<TITLE>09. Par 35-39</TITLE>L-35 Now, Jesus was speaking here of some of the people in the days that God had showed signs. One He spoke of was Jonah, and Jonah was sent down to Nineveh. And I always felt sorry for Jonah, because many people, I think, misunderstood Jonah. Now, they said Jonah was backslidden, and he was this, that, and the other, and I've said the same. But let's just study Jonah for a minute.
I don't believe that he was backslid, because he was God's prophet. And he seemed to be walking out of the will of God, but the little story I want to tell you in a moment, I believe you'll see that God made it all work out just right.
You know the footsteps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. That gives us ministers a time--a chance sometimes to kind of catch our breath when we think we made a wrong move. But sometimes God's just moving with us. We think it's wrong, but maybe it's God moving.

L-36 Now, Nineveh was a city much larger than this one--yes, about the size of St. Louis. And it was a--a city of heathens, and it was a great commercial city, and a great city of the sea coast. One of their main occupations there was fishing. And they were idol worshippers, and their sins had become so great until God just couldn't stand it any longer.
Remember, there was no sacrifice on the altar for them then, like there is for the world today. So God could not intolerate that horrible sin. So He told His prophet to go down to Nineveh, (We're all acquainted with the story who reads the Bible.), and said, "Cry out against that city."

L-37 And the prophet, when he got down to the sea coast... Instead of going to Nineveh, he took a ship that was sailing out to Tarshish. Now, we've always thought that was a short cut, or dodging the duty. But I'm going to try to take up for that preacher tonight, and I'm going to say that I believe he was a prophet, and was exactly in the will of God. I believe he followed the leading of the Spirit. I believe he was led to go that way. He didn't understand it, after God had commissioned him one place, and here he found himself going another way.
He went down into the bow of the ship, or down in the hull, and went to sleep. And a great storm rose up. Well, we know that all of them cried out they was going to--going to sink, and there was something wrong. And Jonah come up, and confessed that it could be his fault. He said bind his feet and his hands, and throw him overboard, because it wasn't right for all of them to perish because of him.

L-38 Now. God had a big fish (we call a whale) to swallow him, and the fish was feeding through the water in that storm. Many of you notice how a fish will surface especially in a storm to feed, because there's much... The--the--the ocean's having a revival. You know, it's jumping up and down, having a big time. That's when it's... That's a revival.

L-39 I remember when I stood by the side of the seashore the first time... It wasn't the sea; it was Lake Michigan. I was just a boy preacher, went up to hear Paul Rader preach at the World's Fair, about 1933, I believe it was, when it was at Chicago. And I had my first opportunity to walk out and look at the large body of water, larger than the Ohio River. And it was just a-jumping, and a-going on, you know. And it was early spring, Easter sunrise service we were there. And I seen those great big whitecaps coming in, you know, and hit the--the bank, and roll out. And I thought of that... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]... sing, "Floods of joy over my soul like the sea billows roll."
And I thought, "They roll in, but that's not the end of the wave. It goes back to roll in again, roll in." And I thought, "Well, what's it jumping about?" And something just seemed to say to me, "It's having a revival; that's all."


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