Key points
- 1
1God issues a clear, specific call — and our first instinct is often to go in the exact opposite direction.
- 2
2When we run from God, we always run toward strange and dangerous places — chaos over trust.
- 3
3There is always another 'boat' headed the opposite direction of what God wants; the wide road to destruction is never hard to find.
“There's always, always another boat going the opposite direction of what God wants”
A story from life
A church member who discovered they could fund a building campaign by stopping daily Starbucks runs
A story from life
The preacher's own early struggle with tithing as a low-paid youth pastor, encouraged by his wife and a confrontation from Randy Deal
A story from life
The preacher's reluctance to plant a church and how his wife's prompting helped him overcome it
- 4
4Runners are the last to connect the chaos in their lives to their own running from God.
- 5
5Our running from God creates chaos not only in our own lives but in the lives of everyone around us.
- 6
6God cannot be outrun — wherever you flee, He is already there, waiting not to punish but to bring you back.
“the chaos is the reason I can't follow God when the chaos is really the result of not trusting God”
- 7
7The 'great fish' is not God's punishment but His rescue vehicle — a gracious discipline designed to return us to where we were always meant to go.
“He doesn't sleep. He waits. He's always working. He's God. But what is he waiting? He's not waiting to pay us back. He's waiting to bring us back”
“The fish saves Jonah. It's not there to destroy him. It's there to discipline him. It's not there to pay him back. It's there as a vehicle to bring him back”
“Running with God blesses everyone around you, including yourself”
A story from life
The preacher's son running away from kindergarten and the extended discipline that followed
Application
Pastor Bill's challenge is simple and direct: stop running. Identify the specific thing God has been calling you to — whether it is serving, giving, stepping into a hard relationship, or simply obeying what His Word already says — and make the one decision that changes your life. If chaos surrounds you, ask honestly whether you are the cause, not the victim. Follow the pattern of David rather than Jonah: when confronted, confess, turn, and trust. Practically, that might mean picking up a serving role you have been avoiding, taking a real step of financial faith, or simply getting quiet before God and asking Him to reveal where you have been running. You cannot outrun a God who is already everywhere you are headed — but you can choose, starting today, to run with Him instead.
