AVOID BEING A It is hard to get up to go to school in the morning, yet we kinda know it is good for us! It is hard to stomach silver beet, yet we kinda know it is good for us – OK, silver beet is probably pushing it a bit! You see, if we were left by ourselves, we’d go soft! That’s where God steps in. He says, yeah, there is a soft way. But there is also a better way, a way better way for you. And he asks us to obey him. What is some thing that you think God might be saying to you to STOP doing and obey him instead: What is some thing that you think God might be saying to you to START doing and obey him instead: Now, chances are, God aint going to send the first land walking big fish to swallow you up in your Mums car on the way home from Max tonight! But he is still going to ask you to obey him. Did you notice what it said about the sailors when the storm stopped? It says they made all kinds of promises. Did they keep them? Well, to stop your stuff being empty promises, we need a plan! What will you change to stop doing what you are doing or start doing what you should be doing? Ask your leader if they think it is a good plan! DISCUSSION STUFF: Are there any other questions you have from the story? Ask your leader: what happened to Nineveh? What was Jonah’s attitude like at the start compared to the end? What is the biggest fish you have caught? Pray for each other that you will be able to obey God!

Now, most of you would of heard of Jonah: No not that one! This is the stuff from the Bible about Jonah: One day the Lord told Jonah…to go to the great city of Nineveh and say to the people, “The Lord has seen your terrible sins (wrong stuff). You are doomed!” Instead, Jonah ran from the Lord. He went to the seaport of Joppa and bought a ticket on a ship that was going to Spain. Then he got on the ship and sailed away to escape. But the Lord made a strong wind blow, and such a bad storm came up that the ship was about to be broken to pieces. The sailors were frightened, and they all started praying to their gods. They even threw the ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. All this time, Jonah was down below deck, sound asleep. The ship’s captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep at a time like this? Get up and pray to your God! Maybe he will have pity on us and keep us from drowning.” Finally, the sailors got together and said, “Let’s ask our gods to show us who caused all this trouble.” It turned out to be Jonah. They started asking him, “Are you the one who brought all this trouble on us? What business are you in? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?” Jonah answered, “… I worship the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” When the sailors heard this, they were frightened, because Jonah had already told them he was running from the Lord. Then they said, “Do you know what you have done?” The storm kept getting worse, until finally the sailors asked him, “What should we do with you to make the sea calm down?” Jonah told them, “Throw me into the sea, and it will calm down. I’m the cause of this terrible storm.” The sailors tried their best to row to the shore. But they could not do it, and the storm kept getting worse every minute. So they prayed to the Lord, “Please don’t let us drown for taking this man’s life. Don’t hold us guilty for killing an innocent man. All of this happened because you wanted it to.” Then they threw Jonah overboard, and the sea calmed down. The sailors were so terrified that they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made all kinds of promises. The Lord sent a big fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. …The Lord commanded the fish to vomit up Jonah on the shore. And it did. Once again the Lord told Jonah to go to that great city of Nineveh and preach his message of doom. Jonah obeyed the Lord and went to Nineveh.CEV Now basically, Jonah became a Jonah Burger. And he could easily of been a Gone Burger too! I broke my thumb once. What is the most life threatening situation you have ever been in? You were obviously given a second chance cos you are here today! Jonah got TWO second chances. What were they? God promises to be there no matter what we go through. Sometimes, he looks after us physically – you know, the near miss in a road accident or people in spedos plucking us from the sea! But there is something even more important than us being looked after physically. What is most important to God is that we _ _ _ _ Him.(unscramble letters) Think of your Mum or Dad. They’re maybe not quite perfect people, eh? But imagine if there was someone who really, really cared for you and ALWAYS knew what was EXACTLY right for you – sounds good, eh? You’d probably want to do what they wanted, eh? Obey them? WRONG! Look at Jonah – going to Nineveh turned out to be the best thing for him. Yet he got soft, and headed off for a holiday in Spain! What is something that you know is good for you, yet often you don’t want to do it? What helps you to do it in the end?