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Hey kids, welcome to Junior's for Jesus.
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Go grab your Bibles, we're gonna be digging in
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and learning some really exciting stories.
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Friday, Jonah runs away.
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God had given Jonah an important responsibility
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and God was able to give him ability and success.
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But when Jonah doubted and hesitated to obey,
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he became discouraged and very afraid.
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Jonah forgot that his God was all wise and all powerful
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and fear led him to refuse to warn the wicked city of Nineveh.
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Instead, he was trying to do something impossible.
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He was actually trying to run away
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from the presence of the Lord.
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Nineveh was more than 500 miles from where Jonah lived
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But when he went down to Japa and bought a ticket
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to sail to Spain, he would be traveling about 2,000 miles.
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How could he really think that going that far
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in the opposite direction from Nineveh
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and hiding down in the bottom of a ship
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would take him away from God's presence?
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God didn't desert his fearful, unfaithful servant.
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In many different ways, he would help Jonah
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learn to trust him and his power to save.
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God commands even the winds and water
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and they obey him, Luke 8.25.
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So how did he use that power to stop his runaway profit?
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Jonah won four and five.
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But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea
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and there was a mighty tempest on the sea
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so that the ship was about to be broken up.
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Then the mariners were afraid
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and every man cried out to his God
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and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea
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to lighten the load.
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But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship,
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had laid down and was fast asleep.
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That must have been a terrible storm.
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Those heathen sailors thought their end had come
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and frantically prayed to their gods.
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Then the captain realized that Jonah
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wasn't there praying to his God.
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So what did the captain say when he found him?
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For six, so the captain came to him and said to him,
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what do you mean, sleeper, arise, call on your God.
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Perhaps your God will consider us
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so that we may not perish.
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When Jonah told the men about himself,
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they were even more frightened than ever.
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How could he dare disobey his God like that?
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Now they knew that the terrible storm was because of him.
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So when they asked what they should do,
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what did he say versus eight through 12?
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Then they said to him, please tell us
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for whose cause is this trouble upon us?
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What is your occupation and where do you come from?
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What is your country and of what people argue?
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So he said to them, I am a Hebrew
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and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven
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who made the sea and the dry land.
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Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him,
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why have you done this for the men
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knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord
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because he had told them?
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Then they said to him, what shall we do to you
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that the sea may be calm for us?
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For the sea was growing more tempestuous
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and he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea.
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Then the sea will become calm for you.
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For I know that this great tempest is because of me.
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The storm was growing worse and worse.
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The sailors knew that they couldn't save themselves.
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Finally, after praying to Jonah's God,
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pleading that they would not be charged
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with murdering the prophet,
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they threw him into the sea
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and immediately the storm stopped.
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Then what did the sailors do versus 13 through 16?
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Nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land.
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They could not for the sea continued to grow
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more tempestuous against them.
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Therefore, they cried out to the Lord and said,
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we pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish
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for this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood.
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For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.
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So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea
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and the sea ceased from its raging.
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Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly
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and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.
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Jonah had tried to run away from God on a ship.
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Now people try different ways.
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Some just stop reading their Sabbath school lessons
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or even stop going to Sabbath school and church.
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They become busy with other things
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and sometimes don't even want to know
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or do what God says.
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In the end, will that be much different
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from what Jonah tried to do?
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