2 Samuel 6:22
Are you willing to look foolish for the Lord? Are you willing to be completely dependent on the Lord showing up? King David was willing to give up his royal robe to honor the king of kings – in Zambia the Lord challenged me on what I was willing to step into at His call.
We got to Lusaka Central Prison early in the morning. We checked in, threw on our yellow ‘Visitors’ vest, and anxiously waited to walk through the gates. We had been told we would be doing prison ministry that day, but were given no type of vision for what it would look like. To say it was intimidating would be an understatement, as we walked up to a prison yard with 300 inmates surrounding a pulpit. We walked up, sat down, and then the prison Chaplin dropped a bomb on us.
“Who’s planning on preaching?” He said. We all looked nervously at each other. No one had prepared anything. We didn’t know we would be speaking that day. Our outreach ministry had been very personal that month, and we assumed it would be the same at the prison, maybe a 3 minute encouragement, not a 20 minute message. It was then that I got that churning in my stomach, almost as if God was nudging me, beckoning me to step into this spot. I had preached a few times in Zambia, but they were with extensive preparation time, and to a church I knew I was accepted and loved by. This was different. Nervous, but knowing it was a calling from The Lord, I said I’d do it.
And so I prayed. In moments like that, all you can do is pray.
“God, what message do you want preached to these people?” I asked.
“Set the prisoners free,” he responded.
I knew what He was talking about. Earlier that month, I had preached on the beheading of John The Baptist. For those who don’t know the story, there is a prophecy in Isaiah saying that when the Messiah came, that the prisoner would be set free. While John is in prison, he sends word asking Jesus if he was the Messiah, to which Jesus quotes back the prophecy, but leaves out the piece on setting the prisoner free. A couple chapters later, John is beheaded. I had been struggling through the story in my personal time with The Lord earlier that month, until God revealed to me that John was set free that day, free to spend the rest of eternity with Our Heavenly Father.
Immediately, I saw God lay out a sermon outline, and I watched as the Holy Spirit gave me the verses I needed to tie the sermon together. The message was clear. True freedom can only be found in Jesus Christ, and it was in God’s sovereign mercy that these inmates had been brought to prison, because they needed to reevaluate their lives, and they needed a chance to repent. Ecclesiastes says it’s better to go to the house of mourning than the house of mirth, and as we stood in the house of mourning, I saw enlightenment hit the eyes of countless people. Feeling prompted by The Lord, I gave the yard an opportunity to turn their lives over to Christ, and nearly a hundred people raised their hands to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.
It’s funny looking back at it now, because I felt like a spectator that day. I know that sermon was not preached under my own strength, but was purely the Holy Spirit working through me. I got the opportunity to live out Isaiah 61:1 which says: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”. I got to watch first hand as God used me to deliver this message to prisoners who desperately needed to be set free, and I can’t help but feel amazed at the way God uses not those who prepare the most or try the hardest, but those who are willing to risk looking like a fool, if only for the chance that He might be glorified.
This month my team is working in East London, South Africa with King’s Children’s Home. The home currently houses 27 kids under the age of five who have been rescued from a range of circumstances, including but not limited to physical abuse, sexual abuse, severe neglect, and outright abandonment. The Eastern Province of South Africa has the highest number of abandoned children, with estimates around 30,000 per year. Please pray for these children and for the King family as my team spends our month with them. If you are interested in learning more about King’s Children’s Home, their website is http://www.thekingschildrenshome.org.
I love you guys!
Andy
The final fundraising deadline has passed, and I am still about 700 dollars short. Adventures has gracefully given me an extension on my deadline. Would you prayerfully consider partnering with me financially on this journey or even just adding my fundraising to your prayer list? I’m so thankful for all the donations I’ve received so far, you guys are what makes trips like these possible!
