Zanele Tlhakanelo

There is nothing of value to me than Christ. The reason I say this is that it is always my heart desire to see all my family members establishing a personal, permanent, intimate relationship with God. I do not have to prove to a friend that Jesus is first in my life but my actions and the way I conduct myself must be evidence enough to say I have a relationship with Christ that is not temporary but eternal. I believe that I must emulate Christ by showing compassion for all the people and in that way, my friends will be convinced that I live for Christ and He is the Only One who directs my steps.

Taking your cross daily means you need to be prepared to die for the truth and acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the only Master that you will serve. When tough times come, you do not relinquish your position as the disciple of Christ. You do not deny Him but serve Him to the point where you will follow Christ and renounce your allegiance to the One true God. Losing your life for Christ means denying yourself for His sake. You do not live for yourself but you serve the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. When Paul says "It is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me." He actually meant that you become selfless and surrender fully to do the Will of God. You put Christ first above all your needs. If a disciple wants to take this step of commitment, all the wordly comforts must be sacrificed to truly serve Christ. The Word of God says you cannot serve two masters. Therefore the self dies and Christ becomes the centre of your life. Christ makes it clear that if you try to save your life, you will lose it but when you ask Christ to Lord over your life, you will be preserved. It may not be easy to be the follower of Christ but one thing that we need to appreciate is that the promises He makes, He also keeps. He says He will never leave us nor forsake us. Therefore, in our commitment we must remember that He is God of the mountains and He is God of the valleys and will forever be with us.

Not at all. Jesus Christ is specific as to the kind of a person who wants to be His disciple. You cannot serve too masters at the same time because the other one will suffer while serving the other. Jesus is clear that when you want to be His disciple, there are certain loads that need to be left or put aside and serve Him wholeheartedly. All the disciples that He chose had to leave their daily jobs and followed Him. Following Jesus is being obedient to the call of God. That is why God does not want lukewarm disciples but those who will carry out the message of the Kingdom without compromising the Word. We certainly are. We make excuses because we want to satisfy our desires. We please the world more than we please God. Our priorities are always about me, myself and I and then God. The truth be told, when people are supposed to support the work of the ministry through their giving, we first make ourselves happy and then God at the end. We listen to all the negative things happening around us and want to believe that our God does not see and will not help us. We are really too compromising and actually give the world priority over God. My ego. I must allow God to work on me and not think that I am better than other people or I can do things better than time. I need to appreciate the good done by others and be able to sincerely applaud them. God must surely work with my heart.

Jesus requirements for His disciples is that they must be fully committed to proclaim the Kingdom of God, be able to forsake all earthly things and be obedient to the call of doing the Will of God. The message is clear that you cannot want to do other businesses when the harvest is plentiful when the laborers are few. Putting Jesus Christ first above everything else and seeking the Kingdom of God because Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. All the things on earth are temporal and if you still want to wait to be old to serve Jesus or do some other business, it may be too late. Jesus is urgent because He understands that the devil, the schemer is like a thief who has come to steal, to kill and to destroy. The world out there needs to be rescued from the evil one and the disciples must preach the Good News to the end of the world. The urgency is that there should not be an excuse of people saying they did not know the Kingdom of God that is why missionaries and evangelists are all over not to miss the souls that must receive the wonderful gift of salvation. This gift is for all of us and Jesus is aware that the devil wants to deny people eternal life by ensuring that they do not hear the message of the Kingdom of God. We need to prioritise God above everything else. Isn't it that God also prioritised us and gave us His Only begotten So who died for all our sins? We need to do the Will of God while we still have the energy to do so and not procrastinate. The saying says "Time waits for no man" and therefore we need to have the whole world know about God our Creator, our Father who loved and still loves us. If we still have to go bury the loved one or look back, we may not cover enough ground while the devil is out there waiting to devour people.

The unique message about the Parable of the Narrow Door is that it can only accommodate those who have truly repented and change not those who still hold on to the things of this world and pretend to be serving the Kingdom of God. Those that are active and not passive in preaching the meesage of repentance without compromising the Word. Jesus Christ is the host and He is the only One who can allow people to go through the Narrow Door because not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will be able to enter. Would-be disciples must be aggressive because the evil one is out there roaring like a lion and wants whoever he can devour. The devil comes with schemes that want to derail those who want to honestly serve the Kingdom of God and therefore, disciples need to be aggressive in ensuring that they do not bow down to any gods but to the Living God. The faint-hearted will not be able to go through the Narrow Door because they are not sure where they stand but those who aggressively seek Him and are prepared to be persecuted for the Kingdom of God, will be able to go through. If we are not aggressive in seeking God, we will find ourselves tossed to and fro by the deceiver who is satan. The Word of God says " Even the elite will be deceived". There are so many false prophets who claim to be preaching the Word of God but they are like wolves in the sheep skin and if we are not seeking God, we will fall prey to all their dirty tricks. The Great Commission expects us to go to the end of the world and because we have to fulfi the mandate of God, we need to be as wise as serpents yet harmless as doves in carrying out our assignments. This Parable was told to the disciples so that they should understand that not everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ will be able to go through the Narrow Door. Remember Judas Iscariot who was among the disciple but ended scheming with the high priests and selling Jesus Christ for some shekels, we still have those who say the serve the Kingdom of God but are deceiving people.

Thorns choke us in maturing in understanding the Word of God. When we are faced with earthly challenges, we tend to doubt God as we think we can resolve challenges that we face without taking all the troubles we face to Him. We at times are deceived by the material things we have thinking that we have created the wealth ourselves or the achievements that we have attained. Our desire should be in understanding the Word of God rather than desiring the things of the world which are temporal. A genuine disciple is the one who understands that Christianity is a lifestyle and not a religion system. We do not serve God because we are obliged but we understand that we are to preach the message of the Kingdom without compromising the truth. We should not be people-pleasers but let people know the heart of God through His Word. We need to be rooted in the Word of God and pray without ceasing. At all times acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit who is in us and always ask that He guides, directs, leads, advise and helps us in hearing when God speaks to us.

Some people fall away easily because they do not internalize the message of the Kingdom. They are quick to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior but do not listen well to His teachings. At times, such people follow the crowd and do not understand what it is to give your life to Christ. They still want to live their lives as before and do not understand that once you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, you allow Him to be at the centre of your life. Paul says " It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me". Their problem is that they do not ask for guidance and allow to be shepherded. They do not want to present their bodies as living sacrifices and do not read the Word of God so as to understand the new path taken.

A true Shepherd lays His life down for the sheep because they belong to Him and He cares and loves His sheep dearly that He is prepared to protect them from any danger that may befall them. He provides and protects the sheep against robbers and thieves. Jesus protected His disciples from all the criticism they faced from the Pharisees and scribes. When they questioned Him about His disciples not washing hands when they were eating, why they did not fast and all sorts of Jewish laws that the disciples did not do, Jesus explained that while they still have Him with them, there was no need to do these rituals. Jesus Christ said "Yes" to the Will of God so that we can receive the wonderful gift of salvation. He became sin though not a sinner so that we may be the righteousness of God. Jesus Christ had compassion for all people and He fed them both spiritually and physically. He healed the sick and He took our shame by dying on the Cross. When He was with them, He taught them that they needed to take care of orphans, widows, the needy and the poor. He taught them to serve others and not be served. He also made them understand that they should not take front seats but wait to be ushered to take front seat. Christ's servants are taking care of the vulnerable by clothing them, providing water in areas where there is no clean water. Food parcels are donated and one can safely say that a lot of Christ's servants are doing that which Christ expects us to do.

The Shepherd's voice will not lead the sheep astray because He cares, loves and feeds His flock with good nourishment. Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd has laid His Life for us so that the thief cannot claim us as his people. It is therefore important for the disciples to listen to listen to the voice so as to follow the Shepherd's instructions. God has an assignment for each sheep and the disciple must learn to listen to His voice and be obedient to His will. When we act independently, we will miss His guidance and find ourselves acting out of His Will. The Word of God says that His Will is good, pleasing and perfect and therefore if we act independently, we will want to do that which satisfies us rather than that which we are called to do (The Great Commission). The sheep go astray when they do not listen to the voice of the Shepherd. The sheep must learn to attentively listen to the voice of the Shepherd are there are many voices out there. When you do not learn to listen to the voice of God as His disciples, you may find yourself being confused by so many teachings which will lead us to destruction.

Jesus Christ intends teaching His disciples that the unshrunk clothes or the old wine skin do not fit into the new, meaning that the laws taught back then do not fit into the Good News/Gospel because there are certain laws that repel Jesus' teachings. Remember that nothing was to be done on the Sabbath and Jesus' healing of the sick offended the Pharisees and scribes. Therefore, the disciples needed to understand that people's lives are more important than the laws. We become used to old traditions and do not want to repent from believing that Jesus Christ has not only come for the chosen few but Gentiles as well hence it was difficult for Peter to be seen to be sharing food with the Gentiles. Keeping the synagogue traditions was to them the inheritance of the Kingdom of God. We want to do things by the book and not allow the Holy Spirit to take control. We follow the same ways of doing things instead of allowing the presence of the Holy Spirit to lead us. We follow the same pattern each time for example, we worship/ praise, read the Word and preach, pray and we are out of the church building. I do not think the Holy Spririt will be offended if He directs that only praise and worship should be done and pray and lead people to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. If we continue to be stuck in church laws, there will not be any growth in the Kingdom of God. We need to allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to manifest for growth to be seen. The church may start small but once the Holy Spirit is given His place, there will be growth them. Churches need to know that they are not in any competition but are doing the Will of God and that is, preaching the Good News/Gospel.

Jesus Christ intended to teach His disciples to be patient because they expected the ministry to grow fast. He taught them that the beginnings are small but the endings are big. When Jesus used the two Parables He wanted to show them that when seed it planted, it does not end up as a seed but becomes a tree or when a yeast or leaven is put into a dough, it is small but after some time the dough becomes bigger, meaning that when the Word of God is preached, a few people may respond positively to the Word but that does not mean that only a few will hear. People will share the Word until the whole world understands the Kingdom of God. The disciples wanted to see the fruit of their work immediately. It does not matter how long it takes for a person to repent because the Word will do its work. The Word of God is powerful and people will eventaully know about the Kingdom of God in the whole world. We lack patience. We want people to immediately follow what we believe in but once the Word is planted in their hearts and they see how we life for Christ, they will then understand that surely, the Kingdom of God is alive and eternal. Faith is when you believe the unseen. The disciples must have faith that the work of the Lord will surely be accomplished because it is His will that all men should not perish but come to the knowledge of His Word. Patience teaches us as disciples not to give up when people do not want to listen to the Word as it is preached but to continue to pray that God should open the eyes of the hearts of those whose hearts have been hardened.

In the parable, satan is the strong man because he is able to come steal, kill and destroy lives but he knows that he cannot go beyond using his tricks to lure me to his kingdom that is soon coming to and end. He has been defeated at Golgotha and no longer has power over God's children. Jesus is the Victorious, Stronger Warrior who defeated death through His Resurrection and Ascension so that those who believe in Him should have eternal, everlasting life. Jesus Christ's name is above all names that is why the demons begged Him to leave them alone. There is no force that is above the Omnipotent God who is able to defeat all the wickedness of the devil. God loved us so much that He gave us His begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When the devil thought that he had crufified Jesus Christ, little did he know that the Resurrection was just as Jesus preached that He will destroy the temple and raise it up in three days. I am really thankful to God for being my Deliverer and setting me free. The only way of setting my friends free is to preach Christ resurrected. He is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus Christ wants us to come as we are and does not condemn anyone or reminds us what we did a few minutes ago.

It is a reminder that Jesus Christ gave His body to be crucified for our sins so that we may all be forgiven of all the sins we have and will commit. The blood reminds us that we have been washed and are now able to approach the Throne of Grace with confidence because we have received mercy. Each time we sin, we must know that we crucify Christ over and over again and as His children, we must be mindful of that. We actually proclaim that we will hold on to the Truth that Jesus Christ gave His Life for as and He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that we will not serve any other gods but the Giver of Life. We proclaim the Resurrection because when Christ comes back, the dead will be resurrected and those who will be living then and believe in Him will be taken to be with Him.

I want to believe that Jesus teaches us that it is not through our works or understanding or memorising the scriptures that can make us enter into eternal life. Jesus also does not say wealthy people cannot enter the Kingdom of God but those who are obedient to the will of God. People distort the saying because they do not understand that Jesus was referring to the hardness of our hearts. Even though people have seen the miracles that Jesus Christ performed in healing the sick, the lame walked, the blind saw but still they did not believe in Him. We can only preach the Word of God but cannot not save people. Salvation comes from God and that is why we refer to it as a gift because gave us His Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins. It is only through faith that we are saved. Christ did it for us when He said "Yes" to be will of God. Praise be to God. Hallelujah.

Flowing or living water is symbolic to an eternal, everlasting and continuous life because ordinary water is just symbolic to life. Jesus Christ creates the thirst in us as He is the Fountain, the Spring where we get the everlasting life and will never thirst again. When we have receives Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will not need anymore water because the Holy Spirit will be at work in our lives as we continue to read the Word of God and spend time in prayer. All we need to do is to ensure that we have a permanent, intimate relationship with God so that we never thirst again.

When we are born again, it is a Spiritual birth where we allow the Spirit to supersede the flesh. We are no longer controlled by the things of this world but the Holy Spirit takes control in guiding, directing, leading and helping us in all aspects. We renounce the old and become new in Christ Jesus as explained in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Jesus uses the analogy of water. We know that when a child is to born in the physical, water must come out. Jesus Christ emphasizes that man has to be baptised in water but not only that the Holy Spirit must reside in that person. We cannot be born again and do as we wish but must be guided by the Holy Spirit as explained in John 3:8. It is through our faith that we come to understand the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The attributes are that they wind cannot be seen but felt. We cannot see the Holy Spirit in our lives but we can feel His presence as He works in our lives. We cannot manipulate the wind neither can we do so to the Holy Spirit. There are different ways in which we encourage the wind in the physical realm so is the case with the Holy Spirit, at times gentle but also powerful.

The Parable teaches us that our God is just and cares about all His people. He gives people what they ask from Him and even those who do not deserve His favor, He is liberal to all. His grace is immeasurable because He gives it to all of us. He is the gracious, kind, merciful and compassionate God who will leave His Throne and seek for the lost even in the last hour like the vineyard owner who went out to the market place to still look for laborers. Jealousy, envy, anger, bitterness and all malice rise up when we feel overlooked and we always want the best for us forgetting that God loves His people no matter who they are. He is generous in giving us gifts and wisdom that is why the book of James 1:5 says "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault..." Fairness is when God gives us His love and the wonderful gift of salvation without us working for that. Pride is when we think that others are not deserving of His love, mercy and grace but the faithful God we serve is not a respecter of man.

Both Parables give an explanation of the good and the bad but what is important is that at the end of time, there will be separation of the good from the bad just like the wheat is separated from the tares at the end. The Parables are meant to counter the Final Judgment day. Already those who die having not repented from the sin, are being separated from those who have repented and waiting for judgment day as is the case in the Parable of the Fishing nets. The good are already separated from the bad and the during the Final Judgment, there will be gnashing of teeth and weeping when the wheat is separated from the tares. People who refused to repent going through the unquenchable fire. We need to hold on to the true Gospel that God is the only Judge and will judge us according to our righteousness. We may be living in the world where we think that the devil has triumphed when we see too much crime and abuse of women and children, and want to give up hope but the God we serve is faithful and will surely come back as we are eagerly waiting for the Second coming of Jesus Christ which will definitely happen at God's appointed time.

The sheep are complimented for being meek and gentle hence given the honor of being placed on the right hand. The goats are condemned for being aggressive hence they are placed on the left hand. Salvation is not earned by works least we boast that we have worked. It is by the love of God and Jesus Christ saying "Yes" to the will of God. Jesus Christ became obedient to God and salvation is only the grace of God. Jesus is humble and does not consider Himself God though He is God. The message is that we should not class people but consider everyone equal as we are before the eyes of God. Jesus understands that we are all made in the image of God and after His likeness. The reason He told His disciples was that they needed to understand the importance of treating people equally and teaching them to be servants for these people as He called them to serve and not to be served. He taught them to have compassion and love all the nations. Modern-day disciples need to know that they have not been called to serve people of a certain race or nation but to serve all the people that is why Matthew 28 verse 19 says"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." All human race belongs to God and therefore people that are needy, destitutes and vulnerable should be treated with respect and immigrants should not be treated as less of human race but love should be shown to all and fight for justice in defending the rights of the poor and homeless.

The rich man was self-centered and did not care about the needy, the poor, the orphans and the widows. All he cared for was his lavish spending eating delicious and scrumptious food, wearing expensive clothes and not even provided for the hungry, the thirsty and the naked. He showed no love for other people and did not have compassion to the plight of the vulnerable and destitute. In hell, he still considered himself a boss and wanted Lazarus to be treated as a servant tossed around to do chores. The main point of the parable is that Jesus does not condemn the rich but believes that they need to show love and take care of all that needs help. Lazarus was a sick man and needed attention. All that the rich man was supposed to do was to provide food for Lazarus because he was daily living at his gate and licked by dogs. He could have provided medical attention like the Good Samaritan did when he saw a man badly injured. But he ignored showing compassion and assisting him. Our church does a lot of outreaches, prison and hospital ministry, the church Foundation supplies food weekly to the local communities and gets involved especially when there are floods like in Mozambique in Africa. The church understands the principle of alms. We have a couple that is doing missionary work and they are supported financially.

The humor is that the one with a beam, wants to remove a speck on the other one's eye. How are you able to see a speck when you are carrying a beam in your eye which is so huge that you yourself cannot see? You are deep into sin but you want to reprimand others when they sin. You gossip about their ungodly living and at the same time you also do things that do not honor God. When we humble ourselves, turn away from our wicked ways and repent, then we will see with the clear spiritual eye. It is also helpful to confess your sins to the elders at church so that they may help in praying with you not to fall back into sin. If we do not correct them with gentleness, it will be as if we are judging them. We understand that there is one Judge who is God and if He is able to keep on forgiving us, why do we have to condemn others. We need to understand that we were also sinners and the grace of God located us. When we are judgmental, we will be portraying the "holier than thou attitude" which then shows that we are hypocrites. We must understand that God was patient with us and He made sure that once we were inside the fold, He kept nurturing us until we saw that the wages of sin is death and clung to Him. Likewise, we need to be patient with all those who still fall along the way until the come to know the True. Living God.

The first son because he refused to obey the instructions of his father but upon realizing that he did something wrong, he went and did as his father had asked him to do. It is easy to talk but obedience speaks to issues of the heart. People may impress others by talking as words can fool us but the actions will say something else. It is better to do than to talk. Rather, live the life that gives God the honor through your thoughts, actions and words. The second son who promised his father than he will do and ended up doing nothing is like the foolish builder who built his house on the sand and ended up losing everything. The first one is likened to the wise builder because he remembered maybe all the good things that his father did for him and obeyed. We are called to be obedient to the voice of God. Like the sheep that knows the voice of the Shepherd we must be obedient and be able to hear the small, still voice when God speaks to us. Obedience requires that we spend time with God so that He can show us great and mighty things that we did not know.

Seeking means you give your all and are determined to find that which will give you life. You do not go with the flow but you make the right choices that will lead you to eternal life. The narrow gate is less traveled and at times people do not believe that it will lead you to your place of safety. You seek by reading the Word of God, through prayer and fellowship with the saints. That phrase "only the few find it" means people do not trust and believe that the narrow gate will lead you to eternal life. It is not confusing because it is less traveled and only those who persevere and believe that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We can only know the way when we ask God to direct our path. Disciples are strengthened because they know Who the Shepherd is. There are so many things that the world does which can make people believe that those are the right things to be done. For example in South Africa, widows are to mourn for a year and at times a year and six months wearing black. When in that situation, you are not aloud to mingle with a lot of people and should be home before sunset. These are the things that confuse people because the widows need more support and need to be surrounded with love.

When we emulate Jesus through our actions, we put into practice His teaching and believing is just lip service. Jesus had compassion for all the people He met. We should not be Christians who will not stand for justice because the matter at hand may not be affecting us. We must stand for the truth in every way and care for people that are suffering. I must know the needs of the people and where we are able to help, do so. We need to be there when people need us in order to stand the test of time. Our faith in God should be deep-rooted and be able to stand for the truth. True discipleship is obeying the will of God and following His precepts. A compassion leader will always teach the young Christians that we are called to do the will of God and subject ourselves under His authority. The Word of God says we must not only be hearers of the Word but doers as well. We cannot only pray for the needy, orphans and widows but we must also assist when they need help.

Jesus teaches us in the Parable of the Guilty Defendant to be upfront with issues. When I know that I have wronged a person, it is important for me to address the matter first because I am the guilty one rather than wait until the matter becomes too huge and can only be resolved at the court. It is always advisable to ask for forgiveness and make things right so that the person wronged is able to forgive and let bygones be bygones just like the king who forgave the servant who owned him lots of money. But we know how it turned at the end. The Word of God says we must worship Him in truth and in spirit. How do you worship God if you have not asked for forgiveness and repented from your sins. I always like David because he understood that it is always peaceful to repent before God and he says "Create in me a clean heart." You cannot worship God while your heart has baggages of people you have hurt and just think that all is well. God sees our hearts and we need to be clean in the inside when coming to worship Him. It is hypocritical if we think that these matters will vanish into thin air. We need to make things right that is why the Word of God says if we want to offer our gifts to God but have wronged our brothers, we need to first reconcile with the brother and come bring our offering. God is interested in our wellbeing and it is important to always ask for forgiveness and at times even if you are not wrong so that peace can prevail.