5 weeks through Jonah helping students learn to trust and obey God. Who do you think of when you think of God? Your answer to that question matters, and yet many of us don’t have a very clear or accurate idea of who God is. Over the course of the story of Jonah, God paints a pretty clear picture of who He is, so hopefully over the next four weeks, we’ll come to know God at a greater level.

Video Messages Included

Week 1 (Jonah 1:1-3 NIV)

Intro: A lot of us treat God like a celebrity we’ve met once in person. We proclaim to others how we know God, but we really don’t know Him very well at all. So over the course of this series, hopefully we’ll discover more of who God really is.

Truth: Despite the fact that he was a prophet, Jonah had come to a place in life where He wasn’t very familiar with who God is or how He operates. So when God approached Jonah about confronting the Ninevites on their sin, Jonah felt fear and ran. He saw through the lens of his own comfort and selfishness, and God was asking him to see through the lens of His character.

The Point: We need to know God for who He is

Week 2 (Jonah 1:1-16 NIV)

Intro: When you believe something or someone, it shows. And when your actions demonstrate that you don’t believe them, it shows. That’s true of people and things, and it’s true of our relationship with God.

Truth: When Jonah’s disobedience put his life at risk along with the sailors he was with, it became apparent by their actions that the sailors believed God more than Jonah did. Jonah believed in God, but he didn’t believe God.

The Point: Believe God

Week 3 (Jonah 1:17-2:10 NIV)

Intro: Near death experiences have a way of refocusing people on whether or not they’ve done enough in life. Even if you haven’t had a near death experience, you probably know what it’s like to feel the pressure to impress God with highlight-reel-level spiritual moments.

Truth: Jonah attempted to manufacture such a moment when he prayed a long, elegant, and fairly self-focused prayer sitting in the belly of the whale. Jonah didn’t truly know God. If he did, he would’ve realized that God wasn’t after his highlight reel.

The Point: God wants your heart

Week 4 (Jonah 3:1-10 NIV)

Intro: Nobody likes being labeled an angry person. That’s probably why it feels so icky that Old Testament God often gets labeled as angry and vengeful. That’s not the kind of being you want to give control of your life over to.

Truth: But what we see in Jonah is that God displayed immense mercy to both Jonah and the Ninevites over and over again. Both parties deserved God’s wrath, and yet what drove God’s actions wasn’t primarily anger, but mercy. This is true in the story of Jonah, and it’s true of God in many cases throughout the Old Testament.

The Point: God is a God of mercy

Week 5 (Jonah 4:1-11 NIV)

Intro: When we see people through an unhealthy lens, every little thing they do annoys us, and it’s hard to bring ourselves to a place where we want anything good for them in life.

Truth: Jonah felt that way toward the Ninevites. Even after everything he’d been through, he saw the Ninevites through the lens of his own comfort and selfishness rather than the lens of God’s character. And as a result, the written record of Jonah’s story ends with him angry and bitter over God’s display of His goodness, patience, and mercy.

The Point: God loves all of His enemies