In this sermon, the preacher begins by emphasizing the importance of light and darkness in the Bible. He references the creation story in Genesis, where God separates light from darkness and declares it good. He then moves on to a passage in John where Jesus speaks about the light being among the people for a little while longer. The preacher shares a personal testimony of a bridegroom who had a similar experience to the bride, where God revealed to him the woman he was meant to marry. The sermon concludes with a discussion about the consequences of leaving the faith and the importance of remaining faithful to God.

Let us pray. We thank you Lord for what you've done for us that we can meet like this today. And for bringing together your children in a heavenly, godly way. Be in our midst Lord as we have prayed. As at the wedding in Kena where you changed the water into wine. We know that in the Bible wine is symbolic of rejoicing, joy, and also of new life. Lord be in our midst in a special way and touch every heart. Amen. Amen. Amen. Last night when I spoke to the bridegroom I asked him whether he had something on his heart which he wouldn't like me to speak about today. And he said yes there is something. So I said well what is it? He said it's a word in the Bible right in the beginning in Genesis 1. In particular two words in the beginning. Right in the beginning. In the beginning God. And then verse four. And God saw that the light was good and God separated the light from the darkness. And then in John chapter twelve. So Jesus said to them the light is among you for a little while longer. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light believe in the light that you may become sons of light. When Jesus had said these things he departed from them. I was so happy when I read this word. When the bridegroom told me about his story. He has a wonderful testimony. And amazingly it's very similar to the testimony of the bride. These this couple come have come through a very difficult time. In fact some of it you could almost say was you could almost say like hell in a way. When the bridegroom got converted at that time he went to his family to share with them that he had now become a Christian. Now his father had been a hard man. But he also taught them some upright things. One day he called his sons together when they were just getting a bit along in age. And so he said to them look now you are getting a bit older but I don't ever want to hear any stories from other people and other parents that you have caused trouble among the girls. This is not a Christian family so sometimes you find that the unbelievers are better than And he says that he was afraid to take a step out of line because of his father's strong instruction. And so he lived accordingly. So the bride is very fortunate to get a husband who has kept himself pure. That's not something that you find very often. Sometimes girls live a pure life but it's not often that you find a man who does that. And usually if he's been unfaithful before marriage it's seldom that he'll be faithful in marriage. Now there's much I could share with you but the sun would set before we were through. And you still have to get home. But then when he became a Christian he went to his parents to tell them that he had now given his life to the Lord. And so he, as the text says, there is no fellowship between light and darkness. So he went to tell his parents that he's become a Christian and that he was separating with the things of the world and everything that has to do with ancestral worship. Now his mother had been a Christian but you know as time went along you know like some Christians do they start mixing the things of the world and Christianity. And so God has his laws. I read these days in Leviticus where God strictly instructed Moses that a man should not have any relations with his sister or his aunt and so on. And he also forbade a man to have a homosexual relationship with another man and a woman with another woman. That is an abomination before God. And then God even instructed them that they should not plant two crops in the same field. That was also an abomination to the Lord. These days I was with some ladies and they had in their field potatoes and matumbes and maize mixed together and I said you know that the Bible actually says one shouldn't do that. You cannot claim to be a Christian and yet you have the world in your life. You cannot claim to be a Christian and yet you have the world in your life. That is an abomination to God. Now you tell me, who among your brothers must take your place? Now you tell me, who among your brothers must take your place? what he calls And then he prayed in his heart. He said, oh lord, please help me give me an answer now because I I need the right answer here How we go see that you're sure no country what the bar and the lord gave him the answer And then he said, Father, it's difficult for me to identify somebody because what if the same happens to him as happened to me? And then he, um, that he wants to become a Christian. And then he says, well, brother, I'm in this predicament now because of you. And the father said, look, my son, from now on, our ways are parting. Don't regard me, um, as your father anymore. Come to me. I'm looking for advice or treating me as your father. And he remembered the word in the Bible that say where the Lord says, take up your cross and follow me. And so he lived that life and went and looked for work. And so he found a job, but that business closed. So you had to find another one. That one closed. And in his need, he then contacted Peter Dahl. And then Peter said he should come and speak. And he said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no And then it's amazing how the Lord led him from there, and then the mother approached him and said, she's living in the mountains, there's no electricity, no water, and after some time the Lord made it possible that the bridegroom was able to buy her a house, or get her a house with water and electricity, and I asked him whether his father would be here today, he said, no, unfortunately, he won't be here. And then he invited them and asked them to be here, but then the father said, no, Musa, I'm sorry, I'm busy training, I can't be there. I asked him, well, what is he training for at this age, it was very difficult for him to say it, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma. And then he said, I'm sorry, I'm busy training, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma, and I said, no, unfortunately, I can't be there, but eventually he told me that he's training to become a sangoma. And the bride has a similar story, where she's gone through so much difficulty herself. She's got lots of brothers, but But they haven't come today because there are certain rituals which normally are performed and she said, I'm a Christian, I cannot do that, and as a result of that they've said well then they cannot come in. But don't give up hope because even though men can be hard sometimes but it's not impossible for them to get converted. Sin came into the world through a woman but it's also through a woman that salvation came into this world and she did it, she brought the Lord into this world without the help of a man. And so you women don't lose the blessing God has given you. So I encourage the young people to be like Mary. All the young girls. The world is rotten today because of women who live as prostitutes, they are immoral and so it's rotten because of them but God did not create you to be rotten potatoes that make the whole bag to become rotten. No you should pray and have you ever prayed and said Lord make me to be like Mary? And so the bridegroom says in the beginning God and he says that's what I want God to be in my life and in our life that in the beginning will stand God. And in his own words and I quote, in everything I put God first. By God's grace I put God first in all things in my life and for the future too. And then I know it will go well with me and that's how the Bible says in the beginning But unfortunately many people make God to be like a spare wheel on the car, he's in the boot and you only get him out when there's an emergency, the child gets sick, then you remember God, you pray and you cry to him, when the child is healthy you put him back in the boot again. Must be God in everything we do, in every country, every continent in the world, even here in this country, if we don't put God first you'll see where we'll end up. And you'll experience that in your personal life, in your family, in your congregation and even beyond that you will see what will happen if you make God to be a spare wheel. Swiss Air is an example where it was the Swiss National Airline, the pride of the Swiss. And so for a long time they had the chief executive and he had then got to the point where he retired. And then they put someone else into his position. When the young man took over, he said well now we are free, now the old man's gone, he used to open meetings with prayer, now we are taking over, we're going to do things differently, we're free from that, we don't need to pray anymore. And he led the company without God. And after 10 years After 10 years Swiss Air was bankrupt, it was the end of the airliners they'd been so proud of and now the Germans are running their national airline, much to their dismay. And so that was the end of Swiss Air. And if you think of the USSR, at that time they said we will plow, we'll plant, we'll harvest without God. And they had big tractors on which they wrote we will plow, plant and harvest without God. And they didn't just put God in the boot, they just discarded him totally and said he didn't exist. After 70 years the whole Soviet Empire disintegrated, it collapsed, they were poor, they didn't even have food to eat anymore. The communist empire just collapsed totally and so it will go with you, try without God, it will collapse, it won't work. When I got to Russia, I went into the shops, there was nothing. I wanted something to drink, couldn't find anything. There was no coke, no Sprite, nothing. I tried to find something else to drink, there was absolutely nothing. I tried to find something else to drink, there was absolutely nothing. I said well what do you do if you're thirsty and you want to buy something to drink? They pointed me to a tanker in the street, they said there's some water and that had been sweetened a bit, they said that's the cool drink that you get here. That was the end of this communist empire. What did they say? They said we don't want pie in the sky, we want bread now. Eventually they didn't even have bread anymore. The bread that was available at that time, I ate of it, it was rock hard, you could hit someone on the head with it and do some damage. For sake God and you'll see where you'll end and that's what you see with people who leave the way. It doesn't take long, you see where they are and you look at their children and it's tragic what you see. If I think back a few years ago, after the beginning of the new South Africa and we had the first Radio Kwezi meeting in Kronskop, the first AGM in Far North BC, the station manager asked me to open in prayer. Thereafter, the chairman of the meeting came and said that must be the last time that we open such a meeting in prayer. So without God we will not succeed, we must put God first, in the beginning God. And we must not mix things, if we choose God, it must be God. If you want to choose the devil, well then leave God out of it. In 1951, ASP Trans Valley, I remember 1951, I was in Mpumalanga, the old Eastern Trans Valley, I could show you where it was. God had called me into his ministry to serve him full time and I was up there and I said Lord I don't want to become a missionary, I'll go home, I'll go into business and farming, I'll support the church and the missionaries and they can come and stay at my place but I don't want to go myself. And then I told God, I made him a list of all the things that I wanted in my life, I said I want money, I want a home, and I made this long list and I said but Lord, at the end of it, I don't want to just do this on my own, I want you to put your seal on it, I want your stamp of approval. And then I, it was early in the morning, I opened the Bible and opened to Matthew 4 where the Lord spoke to Peter and his brother and he said, come after me, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. That word struck me, it was a slap from the Lord and I understood what he was saying to me but I got angry, closed the Bible, I went to my minister, I'm just glad I didn't throw the Bible away in my anger. I can still show you the mountain where I was sitting when I made all these demands of the Lord where I told him what I wanted from him and then the Lord said to me, no, you follow me and I will make you fishers of men. I had planned out everything into the finest detail and said, God, it must go like this, now put your seal on it. And I got angry and I said, God, I'll show you that I won't do it. I went to the minister, I said, I'm going home. I got onto the train and headed home. But the minister did tell me, he said, but didn't you say that God had called you full time into his ministry? What then has happened to your calling? Are you sure? I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, And then he challenged me, he said, are you sure this is God's will? And then I told a lie. I said, yes, I'm sure it's God's will. A person who's not in God's will, who goes against God, he's a liar of note. And then I phoned home. I said, pick me up at the station. I'm coming home. I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, God! And then when I was sitting with my mother on the porch at home, and she asked me, she said my son tell me didn't you say God had pulled you into this ministry. And I didn't like it. I said, well, Mom, don't you want me at home? If you don't want me here just tell me, and I got up and I stormed out. Huh? No boxes. Well, the next 18 months were like hell on earth for me. And I knew if I die now, I'm on my way to hell. But I remember the day when I capitulated and I said, Lord, I'm prepared. I bow. I want your will to be done in my life. If I got up and I went to my mother and I said, Mother, I'm going. I know what it means to live in disobedience to God, where you go against God. Such a life is like hell. That's the first point in the beginning and the first place must be God. Have you taken note of it? Is he first in your life? Here's our friend from France sitting there, he spoke here last Sunday. And he told us that God must be first in our lives. I was amazed that the leaders in France speak in that way. And then the second point is that God saw that the light was good. In verse four, God saw that the light was good. We've got somebody here who's blind. He cannot see. He became blind when he was still small. And so he then later went on to teach other people to read Braille. And he also translated books in Braille. It was a French person who introduced Braille. It was Mr. Braille. He's the one who developed that. And Braille was inspired by that word in Genesis where he said, God said, let there be light. And he said, that's what the blind people need. That's what we need as well. Even though we don't see the light of the sun, but that light we need. Everybody, whether he has eyes to see or not, must see that light. So our brother Kwela read the Bible. Isaiah 60, verse 19. Isaiah 60, verse 19. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light. But the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. That's what we blind people need. This light. Have you received this light? You may see the light of the sun and of the moon, but tell me, have you seen that heavenly light? In heaven there will be no night. They do not need the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun. For the Lord God will be their light. Now you can go to Now you can go to brother Kwela and he can tell you how and when he saw the light. Now tell me you, you women, have you seen this light? Not just the light of the sun, but this light? Not just the light of the sun or the moon or the stars or of a lamp, but God himself who is the light. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Has that light reached your heart? I remember Aunty Fawes when years ago she experienced death and then she came back to life. I remember Aunty Fawes when years ago she experienced death and then she came back to life. When she came back to life, she said, I cannot express to you and describe the light of heaven. She said, there's no sun, there's no moon, no stars, and said, well, is it dark then? She said, no, God himself is the light. She said, but let me describe it like this with our light here on earth. She said, but let me describe it like this with our light here on earth. You see a tree, but you cannot see what's under the ground. Don't see the roots. She said the light in the heaven, it's an extraordinary light. It shines, you see the tree with its branches and its leaves, but you can see even what's under the ground, the roots and all the rocks, everything. It brings to light everything. Nothing is hidden before this light, everything is exposed. For weeks and months after that, I went throughout the world and I spoke about God being the light. And God said the light was good. And the Lord said to his disciples and to the people, it's just for a short time that the light will still be with you. And work now and be active now while you have the light, because the night is coming. And it wasn't long after that the Lord left them and it was like the light had left, but then the Lord said, now you be the light of the world. The light is a wonderful thing. If you have light, you can see where you're going, but if it's dark, you're lost. You cannot even see where you're going. Do you have this light or are you in darkness? If you go home, you have an accident, if you died, would you be in your darkness? What will happen to you? And the bridegroom told me last night, he said, I have no regrets about accepting the light in my life. He said, when I accepted the light, the light made it so clear for me and I saw the things that were right and the things that were not right in my life. If there is no light, then the darkness takes over. Einstein said, darkness is just the absence of light. Light drives away the darkness. But if the Lord isn't there, there will be darkness. Even though you think you want to enjoy life, you want to be happy, you will experience none of it without God. When the bridegroom accepted the Lord in his life, God made it clear to him that he cannot continue with ancestral worship because God makes it clear that you should not converse with the dead. And God is not the God of the dead, but the God of those that are alive. If someone dies, he goes to heaven. If he's not in heaven, well then he's in hell. And so it became clear to him here to make decisions. He went to his parents and when they spoke to him in that way and said that I'm choosing this way, they said, well then we're not part of the family. And the Lord says, he who loses anything for his sake, he will receive it a hundredfold in this world and eternal life in the life to come. Now to the bridegroom, you've lost your father for a while. Maybe it won't be permanent. Maybe he will still see the light. Now if you think you've lost your earthly father in this way for a while, but if you think of all the other fathers and all the other parents that the Lord has given you, you can't even number them. Now to the bride, your brothers aren't here today, but just look around you and just see how many brothers are here today. Like the sand on the beach, there are more than you need. Even if we lose, even if we lose our earthly family, but God will reward us with many heavenly family, in the heavenly family. And then the bridegroom told me, he says, you know, it's interesting. I was never interested in girls. Do you hear that you boys? Said I was just busy with God and living to be faithful to him. And then one day he came here to Siza Bantu and he wanted to buy a CD. And when he got there, it was this lady next to him that was selling the CDs. But at that time, he didn't make any impression on her. He didn't think anything at the time he left and he had no thoughts and it didn't bother him. Not like some people who just think about the opposite sex all the time. And then one day that comes back to haunt them. And then after a while, he was busy praying and suddenly it was as if he was seeing a vision. And what did he see? It was this lady. And she saw, he, when he saw her, he heard this voice saying to him, that's the girl that you must marry. He brushed it aside. He brushed it aside, but the Lord kept reminding him of it and showing it to him until he realized that's what God wanted from him. So I could say much more, but because you're hungry, I'll stop there.