'I was in prison and you came to Me.'

Mama Tuck, Martha Tuck and Ken Tuck preached the Gospel
of Jesus Christ in the Ozamiz City Jail in the Philippines. Nearly 100
inmates decided to follow Jesus. Glory to God!

 
Jesus makes it very clear everything we, as followers of Him, should do. In Matthew 25:35-40, Jesus says, " for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’"

Ministering to the "least of these" is what Love In Action does, and one group we enjoying sharing the Word and love of God with is prisoners. Wednesday afternoon in the Philippines, we visited a jail and preached the Gospel.

We have ministered to the inmates of the Houston County Community Corrections Work Release program in Dothan, Ala., for about four years now. It's awesome when you see someone saved and set free spiritually, even if they are physically imprisoned.

On March 27, as Martha, Mama and I were in Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental, Philippines, Pastor Jun Begafria took us to the Ozamiz jail to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the inmates.

We were excited to be going and ministering to the inmates, and even more excited when we were finished because of the great response.

Each cell block housed 15-20, or more, people. We were able to walk right up to their cells and tell them about Jesus. We divided up so we could reach all of the inmates. The teams were: Mama and Lilia Begafria, Martha and Pastor Greg Begafria, and me and Dodong.

The inmates gathered close to the cells and listened intently as we told them about Jesus and His love for them. We told them who we were and why we were there. Afterward, we prayed with them to surrender their lives to Jesus and follow Him. Nearly 100 inmates made that decisions. Praise God!

In the U.S., we have all heard of jailhouse religion. People say they are saved to try to get out early on good behavior. But, you know when a real change has taken place. We see it often. Those who truly decide to follow Jesus, are completely changed, and when they are released from jail they stay involved with Love In Action and their home church. The ones who don't usually end up back in jail. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus says we will be known by our fruit.

The Holy Spirit definitely touched hearts in the Ozamiz jail. You could feel it and see it in their eyes. And then later in the day some amazing things started happening. A man was sitting in one of the cells crying. The warden thought a fight must have happened and the man was hurt, but that wasn't the case. With tears streaming down his face, he told the warden that Jesus had touched his heart and given him peace. He said the message the Americans brought really touched him.

Then, another prisoner called out to the warden and handed him some money. The man had recently received his weekly allowance from his father, which was 120 Philippine Pesos ($3 US dollars). He said he wanted to give it to the ministry from America. Later, other prisoners took up an offering of 105 PhP and asked for it to be given to the American ministry that visited them.

That brought tears to our eyes. It reminded us of the widow's mite. They didn't have much to give, but because God touched them and saved their souls, they felt compelled to give what they had. It was a big gift, because it was all they had. That wouldn't have happened if a real conversion hadn't taken place. Also, a man in jail wouldn't lie on the floor crying, and nobody bother him, if real conversions hadn't taken place.

I told Pastor Jun before all of that happened that it wouldn't surprise me if God raises up some pastors from that group of inmates. I felt that because of the way they responded. I have seen a lot of people respond over the years, and the way they were hungry for the Gospel and responded, I could tell something good was happening.

Pastor Jun's church, Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Ozamiz, is going to start holding a weekly one-hour Bible study with the inmates, and they are going to start with Discipleship Phase 1. That's the discipleship series written by Ralph Sigler, senior pastor of Harvest Church in Dothan, Ala. Praise God! People are being saved and discipled. That's the Great Commission in action.

God continues to amaze. He is indeed awesome!