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."