1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:10,480 We're doing Jonah, that little guy, Jonah and the whale, and we 2 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,360 bring that series to an end today. 3 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:18,600 And I want to particularly talk about anger and the city of 4 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,880 anger and with all that is inside of our city and how we 5 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,760 take these lessons from the book of Jonah and love our city 6 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,360 called Pretoria. As one of the commentators says, 7 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,560 when we come in to preach in the city, we are not shopping centre 8 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:38,960 developers, We don't come in with bulldozers and clear a 9 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,640 piece of ground and build a building because in 50 years 10 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:44,400 time the building was be derelict, he said. 11 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,960 We come in like farmers into soil and inside of that soil is 12 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:53,080 teeming microbiology that is taking place, that is living 13 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,320 microcosms that are alive people who have got stories. 14 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:58,760 There's black and there's whites and there's young and there's 15 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,040 old and there's rich and there's poor and there's married and 16 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:03,360 they're single and they're divorced and they're, and 17 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,320 there's these microbiosms. And God says, go into that city 18 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,960 and, and, and get your hands dirty in the soil and plant 19 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:15,400 something inside of that city so that when you leave, you won't 20 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,840 have a derelict shopping centre, but you will have a piece of 21 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,440 farmland that is healthy. And as we come in here to the 22 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:24,600 city, we have many different, diverse backgrounds. 23 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,560 We have diverse upbringings. We have different ways of 24 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,480 looking at culture. And God puts us all together. 25 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,640 And somehow we have to work it out in a way that honours Jesus. 26 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,280 And, and, and that's what the book of Jonah is about. 27 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,800 And we see this guy who's God is trying to use him, but he comes 28 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,720 remarkably angry. And this is says in Jonah 29 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:50,240 chapter 4, Jonah's anger and the Lord's compassion. 30 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,000 And you just have to walk around the city and you see anger 31 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,440 wherever you go, you see it in, I mean, isn't it amazing? 32 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,600 And, and we'll, we'll show some footage of road rage, but isn't 33 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:08,240 it amazing that somebody can cut you off and your anger can be so 34 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:10,720 explosive? And yet what they did doesn't 35 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,440 actually match up with the deep level of frustration that you 36 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,040 have inside of your heart. They are just the trigger that 37 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,560 sends it off. Isn't it Jonah's anger and the 38 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,960 Lord's compassion? But it displeased Jonah 39 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:29,600 exceedingly. And he was angry that God was 40 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,640 kind to Nineveh and he prayed to the Lord. 41 00:02:32,640 --> 00:02:36,400 He said, Oh Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my 42 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,640 country? That is why I made. 43 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:40,880 Haste to flee to Tarshis. I went somewhere. 44 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,040 Else. God said to you, they stood your 45 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,200 Englishman, you're going to Pretoria to omit the Afrikaans 46 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:48,840 men's of the. Versus that I got. 47 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,160 You've got options. Are there any other options? 48 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:54,800 God, is there any anywhere else where I could possibly go? 49 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:57,120 And they said, you know you're going to. 50 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,560 Pretoria, I said. Look, but I'm a shock. 51 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,480 You're going to the Blue Bulls, but Lord I I love Kings Park. 52 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:12,680 You're going to laughters and what about that black white 53 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:14,080 thing? You're going to where it was 54 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:19,160 architected and then you're going to go and work it out with 55 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:20,840 black and white and you're going to wrestle. 56 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,520 You're going to have a black guy leading the meeting and a white 57 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:26,480 guy preaching. And the last week there was a 58 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,600 white guy leading and a black guy preaching and, and it's a 59 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,040 wrestle. And we're going to sort of 60 00:03:32,040 --> 00:03:36,840 wrestle it until we find a place where the anger subsides and the 61 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,800 compassion of God fills our hearts. 62 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:42,120 For I knew that you're a gracious God. 63 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:47,560 Say gracious. So the first characteristic that 64 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:49,600 Jonah mentions of God is his grace. 65 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,000 I knew you were a gracious God and merciful. 66 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,040 You were slow. To anger and abounding in 67 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:58,840 steadfast love and relenting from disaster. 68 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,200 Therefore now, our Lord, please take my life from me, for it is 69 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:03,880 better for me to die than to live. 70 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,800 And the Lord God said. Do you do? 71 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,640 Well, to be angry. Why you always? 72 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,720 The mukka in. Why do you want to? 73 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,040 Blixcottle everybody, all the time. 74 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:18,839 What has? Happened in your life that you 75 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:23,560 are so and there's and anger doesn't have to be shouting. 76 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:27,360 It can be silence. And some poor wives sit in this 77 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,680 auditorium living with the silence of their angry husbands 78 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,160 because of the upbringing that so affected them. 79 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,120 Jonah went out of the city and he sat to the east of the city 80 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:41,680 and he made a booth for himself there. 81 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,160 He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would 82 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,480 become of the city. Now the Lord got appointed a 83 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,520 plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade 84 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,480 over his head to save him from his discomfort. 85 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,880 So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 86 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,840 Or as Chris the Afrikaner read last week, de com Comer plant. 87 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,480 It sounded good. It sounds better in Afrikaans de 88 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,240 Comer plant. Is that a cucumber plant? 89 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:20,760 Com Comer, I just say yonya. I don't know what it means, but 90 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,760 if in trouble just say yonya. So Jonah was exceedingly glad 91 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:30,120 because of the kumkum worm. But when dawn came up the next 92 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,400 day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plants so that it 93 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,240 withered. When the sun rose. 94 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:38,480 God appointed a scorching E wind and the sun beat down on the 95 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:40,440 head of Jonah so that he was faint. 96 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,440 And he asked that he might die, and said it is better for me to 97 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,800 die than to live. Jonah is miffed, but God said to 98 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:53,560 Jonah, do you do well to be angry for this stupid plant when 99 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:58,320 we have got a city full of brokenness that we have been 100 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:03,440 called to minister to, A city steeped in prejudice, the city 101 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,800 steeped in economic disaster. You know, people would go to the 102 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,200 city for security. That's why people left the 103 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,120 villages. They would go to the city and 104 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,560 you'd find some form of order, St. #1 #2 #3 and the streets 105 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,520 would be in rows and you'd find order there and you'd find 106 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,480 security there and you'd find jobs there. 107 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,840 Now our cities are invaded with red light districts and with 108 00:06:23,840 --> 00:06:26,880 squatter camps. The city to which God has called 109 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,680 us to. Do you? 110 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,600 Do well to be angry for the plant, he said, Yes, I do well 111 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,720 to be angry, actually angry enough to die. 112 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:38,440 And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not 113 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:41,840 labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a 114 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:45,160 night, in Paris in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, 115 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:48,400 that great city? Should I not pity Charney, the 116 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:53,760 great city of Charney, in which there are more than millions of 117 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,520 people from Mamelodi all the way through to Moycliffe who do not 118 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:03,400 know their right hand from their left, and also many cattle 119 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:05,680 friends? The only people who don't know 120 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:07,560 their right hand from the left is children. 121 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:10,880 You say turn left and they do this, or a drunk man, you say 122 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:15,000 turn left and he does that. Or a disorientated person. 123 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,680 And I want to tell you that Jonah was disorientated. 124 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,120 He never knew his right hand from his left. 125 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,360 And Nineveh ended up preaching to Jonah instead of Jonah 126 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:27,720 preaching to Nineveh. I've been here 11 years now, and 127 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,760 I've learned more from Pretoria than Pretoria has learned from 128 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:35,800 me about the grace of God. And if we look at this just in 129 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:43,680 one scripture, anger, angry, anger, angry, angry, angry, 130 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:49,040 angry. And too many pulpits and too 131 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:55,400 many businesses are filled with angry people trying to represent 132 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,240 a kind God. And I never friends. 133 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,360 As a young, ambitious, driven pastor, I've stood in this 134 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,160 pulpit many times. I hope not so much in Pretoria, 135 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:08,160 but the previous city. And. 136 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,160 Like Jonah would. Push my finger out at people in 137 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:15,560 a moralistic way instead of standing here and representing 138 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,040 the absolute kindness and grace of God. 139 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,720 For we will not win the city with moralistic anger, but we 140 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:27,800 will win the city when we represent the love of God for 141 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,320 this great people. We will win people of different 142 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,080 culture, not when we try and correct them or belittle them or 143 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,360 get them up to some form of standard, but when we just love 144 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,840 them unconditionally. And so we're not. 145 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:42,960 On some kind of. Mission to conquer. 146 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:46,400 We're not on some kind of mission to extend our influence. 147 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,680 We're on a mission really of just love. 148 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,600 Absolute love, God, love. And so friends, the book of 149 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:57,720 Jonah as we finish these last three chapters, Jonah chapter 2 150 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:02,280 is the absolute essential that every man needs to end up in the 151 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:04,440 belly of a whale if he's going to count for God. 152 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,360 Every man, we said it, Sunday is good. 153 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:10,320 Friday is good because Sunday is coming. 154 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,640 Jonah, like Jesus, went into the belly of the whale and we 155 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,960 celebrate Good Friday and we celebrate Easter Sunday, but we 156 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,560 don't celebrate Saturday. Saturday is the day when you 157 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:25,240 learn how to pray, and unless you and I learn how to pray, we 158 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,600 will try and change the city with our personality or with our 159 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:30,600 resources. And it's impossible. 160 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:33,520 I am not. Yet to espouse. 161 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,840 My vision or my extravagant desire or. 162 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,360 Use this. Platform to promote my. 163 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:44,240 Profile. We are simply here, friends, to 164 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:49,880 talk about God and a man or a woman who has not come under any 165 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,200 form of restriction, who doesn't need to pray. 166 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:55,560 Who doesn't? Need God to come through for 167 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:57,960 them. Will never have an impact on a 168 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,720 society. I want to share 2 pictures with 169 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:05,040 you. The first one is of a knee that 170 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:09,120 is my son selected for the Junior Springboks. 171 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:12,040 And five days. Or seven, seven days. 172 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,880 Before the World Cup. I get a message from him on my 173 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:21,080 phone, said hey dad, I think I've done my knee now. 174 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:25,120 I've spent 19 years every single. 175 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,240 Day of my life. Praying for that boy, and I pray 176 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,720 Psalm 91 over him, he who dwells in the shelter. 177 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:33,880 Of the Lord. Will rest in the shadow of the 178 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,600 Almighty, I will say of my. God, He is my. 179 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:38,760 Refuge and my. Strength, my God. 180 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:43,160 And whom I trust. 1000 will fall on your right. 10,000. 181 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:45,640 On your left, but it will not come near you, for He will 182 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,080 command His angels concerning you to lift you up in all your 183 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:50,560 ways. You will not strike your foot 184 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:52,800 against the stone. I've preached that over my 185 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,400 family, and yet that's what happened to my son. 186 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,880 Friends and even when he sent. Me, that message and the news 187 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:01,520 went out that my son has got hurt. 188 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,600 People sent me you must pray Psalm 91 over him. 189 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:11,080 And I said, I've prayed Psalm 91 over him for 19 years with this 190 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,680 anger rising up inside of me. And then I realized, friends, 191 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,120 the issue wasn't me. The issue was him. 192 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,120 He needed to go into the belly of a whale. 193 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:23,440 He's 19 years old now. He needs to trust God. 194 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:27,160 I can't trust God for him now on the field that he has to go and 195 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,280 play. He has to get hold of God. 196 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,240 He needs to get into the restriction and live with the 197 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:33,320 thing. Am I going to play? 198 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,360 Am I not going to play? Am I going to make it? 199 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:37,760 Am I not going to make it? I said, son, I don't know what 200 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,280 to do. And we're sitting standing in 201 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:41,600 the house, a beautiful house that. 202 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:44,480 Somebody in this church lent us and we're sitting there and I'm 203 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,960 sitting and I'm sitting up crying God I can't do this 204 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:49,480 anymore. My wife saying we've got to 205 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:54,360 trust God. I said I have trusted God and 206 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,480 yet I'm living with deep disappointment. 207 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:00,200 And we SMS the doctor in the church and looked at his MRI 208 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:02,160 scans and a piece of bone and chipped off. 209 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:07,800 And then he SMS me and said hey. Dad the last time I played. 210 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:09,640 Rugby on this ground in Hamilton. 211 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:11,680 'S and Cape Town. I wore the number 20 jersey and 212 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:13,600 God. Told me I must go to Psalm 20 213 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:18,080 and it says we were on our knees and then God spoke and we stood 214 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,840 up and he. Asked his coaches. 215 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,920 For a, for for a, for a fitness test. 216 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:29,120 And he passed it on the Monday. And so when he ran on the field, 217 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:33,600 because a man who played 85 Test matches for South Africa, who's 218 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,960 in our church, phoned me and he said, Rory, I sent the X-rays to 219 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:39,680 a doctor and the doctor says jeopardize, he can play, we can 220 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:42,400 fix it afterwards. So when he ran onto the field 221 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:47,280 limping and losing, everybody said he had lost. 222 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:52,120 But I know in my heart that he had won because he has 223 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,880 transferred. His trust. 224 00:12:55,520 --> 00:13:00,960 From my prayers to his and God will put every one of us in the 225 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:05,320 belly of a whale until He answers us so that we can trust 226 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,760 him. I had a strike in my business. 227 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,880 I am not a businessman. You can you can put the next 228 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:17,600 picture please. The stock in my business. 229 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,680 I go down to my business. About 150 people striking have 230 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:24,440 taken all the furniture of my business. 231 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,480 They've put it all together, they've poured petrol in it and 232 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,560 they've set it a light and I don't know what to do. 233 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:33,880 I don't know where to turn. I feel unbelievably lonely. 234 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,080 I wish I could call my dad and I. 235 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,120 Cry out to God. I cry out to God. 236 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:42,120 And he says to me for. I. 237 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,080 The Lord love justice. You'll see. 238 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,880 Many years ago, I wrote there, Son of Pisa and Tolo, because 239 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,480 the chairman of Shell Oil Company's name was Justice. 240 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:56,000 And I'm sitting in the hotel room and I don't know where to 241 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:57,640 turn and I don't know what to do. 242 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,840 But God says this, I love Justice. 243 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:07,000 And the next morning this man phoned me and he said, hey, 244 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:15,600 Rory, Mr. Dyer, it's Justice. His Zulu name is Lana Pisaway. 245 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:17,800 Justice. I'm total. 246 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,520 He didn't tell me he was the chairman of Cell, but I knew he 247 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:25,080 was the chairman of Cell. And he said this to me. 248 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,160 He said, I hear you're in trouble. 249 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:31,400 I said, Sir, I'm in deep trouble. 250 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:33,800 He said, I'm going to come and help you. 251 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:37,360 Three hours later, he drove down. 252 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:43,520 We're in a room of HR and PR and angry people shouting and 253 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,080 screaming. And he said to everybody, he 254 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:47,640 said, will you all please leave the room? 255 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:51,280 They all left the room. And he looked at me and he said, 256 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:53,720 Mr. Dyer, what's wrong? I said, I don't know, Sir. 257 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,000 And I said these three things. And he said, I think it's these 258 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,440 three things. And I opened my prayer book and 259 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,160 I said, the Lord told me that he loves you. 260 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:10,080 And this man got up in front of my staff, of which I had no 261 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:13,680 control. And he said, Mr. Dyer and I have 262 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:15,480 spoken. And we believe that these three 263 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,920 things need to be dealt with. And within 30 minutes they were 264 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:20,840 back at work and the strike was reverted. 265 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,960 I want to honour you, Sir, in front of your family. 266 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:29,760 When I was trying to run a church in Pretoria and a 267 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:33,200 business down in the Free State, I didn't know where to go. 268 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:39,120 I didn't know where to go. But God sent you to me and I've 269 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,280 always wanted to honour you publicly to say thank you. 270 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,720 But unless we get into the book, I don't know what your prayer 271 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,200 book looks like. But unless we find ourselves in 272 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,640 the belly of the whale that if God doesn't come through, we are 273 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,680 in deep trouble, we will never influence the city. 274 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,920 We will never impact or influence the city. 275 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,760 This same Scripture, the same scripture that reverted that 276 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,080 avoided a strike in my business in the message version says this 277 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,360 are the Lord and fair and the NIV it says are the Lord love 278 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,280 justice in the in the message it says are the Lord and fair. 279 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,280 I pay salaries in full on time. The message Bible, that same 280 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,560 verse of Scripture God gave to me in COVID and it is the same 281 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,640 scripture that ended up paying my staff salaries for 4 1/2 282 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:33,520 months while our business never operated. 283 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,720 It's the same scripture that ended the strike. 284 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,240 If if if you go into the belly of the whale, God will speak to 285 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,760 you. He will give you a word and that 286 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,560 word will sustain you and stop you from becoming angry. 287 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:54,040 You with me. Jonah chapter 3 is is about 288 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:58,520 geography and eschatology. Geography is a place. 289 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:04,119 It's a place God called us to Pretoria, to tranny. 290 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:06,160 Don't hate it. Don't hate the Blue Bulls, don't 291 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,240 support. Don't put on the Western 292 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:09,599 Province shirt and go to Lofters. 293 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,160 That's stupid. And you think, oh Rory, no, God 294 00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:15,280 sent. Me here, God sent me here. 295 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:17,319 Friends almost I'm I'm at. Lofters. 296 00:17:17,319 --> 00:17:20,920 Now last week I'm at Lofters. I'm sitting there in the season 297 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:22,680 ticket holder seats. I don't know why because I 298 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,000 bought them online and I'm sitting there and a whole lot of 299 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,680 season ticket holders come and they you can see they've been at 300 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,200 Loftus for you. I said how long you been in here 301 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:31,600 for now? We've been here for 35 years, I 302 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:33,760 don't know how many years and they all know each other and 303 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:35,880 they're sharing drinks and they open their boxes and they all 304 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,640 got talking and I'm sitting, I'm thinking amongst the Loftus. 305 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:40,400 So I said, how's it going? I said liquor. 306 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:42,680 I said, and and do you have children? 307 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:43,760 Yes. What do they do? 308 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:45,400 Do this. And I said, do you have 309 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,160 grandchildren? Yes, got grandchildren. 310 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:49,720 And I said, where are you sending them to like Menlo or 311 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:58,120 are you going to send them to like Afiz or you see, And 312 00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,520 actually it's very strange. You probably wouldn't understand 313 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:02,960 this. We're sending our grandson to 314 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,120 Hilton. I said, wow, funny enough, 315 00:18:06,120 --> 00:18:13,120 you've mentioned that I'm sitting at Lofters and I said 316 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:17,400 here's my son with with the knee that that he had to tape and he 317 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,120 was the Hilton captain and then he put him next to her and they 318 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:23,840 got talking about at Lofters because there's geography. 319 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:27,520 When God sends us to a place, he sends us to the geography. 320 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:29,680 And you know, one of the commentators says in the 321 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,520 geography of Pretoria is deep beauty and dark sexuality. 322 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:38,120 There's deep beauty and dark sexuality. 323 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:40,200 Sitting in this room, friends, I know you. 324 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,760 They're drug addicts. You're sitting here there's. 325 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,720 Geography. It's not all meant to be rosy. 326 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:47,960 It's meant to be the soil of our lives. 327 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,760 The microcosm. We're meant to get into the soil 328 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,160 of people's. Lives. 329 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,320 And it says he took the word and he went into Nineveh. 330 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:56,960 He took. One day's journey. 331 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:01,200 Into Nineveh, I sat last week after church, I was counselling, 332 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,880 I'm doing 6 weddings and I was counselling these six couples. 333 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:07,600 And on this side there's a couple that have had a go, they 334 00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:09,960 it didn't work. So now they're having another 335 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:10,840 go. They're in their second 336 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:15,520 marriages like some of you are, and 3rd marriages and 4th 337 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:21,200 marriages. And another couple I'm marrying 338 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,640 is because, like David, who looked over the balcony and he 339 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,720 saw Bathsheba and he traded in the older model for the younger 340 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:29,760 model, Fred. That's the geography. 341 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,720 That's the geography. That's the geography of 342 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:34,800 Pretoria. And I can get up here and be 343 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,560 angry and say, hey, sort your life out, almost get inside 344 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,440 there and I must cry with them and say, hey, guys, can we find 345 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:42,240 a scripture? Can we find a word? 346 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,080 Can I somehow Incarnate the kindness of God into? 347 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:54,400 Your brokenness. I've sat with a young man this 348 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,360 week, He's sitting here today. He's here because he was on 349 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:00,720 drugs and I sat with him, no judgement in my heart. 350 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:02,480 I love him. I've known him since he's a 351 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,680 little boy. His dad is my friend. 352 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:11,040 And somehow it's worked out that he and I are sharing the 353 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:14,400 geography of Pretoria and I've got to take the Word of God, not 354 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:16,600 preach to him, not throw it down his toes, hey. 355 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,320 Drugs are wrong, I've got to somehow kindly friends my job. 356 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,480 Is not to communicate better. My job is to take the Word of 357 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,440 God so that we can have communion, and around the 358 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,360 brokenness of Christ and the shared blood of Christ, we can 359 00:20:29,360 --> 00:20:31,120 have communion. So that a drug. 360 00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:33,200 Addict instead of feeling judged under the. 361 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:37,120 Anger of my moralism. Would feel the love. 362 00:20:37,120 --> 00:20:39,320 Of God pouring. Through me. 363 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,320 And thinking, oh, Rory's not. Preaching to me. 364 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:46,800 He's trying to envelope me in some kind of love that is 365 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:54,200 supernatural. And last week of the white guy 366 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:55,720 leading and a black guy preaching. 367 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:57,640 And this week of black guy leading and a white guy. 368 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,000 Preaching. We are trying to somehow, 369 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,520 instead of preaching some kind of thing, we're trying to 370 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,480 commune at a very deep level about the worst of human nature. 371 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,760 But there is eschatology. There is eschatology. 372 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:18,120 He says when he preaches, he says 40 more days and then 373 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:21,680 you're going to get overthrown. And so I'm sitting in a room 374 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,680 with a whole lot of people are marrying and here they're having 375 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,960 a second chance. And those guys are virgins and 376 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,360 these guys have lived together and those guys have slept 377 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:31,480 around. And I'm not sitting there with 378 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:33,760 the word of God and saying, judge, judge, judge, judge, 379 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,600 judge, judge, judge, judge. I'm sitting inside of that 380 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,000 meeting saying, hey, guys, this is what the Bible says about 381 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:41,240 marriage. But you've got to know this 382 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,640 eschatology. God is using marriage to 383 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,720 represent himself to the world. God, God is using it and, and, 384 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:49,760 and you were designed by purpose. 385 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:52,880 And so you can't just do whatever you like with your time 386 00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:55,160 and with your money because there's eschatology. 387 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:56,680 There's going to be a day of account. 388 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:00,800 And so I have to live my life on purpose. 389 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,960 The way I treat my wife is important. 390 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:04,960 The way I speak to her is important. 391 00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,000 The way I relate. In business is important 392 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:10,880 respect. Is that not true, Sir? 393 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:13,240 Have we not shared mutual respect? 394 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,800 It's the book of Jonah. And then God shows us 395 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:33,040 unbelievable mercy, unbelievable mercy to Nineveh and Jonah gets 396 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:37,800 cross and to heck with those drug addicts, to heck with those 397 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:39,680 people who have been married three or four times. 398 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,440 To heck with them. They don't deserve God's grace. 399 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,000 And so we have to go and do some. 400 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,440 We have to go and do some work with the Scriptures. 401 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:55,440 So Jonah says this, I know Lord God, that you are gracious. 402 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,160 So then Jonah, why are you angry? 403 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,040 I think there are four reasons for anger. 404 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,960 I think there are many more, but let me give you 4 reasons for 405 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:11,520 anger. Wrong information make you 406 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,480 cross. Inadequate understanding. 407 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:23,360 An underdeveloped heart when you act like a child and in Jonah's 408 00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:27,640 case and and many times in the case of the church and I must 409 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:32,200 admit to myself in my own life, misappropriated grace. 410 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:42,200 We we are sitting in a city with deep pain, deep history, deep 411 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:50,600 history, deep experience. And we've got people coming and 412 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:55,360 sitting in our midst, or as sitting in their midst, and what 413 00:23:55,360 --> 00:24:00,200 they need is a picture of a gracious God, not one who's 414 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:09,910 about to pop with anger. Two businessmen in the church 415 00:24:09,910 --> 00:24:11,830 invited me for breakfast on Saturday. 416 00:24:11,910 --> 00:24:14,910 On Friday, we're sitting there, we're having breakfast. 417 00:24:14,910 --> 00:24:17,670 And the man next to me and his wife kept looking at me. 418 00:24:20,390 --> 00:24:24,720 And eventually I thought, why do you keep looking at me? 419 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,480 And I eventually looked at him and he stood up and he he came 420 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,000 and he hugged me and he was crying and his wife was crying. 421 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:33,960 I said, what's wrong? So he said. 422 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,480 I never knew you were a. Pastor. 423 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,560 But eight years ago, you and I sat next to each other in the 424 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:44,280 Brooklyn Mall, and I was bankrupt, and you paid for my 425 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,200 breakfast. And I've asked God that we'd 426 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:53,480 meet again someday. But before I went to the 427 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,120 breakfast, I just had to pay some of my speeding fines that I 428 00:24:56,120 --> 00:25:02,200 got on Pay City. And, and so I live with this. 429 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,520 There's a rebel in me that drives too fast and gets angry 430 00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:09,280 really quickly. But God put me in the city just 431 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,040 to pay for people who are bankrupt. 432 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:14,280 And he just hugged me and then he sat down again. 433 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,280 And I was on the waterfront in Cape Town and a guy was trying 434 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:21,040 to pay his, you know. You know when you pay in your 435 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:25,680 notes, like all crumpled up and the machine kicks it out first 436 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:32,360 time and you think, OK, and then it kicks it out the second time 437 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:37,480 you think, OK, And then the third time it kicked it out. 438 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:40,000 I rent across to the 100 bucks and I stuck it in the machine 439 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,520 and to pay the guy's parking. And he turned on, he said, are 440 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:51,640 you not Rory Dyer? I said, yes, I am, but pay your 441 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,880 flipping parking tickets. He said 25 years ago I sat in 442 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,120 your office in Durban and you taught me about God. 443 00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:02,000 Friends, it's so close between the agitation of paying for a 444 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:04,520 ticket and the representation of God. 445 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:11,680 Exodus 33, I was trying to quickly understand this. 446 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,960 I'm going to take another couple of them, and Exodus 33 put up on 447 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,000 the board. The Lord replied, My presence 448 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,000 will go with you, and I will give you rest. 449 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,800 And Moses said to him, If your presence does not go with us, do 450 00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,880 not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you're 451 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,920 pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? 452 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:27,840 What? Else. 453 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:29,360 What else? What else? 454 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,600 What else? Not some fancy preacher, Not 455 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,880 some hotshot worship, not some unbelievable big screen. 456 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,480 With smoke machines and. Lights, not some fancy coffee 457 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,320 machines. What else? 458 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,480 What else will distinguish me and your? 459 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,280 People from all. The other people on the face of 460 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,400 the earth. I'm not in the competition with 461 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,160 the church down the road to put on a bigger show. 462 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:55,040 It will not. Touch the depths of. 463 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,600 People's brokenness, it will not deal with the anger that is 464 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:02,080 seething inside of their hearts because of prejudice and racism 465 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,960 and being excluded. It will not get down to the very 466 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:07,640 brokenness of people's relationships. 467 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:11,760 What else will distinguish me and your people? 468 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,040 From all the other people on the face of the earth. 469 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,440 And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing that you 470 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:21,120 have asked, because I'm pleased with you, and I know you by 471 00:27:21,120 --> 00:27:23,320 name. Then Moses said, now show me 472 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,760 your glory. And the Lord said I will cause 473 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:27,480 all my goodness to pass in. Front of you. 474 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:30,000 And I'll proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. 475 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,560 I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. 476 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:33,560 I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 477 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,040 And Exodus 34 says this, and he passed in front of Moses, 478 00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:45,000 saying, the Lord sayeth the Lord, the Lord compassionate and 479 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:49,720 gracious God, slow to anger. Why are you so? 480 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,480 Angry Jonah. Why are you so angry, Rory? 481 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,920 Why are you so? Why in Rd. 482 00:27:55,120 --> 00:27:58,920 Why when somebody cuts you off, you want to smash his face in 483 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,880 with a baseball bat? Why? 484 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,200 Why when somebody plays slowly on a golf course do you shout at 485 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:13,400 them? Why, when your wife doesn't do 486 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,880 what you ask her to do, why do you flip out instead of applying 487 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,280 the grace of God that He applied so lavishly to your own? 488 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:26,120 Life. Slow to anger abounding. 489 00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:29,960 In love and faithfulness. Maintaining love to thousands 490 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:36,280 rich, poor, young old lofters. And forgiving wickedness, 491 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,560 rebellion, and sin. That's seven things. 492 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:44,160 Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. 493 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:51,760 Jonah has got two parts of God, the grace of God and the guilt 494 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:56,480 of God. And when he's under pressure, he 495 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:02,480 hands out God's guilt instead of God's grace because he doesn't 496 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,440 know his left hand from his right hand. 497 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,480 We don't have time to look there because I have to close. 498 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:14,400 But in Matthew 18, it says there was a man who owed a king 499 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,280 millions of dollars, millions of dollars. 500 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:19,600 It's a picture of you and I with sin. 501 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,280 And he went before the king. And he said to him, King, I beg 502 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:26,680 you, have mercy on me. And into this hand God said, I 503 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,720 cancelled his debt. I had mercy on him. 504 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:35,200 I gave him grace and compassion and slow to anger and abounding 505 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:37,160 in love and abounding in faithfulness. 506 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:40,360 Maintaining love to thousands, black, white, rich, poor, young, 507 00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:43,320 old, married, single, divorced, maintaining love to thousands, 508 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,080 forgiving wickedness. I can sit with a drug addict and 509 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,840 I can have absolute grace because God has forgiven me of 510 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:52,200 my own wickedness. I can sit with people. 511 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,720 He takes this and the Bible says in the same verse, and the man 512 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:57,480 who owes him a few dollars, he chokes him. 513 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:06,320 He takes the mercy of God, and he chokes the man who owes him 514 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:11,920 money. If I take the grace of God in 515 00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:15,600 this hand, then I must give the grace of God with this hand. 516 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:22,320 Two brothers. Luke 15. 517 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,760 One brother takes the inheritance and the Bible says 518 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:31,040 he squanders it in wild living, like some of you here are doing 519 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,520 right now. You're squandering your lives. 520 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:39,080 You're squandering them, and there is eschatology and there 521 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:44,000 is guilt, but that's not the overriding characteristic of 522 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,840 God. Guilt is 1/8 of God. 523 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:53,680 What you should come into is gracious, compassionate, slow to 524 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:58,480 anger, abounding in love, abounding in faithfulness, 525 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,840 maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion, 526 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:04,920 and sin. And there's also guilt. 527 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:14,360 Otherwise he wouldn't be God. And I was thinking about this 528 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,400 and I thought of this windmill. I don't know why, but this is 529 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:18,880 what I thought of. I thought of this windmill. 530 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,080 We're going to close now. That is the character of God. 531 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,280 That is what you should come to every single Sunday when you 532 00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,800 stand here. Do you mind standing, Sir? 533 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,280 He's a Zulu man, the son of a domestic worker. 534 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:40,160 His father was a farm labourer who God is blessed. 535 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:53,640 He's the chairman of a board. When he meets me, instead of a 536 00:31:53,640 --> 00:32:02,880 finger or an anger or a fight, he should meet a windmill that 537 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,080 is drawing on the character of God. 538 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,600 And when you come to church on a Sunday, I've got issues. 539 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:16,440 I've got big issues. Instead of living with the 540 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:22,880 frustration of a pastor, pouring out his own insecurities and 541 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,160 anger, and I've got them, he should come to a windmill, 542 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:32,360 gracious and compassionate and slow to anger and abounding in 543 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:34,920 love and abounding in faithfulness. 544 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:41,520 Maintaining love to thousands, maintaining love to thousands, 545 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:45,040 forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. 546 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,040 And there's a bit of guilt attached. 547 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,000 And as it all comes out, what comes out is not some angry 548 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:52,800 guilt. What comes out is the character 549 00:32:52,800 --> 00:33:01,240 of God and as I treat this man with compassion and he treats me 550 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:04,160 with compassion and I treat him with grace and he treats me with 551 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:09,160 grace, we form a partnership. That not true, Sir. 552 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:12,360 You could have chosen to go to any church. 553 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,560 You don't go to church, but you chose to come to my church, not 554 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:21,240 my church outset. Because somewhere in that heated 555 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:26,640 moment when everybody was angry like Jonah, when I was insecure 556 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:34,240 and everybody was angry, you bought the grace of God into my 557 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:43,760 boardroom. You can't stand here, Sir. 558 00:33:49,190 --> 00:33:54,830 I grew up in a privileged life. This man grew up hand to mouth. 559 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:00,840 I never qualified. He did qualify. 560 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,600 I've never LED a corporate company. 561 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,040 He has. We've got so many differences, 562 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:15,239 but we're standing here under the windmill of the water of 563 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:20,800 God, having not much in common other than finding something of 564 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:24,920 the character of God that can override our anger. 565 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,920 You were angry, Sir, the first time you came on my property, 566 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:39,239 were you not? And I was angry too, was I not? 567 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:47,840 And then God spoke, and he said, I love justice. 568 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,320 What is God saying to you? What is the word of the Lord 569 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,159 saying to you? What? 570 00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:58,280 What is the word of the Lord saying to you today? 571 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:04,000 Because I can tell you this, we got put into Pretoria not to be 572 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:09,760 angry, but to represent the character of God, one 573 00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:15,320 relationship at a time. You know how many broken 574 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,880 business relationships are sitting in this room today? 575 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:22,000 You know how many thousands? You know how many broken 576 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,040 marriage relationships are sitting in this room today? 577 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,320 Thousands. You know how many broken child 578 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:29,520 parent relationships are sitting in this room today? 579 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:34,160 Thousands. Because I want to accept grace 580 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:36,640 with this thing, but I want to hold them accountable with this 581 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:42,080 hand. May I say, open your hands as 582 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:47,480 you've received from God, give to others as you receive from 583 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:49,400 God. You gave to me and I trust gave 584 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:53,400 back to you. I believe we will do business 585 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:59,280 together, Sir, into the future. May this be a picture of two 586 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:05,120 people from different worlds living under the grace of God. 587 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:06,960 God bless you.