In this sermon, the preacher discusses the story of Noah and the flood. He emphasizes how God showed mercy to Noah and his family by sparing them from the destruction. The preacher also highlights the importance of the words we speak, stating that every word is recorded and we will be held accountable for them. He warns about the corruption and lies in the world today and mentions the concept of temporary suffering compared to the eternal glory that awaits believers. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the love of God revealed through Jesus Christ and the need for repentance and conversion.

It takes me to Siltole, Robase, Roma, Isatlugo, Sheagalumbili, Usugele, Vessini, Shumina, Sheagalumbili. Romans 8, from verse 18. Gogubangiti, izin tshupego zezikati zamanch, azina guliganiswa nezin kulu nenekazimulo eagwambulo kitina. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Ngoguba ukulangaselela kuktaliweyo kulindele ukwambulo akwabantwana bakamkulungulu. Ngoguba uktaliweyo kwabegwapansigobuse kungengentando ya kukotwangaye owakbegayo. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the One who subjected it. Ay, bengitinzo, funda, guzugube, i versuga 27, gegesi tangvelen yegenchi. Well, I actually wanted to read until verse 27, but we won't be able to look at all of this. This which we've just read in the first verse or verses is already enough. Ngingati lamavesa mitimpele, amumetoguningi, gegesi pkaete. These verses are so rich, so full of meaning, that we won't have enough time to look at all of it. Kota i versi leshumi nashiradumbili, gogubangiti izintrupego, zesikatisamanche, azinagulinganiswanikazimulo, eagwamuguluagitina. Just there in verse 18, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Upaulumpostolu uti, nakoge ngiti, gogubangiti. Paul the Apostle says, I say, or I consider. He didn't waver, he didn't doubt, he was not uncertain about this, he was sure and boldly he could say that I consider. What was he speaking about? He spoke about that which a believer would meet up with. When Paul, who was so strong in his faith, got converted, and Jesus appeared to him on the way to Damascus, and then he was led to that place, and afterwards God revealed himself to one of his children, one of his servants, to go to Paul and speak to him. He said, but I know that man and how he is persecuting the church. And Jesus said, that doesn't matter. You go to him and I want to show to him how much you still have to suffer for the sake of my name. Jesus didn't speak or preach like so many ministers today. Jesus didn't speak or preach like so many ministers today. I don't know where you are. I don't know where you are. I don't know where you are. I don't know where you are. Come to Jesus. Some ministers preach and they say, come to Jesus and then you'll get a smart car or, you'll be very wealthy. You'll prosper, you'll be blessed. And that's the kind of message that they preach. Where are ministers that preach like this? That say, this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles, and I will show him how much he must suffer for my sake and for my name. We are ministers that preach that gospel and that is why we are not worth much and after two, three days we forsake the faith. I don't say that it's impossible for you to then get a nice motor car once you've got converted or that you are well off and that you are blessed but that's not why we get converted and why we repent. We repent to meet with God and God has even blessed me. There I've got a nice car that you gave me. Tumisani came to me these days and he said that a person who's in the ministry came and spoke to him and said, why do you people always, why don't you preach about love and God's love and grace and mercy? It was a man from America. And Tumisani said he looked at this man and he was at a loss really what to say and he said, now what kind of love are you speaking about? What? What? And Tumisani said, what kind of love are you talking about? Because we preach about the love of God that was revealed in his son Jesus Christ as God's word says that whoever should believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life, would be saved from his sin and would be redeemed. That's the kind of love that we speak about and therefore we urge people to get converted to repent from their sin. And then fortunately this man said, oh now it dawns on me. I didn't understand and I wasn't a true child of God. I was just following after the others. Now I realize what this love is all about. But amongst the servants of God there is no servant that I know about that I've heard of that had to suffer as much as Paul did. He really had to suffer and one can understand that Jesus said to him, I'll show him how much he must suffer for my name. You know that when Jesus was flogged, he was flogged with a cat of nine tails 39 times. He was flogged with a cat of nine tails 39 times. Now, the instrument which they used, that cat of nine tails, it had so many strands on it and on those strands there were tied to it pieces of rusted nails and bones and all sharp instruments so that it would cut into the flesh and rip it out. And if a person had been beaten 39 times and scourged in that manner, they say if you'd come from the back you'd see how that person's back was ploughed where you could see the lungs from the back as the person's back was perforated you could see him breathing from the back and the lungs. And with Paul, he had to experience that four times, so I don't know what his back looked like. You can imagine the mangled flesh that there was, the scars, it must have been deformed. But armed with that instrument, he could see the nail on the back. But it was cold. And the man of that house, when he had been beaten for three times, he could see the rope hanging down of the back of his head. And when the man of that house saw that, he said, and his face was broken and scarred because he was stoned and one time they left him there for dead under a heap of stones but like a cat that doesn't die he got up from there he walked into the city and he preached the gospel there are the men of God the heroes what booty Gatey is in super go Jessica T's a man she has not only gonna say run niggas Moodle is a one bullet one bulwark itina those are the heroes of God but he could say that I consider and I say that our present sufferings are not even worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us who's your Paulo no mess you pay a gun gaga a boss for me now get a lay it so sure I can't drag a niggie simbo nada a day look up super I wish Kashanana while he's with us now kooka Tanisha then Kazimu Lola yo s o s o moolah Yonah SOP Yonah is really here is this very same Paul who had been stoned many times were to suffer who was thrown into jail who experienced so much torture and suffering and he said all of that suffering is but temporary and present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us I've only got the Moodle your corner don't fool so what says Louie he wasn't down in the dumps and depressed and then every council said dick back of dick moon he wasn't like that and so I had to suffer and endure so much pain and anguish no he was transported from this world into heaven to experience the glory of God in heaven at a local school Pega always Kashanana Jay is Kashanana Jay or to a lay in Togo's or your party is it all this suffering is but for a short while but their joy will be eternal we have on Linda by is Kumbu's are almost say this reminds one of Moses Oh Moses was called the son of the princess the Pharaoh's daughter as he was the son of the princess he was known as a prince I don't know whether he would have taken over the throne from Pharaoh and be the next Pharaoh princess no one to me let's call a Nessie puppy like a pete walk a casual walk on this walk go go I can't even say keep eating well he would have succeeded Pharaoh but his so-called mother sent him to the best school there and he was taught and all the wisdom of Egypt but even though he had that high position and all that that pasta those possibilities in front of him and the tables were laid before him with all the delicacies all the place of Egypt that which is of Durban or Janice book is nothing in comparison to that which he had in front of him there's a good tour walk it up oh gosh no Pega Nick Lila but then it says instead of those places of Egypt he chose to suffer with God's people with the slaves who possess a woman to go to bizwe in glossy be zero m7 zini oh my 18 be zero X to Peggy and I shooting he be Zell way and I win a paramedic was a catalogue blessed the one who is called by the Lord who says I have been called to share in his suffering rather than saying I've been called to exalted place that person won't last very long I'm gonna say go away now lit up fuller lento gozo yes kashanana ya says we know lit up fuller logos to peg and a bunch of our own kudu kudu okay Tagu P way now don't say Lila oh me we miss sailing a groupie now I don't know about you here are these two tables in front of you from which you can choose on the one hand the table laid with all the pleasures of this world and on the other hand there is that table of suffering suffering with God's people what do you choose oh boy say we all find a nopal all fina no more I think he kata to peg blessed the one who will be like Paul or like Moses who says I choose to suffer obey normal Paul no many quacky obeying homa mogul superior quack Paul boasted in his weaknesses and in his sufferings a tip an apostolic me not a cool miss a barley a bar look who's to shake wah-wah who goes to pick a wacky gang yeah come on in course he said are these other others apostles I am even more and then he would count all his sufferings and mention how many times yet to suffer I don't really get who would win a cat a cat a groupie tell me what do you choose Oh moon yeah we're no moon you have a remote and cool yeah no humbug a nun we are for Mona voodoo Konona governor Kyle yeah now you say Lindsay a person might be seeing another one driving in a big smart motor car while he's just driving in a small car or maybe he sees somebody else living in a smart house and he's I've got to live a little shack of a house and then he dies of jealousy now before I even continue what do you choose now when you also speaks about that glory that awaits us and that glory is there it awaits us which we will experience but it starts with suffering a person who's blessed doesn't start off just being blessed that person first has to endure a lot of suffering you begin by suffering and in the end you are blessed I remember when I started off preaching I didn't want much I just asked the Lord for a bicycle that I'd be able to ride this bicycle go to the people's huts and preach the gospel to them no masang shumaila the kumbulang is a and now I remember when I was in Ladysmith once preaching there at the beginning of my ministry early in my ministry across the road when I came out of the service I got the whiff of somebody brine meat having a brine and I said oh that person is so fortunate that they can have meat it was for many months that I didn't know meat at all but it didn't trouble me I said Lord Jesus I'm doing this for you when I speak about that I remember Reverend Bengu who said that many people say smoking is not a sin but he said they said it's like food that you just take into you and he said well what kind of food is there that you eat and immediately after that you just vomited out again Oh Nicholas Bengu, Bob Nicholas Bengu. That was Reverend Nicholas Bengu. What would you say of a person that eats meat and then these pieces of meat come back out through his nose and you'd say well there's something drastically wrong with that but he said you that smoke you are like that but it's wonderful when somebody comes who seeks help and to be helped with that which is troubling them in the morning a young woman came to me and said pastor please pray with me because I'm troubled by a strong drink by an alcohol addiction it's wonderful when people come and when they seek help and they come to you with their problem and they say please I need pray here is my problem now tell me I'm going now to another point that Paul suffered so much for what reason was he guilty of stealing people's chickens was he guilty of hate speech what was he guilty of that he had to suffer so much in had to be flogged many times and in the Bible we read before said that he's got a good conscience towards God and towards men there is nothing that would come to his mind where he felt that he was guilty towards anybody by running anybody apart from where he persecuted the church before when we study his life we find he was a true believer he was true in the faith he wasn't a hypocrite he was holy he didn't trouble other people there was nobody who helped other people to the extent that he did all those that he got into contact with bringing them the gospel and bringing them life he brought them the word of God he preached the gospel of repentance where they would repent from their sin confess their sin and receive forgiveness that they would be saved and become citizens of heaven but people persecuted him they chastised him they tortured him they spoke angrily against him they beat him with sticks and threw him with stones they threw him to jail and then that which I'd already mentioned being chastised with a cat of nine tails they hunted him down persecuting him following after him from one town to the next in the desert or wilderness on the mountains hated by Jews those who worshipped idols and lastly but not leastly by so-called Christians by false brethren those who were believers but not in truth they were also persecuting him for what period of his life that he suffered he suffered right until the very end of his life until his soul left his body until they cut off his head but besides all that he didn't want to part from his gospel he said there's nothing that you can present to me or offer to me that I would take in place of that which I've got and Paul said in Philippians 3 verse 8 that that which was gained to him he considered as loss and as done in comparison to Jesus Christ and in Zulu I say it with it's the tongue of animals of human beings. He said that is what you are offering me when you come with all your pleasures of the world it's just like that tongue. What can we say about today's girls? We're selling their bodies selling their lives and selling the Lord Jesus for that for the for those pleasures even Judas Iscariot got 30 pieces of silver for selling Jesus and maybe you don't even get that much you don't you just get a disease. And you're not even getting 30 pieces of silver you even take off your own money to go and buy the pleasures of this world to pay some for some sweets for a girl or for whatever it might be there's no greater fool than you in this world. And you are drawn by the glory and the pleasure of this world that which is in fact non-existent there is no such glory but it draws you and you are taken up by that and just imagine what suffering will be yours in the year after. I do know what to say. I don't know what to say. I know what to say. I know what to say. But then we all know according to the healers God too fucked us all up and that's a fact. but then we'll maybe ask him and say Paul don't you perhaps have a picture or photograph or something that we could see what you are like when you are on earth at your time. We will see Jesus and recognize him by the wounds in his hands and in his feet but I don't know whether we'll be able to recognize Paul by his words. Paul and Silas when they were in jail at midnight they were busy singing while they were in stocks in chains and they were singing the praise of God glorifying and praising God because they said well what is this this these sufferings that are just for a time in comparison to the glory to be revealed to us. Now listen to what pertains to you. If we read the Sermon of Jesus on the Mount. With the Beatitudes where he said blessed are such-and-such. Starting off by saying blessed are the humble. Blessed are those who mourn because of their sin. Blessed are the meek. Those who are merciful. Who have a pure heart. All those are good people aren't they? They are meek. They are poor in spirit. They're not exalted and great people. And he said blessed are you if you are like that. And then he says blessed are you who are persecuted. Blessed because you are persecuted because of stealing somebody's sheep. No but because of righteousness because of Jesus sake. This world is cursed and the majority of the people in this world are under that curse. They ought to be happy and rejoice about people amongst them that are poor in spirit, that are meek, that are merciful, that are pure in heart but it's not the case. Jesus said blessed are you when they insult you, when they swear at you and curse you because of his name. Have you ever experienced that and then how do you respond? When people tell all sorts of lies about you. He said rejoice. Rejoice greatly like a calf leaping as it's released from the stall. For great is your reward in heaven. We say we are believers. We believe in Jesus and then people speak badly about us and to us and when it happens we lose hope. We become discouraged. We want to throw in the towel but Jesus said no it shouldn't be like that. You ought to rejoice because those people are busy preparing a great reward for you in heaven. And Jesus said rejoice for great is your reward in heaven for in the same manner they persecuted the prophets of God. Do you know that the Bible clearly teaches that if you believe in Jesus people will hate you. They'll tell lies about you. And Jesus said woe to you if all people speak you want to please everybody and as soon as somebody goes against you and speaks evil of you then you melt like butter in the Sun. Let's examine ourselves to see whether we have the true faith. Paul said if I still want to please men I'm not a servant of Christ. And many have been revealed as just that, that they are not servants of Christ because as soon as any hardship came their way, any persecution, any suffering, they turned away from the faith. And that's why I say to you, you who want to follow Jesus Christ, you want to live for him and stand for the truth, do not be surprised, do not be shocked. If people come and speak badly of you and if they tell lies about you and if they despise you, you need to rejoice for your reward in heaven is great. Paul said this suffering is a greater treasure to him than the place of this world for a short while. Moses said the same and that's why I said let me rather end there. There's so much one can say about this if I read the rest of the portion I wouldn't be able to cover it all. That's the first point. Paul said I consider that our present sufferings are not worth to be compared with the glory, with the blessings, with all that which we'll receive from Jesus Christ. And not only in heaven but even right here on earth. It's wonderful to walk with God, to witness the greatness and the glory of God whilst you're still in this world. Yet towards the end of the Bible in Revelation 21 it tells us about a new earth and a new heaven. Where it speaks about the new Jerusalem coming out of heaven down to earth. The holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for a husband. And the throne. And John said he heard a loud voice saying from the throne now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. And he said to me it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this and I'll be his God and he will be my son. Isn't that wonderful? Is there anything better than that? That's why I say there's no greater fool than the one who turns his back on our Lord Jesus Christ. We see the new earth and the new heaven. If you go home, go and read from 2nd Peter chapter 3 from around verse 10. Just remember that. That's Peter. It's the second book. It's chapter 3 and the verses 1 and 0, 10. He says there that the Lord will return like a thief. He said the heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything in it because it's all cursed. This earth is cursed. It was cursed that day when Adam and Eve fell into sin. This earth is cursed because people drink their beer and their alcohol and then they go and urinate it into this earth and they vomit it onto the earth. People stab each other with daggers, with knives. The blood flows and the earth has to soak up all that blood that it shed. It will be a tremendous sight when everything goes up into flames with a great roar and this earth is consumed by fire. Remember how it was in the time of the flood of Noah when rain poured out of heaven. It was as if the floodgates were open and the fountains of the deep were open. Water came from above and from below and it filled up and the people came to the ark and they cried out and said, Noah please open for us. We're going to drown. We're perishing and he said, sorry I can't. I didn't lock the door of the ark. The earth was filled with water and after many days then Noah let out the dove from the ark. It flew over the waters and it came back and it landed on his hand and he took it into the ark again. After some days he did the same and the dove could find no place to rest its feet. Everything was under water, even the tallest gum trees and then he let a crow out. The crow went and didn't come back. Why would it come back? The crow went out and there was no reason for it to return for as it went out and flew over the waters. It found a feast. All the corpses that were floating and that were bloated and looked like pregnant women and even the men and just feasted on that. There was no reason for it to return. It didn't come back. So he let out the dove. It came back with a green leaf and by that Noah saw that the water was succeeding and going down and when God saw all the bodies and all those that had died, he had remorse and he said I'm never going to destroy the earth again with water but by fire. Just look at the earth today. Just see how corrupted it is and how much lies are spoken and even broadcasted over radio and over TV. Do you realize that every word that you speak is stored up? It's like these ways that we find and even where people record things. Every word that you have spoken is recorded and you'll have to give an account of every idle word that you've spoken. This earth is cursed, even the very air is cursed because the air contains all that which you have said and spoken, all your lies, all your filthy talk. It's all stored up in the air. Just imagine what a terrific sight it'll be when the heavens disappear with a roar, when all the elements are burnt up, destroyed by fire. Just imagine what it'll be like but we who are in the Lord, we will see his glory and we will experience that but those who are of hell and of Satan, how they will suffer and perish in the lake of fire. And if we think about it, the Bible says, what kind of people should we be? What kind of people should we be like in the face of such things that are going to happen and it can happen anytime? Will you be with us who are blessed, who are with the Lord or those that are cursed? The old earth will be destroyed and after that has happened, then God will reveal a new earth and a new heaven and it will come down like the new Jerusalem and those who are righteous, those who have been saved and redeemed, they will shine like the sun in its glory. Just imagine what that will be like. Will you be amongst them? And so much so that the men of God make songs and write songs like Lutheran said, take my wife, take my children, take everything, my house, all my possessions but leave me with Jesus. And then I'm a winner. I've, I've got the victory. And is that the same language that you speak as well? Or will you burn like the furnace? Will your deeds burn your thoughts, everything that you do? If that's the case, then you will burn as well together with it unless you repent. Now the time has run out. I spoke at length about the suffering, about the glory. I spoke briefly about that, but what do you choose between that? Where God has prepared for us that which no eye has seen. That glory of God that he has prepared for us, but you cling to the sin of this world, to the dirt and the filth of this world, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, whatever other sin there might be in your life. Are you going to shine like the sun? Never. Now, I'll ask you to choose properly and choose wisely. I've put these two choices before you. On the one hand, there is the suffering for the gospel, which goes together with a blessing and the glory of God. And on the other hand, there is a pleasure of the sin of this world with a suffering hereafter. Shall we pray? Thank you Lord for taking these truths and placing them clearly before our eyes. Pleasure for a short while or pleasure for all eternity, joy for all eternity. Suffering for a short while and thereafter reigning together with you for all eternity. Lord, won't you record each one's choice here today, each one's name and then what they have chosen and decided. Amen.