I could have cost someone's salvation had I not submit to church authority

I have learnt the importance of recognizing and respecting the authority that God has ordained over me in church over the years; be it in a group activity or discussion, regardless of race, language or age. Then there was this particular incident that God used to reinforce and internalize this lesson in me.

This happened during my first mission trip to Thailand. We were doing street evangelism during one of the late afternoon when my group was addressing to a group of motorcycle taxi drivers. They were resting and waiting for customers along a small road alley. My leader was preaching over the loudspeaker explaining God’s salvation plan for the people. I could tell that my leader was doing his best to bring the message across to them.

However the group of seven or eight people certainly did not show any level of interest on their faces and to make matter more demoralizing, they start to trickle away slowly as their customers came. Nevertheless, my leader was relentless in repeating the salvation message to them and asking them if they would want to receive Jesus into their lives. Then it got to the point that I started to feel a little impatient and thought of proposing to my leader to stop wasting each other’s time and move on to the next location.

Thank God, the Holy Spirit gripped my heart and reminded me to give all due respect to my leader as he has been appointed to lead the proceedings of the street evangelism. To my huge surprise and joy, two of the men raised their hands in response to the salvation message after my leader asked the group in general for the fourth or fifth time.

This episode has clearly reinforced that it is Holy Spirit who does the work according to Zechariah 4:6, “… Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” At the same time, God further instilled in me the importance of obedience and respecting church authority.

I could have thwarted the God’s plan for someone’s salvation if I had not respected my leader.

Steve