Get up & Cry out!

Jonah 1:1–6 (CSB)

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach, (Cry out), against it because their evil has come up before me.” 3 Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence.

4 But the Lord threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart. 5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel and had stretched out and fallen into a deep sleep.

6 The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.”

- A Difficult Book

The book of Jonah is one of the most difficult books

For many, in today’s post modernist, generation to accept.

It has a list of at least 10 miracles attached to it.

Not the least among them is the story of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish.

Does anyone here doubt the truth of this story?

We are told in the rest of that story that Jonah was tossed overboard by the sailors in order to calm the voracious storm that God sent.

(Sent) is not even the right word to use here because in verse four, where it says “The Lord Threw a great wind, the word used translated by our english word “threw” is (טוּל)= Tul

Which in Hebrew means to Hurl or Cast like a Javelin.

So, God didn’t just casually send a storm, he Threw it at them.

The resulting storm was so terrible, that the experienced sailors were terrified to the point of every man for himself in prayers to the first God that would answer them by calming this terrible storm.

I don’t like to be involved in prayers for someone when other Gods have been invoked, Many ask when something is wrong, can you pray for this or that, when I know they are of a different worldview, My answer is always the same, “If your prayers are answered, who gets the credit?” Since you have invoked many gods. How do you know which one provided your relief?

We are also told that he survived this ordeal and three days later he was spit out on dry land.

From there, he went on to fulfill the calling he was running away from.

As if anyone could run from God.

But, how did all of this start?

It says the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, saying,

Jonah 1:2 (CSB)

2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.”

Here we see a direct command, “Get up. and Preach”

It is interesting that the same Hebrew word used for Preach is, (קרא)=Qr’ = Pronounced, “Ka-ha”

This word is means to Cry out, proclaim, preach,

Why is that interesting?

We’re told in verse 6

Jonah 1:6 (CSB)

6 The captain approached him and said, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up! Call to your god. Maybe this god will consider us, and we won’t perish.”

That not only did our great and awesome God create a special storm and then throw it at him, but He also supernaturally had the terrified sea captain repeat the message when he found Jonah in a deep sleep during such a terrible time such as this.

Saying, “Get up, Call on your God,”

The same Hebrew word is used here that is translated “Call”

“Ka-ha”

He is repeating the same message to Jonah that God, did, “Get up, and cry out, proclaim, preach the word of God!”

It’s easy to dismiss the intended meaning in the book of Jonah because the book of Jonah somehow gets lost in the ideal of fantasy, or fairytales, with him being swallowed by a great fish of some sort

Then surviving the ordeal, and later going to fulfill his commish the Lord gave him

- 10 Miracles

There are at 10 miracles that took place in the book of Jonah

The Great Storm

They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah

The calming of the sea once Jonah was thrown overboard.

The Lord prepared a great fish to swallow a human being

A human being lived inside the belly of this great fish for three days & three nights

The Lord commanded the fish to vomit him out of it’s mouth onto dry land!

Nineveh, This great and awful ancient city, who’s history goes all the way back to Nimrod who built this city, repented at Jonahs crying out!

The Lord caused a big plant to grow over Jonah

The next day, God had a worm to destroy the plant so it withered

God sent a scorching east wind along with the blazing sun that beat down on Jonah

For this reason, many find it hard to “Swallow” the book of Jonah, because of all the miraculous things that were written about him.

It is important to remember, that Jesus Christ himself confirmed the authenticity of the book of Jonah but mentioning the similarities between what he was to suffer and what Jonah went through.

Matthew 12:39–41 (CSB)

39 ...“An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching; and look—something greater than Jonah is here.

So, we can say it’s a safe assumption to take the book of Jonah and the message of the book, and how it applies to our lives today in the here and now, a several thousand years later, because Jesus said it happened.

There are also a couple of reported stories in history about human beings surviving in the belly of a whale or even a Fish. You can look them up

Slide

One is the supposed account of James Bartley in 1891, he was to have been swallowed by a whale, as reported by many different publications.

Another is the supposed account of a Man interviewed by Harry Rimmer, that had reported to have been swallowed by a big shark and lived.

- A Lesson for Our Time

How does the book of Jonah Relate to us now, in our time?

Jesus left as His parting words in Matthew 28:18 and is known as the great commission

Matthew 28:19-20

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus said, “Get up, Cry out”

Repeating the very words that were commanded to Jonah several thousand years ago.

Jonah was sent to target Nineveh, We are sent to the word!

We are called to “Proclaim, Preach, Cry out” to our own generation, in our own world, to every city, great or small.

Right here in our own city,

Especially when we hear things they are doing in our school, hospitals, our government etc.

We are not to be silent as Jonah was in the bottom of the ship while the storm was raging outside.

And Just as, God, and the Sea captain shouted out to Jonah,

So Do I, to all of you here in this building or watching on the screen

“Get up, Cry out” about the coming destruction if they do not repent.

- Get Up!

How could you who say, “that you love the Lord,” be sleeping at a time like this?

The world around you is very similar to the evil Nineveh of Jonah’s time. The world around us desperately needs to repent, or be carried away to destruction.

For those who love God, consider this your wake up call

You have been appointed by Jesus, to go out and Proclaim, to preach, to cry out, about His glory and gospel.

If you don’t, if you try to ignore, or run away from your calling, remember how God deals with runaways,

He Hurls storms in the seas of your lives. He calls chaos to come onto the stage. He allows terror and confusion to reign until you pinpoint the area of conflict and throw it over board once and for all

Then, and only then will the storms start to calm in your lives.

- Effects of Rebellion

Why Does God allow and do those kind of things?

Because, thats how bad and how serious God wants His word preached to all the world.

Even amidst turmoil, and catastrophe, He wants His word preached, Cried out, proclaimed to the world.

When Jonah made the decision to forego God’s command, and tried to ignore or run away from God, that made God very angry.

Jonah was in open rebellion against the Lord.

So, God caused the terrible response to Jonahs rebellion to show him that God expects everyone and everything to obey Him, and He will use everything in His creation to get the point across.

In verse 4

Jonah 1:4 (CSB)

4 But the Lord threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break apart.

We are told the Ship itself threatened to break apart.

So it’s as if the storm wasn’t enough, the ship itself was crying out,

“Hey, do something quick before I break-up and you are all swimming in this storm”

And you know what? It would have if Jonah had not told them to obey him.

Brothers and Sisters and those of you watching from behind the screen,

Don’t be asleep, Get up, and Cry out,

Cry out to your neighbors, to your wayward family, to your friends, a co workers.

Repent or you will die in your sins.

It doesn’t matter what you have going on in your personal life.

God’s demands you go out to the world and cry out, preach, or proclaim His goodness and salvation.

Adoniram Judson

Was the first US missionary ever sent out from this country. If you ever get a chance to read his biography I would highly recommend it.

As a matter of fact I would highly recommend it to anyone who claims to be Christian.

He went through all kinds of hardship, back in the early 1800’s including a couple of prison terms, deaths of his wives and children.

- Devoted for Life

He coined the phrase, “Devoted for life”

This is what drove this committed man and his family to withstand the struggles, and hardships, and prison, and deaths, and persecution.

Because he understood, God does not want you sleeping,

God knew of his struggles,

He knew of the struggles of the persecuted saints in the time of the apostles.

Some were reported to have been sawed in half and crucified upside down

All because they were crying out about Jesus and His gospel

- What’s s Your Excuse?

What is our excuse?

These men and women blazed the trail and endured heavy burdens, and much much persecution, even at a time without modern commodities like medicine, state of the are hospitals, Automobiles, bank accounts, and buildings of the most exquisite quality in this country that we call home.

Some of us even have more than one.

Those that have gone before us, had none of these things, and they changed the world. At least the world they lived in.

We, with all of our fancy titles, and money and fine clothes, can’t even keep prayers to God in schools

We should all be ashamed of ourselves before God.

We have been sleeping comfortably for far too long.

We need to wake up! and realize there is a storm outside, the likes of which can only be cause by God.

Here we are in America, we are facing the loss of the very freedom that made this country, our Freedom!

For years we have ignored the many worthy Captains of the Word that came before us, many capable preacher and ministers who have been sounding the alarm bells to wake us up!

But we have been in open rebellion against the Lord just like Jonah.

If you read the rest of the book of Jonah, you know what comes next.

He got swallowed by a great big fish, that wait a minute,

Was prepared by God Himself.

America, we are on the brink of being tossed over board, and even worse, Being swallowed by something horrific.

I for one, do not want to know what it is that is waiting for us down there in the depths of the sea away from the protection of the sea worthy Ship the Lord has granted us to far too long, IE: (The American Christian Church with all its denominations included)

That is now itself, threatening to break apart with us on board.

I agree with a statement an earlier minister of the gospel once said,

Persecution of the Christian church will not come by the outside world but from within the Christian Church.

That will be the church breaking-up with all of us on board.

- Cry out!

Let us wake up from our sleep, and put off our rebellion against the Lord, and speak out against those enemies of God,

Let our voices be heard at municipal, state, and federal meetings, Go and be heard in the school boards, speak out against Hollywoods and Music’s demonic agendas.

Get Up, Cry out!

Amen.

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