Power through personal holiness – Ministers’ Conference 2025

Mfundisi Zondi, please convey our greetings from Europe to the premier of the province, Mr Ntuli. I was deeply touched to hear premier. It was a great blessing to me. May God bless the premier, the province KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa.

Years ago, I visited KwaSizabantu. I asked the brother who fetched me from the airport to take me to a bank so that I could exchange money for rands. There was a long queue. As I joined the end of the queue, the man who had fetched me said, “Hans, do you know who is standing in the queue? It is our prime minister, Dr Buthelezi.” He stood in the queue with all the people. I honour and respect the nation of the Zulus through the experience with Dr Buthelezi together with the message of Mr Ntuli.

A nation is blessed there are politicians who fear God. I come from Romania. This afternoon the speaker mentioned Richard Wurmbrand who was also a Romanian. I thank God for such fathers of the faith. I thank God that the Lord has given me the grace to get to know Baba Mfundisi, Rev Erlo Stegen. I lived in Switzerland in 1986 when I heard that a missionary was coming from South Africa. I was inquisitive to listen to him. I still remember to this day what that man of God preached about. I had been converted ten years earlier and was already preaching for ten years. Rev Stegen read Luke 12:49-50 where Jesus said, “I have come to ignite a fire on earth. How I wish it were already kindled! I so much desire that it would already be burning, but I am compressed.” Then the missionary said, pointing his finger, “You are the one who compresses and restricts the Lord.” There were about a thousand people present in the church but it was as if I was nailed to the bench. I did not even notice others; I was not conscious of them. I knew what was not right in my life but on top of that I was already preaching. I thank the Lord that I could speak to this man of God. I felt that I should confess my whole life, from my youth to the way in which I got married - everything that was not right before God. God was gracious to me. I could unburden myself to this man. This was the way in which I got to know KwaSizabantu and this was the way that led me to this place which became my spiritual home.

Preachers, we were encouraged and challenged by our premier to stand on our pulpits and to be ambassadors for Christ. The world has many pulpits yet we hear reports that look quite bleak in our world. How is such a thing possible if there is so much preaching? There must be a problem somewhere. A preacher in Romania said to a member of parliament, “How can we be of assistance to you?” The politician answered, “If only you preachers would practice what you preach.”

WITH AUTHORITY OR POWERLESS?

We can be preachers with authority or we can be powerless. Are we preachers with authority or preachers who are powerless?

Scripture reading Daniel 4:6-9, 27
6 So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 7 Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation. 8 At last Daniel came in before me—he who was named Belteshazzar after the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods—and I told him the dream, saying, 9“O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you, tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation.”

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. I will not relate the whole chapter. All the wise men, the counsellors and the advisers of the king could not help him. Then Daniel arrived and he listened to the dream and was able to answer. Listen to his reply: “O king, you have got sin in your life!”

“O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.” Daniel 4:27

All the wise men and advisers of the king did not dare to try. They were unable to explain the dream to the king and the truth. The wise men were unable to mention the sins by name. But there was one prophet, one preacher who dared to name and mention the sin of the king by name in his presence. They did not dare to reprimand sin. They had no authority or power to do it. He who has sin in his life has no authority and will not dare to mention sin by name. Sin robs us of authority.

I knew of a blessed church in Romania with a very fiery preacher. It was wonderful to look at the youth of that church. Years passed and the children of the pastor grew up. Until that point this preacher vehemently preached against boy-girl relationships. Up until that point he had preached clearly how the young people who followed Jesus should dress appropriately. He had repeatedly preached on the topic emphasising that there should be a difference between the youth of the world and the youth of the church. His daughter grew up and turned 18. Suddenly there was talk in the church that the daughter of the pastor had a lover. Such a thing the man had never heard in his church. The pastor did not take a stand. His sermons lost their sharpness. One no longer heard about no flirting, no going out and no boy and girlfriends. Today there is no difference between that church and the world.

If we allow sin in our lives or in our families, we will never have the authority to reprimand or punish sin in the church.

We heard that our premier said that there is a lot of trouble in society, especially amongst the youth. The youth in our churches have challenges to deal with. Many are plagued with pornography. They need help. But if the preacher also has got a problem with pornography, he will never have the authority to reprimand pornography in the church. The youth have got problems with masturbation. Before God it is an abomination. God will never be able to use such youth. Our brother, this afternoon, tried to impress on us how important the next generation is. The youth who are in bondage to masturbation need help and assistance. But if a preacher has the same problem, he will never mention the topic in his preaching.

The wise men and the king’s advisors did not have the authority to tell the king, “There is sin in your life. Stop with that sin and live righteously.” But there was one man, Daniel. He walked in purity and holiness before God. See with what authority Daniel could be of help to the king. Towards the end of verse 18 the kings said to Daniel that they cannot help him but Daniel can. “But you are able to help me, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.” Preacher, you must be ready to help these people. “But you, oh Daniel, are able.”

Phinehas was a young Israelite man. Israel started to sin with the youth of the world. Moses and the elders wept before God. Read the text in Numbers 25. Amongst the men was the grandchild of Aaron, Phinehas. Suddenly a young man Zimri, an Israelite, came along with a worldly Midianite girl called Cozbi, and walked amongst the Israelites. He was cheeky. It seems as if the leaders were in awe and shock. They could not believe what they were seeing before them. Zimri went with the girl into his tent, his room. When Phinehas saw this, he took a spear. He did not think, “I am only a youth, the elders should do something about this.” He saw sin entering the church. The Bible says that he took the spear, followed them and thrust his spear through both.

If Phinehas had also had a girlfriend and if he also had a meeting with a girl in his tent, lying next to her or on top of her, he would never have had authority to punish this sin. But he was pure and clean. He was full of the power to serve the Lord and he was able to punish that sin.

“Daniel, you are able to do it.” Phinehas, you were able to do it. Preacher, we need to bring our sin to a counselling session and name them by name. We need to confess the sins of our youth and how we got married. We need to confess the sin which secretly troubles us today. Then we will have authority and the power to help our churches. May God be gracious and help us in that.