96-62 Giving to the Lord (2 Sam 24v24 Ps 116v1)

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He ascended to the dead. On the third day He rose again.

He ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen. I believe in Jesus, I believe He is the Son of God. Give glory to the Father, give glory to God.

Standing in awe, we look to Him now. As we feel it more closely, may we know your healing power and your grace that forgives. Amen.

Some years ago, when I made my first trip to South Africa, I was reading a magazine called Christianity Today. It's published in the States and it had a comment from, it was an article actually by Jim Packard, Dr. James Packard, who actually is an Anglican theologian. He was quoting a pilot who was giving some instructions to his fellow passengers as the plane was heading towards Johannesburg and on to Cape Town.

He said, we are now approaching South African airspace. Please adjust your watches and turn them back 100 years. And those of you who are aware of something of the history of South Africa will know that what he was suggesting was actually folks in South Africa perhaps haven't caught up with the fact that the United States of America, people there have been freed, they were politically enfranchised, and that the whole idea of a man's skin forfeiting him, prohibiting him from having powers of making decisions collectively, as far as if his country was concerned, that's all outmoded.

But South Africa was out of kilter, out of step. And you will know that the history of that country has just gone through a tremendous change. And to the forefront has come a most remarkable man, Nelson Mandela, who seems to have no trace of bitterness whatsoever within him, despite the fact that he was incarcerated in a place called Robben Island for 27 years, Robben Island just a few miles away from the historic coastline of Cape Province.

Years back when I went there, first of all, to be married, that's where my wife Rowena comes from, I managed to persuade, with some pressure, some American missionaries actually to take me from the suburbs of Cape Town, which are rather lush, down to one of the townships. I couldn't really understand the reticence that was displayed by the average white in Cape Province to visit the townships, which actually are more prolific in terms of the people who live there than the white communities. Later on, in more recent visits to Cape Province, I was very pleased, and Rowena joined me in this, in being introduced to a lady who really cut across the grain of white conviction and has done down the years, and in the grace of God has established quite a remarkable work at a place called Kailisha, which is equivalent in Cape Province to what, shall we say, Soweto is alongside Johannesburg.

Now, my friend Laura House, who has you gathered, if you read notes, the news is with us this evening, is going to speak more about that work and illustrate something of it later on after our time of communion praise has come to its conclusion. But I happen to know from contact with her, and particularly Bishop Frank Retief, whose church Laura attends and on whose staff Laura serves, that she's got quite a remarkable testimony. I'd like to yield some of the time that I would have spent preaching this evening for her to tell us something in terms of question and answer with me on what the grace of God has done for her in her life.

Because there's nothing more convincing, I feel, than to hear from someone about the effect that the Gospel has had. Clergymen are expected to preach. After all, that's what they're paid for.

But the most convincing thing very often is not so much what the minister has to say, although when he has the authority of the Spirit, that too is powerful. One of the most convincing things is to see and to hear of a life that's been changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So I'd like to introduce again my friend Laura to you.

Please join me now here, Laura. And tell us, my understanding is that by no means were you brought up in the Christian set-up. Can you tell us, can you confirm that's the case? Sure.

I first would like to greet you. That is, of course, just greeting you from South Africa, and I'm just delighted to be here. Yes, Tony is quite correct.

I wasn't brought up in a Christian home. I went to a convent, though. When I was four and a half, I started going to a convent, and that was the major input that I had.

They used to take my hat away, so I couldn't go with them into the church because I thought everybody could be a Catholic, but I wasn't allowed to go there. That was in South Africa or in England? No, that was in South Africa. I only lived in England for about five, six years after I'd left school.

I wasn't a Christian there, but when I grew up in a convent, I was completely unaware of anything male. There's no men in convents. Is that so? But when I came here, the first thing my friends introduced me to were pubs.

I didn't know about those things, and women weren't allowed to go into those places in South Africa. So I very quickly learned to drink and smoke and all those things that put you right down. How did you earn your living? What was your life in those early years? I was working for an insurance firm here, and then I went to live in Jersey, and I was working for the Ordnance Survey there in the survey office.

But in Jersey is when I really started to hit rock bottom. I started to become an alcoholic there and started to get onto drugs, Purple Hearts, and a lot of other things that were introduced to me that I'd never known before. So I was really on the way downhill.

I thought that there was a tremendous void in my life, so I thought that was because I didn't have a lot of money. If I had a lot of money, I'd be happy. So that's why Jersey has got a lot of visitors, and there's lots of millionaires and that over there.

But I found even when I started to make a lot of money, the void didn't go away. Then I thought being the life and soul of a party, getting drunk and doing all these things would also make me very popular and happy, and it didn't. It just actually made my life a bigger and bigger mess.

How long were you in Jersey, and what took you back to South Africa? I was in Jersey a couple of years, and then I returned to South Africa with my mother because my grandmother had died. Unfortunately, my lifestyle didn't change. That's when I started to really make a lot of money.

Then I was made a sales manager of a firm. I used to sell encyclopedias, made lots of money. I was just getting more drunk on better quality booze.

It was just champagne that cost about 10, 20 pounds a bottle. That was actually my lifestyle. I got married because I thought, well, maybe that's what's wrong.

That's the void. I need to be married. All my friends are married.

So maybe if I got married, that would give me happiness. So I just decided to get married within seven days. I didn't inform my mother.

I just got married in court very quick. After a couple of weeks, we were fighting like cat and dog and beating each other up. It was really dreadful because in all this, I was just doing what I wanted to do.

Nobody else was important. I was very self-centered. Of course, nobody else came into consideration, not even my dear mother.

I didn't even think of her, that she'd like to come to my wedding. So I really hurt her and a lot of people. About how old were you at this stage in your life? Then I was very old.

I was about 28 when I got married. It's late for getting married. Then my husband did a lot of illegal things.

He vanished. He was German. He vanished.

It took me about eight years to find him. That's when I really hit rock bottom. I ended up in a psychiatric ward at the local hospital in Cape Town, which is Huritskia Hospital.

They referred me to an alcoholic's place, which I thought was really degrading because there was nothing wrong with me than a few thousand Rand couldn't cure. If I had a lot of money, I'd get out of all my problems. From there, I started to lose my mind.

I was actually forgetting how I got from place to place when I was driving. A friend that had come back from England, she was English, she was told in England there was just one church to go to that was an evangelical church. It was miles away from where she lived.

She had a living boyfriend. I saw when she went to church, that was the first thing she chucked out was her boyfriend. I thought, well, church is doing her a load of good.

It took her a year to get me to go to the church. When I went to this church, it was a very small church, only about 200 people in there. It was Frank Retief's church.

Immediately, I went in there. I knew exactly why it was packed, because he was gorgeous. He had this jet black hair and long sideburns.

I'm talking about nearly 20 years ago. He had Elvis Presley style. My friend got me sitting.

Can I talk? I'm sorry. I just get all carried away. It's so exciting how the Lord changed me.

He actually was shouting at me. I was so cross with my friend, because I thought how dare she. She'd obviously warned him that I was coming, like I'm bringing the dregs tonight, just all guns out.

That's what I thought he was doing to me, that he was shouting my sins to the whole church. I was very angry with her. I nearly got up and walked out.

I was a real, what you call in South Africa, tough cookie, very hard person. Anyway, at the end of his sermon, he said a little prayer. He said, anybody who wants to change their lifestyle, who wants to get rid of their sin, must say this little prayer of repentance.

Then your life will be changed, and you'll have the Lord Jesus take over your heart, and you'll be fine. I didn't tell anybody, so I said this little prayer. I thought it was going to be instant angel.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. In fact, that next week was worse. I'm afraid I'm very, very slow.

My friend was delighted, because I said, I must have done something wrong that week. I thought, well, I better go back to this church and find out how to be a Christian. I did it for five weeks running, and I still couldn't get it right, being a Christian.

I never told anybody. It was between me and the Lord. I wasn't going to tell anybody these things.

Anyway, then I realized what I was doing wrong. I was going there on a Sunday, where there were all these dropouts like me. I must go to this Wednesday night meeting, where they have a Bible study.

Then I'll see there how to be a Christian. My friend was delighted. She didn't understand why I wanted to come.

I went with her to this Bible study group. I'd also heard there was a drama team, and I wanted to be in that. She had to be a Christian to be in that.

I desperately needed to know how to be a Christian, so I could say I was one. Anyway, the guy from the drama team was there that night. I was very pleased to see him.

Unfortunately, my friend took me to the front of the little Bible study group, and she introduced me to the guy leading it. His name was Barry von Aissen, one of our evangelist pastors. He, of course, asked me the first thing.

He said, how long have you been a Christian? He thought I was a new convert, because that's who came to that Bible study. I thought, oh, goodness, what do I say now? Do I say one week, two weeks? I thought, I'll be good. I'll say five weeks, because it was five times.

Fortunately, there was a chair there, because she just sat in the chair. She got such a fright. Then I realized, well, it's better I own up and don't tell lies, because it didn't work.

I said to him, I'm sorry, I'm just too bad to be a Christian. It really hasn't worked. You know what he said? He said, that's wonderful.

I thought, this guy's crazy. I mean, I'm Greg's, and he's saying it's wonderful. He said, look at all the room you've got for improvement.

He was right. I couldn't get any worse. I was right down there already in the gutter, but that's the way God had to deal with me, because I was such a domineering and self-centered and really nasty person.

He had to show me who was boss by putting me in the gutter, allowing that to happen, so that he could gently then, with love, draw me out of the gutter. That is actually what he did. He said, my friend took me home, and for any of you that are slow like me, I want to tell you what she did to me.

She took me home, and she said, Laura, sit down there. I'm going to open the door. I'm going to knock on the door.

You come and open it, and then you let me in. I said, what for? She said, just sit down and do as I say. I sat there.

She went to my front door, knocked on it. I went and opened it and let her in. I said, yeah.

She says, well, I'm here now, aren't I? I said, of course you're here. She says, but that's what you've been doing with Jesus. Every week you've been opening the door of your heart and your life, asking Jesus to come in, and the next week you go and do the same.

He's there. That doesn't mean you're going to be changed overnight. You've now got to come to these Bible studies and learn the basics.

Then the penny dropped. Then I understood why Jesus had died for me. Thank you, Tony.

I'm sorry. During the period, Twix, before your conversion, and even the convent, you hit alcoholism, amongst many other things. Did not what you'd learned about religion then hold you? What was the distinction between what you'd learned then and what you subsequently learned? I really was blaming God for what had happened to me.

Because in my ignorance, I was blaming God for all the problems that had come on me. My husband had left me, and I was thousands and thousands in debt because I stood surety for him. I felt it was God's fault that I was where I was.

So I actually cursed God, and I didn't want to know. So the little bits I knew of God I rejected because it was useless. God was no good.

That was the difference. But once I actually went to a church and the gospel was explained to me, which I hadn't had before, then I realized that's me. I'm the sinner.

I need to change. I need to give myself to God. Let him run my life because I've made such a mess of it before.

Eventually, you came onto the staff of Frank Lateef's church, which by this time had mushroomed. What got you involved in Carlicia work, without telling us too much about what you're doing in Carlicia now because that will save until afterwards. Was I accurate in suggesting that there aren't that many whites who have been committed to getting the gospel into the townships? Can you explain that? Unfortunately, you are out, Tony.

There's very, very few, especially white South Africans, that even want to go into a township. Most of the people that work with me in the townships and that go into the townships with me are people from England or America or from Germany, other countries. But the people in South Africa, due to the apartheid system, are so separate in culture.

They've been led to believe that black people are just violent and they will just all kill you. That is so wrong. Ninety-nine percent of black people, and there's millions of them, they abhor the violence and everything evil just as much as the next person, the next white person.

So that's completely wrong information. But that is used as an excuse. I think because the problem is so huge, the poverty is so overwhelming, the differences between whites and blacks are so vast, it's really a country of extremes.

You get extremely wealthy people and extremely, extremely poor people. And it's very hard for people to believe or even understand how black people can be so poor and die of poverty. And there's many, many hundreds of thousands of black people that die because they just haven't got the means to survive.

But the reason how I got involved to go there was, you know, the Lord's always doing this. Because of my personality, he has to chuck me in at the deep end because then I have to hang on to him. So I've learned to expect this of the Lord.

Almost like Tony, he tucks you in at the deep end as well. But what happened was we had a staff meeting, and because of the hundreds and thousands of black people coming down from rural areas, more inland, to the coast to seek jobs because they haven't got any skills, they can do casual labor, because of the influx of people, our Bishop Frank Retief felt a great burden for our black brothers and sisters. And at one staff meeting, he asked if there would be anybody who would be a volunteer to just find out if we could, as a church, make an inroad into this community.

And because I'd had some person from the townships come and give a talk at one of our clubs, I offered to go and have a look, and I never got out of that. So that's how I got here. How long ago was that? That was nearly ten years ago.

And there was nothing there in terms of Christian work at that point? There was nothing there, no. And now what do you have? Oh, God has been wonderful. I don't have anything.

What we have there all belongs to the community. It doesn't belong to a church at all. There's too many churches from all over the world that have contributed towards the work there.

We started off in a tiny, a little bit bigger than this pulpit, about twice the size of this pulpit house. That was a house with 54 little children that had to sleep in relays because they couldn't lay down or act on the floor. No toys.

And from that, by the grace of God, we were able to enlarge on that little shack and make it into a double-story shack. And then from that, get funds for a second one. And now we've just had a third one put up there and a play park, which is the only play park in the whole of Khayelitsha, which has got over a million people.

And from our 30 little children, we started with in a Sunday school. By the grace of God, we now have over 500. And of those children, over nine years, they've developed into our youth group.

And we have a youth group, wonderful young people, of about 120. And a little church of about 50, 60, sometimes up to 80 people. And several Bible study groups.

One I started last year with 11 people now has between 80 and 100. People are very hungry for the word of God there. And you wouldn't change anything now of your life? No, definitely not.

It's amazing how God put me in the gutter and has saved me so wonderfully to serve him. And all I want to do is to obey where he leads me. I hate being in Khayelitsha.

It's a vile place. It's Satan's domain. It's full of evil and violence and abuse and horrible things.

But the people are so wonderful. And that's my family. And it's just so wonderful that I can serve God there.

And as long as he wants me to be there, I will. Because I'm completely safe because I know I'm in the center of his will. So I'm very pleased to be there.

We look forward to seeing your film and some of your slides later on. Thank you, Tony. And thank you for the opportunity of sharing what the Lord's done in my life.

Thank you. Go on, you can clap if you want. Many people who object to clapping in church send their complaints to the Lord because he tells us to clap our hands.

Not because of what the person that we've heard to has done or what she is, but because of the grace of God that is operative in a human life. There's nothing more wonderful than that, than to see someone transformed. There are many people here at the tab this evening who have similar testimonies to what the Lord has done for them.

You know, in notes and news, as I put down my subject, expecting to speak on it at far greater length, and I'm going to, the question that is found in the second book of Samuel, chapter 24, and verse 24, just says this, I will not give to the Lord what costs me nothing. In other words, here is this man, it doesn't matter the context at the moment, you can check it later because you've got, obviously, a reminder in our bulletin. Here is a man who believes that he is so indebted to God that God has done so graciously in terms of helping him.

That in response to that, he's not going to offer someone else's gift. He's not going to hold back at all. He wants not to repay God.

That is utterly impossible. What he wants to do, however, is to show through what he is, and by the way that he lives, the measure of his indebtedness to God. Now, you get a similar sort of conundrum faced by the psalmist who also features in the book of 2 Samuel.

He says in the 12th verse of 116, this is David, How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me? What can I do in respect of the kindly way which God has dealt with me? There was a man who went to Africa years ago and his name was Charlie. Charlie Studd. He went to Africa having done some mission service also in China and in India.

And on one occasion when he was in Africa, he composed this little couplet of lines. He said this, If Jesus Christ be God and has died for me, then there is no sacrifice too great for me to make for Him. Here is Studd saying the same thing or putting up the same question in effect as the psalmist.

What can I give God for all that He's done for me? And Studd gave the Lord His life of service in those three differing continents. You know, when our Lord Jesus was on earth, there were people who likewise felt indebted to Him. I mean, there's one lady and she burst in upon a very masculine scene.

There was the Lord Jesus and His disciples. The Savior was coming towards the end of His earthly ministry. He knew that just around the corner, so to speak, was Gethsemane, His arrest, and Jerusalem and the palaces of the priest and the place where the Roman procurator would hold court.

And He knew that He'd have to withstand the charges that were leveled against Him. And He also knew that give it a few more hours, another day or so, and He'd be pinned to the cross. All this He was aware of.

And this lady comes in on the scene. Jesus is in Bethany. He has His disciples with Him, as I say, a very masculine occasion, just men around.

And she did something that was very, very unusual. She burst in. She unpinned her hair.

And she had brought with her the most precious ointment, the most precious perfume that was in her possession. She broke the flask. And she anointed the head of our Lord Jesus.

And if you read all the gospel narratives, you'll discover that not only the head was copiously, that means generously anointed, but also His feet. And His disciples were utterly amazed that this woman should act in such an intimate, public fashion in front of them and direct her love and attention towards the Saviour. What prompted her to make that particular response to Jesus? And the answer must be that she felt indebted to Jesus for His ministry, incalculably so.

We're not too aware of the details of what Jesus had done for her, but you don't need to have much of an imagination to appreciate that He had turned her life around, as He did on so many occasions when He was on earth. Now, what do you do for a person who has done something like that for you? I mean, here on another occasion is another lady, we'll stay with ladies just for a moment by way of illustration, and she's lost everything. She's sold everything.

She's been the butt of the Roman soldiers, gone from man to man, and suddenly in an act of disgraceful conduct, but she too is propelled before Jesus. And what does our Lord Jesus do? Far from condemning her, He dismisses her accusers, He speaks about her sin, He covers over her sin by His grace, and He sends her on into the state of peace, to which I just briefly made mention this morning. Now, can you imagine the reaction of this woman? For years she's been just the toy of men.

For years when she's looked in a mirror, she's seen nothing that she can have any pride in whatsoever. And here is Jesus, this remarkable teacher from Galilee, and when He speaks to her, and when He deals with her case, He does so in such a fashion, that she now feels clean, and whole. She can start again.

What shall I render unto a Saviour, who has done that for me? Here's Laura. She tells you her own testimony, of how she spirals downwards here in Jersey, and then goes on to South Africa, and maintains the same lifestyle. Down, down, down, and nothing really satisfying.

No alcohol, the night life of South Africa, only acting as a temporary solace. And then one day she hears an Elvis Presley looking preacher. I wondered how that church grew so well.

Tell her about the Lord Jesus Christ, and she makes a commitment, and then does what a lot of people would be shy of doing. Spends a great deal of her time out in Kylesha, risking her own life and limb. Many hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of other Christians have done the same.

I'm not just singling her out only as an example. Why do they behave like this? Well, you see it comes back to stud. If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, what shall I render unto the Lord for all of His benefits? Will I allow someone else to give me something that I can pass on to Him? If that is the case, it would be an offering by proxy.

No, I won't do that. If the weight of my sin has been transferred to the account of Jesus Christ, and I am left free. If I can face this life and move on into eternity, because of what He did in that courageous act on the cross of Calvary, then what can I do in response? But offering Him what? Offer Him my time.

Say, Lord Jesus, I want to serve You in some measure all the days of my life. I can offer Him my talents. Lord Jesus, this is what I am able to do in terms of my profession, in terms of my business, in terms of my home.

Now I want to do it. But the edge that's on it is this. I want my activity somehow to glorify You.

And it can. Not just through the preaching ministry. That's only one aspect of serving Him.

By being faithful to your parents. By being faithful to your friends. By paying the right amount when you are in debt.

By ensuring that what you do in private is something that is pleasing to the Lord who sees everything. Lord, I give You my time. I give You my talents.

And what is more, Lord, I give You my tithes. I give back to You regularly that with which You have entrusted me. You see, you can measure a person's reaction to their salvation fairly easily.

Salvation itself is a subjective thing. It's felt within the heart. And yet it becomes objective because there are certain things that a person begins to do.

It doesn't make them a super saint. Don't misunderstand me. They will fall.

I have fallen so many times. But there are certain goals that they always have in front of them. And however far short they fall of those goals, they get up and they try again and again and again.

Lord, my time, it's Yours. Lord, my talents, they're Yours. Lord, my tithes, the money that I control, it is Yours.

For this reason. I am Yours. I've given myself to You.

I was nothing. But in Your grace I have become something. I will not pass on to You the sacrifices of my parents.

I will not have credited to me the things that other people have done. Lord, I want to give You the best that I possibly can because of what You have done for me. So, when it comes to the use of our time, we ensure that some part of it is spent in spiritual discipline in the reading of His Word, in praying before the Lord, indirectly or indirectly trying to influence others for Jesus.

In our talents, we become not just a nurse, but a Christian nurse. Not just a wife, but a Christian wife. Not just a musician, but a Christian musician.

We practice the word Christian behind everything that we do and we offer it to the Lord. And we say of our bank balance, like Hannah said of her firstborn son, it is Samuel. It is the gift of God.

And we return to the Lord regularly. That with which He entrusts us. I come back to my starting point from the Psalms and then lead you on around this table.

The psalmist says, What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits? And he goes on. I will take the cup of salvation. I will glory in the spiritual blessings that are mine.

And I will live my life to show my appreciation of what God in Christ has done for me. Purify my heart. Let me be as gold and precious silver.

Purify my heart. Let me be as gold. Pure gold.

Refine your soul. All praise to thee. All praise to thee.

Deep within. Refine this heart. Set apart for me to turn your way.

I choose to be holy. Set apart for you, Lord. I choose to be holy.

Set apart for you, my Master. Ready to do your way. Ready to do your way.