In the book of Jonah chapter one, it says that Jonah rose up to flee when the Lord said,

arise to go to Nineveh, that great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come

up before me.

But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarshis from the presence of the Lord,

and he went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish.

So he paid the fare thereof and went down to it

and went with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

It's an interesting thing that Jonah, when God said go, Jonah said no.

But the phrase here in Jonah chapter one says that when he chose to go against God's plan

and purpose, it says he went out from the presence of God.

One of the things this seaport reminds me of is when God leads us in a direction and

we choose to rebel against him

that we really are going out from the presence of God. God will allow us to do what we want to do,

but it's not such a good plan to go against the Lord. Ask Jonah, as he left this seaport in that ship,

he ends up in the belly of the whale and ends up barfed up on another

beach nearer to where he was supposed to be.

So you can go the easy way or you can go the hard way.

Jonah chose this port to be the hard way. I'm I'm I'm

The

I'm

I'm All right.

There it is, the little town of Joppa.

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