Prison Outreach – Praise the Lord!

Today we had another outreach at the prison, I was able to preach there, and it was such a blessing! Upon my arrival I was grateful to see the translator I had was a good one.  They sang for me a few songs and a hymn, prayed together, and then asked me to share the Word with them.  I was almost moved to tears as I saw these men, about 50 of them, sit down on their shoes on the dirty floor of the prison to hear the Word of God preached.  These men, who are rapists, murderers, and thieves.  These men whom Christ loves, and gave His life for!  How are we different than them?  We are ALL sinners, and whether we have lied or murdered, we are equally guilty and Hell-deserving before a holy God, and need the perfect righteousness of Christ.  

I preached on Matthew 13:47-50, the parable of the net thrown into the ocean bringing in a varied catch of fish.  It showed how one day death will overtake each of us, and we will stand before a holy and just God.  We will be separated, like the fish, some will be kept and others thrown away.  The perverse will be thrown into the Lake of fire, and the just will enter their rest.  “Now who is just?” I asked them.  “No one….” they replied, shaking their heads.  There was a quietness and seriousness among the men as I spoke.  I went on to explain how they can be just by what Christ did on the Cross, that He took their sin upon Himself, and offers them His righteousness.  What a glorious truth!  Praise the Lord for what He has done, for the salvation He so freely and undeservingly bestows upon us!

I was able to briefly share my testimony also, how the Lord saved me.  The men really appeared to be touched, and after I had preached 7 men knelt down and started praying quietly right where they were, while the others sang a closing hymn.  I didn’t ask or invite them, I only told them to come to Christ and trust in Him if they know they are lost.  I know many of the other churches who do outreaches there say you only have to repeat a prayer and you’ll be saved, instead of telling them to trust Christ, but either way I pray those men would truly trust Christ, and be saved.  

It was a very encouraging time, and I want to thank you all so much for praying for this ministry.  I felt the Lord’s help and leading very clearly in my preaching, the room was quiet and peaceful (unlike last week), I had a good translator (also unlike last week), and there just was a general attentiveness and seriousness during the meeting, and a real spirit of love.  During the meeting the men brought me an old plastic bag, put it on the ground next to me, and told me to put my things down there so I can have my hands free.  So kind!  

Please continue praying for these men and for me as we minister to them.  Pray that they may be saved!

“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21

Monumental Opportunity – Please Pray

It seems the Lord has opened the door for us to reach into our local prison.  Last week I sent out an email to some of you requesting prayer as I gave in a letter of requisition to the prison officials, asking for permission to give out 100 Bibles and other Christian literature and then to continue visiting the prisoners on a weekly basis.  Today I went to hear their response, and our petition was approved! Praise the Lord!

I have visited this prison once before, about 2 years ago.  It was an unforgettable experience.  At that time I was accompanying another person who preached there, so I only observed.  The ladies section was clean and fairly nice, while the men’s section was terrible.  A layer of grime covered the floor and walls, and it was just crammed full.  It made a very deep impression on me, and those men especially have been on my mind ever since that visit.  I had wanted to go again after that visit, but until now the Lord had closed the door.  A few months ago we started praying about doing  an outreach there, to give out Bibles and Paul Washer books.  Our burden grew, and so we bought 100 Bibles and 100 True Gospel ~ Paul Washer booklets (in Portuguese).  Last week we went and asked for permission to hand out this literature with 100 tracts, and to our surprise the official I talked to asked if we would consider doing weekly meetings there! I said we would pray and think about it.  I must honestly admit, being the one who would lead this outreach, I was very afraid and nervous about it, but I knew that the Lord put this open door before me and if I refuse to go through it, I would be sinning.   So I accepted, and today we were officially approved to hand out the literature and do weekly visits.

Our first outreach is tomorrow, a little sooner than what we expected!  I want to seriously ask for your prayers.  I am weak and afraid, and this will be a difficult and intimidating outreach.  I have never led an outreach like this before.  Seth and I will be going, as we do not want the ladies in there.  Please pray for us, that the Lord will give us strength, boldness, wisdom, and love.

Please as you think of us also pray for my parents, Wimpie & Wiesie, who are going to South Africa tomorrow and will return on Thursday.  My mom has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday to look at two ganglion cysts on her hands that need to be surgically removed.

Thank you so much, brothers and sisters, for praying.  I will write an update tomorrow on the outreach.

Love in Christ,

Isak for Mozambique Team