Lessons From Jonah

Lessons from Jonah

VBS Family Day, 2007

Micah 6:8: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Introduction

This week we had a blast here at VBS! It began with a power outage on Wednesday night, and we thought it would be a little rough but we decided to obey and follow God – and I believe that because of that we were blessed!! Thank you for allowing us to host your kids …

Songs to sing

Certificates to present

Gifts to our teachers

I have prepared a short devotion on the things we discussed this week so that our entire church can see what the children were involved in.

Point I - Jonah admits that he was wrong

Life deals us challenges all the time, but we have an opportunity to admit when we are wrong

But our pride gets in the way! All the time, we exhibit pride in our actions.

Jonah had to admit in front of others that this terrible danger that was threatening the boat was because he had done something wrong and he should be punished for it.

His willingness to stand up, really says something about admitting when you are wrong!!

It is because Jonah was willing to admit that he was wrong, that he had begun to take steps in his life to act justly – which means to act with proper respect, or act responsibly; especially when it comes to his relationship with God

The next thing we see is that God is compassionate.

Kids, when Jonah was thrown overboard … what happened to him?

That’s right! He was swallowed by a whale! Well, while he was in whale Jonah had time to think, and pray, and Chapter 2 of Jonah has what I consider one of the most heart-felt prayers of history.

Read Jonah 2:1-9

But just when Jonah thought it would be his last, God showed compassion!

Point 2 - God shows compassion

What God did was hear Jonah’s prayer, but more importantly, he saw Jonah’s heart and that Jonah meant the words he was saying. Jonah was asking for another chance!

God had compassion on Jonah, and allowed him to live – but you see, God expected Jonah to obey Him! Right after he had the whale spit him up, he told him precisely what to do, and that was to go to Nineveh and preach to the city about God!

Now, here is the best thing.

The first time God told Jonah to go he ran away, right? But then, when he was shown compassion – he saw that others needed God’s love and compassion too – and he obeyed God!

When He obeyed God, he was trusting in what God wanted him too do!

Point 3 – Jonah Trusts God and Obeys Him

Jonah went to the city to preach, and the city believed him!

At first, Jonah was afraid to go because he did not know what the people would say – and not that he went, he saw that the people were obedient! By being obedient to God, Jonah believed God to help him, and he was walking humbly with the Lord!

You see – the people of Nineveh were just waiting for someone to tell them to turn away from their sinful ways and return to God!

How about us? Isn’t God saying the same thing to us?

Doesn’t he want us to turn away and live our lives for Him? Doesn’t God want us to tell others about Him and about his Son, Jesus?

God showed great compassion for Nineveh because He cared about those people so much, and because of that caring – because of that love – He sent us later His Son to die on a cross for us.

You see, VBS is about games and fun and singing and crafts and snacks and whatever else you can think of – but VBS is about something more important. To teach children who Jesus is through stories and examples; but to also offer anyone who would hear about Jesus to be saved.

Invitation

Close in prayer