Praise the Lord for this
Easter tide. I have been privileged and blessed to see the work of the Kingdom
around the corner and around the world. This is the power of the Risen Lord at
work. Greater things He has done and greater things He is going to do in and
through His Church. We are blessed to be His people, called out and called in
from every nation and from every people group.
While In India I was
involved in a preaching mission. During my visit there healing services were
being held in the area. Several hundreds of people were attending these
services. Many Hindus who were attending these services were healed in the Name
of Jesus. I talked to some people who had experienced and received amazing
miracles in their lives. I was visiting a family, a couple who was married for
15 years, childless, but they kept on believing and praying. After fifteen
years the Lord gave them a boy and girl, their own children. I met a father who
shared about his son who was born crippled. He was taken to a healing service,
and there he was healed. I met this young man, who now has jubilant feet, fully
healed.
I was visiting
yesterday, a sweet servant of Jesus who was going in for a very intricate and
complicated biopsy. He had a smile. He has previously undergone several major
surgeries. He shared that the Risen Savior has given him , blessed
assurances. It is a great blessing to live in the afterglow of Easter. It is
the power of the Risen Lord. It is His authority.
I was in graduate school
in Bangalore, India in 1973. There we had several international students and
professors. I remember one of the students was from Uganda, a man who had a
contagious faith in Jesus, the Risen One. An amazing story came out of Uganda
on April 22, 1973, Easter Sunday. The nation
of Uganda was at the time a nation under the absolute rule of Moslem dictator
Idi Amin. At that time Kefa Sempangi was a pastor in that tortured land. Under
the growing shadow of Amin, Uganda was becoming a land of terror. Still fresh
in Sempangi's memory was a face burned beyond recognition, the sight of soldiers
cruelly beating a man, and the horrible sound of boots crushing bones. Sempangi
was exhausted and wondered what difference his sermon that morning could make.
He prayed for wisdom and strength and then delivered his sermon to 7,000
people.
Afterward he made his
way to the vestry, tired but joyful. Five men followed him into the small
building and closed the door behind them. Sempangi turned around to find five
rifles pointed at his face. He had never seen any of them before, but
immediately recognized them as the secret police of the State Research Bureau —
Idi Amin's assassins. Their faces were full of pure hate and rage. "We are
going to kill you," said the leader. "If you have something to say, say it
now."
Sempangi stood there
feeling himself lose control. He thought of his wife and child and began to
shake. Somehow he managed to speak. "I do not need to plead my own cause," he
said. "I am a dead man already. My life is dead and hidden in Christ. So if I
die, I'll be alive. It is your lives that are in danger; you are dead in your
sins. I will pray to God that after you have killed me, He will spare you from
eternal destruction."
The leader looked at him
with curiosity. Then he lowered his gun and ordered the others to do the same.
"Will you pray for us now?", the leader of the assassins asked. Though fearing
it was a trick, Sempangi asked them all to bow their heads and close their
eyes. "Father in heaven," he prayed, "You who have forgiven men in the past,
forgive these men also. Do not let them perish in their sins but bring them
unto yourself."
Sempangi lifted his
head, waiting for the men to pull the triggers. But then he noticed their
faces. Gone was the hate and rage, and when the leader spoke, it was without
contempt. "You have helped us," he said, "and we will help you. We will speak
to the rest of our company and they will leave you alone. Do not fear for your
life. It is in our hands and you will be protected." Relief and joy flooded
Sempangi's heart. God's love had given him the strength to say a simple prayer
— one that changed the lives of those five men forever. Sempangi's life was
changed forever. A church of 7,000 people was changed forever.
I'm glad Jesus was
not in the tomb on Easter Sunday 1973. I'm glad He went on to Galilee in
Uganda. I'm also glad Kefa Sempangi followed Him to that Galilee in Uganda.
I'm glad lives were changed that day. Oh, I'm
so glad Jesus is still in Uganda. Idi Amin is gone for ever. Jesus is alive
and well all over the world and right here with us now. That's the Good News of
Easter and it's news worth telling. The tomb? The grave? He's not there, but
thank God He's here! The Risen Christ is always out
there ahead of us, leading and guiding His followers into new lands, new
ventures, and new challenges. He's not there in the empty tomb. He's on the
move.
In Christ,
Brown
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