Jonah Goes Down

Most of us remember the story of Jonah from our childhood Sunday school classes. We may recall the songs, the drawings of Jonah inside of the great fish, and the repentance of Nineveh at the end of this great Old Testament story. The songs were fine, the drawings were precious, but Jonah’s story doesn’t end with the repentance of Nineveh. For the next 4-weeks, I invite you to delve into God’s Word as we look at the Book of Jonah from front to back.

The theme of this sermon series is “A Picture of Modern Christianity,” and in Chapter 1, we see that Jonah flees from the Lord. He knew that the Lord was calling him to a specific task, and he chose to disobey. Many Christfollowers today run from things that we know that the Lord is calling us to do.The title of our message today is Jonah Goes Down. Our message points will be:

1. God has a Plan for You
2. God Pursues You in Your Disobedience
3. God Punishes You in Your Disobedience

Main Scripture - Jonah 1:1-17

Supporting Texts - 1 Corinthians 10:31, Genesis 4:16, Romans 5:20, Matthew 8:24-25, Proverbs 13:24, Hebrews 12:6, Romans 5:8

Diving Deeper. After listening to today's message, consider asking yourself the following questions:

• Do you ever think about the plan that God has for you? Explain.
• Why is it important that God has a plan for all of His creation?
• Why do people try to run from God?
• Does it encourage you to know that God pursues you in your disobedience? Explain.
• Why do people despise being punished?
• Explain the purpose of punishment.