Evangelism 101 - (July 4th Special) Facebook is a great way for us to connect with friends and family from all over the world! We all have fun. We put on silly things and crazy things. At times, I even shake my head at the things I post. I have a challenge for my friends. On each of our pages there is a section called "About". If we are Christians, can we speak "About" ourselves without sharing what Jesus Christ has done in our lives. I challenge my Christian friends to share their testimony on their "About" section. If you feel led to do that, please let me know. I would love to read about your experience. Below is my testimony that I put on about a year ago. This section on Facebook is titled “About”. For anyone to know “About” me they must know about my experience of coming to know Jesus as the Lord and Savior of my life. So here it is, the nutshell version. I was blessed to born into a loving family; I never had to wonder if anybody loved me. My mom and dad taught me right from wrong. They taught me how to respect others. They instilled in me a good work ethic. But most of all they raised me in a Godly home. My grandfather was a Southern Baptist Pastor, and when I was young I remember going to revivals, singings, prayer meetings, church work days and so on. Church was not just a Sunday event. I don’t remember the exact dates but I can remember around age 6 ~7 that I began thinking a lot about death. When I would lay down at night the fear of not waking up began to really take hold of me. Around that time I made a profession of faith and was baptized. But the fear was still there, nothing changed. As I grew up, my profession of faith was more a “get out of trouble” card that I played more than anything. As a teenager when I would mess up or do something wrong I would pray, “Lord get me out of this.” But that was the extent of my experience. I continued to stay in church and my first date with my beautiful bride was to church. After Coleen and I were married, we moved to Lenoir City and found a church. We became members of Antioch Baptist Church and after about six months there I was asked to become an assistant Sunday School teacher. I was glad to do it. After all, my grandfather was a preacher. My dad was a studied Sunday School teacher, it was natural, wasn’t it? I had been teaching for about six months and something amazing happened. I was 21 years old, working in plant down at the industrial park. I had a job where for much of the day I worked by myself taking samples and doing testing. I was in a control room with steel toed shoes, a hard hat and safety glasses and it happened, The Holy Spirit of God began to speak to me, in a way I had NEVER experienced before and I realized that I did not know Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I knew who Jesus was, I could verbally give you a historical account of who he was and who he claimed to be but I had never really grasped the bigger picture. I was a sinner! Even though I was as, the world says, “A good person” I had never made Him the Lord of my life. I was just going along with the herd in regards to church and I didn’t have a relationship with Him. If you had asked me before, I would have told you I did. I was missing the most important part and I didn’t even realize it until that moment the Holy Spirit spoke to me. Remember how I had mentioned the fear of death when I was younger, it had never went away. I had put band-aids on it, covered it over and went on, until that day. Just moments after I gave my heart to the Lord, it was as if the Holy Spirit asked me, “Remember that fear of death you had?” Not do, you still have the fear but, “Remember the fear you had!” Truly since that day, the fear that I carried for many years, is gone. Now I understand that death is nothing to fear, because as a believer, I know that the moment I leave this world I will open my eyes in the presences of MY Lord and Savior, the one that gave His life for me on Calvary’s cross. As in the beginning I mentioned that this was to be my testimony in a “Nutshell”. But in addition to sharing my testimony, I feel led by the Lord to share some of the beliefs that I hold true as a believer in Jesus Christ. 1.) I believe in a Triune God. Who exist eternally as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 2.) God created this world good. But this World has been corrupted because of the sins of the first human beings. 3.) Jesus Christ is the unique God Man. The incarnate Son of God, the second person of the trinity, truly divine and truly human. 4.) God is redeeming the world and rescuing lost sinners through the person and work, the identity and ministry of Jesus Christ. 5.) Every human being will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. That eternal destination is based upon an individual’s embrace or rejection of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their life. 6.) Christian’s everywhere are adopted into God’s family and are part of His universal church. A group that includes all presently living believers as well as all the redeemed of all the ages, all Christians of every time and everyplace. 7.) All of these truths are taught in the Bible which is God’s written word to humanity. 8.) Salvation comes through Grace by Faith in Jesus Christ. 9.) Humanity is Justified by Faith in Jesus Christ rather than works. 10.) The Supreme Authority of scripture. The scripture is the ultimate norm for faith and practice. It is to serve as a greater authority than traditions, creeds, confessions, or individual opinions. 11.) Belief in only 2 ordinances, Baptism and The Lord’s Supper. With neither ordinance having saving power. Saving power is ONLY found in the Blood of Jesus Christ. 12.) Belief in the Priesthood of all believers. Every believer has direct access to God through Jesus Christ. 13.) All believers are equipped by God to spread the Gospel throughout daily walk. The “Nutshell of the Nutshell”; before Christ I was lost and bound for an eternity in hell. But in November of 1989, in a factory in Vonore, Jesus Christ came into my life and saved me from that destiny in hell. He did this by His Grace, not by anything that I did. He took me and washed me of my sins and made me righteous before the living God. I no longer fear death. For I know now, beyond a shadow of a doubt that when I leave this world, I will open my eyes in Heaven and be in His presence forever. That can NEVER be taken away. Thank you Lord for the peace you give me.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 12:48:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015