God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim a message of impending judgment. However, Jonah flees by ship to Tarshish to avoid the mission. God causes a great storm and Jonah is thrown overboard, but is swallowed by a large fish that later vomits him out. Jonah goes to Nineveh and proclaims they will be overturned in 40 days. The people repent and God spares the city, much to Jonah's dismay. God reminds Jonah that He is merciful and cares for the lives of the many inhabitants of Nineveh.

2. Jonah 1: 1-3
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah
the
son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to
Nineveh,
that great city, and call out against it, for
their
evil has come up before Me.”

3. - Capital of Assyria
- Population =
120,000
- Center of
tremendous
idolatry, financial
inequity/oppression
(of its citizens &
those
they conquered) &
physical violence

4. Jonah 1: 1-3
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah
the
son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to
Nineveh,
that great city, and proclaim concerning
it
that their trouble has come to My
attention.”

5. Jonah 1: 1-3
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from
the presence of the Lord. He went down to
Joppa
and found a ship going to Tarshish. So
he paid
the fare and went down into it, to go with
them
to Tarshish, away from the presence of
the Lord.

6. Tarshish
Mediterranean Sea
Nineva
h
Jerusalem
Joppa

7. Tarshish
?!
Mediterranean Sea
Nineva
h
Jerusalem
Joppa

8. Jonah 4: 2
O Lord, is not this what I said when I was
yet
in my country? That is why I made haste
to flee
to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a
gracious God and merciful, slow to anger
and abounding in steadfast love, and
relenting from disaster.

10. Jonah’s Three Bellies
1. The belly of the SHIP
(disobedience)
2. The belly of the SEA
(death)
3. The belly of the FISH
(deliverance)

11. Jonah 3: 1-5
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah
the second time, saying, “Arise, go to
Nineveh,
that great city, and call out against it the
message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose
and went to Nineveh, according to the
word of the Lord.
Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great
city,

12. Jonah 3: 1-5
And he called out, “Yet forty days, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the
people of Nineveh believed God. They
called for a fast and put
on sackcloth, from the greatest of them
to the least of them.

13. Jonah 3: 8-10
“Let everyone turn from his evil way and
from
the violence that is in his hands. Who
knows?
God may turn and relent and turn from
His fierce anger, so that we may not
perish.” When God saw what they did,
how they turned from their evil way, God
relented of the disaster that He had said

15. Jonah 4: 10-11
You pity the plant, for which you did not
labor,
nor did you make it grow, which came
into being
in a night and perished in a night. And
should not
I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which
there are more than 120,000 persons who
do not know their right hand from their

16. Things to
1. Your rebellion is NOT
Remember…
just about YOU

17. Things to
1. Your rebellion is NOT
Remember…
just about YOU
2. If you think you’re RUNNING
or HIDING from God, you’re
only kidding yourself

18. Things to
1. Your rebellion is NOT
Remember…
just about YOU
2. If you think you’re RUNNING
or HIDING from God, you’re
only kidding yourself
3. God loves the LIFE in this city
far more than we can imagine

19. 3. God loves the LIFE in this city
far more than we can imagine