WALKING ON THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS – Wedding of Phakamani Mkhwanazi & Nokwanele Buthelezi

17 November 2024

Wedding of Nokwanele Buthelezi and Phakamani Mkhwanazi

A poem that Phakamani read was played in the auditorium.

Preacher: Baba J. Dube

MC: M Ngubane

Mr Michael Ngubane welcomed the bridal couple and their families and friends. Different dignitaries and amakhosi were welcomed too. Phakamani’s former High School principal came from Ermelo, Mpumalanga and different business associates and preachers of Radio Khwezi, as well as members of the Khwezi Listeners’ Club came to celebrate this joyous occasion. He mentioned how unusual it is in the world today that a wedding can be celebrated in purity, as this one today. Both Nokwanele and Phakamani have been faithful and brought joy to those they worked with and for. The news of the engagement and wedding was met with happiness and rejoicing.

Mr D Joosten

Opened in prayer.

Mr Louis Engelbrecht

We from Swayimane are privileged to have known Nokwanele both in the congregation and in the workplace. We thank the Lord for her work. It is God alone who has brought about such a beautiful thing, where the church and people of the area can testify to the fact that she has been a faithful witness at work and at home.

I remember Rev Stegen’s words where he said that we need never be ashamed of the way we get married; we can proclaim this before the whole world. As God has brought the two together in purity, may they not be deceived by satan in any way in the future, but continue following Jesus their Saviour to the end.

M Ngubane

Marriage is wonderful as it is a likeness of the relationship between Christ and His church.

Thuthukani Choir

Mr D Wunderlich

I greet you and would like to say a few words on behalf of Khwezi. Phakamani joined Radio Khwezi in 2007. From the beginning he made Radio Khwezi’s mission and vision his own, namely, preaching the Gospel, his work there was not just a job. I enjoy working with him especially, as he is always willing to do whatever needs to be done and he does it in a trustworthy way.

Thank you for getting married in this pure way. I took special note of everyone’s joy. May the Lord attain His purpose in your lives as you serve Him together.

Combined Choir from Swayimane, Efaye and Kingscliffe

KSB Choir

Rev J Dube

(Greets dignitaries.)

All of us have been waiting anxiously for this day to arrive, the bridal couple as well.

We have three church buildings in Nkosi Majozi’s area. We thank the Lord for him and pray that the Lord will continue to be with him and bless him. The wife of the Nkosi from the Swayimane area is also here.

The first choir that sang for us is a combined choir from three branches at Gordon, Msinga Top and Mahlaba, and some from the Weenen branch also sang with them, and Nkosi Mchunu of the Weenen area has come to celebrate with us.

Something amazing happened years ago as Rev Stegen was passing through Tugela Ferry. He met the white magistrate who asked him to come to the mortuary area, he showed him many corpses lying there because of the tribal wars. He asked, can’t you Christians do anything about this difficult situation where the people are killing each other that the mortuary cannot hold the corpses anymore? Rev Stegen prayed about it, then pitched the tent in Tugela Ferry to hold evangelistic meetings. That is where God started working in the hearts of the different tribes and as they became believers, the faction fighting came to an end.

We were at those services, if you sat towards the back, you usually couldn’t see the preacher because all the Msinga women wore the traditional headpieces which blocked the view for people sitting behind them. When they committed their lives to the Lord Jesus and got converted, their husbands allowed them to remove the traditional headpieces and wear western clothes. Then the people at the back had a better view!

That is where the bridegroom comes from, Msinga. It is true, he is a humble young man who has a good testimony which we can affirm.

At Swayimane, where the bride comes from, Rev Stegen also pitched a tent and the Lord worked. The oldest daughter of the Buthelezi family first found the Lord. When the mother got converted, she asked that we pray that her children would get married. The Lord has answered her prayers and those who prayed with her. When her oldest daughter got married into the Mwelase family, I said to her, be an example that the whole family will be converted – and that happened. An answer to prayer.

Let me not forget the Kingscliffe branch. Rev Stegen’s brother had a shop at Kingscliffe. That is where God used him in the 1950s, to show him – this is the way to get married. In purity, no flirting or contact. The bride hooks her hand into her bridegroom’s arm for the first time before the altar on their wedding day. Don’t confuse the story and claim that it only started in 1966.

There are parents who can testify that they got married like this, and now their children marry in the same pure way. They don’t marry having had illegitimate children. To the bridal couple – you have done well to marry as pure virgins.

The bridegroom chose a word as the wedding text: Isaiah 35:8

 A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.

He wrote down what has blessed him from this word: ‘Here we find the prophet Isaiah led by the Holy Spirit explaining the way of Holiness, living according to the commands of the Lord. Holiness means you don’t live according to your own lustful feelings and intentions, but you have decided to live a life in submission to God’s will.  A sanctified one will live by this way and not by the teachings of this world. It is a highway, and thus you will not have the desires for the things of this world, because the things of this world are at enmity with God. The highway of holiness is for those who belong to God, who have come to Golgotha, thrown themselves at Jesus’ feet and been cleansed by His blood. Those will not go astray anymore because they have cleansed their lives, they are taught, admonished and guided by His word.

1Peter 1:7  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.

This shows us that our faith cannot be likened anything in this world, not even gold, because gold itself perishes. We should persevere in our faith until the Lord Jesus comes back to fetch His church.’

You have heard what has moved the bridegroom from these two different portions of the Word of God.

On this highway Nokwanele and Phakamani have no idea what they will meet up with in their marriage, they can’t even send out a spy to scout out what their married life will be like. They don’t know how they will be treated by their in-laws. All they know is that they continue on this highway of holiness. That is sufficient. In preparation for the unknown, many brides have been advised to love and tolerate everyone, even the cat at the new home (they usually lived with the husband’s family).

It is an amazing thing; it is called a highway of holiness. These two have chosen for themselves a holy way and thus also have decided to be holy, in such a way that even the neighbours will see that their lives are different to others.

There are people who take shortcuts. They have relationships, live as married couples or do it in secret, and then even abort the babies when they fall pregnant, taking a shortcut. I am reminded of a chorus we sing with these words: I know the Lord will make a way for me, if I live a holy life, shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will make a way for me.

Preachers, young people and adults, what will help us, is to forsake evil and to do good. The word tells us – the unclean will not journey on this highway. Ask yourself, what life do you live before man and before God. If you are unclean, you cannot walk on this highway.

Rev Stegen often told us of a Zulu tradition where virginity is celebrated. Girls and young women would come to the king’s place where a black and a white flag were hoisted on the grounds and then the girls would be examined to see whether they are still pure or virgins. When they were found clean, it would be shouted out that she is pure and then she would run to the white flag, jump high to touch it and dance for joy amidst the rejoicing of the onlookers. If a woman was found not to be a virgin anymore, she had to go and touch the black flag in her shame, amidst cries of “unclean” and people spitting on the ground in disgust.

In the kingdom of the Zulus this tradition of examining whether you are a virgin is still upheld in some areas. Many people hold this tradition close to their hearts, it’s precious to them. It reminds me of the words of the apostle Paul who said in 2 Corinthians 11:2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.  Whether you are a man or a woman, spiritually you are presented to God as a pure virgin, if you have purified yourself.

What a great calling we have, to live a sanctified life. Some people say it is only possible on the other side of death, no, it must begin here. As the song say: I will start here to thank the Lord. Start here to praise the Lord. That is why David said in Psalm 103, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name. How can you bless the Lord if you live a defiled life, the Bible makes it clear, you cannot serve two masters.

The unclean will not travel on it. If you are still unclean in your mind, committing sin, being intoxicated by looking at pornography to satisfy your lustful, defiled minds, right now you should repent, someone who truly repents will part from sin.

We as the church wait for the heavenly bridegroom to come and fetch us. Oh, when the Lord comes to fetch us, will we be one of the saints dressed in white with our lamps shining brightly, or will we be foolish virgins with no oil and hear those words – I do not know you?

Isaiah 35:9 No lion shall be there,
Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it;
It shall not be found there.
But the redeemed shall walk there,

If we are on this highway, we live a life where the things of this world have no say over us, a highway which is so high that even wild animals can’t get onto it. Nowadays, believers are troubled by wild animals, evil spirits, but they say they are children of God. Satan rides them with all kinds of sins, even lying, yet they call themselves believers. I was listening to Rev Stegen’s sermon on Proverbs 12:22. You are an abomination before the Lord if you have lying lips and call yourself a Christian.  Ask yourself, what kind of words leave my lips - good or bad? Consider the prophet Isaiah who saw the Lord high and lifted up with the seraphim flying around, calling out:” Holy, Holy, Holy”, then Isaiah called out, ‘I am a man of unclean lips and live amongst people of unclean lips’. The Lord sent one of the angels with a burning hot coal between tongs, who came to him, touched his lips with the coal and said, your sins are forgiven. After that, the Lord asked, “Whom shall I send?” and Isaiah answered, “Send me Lord” and He sent him. Will the Lord send you if you still lie and deceive? No, never!

How easily we say this person is a fool, they don’t know what is happening, yet they have the Lord Jesus in their hearts. You despise those who have committed their ways to the Lord, yet they can walk on this highway. If you say you are clever, who gave you that mind that you have, wasn’t it God?

Phakamani, you are a man now. I remember how, after I got married, my father who held onto traditional ways, called me to come and sit with him at table. Before that, none of us, even my mother, could sit with my father at table. He would always eat alone.  But when I got married in 1969, my father told me to sit with him, “now you are a man”, he said. I was a co-worker preaching God’s word then already but couldn’t sit with him. I didn’t tell my father, you are not a believer, I bowed to his way. However, when I got married and had children, I allowed them to sit with me at the table at mealtimes. The Gospel came and set my father free too. Before his conversion we could never look at him while he was eating. If you did that, he would take your plate of food, cover it in chillies and made you eat it as punishment.

Rev Stegen taught us in the 1970s that we should look white people in the eyes, he said if we don’t look up into their faces, they think that you are hiding things. We learnt so much, many things that are in complete contrast to what we had learned at home.

1 Peter 1:7

Apostle Peter is encouraging those who were being persecuted for the Gospel. We here in South Africa know that we can worship in freedom, but in other countries many believers are persecuted.

In another country there was a family that was called to their king, he came with his whole entourage, the Christian family was put there before him and the children were asked one by one if they served Jesus – one by one they answered yes and were killed. When it came to the mother, she answered the same. Now the father was confronted, the king asked him, do you love Jesus? He said, yes, after his children and wife had been killed in front of him, they also killed the father. After that the king’s heart was deeply troubled. He could find no rest until he himself gave his heart to the Lord Jesus.

Although money is so important, we hear that gold and silver are things that perish. Peter the apostle came to the one man who had been lame from birth who was begging at the entrance to the temple. Acts 3:6. He also begged from the apostles – and they answered, silver and gold we have none, but that which we have we give to you – in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. He got up and not only walked, but was leaping  because of the power Peter had been given by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 59:1 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.
² But your iniquities have separated
    you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
    so that he will not hear.

Sin parts a person from God. Sin becomes a wall of separation so that your prayer cannot reach the Lord Jesus. That is why it says – the hand of the Lord has not been shortened that it cannot save you from your sins. However, even if your sin is red as scarlet, however many abortions you have had, and it does not matter how much you have sinned, you can still be saved. What is left for you to do is to choose the Lord Jesus, repent and live a holy life.

A mother who was in hospital told her children to pray and read the Bible when they visited her and told her that there was no food at home, and they were hungry. They complained again saying they were dying of hunger. She told them to pray and read the Bible. When she was discharged from hospital, she opened the Bible and showed them the money she had left inside. Then it was clear that the children had not read the Bible.

So to those getting married – do not forget to read the Bible. The Bible is your spiritual food. Kneel down and pray, even as Daniel did three times a day. Pray that you do not enter into temptation – as even the Lord Jesus taught us to pray.

To the bride, it might not be so easy, even for bridegroom, you could come and go as you like, now there are two of you. Bear with each other, there are now two minds. It is like a car, you have to continually fill it with fuel for it to work. Your relationship with each other and your families must be continually worked on. My father taught me – keep the good traditions. Whatever comes, storms or good weather, remain one in the Lord.

(Rings exchanged.)

M Ngubane

Thank you to Rev Dube. We welcome Mr and Mrs Mkhwanazi.

It is our prayer that the Lord will be with you and that you will continue in the way you have lived.