Being 52 years old, my conversion compared to most people has not been long, but I believe what the Bible teaches:Jesus died for us at the perfect time. My time just happened to be when I was 46 years old.
Phillis, my wife, had tried for years to get me to go to Church, but I considered Church to be a place that was full of hypocrites and I would have no part of it.
I found out later that for years people at the 1st Baptist Church in West Plains MO had been praying for my salvation.
Before I was saved I was very much in bondage to sin. I had no real purpose in life. The only master that I served was Satan. Life was a series of getting up, going to work, coming home,going to bed and doing it all over again and, all the while living in deep abiding sin.
I was starting to question my very reason for living. Life seemed redundant to the extreme and I was tired of it.
Of course I thought of myself as being a "good" person, just as good as those churchy type people, but I did not know that God considered my righteousness as being a filthy rag. Yes, I accepted Jesus as Lord, but without the Holy Spirit changing my heart from stone to flesh and making me into a new creature with a new God centered attitude, God would never accept me and the wrath of God was still upon me.
It was God that had to change me in order to make me acceptable to Him. I had to have the righteousness of Jesus imputed to my account so that I could be adopted into God's family.
Before that wonderful Friday evening when I was regenerated into a new creature, I had been through some very difficult times. I had lost my eyesight due to a freak accident and was unable to work for 10 weeks and when I did return to work (I work in engineering) I was blamed for some bad product and I was almost fired. I was at the lowest point in my life.
My wife had been asking if I would go with her to a Church seminar on Friday night. I finally relented and we went to the Church, I had a small hope that something good might come of this.
However, I did not have on my calender,"tonight I am going to ask Jesus into my heart and I am going to get saved." When I was saved, it was entirely a work of God Almighty, and I have absolutely nothing I could ever boast about regarding my salvation.
At the Church that night as I heard the speaker asking what the reason for our being on this Earth was...is it to have a nice house, a nice car, a nice retirement...and I was thinking...if that is the only reason for living then I might as well end my life now.
But, the speaker mentioned that we are here on this world to give glory to God and to serve God.
I remember thinking, "Wow, that would be an awesome way to spend my life...serving God."
Suddenly everything changed. The depression, the weight of my sin...it all disappeared. I felt...so new...so alive. It was not a gradual change...it was instantaneous.
And... I was not sure what had happened. I remember thinking, "did I just get saved or something?" All I knew was that I had a joy that I could not explain and I never wanted it to end. After the service, I expected that this new found joy would disappear, but it didn't and it hasn't.
As I mentioned earlier, my wife had been begging me to go to Church with her for several years, but I would have nothing to do with it. I was deep into bondage to sin and whenever I was alone in the house I would always turn the computer on and go on-line to view disgusting things.
The Sunday after the seminar Phillis again asked me to go to Church...and I almost did...but I decided to stay home. After my wife and daughter left, I turned on the computer to a favorite disgusting site and after a few moments, I told myself,
"Jesus died on the cross for me! I can't do this to Jesus!!!", and I turned the computer off. The next Sunday I surprised my wife and went to Church with her and within a few weeks I was baptized and a few weeks later I joined the choir.
After I was saved I had such a yearning to tell the Gospel to people. I was compelled to tell people the Good News.
So I began witnessing to people and I was asked go preach at my Church one evening, and then I started preaching at various Churches as I was needed and one day at Davis Creek I was asked to be their pastor. People find it strange that a Sovereign Grace Reformed preacher would be asked to be a pastor at a Methodist Church, but God is great and His will, will be done!
The type of preaching I do is expository preaching instead of the typical topical preaching of most Churches. I preach line by line through books of the Bible. Right now I am expositing Romans and Galatians.
Phillis, my wife, had tried for years to get me to go to Church, but I considered Church to be a place that was full of hypocrites and I would have no part of it.
I found out later that for years people at the 1st Baptist Church in West Plains MO had been praying for my salvation.
Before I was saved I was very much in bondage to sin. I had no real purpose in life. The only master that I served was Satan. Life was a series of getting up, going to work, coming home,going to bed and doing it all over again and, all the while living in deep abiding sin.
I was starting to question my very reason for living. Life seemed redundant to the extreme and I was tired of it.
Of course I thought of myself as being a "good" person, just as good as those churchy type people, but I did not know that God considered my righteousness as being a filthy rag. Yes, I accepted Jesus as Lord, but without the Holy Spirit changing my heart from stone to flesh and making me into a new creature with a new God centered attitude, God would never accept me and the wrath of God was still upon me.
It was God that had to change me in order to make me acceptable to Him. I had to have the righteousness of Jesus imputed to my account so that I could be adopted into God's family.
Before that wonderful Friday evening when I was regenerated into a new creature, I had been through some very difficult times. I had lost my eyesight due to a freak accident and was unable to work for 10 weeks and when I did return to work (I work in engineering) I was blamed for some bad product and I was almost fired. I was at the lowest point in my life.
My wife had been asking if I would go with her to a Church seminar on Friday night. I finally relented and we went to the Church, I had a small hope that something good might come of this.
However, I did not have on my calender,"tonight I am going to ask Jesus into my heart and I am going to get saved." When I was saved, it was entirely a work of God Almighty, and I have absolutely nothing I could ever boast about regarding my salvation.
At the Church that night as I heard the speaker asking what the reason for our being on this Earth was...is it to have a nice house, a nice car, a nice retirement...and I was thinking...if that is the only reason for living then I might as well end my life now.
But, the speaker mentioned that we are here on this world to give glory to God and to serve God.
I remember thinking, "Wow, that would be an awesome way to spend my life...serving God."
Suddenly everything changed. The depression, the weight of my sin...it all disappeared. I felt...so new...so alive. It was not a gradual change...it was instantaneous.
And... I was not sure what had happened. I remember thinking, "did I just get saved or something?" All I knew was that I had a joy that I could not explain and I never wanted it to end. After the service, I expected that this new found joy would disappear, but it didn't and it hasn't.
As I mentioned earlier, my wife had been begging me to go to Church with her for several years, but I would have nothing to do with it. I was deep into bondage to sin and whenever I was alone in the house I would always turn the computer on and go on-line to view disgusting things.
The Sunday after the seminar Phillis again asked me to go to Church...and I almost did...but I decided to stay home. After my wife and daughter left, I turned on the computer to a favorite disgusting site and after a few moments, I told myself,
"Jesus died on the cross for me! I can't do this to Jesus!!!", and I turned the computer off. The next Sunday I surprised my wife and went to Church with her and within a few weeks I was baptized and a few weeks later I joined the choir.
After I was saved I had such a yearning to tell the Gospel to people. I was compelled to tell people the Good News.
So I began witnessing to people and I was asked go preach at my Church one evening, and then I started preaching at various Churches as I was needed and one day at Davis Creek I was asked to be their pastor. People find it strange that a Sovereign Grace Reformed preacher would be asked to be a pastor at a Methodist Church, but God is great and His will, will be done!
The type of preaching I do is expository preaching instead of the typical topical preaching of most Churches. I preach line by line through books of the Bible. Right now I am expositing Romans and Galatians.