Disobedience to evangelize is disobedience to God.
Jonah 1:1-8
God loves us and provides all our needs and because of what God does for us free of charge. God expects us to obey His commandments.
God speaks directly to his children as our parents spoke directly to us regarding what they expect us to do.
In the house I grew up in, there were consequences to disobedience.
To directly disobey God is a great sin, it does not matter how small or how great the command is, God expects us to do it.
There are two types of sin: sin of omission and commission.
Evangelism is the heart of God. He made the world and put people in the world to spend eternity with HIM.
God’s plan is to save the whole world, and he has saved us to work his plan.
In the New Testament evangelism is commanded.
In the Old Testament evangelism is commanded.
People in the Old and New Testament made excuses why they don’t evangelize as God has commanded.
There are some Jonah’s in this world, that just don’t care about people going to hell. But God cares.
Listen, what God says to Jonah, He also has said to us.
Disobedience to evangelize is disobedience to God.
I. Jonah is commissioned by God to evangelize- vs. 1-2
II. Jonah disobeys God, attempting to hide from God- vs. 3.
III. God response to Jonah’s disobedience- vs 4-8
Our theme for this year is a commitment to the great commission.
I want to please God and want God to be pleased with me.
The hymn, “Trust and obey there is no other way to happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”
Disobedience makes God unhappy and eventually makes us unhappy.
God’s plan is that the whole world would be saved and He is gracious enough to use us in fulfilling his plan.
I. Jonah is commissioned by God to evangelize- vs. 1-2
“Now, the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, say.”
a. God’s commandment is directly to Jonah.
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.”
“For their wickedness is come up before me.”
II. Jonah disobeys God, attempting to hide from God- vs. 3
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD…”
a. Jonah, the prophet of God, does not respond like a child of God.
b. Jonah does exactly the opposite of what God says to do.
Jonah forgot was he was taught in theology 101!
Psalm 139:7-9, “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.”
III. God’s response to Jonah’s disobedience- vs. 4-8
“But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.”
a. God is a God of discipline.
It is dangerous to disobey God!
You can run but you can’t hide from God.
God is everywhere and He sees everything.
God speaks directly to his children as our parents spoke directly to us regarding what they expect us to do.
In the house I grew up in, there were consequences to disobedience.
To directly disobey God is a great sin, it does not matter how small or how great the command is, God expects us to do it.
There are two types of sin: sin of omission and commission.
- Commission is doing what God says don’t do.
- Omission is not doing what God says to do.
Evangelism is the heart of God. He made the world and put people in the world to spend eternity with HIM.
God’s plan is to save the whole world, and he has saved us to work his plan.
In the New Testament evangelism is commanded.
In the Old Testament evangelism is commanded.
People in the Old and New Testament made excuses why they don’t evangelize as God has commanded.
- Some are just lazy.
- Some don’t make time.
- Some are just disobedient with a reason for their disobedience.
There are some Jonah’s in this world, that just don’t care about people going to hell. But God cares.
Listen, what God says to Jonah, He also has said to us.
Disobedience to evangelize is disobedience to God.
I. Jonah is commissioned by God to evangelize- vs. 1-2
II. Jonah disobeys God, attempting to hide from God- vs. 3.
III. God response to Jonah’s disobedience- vs 4-8
Our theme for this year is a commitment to the great commission.
I want to please God and want God to be pleased with me.
The hymn, “Trust and obey there is no other way to happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”
Disobedience makes God unhappy and eventually makes us unhappy.
God’s plan is that the whole world would be saved and He is gracious enough to use us in fulfilling his plan.
I. Jonah is commissioned by God to evangelize- vs. 1-2
“Now, the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, say.”
a. God’s commandment is directly to Jonah.
- The voice of God is in the word of God.
- To hear God’s instruction directly is to read the Bible for yourself.
- The Bible contains God’s message to the saved.
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.”
- The ministry of evangelism requires going and doing.
- Great city indicates a lot of people.
- Nineveh is Gentiles who do not know God as savior.
“For their wickedness is come up before me.”
- The reason for evangelism is the sin of the people.
- Sin separates people from God.
- God’s desire is to have fellowship with sinners through salvation.
II. Jonah disobeys God, attempting to hide from God- vs. 3
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD…”
a. Jonah, the prophet of God, does not respond like a child of God.
b. Jonah does exactly the opposite of what God says to do.
- Instead of going to Nineveh, he went down to Joppa.
- There is a reason behind his disobedience.
1. In Nineveh were Assyrians, they were Gentiles which he hated.
2. In Joppa were Jews, he was comfortable among people who looked like him.
2. In Joppa were Jews, he was comfortable among people who looked like him.
- Jonah does not love everyone and does not desire for them to be saved.
- His selfish act of disobedience leads him to do something foolish.
- He tries to hide from God.
Jonah forgot was he was taught in theology 101!
Psalm 139:7-9, “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea.”
III. God’s response to Jonah’s disobedience- vs. 4-8
“But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.”
a. God is a God of discipline.
- God’s holiness demands discipline.
- God’s love demands discipline when disobedience is out of control.
- He went down to Joppa.
- He went down into the ship.
- He is cast down into the sea.
- He is down in the belly of a fish.
- Sometimes we don’t listen to the Word.
- Sometimes we don’t listen to the Holy Spirit.
- Therefore, God sends trouble to bring us back to Him.
It is dangerous to disobey God!
You can run but you can’t hide from God.
God is everywhere and He sees everything.
