January 24, 2011 Chaplain’s Corner
The Chaplain's Corner is a monthly message for chaplains.
Rev. Rich Hines
Inmates That are Truly Seeking The Lord, are Special People!
This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the United States.
All Scripture quotes are usually taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any deviation from the NKJV text is placed within bracket signs [ ]. These usually occur as direct translations from the original languages, or as notes from the original setting to help apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement.
Greetings Christian Chaplains and volunteer gospel ministers. I pray that 2012 would be even better than 2011 was in terms of our walk with the Lord and our ministries for His great name.
Lately, I have again been studying the great Apostle, Paul. Every time he got into trouble for preaching the gospel, he just kept on getting bolder. He would not be deterred from what the Lord called him to do. I love how he said: “For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 21:13). Then just before he did die for the Lord, he said in 2 Timothy 2:8-10 -
8 Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,
9 for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.
10 Therefore I ENDURE ALL THINGS FOR THE SAKE OF THE ELECT, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
You know, some of the inmates you minister to are among the elect of God for salvation! So, like Paul, endure hardships to reach out to them with the life-transforming gospel of Jesus Christ in 2012.
Now, you may ask, “But, who are they? Who are the elect of God?” Those are good questions. God always knows who He is going to save, but we don’t. From Scripture we also know that the salvation of each soul that will ever be saved BEGINS with God. He initiates their salvation.
Jesus said, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He told the sinful Samaritan woman in John 4:23, “the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father IS SEEKING such to worship Him.” He also said to his disciples in John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you … ,”
While God always initiates contact with a soul, at the same time, He also causes that soul to be hungry and thirsty for Him. He causes people to honestly and sincerely seek Him. That being true, I want to say to you, INMATES THAT ARE TRULY SEEKING THE LORD ARE VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE! You need to pay special attention to them.
But, how can we tell when an inmate, or a group of inmates are truly seeking the Lord? Here are four good indicators: sincere interest in the word of God, humility, honesty about their life, and a willingness to repent.
1. Sincere interest in the word of God - the Bible
Look out for the inmates that show a deep hunger to know and understand the Bible. Look for the ones that ask good questions about what the Bible says, so that they might change for the better. A word of warning: there are some inmates, who like to “look to mock” or are not sincere in their questions about the Bible. You will generally know which are which, by their attitude and actions. Biblically I think we have some great examples of the sincere seekers of God in Acts 17. They got serious about the word and what it said TO THEM. Note Acts 17:1-12.
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths REASONED WITH THEM FROM THE SCRIPTURES,
3 EXPLAINING and DEMONSTRATING that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”
Note three important action words in verses 2 and 3.
First, Paul REASONED with them from the Bible. This word means he went back and forth with thoughts from the Scripture to help them come to a conclusion.
Secondly, He kept on EXPLAINING (present tense verb) the word of God. He completely opened up everything the Scripture said about the Christ’s sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. Those facts are the heart and center of gospel information.
Lastly, He also kept on DEMONSTRATING (present tense verb) – which is to say, he set the truth of Christ before them, applying it to them. This would include the idea of demanding they make a personal conclusion about the facts so set before them.
You should always follow this example when teaching the Bible. Especially when you are giving the gospel. Note the result in verse 4.
4 And SOME of them (this means some of the Jews of that synagogue) WERE PERSUADED; (this word means they were obedient to believe) and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined (they also believed) Paul and Silas.
Now this passage continues and tells about persecution from unbelievers in v. 5 and following:
5 But the Jews who were not persuaded (in other words those Jews who were disobedient to the word and rejected Jesus as the Christ), becoming envious (or, jealous), took some of the evil men from the marketplace (they hired rent-a-rioters), and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar (a riotous atmosphere) and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 But when they did not find them (Paul and Silas - the main preachers), they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”
8 And they troubled (or, agitated and shook up) the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
10 Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. (to do the same as they did in vv.2-3)
11 These (Jewish religious people) were more fair-minded than those (the unbelieving Jews of the synagogue) in Thessalonica, in that they RECEIVED THE WORD WITH ALL READINESS (this means they had an eager disposition of mind to accept the word), and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
12 Therefore MANY OF THEM BELIEVED, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.
The difference between the Jews of Thessalonica and the Jews of Berea was that only “some” in Thessalonica believed (v.4), whereas “many” in Berea believed (v.12). So we see the main difference was that the Jewish people in Berea were more fair-minded or generous ABOUT THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD. But what about the few or SOME of the Jewish people in Thessalonica that were persuaded to believe? 1 Thess.2:13 describes them
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you WELCOMED it not as the word of men, but AS IT IS IN TRUTH, THE WORD OF GOD, which also effectively works in you who believe.
The word "welcomed" gives the idea of a warm receptiveness. That’s also a readiness of mind to receive and do what God says in the Bible.
2. Humility
True seekers of the Lord are also humble. They know that they don’t know, and therefore come to be instructed, rather than to show off how much they think they know.
Acts 8 has a great illustration of this. You can read a fuller treatment of this text in the Sept. 2007, Chaplain’s Corner message. But for now consider Acts 8:27-31
27 ... behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
28 was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet.
29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”
30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
The Ethiopian man of “great authority” or high rank, showed a humility in admitting he needed help to understand what Isaiah the prophet wrote. Unlike the proud Jewish Pharisees that opposed Jesus and thought they knew the word of God, this man humbly admitted he did not. There are inmates that truly do have this humble teachable attitude. Look for them!
Tell them their humility should be coupled with a readiness to repent. James 4:6-10 shows this.
6 ... Therefore He (the Holy Spirit) says: “ God resists the proud, But gives grace to the HUMBLE.”
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter (over your sinful escapades is the implication) BE TURNED to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 HUMBLE YOURSELVES in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
All the instructions given to sinners, on what they must do here: “submit,” “Resist,” “draw near,” “Cleanse,” “purify” lament and mourn and weep” are commands to the sinner to repent. But the call to BE TURNED in James 4:9, is a verb form that means let yourself be turned BY ANOTHER – and that other One is God, who helps the sinner to actually repent.
3. Honesty
Look for inmates that are willing to be open and honest and transparent about the sins that they struggle with. In my ministry to the incarcerated, I have always found some inmates like that. And when I have found them, something inside of me pushes me, constrains me to want to give them more time and more of the word and more prayer. I believe that something is Someone, namely - the Holy Spirit.
Mark 9:23-24 is a wonderful text that shows the kind of honesty I’m talking about. The context is about a man seeking demonic deliverance for his son. It says:
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; HELP MY UNBELIEF!”
Also, Proverbs 28:13 speaks about honesty coupled with repentance.
13 He who covers (or hides) his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses (that is the opposite of covering them up, so it is being honest) and forsakes them will have mercy.
The last thing to be on the lookout for in inmates is:
4. A willingness to repent
There is a difference between knowing we are doing wrong and even knowing we need to change AND actually being willing to submit to the Lord’s strength to DO IT like James 4:9 described.
On this issue of repentance, show God seeking inmates Acts 19:8-10 and then verses 17b-20. Those passages say:
8 And he (Paul) went into the synagogue (in Ephesus, v.1) and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading (note this is the same style of teaching as in Acts 17) concerning the things of the kingdom of God.
9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
Verses 11-17a describe “unusual miracles” and evidences of the power of God over demons, so that together with the constant teaching of the gospel of Christ:
17 … the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
18 And MANY WHO HAD BELIEVED came confessing and telling their deeds. (That’s honesty!)
19 Also, MANY of those who had practiced magic (sorcery) BROUGHT THEIR BOOKS (their books with secret recipes of drugs and incantations to demons) TOGETHER AND BURNED THEM IN THE SIGHT OF ALL. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. (That’s God wrought repentance!)
20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
This is similar to what the Scripture says of the people in ancient Thessalonica, some Jews and a lot of Gentiles, whose repentance turned them “to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven,” (1 Thess. 1:9-10)
That’s true repentance. Call inmates that seem to truly be seeking the Lord, to -
“Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and (return) to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7) That’s repentance.
May our Lord lead you to those special inmates that seem to be truly seeking Him in 2012. Pour your time and energy and biblical knowledge into them as if they were in truth God’s own sheep. Even sheep that you are responsible to tend - for Him! That makes them special people.
Rich Hines
Minister to Chaplains, Chaplain Help Ministry