Walking
up the rugged hill we encountered ladies with parasols dressed in richly
ornamented Africa attire. I didn’t understand why people would choose to dress-up for a
day hike.
I
soon discovered that most of those going up the hill were Christians who, with great enthusiasm, headed
up to shady spots for prayer meetings, Bible studies, preaching to small
congregations and sermon practice.
We
encountered groups of women lying over the rocks with Bibles open prostrates
before the Lord—praying, wailing and beseeching him.
In
one flat area under a large tree a pastor was preaching to a group of about
8-10 giving ‘em Jesus and HOLY SPIRIT FIRE.
The eight of us marched about halfway up
the hill to a place where there was a big rock and began our prayer for the
city.
As we began to pray I was distracted by
the loud preaching of a guy we couldn’t see who was just over the hill and out of sight.
This
was a holy mountain. I wanted to leave my group of quiet prayer warriors and go
listen to the passionate guy “who was bringing it.”
At
the end of our allotted time, four of us decided to quickly sprint to the top
before rendezvousing at the bottom with the rest ofour team.
We
found the perfect Facebook picture opportunity.
While
taking pictures I saw a guy not too far away who is waving for me to come over.
It turns out he wanted his picture taken also.
I guess this guy didn’t know we were busy and only had a
limited window of time.
Didn’t
he know that this was Mount Soché, a holy hill full of busy people doing all
kinds of important religious activity?
People
walked up and down that hill all day long who had come to pray and study and
worship and practice sermons.
Mount Soché was a hub of continuous religious activity.
I
took his picture and showed it to him. This delighted Alfred. He loved seeing his picture on the screen of my cell phone.
He
understood a little English and I began to engage him in a conversation and
asked some questions. He told me he lived there in a tiny cave. Accepting his
invitation to see where, I peeked in between the large boulder and the smaller rocks
he had stacked up at the entrance. There was only just enough room inside for
him to crawl into and sleep.
This
broke my heart.
I asked if he knew about Jesus. He said he was
raised religious and knew about Jesus. In his poor English he told me that
Jesus was a man who went up to live with God.
I told him, that like him, I also grew up religious and knew a
lot about Jesus. I told him that although I knew all about Jesus I personally
did not KNOW Jesus.
I asked if I could share my story about what I had
come to discover.
The other three members of our climb-to-the-top-of-the-hill
team came over. I asked our translator to translate as I shared the gospel. I
told him the part about sin and how God had to judge sin and made sure to tell
him how scripture says that the penalty of sin was death.
I asked him about two commands which he says he
violated―like most of us. The conviction of the Holy Spirit was thick and he realized
he was a sinner in need of God’s grace. In tears he repented and pleaded the
blood of Christ―responding to the good news. Once dead like a Zombie, he was made alive and given the promises of eternal life.
He stood to his feet and said that he had never had
an encounter like that before with Azungu
(white people) and felt a burden lifted from his shoulders. He said he felt free and delivered.
Alfred was a homeless 22-year-old Muslim from
Mozambique yet what spoke to me the most in that experience was the haunting
thought that there are Alfreds who live right next door to all of us.
Like many of those religious people who climbed
Mount Soché that day, we are so consumed with religious activity that we fail to
notice people God puts right in our path. We come and go to Bible studies, prayer meetings, church seminars, Christian
concerts and walk by Alfreds every single day without paying much attention to
them.
We can either be busy doing church or we can be the
church and engage the mission field to which God has called us. In Acts 1:8,
Luke records the words of Jesus, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and
to the ends of the earth.”
You may not have to climb a mountain in Africa or go
to the ends of the earth to meet someone in need of Christ―like Alfred. It
could be the person living next door or the person in the cubical adjacent to
you at work.
God has spiritually equipped each believer and has put us in the appointed time and place for His purposes. We just need to look
up, trust God and believe that He has filled you with His Spirit―that as agents
of His divine invasion of grace―we would make Him know so that His name is exalted
among the nations and His Glory extended.
For His name sake and for His glory you are supernaturally equipped, uniquely gifted and perfectly positioned for more than
just a bunch of religious activity. He has not only called you to Himself and
cut you out as an individual member of His club, but has cut you out and called you into His missionary enterprises as a sent one—shaped into the image of His Son Jesus who was also the sent one
of God.
"Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” John 20:21
