My Testimony

Hello again,


In an attempt to keep you updated on what we've been working on recently to prepare for Japan...
A couple of weeks ago we worked on powerpoint presentations for the team and use in Japan.  This week we each wrote out our testimony for translation into Japanese.

Thanks for reading!
For Him,
Sarah

"Without the word of God being faithfully preached, I would not know God savingly.  I have been immensely blessed in that I cannot remember a time that I have not known the basic message of the gospel.  I was blessed with Christian parents and grew up in the church.  Although I cannot name an exact date that I was saved, I do know that I am His.  It has been a slow process for me to realize that I am a sinner in need of grace.  When I was 4 years old, I learned Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.  

It was not until later that I really understood the seriousness of sin.  Sin is the willful breaking of God's moral law and a violation of His will.  We sin when we do things such as lie, have hatred in our hearts or worship anything or anyone besides God.  These are not small offenses.  Romans 6:23a states that the wages of sin is death, that is total separation from God, or hell.  Because I have broken God's law, I deserve to go to hell.  Nothing I do can save me from hell.  

And although I knew the gospel at an early age, I mistakenly thought much like the Pharisees, that I could gain God's favor and grace based on my own merit.  This was stupid on my part, because on my own I have no merit.  For I was once spiritually dead, totally unable to respond to God's grace, until He made me alive.  In my sin I was God's enemy.  But, God who is rich in mercy chose to make me alive and reveal Himself to me.  I am so grateful that He chose to save me, because I would or could never choose Him on my own.  Salvation is a free gift, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone.  

Romans 5:6, 8-11 says it so perfectly, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly…But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him…And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the reconciliation.”  We who were once God's enemies are saved from His wrath by Himself.  Isaiah 53 states that Jesus willingly died and yet God counted it a pleasure to crush Him for me.  Because of Jesus' perfect life, death, burial and His resurrection on the third day we can be saved.  Through this we can rejoice, exult and worship Him.  Jesus paid the price in full for my sins on the cross, so that I do not have to, because I never could.  It is all from God by grace through faith.  It is by repenting, that is recognizing my sin and turning from it to Christ and His holiness that we receive His grace and mercy.  I cannot and do not have to “prove” myself to God.  He paid it all!  What a wonderful God! 

Having come to such knowledge, repented of my sin and truly believe in the saving work of Jesus Christ by faith through grace, I was baptized in obedience at age 13.  The amazing thing is that while I still sin daily, I am forgiven.  God has blessed me abundantly as I continue to grow in Him.  It has been such a blessing to learn more about God through His Word, the church, and the books I have been able to read about God.  I stand amazed for I am so utterly undeserving, yet He pours out such grace and mercy.  Life is not easy, but I am abundantly blessed.  

I am now no longer a slave to sin, but to righteousness as Romans 6:18 says. My prayer is that I do not merely hear the great truths of the Bible, but that I apply it to my life as well as what it says in James 1:22."

Of missions and volleyball

Hi all, Sarah here.

First off, as most of you know I am preparing to go on my first missions trip ever this summer.

I am so excited!! Although admittedly also somewhat nervous, since I'm not yet totally sure exactly what we'll be doing. Trusting in and looking forward to what the Lord has in store though!! I know that whatever happens, whether humanly good or bad, is ultimately for good as it says in Romans 8:28. Haha, I'm also learning 1 Peter 5:7 about being anxious for nothing. God has been really good to me though. Everything that I had concerns about so far have been useless worrying, so I really shouldn't be nervous. So, I'm working on that.

Information-ally wise, I have been given the privilege of going to Japan from June 17th to July 6th with other members of Grace Community Church (GCC) to minister in Osaka, Japan at Hamadera Bible Church (HBC). We plan on helping out HBC as much as we can along with ministering to college and high school age students in the area. Our goal is to be loving, yet bold instruments of the body of Christ sharing the amazingly awesome gospel message to the students we come in contact with that they might come to worship and follow Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

Secondly, I have several prayer requests that are given in no particular order.

• First, please pray for the Japanese students that their hearts may be open to us, to the gospel, to the church, but most of all to God, as we share with them. Less than 0.5% of Japan are Christians, and so few have heard the gospel or even know that God is the Creator of all things.

• Second, please pray for our team of 8 that we will be bold in sharing the gospel, humble, loving and gracious in all our actions, open with our lives and live utmostly for the glory and worship of God.

• Third, please pray for HBC that they will be strengthened and encouraged in the Lord during our time there. And that we will be a means of blessing and help to HBC.

• Fourth, pray for our health and safety as we go there and come back, Lord willing. Also please pray that we'll be able to get everything we need to get done in a timely manner.

• Fifth, is a personal request. Please pray that I have the right heart attitude of praise, thankfulness, joy and worship as I go. I want people to see Christ in me and not me. I really really don't want to be a bad witness. So please pray that the sin in my life will continue to be minimized and God's righteousness and holiness will be maximized. I want to truly love and care for the people as Jesus does, and I know that's going to be hard to do with people, many of whom I've never even met before. Any sin they see in me, I hope is attributed to me alone and not in any way attributed to so defame the name of Christ.
  

• Sixth, please pray for Japan as a whole. Japan is so lost in darkness, she is lost in the shadows of Shinto Buddhism, trying to please "gods" that don't exist. Yet, she is one of those blessed countries to have the whole Bible translated into her language, when there are many people who don't even have a whole chapter in their own language. She also has the highest suicide rate for a country of her stature. So please pray that she will learn where true hope comes from, in Christ alone.

Thirdly, so far we have had four meetings to prepare for the trip and we still have so much to get done. We are getting things accomplished though! Yet, we still have much to do.

Fourthly, this past Saturday was the annual Crossroads Volleyball fund raiser for missions. Not only was it my first time participating in any volleyball tournament, it was also only the second time ever that I played volleyball. The first time being during one of our team meetings/team building exercises that consisted of volleyball practice. Interestingly enough however, I was a lot more sore from volleyball practice than I was from actually playing in the tournament. And I didn't get any little bruises on my arm this time. Yay! The cool thing for me though, was how encouraging my team was to me since I am quite non-athletic. Although, I used to be more athletic, when I was younger, much younger, now I'm just more of a "girly-girl".
Actually, volleyball was pretty neat because I got to play with a fellow former debater who I had no idea knew anyone on my team. It's interesting how "small" the world is at times. God is really neat how He works things out like that.

Fifth, thanks so much for reading!! I deeply appreciate it and your prayers!! I hope to keep up with this blog as we prepare!

Keep on praising Him!
Sarah