Key points
1God prepares leaders through the problems and challenges of life, not around them.
Pastor Mulenga recounts a seminary class on leadership preparation where his professor used Joseph's story from Genesis, sold into slavery and wrongfully imprisoned yet prepared for leadership, and then pointed at him directly, saying God could send him to prison to prepare him for ministry.
A story from life
Pastor Mulenga Chella's full testimony of imprisonment in Tanzania, ministry in prison, and the founding of Christ Life Church in Zambia
2Surrender to God's will must come before understanding it.
After resisting the warning through prayer, a friend's prophetic word, and a TV teacher on surrender, Pastor Mulenga describes finally lifting his hands and surrendering to God's purpose even if it meant prison, ten months before he was actually arrested and imprisoned for two years and three months in Tanzania.
That day, I went home and I prayed against it. I said, Lord, if you want to prepare me for ministry, use other ways. I'll study the bible, I'll obey you in church, but not prison
Lord, I surrender to your will and your purpose for my life. Even if it means you want me to go to prison, Lord, I surrender
3Suffering can become the very classroom where faith deepens and ministry begins.
He describes the horror of the police locker, being beaten and thrown into human waste, and the overcrowded main prison, but says his complaining stopped when he met an older prisoner who had led over 40,000 men to Christ over decades of wrongful imprisonment, which turned him toward preaching the gospel daily to fellow prisoners.
I stopped complaining
4Loving your enemy, even at great personal cost, is obedience that God honors.
Despite the prison officer's warning to let the man who deceived him die, Pastor Mulenga obeyed Matthew 5:44 and personally nursed the sick man for two weeks, washing him and feeding him, and that same man later testified in court in a way that led to his release.
life is an opportunity that God gives to us. Life is an opportunity to love, to serve, to honor God and mankind
5What God allowed in suffering, He intended for good and for saving many lives.
Pastor Mulenga ties his prison experience to Deuteronomy 8:2-4, saying God humbled him, tested his heart, and taught him that man does not live on bread alone, and connects it to Joseph's words that what was meant for evil God used for good, now seen in the ministries, schools, and churches in Zambia.
If I was asked if I had the power to change the past prison experience and the suffering that I went through, would I change it? No, I wouldn't
God is using my story, my time of surrender for the saving of the many lives that you've seen
Application
Pastor Mulenga's charge is to surrender to whatever God is calling you toward, even before you understand it.
Surrender to God's will, whatever it costs
Whether it is receiving Christ as Lord and Savior or obeying a hard calling, say to God, I surrender, before you know where it leads.
Forgive and love the enemy who hurt you
Follow the example of loving an enemy in obedience to God's word rather than letting bitterness or advice to walk away win out.
Reach out to the people God puts in front of you
Whether that means sharing the gospel with prisoners, starting a church, or going to another country, respond to whatever specific way God is calling you to serve.
Take it into your week
Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI
