Series Summary:

Get up! Go! This is the message God gives to His people. What if you refuse? God tells Jonah, “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their wickedness.” Instead, Jonah runs from God. When confronted, Jonah would rather die than obey God. In his darkest moment, he turns to God. Given another chance, Jonah obeys, but with a bad attitude. Join us as we explore Jonah and examine our Get Up! Go! #Jonah #2026

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Starter

Have you ever had a time in which you realized, surrendered, and called out that “Salvation is from the Lord”? explain

Pray

Lord, since the beginning of creation you have been telling your people to Get up! Go! You gave mankind a mission and work to do. Jesus you are the Word made flesh completing your mission and work declaring that salvation is from Yahweh. If we have believed and declared that salvation is from you, then we have been left here to do the work of telling others. We are your prophets, priests, and ambassadors in a lost world heading for destruction like Nineveh. You have asked us to preach against wickedness and call people to repentance to You the gracious and compassionate God. May we learn to see more of who you are and GET UP! GO! Amen

Study Questions

READ: Jonah 1:17-3:1

  1. Why was Jonah in this desperate situation?
    1. Discuss why it takes situations like this to get people (us) to truly seek God and respond rightly to Him.
  2. “Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish.” Many people spend time arguing about things like whether Jonah was alive in the fish, died and came back to life, and where was he before he came back from the dead.
    1. Why do we have such a hard time not knowing, feeling like we have to explain things, and simply believing in the supernatural?
    2. If we are honest, why do we like being distracted by theories and explanations?
    3. How can spending too much time arguing or focusing on what we may never know keep us from what God clearly wants us to know and do?

READ: Matthew 6:5-13

  1. How is Jonah’s prayer in accordance with how Jesus described prayer in Matthew 6?
    1. How should this impact our prayer life?
  2. What words of imagery does Jonah use to describe his dire situation?
    1. How can this imagery be helpful to us when we find ourselves in desperate situations, especially the ones of our own making?

Jonah’s prayer is a biblical lament. In our series in Lamentations we learned…

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  1. How do we see this pattern of biblical lament in Jonah’s prayer?
  2. What and who is at the heart of Jonahs’s cry in prayer?
    1. How is that often not what we see in the prayers of people who claim to be crying out to God?
  3. What does Jonah ask? What does he NOT ask? and Why is this an important distinction?
  4. In his cry to God, Jonah quotes scripture possibly singing multiple Psalms? (see: Psalms) Jesus was quoting scripture possibly singing Psalms during His crucifixion? (see: Psalms)
    1. What can we learn from their examples of calling on scripture and biblically sound songs during their times of distress?
  5. Why is it only the Lord who can satisfy Jonah’s request (see: vs 8-9)?