Jonah
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Jonah 1
Jonah 1
welcome
recap
Christians—Want—Hear from God?—God’s will?
Warn you—What God asks you to do—you May not want to do!
we have all heard of this story as a child, a well known story…
today and over the next 4 weeks we will bo going through the book of Jonah
Lots/people—Basics—God calls Jonah he Runs/Swallow/Big fish/Vomit!
So much more powerful than what you might remember from sunday school
there are layers and layers and layers that we will be going through that will help us position and posture up to receive the fullness and greatness of God in our lives…and what he haves for us…
Main character—Book/Jonah? … Some if not majority would say Jonah—and thats understandable his other then his fathers name is the Only name in the book of Jonah
(Some say Big fish— but in 4 chapters there are only 3 versus that actually mention the big fish)
(Main character—Book/Jonah → God!)
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Church I want you to know today that God is a God who speaks, he spoke to jonah and here today, if you have ears to hear God will speak to you!!
Warn—What God speaks to you—May not want to do—Tells you.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
talk on this, Jonah could have listened to God and the whole book of Jonah would have been done in one chapter…
Jonah would have listened he would have went preached the word of the lord, the whole city would have been saved the end…
nope = Jonah did what a lot of us do…we read in verse 3
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
preach on this…fleeing the presence of the lord…running away…
Jonah ran from God … Great lengths—Run as far could—Map.
God says—Go to Nineveh … 550 miles—East.
Jonah—Other direction—Tarshish—2,500 miles—West.
That time—Tarshish—As far other direction—Could go!
so much in verse 3, first Jonah fled from God, then he found a ship going as far as he could possibly go in the other direction…
Text says—Jonah found a ship bound for Tarshish.
understand this, this morning church
• If you want to run from God, the devil will always offer you
a ride.
You can always find a boat—Sailing in the wrong direction.
you can always find a reason or and excuse why you cant serve, why you cant give, why you cant go to chruch, why you cant pray…
now a good question we can ask is why did Jonah flee
a prophet of God yet fleeing from him??
Hated people/Nineveh.
Context—Jonah—Jewish-Hebrew from Israel.
Nineveh—Capital/Assyria
Assyrians/Israelites—Hated—(Luke Sky/Darth)—Good reason!
I'm gonna explain to you some stuff and I don't wanna be too graphic, but you kind of need to understand why he hated them so much.
The Assyrians, they were horrible they were barbaric.
When they would go and conquer a city, they would sexually abuse the women.
They would kill the children. They would take survivors and they would skin them alive. This is gross. They would bury them in the sands. After skinning them, they would pull their tongue out at times and drive a stake through it and just let them die a brutal death, torturing them
and Jonah said, "I can't stand these people."
The real reason he didn't go ask them to turn to God wasn't because he was afraid of them, it's because he knew God's character and he didn't want God to show favor and grace and actually forgive his enemies.
So—Jonah ran—Disobeyed God—Rationalized his Disobedience by probably thinking hey the Assyrians don’t deserve it—So I’m not doing it—
now what do i mean to Rationalize sin? we talked about rationalizing sin last week remember??
rationalizing sin is When our mind makes an excuse for what our spirit knows is wrong.
God asks you to do something … Serve—Give—Witness—Forgive. Not ready—Not best time—Don’t feel like—Do it later.
understand something delayed obedience you know, ahh nows not a good time, maybe later…
well delayed obedience is disobedience still church…
think of this, a lot of times when people think about spiritual maturity, what does it mean to really be mature in your relationship with God?
A lot of Christians think it's all about Bible knowledge and Bible knowledge is very, very, very important.
But it's not just knowledge, it's actually what you do with the knowledge.
In fact, if you asked me to define spiritual maturity, I would say oftentimes it's a short time between God's commands and our obedience.
That's maturity, that when God says something, you don't argue, you don't question, you obey what he prompts you to do.
thats spiritual maturity…
Word/Lord came/Jonah—Jonah ran from the Lord! Once he started run from God—Life went downhill.
• Jonah went down to Joppa. Jonah 1:3
• Jonah went down to the bottom of the ship. Jonah 1:5
• Jonah was thrown down to the bottom of the sea. Jonah 2:3
again jonahs life is going downhill quick
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
so much here in verse 4 and 5 as well
So much here—Pagan sailors afraid—Start praying!
Funny—Didn’t believe/God—About die—Cry out/God!
talked about it last week, its not until we need God that we cry out to him…
story of guy on Airplane—Don’t believe/God—Don’t want to hear—life hits some Turbulence then your crying out!
I want to side step real quick, becasue its here in verse 4 and 5
look at the sailors, they did nothing wrong…they just had the wrong guy on their boat that day…
some of you might have the wrong person in your boat thats about to cause you to sink…
friends, relationships, social media content…
some of you might be being brought down by someone else in your boat this morning and the truth is, you have toss them overboard…throw them out of your boat…
verse 5 shows us something else,
Sailors—In a storm they didn’t cause …Crazy—Boat about break apart storm—Jonah’s sound asleep.
Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
speak on this, jonahs life is heading on a down ward spiral and he doesnt even know it….ultimate self deception…
thats a scary place to be, we become so comfortable with our lifestyle we become so comfortable rationalizing our disobedience we dont even realize it anymore…
and maybe some of us in here are a little like jonah, we are so comfortable its compromising our relationship with God….
If you know God—Run/God—Spiritual complacent …Good News—Not going—Feel like Good News. God will always try and bring you back, explain…
he will always try and get your attention to come back
God won’t let you get comfortable—Sin/Compromise—Consequence.
This case—God sent a storm—Mean God?—Kindness.
Sometimes God sends a storm—Sometimes God allows a storm.
Sometimes—You bring/Yourself—Sin always has consequences.
Some people blame every storm—Devil—Devil sent storm. Some storms—You brought on yourself.
• Devil didn’t cause you—Lose/job—Always late!
• Devil get you—Debt—Max CC—Spent more than—Made.
• Devil didn’t destroy—Marriage—Selfish/Took spouse/grant.
Devil didn’t bring every storm/your life—Some brought on yourself.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
jonah is going downhill doesnt realize it, but everyone else does…
Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah says—I’m a Hebrew—Worship the Lord! Says he worships the God of Heaven—Not obeying God.
Represents one/biggest problems—Our churches. We claim to LOVE God—Don’t obey God.
Where in your life are you rationalizing sin and running from God?
Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
now listen this is huge here ok and actually quite very sad its heartbreaking…
Jonah was a prophet of God, thats not something you woke up to or applied for, you were chosen by God…
Jonah was chosen and yet, ran from God…Jonah actually thought his life would be better for it? it only got worse…
Someone here … God chose you—God called you Running from God … Now you’re stuck in a storm.
Jonah says—My fault … Throw me into the sea! Jonah—God’s chosen prophet So far from God—So depressed—Don’t care if he lives/dies.
Someone—In a place—Never wanted to be. Depress—Hopeless—See no way out—Not sure life’s worth it.
and look i am so thankful Jonah is not the main character of this story but rather it is our amazing loving, gracious and merciful God…
conclude here
listen the men in the boat tried to get to safety they tried everything but when it wasnt working they had no choice
So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
look they realized just how powerful God was they they began to fear him (two ways) and offered him sacrafices and made vows…
how awesome…
Any God who can do this—God we need—Know/Worship!
Any God that powerful—Know/Worship
if you know about God but maybe ran fro him i want to tell you about the goodness of our God let me Tell you about the true God that we serve…
Refuge/Strength—Ever-present help—Time/Trouble.
His name is—Fortified tower—the Righteous run to it and are kept Safe.
Gives strength to the weary Weary—and Increases power for The Weak!
Delivers you from All your fears.
Compassion God—Heals brokenhearted/Binds up their wounds.
Generous God—Meet all your needs—Accord to his glorious riches in heaven
Devil comes to steal/kill/destroy— my God came to give Life and life abundantly…
When you seek God—You will find him—Good God. W/ you—For you—Never leave you—Forsake you.
this is our Mighty God!!!
A God who is like that … Is a God … You want—To Know—To Worship—To Fear—To Obey.
Jonah’s overboard—Appears his life—Coming to an end …Why … Because the Word/Lord came—Ran from God
Word/Lord—You. examine your life and see
Where in your life are you rationalizing sin
and running from God?
If you’re someone—Never known God … Turn to God.
Stray away from God—Stop run—Turn to him.
Maybe—you Know God—you Love God—Drifted away from him—and got really comfortable in your compromise, turn to him!!
Stop running, stop running and turn to him this morning church!!!
A God who’s this good—God you need - Know/Worship/Fear/Obey.
praise him this morning!!
pray
HOLY SPIRIT PLEASE TAKE OVER AND PREACH IT!!!
