God’s Direction

Jonah 1:1 (NIV) The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

Jonah 1:3 (NIV) But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa,...

Luke 19:10 (NIV) “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

A.  Busy

Luke 9:57,62 (NLT) As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”…But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”

B.  Wrong understanding

Luke 7:47 (NIV) “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”

Mark 10:21-22 (NIV) Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

God’s Forgiveness

Jonah 1:4 (NIV) Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.

Malachi 3:7-10 (NIV) ...Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

Psalm 112:1 (NIV) ...Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.

Luke 11:28 (NIV) ...“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV) Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Jonah 2:1-2 (NIV) From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.

Psalm 34:6 (NLT) In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles.

Jonah 3:1-3 (NIV) Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh...

God’s Compassion

Jonah 3:6-7, 8-10 (NIV) When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:... 

8-10 (NIV) ...“Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented... 

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