Series: Visiting Speakers

Sun am 4 October 2009 – Karel Sanders

1 Samuel 16:1; Gen.37:2-11, 19; Gen. 50:20; Gen.45:5; Gen.41:51;

Matthew 5:13-16 (Message); Eph.1:11 (Message)

Our business is a people business. The issue is to uplift people, helping people to become what God planned for them to become. We have always overemphasized salvation grace in Africa, but we never taught them dominion grace. Many entered but they never took over. You have to get out of something to get into something and once you are in, you must move and grow. Our whole life is a growing process; don’t expect to be already holy.

The Lord said to Samuel that he had mourned enough for Saul. He had reached a place in his life from which he had to move on. Have you ever been at a place where you feel you have to move on? It is never too late to start all over but you must make up your mind and move on. Unfortunately many of God’s people are not schooled in the art of moving on. We spend a lot of our time living in the past, never able to move beyond what happened yesterday. We are unskilled at navigating new beginnings. This move is going to gain momentum and it has to come from you and through you.

Joseph was a dreamer and his brothers wanted to kill him. Twenty three years later Joseph said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. You did not do it to me, God orchestrated the whole thing” (Gen 50:20). Joseph did not only forgive his brothers; he also fed them. The new move is not just new things; it is sometimes old things that have to come back into our lives. It is about people, and seeing people as God sees them. It is about not you doing the job, but Goddoing the job through you. When we die to ourselves, the One who is alive in us wants to do the job. After all Joseph had to go through 23 years of humiliation, from the pit to the jail etc. Joseph learned to forgive. In this new season you cannot move on if you cannot forget and forgive. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” (Gen 41:51).

Joseph had a dream and he stuck to his dream. God has a dream for you and me. God has a dream for his Church. People will only listen to what you have to say, if you can demonstrate, if you are full of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 5:13-16). Nothing happens until we do! We must understand the reason for which we are living. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living. God designed us and He is still designing and shaping us. Joseph was ‘stupid’ enough to ‘keep on keeping on’. He never gave up on the vision God gave him. Too many start well but never finish well.

We need to know who we are. This move that you, Kobus are the father of, is now gaining momentum. Joseph’s dream suddenly came into fulfillment after years of preparation. We have to live out the Kingdom principles, because we are inhabitants of His Kingdom. Forget about the world for now and make a difference where you are.

Joseph had to go through the pit and the prison to get to the palace. Devote yourself during down times. You are not learning while you are complaining, in every experience there is a lesson. Learn it and grow stronger. There are lessons in your downs. When life knocks you down, make sure it knocks you on your knees. Self-promotion can never replace Divine promotion. Grace only operates through humility. The more humble you become, the more the power of God starts working. All success comes from God and we must give Him credit. When your dream is realized, it may be different than you ever imagined.

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier. We are not in this for ourselves.

Start using what God has invested in you and never give up your dream. God has a dream for this Church and you are part of that dream. God does not change His mind, don’t change yours. Preparation always precedes promotion. His delays are not denials; He is going to do it. Don’t give up on your dream though others don’t support it; you always have ‘fire lighters’ and ‘fire fighters’. Many will want to kill the vision God gave you, but when your dream comes from God, it holds you even when you are unable to hold it. The Lord was with Joseph and He is with you too.