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Welcome Church Family. This weekend, we’re beginning a new teaching series going through the Old Testament Book of Jonah. We’ll be spending the next four weekends looking at each of the 4 chapters of this book, and so, if you have your Bible, or your Bible app, let me encourage you to turn right now to the Book of Jonah Chapter 1, which is where we’re spending our time today.

Jonah is a small book located in the midst of some other small books in the Old Testament. If you're not sure where it is, or how to find it, the easiest way to find the book of Jonah, is if you go to the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and work backward about eight books. While you're turning there, let me mention that just about everybody knows the story of Jonah! Even people who aren't Christians know this story. . .

Jonah was, of course, that little wooden boy who ended up in the belly of a whale, with his father Giapetto, and each time he would lie, his nose would grow longer. . . Oops, wrong story! That's not Jonah, that's Pinocchio. While there are some similarities between the stories of Jonah and Pinocchio, in-as-much-as someone gets swallowed by a fish and lives to tell the story. There are also some critical differences... There’s no singing cricket in the Book of Jonah, and there’s no wooden puppet going around saying, “I’m a real boy, I’m a real boy.”

The most important difference is that the story of Pinnochio is a Fairy Tale, and the story of Jonah really happened.

Each week, we'll be looking at one chapter of Jonah's story. There are 4 chapters in this book, so we'll be spending four weekends looking at Jonah. Today Jonah, Chapter 1, beginning in verse 1, we read . . .

“The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.’ But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.

"Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. So the captain went down after him. ‘How can you sleep at a time like this?’ he shouted. ‘Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.’ Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. 'Why has this awful storm come down on us?’ they demanded. ‘Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?’ Jonah answered,’ ‘I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.’ The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord.

‘Oh, why did you do it?’ they groaned. And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm?” ‘Throw me into the sea,’ Jonah said, ‘and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.’ Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. ‘O Lord,’ they pleaded, ‘don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.’ Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him. Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.” AMEN!

A little bit of background about Jonah... Who was he? Jonah was one of the Minor Prophets, not minor because he didn't have the skills to make it to the majors, and not minor because his message wasn't important, but minor because of the length of the book that bears his name. The 39 books of the O.T. are grouped into categories, and two of those categories are the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets. The longer books are the Major Prophets, the shorter are the Minor. For example - - - Isaiah was a prophet and his books is numbered among the Major Prophets because the book that bears his name is 66 chapters long. Jonah is categorized among the Minor Prophets because his book is 4 chapters long.

This 4 chapter book is where we're going to be spending our time this weekend and over the next 3 weekends, so I want to encourage you to accept the "Jonah Challenge", and if you want to accept this challenge you can let us know by selecting this as one of the next steps on your connection card. What's the Jonah Challenge? Just this, read the book of Jonah once a week for the four weeks. What? You want me to read a whole book of the Bible, and you want me to do that four times? Even though it's 4 chapters long, the four chapters only total 48 verses, so it would take you about 10 minutes to read the book. Read it once a week. Do that and you'll learn a lot about Jonah. You'll discover some things about who he was.

As I said, he was one of the minor prophets. As a prophet he was someone to whom God spoke, and then he had the responsibility to take the message that God had given him and share it with others. Jonah was a real guy. He's not just mentioned here – but in the book of 2 Kings we’re told that he was a well-known prophet among the people of Israel and everyone paid attention to his words. He’s also someone that Jesus referred to as a real guy who really did live.

In Matthew 12:40, Jesus speaks of his own time in the grave and he likens it to what happened to Jonah. Jesus said, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Jonah was a real guy who really lived, and the word of the Lord came to Jonah, telling Him to go to Nineveh and preach, and Jonah didn’t want to do it. Which isn’t surprising, Nineveh wasn't the kind of place you'd want to vacation. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. The Assyrian empire was at the height of its power from 700BC - 612BC and they were some of the most wicked and cruel people on the face of the earth. They attacked and conquered cities - - - raping all of the women and young girls and then killing them. They would take the men outside of the cities and skin them alive. Then they would bury them alive up to their necks in sand and then leave them in the sun to die.

And then, after they died, they would behead them, and take all of the heads of these people and stack them into a pyramid and that would be a monument to the fact that they had conquered that city.

Nineveh was a brutal, intimidating city, and God said Jonah - - - "I want you to go to Nineveh and tell them to repent." And Jonah didn’t want to do it, and the reason that he didn’t want to do it was because he was AFRAID. Not afraid of the brutality of the Ninevites, but afraid of something else. Jonah knew something about what happens when prophets preach. Jonah knew that sometimes “when prophets preach -- people repent.” And Jonah knew that God was gracious, and even though he was sending Jonah to preach a message of hell fire and brimstone, Jonah knew that if Nineveh repented, God would give those people a second chance. . .

He knew that if the people of Nineveh repented God would forgive them, and bless them and Jonah couldn't stand the thought of that.

He couldn't stand the thought of those heathen people being forgiven – and specially those heathen people who were Israel's enemies. It’s an unusual reaction on the part of a prophet of God. Jonah wasn't afraid of failure, he was afraid of success. How do we know that? We know it because of a prayer that he prayed to the Lord later on in this book when Nineveh did ultimately repent.

Later on, toward the end of this book, “Jonah complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people..

Jonah says, “God, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so, I knew you were the kind of God who would forgive those people, and then they would become believers and I’d have to be with them in eternity forever and God I didn’t want that cuz I hate those people and that’s why I ran”

“For God so loved the World? Yeah, well maybe so . . . But there are some people in this world that God may love but you don’t like because of the color of their skin, or their ethnicity, or some of the sins they are into... Think about that for a minute. . . .

Who is someone who is difficult for you to love?

For you, maybe it’s REPUBLICANS or DEMOCRATS. For Jonah, it was the people of Nineveh. And so, when the word of the Lord came to Jonah saying, "I want you to go to Nineveh," Jonah didn’t just say “no” and just stay where he was. He literally turned tail and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. It wasn’t just “No, God I’m not gonna make that 500 mile trip to the East to the place you're calling me to go. I'm going west - 2000 miles in the opposite direction."

God said "I want you to go to Nineveh"

Jonah said, "I think I'll go to Tarshish"

Where was Tarshish? It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that Tarshish, was as far from Nineveh as you could get in the known world. God said go East, Jonah bought a ticket hopped a boat and headed West, and as far West he could possibly go. Some scholars estimate that the trip from Joppa where Jonah boarded that boat, to Tarshish, where he was headed, may have taken a year to complete. That ought to give you some idea of how badly Jonah wanted to get away from God.

We're going to spend these four weekends looking at Jonah because I believe that his story is our story too. I believe that there is a little bit of Jonah in all of us. Every one of us at some point in our life has run from God, every one of us has been at a point where God said “I want you to do this”, and we’ve said, "Sorry God, I’m not gonna do that."

Let's look at three Lessons We Can Learn From Jonah...

Any time you mention “Jonah” people immediately think about THE GREAT FISH, and that's unfortunate because as we’re gonna see today and over the next three weekends, there’s a lot more to the story of Jonah than the lessons he learned at the bottom of the sea.

In fact, the Book of Jonah is not really about a fish. Only three verses in the book deal with the fish. The other 45 verses tell us the real message of Jonah’s story. The story of Jonah is a story about running, and most importantly it’s the story about the one who runs after us.

What are some of the Lessons We Can Learn From Jonah...

#1 - God's Word is AS CLEAR to us AS IT WAS to Jonah

Often when we read Old Testament stories where God speaks to someone in a vision, or a dream or through an angel, the tendency is for us to think… Why? Why doesn’t God speak to me like that? Why doesn’t God just TELL ME what he wants me to do, cuz if he did, for sure I would do it?”

I understand that way of thinking, but I guarantee you, everyone of those guys who lived in Old Testament times, if you could talk to them, they would say “I wish God would just write things down in a letter to me so I’d know what to do. Instead I’ve got to follow some cloud by day to know where he wants me to go. Or, I’ve got to figure out what some dream meant? Was that God speaking to me through that dream? Or was it just that I ate some bad sushi before bedtime? It would be so much easier if he would just write things down and tell me what he wants me to do?"

Well the good news is he has! You and I have this book we call God’s Word, and the reason we call it God’s Word is because it’s God’s Word! It’s our OWNERS MANUAL. There is nothing you are going to face in life that isn't covered by this book. If you're Single - - - this book tells you how to live your life as a single person - - - it tells you what to do with your sexuality. Looking for Career guidance? It's in this book! Trying to figure out how to do Marriage? How to treat your spouse? How to parent your kids? It's in this book! This book tells you what to do with your Finances. You want to make sure that when it comes to finances, you're not going it alone, but letting God lead the way?

This book tells you how you make Him Lord of that area. Whether it's career direction, or relationships, or family advice, or figuring out your gifts and your purpose in life, everything you need is in here. And yet a lot of times we’re asking for God to speak to us, to give us direction. God says - -- - "I've given you direction, I've written it out for you in black and white, and you've ignored it."

He says, “If I can’t trust you with what I’ve plainly written, why would I ever tell you something more?” God's Word is AS CLEAR to us AS IT WAS to Jonah, and yet sometimes we ignore it. So ask yourself, “Where am I acting like Jonah? Where in my life right now, am I not doing what God told me to do? Before I look at Jonah and say “What an idiot he was, I need to look at my life and say, "Where am I acting like him? Where in my life has God shown me what he wants me to do, and I've chosen to go the other way?"

God’s Word to you and me is as clear as it was to Jonah. A second lesson we can learn from this reluctant prophet is that…

#2 - Sin Splashes

What I mean by that YOUR SIN AFFECTS OTHERS. Think about it, it wasn't just Jonah who was affected by his disobedience, but everybody else who was on that ship with him was affected. The Bible teaches that you never sin in isolation. We'd like to believe that our sin only affects us, but it doesn't. It often affects those we love the most, and if it hasn't yet, it may tomorrow. . .

Jonah couldn't see it - - - he was oblivious to it - - - he was sound asleep, but these seasoned sailors... These men who had spent their lives on the sea. They saw what was happening, and they were SCARED FOR THEIR LIVES. They were TERRIFIED.

These men had been through lots of storms, but there was something about this one, that caused them to realize that this was no ordinary storm. This was something supernatural, and so they were terrified! Sooo frightened, that they begin throwing the cargo overboard. Now understand, the cargo was their livelihood! No cargo = no pay.

They are so scared that they are also doing something I'm sure they didn't do often, and that is they’re praying, each to his own God.

Question - - - What had these sailors done to deserve having this calamity come upon them?

Answer - - - Nothing!!!

As far as we know they had done nothing wrong. Yet, in spite of doing nothing wrong they had lost their livelihoods and they’re in danger of losing their lives, all because they are in proximity to someone who is running from God.

Jonah's disobedience was affecting everyone else in the boat. SIN SPLASHES!!! SIN SPLASHES!!!

PARENTS - - - your choices can affect generations after you. Some of you here today carrying around baggage - - - scars from your childhood, all because of the home you grew up in. You were hurt because of storms you went through, and yet you did nothing to cause those storms. Someone else's disobedience affected you. Sin Splashes!!!!

Lesson #3 - It's NEVER TOO LATE to TURN AROUND

Look again at verse 7, “Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm. When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit.”

“Why has this awful storm come down on us?’ they demanded. ‘Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?’ Jonah answered,’ ‘I am a Hebrew, and I WORSHIP the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.’”

Time out! Let's get this straight, you worship the God who made the SEA, you're running away from HIM? What part of running away to SEA seemed like a good idea to you? And another question... "You say you WORSHIP this God - - - - the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. You WORSHIP the Lord, then why are you running from Him? Why were you asleep? You WORSHIP???"

Yes, I worship! I go to church! I serve the Lord! I may be asleep, I may be disobedient, but I'm a worshipper. I go to church... I sing the hymns... I even say an occasional Amen! Now, my lifestyle may not be anywhere close to what God calls me to in His Word, but make no mistake, "I worship! I go to church!"

What we miss is that WORSHIP IS MORE than what happens here for an hour each weekend. Worship is about a LIFESTYLE that is seeking to reflect the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And yet we’ll still try to justify ourselves saying, “I worship! - - - I worship the Lord of heaven and earth. I may cuss like a sailor, but I worship! I'm not married, so of course I sleep around a little bit, but I worship! I know what God says about money and how I ought to handle it, and that I SHOULD return the first portion to him, but what's mine is mine - - - but make no mistake I worship!"

Jonah told the sailors who he was, and who he was running from “The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. ‘Oh, why did you do it?’ they groaned. And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to stop this storm? ‘Throw me into the sea,’ Jonah said, ‘and it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.’”

Stop there for a moment, and think about something... How hard was Jonah's heart? How badly did he not want to go to Nineveh? So badly that he would rather DIE than obey God. That's why he said, Jonah said, "Throw me into the sea" But the sailors said, "We're not gonna do it. We're sailors, not pirates."

Verse 13 tells us, “Instead, the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. Finally, as a last resort, these sailors did what Jonah said, but not before crying out to the Lord. “Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. ‘O Lord,’ they pleaded, ‘don’t make us die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.’ Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once! The sailors were awestruck by the Lord’s great power, and they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.”

Again, the lesson for us is that... It's NEVER TOO LATE to TURN AROUND. No matter how far you’ve WANDERED, or even RUN from God. Our God is a God of the second chance, and the third chance, and the fourth chance, and more chances than you can count. One last blank for you to fill in on your notes. . . .

Surrender comes before Salvation.

What do I mean by that? Well think about it this way? When did things change for these sailors? Was it when they got scared and prayed? No. Was it when they cried out to God to save them? No!

In verse 5, they were scared, and each cried out to their own God, but the sea still got rougher and rougher. Did the sea grow calm when God (speaking through Jonah) told them what to do? No!

They were told by Jonah what God wanted them to do in verse 12... They chose to ignore that, and just try harder. Just row harder. And the storm just got worse and worse. They weren't saved until they SURRENDERED, until they came to the end of their own resources and surrendered, to what God was telling them to do. That was when things changed.

Maybe you're in a storm right now, and like those sailors, you are rowing harder and harder and harder. Maybe like them you're even crying out to God, but you haven't done the one thing that God is waiting for you to do, and that is SURRENDER.

If you’re crying out for God to SAVE you and for God to STOP something or for God to change something or for God to calm the storm, you might be talking to a silent God. If you are crying out to God because of a storm that has rocked your FINANCES, or your HEALTH, or your MARRIAGE and God isn't doing anything. It may be that God is saying, "You have to SURRENDER before I'll save you."

Understand, God didn't send the storm so that Jonah would DROWN, He sent the storm so that Jonah would TURN AROUND.

God can CALM THE STORMS, but sometimes he also SENDS THE STORMS as a way of getting us to turn around and surrender to Him. It happened to Jonah, it happens to us. I don't want to leave this story by leaving you thinking that God left Jonah in the ocean to drown.

The last verse of this first chapter says, “Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.”

Come back next week and you'll see that JONAH COMES OUT OF THAT FISH, and winds up on dry land, and if you read ahead into the second chapter you’ll SEE WHICH END OF THE FISH he comes out of, but trust me . . . and here’s the important thing. . . he comes out of the fish, ALIVE! He is SAVED… All because something happens inside the fish – When he’s inside the fish he SURRENDERS.

Let's PRAY.

More Messages from Dr. Rick Mandl

From Series: "See Jonah Run"

The story of Jonah is really all of our stories. Each of us can look back at some point in our lives where we have attempted to run from God. And what many of us runners have discovered is while we can run from God, we can’t outrun God! In this series, we will rediscover the amazing grace of God for each of our lives.

Sermon Notes