Messages from Heaven Part 1, Friday

0:00Hey kids, welcome to Junior's for Jesus. Go grab your Bibles, we're gonna be digging in and learning some really exciting stories. Let's get started. Friday, Jonah runs away. God had given Jonah an important responsibility and God was able to give him ability and success. But when Jonah doubted and hesitated to obey, he became discouraged and very afraid. Jonah forgot that his God was all wise and all powerful and fear led him to refuse to warn the wicked city of Nineveh. Instead, he was trying to do something impossible. He was actually trying to run away from the presence of the Lord. How foolish. Nineveh was more than 500 miles from where Jonah lived in northern Israel. But when he went down to Japa and bought a ticket to sail to Spain, he would be traveling about 2,000 miles.

1:01How could he really think that going that far in the opposite direction from Nineveh and hiding down in the bottom of a ship would take him away from God's presence? God didn't desert his fearful, unfaithful servant. In many different ways, he would help Jonah learn to trust him and his power to save. God commands even the winds and water and they obey him, Luke 8.25. So how did he use that power to stop his runaway profit? Jonah won four and five. But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid and every man cried out to his God and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had laid down and was fast asleep. That must have been a terrible storm.

2:02Those heathen sailors thought their end had come and frantically prayed to their gods. Then the captain realized that Jonah wasn't there praying to his God. So what did the captain say when he found him? For six, so the captain came to him and said to him, what do you mean, sleeper, arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us so that we may not perish. When Jonah told the men about himself, they were even more frightened than ever. How could he dare disobey his God like that? Now they knew that the terrible storm was because of him. So when they asked what they should do, what did he say versus eight through 12? Then they said to him, please tell us for whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation and where do you come from? What is your country and of what people argue? So he said to them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven

3:02who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, why have you done this for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them? Then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? For the sea was growing more tempestuous and he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me. The storm was growing worse and worse. The sailors knew that they couldn't save themselves. Finally, after praying to Jonah's God, pleading that they would not be charged with murdering the prophet, they threw him into the sea and immediately the storm stopped. Then what did the sailors do versus 13 through 16? Nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land. They could not for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.

4:03Therefore, they cried out to the Lord and said, we pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood. For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. Now let's apply it. Jonah had tried to run away from God on a ship. Now people try different ways. Some just stop reading their Sabbath school lessons or even stop going to Sabbath school and church. They become busy with other things and sometimes don't even want to know or do what God says. In the end, will that be much different from what Jonah tried to do? This podcast is sponsored by MyBibleFirst.org.