Which Way Are You Running?

WHICH WAY ARE YOU RUNNING?
Jonah 1:1-17

Introduction:

On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Beeny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team. Several plays later the Bruins had to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, demoralizing the UCLA team. [2090]

I know a lot of people who may have never ran the wrong way on the football field, but are running the wrong way in life.

Now, there may not be another person who will come and tackle us and keep us from crossing the ‘goal-line’ of the devil, there are elements that serve as warnings that we’re going the wrong way.

When you veer from God’s course, there are “alarms” built into creation to warn you that you’ve made a wrong turn.

I. Running from God triggers alarms around you. (4)

A. Notice that soon after Jonah’s flight begins, he is confronted
by a major storm and the tension skyrockets. In other words,
Jonah runs head-on into a serious alarm. That storm was in
essence saying, “Jonah, turn around – you’re going the wrong
way!”

B. One of the indicators that you are on the wrong path is that
circumstances around you begin to give you signals.

1. There are signals in circumstances. (i.e., When I was in
college and was in children’s ministry and I wanted to plant
a church in Somerset. That was what I wanted! But
circumstances just were not in our favor and eventually, I
had to admit that it wasn’t God’s will for us to do that.

2. There are alarms in our relationships.


C. Speaking of signs . . .
A woman and a man are involved in a car accident.
It’s a bad one. Both of their cars are demolished but
amazingly neither of them is hurt. After they crawl out
of their cars, the woman says, "So, you’re a man...
That’s interesting. I’m a woman. Wow, just look at our
cars! There’s nothing left, but fortunately we are unhurt.
This must be a sign from God that we should meet and
be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our
days." The man replied, "I agree with you completely.
This must be a sign from God!" The woman continued,
"And look at this, here’s another miracle... My car is
completely demolished, but this bottle of wine didn’t
break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and
celebrate our good fortune." Then she hands the bottle
to the man. The man nods his head in agreement,
opens it, drinks half the bottle and then hands it back to
the woman. The woman takes the bottle, immediately
puts the cap back on, and hands it back to the man.
The man asks, "Aren’t you having any?" She replies,
"Nah. I think I’ll just wait for the police..." [7454]

D. Your circumstances will give you “alarms” when you start to go