When we reached out to the people of the night in Cape Town some
years ago, we had a growing outreach team. After youth club on Friday nights, we
would have drinks and snacks in the coffee bar and then I would lead a team of
about forty or more young people to witness on the streets, especially in front
of the many night clubs in the surrounding areas. We also took teams in buses
to other night clubs further on. We had amazing times, seeing mighty works of
the Lord, but this landed me in front of the elders of the church.
“How can you take our young people in our buses to the
night clubs in the middle of the night..?” Then they listed all the carnal
fears and dangers and the potential image damage to the church. By the wisdom
of the Holy Spirit, I made them understand that we were doing the Lord’s work
and He was looking after us, which He did. “And when they bring you
before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious
about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy
Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say,” (Luke 12:11,
12). After they had grilled me, the head pastor came over to encourage me
saying: “If you have survived this one, Henry, you will survive anything.”
More recently in
another church in England, while I helped out at youth club one night, I
happened to get into a conversation with three ten-year-old girls. One girl was
opening her heart to me in a code language we both spoke. I realized this was a
divine appointment and settled in on their level, sharing the Lord’s wisdom
with her as the Holy Spirit led me, to put her troubled heart at ease. Lo and
behold, next thing I became aware of the person in charge towering over me with
fire in her eyes, trying to hint that I should move away from the girls. Since
I was busy with the Lord’s business and had a divine appointment, I ignored her
and continued with what the Lord had in mind. She eventually became verbal and
I had to end the conversation. Needless to say, I received the usual grilling.
Whose work are we doing, church, when we are so scared of what man
can do to us? In the first example, the church leaders were scared of the
possibility that somebody may sue the church if something happened to some of
the young people, and they were concerned about the image of the church. What
would people think of the church, should they find out their young people hang
out around night clubs?
In the second
example the church was also afraid. What would happen if people found out that
a man, who already had grown, married children himself, had a conversation with
a ten-year-old in public where everybody could see them? What could happen to
the church – maybe a lawsuit?
“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is
safe,” (Proverbs 29:25). These were only two examples, but can you see where
the church is headed? We are compromising with the world! In Hebrews 11:36-38
we read: “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and
imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with
the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted,
mistreated - of whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” Does it sound as if they were
concerned about their image or what men can do to them?
Lord, my rewards are waiting. Help me to obey at all cost!
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