Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
 
 

Intro. Jonah is your classical case of someone running from God. In his case it was running from the duty God had given him to do. I want to consider Jonah and some others that God was more than willing to reach out to and have you consider how He is reaching out to you today. We often think of unsaved people, unchurched or people that are not religious as those who run from God. This is not entirely the way it is. We will consider several different ones today that God was willing to reach forth and change their lives. Let me day, He can and He wants to change your lives too!

 Let us consider…

Jonah
He was interested in God's work
He did not want to waste his time
He wanted to chose his jobs
He wanted it his own way enough to run from God
 

BUT…GOD CARED ENOUGH TO REACH HIM WHERE HE WAS!!!!!

Let us look at some more characters in His Word, first the …

Woman at the well - Jn. 4:1-30
In peril of damnation
In peril of not hearing the love of Christ
In peril of being bypassed by her neighbors (and the missionaries)
 

Gadarean at the tombs Mk. 5:1-20
In peril of a tormented life
In peril of being shut-off
In peril of being forgotten by society (and churches)
 

Woman caught in adultery - John 8:1-11
In peril of stoning
In peril of missing the love she so needed
In peril of being discarded by society (and churches)
 

Moses - could have been far different, but God reached out to him
In peril of death (by the Pharoah)
In peril of prosperity (in the court of Pharoah)
In peril of fear (from the face of Pharoah)
In peril of busy-ness (in the fields of Jethro)
In peril of exhaustion (Jethro gave good advise to Moses - share the load)
 

Lot
In peril of loss of goods ( God used Abraham)
In peril of loss of family (God heard Abraham and sent the angels to warn him)
In peril of loss of life (God heard Abraham and used the angels to rescue him)
 

King David
In peril of persecution (from Saul - GOD RESCUED HIM)
In peril of self-righteousness and sinful living (God sent Nathan - to rescue him)
 

Saul/Paul
In peril of religion (met Christ on the way to Damascus)
 
 

Yourself??????
 

What are you in peril of?

What does Christ through the Holy Spirit say to you today?

What does He reach out to you in your life about?

Are You Saved??????

Are you needful of His touch?

Does He want to free you from sin?

Does he want to rescue you from the cares of this life? - like Moses

What do you have in your life that He wants you to let go?

Or what does He want you to reach out for in your life?
 
 

Gary Marcum - East 38th Street Free Will Baptist Church - 102200am