If someone told me three months ago that I would be completely filled with joy when stepping into a prison in Uganda to preach to over one hundred criminals, I would have thought they were crazy. As soon as I walked through the gates and heard these men and women worshipping God, I was overwhelmed with peace and comfort from The Lord, and all the nerves I had about preaching vanished.
Preaching has been a fear of mine God has been breaking down this whole trip, so when I was informed I would be preaching at the prison as we were on our way there, joy and peace were not the first emotions I felt. Normally it's pretty easy to pick a verse in the Bible to talk about but this time I wasn't sure what to preach on. I asked myself, if I was a Ugandan prisoner what verses and sermon would lead me to want to surrender my life to Jesus Christ?
I was at a loss but I chose Ephesians 1:7-10. This passage talks about the redemption and forgiveness we received through Jesus Christ sacrificing His life for our sins. God gave his only son because He loves us so much, wants us to receive His grace and wants us to fully commit our lives to him.
There are a lot of times when I am preaching or talking to someone about the Bible, and the things I am saying are just words, I don't fully, wholeheartedly believe them. But on Sunday I became even more aware of the depth of God's love and the things I was saying became more than just words.
The Bible says Jesus died for everyone on earth, God loves every single person more than we could ever imagine and He created us all for a specific purpose. And as I stared at these men and women who are sinners, just like me, it fully hit me that Jesus Christ died on the cross for these prisoners just like He died for me. Our sins are all equal before God. And just because they have done something illegal to send them to prison doesn't mean God loves them any less and it also doesn't mean God loves me more because I haven't committed a crime.
Watching these prisoners sing,dance and clap their hands praising their Heavenly Father gave me hope, hope that God's work is never done. Seeing the joy they had for The Lord is proof that it is never too late for someone to surrender their life to Christ. God never gives up on His sons and daughters. Standing in front of the congregation, I didn't feel above them because they were in a prison uniform and I wasn't. I felt equal to them because we are all children of God, forever loved by our Heavenly Father.
