How to get away from God
Connection Points
Cole Phillips
May 19, 2019

To Successfully Run from God, You Must:

1.

Reveal Answer
to live disconnected from God.

The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Jonah 1:1-4

*2. Don’t

Reveal Answer
about anyone but yourself. *

Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. 6 So the captain went down after him. “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.” Jonah 1:5-6

3. Don’t

Reveal Answer
to God when you hit rock bottom!

Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me… As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord and my earnest prayer went out to you…” Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach. Jonah 1:17-2:1-2, 7, 10

4. Don’t

Reveal Answer
To God’s Call.

“Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time…” Jonah 3:1

I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Jonah 4:2

hesed = love based on a covenant or an unbreakable commitment.

JESUS: “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” Matthew 12:40

For my salvation comes from the Lord alone. Jonah 2:9

Connection Group Discussion Questions

  1. What point from this sermon did you respond to most? Why?
  2. Did you ever plan to “run away” from home as a child? What happened?
  3. Have you ever tried to run away from God? Why?
  4. Read Jonah 1:1-10. What did God command Jonah to do? What was Jonah’s response? How did Jonah’s choice affect others?
  5. Share a time when you chose to not follow something God was calling you to do. What happened?
  6. Read Jonah 1:11-17. To calm the storm what did Jonah decide was best? How did the sailors respond?
  7. Shame is something we feel when we have totally “blown it.” How has God reminded you about His forgiveness to rid you of that shame?
  8. Read Jonah 2 and Jonah 3:1-5. When did Jonah finally cry out to God? What was the result?
  9. In what area(s) of your life do you need to stop running from God or at least recommit to following Him?
  10. How can your Connection Group pray for you and support you this week?