September 1, 2011

Salvation


     I grew up in the church.  My best friend was the preacher’s kid.  I grew up going to church with my brother and sister and mom.  When I was younger I always wanted to be in church as a family.  My dad went to church if there was nothing better to do or if he felt like it…pretty inconsistent (a great transformation happened a few years ago and my dad is a committed follower now and faithfully serves his church.  Great testimony!).  

     I knew at about 9 or 10 that I needed to accept Christ into my life and be baptized.  I knew it but put it off.  I put it off because, believe it or not I was scared to death to be in front of people.  I also wanted my dad to be there, but I didn’t want him to come to church just because I was getting baptized.  I wanted him in church because he wanted to be there. 

     On August 31, 1986 it happened.  We all went to church together as a family.  My mom was in nursery and usually my dad didn’t go if she was in there…all the more that it was God’s time for me to do this.  It was also our youth minister, Rich Weirsbe’s last Sunday at Little Prairie Christian Church.  I loved going to kids church with him and his wife…they made learning about Jesus fun.  The invitation song was “Trust and Obey” and I felt my knees buckle and my heart started racing.  I moved into the aisle and down I went.  It was the greatest day of my life…the day I accepted Christ as my Savior and was baptized.  Salvation never felt so good!

     I have had a lot of people in my life that made such an impact on me.  I can remember Sunday School teachers like Betty Saxe, Betty Bunting & Lola Summers, Donald & Dorothy Woods, Lorna Mann (who told me almost every Sunday I would be a minister…it’s your fault, Lorna!), and Jack Kelsey.  I remember youth group with Kevin & Pam Wiseman and Danny & Lana Newport…those were some great times!  I also remember cool youth ministers that impacted my life like Matt Sutman & Terry Harmon (the reason I am in youth ministry).

     You want to know something really cool about that day, 25 years ago on August 31, 1986?  On that very day in Potosi, Missouri my wife was making the exact same decision!  We did not know each other until her first day at St. Louis Christian College in 1992!  We have been spiritual soul mates from day one! 

     Accepting Christ and making him the Lord of your life is the single most important decision you will ever make.  It affects all of your other decisions and dreams for the rest of your life.  How you will treat other people, who you date and marry, where you go to college and what career you choose, how you raise your kids.  Everything is all tied around this decision.  So…have you made that decision?  Here is how…

Realize you have sin and need a Savior – Sin is anything that we do that breaks one of God’s commands.  We find in Romans 3:23 that we all sin and in Romans 6:23 that we deserve to be separated from God because of our sin.  We also notice in Romans 5:6-8 that Jesus died for our sins at just the right time so we can come to him to be clean.

Choose to accept Jesus as your Savior and be baptized – Romans 10:9 says to confess Jesus as Lord with your mouth.  Confess him as the captain of your ship.  Confess him as being in charge of your every decision.  Confess and acknowledge that you are nothing without him and are willing to totally surrender to his Lordship.  Acts 2:38 is our response to our confession…to repent and change our ways and be baptized.  Baptism is part of the salvation process and is necessary to wash us clean and it also symbolizes our death to our old self and raising to a new life with our Lord Jesus.

     I have never regretted making that decision to bring Jesus into my life at 13 years old.  I have regretted waiting until I was late high school and even early college to really be serious about my faith, however.  If you have not given your life to the one who gave his life for you, do so today.  I am always available and would love to talk to you about the greatest decision of your life.  Thanks for reading!