Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “God’s Mercy and Grace.” One day God said to Prophet Jonah, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”(Jonah 1:2) Nineveh was filled with evil as the capital of a strong country, Assyria that threatened Israel. Despite the fact, God did not want the people of Nineveh to face His judgment. Thus He wanted the Prophet Jonah to go to Nineveh and let people know that God’s judgment was drawing near. Jonah 1:2 says, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” However, Jonah’s heart was different from God’s heart. Jonah wanted Nineveh to face judgment and perish. Even though he knew God’s will toward Nineveh, he boarded the boat that was bound for Tarshish to rebel against God’s will. Jonah 1:3 says, “But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.” I can understand a little what Jonah felt at that time. In 1978, the Holy Spirit ordered me for the Japan missions. At that time I traveled America and Europe to preach the gospel. So I committed the Japan mission to the late Rev. Jashil Choi and tried to preach the gospel to many other countries than Japan. When God told me, “I have chosen you to preach the gospel to Japan,” my heart was not comfortable. A few days later, Japanese pastors invited me to Japan so I went there and found that more than a thousand Japanese pastors gathered together. When I went up to the pulpit to preach a sermon, suddenly my childhood hurt flashed back in front of me. When I was a little child, we were forbidden to speak Korean in our primary school. When my teacher saw me speak Korean instead of Japanese, he pulled me out of the classroom and got rid of my clothes and bit me so hard that I became bloody all over my body. And he let me stand in the corridor to be watched by other students. As those horrible memories came up out of my heart, simultaneously those threatening images of Japanese military policemen who brandished guns and swords across the town and the miserable images of brothers and sisters of our neighbors who were driven to the battlefield began to be seen. At these painful memories I trembled and a great rage began to rise in my heart. I couldn’t say anything for five minutes and then I gathered a courage and said, “I hate you all! I really want you to be destroyed!” Then the audience at the hall began to stir. I continued to speak. “Whenever I heard that Japan was suffering from typhoon or earthquake, I always felt relieved and joyful. I had a great hurt in my childhood due to Japanese invasion. If God did not heal my past hurt, I could not preach anymore.” I started to weep loudly at the pulpit. Then many Japanese pastors began to cry out across the hall and some of them jumped up to the pulpit and asked me forgiveness. They said, “Pastor, please forgive us. As we are a new generation that doesn’t know anything about the war, we have never been taught about the war at school. Now we ask your forgiveness in behalf of our parents’ generation. Please forgive our Japanese faults.” At this I knelt down and began to pray. “God, my heart is filled with hate toward Japan. How can I preach the gospel with this evil heart and mind?” Then the gate of heaven was suddenly opened in front of me and a big hand came down to pull something out of my head and took it away! Then all the hate was gone and the love toward Japanese filled my heart instead. With that great love, I preached to them more than two hours. So I experienced the same feeling of Jonah who had refused to go to Nineveh. At that time Israel suffered much due to Nineveh so Jonah thought that Nineveh deserved God’s harsh judgment. When Jonah went board the ship that was bound for Tarshish, he faced God-sent storm and was thrown into the sea. However, God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and saved Jonah who repented inside the fish. Jonah 2:1-2 says, “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: ‘In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.’” After God delivered Jonah from inside the fish, He gave him a second chance. Jonah 3:1-2 says, “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’" The word of God came to Jonah a second time. It meant that God forgave the disobedient Jonah and gave him another chance to fulfill his calling. Today if many people make mistakes or fail in their lives, they think that it is the end of the world and give up everything. However, our God always gives a second chance to us. Everyone can fail or make a mistake. However, we must realize that our lives will be different depending on whatever choice we make after failure. There are Peter and Judah among Jesus’ disciples. Judah committed suicide after having handed over Jesus at the cost of thirty silver coins. On the contrary, even though Peter denied Jesus three times, but he finally chose repentance. What was the result? Judas who chose suicide has been known as a rascal who sold Jesus, but Peter who chose repentance overcame despair and fulfilled his calling as an leading apostle of the Early Church. What God wants is not the destruction of the evil people but their salvation through repentance. Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” Therefore, we should come before God without missing the opportunity of repentance. Jesus said in Luke 15:7 as follows, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.“ God is still waiting for those who repent and come to Him now. Through the incident of Jonah’s deliverance from inside of the big fish, God wanted him to know and understand God’s heart. God forgave Jonah who disobeyed Hi word, but gave him another chance to carry out his calling as a prophet. To give the Ninevites a chance to repent, God wanted Jonah to understand His heart and will. When Jonah survived from inside of the fish, he went to Nineveh and proclaimed God’s message to them. Then the Ninevites began to fast and turned from their previous evil ways. Jonah 3:5 says, “The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” God called off His judgment when He saw their repentance. Jonah 3:10 says, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” Nevertheless, Jonah was greatly upset at this. He made himself a shelter at a place east of the city, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Jonah 4:1-3 says, “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, ‘O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.’" Even though God stopped His judgment, Jonah still wanted Nineveh to perish. Nowadays there are many people who become a judge and insist, “You deserve judgment!” In their judging and condemning hearts, they still think, “I am righteous while you are evil!” However, we are all sinners before God. To Jonah who made a shelter and waited for the destruction of Nineveh, God provided an event to make him realize His gracious heart. Then God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine because it made him cool despite a scorching sun and hot wind. While he was enjoying the vine, but overnight a worm chewed the vine so that it withered. God used this tiny worm to teach Jonah. God can use whatever He wants to teach us. Then Jonah was very upset so that he wanted to die. But God said to Jonah, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" Our God is gracious and compassionate. Psalm 103:8-9 says, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever.” 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish. Today we are seating here because of the love of God who is patient. If He had not been patient with us, we would have been perished already. When Peter asked Jesus, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" (Matthew 18:21) Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”(Matthew 18:22) There is no limit to forgiveness. We must forgive like this because God has already forgiven us without limit. Our God is a good God. When I first planted a church at Bulkwang-dong, I was so chilly in my body, heart, and livelihood. We had worship services while spreading rice sags and sitting on them. I was in despair due to no believer except our family members. Our bedroom was so cold and our table was always empty. Even then the Holy Spirit made me realize the love of Jesus’ cross so I felt so desperately the good Lord. After I realized that God is a good God, I could always feel that God was still a good God even though I sat in the tent church or at the empty table without any food. After understanding God’s love, we can be more than conquerors no matter how difficult and hard our situation may be. Above all, we must understand God’s heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Our God wants us to prosper spiritually, materially, and physically and to have life to the full. Through this truth God made me realize the Fivefold Gospel and the Threefold Blessing and I have received His grace through His word for eternity.