My testimony

Today in church, one of the good brothers from the congregation preached again this morning. Our preaching minister left for another calling a couple of months ago and we've been without a pulpit minister since that time. Elders and brothers from the church family have been filling in during the interim. Before today's sermon, one of the elders made a point to thank all of those who've filled in while we search for a pulpit minister. At that, I thought to myself, "I wonder if I should volunteer?"

If I did, I think this is what I would share:

I was raised in the Lutheran church and I never really took my faith too seriously. Lutheran theology teaches that your baptism is your salvation and, once you're baptised, the devil cannot snatch you away from your salvation. Once, while attending confirmation classes, our pastor actually told us that if we came upon a wreck and found people unconscious, we should baptise them quickly to ensure their salvation if they should perish from their wounds.

What?

Well, that is in fact what we were told and, since then, I've visited the Lutheran church from time to time (my mother still attends a Lutheran church) and have heard that very same message from the pulpit. In addition, Lutherans were big on "works" and, even though I cannot recall ever hearing that salvation depends upon doing good works, I always got the impression that works were important primarily for that reason.

Works earn salvation, that was the message I was left with!

As I grew and got married as a young man, I began to attend the Catholic church with my new wife at her insistence. Over the years, we attended many different churches, all Catholic, attempting to find one where people seemed excited to be there.

With the exception of the Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston, I can't say that we ever found one. That facility was just too far for us to drive very regularly, so it wasn't a possibility. All the while, I had that nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that I had to earn my way into heaven somehow and another nagging voice that told me that I could NEVER be that good!

Then, a Christian brother who happened to be involved in the same youth sports league as myself and my boys were involved in invited us to his church to see an evangelist who was visiting. We took him up on it! The church was an Assembly of God church, a fellowship I'd never attended before. The first thing we noticed was that everyone seemed really glad to be there and went out of their way to make us feel welcome! As the service started, the music and singing was absolutely infectious! People were actually singing instead of the quiet mumbling I'd grown used to! Words to the songs were projected on a large screen, so there was no fumbling with books or trying to read music. When it came time for the message, the evangelist started by reading a scripture from Galatians as everyone in the assembly followed along. He read from Galatians 2:16

"knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."

There was the word I'd been looking for my whole life! Man is NOT justified by works but by faith alone! You'd have thought that a man raised Lutheran would know this since this revelation was the very one that Luther had found, causing him to challenge the theology of the Catholic church of his day, but the Lutheran church has strayed from this simple truth and it has been obscured by the strange "saved by baptism" stance I described earlier! In any case, the truth of the word shook me to my very core and made me realize that I COULD be saved if only I would trust that Jesus died for me to pay my sin debt!

When the invitation was given, I stayed in my seat, but I prayed the prayer of salvation along with the preacher and felt an instant change in my soul! I was a new creation in Christ!

I immediately had a thirst for the Word of God, so I started reading the Bible daily until I'd read all the way through it. The first time I read through it, I read the original King James, then I read the NIV all the way through! As I read, the truth of the Word came to life in my soul! I learned why I'd never really understood the Bible before (the Word is spirit and it is life! John 6:63) and I learned that every word of the Bible is true, breathed into people by the very Spirit of God! (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Finally, I learned that works are important, but that works are the fruit of salvation not the way TO salvation! Jesus said that we would know other Christians by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-17). James said that faith without works is dead! (James 2:14-17), so the Gospel had come full circle for me! Works ARE important, but works are the natural result of a person living in God's grace! Works that are done to EARN salvation are done in vain because God said that all of our righteousness is like filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6)! The bottom line: we can NEVER earn our way into heaven! Only faith in Jesus can save us! Jesus said "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life! No one comes to the Father except through Me! (John 14:6)

As far as I'm concerned, the Gospel is pretty simple but we need to PREACH the Gospel if people are to hear it!