Stand before the Lord and go forward – Ministers’ Conference 2025

Dr Róbert Molnár, Hungary

Dear brothers and sisters, I am unworthy to stand before you. I have heard such fantastic words that made me think I was attending my own funeral. Christians tend to overvalue things. The best solution to that problem is to look at the mirror that God has for us.

Twelve years ago was the first time that I came to KwaSizabantu Mission. There were 2 things that impressed me most and which did not even include God's Word. When we arrived late at night, I was impressed by the radiant faces of those who served. The other things were the new songs. Do you know what I got to understand even before the services started? We must sing new songs to the Lord. Our lives must be songs to the Lord and they must be new songs to Him. If not then it is useless to be here altogether.

The reason we are here today, is to be present at the great funeral where we must bury our ego, our Christian pride, our sins and all other things that separate us from God. How will you go home from here? Are you also a person who preaches about money and not about heaven or are you one like that small Zulu girl whom I got to know 12 years ago, as far as I remember, during a sermon of Rev Erlo Stegen. The preacher said that this young girl became converted and started a new life. She had a new fire. This girl understood what many adults do not understand. God did not send us into the church itself, but God placed us in the world, so that as the world that is getting darker and darker, we should be light. It does not matter how small you think your light is, shine with that little light and our country will become better. This girl got onto a train. Opposite her sat a very serious gentleman who was formally dressed in a dark tie and a dark suit. Because she was pressed by the love of Christ, this young girl asked the man opposite her, “Sir, do you know the Lord Jesus?”
He replied, “I am a theologian.”
The girl became frightened but asked again, “Sir, do you know the Lord Jesus?”
The man replied again, raising his voice a little, “I am a theologian.”
The girl spoke again, “Uncle, I don’t know what theologian means, but the Lord Jesus can even deliver you from that.”

I mention this because I am no theologian myself. I have not done a course in a Bible school but God in His wonderful simplicity started to teach me. When I asked my pastor whether I should enrol for a course in a Bible school, he held his head and said, “Forget it. Don’t you ever think about it because they would kill what is in you already.”

The reason we are here is that God might deliver us from whatever holds us captive and enslaved. We should pray that God delivers theologians from their theology. Instead of theology, there should be righteousness and love. Notice the poor person, the orphan, the down and out.

The prophet Isaiah is not only my favourite prophet but he was also the favourite prophet of Jesus and the disciples. He is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament. His name means “The Lord delivers.” Isaiah was not only a prophet but also a poet and a politician. He did not live in an ivory tower, isolated. He did not sit in a comfortable armchair. He did not even have a certain rented seat in the church. He was the adviser to the kings of Judah. Here I would like to draw your attention to the following, as a politician. I warn you of the false theology that ‘Christians cannot be politicians because politics is an evil business. What fellowship has holiness with evil?’ You yourself said the other day that your prime minister was a Christian man. If this is the case, may God bless him.

There was a Dutch prime minister in Europe. His name was Abraham Kuyper. He was also a reformed pastor. When he saw societal decay, he launched a political party and he spoke about the righteousness of Christ in the political arena. If you say, “We don’t get involved in politics, we are Christians,” then what you show the devil is, “Here, have it for yourself. This is your place; it does not belong to the righteous.” How do you Christians think your countries will improve? How can our societies become more righteous if Christians stand back and do not get involved. I am not saying that you should get involved in party politics. What I am saying is, ‘Shine.’

I was very young when I was invited to the United States of America to study the American presidential election campaign. What was interesting was not what I saw but what happened afterwards. Our American friends invited us to a garden party where we sat and talked, chairs in a circle. I have a bad habit, sooner or later I tilt the chair back and forth and as I leaned back, I fell into a bush. Do you know what happened? A thousand bugs flew out of this bush. These bugs had lights so the bush looked like a Christmas tree. 16 years passed and I understood the message of this event. If God shakes the bush, if God shakes the church, then the members of that church must fly out of the bush and shine.

Do you know when revival will come? When our lights touch each other’s lights. Are you shining? Just answer this question honestly, are you shining? Brothers and sisters, those tiny bugs did not shine inside the bush, but outside the bush. Christians must not shine inside the church, but outside. Has God shaken your temple, your bush? If this has not yet happened, my prayer for you is that it should. The world is not interested in what is happening inside your churches, but they are looking for people who are honest, decent and trustworthy. Are you such a person? When the world sees you, they do not see pickled cucumbers, but lively people of hope who have hope for the future.

The reason I like the prophet Isaiah is because he was not ready to sacrifice responsibility on the altar of popularity. He did not strive to become popular, a person who agrees with and approves of sin and who will just pat us on our shoulders. He was a responsible person. This world was not put into the hands of our evil politicians, but into your hands. Are you living up to this, your responsibility?

Isaiah served in a royal court. He served four different kings, but he was not subservient to the kings. We have a King, the living Lord Jesus. We are His obedient servants. This is the vertical part of the cross. When you are obedient and you go where God sends you. The horizontal part of the cross is what God says amen to. Are you a servant of Christ or a coward? Do you compromise? Are you lukewarm? Jesus says that He will spit you out of His mouth. Isaiah served under four kings. The fourth king was Manasseh. He was the evillest of them all. So what did the prophet do? He represented God’s truth and righteousness. “You should not kill the infant.” You know how this played out? The king had the prophet sawn in two. If our mission is not a deadly mission then do not call yourself a Christian.

During the time of Isaiah there was wealth in the country. Do you know what the price of wealth was? While there were riches, most of the people were in abject poverty. The prophet who sees the invisible, chided and criticized the king and the people, he also rebuked them and warned the neighbouring nations that trouble was coming. Can God use you to be a trumpet in His hand? He could use Isaiah. He could use Rev Erlo Stegen. He also used Jan de Bruin and his wife. I said, “Lord, I want to be like them.” When I visited the graves of Rev Erlo Stegen and Iris de Bruin, we put our hands together and gave thanks to God for our forefathers who went before us in the faith. Do you know what our only heritage can be? That our lives preach after our deaths. This is the kind of life that the world around us is longing for. When the world sees you, do they see this kind of a person?

Are you perhaps a little too big for God to use you? God is not looking for rhinoceros and mammoths but the shining little bug.

There was a frail little old lady in Hungary. She weighed less than 60 kg, including the bed she lay on. Do you know strong this woman was? When she preached the word, strong men were crushed. There was life and fire in her. Do you know what she said? A Christian should grow downwards like the tail of a cow.

This conference will end later today. The five chapters in the book of Isaiah came to an end. What are the five chapters in your life which closed tonight? If you return home with just your religion that will mean your death. Strive for righteousness, not for religiousness.

The theme of the conference is, Lord, send me. I would like to expound on something from God's word. Isaiah’s life was fantastic. It was not a worthless life. For instance, in Isaiah 1:23 he was true to himself and more importantly he was true to God when he said, “Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves. They all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the case of the fatherless; the widow’s case doesn’t come before them.” Pastors can you speak with such openness and clarity about the problems of society? Isaiah was able and he also dared to do it because his calling came from God. If God’s call is also yours, you must do the same thing. Do not strive to be popular but responsible.

From this mountain, you will not return the way you came. The Cross stands at the cost of the precious blood of Jesus. Leave it here. Today a funeral. If you do not bury your sins and all that separates you from Christ, you will be buried with them.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” Isaiah 6:1
I meditated on this question: Why did Isaiah have this vision at the time that King Uzziah dies? Possibly when you start a new commission from God, somebody else needs to be removed out of your way. Who keeps the Lord out for you?

I was a mayor of our village for 22 years. During this period, I held the funerals of about 200 people. One of the funerals was really special. The deceased was a man. Many people stood outside the chapel and then God spoke to my heart and pointed out his wife to me and said, “Give her something to drink.” I knew the way round so I went inside, poured water into a glass and gave it to her as she stood by the open casket. She drank the water and I went out. Then the funeral procession proceeded to the grave. God spoke again, “Give her something to drink.” But I said, “Lord, I have already done it.” When the funeral was over and I was at home, God spoke, not just once, “Give her something to drink.” So that afternoon my wife and I visited the widow. We rang the bell, knocked on the window but there was no answer. The neighbour heard us and she came over and said, “Mr Mayor, during the meal after the funeral (a tradition in Hungary), they called this widow and told her that her mother had just died in hospital.” She buried her husband in the morning and in the afternoon, her mother died. Do you see how suffering cuts open the heart?

The following day I visited her because we are the only ones who can give water to the parched world. This woman received Christ. I wrote her story and it was published in Hungary. The most stunning thing about this is that the woman said, “If I had not lost my husband and mother, I would never have known the Lord.”

The prophet had to witness the glory of the Lord in the year when the king died. Just imagine what it would be like if the Lord appeared here visibly? The seraphim covered their eyes with two of their wings. With two other wings they covered their feet and they flew with two other wings. They were blind when flying in the glory of God. This great God, Jesus, pushed the apostle off his horse through His own glory. Everything shook with Paul just like with Isaiah. After this the life of Isaiah was filled with a new mission.

The temple was filled with smoke (verse 4). God can fill your life, your house with a new smoke. The only way for us to get to know ourselves truly is in the light of God. You only know yourself in the right way if you know God deeply. When God wants to give you a new vision and calling, He will shake your life. In the light of God, the prophet says, “Woe to me, for I am unclean. Also, the people among whom I live.”

A Christian conference was organised which started with a hotel dinner. In every hotel room there was TV. The organizers generously and made all channels. After dinner, the attendees spent time in their rooms. The following day started with a happy breakfast. Then the organisers printed some statistics which showed how many of the Christian pastors, missionaries and preachers watched pornographic channels the previous night. That was a great shock. “Woe unto you, you are lost, ruined.”

If today’s registers everything, how much more is everything recorded by God. When Isaiah realized that he was lost and ruined, he said, “Woe to me, I am ruined!” If you do not make things right, you will also be ruined. Then the tongs with coals from the altar came and touched his lips and God said, “Your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for.” (verse 7)

His commission only happened after this event. First face yourself - being a pastor, politician and being lost. Once you face this and settle it with God, the commission follows.

This day and hour God is asking you, “Can I send you? Who will go for Us?” Can you raise your hand and answer God’s question, “Here am I, Lord, send me.” God says, “Go.”

In closing. What is so wonderful about Isaiah chapter 6 the word of confession of sin spoken to Isaiah. The word of justification spoken to Isaiah and then the word of commissioning spoken to Isaiah. This prophet has this message for us: Look up, look inside yourself and then look outward.

I am very thankful to have stood on this pulpit for the second time. It is a privilege to stand here. I thank my dear brothers who translated for me because what was lacking in me was in them. Such is the Kingdom of God. Whatever we are missing, God has. Give Him a place in your heart.

Can the Hungarian group come forward and sing a closing hymn, Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me – firstly in Hungarian and then join us in English.