I am Jonah

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amatai, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it,

for they wickedness has come up before me.

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of

the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found

a ship going to shout Tarshish, and so he paid them the fare,

and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the

presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great

wind on the sea, and there was a mighty Tempest on the sea, and

every man cried out to his God, and through the cargo that was

in the ship into the sea to lighten its load.

But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had

lain down, and was fast asleep. Thank you, Rowan.

Good morning. Good morning, Steve.

Do you have your Bible? I hope you have found Jonah by

now. Give you some time or you can do

like I did and you get one of the Bibles of these little, you

know J for Jonah. There we go.

The reason why I would love for you to open up to the book of

Jennifer yourself is because I would love for you to see

something of what I believe God is wanting to do in our midst in

and through the word. Because a lot of the time you

can see me, but I want you to see the word of God to the city

this morning and over the weeks coming.

So please love for you to bring your Bible and a pen notebook if

you want to take notes highlight and underline, but you heard the

context this morning. You probably know the story

without it even being read to you.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amatai and the

word was that the city of Nineveh is in trouble.

Deeply, deeply steeped in this wickedness and God wanted to

rescue them and say calls Jonah and Jonah says thanks but no

thanks. I'm busy on that day, heads off

to Tarshish, and to get his attention, God sends the storm.

I want to reread this verse here because this is where I'm going

to anchor it this morning. This is Jonah one verse five in

the NRV. I think this is the 1984

version. All the sailors were afraid and

each cried out to their own God. They threw the cargo into the

sea to lighten the ship, but Jonah had gone below the deck

where he laid down and fell into a deep sleep.

If you have a pen with you in your Bible, underline the word

afraid. All the sailors were afraid.

So this is a beautiful Hebrew word.

It's got lots of texture and colour didn't didn't quite

translate so well into English. Afraid.

It means to be afraid. It means to be terrified

actually, but it also means to to have a fear that comes with

reverence and awe. Kind of like we would say, you

know, in church we talk about the fear of the Lord.

It has some of that texture to this word afraid, which means

that the sailors weren't just looking at a big storm thinking,

oh, here we go. This is our end.

They were joining some dots here.

You see, in verse 10, we actually found that Jonah was

telling the people, you know, maybe he was boarding and I

think, oh, you're coming on holiday with us to Tasha.

She like, no, I'm running from God.

And maybe they they're joining some dots enough to see when the

storm arises. There's a nice Afrikaans word

that comes to mind that I can't use in church.

You come it. They were joining these dots,

going like, Jonah, what's happening here?

They were afraid, they were terrified, but it was a

reverence and awe of what was happening on this side.

And you need to get that. And the reason why I spend some

time here is because Jonah was doing the exact opposite.

As far away from Nineveh, Tarsus was so as far away from the fear

of the Lord Jonah was because it says here, but Jonah, I like big

butts, but not this one. But Jonah had gone below deck

where he laid down and fell into deep sleep.

Now, I always thought that Jonah, you know, I mean, he sort

of rushed out of the presence of God, you know, packed a light

lunch, climbed him to the ship. He was a little bit tired, so he

went to sleep. And while he was asleep, all of

heaven broke loose right in front of him.

But actually, Bible scholars believe it was the other way

round, that the storm happened. And in light of the storm, he

went to go sleep. See, because the word that is

used there is the word radam. Radam is a lot more to do with

rebellion than rest. So picture this essentially

Jonah's probably having his light lunch, enjoying the sea

breeze. The storm breaks out and you

know, like when your teacher said don't, and you're like,

don't tell me what to do. That rose up in Jonah.

So he didn't, you see, because God didn't say, well, go to

Nineveh and he said, now I'm going to stay here, right here

in Jerusalem with my family. He ran this rebellion.

Now he sees the storm come up and he's still like, you bring

your best. I'll show you who's boss.

I'm going to go sleep. You can wipe this boat out.

Radam. That's that's Radam.

And I want to go after the Radam in our hearts this morning to

bring it into our context. And my kids were really, really

small. I remember one afternoon I was

sitting working and. And my son came to me.

He wanted to. Yeah.

He was didn't have homework at that stage.

So he wants to go play in the garden and it's like, Dad, can I

go play? Like, yeah, go for it, go play.

Few minutes later he comes back and Dad said, OK, if I jump on

the trampoline, I'm like, yes, jump on the trampoline.

Yeah. Few minutes later he comes back.

Can I go down the slide? I'm like, seriously, just go and

play. And when he came in and said I

want to go and jump in the pool, I'm like, just play as just stay

in the garden. You know, those are your

parameters. Play.

I don't care what you do. But when 5:00 came, it was bath

time. Now all of a sudden, it wasn't

any longer. Just you.

Do you go enjoy. Now all of a sudden, things

changed. You know that proverbial.

You're not in that bath by the time I counted 3.

But it's the same dead. Same son, same home, same day.

But something's changed. And in that moment, if there was

radam in my son's heart, there would be consequences.

If there was radam in a different season where it was

just going to play, it's no big deal.

But you see, Radam basically rears its head in a moment when

God calls us, when God leans in and he says, OK, three CR, let's

take Galatians to the city. I'm not.

That's not really me, you know, I'm an introvert.

You know how bad these oaks are, Radam, Have you not heard the

cry of the city? Radam?

I want to redeem and rescue and restore.

Radam. I was at the game last night.

You're I saw I saw the dark underbelly of the Afrikaner them

in our city. You know, it's like, Lord, I

want nothing to do with that Radam.

Or he brings the city to our front door and we'll put a lock

and chain. Radam.

And you know the crazy thing about that little word, radam

and the nuances about that word pops up.

I found 17 times just in the first chapter of Jonah.

Not the word, but the idea, the heart behind it.

This. No, no, not me.

Do you know who I am? Right. 17 times.

So we're going to be here for a while as I unpack the ordinary.

I want to lump them all, all three together and three major

themes that pop up. And here's the 1st I am Jonah.

This Radam is in me when I just don't care.

What you find with Jonah when you read the book over and over

and over again as we've been doing these last few days is you

find he is so self obsessed. He's completely absorbed in his

own world to the point where he says let the city burn, I care.

And then right there in the middle of the storm, he says let

the sailors drown. I just don't care.

You know what? You know how many Nigerians

there are in Pretoria? You know they all these scams,

let the city burn. Sure.

You know the the racism in the heart of the middle-aged white

man. Let the city burn.

ANCDA. Do you know who they are?

Just let them. This is the heart of Jonah.

This is Radam in my heart. There's a Scottish minister, his

name's Hugh Martin. He says in the verse where it

says he went down below decks and fell into a deep sleep.

He translated, he fell into a sleep of self pity.

Can I hear an A Nah, sleep of self pity.

I don't know if you've ever heard a narrative from someone.

You know, you have a conversation with someone and

it's almost like there's there's this well rehearsed paragraph of

excuses you ever had that you just, you know, that this excuse

has run its course. It's, it's worn into the

carpets. He or she has used it so many

times. You know, like you, you're at

work and you have a new employee in the department, but she's

like unhinged. She's properly prickly.

And so you sit it down. You're like, hey, listen, you

know, causing a little bit of a fracas here amongst the staff.

And then she starts, Yeah. But you don't understand.

You know, my boyfriend broke up with me like 19 months ago.

And, you know, I was overlooked in high school and I was, I was

meant to be a head girl, but they didn't even make me a, a

prefect. And actually, I was bullied and

and, you know, overlooks quite a bit as you're still like, whoa,

OK. Like what?

No, you're an idiot and you're treating people badly.

Can we deal with that? Yeah, but you've got and or

someone's business is tanking and you sit down with them a

little bit of business rescue and it's like, yeah, you know,

the apartheid government and, you know, Eskom and, you know,

then you sit with someone and they're treating their wife

badly in his job. And my parents were divorced and

my dad actually left home when I was eight.

It's just, it just slides off the tongue, you know, with me.

It's you know why God doesn't love me?

It's because I did this. I did that.

I was just a disappointment. I was a well rehearsed

narrative. What Hugh Martens calls it is a

sleep of self pity. While the city burns and the

sailors drown, we hide behind our narrative of self pity and

we just don't care. Welcome to church.

I'm sorry you brought your parents today.

I don't know if you know the name Jacob, Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob. Jacob's got a very interesting

narrative. It comes as a point in his life.

He, he had twelve sons back in the ancient Near East.

This was how you extended your legacy.

Plus they didn't have TV. So he's having sun #12 and his

wife dies in childbirth. And it's horrific.

It's painful. And she goes through such trauma

that it actually kills her. But before she dies, she said,

my son will be called sun #12 is going to be called Ben O Nai.

Ben means son, O Nai, means of my sorrow.

That's his narrative. Son of my sorrow.

Imagine being son of my sorrow. It's like, hey, guys, we've got

a new kid joining us in class today.

His name is Beno Nye, son of my sorrow.

And they're like, who's sorrow? He killed his mom.

Sure. Yeah.

So scootch across. You're not sharing my homework.

Or we come supper time. And they said, oh, son of my

sorrow, can you pray for supper, since Mom's not here to pray.

It's like, talk about a narrative, you know what I'm

saying? That's what he was called Ben

and I. And in my head, I don't quite

know how it transpired, but in my head, they're having the

funeral for Jacob's wife. And he's and he's grieving and

the family's there and everyone's in tears.

And Ben and I is probably crying in the corner still.

And he probably said something like, you know, this was my

everything, love at first sight. She meant the world to me.

I honoured the pain because it cost her her life.

But I will not honour the narrative that she's speaking

over this boy. He will not be called Ben Onai.

He will called Benjamin no longer son of my sorrow, but son

of my right hand, some of my favor, some son of light, not

darkness, son, son of hope and future, not sorrow.

Because I'm the Father, I dictate the narrative over my

son's life, just like our Heavenly Father over you and I.

From now on, he'll be called Benjamin, son of my strength.

And you know why he does that? Because Jacob himself had a name

change moment. No, Jacob means I'm sorry.

It's all the Jacobs here. My son's middle name is Jake.

So we feel your pain. It means to be a supplanter,

schemer, deceiver. He'll grabber.

But then Jacob came face to face.

He had an encounter with a God who changes names, a God who

changes narratives. And he was no longer called

Jacob. He was called Israel, the

victorious God, and because he had been transformed, he was

able to transfer it. Because he had a name change,

because he had a narrative change, it was transferable.

And here's the problem. When I am Jonah is if I have not

been transformed, I cannot transfer it to a city that needs

to hear about the God of Galatians.

The God of grace needs to hear a gospel and needs to see the

transforming power in our lives. But because we do nothing with

what we hear, and we run around the same mountains and we vomit

out the same narrative and oh, you just don't understand.

What is not transformed cannot be transferred.

And if the God of Pretoria is calling you and I to bring the

good news, that good news needs to lay a hold of our hearts

first. I'm Jonah when I just don't

care. I just don't care because I've

done nothing with what I've heard.

I've set for weeks under the preached word.

I've set for weeks saturated by the gospel.

I've set for weeks unpacking and understanding the grace of God.

But I've done nothing with it. So it hasn't changed my

narrative, which means I have nothing to offer the world.

Yeah, but you don't understand. No.

No, no, no, no. You're Jonah.

I'm Jonah. And if I'm really honest, I just

don't care. Right down.

See, it's 5:00. God is calling us.

And it begins thus applying the gospel that we've heard all

these weeks to ourselves so that we can stand.

The Bible says the earth came by the blood of the Lamb and the

word of their testimony. We carry no weaponry, no power,

no presence. At least we're applying the

gospel. What have you done with what

you've heard? Are you a different person who

went into the book of Galatians with us?

Or you're going around the same mountain because you just refuse

to be transformed? That is why we're Jonah when we

just don't care. Second thing I see, it doesn't

get any lighter. I'm Jonah when I'm completely

unaware in verse six, the captain comes to him and

basically says, how can you sleep?

We're all going to die. The sky is falling.

The sky is falling, he said, and you're asleep.

How can you be asleep? How can you cling to your radam?

We're all going to die. But you see, what I find

fascinating here is he calls him the captain.

It's highly likely that Jonah didn't even know his name.

Thinking back afterwards when he's writing down this accounts

that we get to preach from and and study and learn from

probably for like what's his name?

I think you told me I don't know.

Not only didn't he care, he he was completely unaware.

He never factored into the fact that this wasn't just a captain.

This was highly likely a husband, maybe even a father,

definitely a son, and a crew full of people who are about to

perish because he simply didn't care, wasn't aware, didn't weigh

on him. I don't know if you know one of

the biggest changes that we've had in architecture when it

comes to home design in our generation, and you're in my

generation. The biggest change, the biggest

shift in architecture in our homes was that the veranda that

used to be at the front door has become a deck in the backyard

that is right down when it comes to being aware of and caring for

our city. It's an incredible picture

because we've changed. We used to love sitting.

The generations before used to love sitting on that veranda.

See the kids play. Oh, I hear your your son's

gotten engaged. It's so wonderful.

Shame. Is Jason out of hospital yet?

How did the exams go as a veranda?

But now we're at the back. Yeah, that's right.

Done sitting on the deck. You know, I don't know about

you. I'm an introvert, so I've got an

excuse. I don't know about you.

Build those walls higher. Thank you very much.

If I could have COVID back, if you can give us lockdown, that

would be highly appreciated. Build those walls higher.

You know, sit on that back deck there.

Maybe move deeper into the estate.

So they've got to, you know, do fingerprints and eyeballs and

give some blood before they come anywhere near my home.

Hire a few extra PAS between you and your problem.

I mean your staff. Distract yourself with your cell

phone while you sit at the robots until it goes green so

that you can rush past the beggar into your home and hide

on your deck the pina colada and enjoy the sunset.

And thank Jesus for his goodness and His blessing on your life.

It's alive and well in the church, is it not?

It's alive and well in my heart. True story.

We're going to take one step lower and I'm going to read you

something from Ezekiel 16. Do you know what the sin of

Sodom was? You know, Sodom and Gomorrah, we

always think the sin of Sodom was the sexual indiscretion.

When Ezekiel 1649 says now this was the sin of your sister

Sodom, she was arrogant, overfed and unconcerned while the

oppressed and needy suffered outside her door.

Kevin Phonet gave a prophetic word last year, I think it was

October, saying that he believes that God is going to send the

city to our front door. What if God does that?

And he has been doing that already?

But what if God does that? Will he find, will they find a

safe place? Will they find a place like

Sodom that was unaware and unconcerned?

I am Jonah when I just don't care and when I'm completely

oblivious, unaware to the problems of those around me.

Milt Cunningham tells an incredible story.

He's a pastor and he was travelling, had a bit of an

emergency. So it was one of those cases

where he arrived at the airport, bought the ticket and boarded.

So he didn't get a chance to book the, you know, aisle seat

or window seat or whatever he liked.

He ended up right slap bang in the middle.

He had a young girl on his left who he says had downs and then

there was an empty seat on on the right.

And so he's a large guy. So he's looking at the door,

hoping, hoping that he's the last one to come through and he

can get the aisle seats and he can sort of sleep his way to his

destination. He said while he's watching, you

know, trying not to make it obvious, the girl with Down

syndrome, she's got headphones on and she's drawing what have

you. She takes her headphones off and

turns them and says, do you brush your teeth?

She's like, yeah, I do, my girl. I do brush my teeth every day,

all the time. She's like, that's very good.

It's important to brush your teeth and you mustn't miss it.

Morning and evening. It's like, yes, my girl, I do.

That puts the headphones back on.

She's another world. He takes a quick glance at that.

The front door. Next thing the headphones are

off and she looks him. Do you smoke?

No, my girl, I don't smoke. I've never smoked.

Actually, no one in my family smokes.

That's not my smell, that's just smelling.

No, no, she's like, that's very good.

Because smoking can kill you. You mustn't smoke.

Thanks, Michael. Don't worry, I don't smack

headphones back on into own wall.

He looks up and as he looks up, there's some movement at the

front there, you know, the air hostesses are turning to the

door. He's like, please, no turns.

And she's looking at him again. Do you love Jesus says, oh, my

girl, I love him so much. Actually, you know what I do?

It's my privilege to tell people about how much Jesus loves them

and watch while they awaken to this idea and fall in love with

him over and over again. That's that's what I do.

So yes, to answer your question, yes, I love Jesus.

She's like, that's good because Jesus loves you and he loves me

and I love him so much too. Hitman's on back into Iron

World. He looks up and there's this guy

sitting right next to Big Boy Key and he looks like he's just

come out of a bar. His.

Yeah, life is he's a little punch drunk and then alcohol

drunk. It seems he's lost his owl seat.

But it's OK. He'll sort of snuggle up and

make his way. And all of a sudden he gets

these owls ask him if he brushes his teeth.

So he says, my my little friend over here wants to know if you

brush your teeth. He says, yes, my girl, I brush

my teeth. You know, she doesn't even put

the headphones on. She says straight back at him,

do you smoke? No, no, I don't smoke.

And again, do you love Jesus? And he leans back.

And the Milt said, like, the whole plane just got very dark.

And he said in this deep, rough, bitter voice, he said, no, no, I

do not. And Milt is sitting there.

He's like, yeah, he's just gone dark.

She won't look away. There's nowhere to look.

You know, do your thing past a man.

Yeah, they're like, yes, flip, this is going to be a long

flight. And then this guy said, but I

wish I did. And then he starts telling me.

He says how his life is falling apart, his business business

going, and he doesn't know if his marriage is going to make

Christmas. And he had the worst fight with

his daughter just before she went off to college, college.

And he says this, He said, I wish I just there was someone

who could help someone I could cry out to, someone who could

wade into this mess. And then he said this.

I just don't know how to get to him.

And then you spend the next two or three hours, three out just

how to get him because that Isle became aware.

I'm when I do not care and I'm Jonah when I'm unaware.

The right next to me is someone just wants to know how to get to

Jesus. And here I stand by someone

who's studied to tell you how to do just that.

But because I'm unaware, I just don't care.

And I sleep on the plane and the opportunity is missed.

I'm just like Jonah when I don't care when I'm unaware.

And I'm like Jonah I am Jonah when my life is devoid of prey.

Now that was the thing, and this is the thing I want to draw out

and leave you with because it really struck me as odd.

He doesn't pray entirety of the storm.

He doesn't pray. The sailors do.

Verse six, the captain went to Jonah and said, how can you

sleep, Radam? How can you, Radam and his

charge to Jonah, get up and call on your guard.

See, we see. We see where I was explaining to

you that the sailors were afraid.

The next thing it says and they cried out to their gods small G

but here he says you call out to your God capital G.

He recognized something that Jonah had resources that they so

desperately needed. But Jonah flat out refused to

bring his resources to be on the situation in the most simple but

yet most powerful thing and that is pray just refused to pray.

I don't know if you know this, but you are a priest.

The Bible talks about the priesthood of all believers,

which means that you and I are meant to be priests to the city.

You know the two primary roles of priests, firstly was to enter

the presence of God. That is your responsibility.

If you call yourself a Christian, you're a priest, and

your responsibility is to use that privilege of pressing into

the presence of God. Your second responsibility is to

take that presence to the people of the city.

Those were the two primary responsibilities of priests.

And then you're meant to take the needs of the people back

into the presence of God. But when Radalmus presence in

our hearts and tell me what to do, don't ask me about my quiet

time. I don't want to bring a Bible to

church. Then we've got nothing to take

to the people of the city because you don't really want to

go back there. You're not actually aware and

you don't care. So you've got nothing to take

into the presence of God. And so the fundamental purpose

of your place in this city is left on the sideline because of

radon. And someone said the other day

said if God were to answer all your prayers, they're talking

about prayer. We'll draw out a whole bunch

more over the next few weeks, but I want to draw out on this

one thing. If God were to answer your

prayers, like all the prayers that you prayed over the last

seven days. All right, Yeah.

I don't know. If you watch Bruce Almighty, he

becomes like God for a day and he gets all these prayer

requests emailed through to him and he just says yes to all.

If God were to do that for you, the prayers that you prayed over

the last seven days, would the city even notice?

I know you've just heard it. I've had to carry this all week

hilt. Would the city even notice?

And so I looked at my week. There would be hands that would

be blessed because they prepared food.

There would be one or two headaches that would be eased

and kids exams that would go better.

And I would have parked at all the best parking spots right by

the front door. If God had answered all my

prayers that I prayed in the last seven days and you, would

the city have featured in your prayers at all?

Does the city feature in my prayers at all?

Am I bringing my resources to bear access to the King of

Kings, the God who spoke all of existence into being with a word

I'm saying, Father this. You know why I'm not?

The Bible says from the overflow of your heart, your heart, the

mouth speaks the NRV. Actually, I like it.

The NRV says the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

There's nothing of the city in our hearts.

That's why the mouth speaks of what the heart is full of.

The heart is full of me, my needs, myself, obsessed,

absorbed, small, shrunken, introvert world.

Because my heart is full of that.

That's what comes out in prayer. And what we need, what this city

needs is for you and I to have an encounter with the presence

of God. See, don't hear what I'm not

saying. To use a lovely old phrase we

used to say every Sunday. Don't hear what I'm not saying.

The answer to this issue where I am Jonah is not more programs.

The answer to this issue that I am Jonah is the presence of God,

an encounter with God because the Bible says we are to love

the Lord our God with all our hearts, our minds, our strength

and soul and love our neighbor as ourselves.

And it begins here and encounter with the God who changes names,

the God who changes narratives so that we being transformed can

transfer it into our city. And so I want to call you

through TR to stand in the gap for the city begin there.

There are so many things in so many areas.

If there are two and a half thousand people here, there are

250,000 different iterations of how to actually wade into the

needs of the city that will come.

The way we need to start is an encounter with the living God on

our knees in prayer. Now I know men doesn't come

natural. You know, the last time you read

was when you left my trick and pray.

It's a very namby pamby kind of thing.

I know. Let me share this with you.

I was watching a movie after a Sunday night after preaching.

I like to watch something where everything gets destroyed.

There's bombs, you know, sort of like numb myself, you know that

all the stress and anxiety or whatever of a suddenly just go

into whether it's John Wick four or Mission Impossible or

something like that. You know, there needs to be lots

of guns, lots of explosions. And the one Sunday night I was

watching and there's a technology, I don't know many of

you know about this, but it's where you basically paint a

target with laser and you stand there, you've, you've been

cornered by the enemy, whatever the case might be.

And there's a machine gun nest and you paint that target with

your laser. And then they're able to send a

drone and the drone releases a missile and it's is centered on

the target that you're painting with A laser.

And the incredible technology is that you can use it an unmanned

drone. They have these machines that

basically sit behind you on wheels and they just wait for

you to paint a target and then they launch.

And the, the accuracy of that is sublime.

It's phenomenal technology, modern technology.

And I was watching that, and I suddenly realized that's exactly

what prey is. Men, could I ask you just paint

a target? Father, there's this person at

the office going through this situation.

Can I just paint that target? Can you send your presence?

Can you send the right things to say?

Can you send finances? Can you send a softening of her

husband's heart or whatever? Just just paint a target.

Just paint a target. Me.

As God shows you things in this city, can you and I paint the

target? Let's not be Jonah.

Let's be Jesus to the city and paint the target.

I'll close with this. The guy's name is TS Mooney.

I don't know if you've heard of him.

He's a tiny little book that's been published on TS Mooney.

And hunt it down. I see you writing me.

I'll spoil the punchline of the book.

But he was a, he was a very ordinary, inconspicuous British

man. He was a banker and he was a

bachelor, never got married. But when he got saved, he

decided he's going to get engaged with the church.

And so he went to them and asked, like, where do you need

help? And they said, well, actually,

we need help with Sunday school if it's not beneath you.

And he said, absolutely. He served in Sunday school for

50 years. TS Mooney And he had this little

class of young boys and he had this mission statement to the

boys. He said, I want to put a Bible

in every one of their hands, Jesus and every one of their

hearts and a purposeful life in every one of their heads.

And in the book, it tells of how a guy went to visit one of his

former Sunday school kids went to go visit him when he was in

the 70s. And he he's a British guy.

So he says the stodgy old home and he's wearing his slippers

and he sort of shuffles through. But he said, before you sit

anywhere, I want to take you through my, my showcase of

rogues. He used to call them rogues.

And on his walls, he had a picture of every single person

who'd been through his Sunday school, not as little boys, but

as men. And this guy tells how he can

recognize there are High Court judges and famous surgeons

who've pioneered new procedures, and there's high school teachers

and plumbers and and preachers and lawyers and many recognised

from Parliament. And he said, I pray for these

rogues every single day. He says I've been in constant

contact, just as I was with the youth talking to the guy who's

taken through his home, constant contact.

But most importantly, I always took them into the special

place. Their names were on my lips when

I went into the presence of God. And then he writes this.

He said he was challenged with this thought.

What is being built on the foundation of my prayers?

Generation of young men transformed.

Because he had been transformed, he could transfer it to the

power of prayer. And that is my question.

I will leave you with this. What is being built on the

foundation of your prayers? So he passes away.

The housekeeper, because he was a bachelor, finds him the next

day. He was dressed in a Sunday best,

on his knees. He had slumped on his bed.

He had passed away in pray. You see, it was morning, it was

time to pray and he was praying. And so the housekeeper goes to

find some of the neighbours, calls him, and as they lift him

off his bed, a little book falls had been opened, the book full

of names of people that he prayed for, these rogues.

He entered into the presence of God with their names on his

lips. It is a familiar place.

It was morning, it was time to pray and he was praying.

See, I'm Jonah and I just don't care.

I don't care because I'm in a way and I dare not become aware

because my life is devoid of prey.

But if we start there, if we begin in the presence of God,

the heart that he has for our city will become our heart.

And then we begin to have the faith and the grace to become

aware and to stir us to care. And in that place we become the

hands and feet for Jesus and our let me pray for us, and then

we're done. Heavenly Father, I just want to

bring this magnificent city of Pretoria before you.

Father, you know everything that goes on in every streets, in

every house, every home, every heart.

Lord, I pray that we would have an encounter with you of these

next few weeks that would radically transform us and

encounter in your presence where a heart for the city will be

birthed, where our narratives will be changed.

Where you will equip us with the grace of God that the gospel

would be on our lips, that we can do no other but share the

fresh bread that we have found. I pray for this great city we

would leave here, no longer as Jonah but as Jesus your hands

and feet, and that this city will be all the better for it in

Jesus name.