The hijacking of the Achille Lauro

No one trying to escape from God will ever succeed

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THE PROPHET JONAH
A prophet in the northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:25)

God’s very unusual assignment for Jonah: Go to the great city of Nineveh

The people in the Assyrian capital were not “nice people”

Jonah fears the people of Nineveh will not listen to him, or that they will listen to him

Jonah decides to run from God and go to Tarshish instead of Nineveh

LIKE JONAH, WE NEED TO HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD
Jonah knew what God wanted him to do, but didn’t want to do it. Today we often don’t know what the Lord wants us to do

We often don’t know what the Bible says, or we distort what it says

Without the Bible, we don’t know if we are pleasing God or failing to do so (Romans 3:10,23; 7:7)

UNLIKE JONAH, WE SHOULD TRUST AND OBEY THE LORD
Jonah disobeys because he trusts himself more than he trusts God

Remember, “Father knows best” even if it doesn’t make sense to us

If you know what God wants you to do, by God’s grace, you need to do it

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May the Lord give you the grace, strength, and wisdom to honor Him and serve others each day of 2021!