Jonah

  • Pastor Duane Cross
  • Jul 18, 2010
  • Series: Wonderful Words of Life

WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE

“Jonah”

Pastor Duane Cross |  07.18.2010

“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:  ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’  But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.  He 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.”        

(Jonah 1:1-3)

I.  Running away from God.  (1:1-16)

“I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love….”                                             (Jonah 4:2)

“Then Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.  All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god.  And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.  But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.  The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep?  Get up and call on your god!  Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.’”        (Jonah 1:4-6)

“Instead, the men did their best to row back to land.  But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.  Then they cried to the Lord, ‘O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life.  Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.’  Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.  At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.”                                (Jonah 1:13-16)

II.  Running back to God. (1:17-2:10)

III.  Running with God.  (3:1-10)

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.  ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’  Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.  Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go all through it.  Jonah started into the city, going a day’s journey, and he proclaimed:  ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed.’ The Ninevites believed God.  They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.  When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.”                                                                                            (Jonah 3:1-6)

IV.  Running ahead of God.  (4:1-11)

“But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.  He prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home?  That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish.  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’  But the Lord replied, ‘Have you any right to be angry?’”       (Jonah 4:1-4)

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