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SERMON POINT #1 \u2013 JONAH IS ABOUT THE LENGTHS GOD WILL GO TO PURSUE HIS PEOPLE\n\nSERMON POINT #1 \u2013 GOD RESPONDS TO REPENTANCE\n\nJonah 2:4-9 - I said, \u2018I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.\u2019 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit. \u201cWhen my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. \u201cThose who cling to worthless idols turn away from God\u2019s love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, \u2018Salvation comes from the Lord.\u2019\u201d\n\nJonah 3:1-2 - Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: \u201cGo to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.\u201d\n\nJonah 3:3-4 - Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day\u2019s journey into the city, proclaiming, \u201cForty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.\u201d\n\nJonah 3:5 - The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.\n\nJonah 3:10 - When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.\n\nSERMON POINT #3 \u2013 A RIGHT HEART IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN RIGHT ACTIONS\n\nJonah 4:1-3 - But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, \u201cIsn\u2019t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.\u201d\n\nJonah 4:4 - But the Lord replied, \u201cIs it right for you to be angry?\u201d\n\nJonah 4:5-9 - Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah\u2019s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, \u201cIt would be better for me to die than to live.\u201d But God said to Jonah, \u201cIs it right for you to be angry about the plant?\u201d \u201cIt is,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m so angry I wish I were dead.\u201d\n\nJonah 4:10-11 - But the Lord said, \u201cYou have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left\u2014and also many animals?\u201d\n\n2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.