Running From God!

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Story: Have you ever been afraid to do something?

Jonah 1:2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”

Go to NinevehThere was a young man who lived on an Island who was afraid of the dark.
He would not go anywhere unless there were a lot of lights on all around him, the problem on this particular Island the lights went out every night at 10pm and did not come back on until the next day.

There are a lot of places in the world where there is no 24 hour electricity. We here in the U.S., if the power goes out for 15 minutes, think we are going to die if the air condition doesn’t come back on soon.

One day this man was ask to take a job at the only fish factory on this Island. He worked there for about 4 months, then the factory rearranged the work schedule and this man found himself working the graveyard shift. But that was not a problem because the Fish Factory had 24 hour power.

Now there was an engine driven water pump that needed to be manually started and filled with fuel every night about midnight:

And it just happened that this water pump was right next to the graveyard, need I say more? He was afraid to go there, and some nights did not make it for fear.

But one day he met Jesus and it changed his life, no longer was he afraid.

Sometimes we too become afraid to do something that God is telling us to do and to go where God is telling us to go.

Let us Pray!
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RUNNING FROM GOD
Jonah Chapter 1

The Book of Jonah is a fitting example of our Christian life, we all like to sit doing nothing more with our time then playing Christians, until God calls and tells us He has a mission for us.

Two kinds of Missions

Those we want to go on… And those we don’t want to go on…..

A mission I want to go on is one of fun and Joy where I can take it easy and relax some.

The one I don’t want is full of hard work maybe in a field that has not been sown much. Or maybe I don’t like the place where God wants to send me or I don’t like the people there.

Let’s take for example God tells you to go to Houston and right there in the heart of the City and start preaching.

He tells you don’t worry about what you are going to say, He will give you the words all you is preach.

All God needs from you is for you to be there, open your mouth, and He will do the rest.

That is basically what happened to Jonah

Jonah 1:1″Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

How much clearer could God have made this?

Jonah: Go
Where: Nineveh
Why: Wickedness

Serving God should be something that all Christian want to do, right?

Our problem is this; we want to service God as long as it is convenient to us to serve Him.

In other words, as long as I am not asked to do anything it is OK.

Listen to what God is saying to Jonah,

There is work for you Jonah; there are people that need to be saved.

God never gives up on us unless we first give up on God… The Ninevites were a very bad people; they killed, robbed, raped, destroyed people lives, but God in his Mercy and Love sought to save them, and He sent someone who did not think that the Ninevites should be saved. (Jonah)

We need to all understand that the world is full of Ninevites and that it is our duty as representatives of Jesus, that is to say CHRISTIANS, to help them to know that Jesus died for them too.

So why do we try and run from God ?

God tells us what he want us to do.

How many times do we hear the cries of the world as it falls farther and farther away from its creator?

We head out the door to go and do Gods will, but we become afraid when we think of the magnitude of the task God has given us.

Satan enters and diverts us from Gods path.

Have you ever noticed all of a sudden a Movie comes on TV that you’ve been wanting to see for a long long time? Or someone calls you to go with them to a place in the other direction of where Gods wants you to be?

How many times in our life is it just plain rebellion, telling God No! I will not go…

3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

Jonah shunted God’s will by heading for Tarshish when God wanted him to go to Nineveh. From that moment Jonah started a sad downward course as he tried to run from God.

“Had Jonah obeyed unquestioningly, he would have been spared many bitter experiences, and he would have been blessed abundantly.”

Our problems start when we too, turn away for God, when we quit and go our way instead of going God’s way.

Trouble was just over the horizon. For Jonah it happened so quickly.

5: Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6: So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7: And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

God sent a great WIND on the sea. Ships never sailed in the season when the infamous MELtimi winds from the North made sailing dangerously impossible. This was the season of smooth sailing. This savage wind was supernatural.
It would take a super storm to make seasoned sailors begin to send significant cargo seaward. These pagan seamen seize their sharp sword and scurry forth to save their sinking ship. Each sending their own S.O.S. to their gods.

God sometimes sends trouble when we stray from His will. Our God is too merciful and too loving to let his children drift off into open rebellion without trying to save them.
God uses special circumstances to try to salvage his backslidden people. Hebrews 12:6 – The Lord disciplines those that He loves.
Here is how this works:
You can run, but you can't hide!Perhaps you have been lax in your Christian life. You know you are losing your hold on God.
God realizes this also. Then one day something unusual takes place. Maybe you experience a major setback in life.

It could be that God is trying to wake you up by not preventing certain bad things from happening to you.
In Psalms, David experienced God-sent trouble. David says: “Before I was Afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.”–Psalm 119:67
God does not do it to get even. Psalm 103:3 “He does not treat us as our sins deserve..” If He did, we would be chastised every moment of every day.

Perhaps you may be wondering why Storms are raging around you so often. The storms of life could be a wake up call from God for something in our life that is not in His will.
I’m glad God doesn’t easily give us over to our sin. He probably could, if He did not love us so much..

God was trying to save Jonah. But Jonah was Sleeping, Slumbering in a crisis hour. At ease while the ship is sinking.
Jonah was sleeping during the time of trouble.

Do you know why he could sleep so sound? Because he has a false sense of security!

It is hard to comprehend how he could sleep while the storm is raging. It shows how insensitive we can get. Sin quickly hardens the heart.
Ephesians 4:19 describes such: “They have LOST all SENSITIVITY, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

Every time God tries to help us and we insist on continuing our trip to Tarshish, our spiritual sensitivity weakens. Our sleep gets deeper.
Insensitive to the killer storm. Unaware that our very life is on the line. We are sleeping while the world rushes on to its destruction? Jonah should have been praying but he like Peter was sleeping.

8: Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?

9: And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10: Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Jonah had lost his testimony. It is a sorry day when a prophet of God has to be asked: What is your occupation? If someone has been around us for a period of time and they have to ask us if we are Christians then we have lost Jesus.

Look at all the questions they asked Jonah:
• How can you sleep?
• Who is responsible?
• What do you do?
• Where do you come from?
• Why are you not praying? He was on trial for being a Christian & there was no evidence of it.
Jonah had concealed his identity but it did not work very long. You can run but you cannot hide forever. Do the people that you work with know that you are a Christian?

Jonah made a statement about himself – I Worship the Lord. But he didn’t. If he did, he would have been en-route to Nineveh. Jonah was deceived about his Christian experience.

His practice did not match his profession. He used to be a follower of God. But that was now in the past.

You can’t be saved on past experience. Our walk with Jesus must be fresh and new every day.

The storm was raging. Storms expose character. You can hide for a while, but eventually people will know about you.

11: Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous

Jonah had endangered the very lives of others by being out of God’s will. The storm was his fault.

Men, think about your life. If you are not following God’s will, what legacy are you leaving for your children or your wife or your loved ones?

12: And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

Jonah 1:12- The only prophecy of Jonah that ever came true!
This hurricane will stop the instant you throw me overboard. I will die, but you will be saved.

Running from God is strange. Jonah would rather die than do the will of God. At this point, Jonah was the worst minister in the world? Yet look at all his converts! All the sailors on that ship were saved.

15: So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16: Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
They tried hard to row to shore. “But they could not”. Salvation is not by effort alone.

Our best effort is like a filthy rag. It is a happy day when we finally realize that our life lie in the hand of God!

 

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The Message for us today is to stop worrying about what lies ahead and start worrying about following what God says!

We need to stop being a Jonah, it will only get you in a whale of trouble.

We need to stop worrying about the road blocks when doing God will and take the Gospel to the people who are dying because they don’t know the truth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes God needs to send a Whale of trouble to open our eyes!

Lord, open my eyes that I may see to do those things that will give you Glory, my ears that they may hear those things that will sing you praise, and that my speech may say those things that will lift up someone who is down in the pit of sin. That all things will be to your glory in Jesus name.

My friend we all have some kind of fear no matter how brave we think we might be. Just remember that if God is telling you to do something He will never leave you to do it by yourself. He knows our every weakness he knows our needs and inabilities. He is waiting to see if we will just trust in Him and go by Faith so that he can bless you and move the road blocks in your life.

May our Lord and Savior bless each of us today as we set out to do his will!

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