
How many days did it take to walk through Nineveh?  It took 3 days to walk through it.

Jonah walked 1 day. 
Who walked?  Jonah walked.
How long did Jonah walk?  Jonah walked for 1 day.

He called out, “Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days!”
What did Jonah do?  Jonah called out.
What will be destroyed?  Nineveh will be destroyed.
When will Nineveh be destroyed?  Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days.
Who will destroy Nineveh?  God will destroy Nineveh.
Why will Nineveh be destroyed?  Nineveh was an evil city. 

The people of Nineveh believed in God.
Did the people of Nineveh kill Jonah?  No, they did not kill Jonah!
Did the people ignore Jonah?  No, they did not ignore Jonah!
What did the people do?  The people believed.
In whom did the people believe?  The people believed in God.
Which people believed in God?  The people of Nineveh believed in God.
When did the people believe in God?  The people believed in God when Jonah said that God would destroy Nineveh.

They stopped eating food.  They put on rough clothes.
Did they stop greeting?  No, they stopped eating! :) 
Who stopped eating?  The people of Nineveh stopped eating.
What did they put on?  They put on rough clothes.
Were the clothes comfortable?  No, the clothes were not comfortable.
Why did the people stop eating and put on rough clothes?  The people did this because they believed in God.  The people realized they were evil.  They were afraid that God would destroy Nineveh.

Everyone did this, from the most important to the least important.
What did everyone do?  Everyone stopped eating and put on rough clothes.
Did fathers stop eating?  Yes, fathers stopped eating.  Everyone did this.
Did children put on rough clothes?  Yes, childen put on rough clothes.  Everyone did this. 
Did business owners do this?  Yes, everyone did this.  Even business owners stopped eating.
Did housewives stop eating also?  Yes, housewives did this.  Everyone stopped eating and put on rough clothes.

Let’s listen to the whole story together. 

God spoke to Jonah a second time.  “Go to Nineveh, the big city. Preach against it the message that I give you.”
Jonah did what God said.  He went to Nineveh.
Nineveh was a big city. It took 3 days to walk through it.
Jonah walked 1 day.  He called out, “Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days!”
The people of Nineveh believed in God. They stopped eating food. They put on rough clothes.
Everyone did this, from the most important to the least important.

Did you hear the numbers? 

Here is the ordinal number: “God spoke to Jonah a second time.”

And here are the cardinal numbers:
“It took three days”
“Jonah walked one day.”
“Nineveh will be destroyed in forty days.”

Why is this story called, “The Shortest Sermon”?  A sermon is a message about God.  Jonah spoke God’s message to Nineveh.  His sermon was only 7 words!  “Nineveh will be destroyed in forty days.”

How would this story sound if Jonah told it to us?  Let’s listen!

God spoke to me a second time.  “Go to Nineveh, the big city. Preach against it the message that I give you.”
I did what God said.  I went to Nineveh.
Nineveh was a big city. It took 3 days to walk through it.
I walked 1 day.  I called out, “Nineveh will be destroyed in 40 days!”
The people of Nineveh believed in God. They stopped eating food. They put on rough clothes.
Everyone did this, from the most important to the least important.

Is your city evil, like Nineveh?  Will God destroy your city?  Could you help your city believe in God?

What will the king of Nineveh do when he hears Jonah’s message?  Will he kill Jonah?  We’ll find out in our next story! 

Do you have any questions?  You can write me.  Go to our website, lifelineenglish.com. 

Until next time, may Jesus help you know Him and know English.  Good bye!

[Song] “Jesus only savior, sanctify forever, beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.  Beautiful words, wonderful words, wonderful words of life.”