Unlikely Heroes Jonah By Justin Allison 7/19/13

Read 1:1-3 Now what is the problem here? Surely none of us have ever ran from something God asked us to do? Read 1:12-17 What affect did this have on the sailors? Did Jonah intend it? Was God using him? Read Chapter 3 When God spoke what did he say? Did he give details? Did God change his mind or his mission for Jonah? Was Jonah effective in his mission? Did he use a long eloquent speech? Do we have to? Who really did the work in this story?

Read Chapter 4 Jonah had a model attitude right? In verse 10 and 11 God speaks. What do we learn about God from this? Looking ahead to Acts 10:23-24, 34 What happened again at Joppa? Who is Gods good news for? In this story we can see events work together to get Jonah to Nineveh, and we know that Gods plan was to get him to Nineveh. What if Jonah ran away, and never followed Gods command would that change Gods will or plan? When storms come our way, how can we look at them from a divine perspective? What should we ask from God in them? The ship with its pagan sailors can be compared to the world as it struggles for survival with its conflicting ideas. What does this say to us if we consider Jonah to be a picture of a sleeping church? Thinking of Chapter 3, In todays western society it is considered a good thing to have a private faith so long as it is kept under wraps. It is looked upon with suspicion if it ventures out into the world all around us. What does this passage say about such an approach?1

Paul Mackrell, Opening up Jonah, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2007), 42. also p34 for the previous 2 questions.

Look at Mark 4:3541 and compare the reaction of the disciples after the Lord had calmed the storm to the reaction of the sailors in Jonah 1:16. Why do you think there was this reaction when you might expect the serenity of a still evenings sunset to descend upon them?2 In many ways Jonah was the most successful prophet of the Old Testament. He preached and people were saved. He was also an exception to the general rule Stephen referred to in Acts 7:52. The irony is that he would have preferred to be like most of the other prophets whose call to repent and turn to the Lord was rejected and whose prophecies of impending judgement were fulfilled. What does this say about measuring Gods servants by the success or failure they encounter?3 Consider the poor and compromised example of obedience and service that Jonah set before the sailors. Yet they were still drawn to the God Jonah purported to serve.4 think of Shane Hipps idea that the church is the medium and the message.

Area of our lives where we run from God, and ignore his call to repentence?

Paul Mackrell, Opening up Jonah, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2007), 50. 3 Paul Mackrell, Opening up Jonah, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2007), 50. 4 Paul Mackrell, Opening up Jonah, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2007), 50.