The following selection is taken from the book, "Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind (Readings)," by Abingdon Press. In it many of John Wesley's thoughts about the word of God resonate with my own...and perhaps your own.
"To candid, reasonable men I am not afraid to lay open the inmost thoughts of my heart. I have thought, I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence I am no more seen--I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven--how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He has written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the Book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libris [a man of one book]. Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone: only God is here. In his presence I open, I read his Book; for this end, to find the way to heaven. Is there a doubt concerning the meaning what I read? Does anything appear dark or intricate? I lift up my heart to the Father of lights: 'Lord, is it not thy Word, "If any men lack wisdom, let him ask of God"?...'. I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture, 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual.' I meditate thereon, with all the attention and earnest ness of which my mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God, and then the writings whereby, being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus learn, that I teach."
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Personal Testimony: David Jared
(Slightly edited version of a testimony given at Bible Truth Baptist Church, Griffin, Georgia, on October 1, 2014.
TEXTS
• Job 36:24, Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold (context is creation, but I’d like to apply it, devotionally to the work of salvation).
• Ps. 66:13, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul (this is a good verse for any dispensation, past, present, or future).
In this testimony, I’d like to magnify the grace of God by telling you, briefly, what God hath done for my soul to bring me to Christ 26 years ago. Some other time, as the Lord allows, I’ll talk more about my post-conversion experiences, but so as to preach as well as testify tonight, I’ll stick to my salvation experience.
I was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1969 to Roman Catholic parents, the youngest of seven children (four girls and three boys). My dad was from east Tennessee, but his family worked their way north and ended up in Dayton. He was from a mixed religious background and had little interest in matters of faith, though professing Roman Catholicism. My mother came from German stock and old-school Catholicism, so her parents insisted that my father convert to their faith to marry her. He complied, but I think that he was a skeptic at heart despite his profession. My dad was a hard worker and influenced all of us children positively in that way. I can’t imagine the challenges that children of lazy parents must face, since mine always set an example of diligence, for which I’m truly grateful. My parents were also faithful to one another for 50 years. As Catholics, divorce was not an option for them, and they kept their vows to each other and loved each other for life, another great example for me. They also encouraged my siblings and I to do well in school, which had big payoffs for those of us who took the academic route.
But the greatest influence my parents had on me, I think, was pointing me, by example, toward the spiritual. By God’s grace, I’ve been in church all of my life. While many of the teachings of Roman Catholicism are false, it was the positive things about it, I think, that helped prepare me to receive Jesus Christ. If a Catholic is sincere, and not skeptical, you won’t have to convince him that there’s a God, that Christ is his only begotten Son, even that Christ is the Saviour of the world. I believed all of that from my youth. I even knew, in my conscience, that the Bible was God’s perfect word, even though I had never read it.
But the one thing that Catholicism hid from me was, ironically, the most important: how to appropriate the work that Christ did for me. You see, even though Catholics acknowledge Christ as the Saviour of the world, they do not understand how he saves: by grace through faith, without works. While a Catholic may believe that Christ died for our sins (I did), most of them don’t understand that the proper response to that is complete trust in Christ’s work to save him, apart from any works of his own. Paul said in Rom. 4:5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” I’m grateful that I finally came to that point, but I don’t consider my years as a Catholic wasted…by any means. God is far too wise and good that. God puts all of us in the right place from the start. If I had been put in any other family, I might not have come to Christ. I may not have had all the truth growing up, but I had enough to prepare me for more, plus God was faithful to provide it for me at just the right time. Under my parents’ roof and authority, it would have been hard to trust Christ despite them, but when I left home my parents left it up to me which spiritual path I would take, unlike many other Catholic parents, especially in other countries. Someone might say, what about children who were abused by their families? I would answer that’s a terrible thing and God has no pleasure in it, but I’ve heard enough testimonies of abused children who came to Christ to trust in God’s wisdom and goodness, no matter how bad things may look on the surface. So I thank him, with all of my heart, for giving me the parents, family, and religious upbringing that he did. It certainly helped prepare me to receive Christ.
The gospel came to me “at sundry times and in divers manners” (Heb. 1:1), but the person most instrumental in my salvation was a young convert named Mike Stephens. Although I was born in Ohio and spent my childhood there, my family moved to Texas for a while and then settled in north Alabama, where my parents retired and my dad passed away years later. I went to high school there and graduated in 1988. As a young person, I was always interested in math and science, and at my dad’s encouragement, I decided to pursue engineering. I applied at several engineering schools engineering and ended up at Georgia Tech. Before leaving for school, though, I took a summer job where God had strategically planted Mike Stephens. I got to know this peaceful young man gradually, and the more I got to know him, and the more he spoke to me about the Lord, the more I was drawn to him. I recommend his approach to those who want to win others to Christ. He was gentle and kind and took a sincere interest in me as a person, not as a mere prospect. I remember visiting his home, doing things together, and later accepting his invitation to attend church. That’s soul winning, folks. Please turn with me to 1 Thes. 2:8. According to Paul, it’s not just giving people the gospel, but your own soul, to reach them. Let them see the peace, joy, and assurance that you have in Christ that they don’t. Don’t be critical of their religion, if they have one, until after they’ve come to Christ; then you can lovingly point out where it’s in error and encourage them to seek the right kind of fellowship.
Although Mike and I never prayed together for me to receive Christ, he planted the seeds that led to my salvation in the following months, when I went off to school in Atlanta. I’m not sure exactly when I trusted Christ, but I know that I did, and that’s what counts. Don’t worry if you can’t pinpoint the exact time that you trusted Christ. The important thing is what are you trusting in right now: Christ or yourself? I know right now that I have eternal life because I’m resting in Christ’s work for me, and not my own merits. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:12, “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him (my soul) against that day.” I remember reading William Shakespeare’s last will and testament, and I was thrilled to see him commit his “soule into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merites, of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlasting…” (internet). I hope that you can say the same, that you’re trusting in Christ alone to save you, and not any good works that you’ve done. It seems so simple to those of us who believe, but we must never forget how miraculous our salvation was, that we’d let go of our stubborn self-righteousness and trust in someone that we’ve never seen. Most people never come to that point, but don’t let it be you! You can choose to receive Christ, or choose to reject him. I, and every believer here, pray that you’ll make the right choice, to receive him, and join our happy family forever.
So that is how I passed from darkness to light. The Lord’s been good to this “buckeye,” and thank you for letting me share my salvation testimony with you tonight.
TEXTS
• Job 36:24, Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold (context is creation, but I’d like to apply it, devotionally to the work of salvation).
• Ps. 66:13, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul (this is a good verse for any dispensation, past, present, or future).
In this testimony, I’d like to magnify the grace of God by telling you, briefly, what God hath done for my soul to bring me to Christ 26 years ago. Some other time, as the Lord allows, I’ll talk more about my post-conversion experiences, but so as to preach as well as testify tonight, I’ll stick to my salvation experience.
I was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1969 to Roman Catholic parents, the youngest of seven children (four girls and three boys). My dad was from east Tennessee, but his family worked their way north and ended up in Dayton. He was from a mixed religious background and had little interest in matters of faith, though professing Roman Catholicism. My mother came from German stock and old-school Catholicism, so her parents insisted that my father convert to their faith to marry her. He complied, but I think that he was a skeptic at heart despite his profession. My dad was a hard worker and influenced all of us children positively in that way. I can’t imagine the challenges that children of lazy parents must face, since mine always set an example of diligence, for which I’m truly grateful. My parents were also faithful to one another for 50 years. As Catholics, divorce was not an option for them, and they kept their vows to each other and loved each other for life, another great example for me. They also encouraged my siblings and I to do well in school, which had big payoffs for those of us who took the academic route.
But the greatest influence my parents had on me, I think, was pointing me, by example, toward the spiritual. By God’s grace, I’ve been in church all of my life. While many of the teachings of Roman Catholicism are false, it was the positive things about it, I think, that helped prepare me to receive Jesus Christ. If a Catholic is sincere, and not skeptical, you won’t have to convince him that there’s a God, that Christ is his only begotten Son, even that Christ is the Saviour of the world. I believed all of that from my youth. I even knew, in my conscience, that the Bible was God’s perfect word, even though I had never read it.
But the one thing that Catholicism hid from me was, ironically, the most important: how to appropriate the work that Christ did for me. You see, even though Catholics acknowledge Christ as the Saviour of the world, they do not understand how he saves: by grace through faith, without works. While a Catholic may believe that Christ died for our sins (I did), most of them don’t understand that the proper response to that is complete trust in Christ’s work to save him, apart from any works of his own. Paul said in Rom. 4:5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” I’m grateful that I finally came to that point, but I don’t consider my years as a Catholic wasted…by any means. God is far too wise and good that. God puts all of us in the right place from the start. If I had been put in any other family, I might not have come to Christ. I may not have had all the truth growing up, but I had enough to prepare me for more, plus God was faithful to provide it for me at just the right time. Under my parents’ roof and authority, it would have been hard to trust Christ despite them, but when I left home my parents left it up to me which spiritual path I would take, unlike many other Catholic parents, especially in other countries. Someone might say, what about children who were abused by their families? I would answer that’s a terrible thing and God has no pleasure in it, but I’ve heard enough testimonies of abused children who came to Christ to trust in God’s wisdom and goodness, no matter how bad things may look on the surface. So I thank him, with all of my heart, for giving me the parents, family, and religious upbringing that he did. It certainly helped prepare me to receive Christ.
The gospel came to me “at sundry times and in divers manners” (Heb. 1:1), but the person most instrumental in my salvation was a young convert named Mike Stephens. Although I was born in Ohio and spent my childhood there, my family moved to Texas for a while and then settled in north Alabama, where my parents retired and my dad passed away years later. I went to high school there and graduated in 1988. As a young person, I was always interested in math and science, and at my dad’s encouragement, I decided to pursue engineering. I applied at several engineering schools engineering and ended up at Georgia Tech. Before leaving for school, though, I took a summer job where God had strategically planted Mike Stephens. I got to know this peaceful young man gradually, and the more I got to know him, and the more he spoke to me about the Lord, the more I was drawn to him. I recommend his approach to those who want to win others to Christ. He was gentle and kind and took a sincere interest in me as a person, not as a mere prospect. I remember visiting his home, doing things together, and later accepting his invitation to attend church. That’s soul winning, folks. Please turn with me to 1 Thes. 2:8. According to Paul, it’s not just giving people the gospel, but your own soul, to reach them. Let them see the peace, joy, and assurance that you have in Christ that they don’t. Don’t be critical of their religion, if they have one, until after they’ve come to Christ; then you can lovingly point out where it’s in error and encourage them to seek the right kind of fellowship.
Although Mike and I never prayed together for me to receive Christ, he planted the seeds that led to my salvation in the following months, when I went off to school in Atlanta. I’m not sure exactly when I trusted Christ, but I know that I did, and that’s what counts. Don’t worry if you can’t pinpoint the exact time that you trusted Christ. The important thing is what are you trusting in right now: Christ or yourself? I know right now that I have eternal life because I’m resting in Christ’s work for me, and not my own merits. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:12, “…for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him (my soul) against that day.” I remember reading William Shakespeare’s last will and testament, and I was thrilled to see him commit his “soule into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredlie beleeving, through thonelie merites, of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe everlasting…” (internet). I hope that you can say the same, that you’re trusting in Christ alone to save you, and not any good works that you’ve done. It seems so simple to those of us who believe, but we must never forget how miraculous our salvation was, that we’d let go of our stubborn self-righteousness and trust in someone that we’ve never seen. Most people never come to that point, but don’t let it be you! You can choose to receive Christ, or choose to reject him. I, and every believer here, pray that you’ll make the right choice, to receive him, and join our happy family forever.
So that is how I passed from darkness to light. The Lord’s been good to this “buckeye,” and thank you for letting me share my salvation testimony with you tonight.
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