March 8, 2026
When God Gets Your Attention
- Matt Nickoson
Sermon Notes
What does it take for God to get your attention?
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” – C.S. Lewis
Jonah 1:3 NIV
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
Jonah 1:10b NIV
(They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
Jonah is an excellent example of what it looks like when we live differently than we say we believe.
Jonah 1:4 NIV
Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.
All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
Jonah 1:6 NIV
“The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”
Jonah 1:7 NIV
Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
Jonah 1:8 NIV
So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
Jonah 1:9 NIV
He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
Jonah 1:10 NIV
God didn’t need Jonah’s perfection to testify to Himself.
This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
Jonah 1:11 NIV
“The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, 'What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?'”
Jonah 1:12 NIV
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
Jonah 1:13 NIV
Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.
Jonah 1:14 NIV
Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.”
Jonah 1:15-16 NIV
Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
Jonah finally got what he wanted, but now he changes his mind.
Jonah 1:17 NIV
Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:1-3 NIV
From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord,
and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
swept over me.”
Sometimes, it’s not until life hurts the most that we cry out to God for relief.
Jonah 2:7 NIV
“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, Lord,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.”
Jonah didn’t do anything in chapter 2 to finally “wake up”. Instead, he simply woke-up to the amazing mercy of Jesus.
Romans 5:8 NIV
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God’s mercy will hit you hardest when you finally understand your true helplessness.
Luke 18:10-12 NIV
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’”
Luke 18:13 NIV
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”
Luke 18:14 NIV
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”