Breaking All the Rurals

It takes longer for God’s people to obey than for God to save a city of 120,000. Jonah delayed, but God moved when he obeyed. Steal these notes and watch this 2 minute clip.

Once Upon A Time Week 2 Clip from Zach Gilliam on Vimeo.

Read Jonah 1 and 2

We first meet Jonah in 2 Kings 14:25
Jonah means “dove”
He was from Gath-hepher near Nazareth.
He was sharing the setting at the same time as Amos.
The Pharisees were incorrect in stating that
Jn 7:52 “no prophet has risen out of Galilee”
He was one of the first prophets to be sent to a Foreign Land.
-Nineveh was 500 miles NE of Israel.
Through the Assyrian desert
1500 guard towers, walls 100 ft. thick
-The Assyrians were mean and know for their ruthlessness….skin people alive
-They worshipped a half man half fish god named
Dagon and Nanshe the fish goddess.
Very ironic that he was swallowed by a fish.
-Nineveh was the largest city in the world at the time…120,000 pop.
Mosul, Iraq
-Joppa – Tel Aviv
-Tarshish – southern Spain,

When you run from God the enemy will always provide you a ship!
Jonah 1:3 “Jonah found a ship.”
He was looking…
Just because the winds are right, just because the boat is leaving port at the right time, just because that job, date, sale, doesn’t mean it’s God will!
What has he asked you to do? Is it heading you in the wrong direction.
Self-centered Cruise Lines, Compromise Cruise Lines, Disobedient Discount Cruises, Jamaican Justification Ship Vacations
When you run from God you will always pay the fare
vs. 5b “After paying the fare, he went aboard”
A wise man told me, “Shannon, Son, if you go the way of disobedience, you will never get to where you are going and you will always pay the fare.”
It was a good deal…bought on priceline, didn’t cost me-dad loaned him the money
When you run from God you become undisciplined and lazy
vs. 5 “Jonah had gone below deck…and fell into a deep sleep.”
When you run from God everyone can see the storm coming but you
vs. 6 “How can you sleep?”
When you run from God your first instinct is to try on your own
vs. 13 “Instead they did their best to row back to land.”
When you run from God it’s RE-BELLY-ION
vs. 17 “But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.”
Digestive acids, stench,

(In his book entitled SIXTY-THREE YEARS OF ENGINEERING, Sir Francis Fox relates the following. “In February 1891, the whale ship Star of the East was in the vicinity of the Faulkland Islands when the lookout saw a large sperm whale thrashing about. The two whaling vessels converge on this beast. The tale slaps one vessel, rocks it, two sailors go overboard, one drowns, the other has disappeared, they think for sure it is over. Lights out, he’s gone too, he has drown. They harpoon this beast, tow it to shore. Twenty-four hours later they are dissecting it, and the men say STOP something is moving in the stomach. They open it up and there is Frank Bartlett, the sailor who was overboard had been swallowed by this giant sperm whale. They revived him and he lived to sail again.)
When you run from God it makes him want to throw up.
Rev. 3:16 “You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.” (The Message)
Jonah 2:10 “And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land”
He could have just repented during the storm, but he would rather die.
Many of us have killed our reputations, others, relationships, God’s glory because we would rather die than repent.

When you obey God pray becomes primary!
Jonah 2:1 “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.”
This is how you pray…he Confessed, shared His Condition and Changed direction!
No 911 prayer, real Rescue…he prayed in obedience to Scripture!
So many make decisions without using the Holy Word of God!
When you obey God there is a second chance!
Jonah 3:1 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time.”
Jonah, David, Moses, Peter…go for the second chance!
When you obey God revival breaks out!
Jonah 3:10 “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion”
120k got saved!!
Jonah was mad about it…
Jonah 4:1-3 “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
He ran because he didn’t agree with God’s passion for a lost world!
He wanted him to be a Jew, Hebrew, Israel God… not a Assyrian God
He couldn’t save those wrenched Democrats, Republicans, Homosexuals, Alcoholics,
He wouldn’t want me to go there…Baxter, Washington, Saline, Craighead county
He wouldn’t want me to go to Utah, OK, France, UK, Australia, Ghana, Qatar
God is still passionate about the dirty, down trodden all over the world!
I have seen people become more passionate about what the pastor is wearing, the misspell on the slides, the song choices and their WAY….than the Lost!
It takes God longer to get His people ready than to change 120k lives…3 days

Obedience is how you go on when you feel like puke!