Jonah: First he resisted God; then he rebelled against God; and then of all things he tried to run from God. You cannot hide from God, you really cannot run from God.

F OUR V ALUABLE P RINCIPLES Disobedience Brings Discipline It was a great city It was a huge city It was a wicked city

Any Christian who refuses to witness and tell other people about Jesus Christ has the same Jonah attitude. Their attitude is “People might get saved, but it won’t be because of me!” Nineveh represents the will of God. Tarshish represents the will of man. Every time you choose Tarshish over Nineveh it’s going to cost you.

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer that you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. If you are a Christian, in your heart you have a hot line to heaven. Every time that telephone rings God is on the other end. When you answer God does not want you to say simply, “Hello,” He wants to hear you say, “Yes, Lord, whatever you ask I will do.”

D ISCIPLINE B RINGS D ELIVERANCE This whale was really a woodshed where God took Jonah and whipped him for his disobedience. It drove Jonah to prayer It drove Jonah to repentence Psalm 119:67- “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.”

Deliverance brings devotion Devotion brings delight Jonah is not primarily about a physical miracle of a great fish; it is about the spiritual miracle of a gracious Father.

It is one thing to resist the command of God, and the call of God, but it is quite another thing to refuse it. When God speaks you better listen. Wherever God tells you to go, whatever God tells you to do, whoever God wants you to be, you had better obey Him and submit to His will and do what He tells you to do.