Jonah

Intro

- Spearfishing in Palau

o Fear of sharks because you can’t run away from them. You are in their territory- you have no chance!

- What do you run away from?

- Many people today, even people who claim to be Christians are running away from God

- Who can tell me a story in the Bible where someone ran from God?

- Jonah- it’s a story most of us know, but what is God trying to teach us through this story

o It’s a pretty unbelievable story, right?

o A giant fish swallows a man, and he survives!?

o We serve and extraordinary God who does extraordinary things to communicate and extraordinary message!

- But in this amazing story, Jonah is not the main character, and neither is the fish

o The fish is only mentioned in three verses

o Jonah in mentioned 18 times

o So who or what is the main character in this story?

§ God! Mentioned 38 times

- I want us to see three things from the beginning of this story

God uses people to accomplish his mission

- Jonah’s call to Nineveh

o Most prophets delivered their messages from the safety of their own lands

- Our call to the world

o We are called to bring the gospel to the nations- the Great Commission- Matt. 28:19-20

o This is a reminder to us of the scope of our mission- God loves all people and has a desire for them to have a relationship with him

God sees wickedness and offers mercy

- God is not apathetic toward sin

o Nineveh was a wicked city- and God could not let wickedness go unpunished

o Sometimes we look at the world around us, those living in complete rebellion against God and think one of two things

§ Why isn’t God doing something about that!? How can they keep getting away with this!?

§ Well, if they can do those things, why can’t I? they seem to be happy and to have it all!

- God is just, but he is also merciful and offers a way of escape

o God demands justice, but he offers a way of escape

§ Through repentance and faith, we can be made right with God

o Do not mistake God’s mercy or delayed judgment for apathy

§ Our sin grieves him and if we are his children, he will not let us continue in it without consequence

§ He does this because he loves us, he does this to protect us- much like a father corrects his children

o Do not abuse the mercy that he so freely gives to us

We cannot run from God

- Shark illustration

- It wasn’t that Jonah thought he could actually hide from God

o Ps. 139:7-10 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

o But us showed he was unwilling to do what God had called him to do- He was saying “no thanks, I’m going to pursue my own way.”

- If we call ourselves Christians, we must follow God’s will for our lives

o Luke 6:46 Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

o Parable of the wise and foolish builders

o We don’t just follow God out of fear of his punishment- if I mess up, he will be angry, or things in my life will start going badly

o We follow God’s will because we know it is best- he has our good in mind- and in his will we find the greatest joy, peace, and fulfillment

- How do we run TO God?

o Seeking his will through reading his Word

o Seeking his will through Prayer

o The Holy Spirit is within us and reveals the will of God to us