CRC London - Pastor Thabo Marais

Living a life of More Than Enough is a deep desire of many of God’s children. However, there is a process that God takes us through, so that we may cultivate a heart of compassion and resist the nature of instant gratification. From identifying needs around us, to accepting and believing that we are blessed, God prepares His willing children for a journey to the More Than Enough; He teaches and reminds us to bless, break and give, even in our most desperate seasons, so that we may step into the season of More Than Enough in every area of our lives. In this sermon Pastor Thabo Marais shares the seven stages of living in the More Than Enough that God has for us. As we progress from one stage to another, God molds us into who He has created us to be; children who are indeed created to live in the season of More Than Enough.

We should never underestimate the power of small beginnings, for it is a single word, thought or action that can influence a series of other events to occur. Whether we want it or not, choose it or not, we are all caught up in an event that happened almost 6000 years ago. In this sermon, Pastor Thabo defines the Ripple Effect. There have been two significant events that have impacted mankind for the last six millennia. The first was a single act of disobedience when Adam and Eve ate from a tree they were forbidden to touch. The result was a curse set upon the generations to follow; to live in death and destruction. The second ripple in time was an act of one man’s complete obedience to sacrifice himself on the cross. In that single moment was the gift of eternal life and reconciliation with the Father. Two stones have been thrown, and each of us are living in the ripples created by both. Now we need to make a choice as to which ripple we ride.

So many people today, whether they are Christians or not, are simply going through the daily motions; directionless and following what the media and society tells them they should want or need. They are defenceless against the negative influences of the worldly and the world. However, Jesus doesn’t want His people to live dependant, disinterested, directionless or defenceless. In this sermon, Pastor Thabo speaks on the topic “From Sheep to Shepherd.” When Jesus came to us, He came as the lamb of sacrifice and through death and resurrection became the Good Shepherd, leading God’s people to truth and freedom. There is a difference between following Jesus as one of His sheep and following Him as a shepherd. As children of God we need to make a choice to accept the commission Jesus has given us and become a leader that gathers, guides, teaches and protects our fellow brothers and sisters.

As children of God, we must learn to become faithful and wise. A life characterised by faithfulness and wisdom is pleasing to God and, therefore, we must pursue these two things very readily. However, to increase in our wisdom, we must learn to learn, and increase in our learning. By staying teachable and open to learning new things and heeding to wise counsel, God is able to relay new ideas to us, which makes us wiser. On the other hand, our faithfulness is shown by our multiplication. When we are faithfulness with this, God makes us even more faithful and wise. In this sermon, Pastor Thabo Marais teaches the importance of being faithful and wise, as these are intertwined to become the children of God that He has created for us to be.

Living in the world, it is easy for us to get Disinterested, Discouraged and Dissatisfied with our lives. When it comes to the things of God, we delay and procrastinate in building His house before our own. Yet, with correction God always offers a great solution. In this sermon, Pastor Thabo takes us through the book of Haggai to show us the way back to God, and to offer the encouragement needed to follow His will. It is time that we took a look at our own lives, think hard about it and realise that to, once again, be fruitful means we must sacrifice and give of our time and money for the kingdom. We must understand that it is Jesus’ presence among us that produces the glory in the end.

The most important relationship a person will ever have in their lives is the relationship with Jesus Christ. After the fall of man, God has not given up His pursuit to reconcile that lost relationship and has created many opportunities throughout history to reach us. It is the day of Pentecost and, in this sermon, Pastor Thabo takes us back to the deliverance of God’s people out of Egypt. He explains how each step, from Passover to freedom, is a direct reflection of the harvest of His church today. God’s law has always shown us how we fall short of heaven’s standards, and it is Jesus Christ who has provided the only way to reconcile with our Father. To become born again means we have become clean on the inside. Now, we are prepared to meet God and receive the greatest gift He gave us after salvation – the Holy Spirit.

We are all called to be game changers to this world that we live in. Whether it be changing the game to your work place to changing the game in your own sphere of influence, Jesus showed how He was the ultimate game changer by dying for us. It is through the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus that we are able to stand here with confidence in God. In this sermon, Pastor Thabo Marais, emphasises how Satan introduced sin into the human nature. We are all born into this sinful world therefore sin is innate in us. But Jesus was the solution to the problem. Through Him death is eliminated and eternal life is now available to those who choose it. We were created to have an intimate relationship with God to become exactly what He has created us to be.

When we become born again we expect our lives to change and the situations we find ourselves in to become better, but with little effort from ourselves. We are told, “Ask and you shall receive,” yet have very little patience or perseverance to see our prayers manifest. We have heard in the previous sermons that, in order for our lives to change, we must be the Game Changers. We need to create a purpose within ourselves and we must lean on the foundations to build strong lives within the kingdom. In this sermon, Pastor Thabo takes us deeper into what it means to be a Game Changer. God is a spiritual being and when you become born again you are reborn into that spirituality with His DNA. And,like Him, you are reborn with an extravagantly generous heart. Generosity is an attitude that shows what you are made of, and who you are part of. Jesus came to exemplify the Father, who is the very essence of extravagant generosity and compassion. It is this part of us that makes us the Game Changers, not just in our own lives, but in the lives of those around us.

We know that in every society and every community there are those who struggle and those who prosper. Many times we find ourselves on the side of those who struggle and constantly wonder how to change our situation to be the one who prospers. If we look closely we see that, quite simply, those who prosper focus on the basic foundations and build upon those. In this sermon, Pastor Thabo speaks about the importance of God’s foundations. When Jesus came He did not come to do away with the principles that God created, but to restore them and then build upon them. Many of us have grown comfortable with the way the world is, but God wants us to change our mediocre situation to a prosperous one. To do that we must embrace God’s word, trust it as the truth and be obedient to the principles. God wants us to be ‘Game Changers,’ and that means to value the fundamentals and build on the ultimate foundation – Jesus Christ!

So many of us go through life surviving our situation, maintaining the status quo and missing opportunities to be part of something bigger than ourselves. However, we need to realise that God did not intend for us to live mediocre lives. We have an anointing and a God who speaks to us continuously with new ideas and opportunities to change the landscape around us – to be Game Changers! In this sermon, Pastor Thabo MARAIS speaks to us about Jesus as the ultimate Game Changer. He came to us with a game-changing purpose, a game-changing message and a game-changing commission. As children of God, we also have that DNA and were meant to be the element in our current situations that create such a significant shift that takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. To become a great leader we must not only become self-aware, but be aware of the needs and emotions of others. We need to create a purpose within ourselves that serves, improves, helps and inspires.