Stand For Christ

STAND FOR CHRIST

1Co 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Good day my name is Anthony Stander and I pastor a Church in Table View called Living Waters Community Fellowship. I was saved in a maximum classification prison in October 1985, after having been sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for 5 armed robberies, one of them a bank robbery, the Barclays bank in Norwood Johannesburg. I was then given 15 years to run concurrent with fifteen years as it was my first offence. At 23 years of age I began my sentence. I would spend just under 7 years in prison of which 5 of them, I would serve as a Christian. I had lost my way from an early age, growing up in foster homes, expelled from 2 schools,placed in a naughty boys home, my only achievement was serving in the Parachute Battalion. When Jesus Christ found me in prison I was alone, I had estranged everyone close to me, people did not know where I was and only found out 2 years later into my prison sentence. Why am I telling all of this? Because Jesus Christ rescued me, He changed my life completely. There in hell Christ turned my life upside down and I have never looked back. I have been 34 years in the faith, most of them in some form of ministry and service to the King of Kings. It has been an incredible journey. I want to encourage you today to Stand for Christ.

The first world war was a terrible war with immense loss and waste of life in single battles. Sometime an army could lose up to 80000 men in one battle. In May 1915 a young surgeon after witnessing the horrors of this war wrote a poem called -In Flanders fields. He was shattered by the cost of life from this war and wrote this famous poem, to say do not let my life be in vain, don’t let us die for nothing and one of the verses goes like this:

Flanders Field

Take up our quarrel with the foe

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch, be yours to hold it high

If you break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep!

He was saying we are going to die but don’t let our death be in vain. AS we die, we shall throw the torch to you that you may catch that torch and continue the work that we have done.

The poem was famous all around the world and a young lieutenant wrote an answer to the newspaper, and an answer to this poem, He said:

Your flaming torch aloft we bear

With burning heart an oath we swear

To keep the faith, to fight it through

To crush the foe, or sleep with you.

He was determined to not allow the mens sacrifice to be for nothing.

Today we stand by before you and throw to you the torch of the great men and women of God that have gone before us. We have carried that torch and our armour is dented by battle, we older Christains have many wounds, betrayed by those we love, stabbed in the back, we have fought hells legions in the lives of our families and our churches and on many battlefronts. All of us carry great scars and our wounds are deep, but we will never give up till we give out our last breath in Praise to the God of Heaven.

Where are you, younger generation? Our churches are riddled with compromise and self promoting doctrines. Our young people chase pleasure more than sacrifice. Its all about self. We need a younger generation to catch that torch and begin to run this race, to come forward to the frontline of the battle, not in comfort at your TV games or cell phone. We need a radical Holy generation to come up Here with us to fight for the souls of men and drive back the darkness with spiritual war. A people that don’t look back, Christ before us the world behind us. Warriors for Christ.

I want to tell you two stories that I have never forgotten and that made an impact on the way I think as a Christian:

Count Zinzendorf was a man who lived in 1700- 1760 in Germany. He had grown up with the confession of being a Christian, but like many people today that confession made no real difference to his personal life. One day he was wandering in an art gallery with his friends and came upon a painting by Domenico Feti depicting Christ's suffering. The painting was called ECCE HOME- Behold the Man! As this young 19 year old stared at the painting, the Count gave his life to Christ, for the words that were written underneath the painting said; This I have done for you, now what will you do for me? The Count laid his life down for Christ and God used him in an incredible way. The Moravian missionary society was birthed and young people were sent all over the world to mission fields in Africa and beyond. They carved out their own gravestones and left off the date because they knew they were never coming back. Most missionaries in Africa at that time had a two year life expectancy, they died from malaria , cannibals, slave traders or any other disease. But they went gladly and took the light of Christ across the world. John Wesley was a Christian from a early age, but he said he only truly became born again when he was on a ship with these young Moravians and he saw how dedicated they were to Christ. The Moravians started a 24 hour prayer group that lasted for 100 years.