The Old Testament Book of Jonah is not the story of a great fish.

It is the story of a great God.

In a world on the verge of judgment and desperate for a spiritual awakening,

it holds a message we all need. Salvation is of the Lord.

Join us in the book of Jonah today as we study God's Word with Scott Pauli. You know, Jonah slept a lot, didn't he?

I don't know if you really enjoy sleep or not, but we sleep for different reasons.

Sometimes we sleep because we're tired.

Praise God, he giveth his beloved sleep.

Sometimes we sleep because we want to escape.

I think that was Jonah.

He has been referred to as the sleepy prophet because frequently you find him sleeping somewhere.

And yet, I'm glad to report to you today, his God never went to sleep.

No, every time Jonah was sleeping and trying to run and escape through any means possible

from his own conscience, God was still wide awake with his eye on Jonah and at work in Jonah's life.

We're talking about the miracles in Jonah, and the first miracle is found in the first two verses.

The first miracle is the miracle of prayer. Jonah prayed and God

answered. It's not a miracle that Jonah prayed per se, because lots of people in their desperation

cry out, but it is miraculous that God would hear and answer his prayer. The Bible says, then Jonah prayed

into the Lord, his God out of the fish's belly, and said,

I cried by reason of my affliction under the Lord, and he heard me.

Out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

All of us who've known the Lord for any length of time can stop and say, that's my story.

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