God is Calling you

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.      (Isaiah6:1-8)

• If you've ignored a ringing phone because you knew who was calling, raise your hand.
• If you've picked up the phone and said something stupid because you thought you knew who it was, raise your other hand.
• If you've stayed at home when you really wanted to go out because you were expecting an important call, smile.
• If you've sat next to the phone waiting for someone to call, kick yourself

Are these not the different kinds of calls that we hear under normal circumstances? Aren’t they a qualification of how important a call can be? I am sure that we have all experienced some sort of call or another. And the call of God to Isaiah in Chapter 6 is one of the more famous calls in the Scripture. Isaiah’s call comes in the form of a vision, where he sees God way up high on a throne and God’s kingly robe being so huge that the hem of it completely fills the temple. There are strange beasts with lots of wings attending to God and proclaiming God’s holiness with such power that the temple shook and filled with smoke. Now, most of us cannot claim to have had such an experience – but those of us who choose to pay attention to our spiritual lives, we can often point to several “aha!” moments on the spiritual journey.

The initial one of those, the one that usually propels us to begin the spiritual walk in the first place, is the realisation that the existence of God is a very real possibility. May be we had not really considered that before, but something happens that makes us say there might actually be a God, in which case I better pay attention. We might not be sure at that point. We might not know anything about the nature of that God, but God suddenly becomes real enough that we feel compelled to investigate.

After all the shaking and smoking in Isaiah’s vision, he cries out “Woe is me! I am lost... yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” When confronted with the glory of God, the first thing that Isaiah becomes aware of is sinfulness – he is scared. I doubt he thinks repentance, but may be his mind goes, “that’s it; I’m in for it.”

But he is not and neither are we. Have you reached a point of basic belief in God? Then believe me you are on a spiritual driveway – and this is your second “aha!” moment in the spiritual journey. That moment is that the God that you just discovered is calling you, by your name – ringing your number, calling on your address and God is calling specifically you. 
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The Rev Armando Sontange has a blessed calling: Shumikazi calls him Honey, Kwezi, Litha and Khanyo call him Dad. The folks at Kagiso Presbyterian Church call him their Moruti and preacher. And God calls him His.

Dreams- What are they?

Have you ever had weird dreams? Can you give some examples?

Dreams are a way of our mind talking to us … all the filters that we have in the day are set aside and our brains are free to confront what is really going on in there. Dreams often recount:

·         Fears

·         Unexpressed emotion

·         Ambitions

·         Reflect what is going on in our lives at that point in time

Yet they are an incredible metaphor for another kind of dream … dreams for our lives … our hopes and aspirations … I would like you to take a moment to think of the dreams that you have had for your life …

·         How many of these dreams have been realized?

·         How many are outstanding?

·         How different would your life be if these dreams had come true?

A man had had a very vivid dream – he was floating down the river on a boat when he saw someone he recognized and shouted out a greeting at them … at which he woke himself up by shouting, ‘Hello’. He wasn’t sure if he had or had not disturbed his wife until the next night when after he kissed her goodnight she said, “Oh by the way if you dream again tonight please make sure you just wave hello this time”

Sometimes our dreams just end up being waves instead of hello’s … and there are a whole lot of reasons why our dreams don’t end up being what we want them to be:

·         Out of control of our circumstances

·         Making the wrong decisions

·      Dreams are unrealistic – what’s wrong with a self-cleaning car that flies you to work while you sleep?

When our dreams fail … we feel as though we fail … and we feel as though our lives have failed … and we are left feeling frustrated!

Joseph

Joseph is a fantastic template for you and for me because he gives us both sides of the story: both dreams that fail and those that are successful and he offers us an invitation to dream again:

Joseph’s Failure

When we look at Joseph’s dreams in the beginning of Genesis 37; as a 17 year old there are two marked characteristics of his dreams:

·         Joseph’s dreams are centred on himself

o   About himself

o   About his own success

·         Joseph’s dreams are a source of arrogance and affect his attitude towards others …

Yet Joseph isn’t the only one who dreams …

Acts 2:17 ESV

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams…”

Regrettably our dreams are most often about serving self – we dream of

·         Success

·         Wealth

·         Influence

Things that will bring us peace and joy and wholeness … now I don’t want you to think that there is anything wrong with wanting these things for our lives … but when this becomes our point of departure – as with Joseph - it affects our

·         Attitudes

·         Priorities

We find that we tend to live lives that are self-serving and inward looking … you will remember how this so annoyed his brothers they tried to kill him and ended up selling him off into slavery … yet if we move ahead 13 years we discover that dreams have become something quite different for Joseph.

Joseph has been serving in Egyptian households, he has been thrown into Egyptian jail and his life is uncertain … but this time dreams are playing a different function for the thirty year old.

Pearl Necklace

After she woke up, a woman told her husband, "I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace for our anniversary. What do you think it means?"

"You'll know tonight." he said.

That evening, the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife.

Delighted, she opened it to find a book entitled "The Meaning of Dreams."

Suddenly we find Joseph not interpreting his own dreams but rather the dreams of others in

·         Genesis 40

o   Cup-bearer = good news

o   Baker = not so good news

·         Genesis 41

o   Pharaoh = famine

You see suddenly Joseph’s dreams were not about himself … but rather about others … suddenly his interest lay not in his own preservation or growth or success but rather about supporting and benefitting others.

Perhaps more striking though is that in the first instances Joseph just talks about his dreams but years later after all his journeys and incarcerations Joseph says, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (40:8b)

Then in the next chapter of Genesis, when Joseph is summoned to interpret Pharaoh’s dream he says in (41:16)

¹⁶ “I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

You and I have so many dreams for our lives … from winning the rugby world cup all the way through to career success, from having the perfect family to being financially secure … from having the perfect body … all the way through to a dream car … yet the message of Scripture is clear … the message of Joseph is clear …

·         Our dreams should serve not only our own interests but the interests of others …

·         Our dreams can only become real in God’s strength and not our own…

When Joseph was dreaming as a 17 year old … his dream was pathetic – his family bowing down to him … he never ever could have imagined that 13 years later … not only his family but in fact the entire nation of Egypt would be bowing down to him!

Dream

I encourage you to dream … to hope … to reach for the stars … for this is God’s way of drawing you and leading you into greater things than you could ever dream of …

·         And so base your goals and your aspirations in Christ’s call to love … of course to love yourself but also to love others … to serve them … to reach your aims for the benefit of the world around you!

·         And then rely not on your own strength but that of the Holy Spirit in Christ our Lord to make those dreams a reality!

You and I have all had crazy dreams in our sleep … but would you believe me that the following inventions all originated from night time dreams:

·         Sewing machine

·         DNA structure

·         … of all things Google

·         Degas paintings

Where will your dreams lead you …

·         What is your dream for others?

·         Are you able to trust God to make this true?

And through the power of the Holy Spirit you will change the world.

Amen

The Rev Armando Sontange

Are you a believer or a disciple?

What a question to ask. Are not all believers disciples? Are believers and disciples not the same thing? Let me reply in this statement, “All disciples are believers but not all believers are disciples.” Does this confuse you? Why is this distinction important? The Scriptures help in clarifying these issues for us.

“Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold on to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8: 30 – 32

Jesus was telling them that continuing in his Word was proof of their discipleship not just believing in him. Even the devil and demons believe in God but they are not disciples of Jesus.

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder.”[1]

Discipleship is a lifelong process. The Greek word for disciple is mathetes (math-ay-tes’). Literally, it means a learner or student. We get the word discipline from disciple. Thus, a good working definition for disciple would be, “a disciplined learner.” While there are many who claim to be “born again” Christians there are fewer who exemplify true discipleship. Jesus tells us what we must do to become his disciple in Luke 14: 25 – 33. [Find time and read this]

There are three qualifications listed in these Scriptures for true discipleship.

·         We must love him more than everyone else.

·         We must carry our cross [obey – choose his will over our will] and follow him.

·         We must count the cost and be willing to give up everything we have for him.

Discipleship demands a ‘sold-out’ life to Jesus. He truly is Lord of our life. Statistics looks at some 79, 8% of South Africans as Christians and about 832 495 being Presbyterian [about 1, 9%] – off course counting from the Stats of 2001 of 44 819 778. One can draw a conclusion that one out of every four if not five Christians are willing to live what they believe. This is both sad and startling indictment against the church. Remember, the church is commissioned to make disciples not just converts.

At the UPCSA we are committed to making disciples. We take the biblical mandate to do so seriously through our Presbyteries and mostly our congregations. It is our desire to look at the way we doing church and theological reference to contemporary times, adherence to the dictum – semper Reformanda. We speak of the Missional Church more than anything else as the way forward for our Denomination. As such, I believe that it should be our desire to see our every member

·   Experience a changed future through their belief and confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and the Christian faith as their defining philosophy of life.

·  Experience a changed lifestyle that is manifested through Christ-oriented values, goals, perspective, activities and relationships.

·      Experience the on-going process of pursuing God’s truth as expressed in the Bible thereby developing a biblical worldview.

We are encouraged in the Scriptures to: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test?”[1]

Discipleship demands evaluating ourselves to see whether we are bearing fruit. It does not allow for a lukewarm Christian lifestyle. It commands us to become like our master – Jesus, the Christ.[2] It is the enemy of mediocrity, the end of complacency and the defender of the zeal of God. Discipleship says Jesus is Lord of my life.

          The question is  =>  Are you a believer or a disciple?

Ascension Day

Ascension Day, also known as Holy Thursday, also known as Ascension Thursday is a day that marks the return of Jesus as the Christ into heaven. It is a day celebrated by the Christian Churches as a symbol of Jesus' completed work of saving/ redemption. His mission was to come to the world to teach us about God and die for our sins. This great sacrifice led to our eternal relationship with God. This event happens forty days after His resurrection in Easter in the presence of his eleven disciples. 

Happy Ascension Day!

God Bless.

Easter Message from the Moderator

Dear Friends

As we prepare to celebrate the great events of our salvation, viz. Good Friday and ultimately Easter which is the celebration of our sovereign Lord’s victory be reminded that Easter calls us to look beyond our failures and discontentment. As such, it is a looking forward celebration and it instills in us such a high level of hope that we really echo James Bond in “Never Say Die.”

Easter reminds us that death is not the final word but life is the ultimate reality. Therefore with St. Augustine we should henceforth together say, “We are Easter people and Hallelujah is our song.”

May all of us, therefore, be rooted in this Easter faith as Christ is rooted in all of our activities.

I wish you all a grace-filled Holy Week and Happy Easter Celebrations.

I am

Yours in His service

                                                                      

Armando Sontange, Revd.  

Moderator