Text Jonah 1:1-3 (NIV)
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Ammitia Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
Subject: You can run, but you can’t hide.
Introduction: God speaks to us and gives us commands. But, it’s up to follow the voice of God. But, when we don’t we must face the consequences that follow. Remember that God is omnipresent, that means he is everywhere at the same time. God knows our every move. So no matter what the situation we can’t hide from God. He is in control.
Transitional Phrase: Today I would like us to examine the text and understand how God would like us to listen to his commands and not run away. We all have a c all to answer, this is Jonah’s call.
Point 1. We can’t hide from God.
Point 2. God is in control.
The first point I want to make is . We can’t hide from God. You see he is everywhere and knows everything. It is futile to try to hide from him. We can hide from Pastor, we can hide from our spouses, we can hide from our children, and we can hide from our bosses, but, we can’t hide from God. Remember when we were children we used to play the game hide n seek, and the object is to hide where no one can find you. Well, you can’t play that game with God, because he is everywhere, in fact he’s knows your secrets better than you do. You see Jonah tried to play hide and seek with God, but it didn’t work. Jonah had a job to do that he didn’t’/t want to do. So he ran and he tried to hide from, and he got himself into a world of trouble.
Have you ever been given a job to do that you really didn’t want to do? Well today I summit to you, you acted like Jonah. We all have that feeling some time or another. Sometimes, I feel that way. It is hard trying to keep people happy and sometimes it gets frustrating, but I am trying to not be a people person, if I can just please God, I am not worried about the people, because no matter what you do for some people it will never be enough. Well, Jonah was given a job to do by God. But, he didn’t want to do it. Good told Jonah to go down to Ninevah and preach to those people but, Jonah had a problem. Why? I am glad that you asked. Because he was being selfish. You see Jonah didn’t think the people in Ninevah deserved to be saved, because of their wickedness. So, he decided that he wasn’t going to deliver the message that god told him to. He was going to do his own thing. Jonah is an example of an attempt to evade God’s summon. Jo nah was sent on a mission. Jonah is told to go. I want to compare that with the great commission that’s found in Matthew 28:19. It reads: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. So you se god Commanded Jonah as he is still commanding us. (As you go) explain
Jonah had to go to Ninevah to deliver the news. The news wasn’t all bad. It was good news too. Jonah had to let the people know that they would be destroyed if they didn’t obey the Lord’s words. The good new was, God would allow them to repent form their sins. God wanted to save the people of Ninevah, just as he wishes to save the people we come in contact with.
Jonah however, had his own agenda. You know, kind of like us. God tells us to minister to our brothers or sisters, and we don’t want to do it. We say things like they too dirty, they drink, they cuss, they this they that. They shouldn’t be saved. But that’s not our decision to make. What if God refused to save us? What if he thought we were too dirty to be saved? That’s something to ponder isn’t it?
Jonah was not interested in going to Ninevah, so what did he do? He disobeyed God and went somewhere else. And that’s when his trouble started. Jonah called his self running from God. He got on a ship headed to Tarshish. The opposite of where God told him to go. Why don you think that he did what he did. Perhaps he was scared/ maybe he didn’t think he would be successful>? Maybe he thought the people would laugh at him. The truth of the matter is that Ninevah was a horrible place. And to be Frank, Jonah hates them and he didn’t want to see them blessed. He didn’t think that they deserved to hear God’s words.
And you know what? Jonah isn’t by himself. Have something ever happened to one of your enemies, and you heard about it and found yourself rejoicing/ please don’t raise your hand. It that’s true you’re no better than Jonah.
Jonah had no desire to see these people turn from their sin. He wanted them to receive a very harsh punishment. Perhaps you have known someone headed in the wrong direction, and God told you to witness to that person and you refused: Well, you’re just like Jonah.
Let me make this comparison. Telling Jonah to go to Ninevah to preach to them is like god telling one of the members of the NAACP to tell David Duke, a prominent figure with the KKK, that God loves him and everything he did wrong will be forgiven, if he repents before the LORD.
You see Jonah was willing to do God’s work only if it suited his purpose. He wanted the easy way out.
So what happened to Jonah? He was on the ship and a huge storm arose out of nowhere. The men on the ship were confused and they didn’t know what was happening. Meanwhile, Jonah was fast asleep. So, the men cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. So the men asked Jonah what they should do.
Let me tell you something. Sometimes our disobedience affects other people as well. The disobedient husband who does his own thing, instead of following God, and is the head of the family, causes heartache, and headache for his entire family.
When God tells you to do something, we must do it. Tell your neighbor, you can rub, but you can’t hide.
The men really didn’t want to throw Jonah overboard; they didn’t want that on their conscience. The men asked what we can do to make the storm stop. Jonah told them to throw him overboard and the storm would cease. Jonah amazed me at this point. You see he had given up. He was ready to be thrown in the sea to die. He thought if the men would throw him into the sea he would die. But the story doesn’t end here. Because God had plans for Jonah. You see God doesn’t give up on us. He gives us more than one chance. Even though Jonah told the sailors what to do, they didn’t want to feel responsible, so they rowed, and rowed, and rowed and rowed, and the storm kept getting worse.
They felt they had no other choice, but to throw Jonah overboard. And when they did, the storm immediately stopped. Do some of you have a Jonah in your life? Something or someone that God has told you to get rid of a long time ago. But that’s another sermon for another time.
The men realized that God was awesome and they began to worship. Isn’t that ironic? You see the sailors didn’t know who God was before Jonah got on their ship.
The second point I want to make is that God is always in control. You see god had a job for Jonah to do, and even though Jonah tried to run away. God’s plan was still in effect. Jonah didn’t die. The Lord provided a fish that swallowed him up. Now this is where the skeptics say this is impossible, but don’t you know that with God, all things are possible? So Jonah stayed in the fish for three days and three nights. I don’t know what Jonah was thinking, I can only speculate. He probable thought he was going to die. But God was not through with him yet. No matter what our agenda is, we must realize that God is and will always be in control.
Have you ever been in a situation and you knew that it was only god that brought you out? Well, this is one of those situations.
Today I want to ask the question. Are you running from God? Has God called you to do something and you won’t answer his call? Has God given you a purpose and because you don’t understand it you don’t want to do it/ has god told you to go somewhere you don’t want to go? Has God asked you to witness to someone you don’t want to witness to? Do you have a Ninevah?
Or do you have a Tarshish? Or you at a place that is the opposite from where God wants you to be? Let me hip you to something. Don’t you know that God is omnipotent, which means he has all power? He is omniscience, he knows everything, and that he is omnipresent, he’s everywhere at the same time.
God gives us second chances and third chances and so on. God doesn’t give up on us. We give up on God. It is time for you to get to Ninevah. Run to God, he has something for you to do.
As I close, I want to reiterate two things. One, we can’t hide from god and secondly, God is always in control. God has given us a commission. It is for our lives, and in order for us to fulfill our destiny we need to let God take control. Jonah was thrown out of the ship because God needs to be in control. You need to put God in control of your life. God is not going to force himself on you, he wants us to be wiling to say, take me Lord and throw me overboard. Thank you
