back to index2020-07-26 Abby Bechtel Baptism
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My name is Abby Bechtel, and this is my testimony. 00:00:13.800 |
We prayed before every meal and read the Children's Story Bible before bed. 00:00:17.680 |
When I was five years old with my parents, I prayed a prayer that I didn't understand. 00:00:22.280 |
I recall asking for forgiveness of my sins and believing in stories I heard about Jesus 00:00:26.280 |
Christ, but I don't count this as my moment of genuine salvation because at such a young 00:00:31.000 |
age I didn't truly understand the depths of my sin. 00:00:34.520 |
I didn't repent or put my faith in my Heavenly Father. 00:00:38.760 |
Throughout grade school and on, I continued living a life of sin. 00:00:42.280 |
I confessed with my mouth that I knew Jesus Christ, but I was lost. 00:00:46.320 |
My family situation worsened, and I took the burden of fixing it upon myself. 00:00:50.940 |
I wanted to live the perfect life, to have the perfect parents, be the perfect student, 00:00:55.740 |
and I thought I could live by my own strength. 00:01:05.720 |
I was a sinner, not seeking saving because I didn't recognize my need. 00:01:10.040 |
I had no understanding of the width and depth of my sin and my desperate need of salvation. 00:01:15.940 |
My life revolved around myself and my family. 00:01:18.720 |
I found security in my capability, and I sought for joy in the respect and admiration of others. 00:01:24.980 |
This phantom of control came crashing down when I was around 13 years old. 00:01:29.080 |
My parents' relationship was always rocky, and it was brought to the point where talk 00:01:35.680 |
And that cloud of ability that was around me disappeared, and I was left with just an 00:01:44.640 |
But God used these trials in my life for His glory. 00:01:50.960 |
After God showed me my incapability to fix my family, I turned to myself. 00:01:55.760 |
Achieving a certain grade, having enough people respect me, or living a comfortable life would 00:02:02.920 |
I had come to the point where I had exhausted the options that the world had to offer. 00:02:07.080 |
For once in my life, I didn't know what to do. 00:02:09.660 |
It was then that I opened my Bible to Romans. 00:02:12.240 |
I read Romans 5, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the 00:02:17.700 |
For one would scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one 00:02:23.240 |
But God shows His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for 00:02:30.100 |
The truth of Scripture cut like a sword into my heart. 00:02:32.860 |
I had never thought intently on the character of God and His love in contrast to my weakness. 00:02:39.000 |
Over the next few weeks, I went back to reading Romans, examining who I was in respect to 00:02:44.680 |
My respectable sins as I saw them were an offense to Him. 00:02:48.160 |
Without Christ, without relationship with the one true God, my life was meaningless. 00:02:52.800 |
All of those things were searching for fulfillment outside of Christ. 00:02:58.760 |
God opened my eyes through that time to the sorrow that my sin caused Him. 00:03:03.120 |
Scripture made the truth that I had known in my head, that Christ had atoned for my 00:03:06.440 |
sins, that had eternally separated me from life with God, become a truth that was life-transforming. 00:03:15.560 |
And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also. 00:03:19.860 |
But the things which Christ announced beforehand by the mouth of the prophets, that Christ 00:03:26.560 |
Therefore repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of 00:03:30.600 |
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. 00:03:34.280 |
One evening that year, I sincerely prayed for forgiveness of my sins. 00:03:38.320 |
It was then that I believed that Jesus, the Son of God, could save me from my sins. 00:03:42.860 |
I knew that I fully deserved the just punishment and separation from God. 00:03:47.640 |
I prayed that I would be dependent on God to define my life and my future. 00:03:51.760 |
It was then that I believed I received the free gift of salvation and eternal life through 00:03:59.320 |
He used trials in my life to show my sin to me. 00:04:02.440 |
In His kindness and grace, He brought me to repentance. 00:04:05.360 |
This is a story of how God rescued me from my sin. 00:04:08.480 |
He led me out of darkness, and by the sacrifice of His Son, I was justified. 00:04:12.940 |
He is continuing to sanctify me, and I look towards the hope of being glorified with Him 00:04:19.380 |
Let me understand when you go into the water, you are united with Christ Jesus Christ.