The Big Idea of this weekend’s message: Many of us have surrendered to God’s moral will for our lives, but many of us have never surrendered to how God wants to use us with the people we interact with each and every day.

As we look at the story of Jonah, it’s more than the kid’s story we might have read to our children. It is not just a story of someone who disobeyed and learned his lesson. It was someone who thought that his own death might be better than a whole city repenting and turning to God.

Many of us are satisfied with being good people. We love our family, we follow the rules, pay our taxes and try and smile at our neighbors. Jonah had the same attitude. Maybe he thought, “God, I’ll serve you where people who think like me live.” God had a greater plan for his life. God is calling us to be more than just ‘nice Christians’, he wants us to make a difference in the world that we live in.

There are many things that we can get angry about in our world. Our neighbors make a mess, make too much noise, their yard isn’t nice enough. What about those customers who get mad at the barista who didn’t make their $6 Latte hot enough? Then there are the people who don’t think like us and no matter what argument you throw at them, they still won’t believe what you believe in.

In this story we see Jonah angry and upset about stuff that really doesn’t matter. Like Jonah, maybe we need to ask ourselves what we are really concerned about and find out if that aligns with what concerns God.

Questions for Discussion:

If you were read the Bible as a child what was your favorite Bible story?
Talk about a time when you wouldn’t help someone because they didn’t deserve it.
Describe a time that someone was good to you where you didn’t deserve it.
What do you get angry about? How is what you get angry about relate to what concerns God?
How can you take who you are and who you’re connected with and intersect with what God is doing in your world?