Church@Home An Unlikely Hero Named Jonah Pt 1

Other prophets ran to God; Jonah ran from God. Others prophets declared the promises of God with fervor and zeal. Not Jonah.
He was about as motivated as a pig in a butcher shop.
And yet, despite all that, God chose Jonah for a very important assignment.

Let's first look at Jonah's Assignment:
Jonah 1:1
The word of the Lord came to Jonah:
“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

So Jonah had a call from God in Jonah 1:1, BUT "...Jonah ran away from the Lord ..." Another bible translation says , “But Jonah rose to flee.” Jonah skips town.
Jonah 1:3 continues, "[Jonah] 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."

Tarsish was the farthest known geographical point in that day.
And that leaves no doubt that Jonah really wanted to get away from God.
But you just don’t run from the Lord of heaven and earth. Because, You can't outrun God's grace.

The story of Jonah is about God's love. When God gives an assignment, His motivation in giving it is simple. He wants to demonstrate His love.

Yes, it's that simple, but It's something that can be very hard. And the bible says that the way we show our love to God is to obey his commands, or what the Bible calls, obedience. And obedience is faith in action.

You see, faith and action are like twins; they go together. And Jonah had to leave his home and overcome a major prejudice in order to preach in Nineveh.

Although he was determined to run away, Jonah never got to Tarshish.
Through a traumatic chain of events, God had a creative time-out planned for him.

The time Jonah spent in that fish was an opportunity. He was given an opportunity to readjust his heart. For 3 days and 3 nights, Jonah was alone with God. He had time with God and it changed him. You can see the change in his heart as he prayed. Let's jump to the end of his prayer in Jonah Chapter 2:
"But you, Lord my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
And I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’”

Once Jonah's heart was in tune with God's heart, he was spewed out on the beach and he hit the road running—toward Nineveh this time, fulfilling what God had assigned him to do.

He preached God's message of repentance and love and as a result the whole city repented, even their King.

Some important lessons:from Jonah's life:
God offers do-overs.
God's love is limitless.
We can't outrun God's grace.

See the message isn’t, “Do better. Try harder. Be a hero.” It’s, “ Yes, you may be a mess, but Believe you are loved and Let God transform you.”
Because you can't outrun God's grace...

Own who you are. Reach up to Him.
Don’t run from the Lord of heaven and earth.
Run to Him, to your Father, to your friend.
Because life is so much better in His loving arms.