back to index2020-8-16 Joshua Chun Baptism
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Hello everyone at Berean Community Church and online viewers. My name is Joshua Chun. 00:00:10.800 |
I've been a member at Berean Community Church for two years. I first attended in 2014 during 00:00:16.840 |
my extended breaks from school. I've been regularly attending since 2017. Yeah, this 00:00:24.000 |
is my testimony. Okay. So before receiving Christ, I knew God only as a merciful God. 00:00:32.600 |
I pictured him as an old grandfather ready to see me whenever I please with forgiveness 00:00:38.360 |
in his hand. Although this is true, that God, although it is true that God does have mercy 00:00:45.420 |
and forgiveness for me, the single faceted view of God led me to abuse the love and grace 00:00:50.560 |
that he has given me. The Bible says that God is King and Lord, but my actions never 00:00:56.400 |
reflected that truth. Born and raised in the church, I learned what the gospel was at a 00:01:01.800 |
young age. Soon after, I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and was sprinkle baptized 00:01:08.800 |
in middle school. Reflecting back on my baptism and life after baptism, I didn't truly understand 00:01:16.800 |
the Lord part of my confession. I still kept forging my own path, doing as I pleased and 00:01:23.460 |
attached Jesus to my goals to keep them aligned with his will. My view of God was small and 00:01:30.520 |
wrong. He is so much more than just the one I pray for to relieve my guilty conscience. 00:01:37.440 |
I always wanted a miraculous moment, a feeling of enlightenment, an aha moment where all 00:01:44.920 |
of a sudden I know God and I knew his will, but that wasn't the case. Like many of you, 00:01:52.200 |
it was just a gradual growth in the faith. With the help of older brothers and the community 00:01:59.400 |
around me, and of course the Holy Spirit, God has revealed so much more than just his 00:02:04.600 |
mercy. The holiness of God, his sovereignty, and his Lordship have changed my faith greatly. 00:02:12.940 |
About three to four years ago, I understood and accepted the kingship part and all the 00:02:19.620 |
groundwork that had been laid in my life was solidified. As it says in Philippians 1.6, 00:02:26.980 |
for I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in me, or in you, 00:02:33.540 |
will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. I'm still not perfect, far from it, but I 00:02:41.100 |
have faith that God will lead me the entire way. After receiving Christ, my view of God 00:02:47.740 |
and also myself has been transformed. The chasm between God and man is no longer great, 00:02:55.100 |
but impossible. A sinful man can only come before a thrice holy God by the death and 00:03:02.420 |
resurrection of Christ Jesus. I have no means of my own to be washed clean of the filth 00:03:08.900 |
we call sin. Reading from Ephesians 1.13, and you were included in Christ when you heard 00:03:17.660 |
the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him 00:03:23.900 |
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. It is such a big burden lifted off my shoulders 00:03:31.120 |
knowing that there is nothing that I could do to make it into heaven. That it is an impossible 00:03:38.700 |
feat not attainable by anyone here, or anyone, but only by the grace of God through Jesus 00:03:49.300 |
Christ. And by that grace I stand here today, a reborn man. Or at least I will be after 00:03:56.020 |
I get into the law. So God is King, and we are his bond slaves, but there is no place 00:04:03.820 |
I'd rather be than in his courts. We serve a good King, the only King. To know him and 00:04:10.660 |
do his bidding is the greatest gift of grace that we could receive. Thank you. 00:04:18.340 |
>> Doctor, you understand when you go into the water, you're united with Christ in his 00:04:37.340 |
death, and then when you're coming out, you're uniting with his resurrected life? 00:04:42.340 |
>> I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.