This morning, even though we had to sit in stifling heat and humidity, we had a good worship service in the chapel...
And before our main preacher came to give his sermon, one of the men in the congregation, "Brother Phillip," was invited to speak to us about "whatever the Lord had placed in his heart."
So Philip came to the podium and gave us a short exhortation from Psalm 91. His talk only lasted a short, approximately seven minutes, but he got a lot of amens, and hallelujahs, from the audience because his message was encouraging.
Philip, by the way, is a deacon in our prison church. He is doing a sentence of more than 150 years. He was a former gang member who, back in the early 1990s, was featured on "America's Most Wanted." Then, when he was finally arrested in the state of Connecticut and while he was awaiting extradition back to New York, the local chaplain stopped by his cell and began to tell him about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for Philip's sins.
Thankfully, Philip responded to the chaplain's words and invited Jesus to be his Savior. Now he's been serving the Lord ever since.
Nowadays, Philip is a strong Christian whom God has called to be a leader within our flock. He has no realistic chances of getting out of prison, however. The length of his sentence makes parole an impossibility. Instead, he fervently serves the Lord without any wavering of his faith. He's a good example for us.
D.B.
So Philip came to the podium and gave us a short exhortation from Psalm 91. His talk only lasted a short, approximately seven minutes, but he got a lot of amens, and hallelujahs, from the audience because his message was encouraging.
Philip, by the way, is a deacon in our prison church. He is doing a sentence of more than 150 years. He was a former gang member who, back in the early 1990s, was featured on "America's Most Wanted." Then, when he was finally arrested in the state of Connecticut and while he was awaiting extradition back to New York, the local chaplain stopped by his cell and began to tell him about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for Philip's sins.
Thankfully, Philip responded to the chaplain's words and invited Jesus to be his Savior. Now he's been serving the Lord ever since.
Nowadays, Philip is a strong Christian whom God has called to be a leader within our flock. He has no realistic chances of getting out of prison, however. The length of his sentence makes parole an impossibility. Instead, he fervently serves the Lord without any wavering of his faith. He's a good example for us.
D.B.
