Post by evanschaible on Apr 4, 2006 13:14:49 GMT -5
This last weekend I went to preach inside the Midland County Jail with the ministry team from my church. From the begining it seemed like something fishy was in the air. Only one woman showed up preach to the females and she was not comfortable, so she left. The other men could not show up, so it was only me and the associate pator from my church. So we went in with an air of hesitancy and bathed in prayer.
As some of you know I come from a checkered past, and it constantly haunts me as I have a felony. But beyond that which happened years ago, I have come far, but not far enough in the knowledge of God, but no one has or will in this life. But the reason I am mentioning this is because this inmformation will be handy later on in this post.
We entered into the little church room and sat down as inmates filed in and sat down. There were probably thirty five people that were now ready to hear. We sang a couple of hymns and my pastor said a few words and then turned the floor to me. I started by talking about reletavism, and how it is fallacy and cannot be true. Then I opened my Bible to Titus 2:11-14 and began to preach. I preached heavily against sin, and exalted Christ through all, and fininshed with I John 3:4-11 and told them that repentance is to leave the sins Ive done before and show that I in earnest grieve by doing them no more. I preached holiness and opened the floor for questions.....
We ended in prayer, and the inmates filed out. After that a guard came in with our belongings and sorted them out. My pastor took his and the gaurd placed my belingings back into the yellow envelope and said that my pastor was free to go. You can imagine what I was thinking... But the pastor said he would call my mother and he left. The gaurd told me that I have had a warrant for two years in regards to a fine I didnt pay, but here is the clincher, it is from a county over and you are being transferred. So we waited....
When I got to the other jail they booked me in and placed me in a small holding cell with nothing but a concrete slab, a sink/toilet and a blanket....
I still had no clue what they were talking about, but I soon found out that supposedly I had not paid the fine of 500 dollars, but in the meanwhile my mom got an entirely different story, she was told I paid all but three dollars, and then in my arraignment I was told I paid it in full but a day late....
During the course of the night I witnessed to three inmates in the cell with me to some success and they showed concern for their souls.
This is just one other way that the devil shows up to use your past against you and try to ruin your witness. It turns out that my mom cleared things up, I stepped before the judge and was released with a two hundred dollar fine for stepping in front of a video camera and talking to the judge (Court costs).
As some of you know I come from a checkered past, and it constantly haunts me as I have a felony. But beyond that which happened years ago, I have come far, but not far enough in the knowledge of God, but no one has or will in this life. But the reason I am mentioning this is because this inmformation will be handy later on in this post.
We entered into the little church room and sat down as inmates filed in and sat down. There were probably thirty five people that were now ready to hear. We sang a couple of hymns and my pastor said a few words and then turned the floor to me. I started by talking about reletavism, and how it is fallacy and cannot be true. Then I opened my Bible to Titus 2:11-14 and began to preach. I preached heavily against sin, and exalted Christ through all, and fininshed with I John 3:4-11 and told them that repentance is to leave the sins Ive done before and show that I in earnest grieve by doing them no more. I preached holiness and opened the floor for questions.....
We ended in prayer, and the inmates filed out. After that a guard came in with our belongings and sorted them out. My pastor took his and the gaurd placed my belingings back into the yellow envelope and said that my pastor was free to go. You can imagine what I was thinking... But the pastor said he would call my mother and he left. The gaurd told me that I have had a warrant for two years in regards to a fine I didnt pay, but here is the clincher, it is from a county over and you are being transferred. So we waited....
When I got to the other jail they booked me in and placed me in a small holding cell with nothing but a concrete slab, a sink/toilet and a blanket....
I still had no clue what they were talking about, but I soon found out that supposedly I had not paid the fine of 500 dollars, but in the meanwhile my mom got an entirely different story, she was told I paid all but three dollars, and then in my arraignment I was told I paid it in full but a day late....
During the course of the night I witnessed to three inmates in the cell with me to some success and they showed concern for their souls.
This is just one other way that the devil shows up to use your past against you and try to ruin your witness. It turns out that my mom cleared things up, I stepped before the judge and was released with a two hundred dollar fine for stepping in front of a video camera and talking to the judge (Court costs).