Sermon # 2 - Don't Miss Out On God's Presence Series

We read in Jonah 1:3, “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. And he went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. And he paid its fare, and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.” (AFV)

As we continue our study of the life of Jonah and the church today, we may not see any obvious similarity at the outset. However, as we study this in depth, we will be amazed to see how much we as a church can learn from Jonah’s life. In the last sermon we looked at God’s call for Jonah to go to Nineveh and in verse 3 we see that Jonah fled from this call of God and chose to go to Nineveh.

In Jonah 1:1, we read, “And the Word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,” (AFV)

It is an astounding thought that the word of the Lord came to Jonah right where he was.

For many long years we have been going to church to hear the word of God being preached. When I was a child I remember that televisions were scarce, and most of the time we only listened to the radio. I can recall my Dad trying to tune into FEBA radio to listen to some messages that were aired. However, today with the advancements in technology, the word of God comes to us in numerous ways right into our homes.

What is the blessing of receiving God’s word?

We read in John 10:35, “If He called them gods, to whom the Word of God came (and the Scriptures cannot be broken), (AFV)

This is a reference of scripture from Psalm 82:6, which Jesus gave as a retort to the Jews who came together to stone Him. To put it simply Jesus implied that when a person receives the word of God, they become an extraordinary people. As a result they are also entrusted with a huge responsibility and authority that is given to them to live by that word and obey it.

We also read in Exodus 7:1, “The LORD answered Moses, "I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron is your prophet.” (GW)

This was the privilege that Moses received when he received God’s word to go as a deliverer for the people of Israel. Moses was also endowed with a huge responsibility to stand before Pharaoh on behalf of the people.

Jonah on the other hand when he received the word of God, fled from the presence of God in disobedience.

In the beginning God created everything by His word and when God made man, He made him in His own image and likeness. An important aspect of being in God’s likeness is that man was given the authority to rule over all that God had made. If you are wondering what this would have looked like in Adam, we can see this being lived out by Jesus. Jesus executed this authority over nature, over every kind of disease and this authority was evident throughout his ministry on earth.

This is recorded in Genesis 1:27-28, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (ESV)

There was only one thing God forbid Adam and Eve, and that was that they should not eat of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was the will of God that man should depend entirely on Him, so that He could lead him to do the right thing and to reject the evil.

However, when the serpent cunningly decided to deceive Adam and Eve these were his words as recorded in Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like God, deciding good and evil.” (AFV)

Look at the words of Satan to Eve. He conned Eve by making her believe that her disobedience to God would result in them becoming like God. They were already given the authority by God to rule over creation. Instead of enjoying what was already theirs, Satan cheated them into believing his lie that they had nothing. Satan is a trickster who is clever in twisting the truth, and sadly Eve fell for his lies. Eve and Adam ate the fruit thinking that they could themselves decipher between the good and evil and up until today mankind is trying to do the same.