Two Common Mistakes We Make with the Jonah Story We make it all about Jonah and whale -The whale only appears in 3 verses -Extremely minor point We leave out chapter -things get messy -we are calling this serires the incredible Jonah, but not because Jonah is an incredible prophet, but because it's unbelievable how contrary this story is to what we expect Jonah and the Ninevites (vv. 1-2) This book begins with the common prophetic introduction, and we’re introduced to our main character: Jonah What do we know about Jonah? He's mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 Served during the reign of Jeroboam II (782-753 B.C.) Jonah is credited with one prophecy which allowed Jeroboam II to expand the borders of the northern kingdom of Israel His name literally means “dove” son of "faithfulness" What do we know about the Ninevites? Nineveh is the capital of the Empire The Assyrians were one of the most ruthless, violent people groups in history They destoryed the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. Jonah Bolts (vv. 3-6) This is incredibly bad Compare Jonah’s response with his contemporary, Amos, who said: “The lion has roared; who will not fear? The LORD God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” And strangely, we have no idea why? Punches a ticket for Tarshish Each step is characterized as a downward movement away from God Jonah Sleeps (vv. 7-16) Jonah makes a bold claim in verse 9 that he fears the LORD But the pagan sailors show in verse 10 that they actually fear the LORD Notice where the author leaves their story [verse 18] Yahweh Conclusion Jonah, prophet of God, the dove, the son of faithfulness… -knows all the religious lingo -knows all about who Yahweh is -but can’t see the disconnect between his words and actions And it's at this point in the story we begin to feel superior to Jonah -this is the author’s trap -but flip the question on yourself -do your words and actions always match up? Like Jonah, there are some here today who are in a spiritual sleep -Ephesians 5:13-15 -the message of Jonah this morning for you is: Wake up!