In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the importance of seeking God's kingdom and righteousness above all else. He references Matthew 6:33, Matthew 24:13, and Revelation 2:10 to emphasize the need to remain faithful to God until the end. The preacher also discusses the traditional Jewish engagement process, where the future bridegroom and bride would drink from the same cup to signify their commitment. The sermon concludes with a personal story of a man who initially resisted repentance but eventually had a change of heart and repented. The preacher encourages the congregation to seek God's will, obey His commands, and hold on to His righteousness.

Yesterday we were in Virginia, in the Free State. We had a service there. The text which the bridegroom chose was Matthew chapter 6. And verse 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 24 verse 13. And then Matthew 24 verse 13. But he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And then Revelation 2 verse 10, the second part. Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. And this is what we were talking about yesterday. And before that there was the engagement. And then I told them about how engagements took place in the time of Jesus among the Jews. And this is how it happened. The future bridegroom would go with his family to the family of the future bride. And they were sat in front of the congregation. And then the two of them drank something out of the same cup. First the man and then the lady. We now use a ring. But in that time they used this cup which would signify the engagement where first the man drank out of it and thereafter the bride-to-be. And that was then the sign that they were getting engaged to each other. And that reminds me of something the Lord Jesus spoke to the Jews about. When he spoke to them they understood exactly what he was meaning with it and speaking about because it was something they were familiar with. The Jews understood. And I thought of the Lord Jesus when he was in the garden of Gethsemane. Where he sweated and his sweat drops were like drops of blood that fell to the ground. And he prayed and he said, O Father take this cup away from me if it is possible but yet not my will yet thy will be done. So by drinking out of this cup the two were being brought together. It was their sign of engagement. And thereafter they would go home. And the future bridegroom started building his house that he and his future bride would live in. He built it till he had finished the house. And when he finished the house he said, O Father take this cup away from me if it is possible but yet not my will yet thy will be done. And when he finished the house he said, O Father take this cup away from me if it is possible but yet not my will yet thy will be done. And that reminds me of some people, young people who think of marriage, even school children think of getting married. They haven't got a cent to their name. I don't know how they can ever do it but they are already thinking of getting married. And so the man built the house. Even when he had finished it he wouldn't know yet when he would fetch his bride. So even when he had finished building the house he didn't make any move to fetch his future bride. No, he waited till his father told him, now go and fetch your bride. So the Lord Jesus drank of that cup as well. By doing that he was identifying himself with us, with you and with me. He is Christ holy. But yet he got engaged to us. It was difficult. You are a liar, remember? You steal. You are immoral. You live in filth. You do abominable things before God. But then he had to identify himself with us as sinners. No wonder it made him sweat. You are at school or maybe you've already left but you've got your girlfriend, you visit each other. You visit each other, you even touch each other. You do even do it here at Sisabantu where we don't allow such things to be done. But if you do it, even if you get away with it for a while, it will bring upon a double curse on your life. You'd be better off if you go and you sin in a city and go into the world and do it there. But here in this place, sinning like that here, you'll get a double hell for it. It would be better to sin outside, not here. And God's curse will come upon you. I won't pray and say God bless. How can I pray that God blesses you when you're under God's curse? Because you deliberately just go against what God has taught you and what he's told you so clearly. No, if you go out here in that state, you are under God's curse. Yesterday I told them about Joseph Stalin who led Russia. They say he killed millions of people at that time. He was out to stamp out Christianity. Much blood flowed. When he was on his deathbed, on his deathbed, whenever someone came in to visit him and came into his room, he'd just point up with his finger. Anyone who came in, he'd point up. What was he pointing at? That's how he died. He must have met up with hell even before he actually got there. And I also shared about this young girl who Germany told us about. She was the only daughter, only child. She had wealthy parents. She was the only child. She was spoiled. She got just what she wanted and she also showed off with her clothes. And the German, he stood here when he told us the story. Now this girl was very cheeky. One day the Germany met this girl and asked her, have you made your life right with God? Have you made peace with the Lord? She said, oh Germany, I haven't done it. I haven't given my life to the Lord, but I still want to do it, but not now. In three days time is my 21st birthday. We're going to celebrate. The Germany said, don't delay, don't postpone it by three days. Make right your life today. Straight after that she got seriously ill. On her birthday she had a very high fever. The doctors didn't know what had caused it. And then the others two asked the Germany to come see her. And the pastor went and found her so ill. She said, Germany, I know I'm going to die. I want you to take my funeral. I want to ask you to do something. Please promise that you'll do it. When I'm in my coffin, I want you to please write on my coffin, three days too late for Jesus. Three days too late for Jesus. Three days too late for Jesus. I will do it. He did it. It is three days too late for Jesus. When he did it, the parents, the friends there, everyone there were shocked. They almost fainted when they heard these words. And they couldn't believe that it was this girl who had been so full of herself who was now saying this. I want to thank you. And the Lord Jesus had to go through that where he had to drink from this cup, identifying himself with you, with all the things that you are busy with, which you are hiding from your parents, your teachers, but God sees you doing. And maybe you say, well, I'm here at the mission. I even go to school here. Maybe I'm in the college. But I only come here to study. Or I only come here because my parents happen to live here. And maybe this won't be written on your coffin, but God is recording it in heaven. And Jesus is the one who is holy, holy, holy. He, God himself. But you are cheeky enough to play the fool with him. The sun sets and you haven't even made right your sin and confessed it. You haven't made peace with God. Woe to you. You will not have a good future. The Bible says, seek God while he may be found. While he is still near, call upon him. I told them about a well-known minister. Who was very gifted, but when we got converted, he went against it. He even wrote a book called The New Piousness. Someone who was there just before he died told me, He didn't live long after that. And this person said, as he was just before he died, he'd look at the people around him with these eyes that were begging you to help. Like a dog when it was in great need and it looks at you with those eyes just begging for help. But you couldn't help. He couldn't speak anymore, but you could see in his eyes he was desperately asking you to help. And you couldn't help. And that's how he died. When death comes, then you can't fool around anymore. Even your cheek will stop. You will not be so full of yourself anymore. You can play the fool with anyone else, even with me, but don't try it with God. You won't. You will come off second best. You'll get a kick worse than an ox can kick. I remember a bride who got married. But it didn't take long and then things didn't go well in the marriage. She didn't have any respect for her husband. Even hit him. But the man was a very... It was a strong man. And after she had slapped him so often one day, he just hit her once. She went flying through the air, landed there, but it got her right. She had cheeked him for a long time. That was the last time she cheeked her husband. My colleague, my daughter... Now don't say that I taught you to do this, but you wives should learn from that. I remember a man who got married. And he said, He said, Maybe you as a daughter are used to being spoiled at home. Maybe your father is so kind to you, you get away with anything. And maybe you'll get a shock when you get married and you notice your husband is not going to treat you like your father treated you. But even if you get away with treating your husband like that, don't think you can treat God in the same way. If you treat God in that way, you will be thrown into that fiery furnace where the fire is not quenched and that goes on forever. The Bible doesn't ever teach us to delay your repentance, to postpone it for a day or two or three. The Bible only speaks of one thing and that is today is your day of salvation. So the bridegroom has gone to prepare a place, but he says even he doesn't know the day nor the hour when he will return, only the father knows that. Now we don't know when the father will tell the Lord Jesus, now go and fetch your bride. Will he find you ready as his bride when the father does say so? So even the Lord Jesus doesn't know the day or the hour when he will return, he is waiting for the father when he will tell him, now go and fetch your bride. No one knows when he will return, that's why we need to be prepared all the time. Because he says he will come like a thief in the night, you don't know when a thief will come, so you need to be ready and prepared all the time. And so this is the text we spoke about, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. Seek first, that's the first thing, to seek God's kingdom. What is God's kingdom? In Greek it's the word Basileia, and that means it's a land or a kingdom that is ruled by a king. There was a nation that had a king where he didn't want something, but his people, his subjects wanted it. So they just dethroned him and they passed their law and then later they said okay now you can come back and be our king again. Maybe you even know which nation this is that I'm talking about. And I asked, I said well was that king prepared to be made king again after that? They said yes, he accepted. I thought that man would have been, that king would have been man enough to say I'm not prepared to be king again under these circumstances. Don't just make God and the Lord Jesus to be like a doll to you that you just play with. During the time of the struggle in South Africa, a preacher, one said let's just take God for a moment and just put him aside and fight and get our struggle over with and then we can take God and bring him back again. Well God is not like that Pastor Seth. That minister was wrong and he needs to repent of that. God is not like that. He's not someone who you can say okay you are king but for a moment you just stand aside a bit while we do our own thing and then we'll bring you back when we need you again. No, God is not like that. He is king and king always. You can make a fool of your husband, play the fool with him. Maybe you, as a wife, even go around speaking to your husband. Maybe you go around speaking to other women about your husband and his weaknesses. You can maybe, you may get away with it but you cannot treat God like that. Seek first God's kingdom. His kingdom is Basilea. Now in the Greek when it says seek it's like when you've put many things before you and then you come and you have to choose which one of these things that are before you to be the first in your life and to you. Maybe Maybe before you is your father, your mother, your brothers, your sisters, maybe it's even a man in your life. Maybe it's that boyfriend or the things of the world and maybe it's your own will and then God says now choose between all the things. Which, what do you choose? Seek. Seek. And it says you should seek it. Seeking it doesn't mean to look for something and then say well I looked for it and couldn't find it. No, it means to seek to find and then make that your own. You seek till you found it. And if you didn't find it, don't say you have sought. You rely. In Greek when it says seek, you seek till you find it. And if you say well I tried, I sought, but I didn't find it. No, then you're a liar. That is not seeking. That means seeking till you find it and then you make this your own. And Basilea is the kingdom where God reigns. So you seek God. Seek him and to make him God of your life and that he will make the law in your life. He'll even rule your feelings, your emotions. Your very, even the very lusts that God will be lord over that even. Your emotions, your feelings. That God will rule over everything. Not that he becomes your servant. No, he becomes God and the king in your life. Jesus said, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet do not do what I tell you? You children here in school, in DSS, have you made him God of your life? Where you don't just do your own thing. Even when you finish your schooling, that you don't just choose your own career, but you start with God and say, God, what do you want me to do? That you seek God's will and when you found it, you cling to it, you hold on to it and don't let anyone or anything rob you of it. Seek to be ruled by God. He alone. He'll be the first and makes the laws and rules in your life. He'll be the lawgiver and you'll obey him only. Let me ask you, is that the life that you live? Is that how you live? That you seek to be ruled by God and you seek it till you find it. And his righteousness. That which is right in God's eyes, which pleases him. Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness. And you seek it till you find it and cling to it. And his righteousness. Which is right in God's eyes. Where God says, this is what I want. I wish I could ask each one of you individually, one after the other, to come to the front and tell us whether you live this life or not. Whether daily you live such a life. You don't live for yourself. You don't live for yourself. You don't live for yourself. You don't just do your own thing. No, you seek God's will. Now we find what God's laws are in his kingdom if we read here Matthew 5 and 6. He says, love your enemies and bless the one that curses you. And if someone does evil to you, you do good to him. If you're in his kingdom, that's what you will be like. He says, seek to have a pure heart, blameless, spotless. That is your passport to seeing God. A pure heart. So you can go home and you can read about the sermon which the Lord held, where he taught us how we as his subjects should live in his kingdom. Jesus went up the mountain. And his disciples and the multitudes followed him. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It doesn't mean that you should be empty in your spiritual life, that you have nothing. Remember that rich man who had such a bountiful harvest, he says, I'll extend my bonds and I will live happily ever after. He said, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And God came to him and said, fool, I will take your soul of you and then we will see who will enjoy all that you have gathered. But so the Lord said that so are all those who are rich in the things of this world and not rich in the things of God. Being poor in spirit means to have a humble spirit. Then you will be something in the kingdom of God. And that's what it means being poor in the spirit. When you are at home, go on to your knees and look and study Matthew 5, 6 and 7. If you can't physically go on to your knees, look and study Matthew 5 and 7. then you can do it prayerfully before the Lord and let God speak to you through these chapters. I don't know whether you understand. Time has passed. What is it you hunger and thirst for? What is it that you long for more than anything else? What is it that is first in your life? Well, even if you don't tell us now, the day will come where it will become evident before heaven and earth for all to see what you've chosen. God's kingdom where he reigns. In his kingdom he says that if you look at a woman with lust in your eye you've already committed adultery with her. In his kingdom where he reigns there's no room for evil thoughts. Love even your enemies. In God's kingdom there's no space... There's no place for a grudge in God's kingdom where you sit and harbor this in your heart and say someone mistreated me. Someone who mistreated me and said I was a sinner. It's not what I say. I'm not talking. I'm not talking about the court. I'm not talking about anyone. I'm talking about the woman who was a slave to the Lord. The woman who was a slave to the Lord. If you keep this word, you'll have a bright future. But if you do not keep this word, then you'll have a terrible... your future won't be good. It will be terrible. Is it evident in your life that Jesus is the first in your life, greater than anything else? We say we're his church, his bride. Yesterday they got married, the bride went with the bridegroom, so it is, even in God's kingdom. You will go where God goes. Where each one will know, this is God's will for me. You won't even need to go and ask for someone else's opinion, because you'll know what God wants of you. If you come to me and ask me what God's will is for your life, I will tell you, you go and pray about it, and then you come back and tell me what God has told you. The beginning of the revival, then Kingscliff, there was someone there who went against the gospel, married with six sons. Then he took another wife. I spoke to him about the gospel, but I don't even want to tell you what his response was, what he had said. I could just see that he was full of the devil. I can even take you to Kingscliff and tell you in which room we were standing when we spoke. I realized that it wasn't helping to speak to him. He was just very stubborn and at enmity with God. But then a miracle happened after a while, he got converted. When he repented, some had even said, we won't repent until he first repents. If he does, then we'll consider it. He did repent, came to me, said to me, I have two wives. I'll explain my story to you. I got married to my first wife just because my parents wanted me to marry her. Yes, I have now six sons with her and real men. But then after many years, I thought, will I really have to now spend the rest of my life with this wife that I didn't even love? I only got married to her because it was my wife. And then he got married to another woman that he loved, but then he neglected his first wife and his children. He just spent time with his head wife. Even when he worked and earned money in Joburg, he'd send it home to his second wife. Even his sons then hated him for it and said, he doesn't care for us anymore. He just is interested in a second wife. And then this man said to me, now you please tell me what must I do in my situation? Because now I've given my life to the Lord. And then I said to him, well there, I cannot tell you. God, you are now God's child. The Lord says His sheep hear His voice. You pray and ask God what He says you should do about it. And then you can tell me what God has told you. He came back. Asked him, has God spoken to you? He said, yes. He said, what did He say? He said, firstly God's pointed out to me that I sinned, that I neglected my first wife and her sons. And that I haven't cared for them. And that the sons eventually had to take care of her. But he said, God has shown me I now, as I've repented, I need to go to them and ask for forgiveness. And that God has shown me that I must live right. And that I must live a life that is a testimony to everyone that they can see I've repented. He said, He said, now I've also realized when I send money back from Joburg that I've earned, I'll send the envelope to the older wife. And then it will be her job to divide the money equally between herself and the other wife. He said, And he said, even my time, I need to give each wife the equal amount of time. If it's one week with the other, a week with the other one. That I will treat them exactly the same. I said to him, well, if that's what God has told you, then do exactly that. He said, And the whole area there was amazed when they saw the results. They said, is such a thing possible? That you end up loving the one that you didn't love at all and that you are fair to each one. Many others found the Lord through this testimony of this man. But, Not long after that, the second wife fell ill. And she died. At that time, she had two small children. And then the father went to his first wife and said, would you be prepared to look after these two children, which I had with my second wife? And she said, no problem. I'll gladly take them. I'll treat them as my own children. And even the sons referred to these two as their sisters. There's nothing like living in God's kingdom where he is God and you do what he tells you to do. And that you don't even make your own will your God, where you don't do what you want, but that you say, not my will, but thy will be done, Lord. God's kingdom is where God reigns. And that is like heaven. And then everything in your life will be according to the Bible. And then you'll have no regrets either today or tomorrow, or even when you die. Let's bow our heads and pray. Lord, reveal to each one of us what it means to seek your kingdom and your righteousness. I pray, Lord, that you'll help each one to live that life. If there's someone who hasn't repented, that he'll repent now. And he who is not living in God's kingdom, that he'll seek your kingdom and that you can become king in his life. And that I don't live for myself doing what I want, but that I will do your will, Lord. We pray, Lord Jesus, that your grace will be with us all. And even where sin is powerful, that your grace will be much more powerful. And that the love of the Father will overflow in our hearts. And that we don't just love one another, but love even our enemies. And may the Holy Spirit go with each one of us, and convict us, and show us the path we should go. Amen. As we were flying back yesterday, from the mountains, the Drakensberg, there was a blanket of cloud under us. We couldn't see the ground. When we went up there, there were many, many clouds. There were many clouds. We wanted to get down there, but we were afraid, because the clouds didn't allow us to do anything. They didn't let us fly. They didn't let us sit there. We couldn't see anything, you couldn't see mountains or valleys, you saw nothing. We were right in the cloud eventually, saw nothing, just all that the pilot had was his instruments and he had to stick to what his instruments were telling him and they brought us safely to the destination. We've got God's instruments, here they are, follow what the Bible tells you and you won't get lost.