back to index2022-08-07 Nick Ma Baptism Testimony
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I've been coming to Berean since January, and I'm very excited to get baptized today. 00:00:19.120 |
I absorbed everything I learned in Sunday school and tried to be a good kid for my parents' 00:00:24.480 |
As a child, life seemed to be all about following the rules, and this seems simple enough. 00:00:29.640 |
In ninth grade, I made the choice to follow Christ but did not get baptized because I 00:00:35.800 |
If you were to ask me then how Jesus changed my life, I would say, "What do you mean? 00:00:42.960 |
My life since then has not been a God-honoring one. 00:00:46.040 |
My heart has been filled with anger, lust, grudges, self-hatred, and beneath it all, 00:00:54.120 |
When I think about how utterly sinful I am, I'm reminded of shameful moments in my life, 00:01:01.760 |
I harbored bitterness toward church peers because I felt like they didn't give me enough 00:01:07.120 |
I raged uncontrollably at home when my parents challenged my infinite teenage wisdom. 00:01:11.960 |
I became a hypocrite, obsessed with keeping up the image of being a good Christian, especially 00:01:18.480 |
I confessed to follow Christ but contorted God's word in my heart to excuse my own sinfulness, 00:01:23.880 |
even despising God because I wrongly felt like I wasn't getting what I deserved. 00:01:29.280 |
Last year, God finally showed me what a fool I'd been. 00:01:33.200 |
He took away nearly every relationship I had, and it was just him and me, and I had a lot 00:01:41.840 |
Despite how ugly I was and how much I pushed him away, God comforted me in my solitude. 00:01:46.680 |
I was so overwhelmed by his love and saw the wickedness of my desire to build up my own 00:01:52.200 |
God tore me down to reveal the truth for the millionth time, that to live, I must accept 00:01:56.840 |
Jesus as my Lord and Savior, that his sacrifice has freed me from my sin, and that the purpose 00:02:05.440 |
While this moment drove me to seek God earnestly and walk away from a life of self-seeking 00:02:09.560 |
hypocrisy, I still behaved like I was trying to save myself. 00:02:13.800 |
I read the Bible more, prayed more, and immersed myself in the church community, but I never 00:02:21.420 |
But through Berean, God opened my eyes again to just how much my pride was still hindering 00:02:26.180 |
me, and I was crushed knowing that all I wanted to do was obey, but failing so much because 00:02:35.420 |
Again God brought me to a place of repentance. 00:02:37.900 |
I saw his forgiveness for my deep and sinister pride, and he has poured it out generously. 00:02:42.980 |
By his grace, I am learning to live in real freedom from my sin and to have the right 00:02:49.780 |
I am continuing to unlearn, leaning on my own ability, and to instead remember Christ's 00:03:00.140 |
He's teaching me that it's not about being perfect, but being obedient. 00:03:07.660 |
I want to keep humbling myself before him and stop fighting his way.