Thank you, Lord, that we could hear about
your working.
And Lord, we pray that you will not
stop working.
Continue the work of your hands that people
may find life.
And wherever your word is preached today, Lord,
we pray that you will anoint your servants
and that you will do great work.
And also, Lord, be in our midst, work
and touch our hearts and reveal heavenly mysteries
to us.
Amen.
And then in chapter 16, verse 18, I
tell you, you are Peter.
And on this rock, I will build my
church.
I will build my church.
Oh, we haven't read it in Zulu.
Sorry.
What I'd like to speak about is the
words of Jesus when he was there at
the sea, speaking to his disciples, saying to
them, Follow me, and I will make you
fishers of men.
I will make you to be fishers of
men.
We're not born to be and as fishers
of men.
We had someone here these days who said
he was a fisherman, travelling the world, the
oceans, fishing.
What he said he had enjoyed most was
northern New Zealand, where they had caught huge
trout.
I said, well, haven't you ever been to
Alaska?
He says, yes, he has been there, but
he didn't find that such a challenge just
to fish there because you just pull one
out after the other.
But there in New Zealand, it's a huge
challenge.
You've really got to hunt them down to
catch them.
To become a fisherman, you have to learn
it.
If you don't know how it's done, you'll
never catch a fish.
Someone once told me that he had travelled
around and gone along many rivers, seeing many
people fishing, and noticed how they didn't catch
any fish.
This new generation of fishermen, you need to
learn it.
It's a big challenge and you'll find a
way out.
It's a big challenge and you'll find a
way out.
If you don't know how to fish, you'll
never catch a fish.
Even if you catch a fish, you'll probably
never catch a big one.
And he went up to this man, he
said, I must congratulate you, I notice how
you're catching one fish after the other and
all the people alongside you aren't catching anything.
What is your secret?
Now this is a special type of fish
that lives in cold water and it's very
expensive.
I said, hey, daughter, I'm a trout.
And this old man said, young man, if
you want to catch trout like I do,
there are three rules that you have to
stick to.
If you don't do it, you'll never catch
them.
And no matter where you are in the
world, you have to learn and apply these
three rules.
If you don't stick to the rules, you
won't catch anything.
You've seen for yourself how the others try,
they catch nothing, and you've seen how I
catch.
He said, the first rule is that if
you really want to be successful at catching
trout, you must hide.
They mustn't see you.
That's the first point, don't forget it.
The second rule is that you must hide
very well.
And he said, the third rule is you
must hide very well, extremely well, even better
than that.
He said, those are the three rules.
If you stick to them, you'll catch a
lot of trout.
If you don't, forget it, just leave it.
So he taught this young man how to
catch trout, how to catch fish.
It's a terrible thing if you become a
fisherman and you catch nothing.
But if you become a fisher of men
and don't catch any men or any fish
that way, it's much, much worse.
He said, if you don't hide, you won't
catch anything.
He said, if you don't hide, you won't
catch anything.
The Afrikaans people sing a song, must I
go empty handed?
Is this how I must stand before the
Lord with nothing in my hands to show
Him and to present to Him?
Not one soul that I've led to the
Lord.
Now as I've said, no one is born
a fisher of men.
You need to be and place yourself in
the hands of the Lord that you will
be clay in His hand and that He
can form you like a potter forms the
clay.
You can have the best quality clay, the
best there is, but in itself it can
do nothing.
It cannot form itself.
It needs to be formed.
So if you want to become a fisher
of men, you must place yourself into His
hands, commit yourself and surrender to Him totally
that He can form you.
And when Jesus called Peter and Andrew, He
said, follow Me and He says, and I
will make you fishers of men.
I will make you.
He will make you.
If you want to be a successful fisher
of men, then you need to be in
the Lord's hands.
Before He said to them, I will make
you, He first said to them, follow Me.
Before you can become a fisher of men,
you have to become a follower of Jesus.
If you don't follow Jesus, you will never
become a fisher of men.
You can fish, but you will be fishing
for the devil.
For you to be able to lead someone
to Christ, that a person can be saved
and set free, you yourself first have to
be a follower of the Lord Jesus.
I am amazed when I read this word.
When Jesus spoke to Peter and Andrew and
said, follow Me, I will make you fishers
of men, they left their nets immediately.
If you read in Mark, there are four
fishermen that it reports on there.
One of the disciples writes and reports that
when Jesus came, two sons of Zebedee were
there and He said to them, follow Me,
I will make you fishers of men.
And they immediately left what they were doing
and followed Jesus.
They even left their father behind.
The father was there in the boat with
them, but they left him alone.
It says that the father was there together
with some others that he had employed.
The father had servants.
When Jesus came, He called the two sons
and Zebedee stayed and remained with his servants.
Jesus is great.
Jesus has the authority to call a father's
son or sons while the father is there.
And the father can't protest and say, what
are you doing?
Jesus has that authority.
For the earth and the fullness thereof belong
to the Lord.
And the boy said, what Jesus?
Who's Jesus?
I feel nothing for him.
Bring him here and I'll take my sticks
and I'll beat him up.
And they parted like that.
In the afternoon after he had got home
and had some lunch, the telephone rang.
Umpundi Stuma went and answered the phone.
On the other side of the line was
a nursing sister from the hospital saying, Reverend,
I'm sorry to trouble you, but there's someone
who needs you desperately here in hospital.
And off he went.
When he got there, the sister was waiting
for him and she took him straight to
the ICU.
And when he came into the ICU, there
he saw someone lying there in the bed
with all sorts of life supports, all sorts
of systems keeping him alive.
When he got there, it was a man
lying there and he said, oh, Reverend, Reverend.
And then Reverend Duma looked and he suddenly
recognized that this was that young man that
a few hours before had said to him,
you bring your Jesus here, I'll take my
sticks and I'll beat him up.
What happened after he had said that to
Umpundi Stuma, he went on his way and
on his way he was run over by
a car and was critically injured.
Now, Reverend Duma was a man who was
known for his stand.
His nickname was Fire.
He stood for what he knew was right.
He stood for what he knew
was
right.
When Reverend Duma saw it was this young
man, he said, young man, now you get
out of your bed, take your sticks and
you beat up Jesus as you said you
would.
And he turned around and he walked out.
He didn't even pray with him.
And he left him there and that young
man died after that.
Don't you take your finger and stick it
into God's eye.
Once I related this story and a white
person came to me after that and said,
well, he doesn't agree with what Umpundi Stuma
did.
I said, well, you won't agree because you
yourself are a Papuk.
You need to understand and realize who Jesus
is.
Whether you're a Christian or not, you need
to know who he is.
He is the owner of everything that there
is.
But in spite of that, he left heaven.
He died on the cross for you.
He went down to hell just for your
sake.
In spite of who he is, do you
think that you have the right to treat
him like your egg?
So he has the right and the authority
to say to anyone, follow me.
And that's so nice to see how these
two young men dropped what they were doing,
they followed him.
They didn't even consult with their father.
They went off following the Lord.
They didn't even consult with their father.
They went off following the Lord.
They didn't even consult with
their father.
They went off following the Lord.
Cell phone.
Saul, who
later became Paul, says when the Lord called
him, he says, I didn't consult with flesh
and blood.
In spite of the fact that he was
a Pharisee, his father was a Pharisee, but
he says he didn't consult with flesh and
blood.
He followed the Lord.
The Lord has the right to call you.
He didn't even send SMS's or phone him
on a cell phone.
No, the Lord had called him.
Now when Jesus calls you, and when he
says to you, follow me, it's no small
thing.
He says, follow me, follow me, follow me,
follow me.
Now people always are following something.
There are things which you follow in your
life.
One thing or the other you will be
following.
Now obviously when the Lord comes and he
says, follow me, that means that you will
have to stop following those other things.
And start following him.
You have to do a right about turn.
And forget about all the dreams and ambitions
and goals that you had had in life
before.
Because this now becomes important to you.
When the Lord comes and he says, follow
me, follow me, follow me, follow me, follow
me, follow me,
follow me, follow me, follow me, follow me,
follow me, One can understand why these men
became disciples of the Lord Jesus.
For when the Lord came and said, follow
me, there was the Father, there were the
servants, the whole business was there for them.
And they turned their backs on everything and
followed him.
No wonder.
At that time, there were many Pharisees and
Sadducees and scribes and priests and the theologians
of the time, the professors, but the Lord
didn't go and call all of those.
He came and called these people because he
knew that if he calls them and says,
follow me, they would do exactly that.
They were well educated, well trained.
They had authority behind their name.
But these people, nothing.
But they had more.
They had obedience.
Obedience.
You may be the most wise man on
earth and clever guy.
You're just a clever devil.
If you can't follow Christ when he calls
you and say, follow me.
When he calls you, you cannot say, well
Lord, let me first consult with my husband
or with my wife.
Or with my children, hear what they say.
No, when Jesus calls you, it requires obedience.
And they're all blacks who have given up
their goals and their careers.
Even if you think of Fano, who was
studying to become a doctor.
When the Lord said, follow me, he left
what he was doing and followed the Lord
in spite of the fact that the relatives,
they couldn't understand.
They couldn't understand how he could do such
a thing.
There's Brother Bruno as well.
The Lord said, come, follow me.
And so there are others too who were
prepared to give up everything when the Lord
said, follow me.
It's a pity that in spite of the
fact that there are those that have followed
the Lord's call, there are so many, and
even especially today, where the young people don't
seem to realize what it means when the
Lord calls them.
When the Lord
says,
follow me, it's a pity that in spite
of the fact that there are so many,
and even especially today, where the young people
don't seem to realize what it means when
the Lord calls them.
When the Lord says, follow me, that doesn't
mean that you then must respond and say,
yes Lord, I'll follow you.
And then you continue with exactly what you
were doing.
Nothing changes.
You just say, yes Lord, but you continue
with what you're doing.
When the Lord says, follow me, it means
something will change in your life.
You'll have to change direction.
You'll have to give up many things that
you were doing before.
But then you will be going into university
that is better than any other university you
can find.
For all the other things are temporary.
They're just here for this time, but thereafter
worthless.
Now I'm not a black, I'm a white,
and now I want to tell you what
I did.
I was up there in the Eastern Transvaal,
in the Malalan area, in Cape Mayden.
I
was
up there in the Eastern Transvaal, in the
Malalan area, in Cape Mayden.
I was
up
there
in the Eastern Transvaal, in the Malalan area,
in Cape Mayden.
And so the Lord can speak to us
in a language that we understand, no matter
who we are and what background we're from.
The Lord can speak to us in such
a way that we'll understand exactly what He's
saying to us.
And so I said, well Lord, now please
give me the answer that I need.
I want that seal on my life, as
I've told you what my plans are.
I opened the Bible and the Lord said
to me, and I read this very verse,
and He said to them, follow me and
I will make you fishers of men.
Well, that was a slap in the face
for me.
But that's how God put His seal on
my life, where He made it very clear
to me what He was expecting from me.
And there's no doubt in my mind that
this is what God has called me to.
Now I can't say any more, but I
still want to make money.
I want to be this or that.
It was difficult for me, very difficult.
But eventually I got to the point where
I said, Lord, I'm prepared.
I want Your will to be done.
You do with my life what You want.
And that's why I am here today, because
of how the Lord spoke to me over
there.
I will make you, He says, and so
I need to give myself, surrender myself, give
myself into His hands, that He can form
this clay as He wants to.
And then He will work through you.
He will do the work and touch people's
hearts that they will repent and come to
the Lord.
I will make you, I will make you.
Are you clay in God's hands?
Have you committed yourself fully to Him and
have said to Him, Lord, You make me,
You form me?
Now, excuse me, I'm trying to go through
this quickly because of time.
And so to the second part where He
says, I will make you to be fishers
of men, and then I will make you.
I will build my church.
So here again we see that we don't
build the church.
He is the one that builds it.
He says, like a wise builder, I have
laid the foundation, now let each one take
care how he builds on it.
I
have
laid the foundation, now let each one take
care how he builds on it.
Verse 18, verse 16, verse 18.
And I
say
to you that you are Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church.
And the gates of Hades will not overpower
it.
I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall have been
bound in heaven.
And whatever you shall loose on earth shall
have been loosed in heaven.
You get some super Christians that say we
only believe in God, we don't look at
men, we don't listen to men.
And those people are the slaves of men.
God has got to be God.
That he has got his disciples and his
servants as well.
That can lead you according to God's word,
not taking the place of God's word.
He entrusted even Peter with the keys of
heaven.
He gave him divine authority.
Before Pentecost, the Lord Jesus blew the spirit
upon his disciples and gave them divine authority.
Whom you forgive shall be forgiven, whom you
bind shall be bound.
Just imagine.
How people can go against confession doesn't go
in my head.
They believe part of the Bible and many
parts they don't believe.
He told Peter I will give you keys
to bind and to loosen.
And you say oh no you don't need
Peter.
And you make yourself into a Peter.
And he says he who receives you receives
me.
Who doesn't receive you rejects me.
I separate those who are his true servants
from Jesus.
Some people think they sound of a sound
mind and they are spiritually mad and ignorant.
They don't know what the Bible says in
spite of the fact that it sits in
their heads.
Let's leave that and carry on now.
That was by the way.
But I hope that you have gotten ear
to ear and won't make that stupid mistake
again.
I said to Peter, I tell you you
are Peter.
And on this rock I will build my
church.
Now we know that Roman Catholicism says that
Peter is the rock and that Jesus builds
his church upon that rock.
I would
like
to make it very clear and plain to
you that you will never have a doubt
again.
Paul said as a wise master builder I
have laid the foundation which is Jesus Christ.
And we've got to see how we build
upon it as wise men.
As wise men.
You can't take it for granted that every
Christian is wise.
You get the most foolish people amongst Christians.
Now the foundation is Jesus Christ.
There is no other foundation.
It's not Peter.
It's not Paul.
The foundation is not Peter.
It's not Paul.
It's not Peter.
It's not Paul.
It's not Peter.
Now some are confused by this word.
I tell you you are Peter.
And on this rock I will build my
church.
In Greek it is I
tell you you are Petros.
In Greek it is I tell you you
are Petros.
Petros.
In Greek.
You are Petros.
And on this rock.
He doesn't say on this Petros.
He says on this Petra.
In Greek it is I tell you you
are Petros.
And on this Petra.
In Greek.
You are Petros.
In Greek.
You are Petra.
Petros and Petra.
So there are two different words which are
used.
Petros and Petra.
Now in Greek.
Petros is masculine.
And in Greek.
In Greek.
Petros is lesa.
Masculine.
Not feminine.
Lesa is masculine.
Feminine.
Masculine holiness.
Petros.
So Petros is masculine.
Petra is feminine.
So he speaks of this rock.
Petros is a big piece of rock.
Petra is feminine.
That is much bigger.
Feminine.
A huge rock like the Gibraltar.
You see some women are bigger than men.
Make it easy.
Then you know.
Feminine is bigger.
In English they speak about big ships.
Feminine.
It is like that.
You English speaking people.
Big boat.
It is the ship.
Then Gibraltar.
Africa.
Spain.
Africa.
Spain.
Gibraltar.
Petra is Gibraltar.
A big rock.
Petros.
In Vergleich.
Compared.
With Petra.
It is a small thing.
The feminine.
Is the Gibraltar.
Big rock.
And Jesus said.
Peter.
You are this rock.
But on the Gibraltar.
I will build my church.
And who is that Gibraltar?
That is Jesus.
The rock.
The eternal rock.
Jesus.
Peter.
Why did he say.
Petros.
You are a rock.
A big piece of rock.
But nothing compared.
with the Gibraltar, the big rock,
Jesus
was with his disciples and he asked them,
he said, what do you say of the
Son of Man?
What do you say?
Who am I?
And then Peter said, you are the Son
of the Living God.
And then Jesus answered, he said, Peter, you
are blessed, privileged.
People should be envious of you.
You son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood did not reveal this
to you.
But my heavenly Father in heaven, for my
Father in heaven.
And he said, Peter, on this rock, which
is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living
God, on that rock will I build my
church.
So if somebody says, well, the church is
built on Peter, then you say, my dear
brother, sister, you are not hitting the mark.
You are missing the mark.
Peter was Petrus.
But his church is built on Petra.
Your problem is that you don't understand Greek
and grammar, the Greek grammar.
Petra, masculine.
Petra,
feminine.
So Petra is that huge rock, which is
Jesus Christ.
And if you built on that rock, you
are safe and you stand sure.
And that rock is bigger than the Gibraltar.
Because even if the whole earth moves, that
rock doesn't move.
Blessed is the one who is built on
that rock, who has had that mystery revealed
to him.
And then when the Lord gave Peter the
keys, he said, the Son of Man will
be persecuted and crucified.
He said, I need to go, he needs
to go to Jerusalem and they will fall
into the hands of the priests, the high
priests and the scribes.
And killed.
But then die and rise on the third
day.
And then Peter took the Lord aside and
said to him, Lord, do not speak like
that.
And Jesus said to him, get behind me,
Satan.
Why?
Now this man, who is built on the
rock, who has got the keys, has changed
into a Satan.
People speak a lot about prayer, prayer, prayer,
prayer, prayer.
We must pray more.
We pray too little.
And they don't understand that prayer is secondary.
In the second place, Jesus said, watch and
pray.
And that's why the people that pray a
lot and don't watch are erring the most.
Why did Peter become a Satan so quickly?
With the keys in his hand.
He said, get behind me, Satan, because you
are in my way.
Peter was a hindrance to him.
At the same time, a snare.
As you don't see and you don't mind,
as God sees and minds.
You have got the nature of God and
the quality of God in you, but of
men.
You don't think the way God thinks, you
think the way men think.
And I'd like to tell everybody here, even
if you're born again, you are very, very
close to man.
You are very close to the human.
And that's why you've got to watch.
You may think you are still safe, but
God calls you a devil.
You see how easily you can slip and
you can fall as a Christian, if you
don't stay close to Christ.
And I would like to say to Ed,
not only close to him, but in him.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone
desires to be my disciple, let him deny
himself.
You've got to deny yourself, if you want
to be a disciple of Christ.
That is to lose sight of yourself, to
forget yourself and your own interests.
And take up your cross, and when you
have taken that cross you've got no right.
You've got to take up your cross, and
when you have taken that cross you've got
no
right.
And so the cross becomes a huge stumbling
block in the time that we live today,
where everyone has to get his rights, and
has so many rights, but the cross of
Jesus takes away those rights.
Now Jesus is building his church upon the
Petra, and we are like stones in the
church, and that means we've got to deny
ourselves.
We've got to die to ourselves.
We've got to take the cross upon ourselves.
We've got to take
the cross upon ourselves.
So we need to allow the Lord to
take
the
cross upon us.
So we need to allow the Lord to
build his church, and that we will be
the right types of stones, and that we
won't be a hindrance and become Satan to
the Lord, and stand in his way as
he's trying to build his church.
And that we stay that type of person,
right to the end.
Those who have given up their own ambitions,
and who have put the Lord first.
Now I don't know whether what I've said
to you sounds like a fairy tale to
you, but this is the crux of the
matter.
And if you're not prepared to die, and
become nothing, you're a curse in the church
of Christ.
Not my will, Lord, but your will be
done.
Not my rights, Lord, but your rights.
Not my way, Lord, but your way.
And now we could continue speaking about what
the church should look like.
One in unity, and in the spirit, and
in holiness.
And in Titus it says, if the person
brings out about division in the church, warn
him once, warn him twice, and then let
him go.
He's got no place in the church.
If the person brings division.
Yes.
And how can you be one with those
that sow division in our midst?
You are one with them because that's the
type you are.
The Bible says you should have nothing to
do with him.
And if you are a friend of such
a person, you are exposing yourself.
That's what you are.
And you better follow him.
The sooner you follow him, the better.
Let's bow our heads and pray.
Lord, we've heard that you will make us
fishes of men.
Lord, now please work in our midst and
make us into fishes of men, that there
will be no one in our midst who
cannot win others to Christ.
That by that you can build your church.
Not just our own church, but your church.
So Lord, please build your church.
And even though we may be a Petros,
let us all realize that you are the
Petra.
Lord, please work in a wonderful way that
your name will be glorified.
Lord, build your church so that even the
gates of Hades will not be able to
overpower it.