Untitled Sermon

Introduction

There are two types of stories in our lives - Those we want to remember and those we want to forget.

Illust - saving the girl from the deep end

Illust - falling asleep while driving to the hospital

Jonah is a bit like this as well.

If you turned to , you'd find a story of Jonah he would want you to remember.

Jonah was a prophet in Northern Israel around the 8th Century BC and God used him to deliver a message to King Jeroboam II. The message was for the king to push forward in the northeast and restore the northern border of Israel. Ever since King Solomon, after whom the nation split into two, the Syrians and later the Assyrians began capturing the towns and villages and basically shrinking the nation of Israel. Jonah came to the king and delivered the message that God was going to help him retake that area - something they hadn't seen since the days of Solomon. The borders were expanded and fortified to protect them from their arch enemies, the Assyrians.

Jonah was a national hero. God called him and it made him famous- successful.

But that is not the story Jonah is most known for. He would probably wish we remembered the previous story and not the one we'll be studying over the next several weeks.

Jonah is a story about:

· running from God.

· being far from God.

· being stuck in sin.

· failure

· hypocrisy.

· failing

· mercy

· redemption

Maybe you can identify. You've had stories of which you're proud, stories you'd be happy to be remembered by. And perhaps you've had stories you hope everyone forgets - stories that you're afraid will define your life.

Your story will a big story if you let God be the hero.

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it,