back to index2021-05-23 Tyler Wong Baptism Testimony
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I'm a second year student in the college ministry, Casa de Long Beach, and this is my testimony. 00:00:16.040 |
Growing up, I was born and raised in a Christian household and was blessed with the opportunity 00:00:19.720 |
to hear and learn about God at such a young age. 00:00:23.960 |
I served in the church, went to Sunday school, and checked off all the boxes on the outside 00:00:31.600 |
But in reality, I had no desire to know God, and I lived a life for my own selfish desires, 00:00:37.080 |
especially when I wasn't at church on Sunday mornings or Friday night youth groups. 00:00:42.980 |
My focus was on worldly things with people that I don't even know remember who I am today. 00:00:49.280 |
I was a people pleaser and did whatever it took to make it seem like I fit in with the 00:00:56.140 |
This would cause me to live a life for myself and live a life full of lies. 00:01:00.640 |
This life full of sin caused me to never be able to see what the Lord had desired for 00:01:06.000 |
Throughout this whole time, I attended church without a heart for the Lord, even though 00:01:10.580 |
I said and did the things to make it seem like I did. 00:01:15.080 |
I had a lot of head knowledge of who God was through Sunday school, Bible stories, but 00:01:19.520 |
did nothing to apply it to my own life personally. 00:01:24.920 |
I did this for my whole life heading into high school, and at this time, transitioning 00:01:28.880 |
into high school was really tough for me as I went to a small high school where none of 00:01:33.240 |
my peers from middle school went to, and I felt like I had no friends there. 00:01:38.160 |
That whole year, I felt lonely and felt like my life was purposeless at the time. 00:01:45.600 |
I would come home every day from school, lock myself in my room, and lock up God and the 00:01:54.200 |
I had no confidence in myself for at least the first half of my freshman year, and I 00:02:00.880 |
During this time of loneliness, I felt God's comfort and the love from the witnesses in 00:02:05.200 |
my life that never gave up on me and cared about me deeply. 00:02:09.120 |
I was overwhelmed by His love, and one night I cried out to the Lord in prayer, realizing 00:02:18.040 |
The Lord pulled me up from the depths of my sin, and it is only by His grace that He opened 00:02:26.760 |
My eyes were opened, and in December of 2016, I was sprinkled at my home church. 00:02:32.480 |
Even after this event, I continued to struggle with sin and my obedience to the Lord as I 00:02:36.920 |
tried to hold on to sin with one hand and God with the other. 00:02:41.160 |
I continued to try and live a life as my peers did the rest of high school, and those influences 00:02:46.880 |
transformed my heart to be hardened and unable to fully surrender myself to the Lord. 00:02:52.440 |
The summer of senior year heading into college, I realized that I needed to let go and fully 00:02:56.200 |
surrender myself to the Lord and really sacrifice everything in my life that I truly idolized 00:03:04.680 |
Ever since then, throughout the trials and tribulations, the Lord continues to work in 00:03:08.240 |
my life to shape me into the person He calls for me to be. 00:03:11.760 |
Luke 6:46 says, "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" 00:03:17.160 |
Today as an act of obedience, I'm getting baptized so that I may be raised with Christ 00:03:24.800 |
Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that God causes all things to work for good, to those who 00:03:29.840 |
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." 00:03:33.440 |
The Lord continues to provide for me in times of uncertainty and has blessed me beyond what 00:03:39.600 |
God is good, and I realize that sometimes that good isn't always what I want, but it's 00:03:47.160 |
Christ is Lord over my life no matter what happens, and I will continue to live a life 00:03:50.680 |
for Him in full obedience and with full surrender to Jesus, who is Lord over my life.