Hey, Carpool Crew. Pastor Justin here, and we're back on Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible with five episodes on Jonah. I wanna make the first episode free for everyone. I think you are really gonna love it. But if you want all five episodes, go over to Spotify or Apple Podcasts and subscribe. They're right there waiting for you. I hope you have an incredible day. Let's jump in with episode one on Jonah. Hey, Carpool Crew. I'm Pastor Justin, and today we're starting a brand new hero deep dive on someone whose story is way more complicated than you remember from the picture books. You might think you know Jonah already, but over the next few episodes on Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible, you're gonna learn some really new stuff. Now, you might think you know about the boat and the storm and the giant fish, but Jonah isn't just a fish story. Jonah is a prophet who wrestled with fear, anger, obedience, identity, and most of all, God's mercy. This is one of the most surprising stories in the whole Bible. And just so you know, Carpool Crew, Jonah is one of Pastor Justin's favorite books of the Bible. It's in the Old Testament. It is an amazing book. I've read so much about Jonah. I am so excited because there are surprises. There are underwater prayers. There are unexpected moments. So buckle up. Let's meet Jonah in his world. Jonah lived about 2,800 years ago during the reign of King Jeroboam II in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. 2 Kings chapter 14, verse 25 talks about him. This was a time when Israel had two kingdoms, the north and the south. The north was spiritually unstable. Powerful empires surrounded them. Fear and violence were everywhere. And Jonah wasn't a fisherman or a farmer. He was a prophet. That means he's God's messenger. See, prophets weren't fortune tellers, and they didn't do magic tricks. They were covenant messengers, which means they spoke on God's behalf. They told the people what God wanted to communicate. Jonah would remind God's people of his laws, and he would call them back when they wandered in a different direction. Maybe they started making big mistakes or bad decisions. A prophet's job was: listen carefully, speak courageously, obey faithfully. Now, they often said things people did not want to hear. So when we meet Jonah, he already has an important role, and one that requires a lot of courage. Jonah chapter 1, verse 2 says, 'Get up. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because their evil has come up before me.' Boom, clear and direct. There's no guessing game here. God wasn't whispering. He was giving a direct command to his prophet Jonah, and he was commissioning him to go and do a great mission, to go to the city of Nineveh. Now, here's where the story gets wild. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the most violent superpower in the world at the time. They were known for brutal warfare. Their kings bragged about torture and stone carvings. Nations trembled when Assyria marched. They destroyed entire villages. They took people as captives and scattered them. Israel feared Assyria the same way you might be afraid of the dark, or you might be afraid to walk down the stairs to the basement. I know. I was afraid of that. And if you don't have a basement, don't worry about it. It's not scary. So when God said, go preach to Nineveh, Jonah heard, go walk into the capital of your biggest enemy. Alone. That's like God telling you to go to the scariest bully you know and tell them to stop being a bully. See, Jonah wasn't just scared. He was shocked. And here's what happened. He went on the run. Yeah, he started running from God, literally in the opposite direction. And Jonah wasn't running because he didn't understand what God said. He was running because he didn't like what God said. Nineveh wasn't just the bad place. They were the people who had hurt Jonah's nation, people who might hurt him too. Jonah's mission wasn't dangerous only. It felt unfair. Ever feel like that? Someone hurt you and God says to you to forgive them. Maybe a bully is mean and God says to be kind to them anyway. Yeah, Jonah understands that feeling. So what does Jonah do? Well, he does what I hope you wouldn't do. He runs. He runs in the opposite direction. And instead of going northeast to Nineveh, Jonah heads southwest to the port city of Joppa. A port city is one that has a lot of boats coming and going from different places, and Joppa was really well known as that kind of a city. It was a bustling coastal city. Sailors were shouting orders. Dock workers were there hauling crates. There was a smell of fish everywhere you went. Tall ships were rocking in the harbor. Bright clothes from foreign merchants, carts, robes, nets, spices, crowds. It was all there. Jonah buys a ticket for a ship headed to Tarshish. Basically, that's where Spain is today. If Nineveh was east, Tarshish was the furthest possible west you could go. Geographers, they believe it was considered the end of the world. In short, Jonah wasn't just running. He was setting a world record in disobedience. He was going the distance in not following God's call. Jonah finally gets on the boat and goes below deck and falls asleep. He's probably exhausted. Exhausted from fear, exhausted from the running, and maybe even the guilt. But then God throws a storm in their way. Not just a normal storm, a God-sized storm. The Hebrew text tells us that God hurled a storm at the sea, like a warrior throwing a spear. Fishing boats and cargo ships back then were wooden and small. Maybe they had one big square sail. They sat low in the water. They could be flipped easily in the Mediterranean Sea. So when waves smashed the hull and ropes started to snap, the sailors panicked. They started praying to their gods, throwing cargo overboard, shouting orders at one another. But where's Jonah? He's still sleeping below deck. The captain shakes him awake. 'Pray. Maybe your God will help.' The sailors started casting lots. They were little stone markers used to help make decisions. Back then, people believed the gods guided the lots. But the truth is, the Bible says that God can guide lots too. That's in Proverbs chapter 16, verse 33. And sure enough, God influenced this lot, and it fell on Jonah. Jonah finally admitted, 'I'm running from the Lord, the God who made the sea and the dry land.' See, Jonah is saying that there isn't really multiple gods. There's only one true God. And he is running from him. Instant fear hit the sailors. They know the creator outranks all their false gods, all their sea gods they were just wishing and hoping that things would calm down. But the storm grew fiercer. Finally, with heavy hearts, they pray to Jonah's God for forgiveness and toss him into the waves. Immediately the wind stops. The waves flatten. The clouds break. Imagine the silence after a huge thunderstorm stops. The sailors gasp. Then they start to worship. Jonah's failure becomes their biggest moment of faith. And Jonah, well, he sinks down, down, down. But his story isn't over. See, Jonah shows us that you can run from God's instruction, but you won't get far. When we run, storms follow us. Maybe not literal storms, but there'll be things that go wrong when we choose not to follow God. When we turn back, God calms everything in our lives. When we make the wrong choice, God can still use our story to help others. Just like Jonah's story was used to help the sailors, God wasn't done with Jonah yet. Yeah. And he is never done with you either. So why do you think Jonah ran away instead of obeying? When have you maybe wanted to run away from something hard? These are some questions I'd like you to talk about as we end episode one. Thanks for riding along on Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible. I'm Pastor Justin, and remember, no matter where you are or how you're listening, God loves you. Don't miss episode two of Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible. I'll see you later, Carpool Crew.
