SAVED FROM SIN – Engagement Estelle Girondel and Etienne Theron

Choir Sings

Rev J Dube

The Bible says when two or three are gathered in My name I will be with them.

As you saw the choir, many have gone out to preach in the different branches.  There is also a team that went to the USA and they are on their way back.

Today we are privileged that we are visited by the praise singer of His Majesty the King of the Zulus who is here with us, and he has not come alone. We are honoured to welcome them. Remember how the Tongaat River received its name – King Shaka was going with his warriors, and they were very thirsty and tired, they arrived at this insignificant river and King Shaka said: you are now important because of us (in Zulu Uthonghathi), therefore we have the anglicised name Tongaat.

This morning is the engagement service of a young man and young woman, can Etienne Theron and Estelle Girondel come forward.

Do you notice that I am standing between them. Why? This is not the wedding day, and I symbolise the separation between them till their wedding day. This is what Rev Stegen taught us, to help us stay pure. For those who are new in our midst and do not know, our young people do not flirt, they do not send each other messages, there is no contact between them, they don’t even discuss what they must wear on the engagement day in order to match their outfits. They will not meet after the engagement either, having lunch together, going to the coffee shop, nothing like that. He will not even look for an opportunity to greet her and meet her somewhere “per chance”. That is because we strive to live a holy life.

(handing over of the ring)

By giving her this ring Etienne says to Estelle that he will keep himself pure until their wedding day and that he will not even look at someone else. Let us pray with them and ask for the Lord’s blessing upon them.

I saw the father of the young man recently. I asked him, since your son is getting engaged to a French girl, will he now learn French? He said, yes. Then he told me that their ancestors were French, so they are going back to their roots.

There are also others who are joining in on this service from overseas, Rev Koller and others with him, also Estelle’s parents, they will be watching. Estelle is uncle Ferny Jaegle’s granddaughter who is from France. I don’t know how happy he would have been to have seen his grandchild getting engaged like this, but I am sure that in heaven there is rejoicing. The Lord does unexpected things. Estelle did not expect to get engaged or married now, however, the Lord confirmed that it was His will when she prayed about it, after Etienne shared with his mentor or counsellor that he felt it was God’s will that he should marry Estelle. They didn’t have a relationship before, they didn’t even visit each other. They want to walk on the highway of holiness.

Now we are getting close to Christmas. These young people are getting engaged in December. I prayed and said, Lord, what word do you have for them and the congregation since they are getting engaged in this month of December.

In Zulu there is a proverb that says, you get the best stick if you fetch it from a far country. If you want a good stick, you won’t look to find the easiest one, if you want a good wife, you go very far and fetch her from there. That is a good stick. But God can do it differently, where He can indicate someone close by, and then that saying is nullified. We strive not live according to tradition, but according to God’s will.

I am so glad that all young people can have this example before them, that they can see a more excellent way to get married. Not that a young man approaches the young lady himself and says, I want to marry you, are you prepared for it, can I speak to your parents about it, no we don’t do it like that. The young man will go to his counsellor and share what has been laid on his heart, saying, please pray with me that if it is from God that it will come to fruition, and then when he is sure that it is God’s leading, the counsellor approaches the girl, and only if she prays and feels the same, will the engagement take place. Sometimes it does happen that the girl will say ‘no, I don’t believe it is God’s will’, and then it is a ‘no’.

It is a wonderful, more excellent way that God led Rev Stegen. Because if there should be difficulties and snags in the future, the couple knows that they each decided to get married after praying for guidance. I sought God’s will; nobody forced it on me and so I will make the best of it. I, nor does anyone in leadership, do not hint to a young person that there is someone they should marry. We do not arrange marriages.

We will turn to God’s word and read from Matthew 1.

Matthew 1:18 – 20  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. ²⁰ But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

An angel appeared to Mary and said she would have a Son and His name should be Jesus. She asked how it was possible that she, as a virgin, would have a child? In those days there were young girls who were pure virgins, as we still find such girls and young men today.

When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he considered how to divorce her quietly. That was when the angel appeared to him and said he should not be afraid to take her as his wife. He was an upright man. Can you imagine what must have gone through his mind when he saw that Mary was with child. In Thessalonians we read that we must build each other up, not harm one another, rather encourage one another. That is what Joseph was considering when he did not want to shame her, but divorce her quietly.

It happens that you meet a wife and ask her where her husband is. Her answer can show what their relationship is like, as she may respond, ’I don’t know, he is gallivanting somewhere’; or where is your child, you get the same type of answer. You ask, did he not say where he is going? Her answer: ‘no, that’s what he is like, he just goes off’. That is a tragic situation. You may ask the wife where her husband is as he was expected at a meeting, her answer shows the respect or lack of respect there is between them. And it can also show how she was taught by her mother how to honour her husband. Usually, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Let’s return to verse 21. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

It is amazing that Mary also got that message that she would bear a son, that he would save His people from their sin. That was the purpose for which Jesus was born, to save His people from their sin. What a wonderful thing that such a thing happened which we celebrate at this time of the year; Jesus left the splendour of heaven, to come down into this filthy world to save us, you and I, from our sin. We must never forget that we belong to Jesus and He came to save us from our sin. We Zulus grew up where it was said that religion and going to church is for women. But when God’s word touched us and worked in our hearts, we realised that Christianity, faith, is for all people.

Don’t ever say that this is not for me, I am created for hell. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but that the world, and you too, will be saved. Believe Him and repent so that you may be saved to escape eternal damnation. Here he is told this amazing mystery that she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.

Verse 22,23  So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Immanuel – God with us. You see, if we have received the Lord Jesus, then He is with us in everything. So whatever should come our way, nothing should get us down or conquer us, because He is with us.

When the angels appeared to the shepherds, we see how it is typical of how God works, He reveals Himself to the insignificant people, who think nothing of themselves. As soon as you see your own importance, God cannot work through you, especially if you persist with your sins.  That is how God is, He works through those who see themselves as nothing. He sent the angels to them, imagine the Heavenly host in its glory came to them praising God. If you see yourself as someone important.

Luke 2:8-10  ⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

It was touching to me that God wanted to work through these despised people. When the angel appeared to them, he said what we read in verse 10.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Child that was born and visited by wise men, the Magi that came from the east. They followed the star, lost it awhile and found it again. When they found the Child, they bowed and worshiped It and brought It gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

When you speak to the King of kings, shut your door, go on your knees, knowing that you are speaking to the King of kings in humility. Can you imagine this Child, how great He must be if those kings bowed down to Him and the whole angelic host came down and brought glory to God because of His birth.

When you receive the gift of being able to believe, you don’t know what you are going to meet up with. When the angel brought the message to Mary, the angel did not say in detail what He would meet up with, good things and terrible things, people who praised Him would, after that, betray and crucify Him.

Maybe she would have refused and said – no I don’t want that to come on me that I will give birth to a child that will be crucified. The same with us who have received the Lord Jesus, we do not know what our challenges will be in the future. Our way in life is sometimes uphill, steep, sometimes downhill and slippery; our way can go in so many diverse directions because we walk with Jesus. When we walk with Him there are many things about us that people will not understand.

If a young man decides to part from his life with prostitutes and drinking strong drink, he will lose his friends, because they do not understand it and will even go against him. Likewise, a woman will meet up being misunderstood and she may have never reckoned with such reactions. With Mary and Joseph, they did not know they would meet up with this. You would be very happy if you would get the message that your child will be a great preacher, however, it is good for us to understand that this Child was born to save us from our sin. We who claim to be saved, have we been saved from our sin and can people testify to that if they see us?

When people came to the Lord Jesus with their various needs, whatever diseases, He would then say, your faith has made you well. When you have time read Titus 2 from verse 11, where it speaks about this grace through which we have been saved, and it says it is training us to live self-controlled and godly lives in this present age.

We grew up in a time when women and girls didn’t walk around, even in town, on their own. Even if a child was sent on an errant, it didn’t go on its own as we see happening nowadays. Young men and women go off in their cars at 2am and go on their own, how times have changed!  As Christians we need to live cautiously, to be afraid of doing wrong. Like Joseph, although he was alone, he feared to sin against God. May we be like that.

That is what you read in Ephesians 2:8. If you have been given a gift, you should treat that gift ever so carefully. Like an egg, because you know that if it had to fall, it would shatter into pieces. You as a young girl, treat your purity and virginity like a fragile egg, guard over it lest you lose it. In the same way your faith, when you have received that gift and salvation, treat it like a fragile egg lest it break into pieces. Do you still have the gifts of the Holy Spirit that you had in the beginning when you first repented?

When God started working at Maphumulo, one day while Rev Stegen was preaching, Baba Khwela, who was a young man whose walk with the Lord was evident, saw 3 words suddenly appear on the wall, ‘test and prove’.  He shared it with Rev Stegen who realised that God was speaking through this young boy. (Prove/Test all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 Thess 5:21) Since then they were testing and proving what they were hearing and seeing, by the Word and whether it went into fulfilment, to see if it was from God or not. In the same way all of us believers must test and prove if what we are busy with in our families and wherever we are, is good. You may not exclude yourself from this scripture verse.

If you apply Scripture to your life, you will not bring shame on the Name of Jesus. You will be reconciled with those with whom you hadn’t had a good relationship. People will see in you how a true believer of Christ lives like, talks and acts. Then your change will be evident as with Zaccheus, the people who knew him were shocked at the change and how he, as a cheater, was reconciled to them. We need that Christianity today.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – 18. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation

When I feel that I need to be reconciled with God or man, then that shows that God is working. Let God do the complete work, because some people apologise by baking a cake or giving you a gift like a tie. Not the words that are needed, but a silent present with a smile, maybe. That is not apologising or reconciliation, admit your guilt towards that person and ask for forgiveness. The cake or tie will not do that work.

I have a van standing outside. A few years ago, I saw that it had a dent where someone had bumped into it. After asking around a bit I found out what had happened. Then, a bit later, I received a gift of a tie from the person who had caused the dent. No apology, just a gift and that was the end of the matter. I realised that that person still needed Jesus to reveal Himself to them.

Another time. I had asked a girl for some water to wash a car, and she responded by grabbing me by my shirt and pulling me around. I did not respond by getting angry or upset, I didn’t even retaliate, but afterwards I went to Rev Stegen and told him that I had experienced that day that I had truly become a Christian, because if I had not been truly saved, I would have retaliated and possibly kicked her. I realised too, that she still needed Jesus.

When we came here to the mission, Rev Stegen called us, we were 6 of us staying with him. He said, we need to be like ripe oranges. People will come and they will throw things into the tree to make the oranges fall down so that they can eat them; they must not find stones when they look for oranges. He said, co-workers, no matter what people do to you, be like that. Drop those fruits, oranges that are sweet, nothing else.

Baba Khwela told us how somebody was walking along and then said to him, you are just ignoring me! Baba Khwela was devastated and crying about that and I said, don’t worry, that person is not yet saved, but needs a sweet orange. So you can see that we have come a long way and Rev Stegen taught us many life lessons which we treasure.

Mary and the disciples didn’t threaten to stop following Jesus because of how he was treated, eventually being crucified. No, it strengthened their faith in Him. Mistreatment must not take us away from God, it must bring us closer to Him.

Once, when Rev Stegen was at Ladysmith, before we came here to Kwasizabantu someone held a service. He used an illustration of a bottle full of clear water and everyone agreed that it was drinkable, but then he showed that there was a layer of dirt at the bottom of the bottle. He then shook the bottle, and the water became dirty and undrinkable. He said that we can be wonderful people, but if someone steps on our toe or irritates us somehow and we become angry or upset, we become undrinkable water for the people around us. That happens if we allow dirt, sin, to stay in our hearts. And if your parent speaks to you or sends you and you get upset, irritated and angry, there is dirt there.

So, thank you to these two young people for choosing this way. You have been an example to us, may you continue in that manner till the day of your wedding.

M Ngubane

These wonderful glad tidings that the shepherds received, when those angelic hosts came down to them in the fields, we have also heard again today. Heaven could not remain silent, they all celebrated the glad tidings of the One that was born, the Saviour of mankind.

The amazing thing is, that this salvation that came so many years ago, is the same salvation for us today. The grace proclaimed at that time is the grace we proclaim today. That message received by those at that time can be received by us today.

May God have mercy on us and help us. At the end, Baba Dube, illustrated with that bottle of water. If you look at it, it looks pure and clean – but at the bottom there is dirt. And then you just shake it up a little bit – what happens, the water becomes murky and dirty, why? All that dirt has risen to the top.

So, if God shakes you, He is giving you the opportunity to put right those things that are unclean – deal with it.