[Boyde]

This is my GSACS sermon for the preaching category. It'll be a bit hard to read because it's not a script, but a guide for me when I'm preaching. I still need to put it in outline form, so I'll try to post that up if I get it done early enough.



Turn in your Bibles to Jonah 1. There was this movie I watched one time, I don’t recommend seeing it--it has a lot of bad things in it, but in this movie, the main character got a cell phone call from God Himself. And basically, God says to this man who doesn’t believe in Him, that he will receive that powers of God for a time. Now I don’t know why I was thinking of this movie so randomly, but it just popped into my head as I was thinking of what to put into this message. Jonah 1 says, “ 1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
The Storm at Sea

4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load.[a] But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah Thrown into the Sea

10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.
Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance

17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”. I love the book of Jonah. It’s probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite book of the Bible, and I’ve always wondered what would have happened if God put in a 5th chapter into the book. I would’ve loved to read it.

But in this passage, it talks about God calling Jonah, and Jonah fleeing from God’s call. And that’s really the focus of my message. See, the guy in the movie I talked about earlier had a literal call from God. And we’re sort of in the same way. We get many callings from God in our life. Now I’m not specifically talking about a call to be a pastor, or a teacher, or some kind of profession, but just what God tells us to do. See Jonah was faced with a harsh task ahead of him. He had to preach to Ninevah. Ninevah wasn’t a nice place. God told Jonah to, “Cry out” against them. Now that’s some pretty serious language. He didn’t just tell him to go talk to the Ninevites about their sin and hope they consider possibly giving up a few of their sins. No! He told him to cry out against them. That seems pretty serious. Have you ever heard one of those preachers that likes to shout a lot? I mean shout a lot! Like it seems almost every word he says has some special emphasis on it. That’s how I see God wanting Jonah to preach to them. With emotion and conviction. Now I’m not saying that that’s the right or wrong way to preach, but that’s how I believe that God wanted Jonah to preach to the Ninevites. That’s a pretty tough task that requires a lot of bravery! He could’ve been imprisoned, or even worse. People don’t want to hear about how they’re bad people, or how they need to change what they need to do, and it takes a lot of courage to tell people that, but doing it boldly? There’s not a lot of people who would do that. Most people, if they were called to preach, wouldn’t even go! Or they would go and preach without enthusiasm. They’d see someone breaking into someone’s house and be like, “Hey, umm, I think you, like, might be doing something, kinda, umm, wrong.” And the person would say, “Oh, yeah, you’re right! I’m not using gloves! They can get prints now-a-days. Thanks! That is what you mean, right?” And he’d reply, “Uhh, yeah, yeah… that’s umm, what I mean…” They’re spiritual wimps. And when God calls us, we CANNOT be spiritual wimps, or else we’ll fail the mission that God puts before us.

But what is this call that God has sent us to do. Our call is simply this: To lead others to the Lord. Now you say, “But, Johnny, there’s no where in the Bible that says we have to lead sinners to Christ.” Yes there is. And in fact, it is one of the last things Jesus says to His disciples. Matthew 28 says, “18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

So someone tell me what this passage means. Just raise your hand. Exactly. And I know many of you know that passage, and some of you even have it memorized, but if you do not live for it, it is all for naught. Look, when we do not heed the call of the Lord, when we do not preach God’s Word of Salvation to others, we jeopardize everything that Christ has done for us! If we do not show the love of God to others, we are being selfish wimps! And again, America is full on them.

Y’know, Christians are kind of like turtles. You have those Christians that constantly stay in their shell. They never come out. They never even reveal that they are Christians. There are those turtles that partially stick their heads out. They don’t take a stand for Christ, but they might say their a Christian, or religious. Maybe they even go for church. There are those Christians that are completely out of their shell, but don’t walk around. They just sit there. They don’t do anything for Christ. Then there are those turtles that are walking around like crazy, on fire for the Lord. They show forth their fruits of the spirit. You can tell they are Christian without them even having to say anything. Then there are your Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, right? That is what we need to strive for. On fire for the Lord.

Anyone can do the will of God. I don’t care what you think you’re called to do. You can still witness. I don’t care if you’re going to be a teacher, or a lawyer, or a judge, or an electrician, or a plumber. Plumbers can do AMAZING things. C’mon, Mario and Luigi were plumbers, and they took down Browser. Don’t think because of who you are, that you can’t serve God. I don’t care if you’re fat, skinny, ugly, hairy, or even bald! Yeah, even bald people can serve God. Everyone can serve the Lord! It is not a matter of who, it is a matter of if we accept the call of God. And if we do not serve God, and obey His call, there WILL be punishment.

The passage said that God prepared a whale for Jonah. When we sin, we will not be able to get away from our sin. Look, we can flee all the way to the ends of the earth, and God will still find some way to punish us. And if we’re not being punished for our sin, then maybe we’re not even a Christian. Don’t think just because you go to a Christian school, or you go to a Christian youth group, or you go to a Christian whatever, or because everyone thinks you’re a Christian, that you’re automatically a Christian. Because doing Christian things doesn’t make you a Christian.

Have you been heeding the call of God? Have you been doing what God says straight out of His Word? Are you even a true Christian? Think about it tonight. Pray about it, and find some real answers for yourself. Let’s pray.