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Jonah episode 1 - Nineveh or Tarshish?

Jonah runs away from God and ends up in the sea.
Contributed by David & Goliath (DG)
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Jonah was a prophet of God. God send Jonah to encourage His people to obey Him. And when they did wrong Jonah was sent to warn them to repent so that God would not have to punish them. – Slide 1
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Sometimes people listened to God's message but other times they refused to obey and gave God’s messengers a hard time. – Slide 2
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One day the Lord spoke to Jonah and said, ‘Jonah I want you to go to the great city of Nineveh as its people are very wicked. Warn them to repent or I will destroy the city.’ – Slide 3
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Now Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. The people were his enemies and he did not want God to save them. And he knew they might not like his message and attack him. He wanted God to destroy them. – Slide 4
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So instead of listening to the Lord and going to Nineveh, Jonah got on a ship going in the opposite direction to Tarshish. – Slide 5
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He wanted to run away from God and do what he wanted instead. Jonah thought he could escape from God, but his disobedience was only to bring him troubles. – Slide 6
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Soon after setting sail, a very strong wind started and a violent storm threatened to break the ship into pieces. Those onboard were terrified they each cried out to their idols to stop the storm. The storm raged on. The crew started throwing objects from the ship into the sea to make it lighter. – Slide 7
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The captain of the ship found Jonah sheltering in the ship and shouted, ‘How can you sleep when the ship is sinking. Get up and pray to your God. Maybe He will save us and we won't die.’ But the storm was getting stronger and the ship was about to be swallowed by the angry waves. – Slide 8
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The sailors then drew lots to find out who was responsible for this calamity. Jonah’s name was drawn out. They all began to question Jonah. ‘Tell us,’ one of the sailors shouted, ‘why has this terrible storm come upon us? What kind of work do you do?’ – Slide 9
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Jonah replied, ‘I am Hebrew and I worship the Lord the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. It is my fault that this great storm is raging as I have disobeyed Him. – Slide 10
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The frightened sailors begged Jonah, ‘What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us.’ Jonah though hard. – Slide 11
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‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea,’ Jonah replied, ‘and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.’ – Slide 12
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The sailors did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. They then cried out to the Lord, ‘Please don't let us die because of this man. Please do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man.’ – Slide 13
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Then the sailors took Jonah and threw him overboard. The raging sea immediately became calm. The sailors saw the power of God and feared the Lord. They began to worship the Lord and offered sacrifices to Him. – Slide 14
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You may be wondering what happened to Jonah. The Lord had prepared a very great fish to be in the sea under the ship. – Slide 15
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The great fish swallowed Jonah. He could breathe but was trapped in the belly of the massive creature. And in our next episode we will find out what happened next. – Slide 16
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