But master, at your command we will

Baba Ngubane

On behalf of the school, DSS, we would like to thank everyone who helped with preparations beforehand and on the 2 days of the Christmas Market.

The Youth Conference is at hand. Consent forms can be obtained from Reception. Invite others to come and give them the forms to complete.

We would like to thank you for your prayers as we were in Paraguay. It was our first time  in that South American country. Herbert Reimer, a native of Paraguay had been here at the Mission many years ago, he got married to Mientjie and then they felt the call to return to his home country to take them the gospel.

I looked forward to seeing our brethren again and to see the work they are doing. There is a great work to be done in Paraguay. Something that touched me deeply was to see how the Reimer family works so very hard, to build up the Mission station. Each one of their children is responsible for a task. The youngest child is still quite small, but is also helping, the other children have their duties, one child is in the fields, with the crops, another one looks after the livestock. The daughter cares for the animals, and all of them do these tasks with such love and unity.

There is still much work to be done amongst the people of Paraguay. The family has reached out to many young people and those that have accepted the Lord and the gospel, one can see the gradual change in them. May we remember those over there in prayer. Just one family – Herbert, his wife and children. They do everything, but with all their heart. They preach the Gospel and work in the fields. The people of Paraguay need the Lord, they are white people, and one can see that only God can change hearts and lives.

We came to a place where people throw money, sometimes quite big amount, into a wishing well, hoping for good luck. What a bondage to be in, yet the only One who can help is the Lord Jesus. It is only the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that will be able to touch and change people’s lives, separating them from sin – let us not just keep it to ourselves, but proclaim it to the whole world.

The Reimers have asked that we remember them in prayer, that they remain faithful to God until the end, that the Lord will keep them united in love and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray for the people and that country.

Detlef Stegen

As our brother has said, it is such a privilege that we can gather with you this morning to share that which the Lord has laid on our hearts. It is vitally important for a Christian, for a disciple of Jesus Christ, to be faithful and to persevere to the end. The end is important to the Lord. And in times of revival God reminds us of the end.

Very many people want miracles – they want to see God at work in His might and in His power. They want to sow the seed and get quick results. It is easy to plant some vegetables – cabbage, lettuce, carrots – they grow and in 6 weeks you can reap, you have the harvest. But it is a different thing to plant a tree. We know avocado pears. You must wait a few years for the harvest, but you must nurture the tree, if you don’t look after it you will also have no harvest. If you plant a cedar tree, then you must wait, not three or four years, but maybe thirty or forty years, to be able to reap and then the wood, once it is cut, has to dry for a long time before you can use it.

It was a wonderful experience for me too, to go to Paraguay. On our way there I didn’t know what to expect, but the warmth with which we were welcomed by our brethren, was wonderful, they had been here on the mission, and by God’s grace the Lord has kept them, and they are holding on to and passing on the revival message.

We had our meals on the verandah, that is their dining room. Then we could eat pineapples, papaya, watermelon, sweet melon in the morning, lunch and evening, we also ate their own yoghurt from the milk of their few cows.

When we sat down, the youngest child came and greeted Baba Ngubane in Zulu, in the way we do it here at home. Then Baba Ngubane asked her, in Zulu, how she was, and she answered in Zulu. She wanted to sit close to him, it was wonderful to see the affection of the young children too.

I’ll relate something – Ruth, 17 or 16 years old, she cares for the approximately 220 sheep. Her dad told her on Saturday that they wanted to slaughter for the visitors from South Africa, and who did it? Ruth. When we arrived, it was hung up, skinned and all ready.

Our hearts went out to the people who are in darkness in Paraguay. May the Lord hear our cry. It is wonderful to have the living Gospel that we can proclaim to a lost world.

I was reminded of DSS. Do you remember its humble beginnings, and now we see the beauty of the Christmas Market that was such a blessing to many people. Do you know the story of the school? Rev Stegen didn’t want to open a school because he saw the problems involved with a school when Satan can come in through children and destroy the mission activities.

So even if you are from Europe, now you will understand why Rev Stegen wrote a letter imploring the leaders at the different branches to abide by the mission aims and goals, and that the schools should only be called DSS if they adhere to the mission’s work, values, and aims. If you want to start your own school, you can do so anytime, but you must make a choice whether to adhere to the Mission’s values, aims and standard or not. A choice must be made. What would you choose?

Then in 1986, some co-workers came to Rev Stegen and told him what their children are exposed to in the public schools. They said they could no longer send their children to schools where they are taught to hate other races whereas they were teaching their children at home to love and respect others. Thank God for a leader who had a willing heart, who sought the best for others, and sought God’s will above all, so the school, DSS was begun. That is my urgent call to you this morning, above all seek God’s will for your life. You can be blessed, don’t lose sight of God’s calling on your life, you will be the poorer for it if you do, and maybe you will never be able to gain again what you have lost.

You dear teachers, you have worked hard at the desks, books, forms to be filled in, you work the whole day, and sometimes above that our children cause you much trouble. We are grateful that you have said, let our classrooms be our mission field. You were missionaries at the Christmas Market too, isn’t that wonderful. Persevere, you will reap the fruit, and at the end you won’t have any regrets for having been faithful at your task, even if you sweat, your hands and arms maybe grow weary. Strengthen them. It is for God’s purpose that you are there, you have devoted yourself to His cause. We want to encourage you. Praise God for wonderful opportunities, I just highlighted one, but you are missionaries at heart, keep up the good work.

So, my heart is full. I will maybe speak of different things. When we came back from Paraguay my heart was overjoyed, maybe I am growing old, but my heart felt young, I was praying, oh Lord, hear us! Lord, please send labourers, the harvest is ready, ask the Lord of the harvest that He sends workers to bring in the harvest.

A day or two later I woke up at night, and there was a verse in my mind, that is the verse I want to share with you.

“Master we toiled all night and caught nothing, but at your command I will throw out the net.” Luke 5:5 – 9 (Amplified version)

This occurred before the Lord had called His disciples. The Lord comes to us, He reveals Himself. I remember when we were 9, 10, 11-year-olds, seeing the miracles the Lord did, whether at Kingscliffe, Tugela Ferry, Efaye. At those outreaches we would see people coming out of the room where they had been prayed for and walking out healed, God had touched them and made them new. Our hearts were gripped and amazed by what God was doing. We came here to KSB and saw the servants of the Lord, and our hearts were touched by being with them, by watching them and hearing their words, experiencing their love. Our hearts were touched, our lives were never the same again.

Now, here Jesus approaches this fisherman who knew his occupation very well. He climbs into the boat of Simon Peter. He commands him, go out into the deep and let his nets down. That’s a topic on its own – to go out into the deep. The deep is where you find your Creator, where you hear Him and begin to obey Him. In doing that your heart gets transformed. Jesus is calling us into a life where He is Lord and God, where we bow and allow Him to speak His words of life to us. I am amazed that this unconverted Simon Peter answered, Master. He realised; he knew that He is the Master and said, Master we have toiled all night, and have caught nothing.

Maybe you have spent your life without Christ, and you have toiled, you have exhausted yourself. Possibly you even called yourself a child of God, repented and got saved, but you have tired yourself for years on end. Maybe you have said, where is this God of whom I am supposed to be a child or a disciple? And at the break of dawn, you gave up and said, it was all in vain. Let today be the dawn of the day where you allow Jesus to speak to you after all your exhausting hard work. Maybe you were on the mission field, and you toiled and laboured without reaping fruit, is it possible that Jesus wasn’t with you?

Today Jesus can command you to go out into the deep and let down your nets. Simon Peter said, Lord we’ve toiled all night – but – let there be that “but” in your life – but at Your command I will do it, Lord. You are the Master, I am just the servant, I am a nobody, unworthy to be called your disciple. Now if God starts commanding you and you are obedient, you will see His miracles which you have never experienced before. then don’t forget, be like Peter, have this firmness in you, that you fall at the Master’s feet, and you say Lord depart from me, I am a sinful man. Have you experienced God working? Watch out that you don’t allow pride to come in, because then you will lose the blessing of the Lord Jesus’ work.

I want to read you an amazing word that I read this morning. Isaiah 66: He says, Heaven is My throne (this Master) and the earth my footstool. The choir sang a song of the universe, which is God’s creation, praising Him, the Creator. And His creation listens to His instruction from the beginning of creation until today the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, every day – the sun is faithful to its Creator, its Maker.

The Lord even had to remind His nation, for I am a great God – they were busy making and forming their own idols, in the places of worship, exchanging the glory of God for images made by man. Don’t ever worship that which is made by your own hand. I cry, Lord help me that I should not glory in anything else, as Paul said, but in the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Verse 2 – for all these things My hand has made, and so all these things have come into being, says the Lord. But this is the man to whom I will look and have regard – he who is humble and of a broken or wounded spirit and who trembles at My word and reveres My commands.

Do you want to be a child of God? Do you want God close to you? Do you want to be on the mission field for the Lord? Do you want God to notice what you do? You may say, God doesn’t care about me. It may be that you don’t even care about the fact that God has no regard for you. Is there no humility in you? Don’t you see that God cares for you? Don’t you care that He saves you from your sin? No, you just continue and call yourself a Christian and whether you fall here or there, into this sin or that, it doesn’t matter, as long as I call myself a Christian, I am saved. Don’t you wish that He comes to you as He came to Peter and climbed into his boat and said, Peter, go out into the deep – let down your nets.

If only the Lord can say, this is a man I regard – he who is humble and of a broken or wounded spirit, who trembles at My word, who reveres My command. If God speaks to you in the service, then have take note, don’t just be flippant and forget or say ah, another day will do. We have been taught through God’s Word that we must remember that the final judgement day is coming, and we will have to give account for our lives. So let us live accordingly, if we do not want regrets.

Because Simon had said Master, according to your command, I will go, I will do it as You say, he hauled in a net full of fish, so many that the net nearly broke.

You may have toiled all night with no results; allow God to speak His command to you.  God placed you here on earth, He said, I have called you by name, you don’t belong to yourself, if you look at everything in the light of eternity, your eyes will be opened to see that you were created and formed in the secret place to fulfil God’s plan. Jesus said one day – it is not all who say, Lord I am yours who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who do the will of the Father. His will for you is your sanctification in the first place.

Have you come to the place where you realise God has regard for me? He is looking on me. And because of that my heart is broken. I surrender, Lord. We sing that song – have you truly surrendered to His plan, His will? If you haven’t surrendered you are in danger of being disqualified at the end – and then you will regret and will say, oh I was looking for the temporal things and I didn’t store my treasure in heaven. May this day, this Sunday after we came back from Paraguay, be the day where you make the right decision.

Remember how Paul spoke to the Greeks in Athens who had an image to the Unknown God. Maybe you too do not know God. You think God is like this; I think God will allow me to do this, I think today I can decide, I think God will allow me to make my own career decision, I think God will understand if I have a bit of comfort in life – you have made yourself an image of an unknown God. Then Paul got up and said – you have an image to the unknown God, I will tell you about the God you don’t know. He says in verse 34 – Ages of ignorance, God overlooked, but now He charges all people everywhere to repent. That is, in this translation, to change their minds.

Some journalists, excuse me for putting in politics, said years ago, President Trump just the other day we interviewed you and you said something and today you say this – how does it align? He answered, can’t I change my mind? If President Trump can change his mind, why aren’t you willing to change your mind for the better? How hard-hearted Christians can be, accusing, pointing fingers at other believers, if not verbally then in their minds. Brother, sister, son, daughter, mend your ways, change your mind, lest you find yourself opposing the God of heaven and earth.

This translation says – repentance is a change of mind for the better and heartily amend your ways with abhorrence for your past sins. In all true Holy Spirit-filled revivals, there is repentance, a change of mind for the better, changing their ways with abhorrence for their past sins. Dare I say, if we want to keep God’s working in revival we must be prepared to change our minds, our stiff, corrupt inclinations and our sins – we must heartily amend our ways, with abhorrence of our past sins. Your sins must be past – they must not be part of your life anymore.

If God calls you by name, are you ready to obey? When Simon Peter was called, he said, I have done this, I know this, and my experience was this – but at Your command, Lord, I will do it. Let there be a “but” in your life, don’t be so self-confident, don’t be so stiff and hard in your ways. Our lives should be a submission to His will. We don’t always know His will but if it comes our way let there be a “but Lord – if this is what you want from me, I am turning, going Your way”.

The word of the Lord is wonderful. There is nothing more wonderful than that. We find the true path in His word. May God grant us the grace that we will not be blinded to His truth, to His way – it is God’s way, not our way.

In Jeremiah 1, the first verses we read: I appointed you a prophet to the nations and Jeremiah said, ah Lord God, behold I cannot speak for I am only a youth. But the Lord said to me, say not, I am only a youth for you shall go to all I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, neither their faces. For I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said to me, behold I have put My words in your mouth.

Let there be a but in your life. But Lord, Master, at Your command. However much you have toiled, however much you have been praised for your work, however much you have achieved, or maybe haven’t achieved, take heart, take heart, allow the Lord to command you, allow the Lord to get into your boat, and send you into the deep. Possibly you haven’t been of value in His Kingdom, whether you are here or not, nobody notices, not even in your own family, you cannot stand for what is right, even at work you are ashamed. Take heart and mend your ways. God can still speak the word and at His command, He can richly bless you with a catch of a net that is bursting, that you even must call to others to come and help you as you can’t cope on your own. Why? God has commanded, you obeyed, and He worked that which only the God in Heaven with the earth as His footstool can accomplish in and through you. Then you can only fall at His feet, realising your own need, your own sinfulness. You should abhor your own flesh that drives you to youthful lusts. Abhor your impatience towards your wife and children. Abhor the irritability in your heart.

Call out to the God of Jeremiah to touch your lips that only sound words will come out. In the aeroplane there were two ladies sitting in front of me. They were part of a group of about 10 ladies, all dressed the same. These 2 ladies were whispering to each other for hours on end, never stopping – till it was dark.

We don’t need to be women who have the gift of the gab, we need to be women who speak upbuilding things, who get their words from the One who has written this Book, the One who can touch their lips, and then they are blessing. I am blessed to be among revived women and blessed when I have a wife who is revived. One can sit back and enjoy the company of such women. Praise God that we have such women – who are a sweet savour. They not only serve the Lord, but they also serve His people. Don’t you want to be such a woman? Girl, grow up to be such a godly woman. Don’t just be any old girl, find someone who is an example to you, that you can emulate. Learn from her how to never utter an angry word, never blaming or accusing.

Be prepared, listen for the command of Jesus, fall on your knees and say, I am a sinful man, Master, I don’t know you but from today I want to know you.

May the Lord bless His word to us.