Football Stadium Easter Service
(and Saturday morning audio)
(Archive of other audio
sermons)
   
 or 
29 & 30 March 2002 - All creatures here below
(Summary of sermons by Rev Erlo Stegen)
Erlo Stegen was invited by the Minister's fraternal, Durban, to preach on Easter
Friday at the King Zwelatini football stadium. The following day, Rev. Stegen preached on
the same text and theme at KwaSizabantu Mission. The following is a summary of the main
points on both occasions.
Mk 14:72
72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter
called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.
In the Jewish tradition, chickens are not to be found anywhere near a holy site. How
was this rooster then found close to the high priests' place? It was because God's people
were under the heel of the Romans, who did not care for the Jewish traditions. In just the
same way we find Christians also under the heel of a foreign power - Satan. Sin is rampant
in their lives. Unmarried young people have their thoughts filled with things pertaining
only to marriage. Married people have their eyes on someone else beside their partner. You
need to cry as Peter has cried when the rooster crowed and revealed his sin.
Peter was very confident that he would never deny his Lord. He said that he would even
lay down his life for his Lord. But Jesus insisted that a rooster will show the truth, and
so it did. In the same way we find that a donkey had to reprove Bileam for his blindness.
Animals sometimes have more sense than humans. It is a sad state if animals are better
than humans, created in God's image. At another occasion, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, the
priests & Pharisees wanted the Jesus to quieten His disciples, but He answered that if
they should keep quiet, the rocks will cry out and proclaim the truth. And eventually the
rocks did cry out, when Jesus arose from the dead.
Purity was something regarded highly amongst the Zulu nation. In the past they had the
tradition of examining the unmarried Zulu girls to see if they were still virgins. Great
was the joy when a girl passed the test - she would leap and jump and ran to the white
flag, trying to touch it with her hand. But oh, how sad would it be, when a girl was found
not to be pure any more. The people would simply look down, spit on the ground, and the
girl would try to hide herself, and go with shame to the black flag. The father of that
girl would then have to pay a number of cattle as a fine for not raising his child
properly.
Similarly, the Zulu nation was known for its respect and honour. But it is a sad state
today, where both these things have been lost.
A certain man who had a brothel told us once how he knew which girls to
allure for his trade. He would firstly look at their dress. If they dress like
prostitutes, with dresses drawing attention to their figure, they would be the right
candidate. Then he would speak to them about their parents, and if he notices that they do
not have a good relationship with their parents, he's got them. However, if he speaks to
them about their parents, and he sees that they honour their parents, he would leave them
like a hot potato. This shows the importance of young people honouring their parents, as
the Bible says.
Lastly, we know that we find a rooster at the top of some church
buildings. How did the rooster get that exalted position? It is because the rooster
symbolises the breaking of a new day. When Jesus conquered on the cross, crying, "it
is finished", he stripped Satan of all his weapons and made an open display of him.
Today, if you come to Jesus, you can receive that forgiveness and deliverance from sin,
for which Jesus died and conquered.
(To read more about the other Easter Services click
here) |
