Saturday Outreach

This past Saturday, Luke Whitfield & I accompanied some of the members of Great Commission Baptist Church in community outreach. In one of the homes, there was a man named Mr. Myumbo. In our discussion, I asked him: “How does one get into heaven?” His response, which was typical of a lot of people (Americans included), was, if I pray, read the bible, and do good things, God will let me into heaven. Then I asked him, if that was true, then why did Jesus come? Why did he choose to put on human flesh, be whipped and spit on by those he came for, be beaten to a pulp and mocked, be forced to carry his own cross to the top of a hill to be hung on it. Why would he choose do that, if we already had the solution to getting into heaven?

We then talked about the Pharisees, who in Jesus’ time did all of these things. They new God’s word. They prayed unceasingly. They did things that were good. They were zealous in their religious pursuits. Yet the bible says that Jesus referred to them as a brood of vipers. When we got to this point, he asked something that not all people ever take time to ask. He said: “Why did Jesus come. Please tell me, I must know.” It was truly a sweet experience to be a part of. I was on the front row to seeing God open the eyes and ears of this man to His precious gospel.

For the next 45 minutes we talked about why Jesus came, how man is separated from God because of his sin, how there is no bridge of good works that can get us back to God, how that because God is holy there must be payment for sin, how instead of us paying for our own sin, he sent his Son to be that sacrifice, how God requires a blood payment of a pure and spotless lamb for sin, how Jesus was this spotless lamb and was nailed to the cross, fully satisfying God’s wrath against us because Christ fully obeyed God while here on earth, how when we repent of our sins and trust Christ with our lives, we are born again and are a new creation, how after we do this, God sees Christ in our place and forgives us based on our faith in His blood shed for us at Calvary and not based on our good works, how faith is not merely believing that Jesus existed and that He was God’s son, but that it is also a belief in Him with your whole life—trusting him with every aspect of your life no matter how dark or hidden, how when we place our faith in Him, we are sealed with His Holy Spirit and are placed into God’s hand never to be removed, how God even goes a step further and comes and resides in our hearts to help us in this life and gives us His Holy Spirit to teach us how to obey Him.

At the end of our time together, Mr. Myumbo reached a point where He wanted to experience God’s forgiveness and restoration. So, there, on his back porch, we prayed together. It was truly a humbling experience to be a part of something which the Bible says causes the heavens to rejoice!