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Show GOD SAW JONAH ON THE SHIP "But the Lord sent out the sea, and there in the sea, broken. " so was a that the (Jonah a 1: 4) great wind into mighty tempest ship was like to be After Jonah got word that the Lord wanted him to go to Nineveh, he determined to go in another direction. Instead of going the ay, the Lord said .:,:I..e .(JoS',,r,e. o,· go, Jonah went,toward Tarshish from Joppa in a ship. He determined to go away from the presence of the Lord. Not kno"that there is no place you can go to get away from the omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, all seeing God. The old folks summed God up as being so high you can't go over Him, so low you can't go beneath 1 Him, and so wide you can't go around Him. Sailing toward their Tarshish destination, Jonah thought he had gotten awav, that he .}vas safe out dowA.) ltJ 1t",-JI t>{!- 5"J' of reach. Many times we try to run from only to have him meet us in the very place of our escape. No matter how hard God can't get away from God. J,CA...s(J, .( eLy -+-t.. has so many ways of reaching us. t "Ytou I-\e "t G you e: r'lZ When Words alone don't do, God will other way to get our attention. God sent a great pursuer after use some Notice, Jonah. The winds of his treasure went forth with force and with violence. Proverbs 30: 4 and the walk and the reminds directs calming us of the on waves the water, by Jesus that God is in control of and even the winds and the waves. The text says a mighty tempest raged with such force that the ship was about to 2 be broken into experienced and pieces sailors were even the most afraid. Every and then in the church, in our homes, in our families, in our person sin brings the storms and the tempests into We are tom and disturbed and our souls now . unsettled and wonder if we will survive. We think we are Maybe there out was there all were there, but this by ourselves. other vessels storm sent after God's was man sailing isolated, . Jonah and it rocked his boat. God sent this special G"J..(}o./l iA..Jt. ,/ (J/,J bring him to his senses, to bring him back to his duty, to bring him back to God. Like the prodigal agent after Jonah to son, God knows how to shake your world, how to around, and get ought to be. Oh, I tum you you back where you praise God for the winds that blow and 3 the storms that rage in my conscience when I head off in the wrong direction. Look at Jonah. He into the side of the All the crew was gone down and was asleep. was ship uneasy, alarmed, and edge but only Jonah, the one the was pursuing, was the only one storm unconcerned about the storm. There two a people storm: cause in The Bible who The and the one one Still affected by the can are sleep in who knows he is the who knows who is in everybody control. on on the ship was storm. One of the Biblical images of the church is that of a ship and we sing about that old ship of Zion. Everybody in the church is affected by the storms that come. familiar with the Some of us are ordinary conditions and evenfhe ordinary storms, but 4 we are caught off guard by some storms that .Jj_f4tr 1.))1'-1{ ,s"UoJ..ree. -./-Ic& 1''' I,WI, k 'kOA)° Furthermore, every person aboard 4' f£. ,ft. '. cned unto hIS god because of then fear. strike terror in Ii, us. a.y Q;Vf,1J "-"""'" · Isn't it strange and sad that far too many of us never call on God or pray until things get bad. It's not until our way is dark and helpless that we cry out for help. Everybody prayed for himself, not one person for them all. They prayed expecting an answer. They did not know what God would answer but they prayed to the god of their own experience. Unfortunately, all to no avail. For they failed to realize that there is but and living one true God and He alone is able to settle the storms and calm the waves. That God says, "Call upon me in the time of trouble." ad.. -:c- wi'/{ c-t1U.5WiOr. 5 Moreover, they cried for deliverance They dumped everything overboard, hoping and expecting that would help. All their tackle and all of their goods were thrown overboard. Now, they have come to the place that all the things are gone and they are ready to throw somebody overboard. It was as if they saw things the same as they saw souls. All the while Jonah kept on sleeping down in the holS. Could it be that satan had rocked him to sleep in false security and human sufficiency? Finally, the captain called and woke and added work not faith. Jonah up. Either it was time to pray or time to die. How can you be at ease, how you relax and rest, how sleep when the storm -is raging and everybody else is alarmed? Whether the captain can 6 can you , . , , . knew the real God or , . not, he knew that Supreme God was able to provide some relief. As long as there is life there is hope. Salvation is possible as long as we live. If we call.on God in thestorm, ": the He is able to 'lll\/\. ht{ t : - and deliver save . &'{jer;,J:" " :::retiA( ,I '. · MI\rlt+ \ • "" ", '; /-b': #1.fbt4fS I «;«: :," ., I ' " cl t .JVr+h' rVtZ ctW c_JdJr-e-N NCL tv us'. . ..... .t:, +t;J p /''t: <":1>" "',' ";/ .." . . . .. • . . , -III. • <II. f . 7 " · |
