1. British soldier fed up with killing, the horror of war - awol - black of night climbs a sign post - strikes a match and stares into the face of Jesus - shamed - he rejoined his unit

2. God has an amazing way of getting our attention! take Jonah - it took a storm and a whale

3. Jonah was on the run from God - a rebel - like so many people, running away from God

  I. Rebels run down the road of disobedience

     A. v. 1-3 God called Jonah to a task

         1. Go to Nineveh and warn them of judgment

         2. Why didn’t Jonah want to go?

         3. He hated Nineveh, Assyrians, idol worshipers, cruel people (burned people alive, skin them,

bury alive - especially Jews!)

     B. Jonah tried to run from God and couldn’t - neither can you

         1. Jonah went the other direction from Nineveh - all the way to Spain

         2. that is a small view of God, a large view of self (smarter than God)

         3. God knows all the roads, there is none you can travel that He can’t find you

         4. people obsessed with GOGGLE EARTH satellite views of the earth - even under the oceans

         5. God has that same view only better for he sees every person - every person’s heart! - you can’t run or hide

II. Does God care - yes

        1. He cared about Nineveh - sent a man who hated them, a Jew whom they hated

        2. we think God is way off there someplace - He doesn’t care - the world is so big and there are so many people

        3. God cares - even about a Jonah, a rebel

        4. God cares - He cares about the starving, He cares about those caught up in the middle of wars, He cares about

those dying with AIDS -

        5. most of all He cares about sinners, people like you and me - He cares about those who are so busy ignoring HIM!

Jesus died for your sins, my sins not just the sins of the world

III. Jonah took the road of disappointments

     A. He took a cruise v. 3-12 - get away from God - many do that to get away from troubles

         1. It costs money to take a cruise - Jonah had to pay (when God sends you out He provides)

         2. The people on the ship were disappointed in Jonah when they found out he was running away

         3. He wound up in a place he didn’t want to go - in the belly of a whale

         4. Nothing worked out the way Jonah planned - it never does when you run from God

         5. Proverbs 13:15 - the way of transgressors is hard - Is being a rebel on the road a hard life for you?

You laugh at the whale story - Naw - that’s a myth, a fairy tale

1891 - James Bartlett fell from a whaling ship, the whale they harpooned swallowed Bartlett - he was found a day later in the belly of the whale alive - his hair was gone, his skin bleached - the gastric juices

IV. The rebel left the road - he turned back to God

     A. Chapter 3:3 God’s Man Is Changed – This time Jonah is not running from the Lord; he is running with the Lord!

Jonah heads off to Nineveh.

          1. He arrived looking like a ghoul - no hair, bleached out skin - a changed man outside and inside

          2. When life gets so hard it forces changes - changes you could have already made and avoided the pain

1. Father, son, standing up and would not put on seatbelt - after several minutes he sits and says, "Daddy, I’m sitting

down on the outside, but I’m still standing up on the inside.?"

2. Rebels are in rebellion, their lives are hard, Jonah found out the hard way

3. Has God been calling you to do something for His glory? Have you been taking a different path than His? Wouldn’t

today be a great day to come to Him and tell Him that you are through running and fighting, and that you are ready to

go with the Lord?