Who are you, Lord?

It's good. To be together, it's a.

I'm a pastor. I started writing.

I'm 54. They said you must never write

the book before you're 60. But I started writing last week

for the first time. But nobody will probably buy it.

But it doesn't really matter. It's actually called the tears

of a pastor. And in a world where there are

many apostles and there are many profits and there many, all

these things, these fancy gifts. I realized I'm actually just a

pastor. I actually just love people

very, very dearly. And so I was reading through the

book of Acts again, as you should have been doing over the

last few weeks, just reading it and reading it and reading it.

And I've gone over it and over it again, maybe this time four

or five times. I've read the book of Acts, and

the word that kept jumping out at me this week was the word

magistrate. And over and over again, you see

this word magistrate, and you realize that Christianity is in

court. And if they can't stop the life

of God and the growth of God and the spirit of God, they will put

it into the dock and they will try and charge it and put it

into jail. And over and over again you see

Paul or one of the apostles appearing either before the

magistrate or before the law court or before the spiritual

courts because they trying to squash Christianity and it's

impossible. It's impossible.

So I was just, I was contemplating my time.

I was in Royberg this week. I went to go and visit a guy

called Derek Kotzia, who started a little church that was

actually started by people in this church.

And they they went to Royberg and they started this little

church, Dionna, Natalie, and now it's being led by a guy called

Derek Kotzia. I've only been to court twice,

thank goodness, and neither time have I been in the dock yet.

Although I could be accused one day on the side.

Of a rugby. Field of doing something silly

and thundering somebody. But the first time I went to

court was for a young black guy who got drunk and shot at

policemen, and I had absolutely nothing in common with him

except that I went to the same school as him and so the the.

Headmaster phoned me and said this young guy is going to court

today. Will you go and represent him?

And I thought, I have nothing in common with him other than we

went to the same school. I remember sitting in that

courtroom and he was charged. He came up from the police

cells. He had been beaten up by the

police and he looked at me and I looked at him and I thought we

went to the same school. I'm old, you young, I'm white,

you're black. And he got charged and the

lawyer turned to me and he said because there was nobody else in

the courtroom, he turned to me and he said, well.

You pay his bail. And I kind of looked behind me

to think, well, who you talking to?

And I and I said yes, I'll pay his bail.

And I remember racing to the the the ATM machine and I drew the

money and when I raced back to the court and just before I got

out of my car, I had this money in my hand.

And. All of a.

Sudden the. Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paying my bail hit me. And I just started to weep.

And I said to this money in my hand, I just cried.

And I cried and I cried and I cried.

I couldn't even get out of my car.

And I and I could see myself in the dock and I could see the.

Lawyer turn towards. Jesus and say, will you pay

Rory's bail And Jesus saying yes, I'll pay it with my blood.

And every time I read this word magistrate.

In the book of Acts, I look at you, this beautiful group of

people, and I want to say to you, Jesus paid your bail, Jesus

paid your bail. And I think.

It's the best money I've ever spent.

I put the money down. I got into my car.

And for two or three days I. Could not understand.

I went into the leaders. Camp.

I couldn't stop crying. At the mercy that had been.

Given to me and I don't want to, you know.

We're going to one of the churches we might look at today

is the book of Corinth and and all these fancy guys get saved.

But if you read the book of Corinthias, it says and some of

you were swindlers and some of you were.

Homosexuals and. Some of you were scandalous and

some of you were. He just mentions the lowest form

of humanity and he says but God came to you.

And constantly I want to say you're welcome into this church,

swindlers and guys, you're welcome here.

You're going to preach the gospel to you.

We're going to. Love you.

We're going to care for you. And as a past, I'm going to weep

with you. So the Book of X is not some

kind of principle of how to win the world.

It's not some strategy of important people getting trained

up and planting fancy churches. Actually in the greatest church

planted in X is the church in Antioch.

And it just says some of them say some of them, there's just

some of them. Not not the guys in ministry,

just some of them say some of them took to the person next to

you said could be you. Could be you, it could be you.

And and what they tried to do, friends, you've heard me say,

they say try to control God in Jerusalem.

They tried to hold them down there.

The Jews try to keep him exclusive.

And God started breaking out and using different people.

Stephen and Philip and the and then they plant this church by

some of them called Antioch. And because Jerusalem wanted to

control God the spirit of God moves to Antioch planted by some

of them who never get a name. And from that church you and I

got touched. So friends, the church is a

member of this over and over again.

This is half time you're called to be a travel agent and an

insurance. Broker.

And a banker and a mother and an.

Educator and at. University to get your honors

degree because God wants to use you in another development

somewhere in the Middle East. This is just half time to get

filled up and to be encouraged. So the spirit of God is upon

you. People keep saying to me rodeo,

you really want not want us to come to the front.

I really don't want. You to come.

To the front, I want the person next.

To you to pray. And for everyone of you who went

to apologize to the screen guy, you got trapped, it was a setup

last week to show you that we're actually free.

The screen guy can put whatever screen he wants up.

We are called by God to do what God has called us to do.

It doesn't have to look the same.

The second time I was in court, friends was with the lady in

this in in this congregation, who was charged with something

that happened in a trust account.

And I'll never forget sitting next to the greatest.

Pastor I've ever. Met.

His name is Adrian Quinn. Live in, He leads a church done

in Stillenbash, and him and I were sitting together in the

back of the court. And we're both just crying

because whatever that judge said was going to.

Affect that whole family. And as his hammer came down, and

he said. Eight years in jail, I heard a

cry in the woman's heart. It was like, and it just got

deep into my soul. And Adrian burst out crying and

our burst out crying and I thought, this family's life will

never be the same again. But we met her son.

His name is Derek. Because we met her son in the

courtroom, he started coming to this church, and one day I

poured a bottle of oil. Over his head.

For those who. Weren't here.

We spoke about two brothers, the.

Kellogg's brothers, the. Kellogg's brothers had the

biggest court case in the history of corporate America

fighting over who had the rights for cornflakes.

So I took a bowl of cornflakes and I put it on the carpet and

we just walked the button and just crunched.

Just call. Imagine taking your brother to

court for cornflakes. You believe it, spending

millions of dollars on who owns the right to cornflakes.

But it says when your brothers do all together in unity, God

commands a blessed like oil. Poured over your head, running

down your beard. And this, like, had the best

beard. You Durban, I think you can grow

a beard. You can't, Pretoria.

I've got a gene, not a gene pant.

I just got a Jean and the Jean is.

To grow beards. And they sort.

Of like they. Stand here in church during

worship and they go like this. And Durban, they're on the beach

and they speed as they go, like. This Pretoria, we just do this

and and we poured that, we poured the oil.

Down and the oil. Went onto his.

His beard and then onto his clothes and people said, what

about his clothes? I said I'll buy new clothes.

But that man right now is leading a church.

In Royberg of 30 to 50 people because of a court case.

Because of a court case. You know what Caesar doesn't

know is that everything that happens in Acts is just the

foreshadowing of what's going to happen in heaven.

Because everybody in Acts, it took Christianity to court.

At the end of the day, Christianity is going to take

them to court. And Caesar's going to sit in the

dock and he's going to be accused of many things.

And then he's going to look for an advocate somewhere and think,

can you help me? And unless he has an advocate

in. Jesus, he will pay his bail.

He's in deep trouble. You and I have an advocate in

court. We have a family that despite

which way the court. Case goes we.

Believe that God can redeem it. And plant churches in Royberg.

You know, friends, Paul just says two things in the book of

Acts. I won't preach long.

What's the time? Oh, 13 minutes.

The book of Acts works like this.

We've been we've been trying to get to it.

It's got 6 sections. The first section is the

establishment of the church. Acts, chapter one to Act Chapter

6. And it's all about the full

time, guys. Then there's this amazing little

victory statement and X. The next part starts with

Stephen who's a part time guy takes takes the gospel out,

Stephen gets saved, Phillips starts operating and a guy

called Paul gets saved and his salvation gets mentioned three

times. X9X22X26 When a salvation is

mentioned three times, it's important you must read it, you

must understand it in X22HE asks 2 questions.

Who are you, Lord say. That with me.

What must I do? Who are you, Lord?

They said, Who are you? Lord, what must I do?

When I read that scripture, I realized that my job as the

leader is not to get people to do things.

My job as the leader is to show. Them Jesus.

He will get them to do things. Who are you?

Lord, what shall I do? That's the two questions Paul

asks, and it's the two questions you should ask yourself every

single day. You see, friends, I can try and

make you generous. Or I can show you that.

Jesus is generous. Who are you, Lord?

I'm a generous God. What shall I?

Do. Lord?

Andy asks. Will you be generous to my

church, Andy? Yes, Lord, I'll be generous to

your church. Who?

Are you, Lord God? I'm a prayer God.

What shall I do, Lord God? You should.

Pray. If we can do a 25 week series on

prayer, I can tell you all my stories on prayer, or I can show

you that Jesus is actually a prayer and if you understand

that, you'll become a prayer. Too, I've been.

Waiting a long time for you to come back to church.

It's been a while. You're welcome in this church.

You're you're welcome in this church.

I want to say that I met your dad on the beach.

That's how he came to this church.

We talked about everything but Jesus on the beach and

eventually he came here. I don't know when last you came

here, but I want to say in front of your mum and dad, who I love

very dearly, you're welcome in this church.

I will love you. I will look after you.

I will weep with you. I will.

Walk with you. I will celebrate with you.

You're a beautiful man and it's great to see.

You here? I don't know why you're here

today. X has got many different layers

to it. Many many layers.

But I thought today I just need to tell you.

I'm not an apostle. And I'm not a prophet, but when

the judge's hammer goes down. I will cry with you, and I will

pray with you, and I'll walk with you, and I will love you,

and as best as I know how, I'll try.

And show you. Jesus.

When he took up an offering for Marissa for her wedding, the

girl who led worship today, so beautiful Marissa.

I was walking down trying to get out here and I met a couple

right here, so right here, and he said, will you marry me?

I said they're two major problems.

The first one is I'm already married and the second one I

don't want to marry you, but if you want me to do your wedding,

I can do it gladly. And so I did their wedding

yesterday. But the first time we met I

asked them a set of questions and I said.

I don't want you to be embarrassed.

I want to ask you the questions so that you can bring it into

the light so that you can get healed.

Did you hear what that man said? 50 years, 50?

Years I hid. Things that I did when I was

younger because I was too embarrassed.

Bring it into the light. Bring it into the light.

God will pay your bail. We'll stand with you through

your sentencing and the implications of that.

And we'll cry with you if you need it.

I haven't got to my notes, I. Don't know what I'm saying, but

I just want to. I just felt I need to stand here

today and say when I heard that gavel come down in the courtroom

and I heard that Lady cry, I realized my job was to cry with.

People who cry. And the church that I wanted to

build. Would be a church for broken

people that can get healed. And be set free and be loved.

Who are you? Lord God, I am the judge.

What must I do? Come under my blood.

Who are you? Lord, I'm generous.

What should I do? Be generous.

Who are you? Lord, I'm a prayer.

What shall I do? Pray.

Who are you? Lord, I'm forgiving.

What shall I do? Forgive.

Who are you? Lord, I'm merciful.

What shall I? Do be merciful.

Who are you, Lord? I am whole.

What shall I do? Be healed?

Who are you? Lord, I'm kind.

What shall I do? Be kind.

Who are you, Lord? I see what?

Shall I do, Lord God? Look, look, I went out.

Andy sent me an SMS. He just said sorry buddy, we're

running late, so I just went out.

I thought maybe I could catch them and as I.

Went out. There was a lady standing at the

pillow there, just crying. And I thought Andy was late

because that girl needed a pastor to see her and just cry

with her. I'm not unprepared.

I can teach you about the six. Cities that Paul.

Touched from X chapter. 16 to X Chapter 19 I can tell you how

you. Went back to.

Jerusalem in X19 and retraced. These steps all the way to Rome.

In X20. Eight.

I can teach you those things today, but I want to tell you

this. I have a Savior who cries.

I have a savior who cares? I have a savior who loves.

God bless you.