God so Loved the World

Deutsche Übersetzung    Traduction Française

Report on Easter Conference, Romania, Detlef Stegen

We were invited for the Easter Conference in Voiteg, Rumania. Thank you for your prayers. About 40 people visited the Voiteg Mission for the first time. They were Christians with a hunger and zeal to seek and find a life with Christ. People accepted God’s word and examined their lives because they did not want to miss out on what the Lord intended for them. After the services some wept, others came with their partners to make things right that displeased God. They were able to unburden themselves of sin and disunity and return home having experienced renewal.

It is wonderful to experience God’s Spirit at work and to be amongst people who are not only hearers but doers. We thank the Lord for His working. It reminds me of the beginning of the revival. The people send many greetings and love. They have warm hearts that wish to be here with us. We in turn, passed on your love and greetings to them.

Mr Jabulani Dube

John 3:16 – 21

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

This word is the Bread of Life. Is the Word of God the Bread of Life to you? Maybe you do not read the Bible for a week or weeks, you may even have to dust your Bible off before you read it.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Do we fit into this category “world”? We say the world is corrupt; the world is filled with violence, atrocities, murder, striking; things are bad in the world. But the world is people, with the trends and styles. The world enters the churches, the world enters children and ministers of the Gospel, but Jesus was sent. The Father sent Jesus to give His life that we should not perish. If we do not believe in this Son that God gave – His only begotten Son, we will perish. If somebody gives you a gift you accept it as such. We have been given the Son so that we can accept him. If we believe this, it is wonderful but we despise this grace if we do not believe. If we have accepted the Son then it is wonderful, but if we push Him aside, we remain in death and destruction. Often when Jesus walked this earth He said, “Your faith has made you well.”

We will have eternal life if we believe. Eternal life is not found on the other side of the grave – you need to find it this side. If we believe we have everlasting life then we must live for the Lord, otherwise we will perish.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. If our lives do not portray that belief in Him then we are already condemned.

God sent His only Son. He was crucified on a cross and through His blood we can be saved. Jesus can change lives through His Holy Spirit all over the world. Evil spirits and demons wish to darken the minds of people so that they cannot grasp things. If the Word penetrates the heart, then a man realises his lost state and his need to be washed in the blood and be saved.

20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” There are people who hate the light. They do things in the dark, when the lights are switched off. Some love the darkness when they can steal chickens or goats – rob cars or break into them. They love the darkness even in the daylight. May the Lord help those who have lived such a life that you might come to the light and be helped out of this evil. God helps those who expose things and bring them to the light.

When you are at home read Genesis 22 from verse 1. Abraham had a son, Isaac. God told him to take his son and go to a place that God would show him. He took the donkey, firewood, his son and his servant. When they neared the place, God said, “That is the place that I showed you”. Take note. It is important to listen to what God says if He sends you. If He says you must make something right – listen. Abraham obeyed God. He told his servant to wait there and that he would go on further to worship. His son asked, “Father, where is the sacrifice? Where is the offering we will bring? There is no sheep.” Abraham’s response was, “The Lord will provide.”

I do not think Abraham explained to his wife what he was going to do. She would have exclaimed – ‘Our only son? After having prayed for so long? After receiving him in our old age?’ I think he just told his son to come along. Abraham was successful because he closed his mouth – he didn’t say anything because of his obedience to God. Then Abraham built an altar. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar. Nowadays this would be the worst type of child abuse, but the child did not open his mouth. He seemed willing to be sacrificed. Abraham raised his arm to kill his son but an angel stopped him and said, “Wait, we see that you are obedient to God. We see that you have not withheld your only son. When God instructed you to do it, you did not withhold even your son.”

Obedience to God sometimes comes at a high price but you see the fruit of it in the future. People will recognise you as a man of God because you obeyed even in difficult circumstances. Today we speak of Abraham who was willing to deny his own son. We speak of God who gave His only Son that we might be saved. Abraham took his only son and said, “I will drive this knife into him because I do it in obedience to God.” The son did not cry out. If God instructs you to make things right, do it. When God began working in our lives, it was not difficult for us to drive to Johannesburg or Durban to apologise for things we had said or done. There was no place too far away. We had to do it in obedience to Him.

Michael Ngubane

Conclusion
God so loved the world. Why?  Why should He love us? In our state? As evil as we are? We who have such bad thoughts brewing in us? We who cannot forgive and are filled with sin – why did He love us so?

He who believes in Him will live but if you do not believe, you are dead. The result of disbelief is death. We have heard how much it cost God. Abraham is a wonderful example of this. His son, Isaac is a wonderful example. No wonder God blessed Isaac. He was a different kind of son, a willing son, who did not hold a grudge against his father because of what he did but he knew the instruction was from God. He respected the deed of his father because he realised that his father never did things out of his own, he followed  instructions.

How will you give your life without believing? First, you must accept and believe that this is God’s word. I accept God’s deed then wait attentively for the next instruction and the next step. The Bible says that this is the judgement that came into the world that the people did not believe the Word. May the Lord help us to take this Word with us and that we learn obedience to God at all times.

The KwaSizabantu Choir