How good of Ted and Betty McJunkin to provide transcripts of Festo's clear word of God's grace! Thank you, Ted and Betty. And thank you, Lord, for the messages from the heart of Festo Kivengere.
MARY’S LORD
Festo Kivengere, the late Bishop of Uganda
Jesus, in His mercy and love, one day picked up a bit of broken humanity from the road to disintegration and dismissed the forces that were breaking her life apart. Then, in His almighty love, He put the pieces together and out of that action came a beautiful lady called Mary of Magdala. After that, her whole attention was focused on the Person to whom she owed every drop of her life. To Mary, life was utterly meaningless apart from Christ. Christ was all for her so she followed Him. Words could never put together her love for the Lord Jesus.
Then one day she stood with the others watching what looked like a tragedy, a disaster. This One who had put her life together was taken by rough hands, nailed onto a piece of wood, crucified in shame and desolation, and left there to die. This was so completely shattering to Mary that she forgot what He had taught her.
There are certain experiences that when they take place, they make you forget what had been a treasure to you. You turn away in utter disappointment and complete darkness. She could have turned into a bitter, disappointed personality. However, in John, chapter 20, Mary was at Jesus’ tomb because she could never be comfortable anywhere except as near as possible to the One who loved. She didn’t actually expect to see Him alive; she may have had a faint hope of seeing her dead Lord at least. She was saying, “They have taken away my Lord.” He was her Lord, dead or alive.
If you linger near where Jesus is, you are likely to run into a few surprises. Even if everything is dark and your experiences are dry, stay there. In the end, she saw angels and they spoke to her. Most of us would have left the tomb shouting "Hallelujah” and reporting far and wide about this angelic experience. It was no small thing to see an angel. But this was not for Mary. It was “my Lord,” not “my angel” she cared about. He as the One who had done what no one else could have done for her. It is a wonderful thing when a soul refuses to be satisfied except with the fullness of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps it was a gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit, but something made her turn. Before anything happens to us, we have to turn. There is a turning point which is absolutely crucial. Mary had to turn, and the turning as not easy because in front of her were angels and an empty tomb – a certain amount of comfort. Some spiritual experiences we treasure can actually hinder us from discovering our Lord.
All the time Jesus was waiting there, longing to reveal Himself. When she turned, she saw Jesus, but couldn’t recognize Him. I suppose her tears stopped her. Disappointment created a kind of smog; the atmosphere was rather polluted. The beauty of it was that He had found her. The redeeming feature of New Testament experience is that even though you are miserable and going around in circles, He has found you. This is the unchanging rock on which the church is built. Jesus spoke one word: “Mary!”
Immediately the Spirit of God clarified the atmosphere. The bells of heaven rang. The voice was none but His who had exorcised those dangerous demons out of her life! She heard, and immediately the hearing led to seeing and she discovered Him. She rushed in her excitement to lay hold on the feet of the physical Jesus Christ and He said, “No, you don’t need that. It will break your heart if you hang on to my physical person. You need something more permanent – you need a spiritual encounter so that you know I will never be away from you. When my physical body was taken away, you nearly died. Mary, I am going to give you something that will never leave you again. “So Mary, don’t waste your time touching the physical. You’ve got something more than that. Run quickly!”
She took to her feet to go and tell the story – tell those miserable disciples. They were bewildered in the house, absolutely dejected. Not only did they have no testimony, they were talking about the tragedy of Calvary – disastrous! She burst into the room and didn’t know how to begin. Start with the angels and the empty tomb? No! Her testimony is very clear: “I HAVE SEEN THE LORD!” Mark that. That is the key – “I have seen the Lord. Can you go out to the world at this Easter season and say, “I have seen the Lord.”? That is renewal. Whenever there is revival, attention is fixed on One Important Person. When the Lord is there, all the community of God is on the move, men and women, boys and girls, all talking about Jesus, passing it on. The outside community cannot help feeling the impact. Open up to the influence of the Holy Spirit so that He may reintroduce you day by day into the Presence where tears are wiped away, where disappointments are removed, and where darkness gives way to light so that you can say, “I have seen the LORD!”
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
A word from Festo via Ted and Betty
Accused in Court
Festo Kivengere
You and I have stood like bankrupts in a court of law. We know what it is to be moral insolvents – to owe millions morally and have not a cent in our moral bank accounts to pay. You turn to one side and there is someone with an “IOU” of love. Instead of loving, you hated, and now you must pay. You turn another way and there is a broken relationship staring in your face. You know you are guilty. You try another direction and you find a paper signed by your conscience saying, “you were not honest here.” Life is full of these accusing documents and your conscience has signed them all. Even the things in your life you are proud of don’t help out now. You may pretend that you have forgotten, but you haven’t.
We owe these debts to Him from whom we came. Most of them we also owe to humanity – to the men and women, boys and girls who stand around us remembering our deeds. They were hurt by the words we spoke, the attitudes we took, the actions we did, the lies we have told. Life seems to one huge courtroom and we stand there bankrupt, trembling, with nowhere to look. We are not able to lift these eyes and look at the eternal, perfect God. Nor can we look at each other. We have become men and women running away from reality with crushing burdens of guilt and fear.
Then, behold! Another One comes. God steps into the court. The Judge Himself has decided to become the “friend of the accused.” Jesus, because God so loved us, took it upon Himself to stand where the guilty one stood, to take on Himself the responsibility of what we owe! Jesus! Bless Him! He is the only one who could have done it, the only one not bankrupt: perfect in His humanity, perfect in love, unlimited in grace. What a Savior!
When the Spirit of God opens your eyes, you look and find you are no longer alone. The Friend who has come to your side is no one else but the Son of God! Love stepped into the courtroom and took up every accusing document. St. Paul wrote it beautifully in Colossians 2:13, 14. He did not cancel the record as with a pen, leaving the figures readable behind. No! He actually wiped the papers clean. He paid the whole debt and wiped your conscience clean. Then He took the charges and nailed them to His cross. As they crucified Him, they crucified all your accusing guilt, and mine. That is the Gospel. That is the excitement, the miracle of New Testament love. This is the kind of forgiveness which can send you out singing from the bottom of your heart: “It is done! I am no longer guilty. The accusation is gone!” This is the kind of forgiveness which can send you straight to those people around you who hold things against you. I had to go to one after another saying, “God has forgiven me, won’t you forgive me too?” Then freedom came! And great joy in reconciliations.
Festo Kivengere
You and I have stood like bankrupts in a court of law. We know what it is to be moral insolvents – to owe millions morally and have not a cent in our moral bank accounts to pay. You turn to one side and there is someone with an “IOU” of love. Instead of loving, you hated, and now you must pay. You turn another way and there is a broken relationship staring in your face. You know you are guilty. You try another direction and you find a paper signed by your conscience saying, “you were not honest here.” Life is full of these accusing documents and your conscience has signed them all. Even the things in your life you are proud of don’t help out now. You may pretend that you have forgotten, but you haven’t.
We owe these debts to Him from whom we came. Most of them we also owe to humanity – to the men and women, boys and girls who stand around us remembering our deeds. They were hurt by the words we spoke, the attitudes we took, the actions we did, the lies we have told. Life seems to one huge courtroom and we stand there bankrupt, trembling, with nowhere to look. We are not able to lift these eyes and look at the eternal, perfect God. Nor can we look at each other. We have become men and women running away from reality with crushing burdens of guilt and fear.
Then, behold! Another One comes. God steps into the court. The Judge Himself has decided to become the “friend of the accused.” Jesus, because God so loved us, took it upon Himself to stand where the guilty one stood, to take on Himself the responsibility of what we owe! Jesus! Bless Him! He is the only one who could have done it, the only one not bankrupt: perfect in His humanity, perfect in love, unlimited in grace. What a Savior!
When the Spirit of God opens your eyes, you look and find you are no longer alone. The Friend who has come to your side is no one else but the Son of God! Love stepped into the courtroom and took up every accusing document. St. Paul wrote it beautifully in Colossians 2:13, 14. He did not cancel the record as with a pen, leaving the figures readable behind. No! He actually wiped the papers clean. He paid the whole debt and wiped your conscience clean. Then He took the charges and nailed them to His cross. As they crucified Him, they crucified all your accusing guilt, and mine. That is the Gospel. That is the excitement, the miracle of New Testament love. This is the kind of forgiveness which can send you out singing from the bottom of your heart: “It is done! I am no longer guilty. The accusation is gone!” This is the kind of forgiveness which can send you straight to those people around you who hold things against you. I had to go to one after another saying, “God has forgiven me, won’t you forgive me too?” Then freedom came! And great joy in reconciliations.
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