Recently, we moved to a new home in a small village called Mtuhntama. The village itself is about the same size as Chinteche, but the house we live in shrunk about half the size. If you read my Living in Simplicity blog, you saw the conditions, and the slightly got worse. Our room shrank to a 7’ by 12’ room (we measured) and a squad leader was added, so we are now sleeping seven people in that room with all of our nine months worth of stuff. Three of my teammates sleep on a twin size bed while four of us are on sleeping pads on the floor. We stack all of our bags in the corner while also keeping most of our food in there (a story for another time). The house itself is fairly small, with seven of us girls, our pastor Precious who travels with us, and then the host family with a Pastor, his wife, four older boys (ages 22 – 11) and their five year old granddaughter. So in a very small house we are living 15 people. There is no time for quite or space for along time. Music is always blasting, when we have electricity of course, which is thankfully only half of the time. We are surrounded by a maze, a maze made out of maize. It’s funny because we always joked and compared that we lived in the Maze from Maze Runner (one of the three movies we had to watch) but then we moved here and were actually surrounded by a wall of maize. Our shower and bathroom is outside without a door, so showering naked starring at those around is always exciting. And to think a squatty couldn’t get worse, the hole shrunk so we have about 5” to aim….. our aim has improved…… The food and lifestyle is much different, but as our pastor calls it “living on mission.”
The point of this blog is not to complain yet again about our conditions, it is actually to share about what the Lord is doing. So we are in our third month of Africa, and this has been an extremely physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining experience. We are either always preaching or doing door to door evangelism and constantly pouring out to the community, and in most of the places we live in, we feel like we never get a break. We would go from preaching to back to our tiny space without much nutrition or fulfillment to keep us going. We all felt worn out. Then the Lord reminded me of the truth behind him. Our living conditions should not be filling us up, he should be. We shouldn’t be pouring out, we should be overflowing with his love. He should fill us and we share to those around us.
Some of our main ministry here in Mtuntama has been SCOM: Students Christian Organization or Malawi. Something similar to youth group or Young Life in the states but more of a church service located at different schools. Every time we go we are asked to speak or give a word of encouragement. For this particular SCOM I had volunteered to speak. I went in with four verses written down, no other preparations, and let the Lord take control. This ended up being probably my most impactful sermon I have given thus far. The main point of this blog was the sermon itself, so just bare with me I promise it all makes sense.
When I was in high school, I never did much to truly pursue God or to pursue his word and share it to others. I was timid, quite, and almost embarrassed to be a Christian in any school environment. I wanted to be cool, I wanted to be popular, and I wanted to be someone everyone admired, and to be that, I didn’t think that involved telling everyone I knew who Christ was and that I was a Christian. Outside of environments I was embarrassed, I was always quite because I didn’t want people to judge me or I thought, I can just talk about God when I’m older. I can be more devoted when I’m an adult. I can give when I am an adult; I’m too young now. Boy was I wrong.
In the books of 1 and 2 Timothy, Paul is writing to Timothy. Timothy is much younger than the other disciples and apostles but he is under apprenticeship of Paul who was very wise and experienced in the Word. In 1 Timothy 4:12 Paul writes “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” Speaking to a young crowd, this verse seemed to fit very well.
I myself did not follow this. I let myself be looked down upon, but why? Once you become a believer, you contain the Holy Spirit. God dwells inside of you. It doesn’t matter what age you are. As you get older you don’t get more of God inside of you. No! All believers have the same Holy Spirit inside of them so how can God look down on himself? He doesn’t because that doesn’t make sense! No matter if you are young or old, we all contain the same power and the same ability to change the eternities of people’s lives through the Word of God. I am not saying here that even though we are young we should think we are better. We should still respect those older than us and our parents because they do have wisdom throughout life and have much more experience. They deserve respect and to be followed; however, remember, even if you are young, you have power! Don’t let yourself be looked down upon and opposite of that, don’t look down upon others.
Later in 2 Timothy 1:7-8 , Paul writes to Timothy, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord.” So that same Spirit all of us contain, it does not make us timid, rather it makes us on fire for Jesus! I was not in high school, and that is one of my regrets in time. I thought I was just too young and too embarrassed. I did not pursue his heart the way I wish I would’ve. We are only given so much time on earth to glorify him, and it doesn’t matter how old you are to worship him with every single step you make. Even if you are young, use, don’t abuse, that time to spend spreading his love and Word. For we are not made timid through the Spirit but the Spirit makes us great. So no matter what number your age is, we should not be looked down upon because with the strength of God we are full of power, love, and self-disciple. He gives us all of the tools to be examples to others in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. He makes us pure, he gives us faith, and he showers us in love. The least we can do is spread this love through our speech and actions.
I did not speak to others about him. That wasn’t my job in high school, but it should’ve been. Recently I’ve been doing a study through Acts and it has stood out to me how Jesus’s followers speak about the Gospel. Acts 4:31 “After they prayed, the place where they were getting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” ; Acts 9:28 “So Saul stayed with them and moved freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.” ; Acts 18:26 “[Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue.” : and Acts 28:31 “[Paul] proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ — with all boldness and without hindrance!”
Four different occurrences in Acts alone, and there are MANY other examples but four different times when people spoke the Word of God boldly. They all contain the Holy Spirit inside of them, and it did not make them timid, it made them fulfilled in Christ, able to speak about him boldly. They were not timid, like I was timid, they were bold. They set examples to others in conduct and especially in their bold speech. It doesn’t matter what age you are, because whatever age you are, you should share to everyone the amazingness of Gods grace.
I asked the student’s if they knew what bold meant and they replied no. Well for anyone curious, bold is defined in the English Dictionary
Bold: (of a person, action, or idea) showing an ability to take risks; confident and courageous
We take risks. It is not the normal thing to outwardly announce your religion or your relationship with Christ but take the risk and share it. The Spirit gives us the ability. We are confident and courages in Jesus Christ. I didn’t think the gospel in high school was cool, but confident and courages were words I would define as cool. So if you speak about something confidently and courageously, if talking about it makes you confident and courages, doesn’t the gospel make you cool? Wouldn’t that make you popular? I will tell you it most definitely would.
When we write and bold words, it means the words are important. They spoke the gospel boldly because it was important. It was meant to stand out! We should speak it boldly because it was important! It is the most important thing there is! It is unspeakable grace that allows us to have eternal life! The gospel is life, we are giving new chances and a new life through Christ. We are born again and THAT SHOULD BE TALKED ABOUT BOLDLY! THAT IS IMPORTANT. THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!
So that was the main jest of my sermon. To encourage the youth not to be looked down upon, but to allow the Spirit to take control and speak the word of God boldly to everyone around. Whether in High School or kindergarten or in a nursing home, to shower those around us with the Word. Rain so hard on them all they can feel, hear, and see is the love and word of God. To be obsessed with the grace and truth the Jesus gave to us.
To wrap everything together, I became consumed with our living conditions and being worn out. I let that drive how I was preaching. I did not give it my whole heart. I didn’t let the Spirit take control. I let my own disappointment drive my spiritual life.
God put me here. God placed me here. Before I was even born, God knew I would be here, living in these poor conditions, having the ability to speak the gospel to people who have never heard it before, and be able to do it boldly. This changed my thoughts to become thankful for everything and even though I am 18 years old, the Holy Spirit makes me powerful to speak the good news (guess how……) BOLDLY! I did not do this in high school, which I sincerely wished I would have; however, it’s nothing I can change now. But I do have the power to change my right now. To be able to be bold right now. Everyone has the ability to be bold right now. We just must give our lives up to the Lord, give him all control, and let the Spirit make us strong. We should no longer be looked down upon and be timid but instead speak the Word of God boldly with all that we have.
Be loved. Be courageous. Be confident. Be bold.
