Let us pray.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing us together here
this evening.
We pray that you will be in our
midst and reveal yourself to us.
In your grace, Amen.
Now, this is our 14th CFT conference.
CFT was started in 1990.
I thank the Lord for giving us someone
like his child, our brother Fano Sibisi, to
lead this work.
In 2000, he was diagnosed with a sickness
that he has.
If I'm not mistaken, it was in 2001,
it was his last time that he could
address us here personally.
And I want to say it again, I
thank God for giving us someone like him
to be the president of this organization.
And especially in this time where he is
so ill.
I don't know who else I could choose
apart from him.
And I can say CFT is blessed to
have a leader who can lead us even
while he is in bed with the illness
that he has.
It's no small thing, it's no easy thing
to go through difficulty and through lots of
pain and suffering.
But it's also a known fact that difficulties
draws closer to the Lord.
Obviously not everyone gets closer to him.
Some people, their hearts are hardened.
But for a child of the Lord whose
desire is to live in God's will, difficult
times are times in which we are drawn
closer to the Lord.
Therefore I call CFT blessed.
Because of him, the servant of the Lord,
in this sick bed, in this pain, but
at the same time in a high and
uplifted place, in a holy place in a
spiritual sense.
It's easy when things are plain sailing.
That you at the same time then are
light in your inner spiritual way.
That there's no depth.
But this evening again I thank the Lord
for his child.
That we can have someone like him who
is, so to say, qualified in this way
while he is in the shadow of death.
Our spiritual life should not just be superficial
but should have depth.
And so pain and suffering and difficulty can
sanctify us and draw us close to the
Lord.
The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth,
he had a daughter who was very blessed.
The Lord used her, worked through her.
She went around spreading the Gospel.
And it didn't take long and she got
sick.
She fell ill and was seriously ill on
her deathbed.
And as a result she couldn't travel around
anymore and work for the Lord as she
had.
And one child of the Lord came to
her while she was so sick.
And said, but why is it, what is
the reason that you are so gifted and
talented on this state?
You were serving the Lord all over, going
from one place to the other.
God was with you.
He worked through you.
Your service was fantastic.
Why should it be that a person like
you should be so ill and cut down
with such a sickness?
Why is it?
And then she said, she answered and said,
My duty is not just to serve the
Lord, going up and down, working for Him.
My first responsibility and duty is to be
in the will of God and to do
His will.
And that means more to me than just
serving Him.
That to do His will and to be
found in His will.
It's good to find people who have some
quality in them.
Who are not just superficial.
In this verse.
But as it says here, to have an
anchor for the soul.
There are many Christians in the world.
And there are also many who go up
and down serving the Lord, working for Him.
But their soul has no anchor.
That's what a ship's anchor looks like.
Which is let down when there's a storm.
And you need, the ship needs to be
secured.
That it's firm and not blown around by
the storm and by the wind.
Let us pray.
Thank you, Lord, that we can be in
this ministry of CFT.
And busy with this theme that we have
today.
That we may have an anchor for the
soul.
That the ship that we find ourselves on
will not sink in the sea.
That in the midst of a storm, we
can be sure that we have an anchor
for the soul.
That we won't be shaken and blown about,
but that we'll be like a star in
the sky.
And we thank you, Lord, also for your
servant that you chose and entrusted with this
work here, with this ministry of CFT.
Thank you, Lord.
And that he can do this work even
while he is sick and going through the
pain and the difficulty.
But that you even use that, that he
can qualify to do this work.
And not in his own strength, but in
your strength.
Amen.
We'll read from Acts chapter 27.
From verse 21.
And when they had gone a long time
without food, then Paul stood up in their
midst and said to them, I will give
you food.
I will give you water.
I will give you bread.
I will give you water.
I will give you bread.
And when they had gone a long time
without food, then Paul stood up in their
midst and said, Men, you ought to have
followed my advice and not have set sail
from Crete and incurred this damage and loss.
And then verse 29.
And fearing that we might run aground somewhere
on the rocks, they cast four anchors.
We'll read thus far.
I went to the Lord's servant.
Now, just earlier on.
I asked him whether there was something on
his heart regarding this evening and this conference.
He said, yes, there is.
And he said, it's his desire that the
children of the Lord find a deeper life
in Christ and in the Lord.
The anchor.
And he said the theme is the anchor.
And he said a big problem among the
Christians is that so easily their strength or
their fervor runs out or diminishes.
Then, after some time, a person hasn't got
the strength and the fire to carry on
anymore.
These are the words that he spoke and
which he would have spoken himself.
It's very true that when you are facing
death, you look at things very differently than
when you are healthy.
Then one goes a lot deeper.
The Zulus even say that one should speak
the truth like someone who's dying.
In fact, it would be quite good if
the Lord would put his children at death's
door every now and then, that a person
can look death in the eyes.
And wake them up in that way.
And then you will realize what things are
really like.
You get a totally different perspective.
You look at the same thing, but you
see it through totally different eyes.
That's why he says he would like to
see that the children of the Lord find
a deeper life in the Lord.
And he asked that I speak about how
a Christian, how a person can find that
deeper life in Christ.
Now our text really includes the whole chapter.
In fact, one should have started reading in
the 26th chapter already.
We don't have the time now to read
everything.
You can do that when you go to
bed.
You don't need to speak so much and
chat so much.
Take the Lord's word and read it tonight
or maybe even during the night or tomorrow
morning.
Read God's word.
Paul said, men, you should have followed my
advice.
You should have listened.
Then you would have saved so much and
not incurred this loss.
We've heard how Charles said that we should
obey and listen to God's word.
That is something very deep.
If we want to go deeper and experience
a deeper life with Christ, we need to
find out what God's word says.
Here in this chapter, we read about Paul
and them.
They were on a ship.
I don't have time to go into the
reasons for this, but they were on this
ship.
While on the ship, they wanted to sail
further.
Paul was on his way to Rome, to
Caesar.
Caesar said to them, If you want to
go to Caesar, It's
not right to go now.
If we do, we will suffer much.
But the centurion in charge of them took
no notice of what he said.
But rather listened to what the captain and
the owner of the ship said.
Because on the ship was the captain, the
pilot, but also the owner of the ship.
And also many others.
Close to 300 people, around about 270 something.
What a country!
That's what Caesar said.
He didn't want to go to Rome.
Why should we go to Rome?
Why should we go to Caesar?
So when Paul advised them not to set
sail, the centurion was influenced by the captain
and the owner of the ship, and he
decided that they obviously were more experienced at
the trade, and followed their advice.
The ship was full of people, and it
was asked, well, what do you say?
In other words, it was put to the
vote.
And the
majority said, let us go, let's sail.
The next morning, when they woke up, the
sun was shining, it was calm, it was
a wonderful day, and they said, well, everything
is favourable, let's go.
Just a slight breeze, the weather is perfect,
it's going in the direction we want to
go.
They said, everything is in our favour, it's
going our way, so they set sail.
It didn't take long, and the wind came
up, a terrible storm arose.
A cyclone or tornado, and
the ship was tossed to and fro.
And the captain couldn't eat anymore.
The owner of the ship couldn't eat anymore.
And even the centurion started fasting.
In fact, everyone.
For two weeks, they didn't eat anything, and
these were experienced sailors.
Eventually, they
all lost hope, they lost all hope that
they would ever survive.
They all
lost
hope that they would ever survive.
And then eventually, they started throwing things overboard,
the food, the wheat, even the things that
they had taken along to sell in Rome,
they were just throwing everything overboard, and the
owner of the ship realised his great loss.
Eventually, he was only concerned about one more
thing, and that was to save his ship.
But that didn't do it.
And then they took cables and ropes, and
they undergirded the ship, just to keep it
together, so that it didn't fall apart.
And they lost all hope that they would
even survive.
And then Paul stood up.
And he spoke and said, You ought to
have followed my advice and not have set
sail from Crete and incurred this damage and
loss.
Now brethren, I want to tell you this,
whether you're the cleverest person or the least
intellectual person, no matter who you are, you
will be helped by one thing, and that
is to listen to what God says, and
when he has spoken to you, that you
then keep what he has told you.
Otherwise, what happened to the owner of that
ship will happen to you as well.
It will be exactly the same.
And then eventually, they let down not just
one anchor, but four, on all sides of
the ship, in every corner.
They did everything that was humanly possible, everything
in their knowledge and in their power they
did, but it didn't help them.
It didn't help.
And then the man of God stood up.
He said, You should have done what you
were told.
But because you didn't, you've lost everything.
And they themselves realized that they didn't just
lose their way, but that they were losing
their own lives.
And why?
Because of the majority vote.
The will of the people.
The reason had been because they listened to
the voice of the majority, and they lost
out on what God had said.
If you want to go deeper in your
spiritual life, then don't go along with the
majority.
You need to separate
yourself from the people and be united with
Christ, and that you become one with Him.
And not that you say, Well, what does
my husband say?
What does my wife say?
What do the children say?
But that you say, What does Jesus say
regarding this matter?
Then you're going deeper.
As long as you still listen to what
people say, then woe to you.
And no matter who that person is, whether
they be great or small, whether it's the
president or the professor or whoever it is,
if you don't say, What does Jesus say
about the matter?
Then you're in trouble.
Or it could just even be a superstition
or humanism.
That which is propagated by that which is
the in-thing in that time, and that
wind which blows throughout the world and in
Africa as well.
So you have to stop going along with
what everybody and what man says and go
along with that which God says and what
his word says.
Julius, that's in truth.
Jesus said to Paul, Jesus said
to Paul, He
didn't have the discernment that what this man
was saying was actually what Jesus Christ, what
God was saying.
He didn't
have the
discernment that the captain and the owner of
the ship were just speaking in a human
way.
That was the human way of seeing things.
That's how they were approaching the matter.
And dear CFT members, that is the danger.
If you look at things in a human
way, the things of the Lord.
Remember Peter, when the Lord was speaking to
them, to the disciples and said, The son
of man must suffer much and must die.
Then Peter said to him, but Lord, don't
speak like that.
And the Lord rebuked him and said, behind
me, Satan.
Jesus realized that it was the devil that
was at work now and he was speaking
through Peter.
Peter was now united with Satan, with the
devil.
That is tragic when a child of the
Lord unites with the devil.
When you don't see things the way God
sees them, but you see them the way
man sees them.
Then you're in a slippery, dangerous place.
You've lost your anchor.
And you can have four of them.
You can have four of your own anchors.
And you can drop them.
You can do whatever you think.
And you say, well, now I've solved the
problem.
This is a foolproof solution.
But you are the fool in the matter.
And you do your own thing.
You come up with your own solution.
You do what you think is right.
And God is not in it.
You plan.
You do everything.
And you think, well, now I've sorted it
out.
But God is not in it.
We have to obey God.
We must have that depth in our spiritual
lives, that we get to that point where
God can speak to us, that we listen
to him, and then that we obey him.
Do what he says.
And don't be deceived that you do your
own thing, and you say, well, it's going
well.
Everything is in our favor.
Just look how everything is going our way,
and you don't realize that disaster is around
the corner.
It's no small thing to obey God.
It's far easier to just obey your own
feelings, to follow the way you see things
and think at best.
Remember Jonah.
God spoke.
Go to Nineveh.
And this is what you must say.
But Jonah didn't like it because it didn't
go along with his feelings and his desires
and his goals.
It just went against his brain.
It went against his politics.
And he made up his mind.
He said, I'm not going to Nineveh.
And off he went to Joppa.
Boarded a ship.
And once on the ship, he went down
into the hold.
Deep down, and he went to sleep there.
And the Bible says that a deep sleep
fell upon him.
Just imagine.
A deep sleep came over him.
If you don't obey God, the devil will
see to it that a deep sleep will
come over you.
Escape.
And that ship also encountered a storm similar
to this one.
The sailors panicked.
They threw everything overboard to try and save
their lives.
But there was one man, a prophet of
God, who had deep peace in his heart.
What a tragedy if children of God go
into the wrong direction, having perfect peace and
satisfaction.
Having perfect peace and joy in their hearts,
knowing everything is all right and they're on
their way to hell.
But perfect peace.
A cursed deep sleep has come over them.
They think they are right.
They are wrong.
Escape.
The ship was in danger of sinking.
But they are full of amen and hallelujahs.
Fully at peace with the situation.
Because a deep sleep has come over them.
Because of the disobedience of God's Word that
is so plain, so clear, that even a
blind man shouldn't err on that road.
The ship was in danger of sinking.
And so eventually they'd lost everything.
All their possessions.
Their economy was in ruins.
They had nothing left.
They didn't even have food to eat anymore.
And they were only trying to save their
lives.
With disobedience was in his heart.
When they questioned Jonah, he said, When they
questioned Jonah, he said, No, men, I must
be honest.
God had sent me.
He had spoken to me, but I was
disobedient to him.
And then blood was thicker than water.
And we who are God's children have got
the thickest blood.
We are cleansed and washed with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are cleansed and washed with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But if you as a black man, If
blackness still means something to you, If blackness
still means something to you, And you as
a white man, Whiteness still means something to
you, Then you know, Then you know into
which direction you are going.
But
but if God is not gracious to you
when you do what Jonah did then God
will send a lot of trouble across your
way.
Oh If
I Stand for my rights or my I
have my position And my viewpoint as a
white man And I stick to that just
because i'm also white in the same way
if a black does it because he's black
Then we're not in the gospel.
We're not busy with the lord's things Then
a deep sleep has come over us Foreign
And then we become like that prophet Um
sleeping in that ship and then that rocking
boat Becomes like a rocking chair that just
rocks us to sleep While
everyone
else realizes things are going wrong we're about
to perish But there you are quite at
peace thinking everything is going all right Samuel
spoke to the king of israel Is
And he challenged him he said oh king
what is this that I hear it sounds
like cattle and like sheep Um, did you
then not go and destroy everything that the
lord had commanded you to commanded you to
destroy?
And then the king said oh we kept
that back to sacrifice to the lord Foreign
But we only kept that which is the
best that which we found good And
samuel said oh king don't you know that
to the lord disobedience is the same as
a sin of witchcraft jonah The bottom of
the ship was fast asleep And because he
was bewitched Not because he went to a
witch But because he was disobedient to that
what god had commanded him and told him
to do Disobedience is like witchcraft Um
Like paul asked the galatians he says who
has bewitched you Uncle
So dear member of cft Male or female
old or young if god speaks to you
and you do not obey then you will
also be bewitched Um You'll
be like one of those That brother fano
referred to those who lose the power and
the strength And the fervor they become bewitched
Lonely They lose strength and they lose the
their fire for the lord Let me stop
here Good finally Every
member of cft should take the bible and
say what does the bible say?
God's word will wake you out of your
sleep That you ask and say lord, what
do you say?
Okay There
are people that say well, what's the problem
things are going well, we're at peace And
you don't realize that you're in the midst
of a storm We're here in south africa
and we could say well things are going
well I could mention many things that are
not going well Like
the the laws that have been relaxed regarding
pornography Um And that
homosexuality is now allowed It's legal And
it becomes acceptable, um and one says well
that's the way things are going Oh And
yet there are people that are saying our
we we trust Uh that through you you
people at sizzabantu that god will use you
to change the situation That things will change
Foreign But
at the same time there's a land claim
against this property where They are trying to
take away What we've got here.
Do you see that we're in the midst
of a storm and what the devil is
planning?
But some people don't see it They say
things are going well We don't know where
it'll all end We preach and we
proclaim that there's only one way and that's
jesus christ But it's not politically correct
to say it in fact, it's not it's
against the constitution If a child is naughty
If a child is naughty You can't even
punish it corporal punishment is not allowed in
spite of the fact that the bible says
that if a father doesn't Use the rod
on his child.
He doesn't love that child Foreign And
if I say that jesus christ is the
only way then i'm not in line with
What is said?
Foreign So, I don't know whether you understand
or whether you perhaps also like one in
that ship fast asleep and you don't hear
don't see Foreign Foreign
But Paul warned
them
But they didn't listen to him they listened
to the voice of the majority they went
along with them they said let's go and
There was danger ahead But if it wasn't
hadn't wasn't for paul, they would have all
perished but because of him their lives were
saved See that was also a majority rule
Foreign But that one
that way was the way of death and
took them into death But then god saved
them because of one man Who had an
anchor?
Our anchor is jesus christ No
Any other anchor Is worthless, even if you
have four four other anchors, whatever you do
in your own strength won't help Only one
anchor helps and that is christ Foreign
It won't help you to be white it
won't help you because you're black But you
need to be one with christ that will
help So Foreign
Remember when the disciples were in that ship
and the storm arose and they feared for
their lives they thought they would Would sink
and die But they called upon the lord
and they said oh lord help and And
save us and he spoke to the wind
and it became perfectly calm and they were
amazed They said what type of man is
this that he speaks to the wind and
the storm calms They had an anchor And
that anchor was jesus christ the almighty Foreign
Jesus christ Foreign Foreign
Jesus christ who has everything in his hands.
We need to leave our own thing And
become united with him do what he tells
us that is what will help us here
in africa and all over my christ Is
Dear christian for truth stand for christ That's
what will help you and everyone else around
you and not just your friends even your
foes What
Abide in him Every day every moment and
then that strength that fire will not go
out Will not grow less and will will
not disappear but will grow and continue That
Foreign The
12 disciples there on the sea They had
an anchor for the soul that saved them
and paul as well Even though he had
warned them.
They wouldn't listen.
They took him along Into that storm, but
because he had an anchor for the soul
that saved them in him I don't know
whether you understand.
Maybe you understand.
Maybe you don't I just leave it there