This is an amazing video that demonstrates the only way to salvation. There are plenty of things in life that we have done that make us unworthy. There is nothing we can do to change that. Thankfully Jesus, gave His life so that you and I could be clean.
Showing posts with label Salvation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salvation. Show all posts
Nothing But The Blood
Where it all started (My Story Part 1)
I was born to a Southern Baptist Pastor and his wife. As I grew up that was all I really knew. When I was eight or nine years old, I can remember my father calling me into his office one afternoon and sharing with me exactly what Jesus had done on the cross, why He had done it, and that He rose from the dead. Dad asked, after sharing some scripture with me, if I believed this story and wanted to pray. I did exactly what I thought he wanted me to do, I prayed. Again, the following Sunday, I did exactly as my father wanted me to do. I walked down the aisle and stood in front of everyone as Dad told the church members what had happened. Before I knew it, I was baptized, but nothing seemed any different than it ever had.
Not long after that, I can remember sitting around our dining room table as my father, the preacher, said he was leaving. He and Mom had decided it was best. There were things going on we had not known about, but what really mattered was that now, Dad was gone. He no longer preached, and we did not even really go to church anymore. The next time I remember seeing my Dad, he had taken up smoking and drinking. I remember an apartment he stayed in having pornographic materials in it. I will never forget how let down I felt. My brothers, sisters, and I lost it. Every one of us may have reacted differently, but in reality it all came down to the fact that we were rebelling against the truth that Dad taught us. Our lives had been turned upside down and the man that was supposed to be protecting and providing for us had disappeared.
By the time I was ten years old, I had started smoking. I was not smoking a pack a day, obviously, but I would smoke several cigarettes every day. I was drunk for the first time about a year later, and I was looking at porn magazines shortly after that. My language was absolutely terrible. At twelve years old, I had a better grasp of the use of cuss words than most high school kids did. I was constantly in trouble. The neighbors called the police several times. Parents that lived in the neighborhood would warn new parents about us. The ironic thing was that it seems that their kids never stopped playing with us. I certainly was not going to win any awards for being an upstanding citizen. In fact, as I see it today, I realize that I was a punk that cared about no one but himself.
As I got older things only got worse. After finding out a girlfriend had cheated on me, I swore I would never be hurt by anyone like that again. I would never let myself feel that way again. I used girls for my own selfish purposes. These were not all sexual, that was a big part of it, but not all of it. I wanted someone that made me feel important. I looked for my identity in one superficial relationship after another. I was as conceited as they come. To tell the truth, I had become my own god, and I really wanted others to worship me.
What I did not realize then, but do now, is that I had a problem with sin. I was not a sinner because I sinned. I sinned because I was a sinner. I was lost. I thought I had all of the answers and knew exactly what I needed. I did not. I tried repeatedly to figure things out on my own. No matter what I tried, I always found myself back in the same place, wandering, confused, empty, lonely, and miserable. I was trying to find something, but I did not know what it was. I knew in my mind that there was an answer, but I did not know where to find it.
One Sunday morning sitting in a little church, it found me. My intention in going to church that morning was strictly to impress some people who would be there. I had no idea that God would use this event in my life in such a powerful way. I sat there and listened to a man share his testimony about how God had changed his life forever. I could almost hear the Holy Spirit calling my name out loud. This was not just his story, it sounded exactly like mine. I had the strongest sense that I needed to respond right then, almost as if this was my last chance. I cried out to God and begged Him to forgive me, and I have no doubt that He did.
My life was changed. He had already begun to work in me, cleansing me, transforming me, and I would never be the same again.
Rough Days Ahead (My Story Part 2)
Not long after I surrendered my heart to the Lord, I married the girl I had been dating. I knew in my heart I should not, but my pride would not listen. I had already told everyone I was doing it, and that was the way it was going to be. I can remember making excuses in my mind about having cold feet or it being normal to be nervous. I wish I could tell you that being a Christian made my life a bed of roses, but that is not always true. Life is better, and there is great hope, but the struggles of life are still as real as ever and the consequences of bad decisions do not disappear.
Three and a half years later, my world fell apart. The marriage had not been easy, there had been many struggles along the way, but I never expected that it would end the way it did. I had made my share of mistakes along the way. I could not say it was not partially my fault, but I fought to keep it together. No matter what I tried, she would not change her mind. My ego was hurt, but more than anything, I was angry. As I experienced this, it was inevitable that I would begin to relate it to the experiences of my childhood. I was angry that the God who had claimed to love me had let my Dad walk out on me, and now was allowing someone else to do the same thing. It was not long before, I had placed all of the blame for every hard thing I had ever endured on God.
I was angry enough that I ran from Him. I tried everything I could to get God to leave me alone. I ran back to a life like the one I had lived before being saved. I was out living it up, drunk most nights, looking to fill my life with superficial friendships that would never be allowed to hurt me, using women for my own pleasure, and treating them as if they only had one purpose in this life. I was even praying at times that God would forget me. My life began to spiral out of control. It was only after having been arrested twice for assault that I began to realize it. As hard as I ran, I can tell you that I was miserable, and my heart was breaking. If I surrounded myself with people and parties, I was good, but in the quiet of the night, when I was alone, I knew how wrong I was. I sensed it in the depths of my soul and knew that there was only one way back, but once again, my pride got the best of me.
As I walked down this path, the sad truth is that I was dragging two innocent boys along with me. Today, I am glad they were young and do not remember much from those days. Unfortunately, I know for certain that at the time, they were struggling, and I was more concerned with myself than with helping them. They suffered because of decisions that they had no control over. They were innocent by standers. I knew what it was like to be like them, but I was too preoccupied to care.
These were some very hard days for us. As I said earlier, I wish that I could say that the Christian life is a bed of roses with no more struggles or pain. Unfortunately, I cannot. Even roses have thorns. Decisions that we make and that others make for us can hurt. We still struggle with a flesh that desires the sins it knows and loves so well. Our minds are weak, and our perspectives are too short to have complete understanding. Yet there is hope. Even in the midst of my rebellion, I knew this was true, but I was too proud to admit it.
As I began to realize what a mess I had made out of my life, and as I began to admit that I was wrong, something awakened in me that I could not explain. Even in my early years as a Christian, I had not experienced this. I developed a longing to read the Bible and to do the right thing for a change. I would not have been able to tell you what was happening in the midst of it, but I can tell you with the benefit of hindsight, that the Holy Spirit of God was at work with in me. He had not left me and definitely did not forget me. In fact, I can see today that even as hard as I had tried to change His mind, God loved me just the same and nothing would ever change that.
Calm Seas (My Story Part 3)
This chapter of my life has been amazing. I cannot tell you that it has been perfect or that there have not been struggles along the way. What I can tell you is that dealing with struggles with the Lord is much better than dealing with them apart from Him. I relate this part of my life to the time that Jesus calmed the storms. The Disciples, on a boat with Jesus in the middle of the sea when a storm comes up, get very afraid. They run to Jesus, wake Him up, and present their perspective of the situation to Him. Jesus puts them in their place by going right to the heart of the matter, their faith. He then commands the wind and waves to stop, and the storm stops.
From this, I think we can learn that in this life, we will have trouble; there will be wind and waves that from our perspective might seem overwhelming. However, when we are in the boat with Jesus, there is no reason to fear. He is sovereign. There is nothing beyond His control. Nothing can happen to us that He does not allow. As I learned these truths, the storms of my life did not stop, but they did not have the power over me they had before. My walk with Jesus deepened and I found myself studying His Word more and more.
It was in this time, that I began to sense a call to move deeper. Really, it was a call to give my life over to Him completely. I realized that God’s intention for me was not just to sit and bask in this life with Him, but He has a plan for me, and that plan was laid out for me long before I even knew Him. It started quietly in my heart, but before long, I began to deal with a sense that God wanted me to teach. Honestly, I tried to ignore it. I came up with plenty of excuses as to why I could not do what I was thinking God wanted me to do. I used my own history and the bad choices I had made as what I perceived to be my strongest argument. I found that the harder I tried to ignore this call, the more difficult it was to do so.
I have been preaching and teaching for about 7 years now. I will never forget that first time I stood to teach. I knew I had found God’s will for my life. I do not know how to explain it fully, but it was similar to being able to sleep in your own bed after being gone from home for a long time. It was as if everything was right in the world. I have had the privilege of teaching in many different settings with a variety of audiences. No matter where or who it was I found myself teaching, I knew I was following God in this and He was using me to make an eternal difference in people’s lives.
God is so good. You can read about how He transforms lives all throughout the Bible. Well I am a walking testimony to this as well. He has changed me from the inside out. Not only has He given me peace, but also my life is full. I have purpose, and as I understand more deeply the love He has for me, I realize the value I must hold in His eyes. He loves me. I cannot explain it or even understand it, I am so unworthy, but as I have seen what He has done for me and in me, I know it to be true. I still mess up, I still sin, I am not perfect, but what I am is someone striving towards that end, trusting that as I fail, I am found righteous in Christ.
I am not some weird guy with a strange disposition. Really, I am no different from most men my age. I struggle with particular sins, but by God’s grace and with His power, I find victory over them. Daily I fail in my endeavor to live the life that I believe He has called us to live, but once again, He has shown me that His grace is sufficient. My favorite passage of scripture demonstrates that never again can I be separated from this amazing love. With God being so good, it still amazes me that we can be so difficult. I am the worst of all. After all, I have seen His grace and goodness in living color, yet I still try to go my own way from time to time. I still am not obedient in all that I should be obedient. I still struggle against a rebellious spirit. All of this in spite of how good God is.
The most amazing thing is, that no matter how I fail, I can always count on God, to forgive, to continue to work in my life, to calm the storms, provide my needs, protect me from harm, and to lead and guide me in this way.
The Rest of the Story (My Story Part 4)
It has been a pretty wild ride. I have had to experience numerous things that I would not wish on anyone else. After all, I have not always been the quickest study. It was through these things that I was finally able to see how God had always been working in my life. As I think about where I have been, I realize how fortunate I am to be where I am at today. God has not only saved my soul, but He has blessed my life. I cannot thank Him enough for what He has done, and for all He continues to do. It is this gratitude that leads me to write these words. God has worked so amazingly in my life that I want everyone to know. He truly has transformed me, but that is not all. He has not only changed the inside, but as He has changed the inside, things have naturally begun to fall in place on the outside.
The relationship I have with my boys is so much better today because of how God has changed me. I shared earlier that they were the innocent by-standers, and that is the truth. They had to endure the bad decisions of a mother and father who were going different directions and in many cases were thinking of no one but himself and herself. As God began to soften my heart again, I began to see what I was doing to them. He helped me to see that to love them properly, I had to forget about what I wanted for myself and think about what they needed. It has become so obvious to me that God loves them more than I ever could. He has helped me to understand that it is my responsibility to teach them, discipline, direct, and train them up in the way they should go. It was as I began to fill this role that the boys and I began to connect. Today, we have a strong relationship. We laugh, play, talk, and serve the Lord together. We serve at home and around the world. We have gone as far as China together to share God’s truth. Our relationship has been repaired and I have become a good father, not by some prescribed formula. I did not gain insight or wisdom from Dr. Spock or Dr. Phil. I surrendered my life to God, and He worked in me and helped me to see what I needed to do, and who I needed to be for them.
In an amazing twist, God has also led me back into marriage, and helped me to become a good husband. I can remember sitting in my pastor’s office shortly after being divorced and being broken in two because I did not think I could be single the rest of my life. It came as a huge surprise that I came to a place about a year and a half later that I realized I no longer had that desire. I had learned to be fulfilled not by people, circumstances, material possessions, or any other temporal object. I had come to a point in my life that I was fulfilled by God. I lived this way for over a year, and I knew without a doubt that I could go the rest of my life totally consumed by God and never look back. That is when it happened; I met her. I was not looking for a girlfriend and she was not looking for a boyfriend, but without even realizing it was happening we were soon dating, engaged, and then married.
I know there are some that will read this and think that I am wrong to say that God had done this because I have been divorced, but let me assure you, I could not have picked her on my own. She is a perfect fit. In fact, I have said often that God brought her into our lives not just to give me a wife but also for my children. She has been exactly what they needed, and she has been able to identify with them on a level that has left me awestruck. Is it perfect? No, but nothing about this lost world is. God works every day in the midst of broken circumstances. We did not come to the point of marriage without intense and deliberate prayer. The circumstances of my divorce I felt easily fit all scriptural concessions. Beyond that, I also know that I continued to try to make that first marriage work and I even sought reconciliation after the divorce, but she would have nothing to do with it. I believe God has released me and forgiven me for the shortcomings I had as a husband and now restored me. Today, my wife and I serve our God and Father, with the boys, as a family. We are trusting and following Jesus Christ, relying completely upon His mercy. We love God and have given this marriage to Him. He truly is our center and starting point.
One last area that I would like to share about is what God has called us to do. You see, I do not believe that He has done this work so that we can just sit by and soak it up. I believe He has worked in us so that we can in turn be used of Him to touch the lives of others. God has been dealing with me for several years, and without me realizing it, He had been dealing with my wife as well. God was calling us to a life of ministry, and we have surrendered. He is now using us to start a local church. I never would have been able to see this coming. God is so good. I do not know exactly what the future holds for this body of believers. However, I am sure that if we remain faithful and obedient to our God, we will not be disappointed.
I have been told by many that this is a very compelling or an amazing story, but what I hope you understand from all that I have shared is that the only thing amazing is that even in the worst of times, God loved me, provided for me, protected me, and sustained me. He is the amazing one. My story would be the same as every other sad story in the world if He was not so amazing. He is an amazing Father that loved His creation enough that He sent His amazing Son, so that any who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. He is not some distant God that is not concerned with His creation. He is a God who loves, provides and sustains. I am a witness not just to what has been shared in scripture, but I have seen it in my own life. Once I was lost and now I am found. Once I was blind but now I can see. Once I was dead but in Christ, I am alive. I have been transformed and I am continuing to be transformed by God’s loving and mighty hand.
You too can come to this place. You too can be transformed. All you have to do is believe in Jesus. He has already done the work. Turn from your life of sin and turn to Him in faith.
Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
Everything we do in life will ultimately be summed up in the answer that we give to this question. God is the one who says that Jesus is the Savior of the world. We can argue against that if we like, but that just puts us in opposition to the Creator of the Universe.
Acts 2:36 (NIV) "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Who Do You Say He Is?
How Do You Respond?
Our responses are extremely important. They are more than just a set of meaningless actions. Our responses demonstrate what we think or believe about a situation. When presented with the truth that Jesus was the Messiah many of those that heard Peter preaching responded properly. How will you?
Acts 2:37 (NIV) When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
click here to listen
When Confronted With Truth We Each Have To Respond. What is your Response To This Truth?
Repent and Be Baptized
If you have come to believe that Jesus is the Christ what do you do now? Some would say to say a sinner's pray, others would tell you to do certain things to earn it. However, God has prescribed His own way. Salvation is a gift, actions do not earn it. However, those actions do demonstrate our faith and obedience in Jesus, the author and pefector of the way in which we now walk.
Acts 2:38 (NIV) Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
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