Title: God’s Call to Obedience: Lessons from Jonah
Objective: To help teens understand the importance of obeying God’s call in their lives through the story of Jonah.
Introduction: Have you ever received a call from God? Some of you might be thinking, “What does that even mean?” Well, God calls everyone in different ways. For example, God might call you to be a missionary, to preach the gospel, or to be a light in your school. Today, we will study the story of Jonah, a man who received a call from God but tried to run away from it. Through the story of Jonah, we will learn valuable lessons about obeying God’s call.
Story of Jonah (Jonah 1-4):
Jonah was a prophet who received a special call from God. God wanted him to go to Nineveh, a wicked city, and preach the message of repentance. However, Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because he hated the people who lived there. Instead of obeying God, Jonah tried to run away by taking a ship going to Tarshish. While Jonah was on the ship, God sent a great storm that put everyone’s lives in danger. They finally realized that the storm was sent by God because Jonah was trying to run away from His call.
After admitting that he was the cause of the storm, Jonah asked the sailors to throw him into the sea so that the storm would stop. As soon as Jonah was thrown into the sea, a huge fish swallowed him whole. Inside the belly of the fish, Jonah realized that he couldn’t run away from God’s call. He prayed to God for forgiveness and vowed to obey His call. God heard Jonah’s prayer and sent the fish to spit him out onto dry land.
God again called Jonah to go to Nineveh, and this time, Jonah obeyed. He preached to the people of Nineveh, and they repented. God was merciful and did not destroy the city.
Lessons:
1. Obedience is a must: Jonah’s story teaches us that God’s call is not optional. You must obey God when He calls you. If you don’t, you will only make things worse for yourself.
2. Running from God is impossible: Jonah tried to run from God’s call, but it didn’t work. God will always find you if He wants to use you for His purpose.
3. God is merciful: Even when we disobey Him, God is merciful. He will give you a second chance if you repent and return to Him.
Conclusion: The story of Jonah teaches us that we must obey God’s call, even if it means doing things we don’t like. If we run away from God’s call, we will only make things worse for ourselves. God is merciful and will give us a second chance if we repent and return to Him. Let us pray that we will be always obedient to God’s call in our lives.
