Cornerstone Christian Center
Cornerstone Christian Center
Timeout | Minor Prophet
Have you ever found yourself running in the opposite direction of where God is clearly telling you to go? Jonah, that reluctant prophet from the Old Testament, took an over 2,000-mile detour away from his divine assignment to Nineveh.
The fascinating thing about Jonah isn't just the dramatic "big fish" moment we all remember from Sunday School—it's why he ran in the first place. Unlike many biblical heroes who hesitated out of insecurity or fear, Jonah fled because he knew exactly what would happen if he succeeded. He understood God's compassionate nature so well that he was certain the Ninevites (people he despised) would repent and receive mercy. His prejudice was so strong that he literally preferred death over seeing his enemies forgiven.
God's response wasn't abandonment but a divine "timeout"—three uncomfortable days in the belly of a great fish with heat, humidity, and darkness forcing Jonah to reconsider his choices. This wasn't punishment; it was redirection. And when Jonah finally delivered his reluctant five word sermon, an entire city turned to God, from the king down to the livestock.
The story takes a surprising turn when, instead of celebrating this spiritual awakening, Jonah throws a temper tantrum. He's more concerned about losing the shade of a plant than the potential destruction of an entire population. Through this, God reveals the real issue: Jonah's heart didn't reflect divine compassion.
What's your Nineveh? Who is God calling you to reach that you'd rather avoid? The beautiful promise throughout Jonah's story is that even when we run, God pursues—not to punish but to redirect us toward our true calling. And unlike Jonah's dramatic commission, our calling is simpler: just be more like Jesus to those around us. No prophetic warnings required, just authentic love and presence.
Ready to explore what God might be calling you to? Connect with us through Life Groups where you can grow alongside others who are also learning to follow God's direction without needing a whale-sized wake-up call.
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What's up? Fellow truth seekers and wanderlusters, jonah, here it's been a day, or, more accurately, a divine directive. You know how sometimes you're just chillin' and then BAM, the Almighty himself drops a bombshell. Okay, so here's the scoop. The big guy upstairs bombshell Go to Nineveh. Nineveh, can you believe it? My immediate thought Hard pass, nope, not happening. So I decided on a strategic detour. I am definitely opting out of this one. All right, fam.
Angus MacLeod:New location we are at the port of Joppa. The vibe here is so much better less impending doom. Check out this view and guess what? I found a ship heading to Tarshish. That's like the literal opposite direction of Nineveh. Here's the plan Get on this ship and get far away. Wouldn't let someone else deliver that message? Wish me smooth sailing.
Angus MacLeod:Okay, so this is not ideal. The waves are getting pretty gnarly. Everyone on board is freaking out. They think some god is mad, which wouldn't surprise me. At this point, my stomach is doing acrobatic flips. They got together and determined I'm to blame. They're asking me what we should do and honestly, there's only one answer Throw me overboard. Seriously, it's the only way to save them. Um so, quick update I'm currently inside a giant fish Not a metaphor A very large, very dark, very fishy fish.
Angus MacLeod:The air quality in here is questionable. My internal monologue has never been louder. I've had a lot of time to think. You know. A near-death experience followed by three days in a Piscine prison really puts things into perspective. I think. I think I'm ready to go to Nineveh now. I've reached my quota for marine biology experiences. Well, that was an exit pretty dramatic. I think I just got vomited onto dry land. Talk about an unceremonious re-entry. But hey, I'm alive. So I guess this means Nineveh. Here I come this time no detours, just me and a message that's going to be delivered. Wish me luck, fam. I'm going to need it. This might be my toughest challenge yet.
Angus MacLeod:So about 11, 12 years ago we were at Independence High School. My wife was a theater teacher there and I would bring at the time it was just Gavin and I'd bring him after school and I'd help out with the tech and, being a three, four-year-old, the need arose for a timeout and so we found a quiet spot in the theater and he sat there and he did timeout. Now we did timeout a little differently, because when we first became parents we ended up going to a marriage conference and because I had no idea what I'm doing, we took a class. We took a parenting class and in that class they talked about how to do timeout and we loved the idea and so we implemented it in our household. And so what it looked like is, when we did timeout, we'd put one of our kids in a spot without lots of activity and we'd explain to them why they were there. Then we'd give them one minute for every year that they were. So at the time Gavin was three or four years old, so three, four minute timeout, and then we'd let them sit there. Afterwards we would go to them and ask them what they had done wrong and then we would give them an opportunity to pray for forgiveness. They'd ask the Lord for forgiveness, they'd ask us for forgiveness and they would apologize for what they had done wrong, and then we'd give hugs. Well, what we would do then is we would pray over them. We'd pray a blessing over them and then we would do hugs and kisses and after that the punishment was over.
Angus MacLeod:The air was kind of cleared and unbeknownst to Annie as she goes through this whole process, it didn't take very long, but there was a student standing literally in the wings there behind a big black curtain watching her and he said that was incredible. I've never seen anything like that. He said when I'm a parent, that's how I'm going to do timeout. You know, it was a pretty impactful moment for both of us because we finally felt like we were doing something right. You know, now, contrast that to how we did timeout when I was a kid Still somewhat effective. What it looked like to do timeout in our household was grab a bag, a grocery bag, and we'd have to go out and pick weeds for 15 minutes. And when we ran out of weeds to pick which happened we had a horseshoe driveway that had different colored rocks, and so we would sit there and sort rocks, dark rocks from light rocks and the thing about the way we did timeout when I was a kid is it was never too hot, it was never too cold and it was never too dark. So we'd be out there at seven o'clock 8 o'clock at night with flashlights and bags, and if we didn't fill the bag up enough, we'd have to go back out again. Needless to say, the McLeods had one of the nicest looking lawns on the block and it was kind of a joke in the neighborhood because they always knew when we had had an argument because there would be all four of us out there pulling weeds.
Angus MacLeod:Well, today we're going to be talking about someone else who spent some time in timeout. We're going to talk about Jonah. I'm really excited to continue this series on the minor prophets and so, with that, we're going to talk about Jonah today. Now, before we go too far, I want to just give you some context about who Jonah was. One of the things that I love about this series is because the prophets are, be honest, it's one of those group of books that sometimes you gloss over or you read it real quick as you're on your way to the fun stuff, because the prophets. They've got some pretty heavy messages, and so what I like about this series, what we've done, especially from hearing all the different voices, is you get to kind of piece it together who was where at what time and who was talking about what, and all of those things. And so today we're going to talk about Jonah, who was a prophet during the 8th century BCE, during the reign of King Jeroboam II. So, if you remember, a couple weeks ago I was able to bring a message about Hosea. He was also ministering at this time, as well as Amos, who we've also heard about, and so it's nice to know, when you kind of put, who was out ministering in what areas and when and where. It really helps you to complete the puzzle.
Angus MacLeod:So before we get ready to go into it, let's just take a moment and pray. Father, I thank you for this opportunity here today. Lord, I just pray that you would speak to us about Jonah, that you would help us to personalize this message, help us personalize this story, and that you would speak to us exactly what you would have us hear specifically. Lord, I just pray that you would open our hearts, our minds and our ears to what it is that you would say to us today. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen. So in Jonah 1, verses 1 and 2, it says Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying Arise. It says now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come before me. So Nineveh.
Angus MacLeod:Why didn't Jonah want to go to Nineveh? There was a few reasons. One he hated the Ninevites. Plain and simple, he just didn't like them. You see, they were a part of the Assyrian empire. And again, if you remember, back to Hosea, one of the things that Hosea was saying is look, israel, you need to get things figured out or I'm going to bring the Assyrians to take you over. So now God is sending Jonah to the very same people who might come and take over Israel. So there was that part that he just didn't like them. There was a lot of politics involved in that, but the second part of it was Jonah knew who God was. He knew that God is a forgiving God, and so he was afraid that if he went and spoke a message of repentance, they'd repent and God would forgive them. And he didn't want that. He looked forward to their destruction Verse 3,.
Angus MacLeod:But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. Now when you think, oh, what's the big deal? He just took a little detour, right. Well, he took a 2,000-mile detour in the opposite direction. See, we don't know exactly how much of the world they knew at that point, but what we do know is that when God told them to go this way, he went that way basically all the way to the ends of the known earth. That would be kind of like when the Lord said hey, pastor Jay, I'm going to have you plant out west from this location and he goes okay, I'm moving to Florida. That's kind of what it was like.
Angus MacLeod:And so Tarshish was the most remote destination that he could find and it was known for its wealth and its gold. And we know that because we find it referenced in 1 Kings 10.22. That because we find it referenced in 1 Kings 10.22. For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years, the fleet of ships of Tarshish would used to come bringing gold, silvery, ivory, apes and peacocks. So we know that there was. It was a great place to be right. So Jonah thought you know what? I'm going to let somebody else deliver this message. I'm going to go sip some drinks on the beach.
Angus MacLeod:What happened instead was a great storm came. What happened instead was a great storm came, and it was a really big one, it said. The Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All of the sailors were afraid and cried out to his own God, and they threw cargo in the sea to lighten the ships. And they were trying to figure out who was at fault for this big storm. And they went and were looking for Jonah. And where did they find him? But in the bottom of the boat, sleeping. He was perfectly content in his running from the Lord. He was so settled that he had a good nap. And so the captain calls him up and they are trying to figure out who's at fault for this, and so they cast lots to see who it is. And they figure out that it's Jonah. He admits to the fact that this storm has probably come about because he's in disobedience to God. So in verse 12 and 13 it says Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.
Angus MacLeod:Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more tempestuous against them. Jonah disliked the Ninevites so much he was willing to be thrown overboard in the middle of a storm and die than to go and talk to these people. Have you ever disliked somebody that much that you're willing to die just to not talk to them? I've disliked some people, but not that much. So then the men feared the Lord, exceed sorry. Therefore, they called out to the Lord this is verse 14 and 15, and they said O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood for you, o Lord, have done as you pleased. And they said rather than they knew what they were doing when they were about to take this man of God and throw him off the boat that it was going to be his demise. And so they just said Lord, don't let it be on us. He asked for it. So they throw him overboard and the sea calms down and it says and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. God said all right, jonah, I'm going to put you in timeout. God put him in a place that he can consider his actions. He could think about his heart towards these people. Now I'll tell you.
Angus MacLeod:A couple weeks ago I was up in the ceiling of the church here installing some exit signs. It was dark, it was hot and I thought, man, I wonder if this is what Jonah felt like. I thought, man, I wonder if this is what Jonah felt like. Now I admit that it wasn't nearly as smelly, but it got me thinking about it. I looked up what is the internal temperature, the body temp of a blue whale? It says a great fish, but the closest thing we can have is probably a blue whale. A blue whale's internal temperature is about 99 to 100 degrees. So I thought about that being inside of a whale at about 100 degrees, the humidity that would have been in there, the smell that was there. And then I thought you know what, lord, I'm ready to do whatever you tell me to do after about 15 minutes in this ceiling. But it took Jonah three days in those conditions to finally go. I'm done, I'm ready.
Angus MacLeod:So in Jonah 2, 9 and 10, in the second chapter, he begins to cry out to God and in his own way he doesn't in a direct way say Lord, I'm sorry, I'll go. But he does say but I shout with shouts of grateful praise and will sacrifice to you what I have vowed, I will make good, I will say salvation comes from the Lord. And the Lord commanded the fish and vomited Jonah onto dry land Yuck. So after he says all right, lord, I'll go, I'll do what you're saying, he goes to Nineveh and his message to Nineveh. It wasn't a really long sermon, but see, nineveh was a big city. It was three days to travel across the city, and so he went and he said this to the people Jonah began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown and the Ninevites believed in God. That was it, that was his message. I've already taken longer to give you this message than Jonah took to give the Ninevites.
Angus MacLeod:And so I think about that as a pastor. If just went three days in phoenix and said, okay, here's what the lord says. You need to turn from your ways because he's going to destroy phoenix and everybody did it, man, that's a great day of ministry. I would love for a response like that. But see, god doesn't necessarily talk to the people in the same way as he did through these books of the prophets. The message that he gives us to bring is a lot more simple. It's a lot more palatable to bring to people what he tells us as Christ followers, as his people, to do. When he calls us to others, he just wants us to love God, make disciples and reach the world. And we do that by being more like Jesus. See, he calls us to speak to people, to reach them in all sorts of different ways. Could you imagine walking up to somebody and saying, hey, you need to accept Christ, because in 40 days, in today's day and age, you wouldn't get a very good reaction, and that's why we're called to be more like Jesus. But see, back in these days they responded quite differently.
Angus MacLeod:It says in 3, 5, and 6, that a fast was proclaimed and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. That's kind of like burlap. When Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose to the throne, took off his royal robes and covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in ashes. By the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let people or animals, herds or flocks taste anything. Man, they made their pets fast. They were so serious about this message. They were so worried that God was going to come and destroy them after that short message that they made their goldfish fast. They didn't let their cats have any food. You know what that would have looked like cats have any food. You know what that would have looked like. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows, god may yet relent and, with compassion, turn his fierce anger that we will not perish. See what's amazing that we will not perish. See what's amazing.
Angus MacLeod:I was talking to somebody in between services and he told me this perspective that I thought was incredible because after Jonah was thrown from the boat, the fishermen, they all came to know God. They sacrificed and vowed to God, because it shows in there that they were all heathens. So even in disobedience, jonah saved a literal boatload of sailors, but then, in his obedience, he saved an entire city. What does that look like in your life? If you're obedient, god can do incredible things. Just don't bring yourself to a place where you have to be putting time out.
Angus MacLeod:So what was Jonah's reaction to all this? Three days of ministry? A message that takes less than five minutes. Everybody fasts, everybody repents, praise God, right, oh no, jonah was not happy. He still had a little bit of attitude with the Lord. He still had a little bit of attitude with the Lord.
Angus MacLeod:In 4, verses 1 and 2, it says but to Jonah this seemed very wrong and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord. Isn't this what I said, lord, when I was still at home? This is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you're gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abound in love, a God who relents from sin and calamity. He said see, god, I told you, I knew that if I came to this place you'd forgive him, and I couldn't watch the fireworks. But he didn't just stop there. He goes. Therefore, now, oh Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said do you do well to be angry? How many of you have ever thrown a temper tantrum? I still throw temper tantrums as an adult, sometimes before the Lord, and his response is usually the same with me.
Angus MacLeod:So Jonah's pretty upset. So he goes and then puts himself into a self-imposed timeout. So he goes and then puts himself into a self-imposed timeout. He goes and sits outside the city, crosses his arms and still probably crossed his fingers and went oh, maybe there's a chance, maybe he'll still bring destruction on these people. God just looked down at him and said oh how cute. And gave him some shade. While he was waiting, he caused a tree to grow up behind Jonah so that he could have some shade. Did that change Jonah's attitude? No See.
Angus MacLeod:And so the next day God caused a worm to come and eat that plant and the plant died and his attitude was back and worse than before. He started now to not only complain about what was happening previous, but now he's complaining that he doesn't have a plant there to shade him. And the story ends with God calling Jonah out. God said to Jonah Is it right for you to be angry about the plant. It is, he said, and I'm so angry I wish I were dead. It is, he said, and I'm so angry I wish I were dead. You see, instead of celebrating the victory that he, through the Lord, had and the salvation of all of these people and them coming to the Lord in the city not being destroyed, he was more upset about the fact that his shade wasn't there. Now, being a people who know about shade, I can understand being upset, but not at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.
Angus MacLeod:So our goal today is to learn from somebody else's time out. What is God calling you to do? He may be calling you to reach a workplace. He may be calling you to start something new. He may be calling you to something much bigger than you could have imagined. He might be asking you to do something you really don't want to do. You know, in talking with various brothers and sisters here at the church, one of the things that I hear all the time is well, I don't know if I should join a, if I should be serving anywhere. The answer is yes, you should be. You see, and that's one of the reasons why we have life groups is because God calls us to be a connected part of the body of Christ, and life groups is an incredible way where we can do that, where we can connect, grow and serve with each other. And so maybe that's what God's calling you to. It might not be to go and reach a city to save them from destruction. He might just be calling you to get connected, to grow in relationship with the people around you.
Angus MacLeod:The other question is who is God calling you to? Because, as believers, we don't live in this bubble surrounded away from other non-believers. Being out in the marketplace, we rub elbows with all kinds of people of all varying faiths and practices, and so I can almost guarantee you the Lord is calling you to somebody, and I just thank God that he's not telling me to go say, hey, go tell that person. In 40 days, something's coming. I'm so thankful that all he does is just say, hey, go over there, be more like Jesus. And that's why I'm so glad that we use this imagery here of the disciples walking with Jesus, because it takes so much of the pressure off of us to be perfect, because none of these guys walking with Jesus were perfect. They were all in process, and so when the Lord says go, the thing is he'll go right there with you and all you have to do is be more like him and as we do that, we reach those people, we reach those places that God is calling us to.
Angus MacLeod:But I have a question. If, maybe, all of this is past you, maybe God is calling just you, maybe he's calling to you and you're already in a far-off place and he's just calling you to be closer. So my follow-up question to that is have you embraced Jesus? You see, in Romans 10, 9, and 10, it says this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Angus MacLeod:I'm going to ask the worship team if they would come, and I'm going to ask all of you to please stand where you are. Like I said, perhaps the Lord is just calling out to you. Maybe you've often been living life in your own way, and so he sent me here to tell you God loves you and he wants you to be a part of what he's doing, and so, with every head bowed and every eye closed, I'm just going to ask that if that's you and you recognize that you've never received Jesus as your Savior for the first time, would you just go ahead and raise your hand up really quick, so I can see who I'm praying for, and then you can put it back down quick, so I can see who I'm praying for and then you can put it back down. Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus. And together I'm going to ask if we would all pray this prayer. The words aren't magic, but it's the matter of the heart that brings you in relationship with the Father. Together we say Lord, thank you for loving me, thank you for sending Jesus.
Angus MacLeod:I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name. We pray Amen, amen.
Angus MacLeod:Friends, if that's you, we celebrate with you today. We are so excited for you and I want to encourage you to go back to where we have our people praying for you. We've got a gift for you to help you on this journey. But for the rest of us, just considering the things that you know, god is calling you to the places, the people. My question to you is do you need to make some adjustments? Do you need a timeout?
Angus MacLeod:My prayer is that, with whatever God's calling you to, you would do it without him having to put you in a timeout. You see, the cross is a symbol. It's a place of forgiveness that we can come to when we recognize we've been doing our own thing, when we've been going in our own direction. When God's called us to a place and we decide we want to go somewhere else, we can always come back to the cross and say Lord, I'm so sorry, help me.
Angus MacLeod:And so, if that's you, I want to just open up this, this time for the altar that if you recognize maybe you haven't been moving on something, or moving in the opposite direction, or not going to the person or people or place that God's called you to, here's an opportunity for you to come and say Lord, I'm sorry, give me the strength, give me the courage, give me the energy to do what it is that you've called me to do.
Angus MacLeod:Father, I thank you so much for this time that we've had today. Lord, I thank you that you're not a God of judgment, you're a God of compassion. Lord, I thank you that even when you've called us to something, no matter how difficult it is, you're patient with us when we balk against it, when we try and not do what you've called us to do. So, lord, I just pray right now, as we open this altar, that you would help us to examine our hearts, examine those things that you've called us to, and get on the right path. Today we pray this all in the mighty name that is Jesus Christ, amen.
Annie MacLeod:I'm going to ask you to stand with us. We're getting ready to say goodbye to this part of the day, but your Sunday is going to be amazing. We understood that sometimes God has to put us in time out and sometimes we have to put ourselves in it, but I just want to remind you August 10th, we're going to have a water baptism. If you just made your first step towards Christ and the relationship with him today, happy birthday. But also that next step is that water baptism. And as we get ready to go into schools, I'm just going to ask you to pray with teachers. Pray with us. I say this because I'm one of them. It's the hardest thing, so pray with us as we're getting ready to welcome kids back. For some kids, it's the safest place they're ever going to be, and so just pray for those teachers and pray for everybody. That's going to be a part of schools.
Angus MacLeod:Yes, also, I want to just thank you. If you're joining us for the first time today, we want to invite you to come and connect with us out at the cafe, also to remind you to come and connect with us out at the cafe, also to remind you that we have a new semester of life groups that are going to be starting up. So check out the catalog and see what's there, see where you can get involved. I want to say a quick prayer for our teachers and for our students, and then I'll send you out with a blessing. Father, god, we thank you so much for all of the teachers, all of the students who are getting ready to head back to school, and I ask that you would also be with the parents.
Angus MacLeod:The start of school is a big shift in life. So, lord, I just pray that you would be there. Give your students, your teachers, your parents, give them favor in the marketplace. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, amen, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. May the Lord's blessing be upon you this week, be upon this church and be upon this community. We pray this in the mighty name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. We love you very much here at Cornerstone. Have a great week.