Jonah | When God Calls and We Run (Jonah 1) | John Baker

What happens when God calls us to love the very people we would rather avoid?Jonah 1 is not just the story of a runaway prophet and a great fish. It is the searching story of a merciful God who speaks, sends, interrupts, exposes, confronts, and rescues rebels like us. Jonah knew the truth about God, but his heart was out of step with God’s heart for the nations. He was willing to receive mercy, but he struggled to rejoice when God extended mercy to outsiders.In this sermon, we see how Jonah’s flight to Tarshish exposes our own resistance to God’s Word, God’s mission, and God’s mercy. But even in Jonah’s rebellion, God is still pursuing sinners, awakening outsiders, and pointing us forward to Jesus—the true and faithful Prophet who did not run from the mission of God, but came to rescue rebels through His death and resurrection.Don’t run from God’s call. Receive His mercy and join His mission.