Jonah 1:1-3 ESV – 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.” 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, awayfrom the presence of the Lord.

The Word of the Lord will come to you

John 10:14, 27 ESV -“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

John 1:1 ESV – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Job 33:14 ESV – For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it.

  • God speaks through the Creation

Romans 1:19-20 NIV – what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Psalm 19:1-2 NIV – 

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.

  • God speaks through the Bible

Psalm 119:105 NIV – Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

  • God speaks through Jesus

Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV – In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…

  • When the Word of the Lord comes to you, you face a choice: Nineveh or Tarshish?

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

1 Timothy 6:18c-19 NIV – be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Hebrews 13:4 NIV – Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV – 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

When the word of the Lord comes to you, you can always find a ship to Tarshish!

Jonah 1:3 – Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord

  • [Jonah] paid the fare…to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 139:7 ESV – Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

Galatians 6:7 ESV – Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Lesson: If you want to run from God, you can always find a ship headed in the wrong direction.

Jude 1:10 NIV – these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

2 Peter 2:17-19 NIV – These people are springs without water…18 For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity….

Quick application: If you are a disciple of Jesus, pray for an undivided heart

Jonah 1:3 ESV – 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.

Luke 9:62 NIV – Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 16:24 NIV – Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 

Philippians 3:13-14 NIV – But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

When you run, God may send a storm—or a great fish—to get your attention

Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV –

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.

Jonah 1:4 ESV –  But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.

Jonah 1:5 ESV – Then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.

Jonah 1:6 ESV – So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah 1:9 ESV – “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

Jonah 1:10 ESV – Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!”For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV – 

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.

Psalm 119:67 ESV – Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

Jonah 1:12 ESV – Jonah says, Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.