Jr. Tree 
of Life
08/23/2020 Jonah part 2
Before you begin this Bible study, If you have never believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, John 3:16 tells us: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.’ Simply have faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and you will have eternal life and be saved. If you have believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior; then 1 John 1:9 tells us; “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Simply privately tell God the Father your sins to be filled with God the Holy Spirit and He will teach you Bible truth. (Rebound)
Promise Memory Verses
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls” Hebrews 13:17a.
Jonah was a prophet to Israel who lived in the Age of Israel. During that time period, Israel was divided up into two separate kingdoms. The Northern kingdom was called Israel and the Southern kingdom was called Judah.
The wicked people in Nineveh were bitter enemies to Israel. God decided to show His grace and mercy to them anyway; He chose Jonah to warn them that they would be overtaken unless they turned back towards God.
Jonah disobeyed God and ran to Joppa. He ended up on a big ship that was sailing toward Tarshish which was in the opposite direction from Nineveh.
Last week, we saw that Jonah was thrown into the deep sea when the crew of the ship found out he was running away from God. The currents and the waves drug him under the water and he almost died.
God showed grace and sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. He was stuck inside the fish for 3 days and nights. I wonder what it was like being in the darkness! Was Jonah afraid of zombies or creepy crawling things? Was it hard to stand up in the belly slime? How many times did he slip and fall and get tangled up in seaweed as the big fish swam through the crushing waves?
Jonah prayed to God the Father and He heard Jonah; guess what, the big fish obeyed God and vomited Jonah up onto dry land. Can you imagine how Jonah must have smelled with puke and fish guts all over him? That is way gross!
God told Jonah a second time, to go to Nineveh. He obeyed God even though he really didn’t want to. As he was entering the city, he yelled out telling them in 40 days Nineveh will be overthrown.
The people of Nineveh believed in God when they heard Jonah speaking. They put on sack cloth and didn’t eat or drink anything (fasting) which was common during the Age of Israel.
The king of Nineveh was so afraid that he made a rule that everyone,
including all of the animals had to wear sack cloth and fast. He thought if they did these rituals, that God would have mercy on Nineveh. Can you imagine the site of cows, sheep and donkey’s wearing scratchy ugly outfits?
When God saw their change of mind, He decided not to punish Nineveh. This showed God’s Grace. What do you think Jonah did? We will find out next week.
It is more important than ever to show respect to your teachers this year when school starts. If your teachers ask you to wear masks, you need to obey them, even if they make you hot just like Jonah obeyed God even though he didn’t want to. Rules are for your benefit and are not made to punish you.
God is always teaching you to obey even when you aren’t learning a Bible lesson. If you are camping by the lake, do you ever see deer making S’mores at the fire pit? Did you ever look into the sky and see alligators flying helicopters? God designed animals and they never try to do things God didn’t create them to do.
God wants you to learn Bible Doctrine and show respect with a good attitude!
