Youth Week - July 2003
4 July, 10am: Summary of sermon by Erlo Stegen

Text: Deut 30:19 – 20

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

This was Moses' final farewell to Israel as God was about to take him from earth. He witnessed that God set before them life and death, blessing and cursing and that they were urged to choose life. So too, one day, the very bench on which you sit and this auditorium will be testimony that life and death, blessing or the curse was set before you. Choose life therefore, that you and your descendents might live. You must choose for yourself; your friend cannot choose for you. You might ask why things are so difficult and hard; maybe it's because you've chosen death and the curse. Remember that your direct descendents suffer from your choices as well, e.g. AIDS will kill you and might even kill your children; if you smoke, your children suffer as well.

A certain lady gave birth, but she was a smoker. Her child would cry incessantly, and the doctors could not find anything wrong. They called more doctors and specialists and were five professionals eventually. The last got the idea to light a cigarette and blow the smoke into the child's face. Instantly the child was quiet. It was craving for cigarette smoke. If you smoke and are pregnant, you pass that addiction onto your child.

God visits the sins of the parents upon the children. And so, girls, for eternity your children might curse you in hell, saying, "You, mother, led me into these curses". If you use all sorts of occult rituals at the birth of your child, you open the child for demon possession. If prayer is brushed aside in schools, then south Africa will become a dark place.

A certain Jewish man stood up in a secular meeting where Christianity and Christian principles are frowned upon, and said, "I am a Jew, but a Jew who have met with Jesus Christ, and He has changed my life." These are brave people, not ashamed of their Lord.

Rev Stegen also related the conversion of "oom Langpiet and his son". Blessings followed him and his descendants, because he chose life. Even if those who have chosen the Lord go through hardships and persecution, it lasts but for a moment. Blessings overtake them wherever they go, because they have chosen life. So too, nations which choose Jesus advance and progress and those who reject Him go backward and regress.

There's an article of 27 SA girls recruited for selling their bodies overseas @ 6000 Euro/day for 3 weeks. When they arrived, they were fed with cocaine and crack and beaten, their passports confiscated and today (3 weeks later), they are slaves. One escaped, another disappeared and the rest are hooked. Sexual immorality destroys nations. Take special note of those who are sexually immoral and see their end. Even the mighty Roman Empire was destroyed because of sexual immorality.

Maybe you put your hope in education, but even that will not save you, for the curses will pursue you even as a doctor or whatever professional you are. Only the Gospel can truly bring blessing.

Rev Stegen also related the story of Roger Simms, who acted upon the Lord's prompting to lead a rich business man to Christ. Please go here for the full story.

Remember these words today and choose life.

Rev Stegen made an altar call in which many responded to give their lives to Christ and choose His Life.