My Personal Testimony (Chris)
I come from a family where both my parents know Jesus personally, my dad is a pastor in the Methodist Church & my mom is at his side.
I was brought up on church property, just about, & attended everything from crèche to evening services. As a youngster up to grade 4, I was living in a very protected environment under the supervision of my parents.
I spent grades 5, 6 & 7 in an all boys boarding school. This was a bad time in my life, because my "supervisors" were absent & the world had just about as full an effect as it could, on a young boy like me. I picked up many bad habits with pornography being the worst one.
Fortunately in grade 8, I came back into the fold, under the much-needed supervision of my parents. During this year I attended Sunday school & one Sunday my teacher asked the question of us, "are you sure that you are going to heaven?", I was convinced that I wasn't at the time & so I made a personal commitment to Jesus after the class. It was nothing spectacular - it was just a surrendering of my life to Jesus, & a sincere longing to sin less & to be more like Jesus.
From that year on I read the Bible much more frequently, I battled & fought to remove every ounce of sin from my life. I prayed earnestly to God to help me in my spiritual war. Some battles were long & others were short, & some battles are still experiencing "guerilla" attacks right up to today (5 December 2001). The sins that I had to battle with were among others:
- Gossiping or Slander
- Using God's name in vain & lying
- Hypocrisy or not practicing what I preach
- Not honoring my parents
- Committing adultery (pornography)
- Not keeping a day aside to spend with God
From the above list, I had to work on numbers 3, 4, 5, 7, & 9, of the Ten Commandments.
Skip explanation below and read rest of my testimonyAlthough we are saved by grace and we are not bound by the Law of the previous covenant (that includes the 10 commandments), the law provides a clear definition of what sin is and we should use the Law to identify the sins in our lives.
Should we keep the Sabbath or not?
In the old covenant, the law was given by God to the Israelites and they were JUSTIFIED by the law, i.e. the Israelites had to try and follow the law and in doing so they would be justifying themselves and they would be God's people. Following the law indicated obedience and obedience indicates faith. The Old testament people were saved by faith, just as we are saved.
When Jesus came and died for "all" people, the law that previously had justified the Israelites, could no longer be used for justification. (Justification = "going to heaven") Christ died for our sins and justification is now given to us through grace and by faith in Jesus Christ. No act on our part can earn salvation.
But God is the same yesterday, today and forever, He is the Alpha and the Omega. The laws previously used for justification are now not invalid or incorrect, they are holy as Paul says in Romans 7 vs. 12. In Matthew chapter 22 vs. 37 to 40, Jesus replies "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind'. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love you neighbour as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments'. "Continue
The following scriptures will hopefully clarify the above point.
Romans 7:12 "So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good."
Galatians 5 vs 4: You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. If you are alienated from Christ then you are not saved.
Galatians 5:18 "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law."
Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
There is a verse in the book of Hosea (4:6) that reveals a truth that explains how satan often deceives God's people. It simply says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Sometimes in our attempt to give ourselves totally to the Lord, we fail to have a really clear understanding of exactly what God wants from each of us! We lack knowledge of the Word of God or the ability to listen to the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:2 that: "For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." We can be sincere and earnest, but lack the knowledge that we should have to make the right choices and to grow in the way that God intended.
My wife under the guidance of the Spirit put it nicely, "These laws that were previously used to justify the Israelites, are now used to please God. For example, the Israelites were under law to obey the Sabbath day of rest, today it would be pleasing to God for us to obey the equivalent of the Sabbath just because we love spending time with God, and learning about His Word.The same with the controversial issue of tithing, for the Israelites it was a law and they had to do it or they were punished by God, today God wants us to give because we want to see His Church thriving and growing, and because we want to provide for people who are poor. "...Love your neighbour as yourself." (Matthew 22:39). In a nutshell we should be doing all the things specified in the OT law out of love and not out of a sense of obligation.
After Matric I went to study in Cape Town. Again I was out of the fold & into the world. This time, however, I was much more prepared & I had most of my armour on. "For our struggle is not against flesh & blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world & against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God,..." (Ephesians 6:12-13) I felt a real need to keep meeting with other Christians, & eventually joined the Student Christian Organisation. I attended the Methodist church in Rosebank & in Plumstead during my four years there. I grew spiritually & in my final year I lead a fellowship group as part of the SCO.
When I think back over the four years at varsity, somewhere in that time I progressed from being a spiritual baby to being on the way to becoming a mature Christian. At University, many of the promises in the Bible were tested, & so was my faith & I could easily say that God is good! On numerous occasions I would say that I was triple B'd - Blessed Beyond Belief!
Certainly my greatest reward of faith was my wife, Nikki. I had said to God that I was leaving my wife selection totally up to Him, & I was not going to worry about finding one. In my fourth, & busiest year, there she was - just as God planned it, without a doubt. Praise the Lord!
I started working in 1998 & got married later that year in September. Marriage brought a whole new dimension to my spiritual growth because now I had to put into practice all the things I had learnt about being a Christian husband. Certainly with my weakness in the area of the 7th commandment, for me to get married was a great blessing. "But because there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife,..." (1 Corinthians 7:2).
An extract from the Women's Study Bible (NKJ version) that explains briefly the roles in the extended family: "God commands husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church by assuming leadership & responsibility. Wives were created to be helpers to their own respective husbands (Gen. 2:18), supplementing & not supplanting, complementing & not commanding." (See also Ephesians 5)
On 3rd of August 2000, Matthew Stephen Loans was born into the family. This was now the next step up with regards to my responsibility in the home. I really like what the Women's Study Bible had to say about children: "As parents we are to work at 'building' our children, laying the foundation of faith in living before them as Christians, honouring Jesus, nurturing & under girding them with prayer, polishing them with the teaching of God's word. Then if well 'built' in the Lord, these children will themselves become builders of sons & daughters, continuing Godly seed unto the generations.
Children are the most valuable fruit of the Kingdom. They are generally sensitive & pliable, open to the Gospel. They are fresh & energetic with years of service to offer in the Kingdom. Children are part of the heritage God gives."
I (We) plan to build a strong foundation for our children so that they too may one day be builders.
At present I am growing spiritually, & I am learning to use my armour more & more. One of my weaknesses that I am focusing on now is learning to listen more & speak less. It is getting better, but the tongue is very difficult member of the body to tame.
We moved to Piketberg from Empangeni, and there was no English Church to go to and so I went to the Afrikaans churches in the area. The "circumstantial" departure from the Methodist enabled me to study God's Word with people from other denominations and people with different experiences of God. God is so good!
This really opened my eyes to some of the truths in the bible and I questioned many things. I communicated a lot with a friend of mine (contemporary mentor if you like) in Empangeni and the Holy Spirit revealed many scriptural truths that I had either ignored or just blindly accepted before with out studying what the bible says.
Some of the issues I dealt with were Baptism
Are we saved by faith or by baptism
(I was christened as a baby, and want to be Baptized by full emersion) and speaking in a tongue or different language. I have experienced speaking in a tongue in my private prayer time, but I did not sense that this was supernaturally given. I continue to pray that God will fill me with His Spirit.
December 2001, major break through in my understanding of the GOSPEL message.
I had often wondered how you could be free from sin (Romans 6:7 "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness), but yet still have sin in your life. (Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God,")Somehow it dawned on me, i.e. I listened to the Holy Spirit for a change (speaking through people and the bible), and I understood that I have been set free from all past and future sin, and the guilt associated with the sin. I am free at last as the DC talk song goes.
This was major for me, because I assumed that when I sin I must feel guilty and sort of feel sorry for myself and basically withdraw from God. This resulted in me neglecting God after some of my sins for a number of days.
Now, I understand that I have been set free from all my past and future sin and guilt and that I must continue to spend time with God after I have sinned, because I am already forgiven.
This does not give me a license to sin, please read Romans 6:1-2 "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer" read the rest of the chapter as well!
Read this information taken from www.carm.org for further clarification.
This might be a bit confusing but Paul explains it well in. Romans 5:12-21 and Romans 6:1-23.
Romans 6:1-2 says "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"So now I am free, and I can worship God, and serve God free from any guilt or sin.
I feel as though a huge burden has been lifted from me, the burden of having to obey rules, and the guilt that followed the breaking of these rules.The way of the new covenant set in place by the death of my Lord Jesus Christ. The old covenant, which includes the 10 commandments are no longer binding me in guilt and sin, and I AM FREE.
I am so excited at this time in my life because although I have accepted Jesus now since standard 6, I now know the real Gospel, the Gospel that started the church after Jesus' death.
I have a new urgency and longing to tell people about the freedom that Jesus offers, and that they too can be set free.
WOW! God is good. How the devil/or my sinful nature blinded me from this simple truth for so long I will never know. But the past is over and the new has begun, Praise the Lord, the Almighty God of Creation.
Please pray for me, that I may grow spiritually & get nearer to the goal of being Christ-like as my name implies.
I found an insert written by Charles Swindoll, titled, Lust is Lurking. It is so true!
Hopefully this testimony will encourage & uplift you.
Please email me with comments if you want to.
My personal experiences of certain issues:
- Giving/tithing:
- Taking notes in church:
- How to learn the truths in Scripture.
Here is a GDW about how not to focus on works. You can't earn your way to Heaven!
Here is another GDW about the new law, and the new rules.
Here is a GDW about entering God's rest, and not doing things in our own strength. The work is done, so rest and bear fruit by the power of God.
Another GDW about psalm 37:4.
Another GDW about reading the bible
Another GDW about how Christians should respond to war
Another GDW about how a Christian should react when people give them praise for what they are doing.
May the Holy Spirit reveal the truth about God and speak Jesus' words into our lives. (John 16:13-14), He who will teach us everything and help us to remember it! (John 14:26)
If a Christian Commits Suicide can he-she be forgiven?
What is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
This link below is a testimony from a Jehovah's
Witness. Powerful stuff. (If the link does not work, I have an
internal copy of this link here)
http://revivaltimes.faithweb.com/my_testimony.htm
The Christian Defense - A Christian Chat forum for discussion,
questions and answer.