back to index2020-09-13 Abigail Young Baptism Testimony
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My name is Abby Young, and this is my testimony. 00:00:09.900 |
I grew up in a very loving home with Christian parents and the best older brother anyone 00:00:15.320 |
My parents were very intentional with my brother and me, even praying for us while we were 00:00:19.960 |
each in the womb that we would come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 00:00:24.240 |
I was born with an extremely competitive nature, and as a star-struck little sister, I had 00:00:31.680 |
However, it wasn't an "imitate me as I imitate Christ" sort of goal, but rather a "how can 00:00:37.840 |
I be as good as Gaga, if not better than him" mentality. 00:00:45.720 |
One night when I was four and my brother was seven, my brother accepted Christ, so I thought, 00:00:49.760 |
"Well, if Gaga is doing it, of course I want to do it." 00:00:52.760 |
I accepted God into my heart, but in all honesty, I had no idea what that meant. 00:00:58.200 |
A few years later, when I was nine years old, my understanding of goodness changed. 00:01:06.680 |
One day we took a photo together, and a girl who had developmental delay named Sharon wanted 00:01:13.640 |
I knew nothing about health care at that time, so from my understanding, Sharon was born 00:01:19.840 |
We begrudgingly said yes, because isn't that what nice girls do? 00:01:23.840 |
I went home with my best friend at the time, and we agreed that we would just crop her 00:01:34.200 |
I cried, recognizing that I was a sinner and I had nothing that could earn any semblance 00:01:42.680 |
I had thought that I knew how to love others, but I couldn't even take one photo with someone 00:01:48.720 |
I realized that it wasn't just Sharon that was born with her heart upside down. 00:01:54.800 |
That night, my mom walked me through the sinner's prayer yet again, but this time it was different. 00:01:59.640 |
This time, I wasn't praying to God asking him to make me a better person. 00:02:07.040 |
I truly believe that this was the point that I was saved. 00:02:10.160 |
A couple years later, after that moment, I chose to be sprinkled at my home church as 00:02:16.520 |
However, the journey from justification through sanctification was and continues to be one 00:02:24.720 |
While I finally had a grasp of my depravity, instead of being liberating, at many times 00:02:30.560 |
I found myself burdened under the weight of my imperfection, knowing in my mind that I 00:02:35.320 |
was saved through faith alone, but having difficulty understanding why a perfect God 00:02:42.840 |
There were days when I would frustratingly sit in the school bathroom wanting to inflict 00:02:46.360 |
self-harm on myself because I didn't deserve the body that God had given me. 00:02:50.560 |
I wrestled constantly with my competitive nature, not being perfect enough, whether 00:02:55.080 |
it was in academics, sports, or more importantly, godliness. 00:02:58.800 |
When I moved to Irvine to attend UCI for nursing school, God sovereignly placed me at Berean 00:03:05.160 |
and surrounded me with individuals whose passion for the Word was palpable. 00:03:09.320 |
This was when I began to take the study of God's Word seriously. 00:03:13.600 |
I understood more deeply that the gospel was not simply a tool to bolster up my sense of 00:03:18.080 |
self-worth, something I craved throughout my entire life. 00:03:22.840 |
Instead the truth was even my foolish attempts at perfection were filthy rags. 00:03:27.240 |
They were ways in which I was rejecting God, claiming that I did not need him to make me 00:03:32.000 |
I recognized that those motives, though they may appear shiny and clean on the outside, 00:03:37.520 |
were heinous and reeking of death, much like whitewashed tombs. 00:03:41.960 |
My niceness was a manipulative tool to convince myself and others that I deserved some sort 00:03:46.400 |
of reward, rendering the work of Christ on the cross as worthless instead of myself. 00:03:51.680 |
The worst part of it all was that my sins separated me from my heavenly Father and the 00:03:57.160 |
I was not just some kid that God didn't want to take a photo with because I was different. 00:04:01.880 |
I was an enemy trying to usurp his authority and deserving of wrath and eternal condemnation. 00:04:07.440 |
I made life about myself, but all the while he was the one deserving of praise, not me. 00:04:12.640 |
What I'm still continually growing in my understanding of day by day is that despite all that, God 00:04:17.840 |
chose to send his only son to die on a cross, take upon himself the burden of my guilt and 00:04:22.200 |
shame, and rise again so that I may have life abundant in him. 00:04:26.240 |
I no longer live for temporary accolades, fearful of man's rejection of my shortcomings. 00:04:31.080 |
Rather, I now live to be like the Samaritan woman at the well, unabashed, yelling, "Come 00:04:36.000 |
see the man who told me all the things I have done." 00:04:39.280 |
I now live for his glory alone, wanting the world not to see me but him. 00:04:44.040 |
Philippians 3, 7-9 says this, "But whatever gain I had, I counted as lost for the sake 00:04:50.040 |
Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ 00:04:55.080 |
For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order 00:04:59.200 |
that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that 00:05:03.440 |
comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God 00:05:09.440 |
Today, I am choosing to be baptized by immersion as a response to what the Lord has revealed 00:05:14.720 |
to me in scripture and to fulfill all obedience to his command. 00:05:18.640 |
As a representation of the work he has accomplished in me, I want to proclaim my union with Christ 00:05:23.440 |
in his death and resurrection and be a tool for his glory. 00:05:28.960 |
>> I would understand when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his 00:05:57.280 |
death and when you come out, you're uniting with his resurrected life. 00:06:00.080 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.