From a Garage Pulpit to Television: Becoming a Person God Uses

Sermon outline

God uses people who obey His call, honour the men and women of God who helped them, refuse to stay offended, and keep serving and giving faithfully.

1. My argument with God: resisting the call

   When God told him He was calling him into the ministry, his private ambition was to become a general in the police, and the pastors he knew were living hand to mouth. He told the Lord He could never pay him what he could earn outside, and ignored the voice. Soon afterwards he fell gravely ill at an officers' function, spent two weeks in hospital, and asked for his friend Pastor King to anoint him with oil and pray.

   Illustration: The doctor wrote the diagnosis as a fever of unknown origin, but he knew in his heart the cause was disobedience.

   “But I know in my heart it was disobedience, because I was resisting now the word that I had received.”

2. Leave the right way: from the garage to television

   After a promotion the Lord told him to leave, so he left his car keys on his desk and walked out of the police. He explained the call to his pastor, who prayed over the family and released them, and the church began in his garage with his wife and two sons as the congregation. It grew to 20 people in two weeks when a Hindu family gave their lives to the Lord, then 40 in a school hall, 60 at Constantia Park, and with 60 people they went on television.

   Illustration: The television equipment cost a huge amount, so he folded the invoice and put it under his shoe while he preached, standing on it in faith. Two weeks later they bought the equipment.

   “So I didn't break a church. I didn't steal members from a church, and I didn't split a church.”

3. Touch not my anointed: never malign a man of God

   He never carried malice towards anyone and simply honoured men of God, and he credits Prophet Kobus and Annalise van Rensburg for inspiring and helping them onto television. As a Hindu boy he was taught to honour the priest and never heard his family speak badly of one, and Pastor Zubeda grew up with the same respect in Islam, yet he has heard many Christians malign their pastors. If you don't understand something, shelve it and pray; pastors are earthen vessels doing their best, and like David with Saul, we must not touch God's anointed.

   Illustration: As little children in a Hindu home they were taught to bow to the priest, touch his feet and put their hands together to greet him.

   “You have not hired him or her. God hired them. Let God be the judge.”

   • Psalm 105:15
   • 2 Corinthians 4:7
   • Psalm 51:10
   • 1 Samuel 24:6
   • 1 Samuel 26:11

4. We are not all originals: always be grateful

   God had Israel build memorials because people forget, and the church quickly forgets who blessed, helped and stood by them. Leaders take people on a journey and, like Moses, often hear grumbling instead of thanks. He is deeply grateful to everyone who taught him, and he traces how God took the church through its buildings, City Hall crusades, around 13 church plants, years of television and many books.

   Illustration: A woman with six or seven titanium screws holding up her collapsing spine was prayed for; doctors later removed the screws and found her spine healed, and she brought the screws to church in a packet.

   “We are a total of parts of many men and women, of God, of your parents, of relatives that have nurtured us, that have mentored us, and brought us to the stage.”

   • Exodus 14:11

5. Don't be offended and sit down: fight for your calling

   He admits he stalled at one point because of offence. Not everyone will believe in you, so you must encourage yourself as David did, and keep fighting on the inside for your calling. Whether you serve God in a profession or in the fivefold ministry, get busy in church: he and Pastor Zubeda served as ushers, and what you sow you reap. Discern the Lord's body by respecting different callings, pushing people higher and pulling others up.

   Illustration: When his sons were small, he and Pastor Zubeda ushered and scraped the bubble gum from under the seats; no task was menial to them.

   “Don't be offended and then sit down because that will stunt your growth.”

   • 1 Samuel 30:6
   • 1 Samuel 17:34-37
   • Ephesians 4:11
   • Galatians 6:7
   • 1 Corinthians 11:29-30

6. Tithing opened my understanding: prosperity is your portion

   He only began to understand the Bible as he does when he started tithing diligently; God asks for 10% so that He can bless the other 90%. He grew up very poor, yet God has prospered his family so that they can be a blessing to others. Walk in love, forgiveness and humility and do not try to elevate yourself, because God lifts people up in His time and makes them trophies of His grace.

   Illustration: He once lived in the scrapyard buying junk parts to patch his car, but from about 1996 he has never driven a second-hand car.

   “Poverty is not your portion, prosperity is your portion.”

   • Malachi 3:8-10
   • Ephesians 1:18
   • Psalm 112:3
   • Proverbs 10:22
   • Philippians 4:7
   • Genesis 37:3

7. A word to the called and the offended

   Pastor Wesley asks him to speak to two groups: those in secular work who sense a call, and those who stopped serving because of an old offence. First make sure you are called to the fivefold ministry, and prove it by serving; when the time comes, leave with your pastor's blessing and never split a church. If you are offended, repent, return to your station, and God will restore what the cankerworm and palmerworm have eaten.

   Illustration: While building a hall next to their first church he preached elsewhere for a small honorarium and complained to the Lord on the drive home. Back at church the ushers told him a visitor had put a cheque for 50,000 rand in the offering, half the cost of the hall.

   “There's a nice way of leaving.”

   • Isaiah 55:8-9
   • Hebrews 10:25
   • Joel 2:25