When we first arrived we all stood together under the palm trees and infront of everyone sang three Christian songs as one body of soldiers. We then prayed. Claiming the ground for God. No fear, no shame. The Christians have arrived and we sing to our Lord. You could see people looking at us wondering "who and what are they, what is it they all have that makes them so different?" Some people even drew closer during the day as the joy of the Spirit flowed powerfully through the brethren. We had taken a big guitar speaker and a laptop. Christian songs proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord, Saviour and lover of our soul unashamedly filled the air - all Day.
Later I asked the men to give their testimonies. One by one, to the whole group, each had 3 mins to tell their past; why they were thankful to House of Hope and the Lord, aswell as their dreams for the future. Not one man did not thank God and mean it. I choked back tears, by the fifth or sixth one I said 'ok that is enough for now". Stories of men facing the suffering of sin, broken relationships, incarceration, violence and rejection. Human beings, just like you and me. All were thankful for House of Hope and to God. One man spoke of how he had fought his older brother and had seriously hurt him by fracturing his brother's head in the fight. How his father had told him how he had once been a beautiful little boy and now look what you have become (at 40). As he shared his shame he pointed to his brother (the one he had done this too) and how both of them were now here in House of hope together, 'by the grace of God' being his very words. He had been in the program eigth months. To me he looks angelic.
Many of them talked of secular rehabs they had tried in the past. One man was a qualified nurse with a Masters Degree. He told how he had been in and out of rehab centres and how they were like living hells. God wasn't in them. Foolish 'man made' psychology and mind altering "Medicines" combined with no Love at all. He told of how he had been with two hundred men in a previous rehabilitation centre. He told how after a year he had not witnessed even one man freed from drugs. NOT ONE. They all returned to the old patter of life after leaving the program. The smile on his face is incredibly contagious, after two weeks here he is saved and just praises God for house of hope all the time, thanking God for all the brothers. His eyes look like they have two flash lights at the back of them. This educated man had learnt only God can truly cure us. Not man made philosophy (Col 2:8). As my good friend Charles Slack states; he was literally "Shining from the inside out".
Last night I preached Romans Chapter 2. It concludes with Apostle Paul's strong message on the need for the circumcision of the heart. Prior to the lesson I showed a powerful video of Billy Graham in 1957 talking about the need for a new heart. False faith verses true faith. Outward change, outward church attendance and respectability, yet no inner change. Thus saved in the mind but not in the heart (where it counts). At the end Billy did an alter call to the thousands in the stadium. At which time, I went and stood by the projector screen with Mr Graham. I pointed in front of me at the ground, and invited the men to come down the front as part of the alter call. Every man came forward and bowed their head to the Lord. This time, most of them, where crying. Heart Change.
To those that have faithfully prayed and continue to do so, and so many of you that send me encouraging emails back, I thank you. Your own prayers are helping make all this occur. To our God in Christ be the glory - Amen.
You can see Billy's 1957 sermon here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i95RXDyY70
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