YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CANNOT HIDE!
Jonah 1:1-17
Earlier this month we celebrated Easter in which God came to
the earth first as a baby, then grew to a man. A man who was called to bring
the truth to a people and a world that needed to hear what God had to say. Jesus,
God in the flesh, came to this world to accomplish several things. When the
going got tough, Jesus could have said I am not doing this, but he stayed true
to all the things he came to earth to do.
This morning we read about Jonah and
what he had been called by God to do. Jonah had been given the job of telling
the people of Nineveh how judgement from God was coming to them because of
their sin. As we read on in the book of Jonah the next couple of weeks, we will
see why Jonah reacted the way he did. Jonah did not want to do what God had called
him to do. Jonah had no plans of going to Nineveh. In fact, Jonah found the
first ship going the exact opposite direction from Nineveh he could find and
paid to go to the town of Tarshish. Clearly Tarshish was not anywhere near
Nineveh. Jonah’s plan was clearly not to do what God had commanded him to do,
but Jonah’s plans were not going according to the way he thought they would. Once
Jonah was on the ship, he decided to stay out of sight as much as he could. He
went below to sleep until they got to Tarshish, but God still had plans for
Jonah. God caused the waters to be so violent that the captain was afraid the
ship would break to pieces. The captain went down and woke Jonah up and told
him to ask his God for help. Then the sailors decided to cast lots, believing
it would reveal who brought this problem of a deadly sea upon them. God made
sure the lot fell on Jonah. When that had happened, they asked Jonah, “Why is
this happening?” Jonah explained he was a Hebrew and that he worshiped the God
who made Heaven as well as the seas. Sailors had such a deep respect for the
sea that when Jonah said this, they were afraid of what it all might mean for them.
Earlier Jonah had told some of the sailors he was trying to
get away from what his God wanted him to do. The sailors were afraid of Jonah’s
God as well as Jonah so they asked him, “What can we do to calm the sea?” To
Jonah’s credit, he told the sailors to throw him into the sea. The sailors were
afraid that Jonah’s God would be mad at them so they continued to try to save
their ship but it was not working. In desperation they cried out to Jonah’s God
saying, “Do not hold it against us if Jonah dies because we did what he told us
to do.” The minute they threw Jonah overboard the sea became calm. As a result of
what happened the sailors had a life-changing moment that led them to worship
God. They offered sacrifices to God and made vows to God that reflected their
thankfulness to God for saving their lives. These sailors were forever changed,
but what about Jonah? Was God going to have to find someone else to go to
Nineveh? After all, Jonah had to have drowned, right? No God’s plan to use
Jonah to deliver the message to Nineveh was still in effect. God had another
plan to get Jonah to Nineveh. He got to ride in the belly of a great big fish
for three days and three nights. Satan had convinced Jonah to run. Satan did
not want Nineveh to get the message God had for them. Satan believed he had
stopped God’s plan for Nineveh just like Satan believed he had stopped God’s
plan when he saw to it that Jesus was crucified. Satan, however, found out
God’s plans will never be stopped.
Have you ever heard God calling you to do something before,
but in some cases you came up with a bunch of reasons why you just could not do
it? What we have read so far in the story of Jonah is that God is persistent. I
think we will find out God accomplished his plan for Nineveh.
God will always complete his plans every time. The question
at times for you and me is, will we help God complete his plans? God has plans
to bless us and use us to accomplish his purposes. We may not know what God has
in store for us next, but we can always trust in the fact that God loves us and
will never ask us to do more than we are capable of. As we continue looking at
Jonah’s story next week, will some of us see similarities in his story to our
own? Jonah found out you can run but you cannot hide. One of the lessons we can
learn from Jonah’s experience is when God is calling us to do something, it
will probably be best if we just do it. Otherwise, we may end up in the belly
of a big fish or maybe, just maybe, something worse.
Larry
Announcements:
Bible Study 9:30 Tuesday
April 29 Newsletter deadline
May 9 Mothers’ Day
May 12 Board Meeting
May 19 Council Meeting immediately after worship
Executive Committee decided that as long as we are
in our seats and socially distanced in the sanctuary, we may remove our masks,
if we are comfortable doing so. If we get up or want to sing with the hymns,
masks must go back on. We are grateful for the care everyone has taken to help
prevent the spread of the virus.
Donation Box: Camp Emmanuel
First Sundays: food donations for food banks
Pastor Larry Traxler- (217) 454-2362
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Keep
in Your Prayers
David Roe; Terry
Marvin; Tera Runyan; Holly Flenner; Carl and Wilma Cable; Larry Albro; Mike
McCleery; Sherry Wright; Tim and Betty Sue Laird; Mike and Carol Seidenstricker;
Sonna Hall; Brittany Wright; Evelyn Eads; Anna Gentry Thompson; Marlene &
Arnold Schultz; Clyde and Nancy Fansler; Adiline Young; Kim Lehmann; Dylan
Junior; Doug Fansler; Liza Yore;
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Cain; Robert Cripe; Mayo & Darlene Hanaver; Zola Copeland; Patty Cripe;
Lauren Gross; Stacie Warren; Nancy Gorrell; many unspoken requests; Coronavirus
crisis; healthcare workers and first responders; the families of the 570,000+
people who have died from COVID-19; those who are ill from the virus; the
unemployed; school teachers, staff, and students; victims of natural disasters;
victims of shootings; nursing home residents; the Nigerian church
Military and Other
Services and their families
Brethren Volunteer
Service workers; Disaster project workers
Our
Mission Statement:
Love
God, grow with others, serve faithfully, reach the lost, find peace.
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