You Can Run But You Can't Hide

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.