back to index2020-07-26 Angel Huang Baptism
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- Hi everyone, my name is Angel and I'm a recent graduate from UC Irvine. 00:00:10.200 |
Growing up until this day, neither my parents nor any of my family members are Christian. 00:00:13.800 |
I first learned about God through a church summer camp my mom enrolled me in during the 00:00:19.680 |
Because she heard a lot of good things about the camp from family friends, she disregarded 00:00:25.120 |
I ended up attending this camp for three years, but it was nothing more to me than just a 00:00:28.440 |
place where I got to sing and dance to songs, learn cool stories from the Bible, go on field 00:00:34.400 |
There's no personal relationship with God or any desire to learn more about him because 00:00:38.240 |
I grew up with my parents' mentality that there's no need for God to depend on if we're 00:00:42.080 |
able to live a comfortable life based on hard work. 00:00:44.880 |
So although it was a blessing to be able to grow up comfortably, that comfort had also 00:00:48.240 |
blinded and hindered me from seeing myself as a sinner in need of a savior. 00:00:52.600 |
Before I received Christ, I was self-sufficient and heavily relied on my own efforts and works 00:00:56.680 |
to make myself and others see that I was a good person. 00:00:59.400 |
Externally, I used things like good grades, good relationships with my peers, volunteering, 00:01:03.720 |
and all sorts of reasons to justify why I was a good person. 00:01:06.960 |
Even though these things are good things, it didn't mean that I was a good person just 00:01:10.840 |
Internally, it was just a facade masking the ulterior motives in my heart to puff up my 00:01:16.200 |
My pride from thinking that I was self-sufficient led me to also think that, as long as I carefully 00:01:21.120 |
find out my own life and followed it, then I'd be able to be successful and have a life 00:01:27.600 |
God opened my eyes and revealed to me my own sinfulness when I was invited to be a camp 00:01:31.080 |
counselor in 2014 at the same church camp I attended when I was younger. 00:01:35.160 |
This summer was when I clearly understood the gospel for the first time as not just 00:01:38.720 |
good news for people who were sinners because they did bad things, but as good news for 00:01:42.720 |
everyone because everyone is a sinner that's in need of God. 00:01:45.840 |
As Romans 3:23 states, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." 00:01:49.680 |
The gospel message was no longer just another Bible story I heard when I was younger, but 00:01:53.480 |
it was something that was personal to me and showed me that there was truly nothing I could 00:01:58.920 |
That was the states in Ephesians 2:9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, 00:02:03.000 |
and that is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." 00:02:05.440 |
And also in 1 Peter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:02:10.800 |
According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through 00:02:13.960 |
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:02:15.840 |
It is only in the surrender of my will to the Lord and my trust placed in His sovereignty 00:02:20.120 |
that I can find peace and comfort, not in my own efforts and works. 00:02:23.800 |
As I continue to learn more about the fullness of Christ, I recognize how often I fall short 00:02:27.440 |
from His perfection, but continually diving deeper into the Word has allowed me to cultivate 00:02:31.960 |
a greater understanding of what it looks like to live a life according to the Spirit that 00:02:37.680 |
I was very blessed to have been able to be a member at Breen throughout my four years 00:02:40.880 |
of college and to have been surrounded by believers who continually strive to live gospel 00:02:46.600 |
As grown in my love for the Lord, I must also continue to obey and hold the authority of 00:02:52.960 |
I was initially sprinkled in a Lutheran church when I became a believer back in high school, 00:02:57.000 |
but after searching through scripture with a desire to obey Christ in all areas of my 00:03:00.960 |
life, I want to practice the act of baptism through immersion, the manner that God had 00:03:04.800 |
intended to instruct the believers through His Word and for the sake of full righteousness."