We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!

A typical Stone's Hill service has:

* music (so feel free to sing out);

* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);

* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);

* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)

So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!

MESSAGE TEXT
Jonah 1:1-3
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The Book of Jonah is a very short book, only four chapters and 48 verses in length, just over 1300 words. You can read it in 15 minutes. Yet it tells us all we need to know about the heart of God and about the unraveling of our own hearts. Jonah is an action-packed book! In less than fifty verses of scripture, there is a storm at sea, the conversion of idolatrous sailors, a miraculous rescue, a song of praise, the repentance of a brutal nation, the unique revelation of God’s relationship to unbelieving Gentiles, a disobedient Jewish prophet, and a God that sovereignly uses all sorts of things – the wind, a fish, a vine, a worm, and cattle – to accomplish His plan.
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PROPOSITION
There’s a little Jonah in all of us and a whole lot of Jonah in most of us. That’s why we need God’s grace. The Bible Project guys put it this way, “The story of Jonah holds up a mirror to the one who reads it. In Jonah we see the worst parts of our own character magnified, which should generate humility and gratitude that God would love His enemies, and put up with the Jonah in all of us.” Less like Jonah and more like Jesus.
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MAIN APPLICATION POINTS
What qualifies as “Nineveh” in your life today? Nineveh is the place God calls where you don’t want to go. Nineveh is the people who have hurt you deeply and God says, “Go and give them my message.” Are there any “Ninevehs” in your life?
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By the same token, ‘What is Tarshish? In the story it is anywhere—anywhere but the right place; it is the opposite direction, the direction a person takes when he turns his back on his calling… it is the excuse we give—our rationalizations.’
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Some of you are mad at God. You don’t understand why God runs the world the way He does and you’ve held that against Him for a long time. As a result, you’ve dodged and ducked, squirmed and squeaked your way through one Tarshish trip after another and you’re tired. You’re through. You’re ready for God in 2024 (Swindoll, Starting Over).
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CONCLUSION
Invitation: Less like Jonah and more like Jesus.

Matthew 12:39-41
The skeptics want more spectacular magic tricks out of Jesus, as it were, so they can be convinced that he’s an authoritative teacher and sage. But Jesus isn’t one more teacher, come to tell you how to save yourself and find God. Rather, he is God himself, come to save and find you. Jesus isn’t another teacher; he’s a Savior.
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39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.
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The Lord Jesus Christ endorsed Jonah as true history (Matthew 12:38-41; 16:4; Luke 11:29-32.). At this point, Jonah, who had been a backslidden prophet running away from God, now becomes a true type of Christ. “As Jonah...so shall the Son of man” (Matt. 12:40), said the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 12 Jesus says that He was a prophet like Jonah. He said that His death and resurrection were a fulfillment of the sign given through Jonah. Jonah was cast out into the sea, and the sea became calm; he was swallowed by a fish and taken down to the depths of the ocean, then 3 days later he was brought back to the land of the living. Jesus was cast out into the ocean of God’s wrath (at the cross) and the great tempest of God against our sin became calm. He was in the heart of the earth for 3 days, like Jonah, and then resurrected. The difference, of course, was that Jonah went through all of that involuntarily because of his disobedience; Jesus went through it all because of our disobedience. Jesus did everything right that Jonah did wrong. Jonah ran from his enemies; Jesus ran toward them. Jonah was on a mission of revenge because he hated the Ninevites; Jesus came on a mission of rescue because he loved them. Jonah was all about His own self-protection; Jesus poured Himself out in self-sacrifice.
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Jonah was in a good place, doing good work, enjoying a good life. Then God said, “Jonah, I want you to go to another place, and do a different work for the sake of people I love; people who are facing an imminent judgment.” And Jonah said, “No.” Now consider Jesus. He was in heaven, ruling the universe by the word of His power. Adored by angels, He was in the best place, doing the best work and enjoying the best life. Then the Father said, “Go to another place, where you will be utterly rejected. Live a life that will lead to torture, crucifixion and death. Do the work of becoming an atoning sacrifice for people I love, who are facing an eternal judgment.” And Jesus said, “Yes!”