Sermon by Bruce McCallum 6 October 2019

3. BACKGROUND & CONTEXT
Jonah 1:1-3 (NIV)
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the
great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness
has come up before me." 3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and
headed for Tarshish. …

4. “Go to the great city of Ninevah…”
1. It was unprecedented
2. Ninevah was a horrendous city
3. Jonah was a highly unlikely candidate

5. 2 Kings 14:25 (NIV)
He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo
Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of
the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through His servant Jonah son
of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

6. We mistrust God
and run in the opposite
direction

7. NOTHING NEW : ADAM & EVE
Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV)
And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to
eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat
of it you will surely die."
Genesis 3:6 (NIV)
3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good
for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for
gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave
some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

8. TWO WAYS TO RUN FROM GOD
1. Those who reject God
Romans 1:29 (NIV)
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed
and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and
malice. They are gossips…

9. TWO WAYS TO RUN FROM GOD
2. Those who seek to follow God
Romans 2:17-18 (NIV)
Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag
about your relationship to God; 18 if you know His will and approve
of what is superior because you are instructed by the law

10. BOTH HAVE ‘TURNED AWAY’
Romans 3:10-12 (NIV)
As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is
no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned
away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who
does good, not even one."

11. JONAH CHALLENGE
1. Are you willing to go to the city around us?
2. Are you willing to trust God to do exactly what He says to
you to do in the city - even if you don’t fully understand
Him?