the various cultures that are more expressive, dramatic, and passionate. And I think about those who perhaps, maybe in the Old Testament, saints who, when they feel conviction, they would tear their clothes, throw ash in the air, and cover themselves with sackcloth. They're a lot more expressive than perhaps our generation is.

And I also think about how, in previous generations, when someone would have a grievance, they would do things like burn books or burn a flag, you know? And did you know that for the longest time in American history, it was illegal to do such a thing? To be expressive enough to burn the American flag.

With the rise of just more freedom and people fighting for freedom of speech, it's not illegal anymore. And there's two camps who debate back and forth, is it right, is it not? But both agree that that act is a strong symbolic statement, right? And there's meaning behind what we do.

And likewise for us, I would like us to think about the idea of symbolism, and how symbolism tries to get all of our attention upon the meaning of what we're doing. There's a passage in 1 Peter 3, verse 21-22 that says this, "Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels' authorities and powers having been subjected to him." So, this passage is quite profound because it says here, "Baptism now saves you." So does this baptism save the people who are being baptized?

Obviously not. He says very clearly that the mechanical act of going into the water and coming out, yes, you might get clean, you might get wet, but it doesn't save you. But what it does do is explicitly tells us what is true of them spiritually. These individuals are trying to express, proclaim, and tell us what's true of them that we can't see with our eyes.

And so today, they hope to not necessarily be saved by the baptism, but in their baptism, they're following through with what is already a reality. What is already a reality in their inner person, what is already a reality in what God has done for them. The physical baptism represents that they have repented and appealed, it says, to God for forgiveness of their sin.

And that this is made possible by the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. And so because of what this means, today actually, I mean, although, yes, the baptism does not save them, we wouldn't change what we do. I mean, perhaps before you guys got to this worship service, you guys thought, "Wow, 12 people.

Typically, we have anywhere from six to seven, so 12, it can be a little bit long." Well, my thing, to make this more efficient, let's just stand them up here in a row, take a garden hose and just hose them down, you know, all together. But obviously, what would that mean?

What would that signify for them, that opportunity they get to proclaim and profess the name of Christ and their union with them? How would it express that, right? How would it communicate? And so, with that said, there's actually an encouragement for all of us. If we have truly been clothed with Christ, if we've truly been united with Him, if His death is my death, if His resurrection truly is my resurrection and my victory, then we actually need to proclaim that as well.

Whether it's already in baptism you've done, and also in our daily lives, there is this admonition for us. We need to be expressive. If we're not passionate and we're not dramatic people, that's okay. But when things matter, when certain things mean something so weighty and so powerful, there has to be expressed in our lives.

It cannot be something hidden. It cannot be something that only I know, right? But rather, this gospel message that's true for us, God has ordained that we would share it and shine it as a light to the rest of the world. Amen? So today what we have is the 12 brothers and sisters taking their time, many of them convicted of their desire to share with the church their personal experience.

So we're going to hear their personal testimonies, and I hope that we'd all be encouraged and challenged by that. Let's take a moment to pray for them, and then we'll start with their testimonies. Father God, we pray, Lord, that you would grant to us strength in the inner being.

God, through your spirit, through your truth, and through your powerful presence, and we ask God that as they come up, Lord, would you use their words to inspire? Would you use their words to encourage and refresh all the saints in this room? But what's more, God, we pray that as your Holy Spirit and your work is being done in their lives, would your work be magnified, and God, would people be able to see that you truly are real, and God, that you're active?

Father, we thank you in Christ's name, amen. Let's give a warm welcome to our first sister who's getting baptized, Melissa. Hi, BCC brothers and sisters and guests. My name is Melissa Barless, and I've been coming to Berean for almost four years, and I'm part of the family ministry, married to Mark for three and a half years, and having our first child in July.

So for the past 14 or so years, I've always believed that I was already baptized. I grew up in a moral home, went to a Christian Baptist church, and was introduced to Jesus at a VBS when I was six years old. My parents weren't Christian, but they thought that attending church would be morally good for my sister and me, and I always believed that the Bible and all the stories in the Bible were true, as true as anything I learned in history class.

And maybe that was the issue. I saw sin, God, Jesus, and his resurrection as fact, but I never felt the weight of that truth, and it didn't show in my life that I knew that truth. However, because I believed all parts of the gospel, I never seriously questioned my faith or my subsequent baptism eight years later in middle school.

So when I started college, I wanted to join small groups in the campus ministry at school, CCM, but for the application, it asked us to explain the gospel. So even though I considered myself Christian, I couldn't articulate the gospel, and I ended up asking my roommate what she wrote, and I copied her answer.

So that should have been a good indicator that I wasn't saved, but my pride continued to obscure any logical reasoning, and I told myself I was saved, I was just learning and growing. So college was a time where the pieces of the gospel came together, and they finally meant something personally to me.

So while previously I understood all the facts of the gospel, including the fact that Jesus was God, I didn't understand how any one person's sacrifice in death for someone they love was any different than Christ's. So I saw Jesus just as a man who gave his life to save others, but I never connected the fact that he's God, proven by his resurrection, who emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, Philippians 2, 7 to 8.

So instead of justly punishing me, he did the exact opposite and died the death I deserved. So this made all the difference. Once I realized his deity, it changed how I saw his sacrifice. It held infinitely more weight because in addition to just human sacrifice in death, he received the Father's wrath and was separated from him undeservingly.

So my only response was to praise him, repent of my sins, and devote my life to him in obedience. And these changes began to trickle outwardly, and my friends and family, people who knew me best, were starting to notice and comment too. So Mark, my husband, he would continuously ask me if I was sure I was saved before I was baptized at that young age.

But my pride, fear of public speaking, embarrassment from the possibility of telling everyone I was wrong, and just the fact that I really, really, really did not want to get baptized again, convinced me and helped me convince others that my baptism and early conversion were genuine. I watched others get re-baptized time and time again, and I would squash that doubt that maybe my baptism wasn't true.

So several weeks ago, there was one night where I just couldn't sleep because I was so convicted of this sin. The fact that I lied to others, myself, God, about my baptism was finally revealed to me at full force. I saw that I put my selfishness, comfort, and pride above proclaiming my faith, and I was very ashamed of this sin.

I didn't want God to think I was ashamed of him or ashamed of my faith, and I knew I had to be baptized, this time as a true believer. Of course, I didn't want to base my decisions off a late-night conviction and feelings alone, but as I prayed on it and meditated on it, the conviction stuck, and I repented, and the guilt began to fade.

He's just so gracious. So evidences of grace in my life are so numerous. It can be seen from the beginning when he used my non-Christian parents to introduce me to the gospel and to church, planting that seed of faith, to college, where he revealed the whole truth and gap in my life, all the way to the present, where he continuously reveals the sin in my heart, helping me to grow and confess my pride and sin to you today.

So basically, it can be summed by this one verse. "But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility." Ephesians 2, 13-14.

So my only possible response is to praise and proclaim his glorious and gracious name all the days of my life. Thank you. Melissa, do you understand that by going into the water, uniting with Christ in his death, you come out united with him in his resurrection? Thank you. I'll tell you the name of the Father, the name of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Hi. My name is Michael Tice, and I'm a freshman in college. And I guess here's my testimony. So where to start? I guess throughout my life, people consider me as a Christian because I believe in a God. And I guess I never really considered myself a true Christian. I went to church in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade about.

I went to Saddleback and Lake Forest. And I kind of would go--like, my parents would draw me off, and then they'd go and run their errands after, while I was at church, because they weren't Christian. And I didn't really like it. Like, there was a huge church, and there was a ton of people there.

But I'd kind of meet someone new each week, and then I wouldn't really ever see them again, which was kind of weird for me. I didn't get to learn much. I just had that simple belief that there's a God and there's a heaven, and if I'm good, then I'll go to heaven.

And I guess I didn't really like it, so I stopped going about eighth grade, end of eighth grade. And then high school came, and I started hitting a rough patch, I guess. Sophomore year, junior year, my parents were fighting a lot, and they were wanting to get divorced for a while.

And this was old news for me, because since I was 11, they've always been like that. And they always kind of put me in the middle, so I kind of worked as a mediator for them. They would kind of come to me and tell me their problems about each other.

And as an 11-year-old, that was really hard for me. I became really, like, jaded to the whole meaning of love and just how--what a marriage was supposed to be. And it really affected my relationships on after that with friends and family. And I was never really a great kid, to be honest.

I kind of fought with my family a lot, and I didn't really listen to them, because mainly I didn't know what was best for me. But I think throughout high school, I just--I looked towards worldly things for comfort, and it was really just a hard time for me. So I guess junior year, my friend Nick, he actually invited me out to Power of Prayer, which was a Christian club at our school.

And I went once, and I never went again. But honestly, it kind of stuck with me, and senior year came around, and I had more free time. I kind of started going out more. I met Jeremy there also. And I got--there I kind of started getting bits and pieces of the gospel.

And I think that kind of helped me understand more of what I had learned previously. Yeah, so I tried--eventually I started looking out for a church to go to. And summer came around, and I visited Breanne, and I really liked it. It was a very welcoming community, and I enjoyed it.

So, yeah, during summer, though, my grandpa actually passed away. And I think that was really hard for my family, just because he was--I was on my mom's side, and he was the last remaining relative in the country for us. And, yeah, I think that really affected us. That night, like, that night going to the hospital, I couldn't really get there in time to say goodbye.

He was already on life support by the time I got there. But I think standing there and seeing his chest being powered by the machine was--the presence of death was extremely prominent at that time. And it really convicted me of how I've been throughout my life. And knowing bits and pieces of the gospel throughout our prayer, and I kind of realized how sinful I was.

And I was just extremely convicted to want to save my parents and my family. And I just got this desperate need to repent. And that night I went home, and almost immediately I went to my room and just cried and repented to God. And I think after realizing how much of a sinner I was, and I deserve no better than that, I tried really hard to convince my parents to start coming out to church.

And to this day, I actually--I finally convinced my brother to start going to church. He goes to the old church I used to go to, Irvine Baptist. And, yeah, he's there. He has some friends, but he's kind of still, like, learning. My family and my mom and dad--I don't think they're here today, but--they were kind of against me spending so much time at church and getting baptized in general.

So it took me a long time to get around to this. But there's actually a verse that--I was studying through Matthews. And Matthews 10, 34 through 37 really convicted me. And it says, "Think not that I came to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace but a sword.

For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father, mother more than me, is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." And upon reading that, I decided and I realized how important it really was for me to get baptized.

And that--and I'll still be praying every day for my parents to come to church. And since I became Christian, I became--I've realized just, you know, I'm still not perfect. And I still struggle with sin. But I've realized that on our own, we can't do anything about it. But with God's help, we have a much better chance.

And with God, like, there is so much more to come. And I feel that now that I'm Christian, I'm no longer suffocating my sin. But as a growing Christian, I just hope to continue to walk with my sinful life in the past and just live my new life in the Lord.

So, thank you. >> All right, Mike. You understand that by going into the water, uniting with Christ in His death, and you come out uniting with Christ in His resurrection. >> Amen. >> Baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

>> Hi. My name is Sarah Kim, and I've been coming to Berean for about two years. And this is my testimony. My family and I moved to America when I was about six years old. And assimilating to a new country was difficult. But my parents did their very best to raise my brother and me in a loving Christian home.

They taught us about Jesus and all the stories in the Bible and prayed for us almost every night. So, growing up, I had no problem believing what my parents taught me. It was when I started high school that I started to question God's existence and my own faith. I learned that not all my friends believed in God, even though many of them went to church.

With this new perspective, I stopped respecting my parents, assuming that they didn't understand the American culture, and that they chose to depend on God for them to survive in this strange foreign country. Consequently, God became of little importance to me. I paved my path to destruction by idolizing my reputation and my friends instead, and lived a duplicitous life.

I drank, smoked, experimented with drugs, shoplifted, and even got in trouble with the police multiple times. All the while, I kept my grades up and went to church on Sundays. I became extremely prideful of my identity while I constantly sought after the approval of man. My heart was even more hardened towards God once I started college and my parents moved back to Korea.

I stopped going to church. I partied without any reservation and to keep up with my lifestyle, I took prescription pills to help me study. By junior year of college, my habitat evolved into an addiction. I found myself taking substances almost daily to get me through the day. I isolated myself from people and lost interest in everything.

As a direct consequence, I fell deep into depression and anxiety to a point where I questioned taking my life. However, through these circumstances, God revealed to me that I was in dire need of a savior. I went to Korea with my brother the summer before my senior year of college.

I remember this one particular bus ride home when my brother shared with me what it meant to be a Christian, why we worshiped God, and even what God's purpose was in marriage. This was one of the first times I learned something about God that made sense to me and I wanted to know more.

When I came back from Korea, I started attending a local church as my curiosity and knowledge of God grew more and more, yet still struggling with the idea of His existence. On one particular Sunday morning on my way to church, I remember praying a simple but earnest prayer. I asked God to help my unbelief and by God's grace, by the end of service I came out of church believing.

In particular, my eyes were opened in two ways. First, I acknowledged the existence of a God who answers prayers. Second, I saw the hope that was promised with His acknowledgement. A verse that comes to mind is Jeremiah 29 11. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." That day I found hope and a future in Him that allowed me to let go of my guilt and shame that I kept hidden.

And day by day He restored me, a broken, guilty sinner, and provided me with the strength to stay clean. The recovery process was long and if not one of the most difficult trials I had to endure, but through it God removed everything that I idolized to teach me that there is nothing in life more desirable and satisfying than Christ Himself.

And in time I saw the significance of the gospel, of how I did nothing to deserve His grace, for Him to rescue me from my sins, but because He had chosen to love me, He sent His only Son to take my place so that I can be restored and made renewed.

Corinthians 5 16 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." I am still a sinner in every way, but because God is so good and faithful, I know that my salvation is secure. I've come to experience that no matter how far my heart wanders, His grace extends even farther, and He causes all things to happen for His goodness and glory.

A verse I would like to close with is Psalms 62 1-2. "Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him. Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will never be shaken." Thank you. Okay, Sarah, do you understand that by going into the water, uniting with Christ in His death, you cannot unite with Christ in His resurrection?

Amen. That's how you name the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hello, my name is Abraham Ho. I started off life in a Christian family. I accepted Jesus Christ in seventh grade at Great Light Korean Church, in the middle high school ministry led by Pastor Ben Cha. Soon after, I was convinced that I was destined to be a pastor.

In eighth grade, I started leading my first Bible study in school. At ninth grade, I was one of the leaders in my high school ministry, the youngest, but totally dedicated. The pattern continued throughout high school. Our family moved to another church near the end of my ninth grade year.

By this time, its youth ministry was pastored by a different Peter Kim. I broke my ankle during our first retreat, which somehow led to my parents buying me my first guitar. I took to it like a fish to water. Shortly after I recovered through prayer, I helped start a student praise band in my church.

This was when I first began to feel that leadership was my calling. I led praise every Friday and Sunday. I took over the Christian club at my school, and its membership increased dramatically. I led the school's only Bible study. I began the school's weekly worship and prayer meeting. It was fun, rewarding, and wonderful.

And somewhere along the way, I can remember dedicating all of my future's life work to God. But there was something else I did not tell my friends in church and school. I was struggling and being attacked left and right. I was going through adolescence, which no child leaves unscarred in one way or another.

But more prominent than this in my memory was that I was constantly being attacked spiritually. Beginning my junior year, I began to experience major sleep paralysis. What seemed like demons visited me two to three times per week, giving me different visions of horror. Although I eventually learned to endure, even enjoy, such demonic experiences, they continued until I made a decision.

I relate to you all of this, not because I'm proud of my high school years, but to demonstrate the complete change of heart and mind I experienced in the years following. With no small amount of prayer, I had decided to go to Reed College, then considered the most liberal of all American schools, for the simple purpose of testing my faith.

With this decision, I dropped all of my responsibilities one by one. I felt relieved. I felt free. And when I began to relinquish my roles in church and school, my demonic encounters began to decrease, eventually to disappear. Reed College was incredibly overwhelming for a young believer such as myself.

It was jarring, and led into the next phase of my life, a haze of indifference and hedonism. I began a downward spiral. I even called it "enlightened hedonism." But in retrospect, these prodigal days were the worst days of my life. I began to question my Christian beliefs, unable to defend them in the fog I was in.

I began to attend meditation classes, delved into Buddhism, Taoism, mindfulness, and I meditated regularly. I delved into Hitchens, Dennett, Dawkins, and Harris, and became an agnostic. But somehow, I began experimenting with the church, attending only because the sermons contradicted my beliefs and challenged them. My love of intellectual challenge had somehow survived the haze.

But this is probably more of a testament to the power of God's Word. I began to straighten out, and my curiosity for Christianity grew. I remember how content I was in high school. I could clearly see the emptiness inherent in everyday life. I brushed off my Bible and kept reading through Ecclesiastes again and again, agreeing with the parts about vanity while rebelling from the passages about God.

I made multiple attempts to read Proverbs, but for whatever reason, that book had angered me. My agnosticism continued. That is, until I found a particular Christian writer. This writer was logical in his prose, yet so passionate in his belief. He was someone who had found peace in God's grace among the illogic of emotion, the logic of science, and the faith of belief.

God also used a friend of mine to help me understand the sin of logic. He had become an agnostic like me, but had come back to God while I was still in unbelief. His testimony changed me. I repented of my infatuation of logic and scientism. Logic and science are empty, adequate only in their ability to understand the physical world.

God is beyond logic. I began to believe again. It would be nice to say that it was a passionate process, that my heart was broken and reformed to be more receptive to God. But this wasn't the case. I realized that all science could do was describe and conjecture about physical phenomena, not truly explain them.

I realized that it was possible to be rational and to be a Christian. I also felt a longing for the wholeness I experienced when I lived for God. It was mainly a cerebral experience. I repented, and God gave me the conviction to turn away from the false beliefs that had been ensnaring me.

Yet there was no weeping, no loud proclamation. Something just clicked back, and I began to talk with God again. I wish I can say that this was tearful, as with my friend. He went from this passion to agnosticism to passion. I went from passion to agnosticism to this passion.

Nevertheless, there were noticeable changes in my life which were quite drastic. For one, I began to become a much happier person. More importantly for me, the passages that so repelled and angered me in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs ran true in my heart. I am relying on God once again, yet I am so different.

My youthful passion is gone, left with the coldest passion. I am so similar yet so different from whom I was in the past. I realize that signs can only go so far, that salvation by grace through faith is the only answer. I realize that I have been buried with Christ, and that I should walk in the newness of life.

It's wonderful how repentance works, once we use our volition to give up a part of ourselves, God works within us. But it's strange as well. God created us to be right with Him, to have real life. It's no wonder science and logic look so puny in retrospect. Logic is so attractive in its cleanliness, yet so limited in its scope.

But God is life, unable to be explained, only able to be experienced personally through space, time, and who knows how many dimensions. No wonder God calls Himself "I Am." He cannot be adequately explained with more words. God, so alien and so difficult to explain, yet so real and simple to experience, through the repentance of our fallen nature and acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice.

Praise God, who sent His Son to redeem us. Praise God, who gave His grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise God, who sealed us in the Holy Spirit. Abraham, do you understand that by going into the water, you cannot get Christ, you just die. You cannot get Christ. Hello, my name is Jessica Yang, and I've been coming to Moran since last November.

I graduated from college in June 2015, and I'm now living back at home in Irvine, California, and working nearby. Though I believed in God for as long as I can remember, because my mom always taught me I could pray to Him when I needed Him. I did not grow up in a church, and most of my family isn't Christian.

I never had any real passion to read the Bible or attend church, or even to learn more about the foundations of my faith. I was lazy, complacent, and most of all, ignorant. Until college, my faith was entirely internalized and manifested in selfish prayer without a fuller knowledge of God.

Also, for as long as I can remember, I had always put my hope and my happiness in my human relationships, my academic performance, and my role as the oldest child of four. Even while I would pray to God for things, my independence within these areas of life was a source of pride and comfort.

My sense of security and self-worth became so wrapped up in who I was to other people and whether I was succeeding academically. And I'd witnessed so much gossip and betrayal among my peers that I grew a guarded and self-reliant heart, even around the people I considered closest. And since I wanted my parents to be proud of me, I chose to evaluate my worth also in terms of how well I did in school and how obediently I adhered to my role as the big sister.

And all of this characterized the life I lived. And for college, I went to a school 2,000 miles away from home, which terrified and excited me and also made me very lonely at times. There, God began to draw me closer and closer to him. College was the first place I made any intentional decision to pursue life in a Christian community after stumbling upon a picnic event hosted by the fellowship, AAIV.

It was at large group meetings that I was touched by a sense of spiritual unity and appreciation for God that I had never felt anywhere else and began to recognize the personal, intimate nature of a relationship with him. This community is where I first heard the gospel from a large group speaker, had my shallow faith challenged during Bible studies, and began to come face to face with my own brokenness.

I often felt insecure about my faith and how unequipped I was to live a Christian life, as my pride and independent nature emerged again and again to distance me from fully accepting and trusting God with all my heart. As convicted as I'd often feel, I wavered between turning towards God and turning to my worldly life.

And so, throughout college, I struggled to commit to weekly church attendance and reading the Bible, often neglecting my relationship with God. It was in the latter part of college that I was increasingly shaken in my helplessness and distance from God. I went through my first breakup, and a year later, at the end of senior year, I was blindsided by some revelations that left me feeling marginalized, angry, and heartbroken all at once.

For a month, I hid and trapped these feelings within, and fought the idea of confronting the friend who caused it all, out of fear of creating last-minute division in our group and losing my friend. Initially, my pride made me believe I could still cope with my situation without depending on friends or God, and I tried to swallow my own false reality to maintain the status quo.

But this self-reliance failed me, and God used the friends in my life to show me just how wrong I'd been. My strength and my will alone were never enough, and trusting Him was the only way I could have made it through the way I did. And moving forward from these experiences and past graduation, I knew in my heart that I needed to turn to God for good.

But I still had a lot of holes in my understanding of my faith, and I began church hopping with close high school friends in the summer after graduation, before ending up here at Berean last November. It was here that I began to truly comprehend and internalize just how critical the Bible and being in a church are to my faith, and this was exciting to me as it opened my heart to be receptive to God's Word and His teachings.

Throughout weekly sermons, Bible studies, and the Basics in Christianity class, God grew in my heart this desire and clarity that I needed to repent and follow Him completely. Guilty as I was that I had let my pride and sin turn me away from Him, I received His forgiveness and love.

And reflecting on God's grace has been reshaping my worldview, whether it's in guiding my human relationships, my self-perception, or my daily life. And what I feel most strongly now, as I remember what took me to this point, is a deep thankfulness that continues to turn me towards Him, and I can finally put my hope in a God who teaches me to be vulnerable, trusting, and loving through Him.

Hi guys, my name's Jonathan, and I'm a third year at UCI. I've been coming here since my freshman year, and here's my testimony. I grew up in a Christian household my entire life and went to Sunday school for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I always thought that I was saved because I would say, "Christ died for my sins, so I'm saved and I can go to heaven." But my life was definitely not one that resembled a Christian outside of church, especially when I started high school.

I would not think much about Christianity and would just live my life like I wanted to, just going to church on Sundays. Once I graduated high school and went to college at UCI, I came with the mindset of, "I'm free. I can do whatever I want." I said to myself that I didn't need to go to church anymore, but then one of my friends from my home church asked me to come out to CCM and on-campus ministry.

So I went, and then she also brought me out to Bruin. I went just because I knew her and her boyfriend, and I was able to find more friends through CCM and Bruin. I was placed in Bruin small groups, and there I learned a lot more about the gospel than I had ever learned in my entire life.

I read books and memorized the entire chapters of Roman Eight. "Dang, I am so Christian," I thought to myself. The entire experience was fun, and I enjoyed it a lot. My small group leader, Travis, even gave me a study Bible to read since I didn't have a Bible to read here in Irvine.

I read it like a few times, but I just read it because my small group leader told me to. Summer eventually came, and I returned to NorCal thinking I was super Christian. Even though I felt super Christian, I was enslaved to my sin, and I eventually got into a relationship with a non-believer, which fed my desire to sin even greater.

When I came back to Irvine my second year, I updated that I had a girlfriend, and people asked me if she was a believer, and obviously I said no. To me, nothing felt wrong, and though confronted by many people, I still didn't see anything wrong with my decision. Eventually, Pastor Alex talked with me and mentioned that I should really break it off, and I reluctantly did so so that I could please him.

I went back up to NorCal during my Thanksgiving break, and I still acted like I was with her. Though I wanted to get back together, I didn't want to disappoint Pastor Alex, so I didn't. When I came back, fall quarter finals was coming up, and I found out she was meeting up with another guy and got together with him.

I felt completely broken. She always told me that she loved me and stuff, and I believed it, but when I found that out, I just felt so betrayed, and I went into a depression. It was then, the weekend before finals week, when I was crying to God. I asked God to forgive me of my sin, and I realized the filth of everything that I had done.

I was in absolute misery and felt like I couldn't do anything. I was as low as I'd ever been, and I knew I needed a Savior. I was sitting in my room in prayer, crying, and I was reminded of Christ's death on the cross and what He had done for me.

The understanding of God being a holy and righteous God, and though being His enemy, He sent Christ to die on the cross for me became a reality. I then truly repented of what I've done and the sins I've committed and truly accepted Christ as the Lord and Savior of my life.

Christ became everything to me in that moment, and as I had to wholeheartedly serve Him in all that I could, I felt so peaceful and also thankful for what Christ had done for me on the cross. The depression felt like nothing compared to the joy and peace that I had in Christ.

God's love that everyone around me told me about was not just something that people from church told me, but it became absolutely true and real to me. I was able to see God's sovereignty in my life and how He worked through all the things that I've been through, so I've come to trust more in His plan for me in my life.

Thank you. Hey guys, my name is Sherman. I'm a junior at UCI and been attending the Berean since freshman year. Here's my testimony. I was raised in a family that called themselves Christian, but they actually aren't. We used to go to church consistently while I was in elementary school until around fifth grade, while we stopped because my grandma passed away.

And even though we went to church, I didn't really know anything about Christianity because it was a cultural thing as well. There was a language barrier because it was a Chinese service and I didn't know any Chinese. So during my middle school years and up around high school, I lived a life without God and spiritual growth.

And it was around my sophomore year, a friend from middle school invited me to our mom's to check out Friday night Bible study. Originally, my mom only wanted me to go because it was so I could be a good person, but then again, later it started to become a habit to go.

And I just said, so I just went and I could say I did learn a lot from it, but it was just knowledge to me. I was more focused in the things that the world during high school, such as relationships, games and selfish desires. And I guess it was around college.

I would say that during sophomore to be exact, that I would say to be, I mean, I was saved. So coming into college, I was quickly plugged into Berean and CCM, Campus Ministry on UCI that people recommend you to check out. I also joined a small group during freshman year, which gave me an understanding that I might not be saved.

It was then that we had a chance to share our testimonies with each other. And it was during that point when I realized that I didn't really have a testimony to share. I was confused about what to say and didn't really know what to say, like what to pull out.

So I was during that time, I was still apathetic about my faith and I didn't take it too seriously. It was during sophomore year, I was able to meet up with friends for accountability as well as to grow spiritually. I would say this is a time I would say because my friends demonstrated God's love towards me and how they kept meeting up with me, as well as investing in me for not their own reasons, but to have fun, but to truly show that they cared for me, whether I was saved or not.

They also explained to me that if I was Christian, then I should be constantly dwelling in the word, not in selfful desires, sinful desires. And I realized this. I was able to repent for the first time and I felt really horrible that I was sinning against such a holy God, but also relieved to know that I was forgiven.

I was broken emotionally when praying to God. I asked him to just cleanse me from this sin and just for his forgiveness and justification. I realized that the sinful life I live and how I was apathetic about God. But then I noticed that the love that he showed me through his son, as well as how it manifested through my friends.

This is when I could confirm that God has the power to work in people's lives, as well as in my life as well, where he led me to be free. I was able to see this when I see this, do this, my friends as well, meeting up. And they also emphasized what Jesus has done.

Ever since then, I can finally say that I was saved. And although I stumble here and there, I know that I'm forgiven and I can only trust in God to persevere. Thank you. Do you believe that you have been united with Christ in his death and with Christ in his resurrection?

I do. And I will call upon you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. Hi, my name is Kylie, and here's my testimony. So I was born into a nominal Christian home, and I used to go to one of those Korean megachurches in San Jose during my high school.

And I didn't feel very connected to my church community, so I went to a smaller church apart from my family. And there I got involved with the praise team and made friends, but I never consciously professed Jesus as my Savior. It always felt like a given fact as a religion, and I did not pay much attention.

And soon there was like a division among the church, and I stopped going to church completely for my last year of high school. Once I got into college, I was able to experience freedom, freedom to its max capacity, and I made friends based on their exterior appearances and couldn't care less about their morals or religion.

Eventually, I immersed myself into the party life with frats and sorority of UCI. And quite ironically, when my friends and I were passing by the ring road, some CCM person was like, "Hey, free bowling, come." And then we were like, "Oh, free. It's free, so we'll go, right?" And then I wasn't too uninterested since I used to go to church, so I said, "Why not?" and tagged along.

And though my friends didn't end up getting plugged into a church, I was able to connect with the CCM people, and they brought me out to bring. I also went on to other fellowships like CCF, and there Pastor James shared the gospel with me. And that was my first time hearing the gospel, and it felt very new.

It was as if I never knew this God who was so merciful and kind. And until that time, I never knew that salvation was through faith, and I never knew of this God who was so loving. From then on, I began to wonder more and more about what Christianity was.

But then soon after, I quickly jumped into a relationship that didn't really end up glorifying God. And though I did went out to church and did my devils and prayed, I had doubts about whether I was saved or not. And I did not think much about pursuing a God-glorifying relationship at all either.

I only focused on pleasing myself and making that "college experience." When we went to Pastor James for help, he told us to break it off and grow separately in Christ, and he encouraged us that there's no sin greater than Christ's love. And then, because I centered my life around that one person, after we broke up, my world kind of lost balance and fell apart.

And I was depressed and wasn't able to eat or drink for a while, and my pride kind of prevented me from talking to anyone about it, even my friends or family. So I spent my days in prayer only, and during that time, my family just randomly decided to go on a trip to Canada.

And we were on a bus trip to Rocky Mountains, and I was able to see the beautiful nature that God has created for us. And through this, I saw the glory of God magnified, and I really changed the view that I viewed nature. Yeah, whatever. I felt so little and powerless before His creations, and that first night of the trip, when everyone was asleep, I just went into the shower and started praying to God.

That moment, I was really overwhelmed with guilt, and I was finally able to realize the gravity of my sin, and it just really made me broken over it. The weight of my sin felt real, and for the first time, I just saw myself drown so deeply into it. I was afraid because God was so righteous, and I was the opposite of what He was.

I was a sinner. I remember that God was also a merciful God, that He sent His Son, Christ, as our Savior. And my weakest sin, despised by God, was forgiven through Christ. And thinking of how my sins brought Him to the cross really made me broken and brought me to my knees.

But that was when I truly saw Christ as my Savior, rather than a Savior for Christianity as a religion. And I prayed for forgiveness and asked that I may be able to live my life pursuing the Lord. After getting out of the shower, I laid in bed, and this is when I experienced something, like in the lack of better words, I would say weird.

I felt so much in peace, and it felt like I was in a heavenly place, although it was just our hotel room. And it allowed me to have confidence that even if I were to die at that moment, I would have my God in heaven. And I was no longer confused about whether I was saved or not, and could fully claim my faith without doubting myself.

Thank you. I believe that you've been united with Christ in His death, and also may be united with Christ in His resurrection. That's how you've been with the Father, and may be with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit. Hi everyone, my name is Hubert, and I'm a first year at UCI.

I've been coming here since September, so here's my testimony. Growing up in a Christian family, I always believed in my salvation, simply because I knew of God. I knew that God had sent His one and only Son for us to die on the cross so that I could be saved.

So objectively, I knew of Him, but subjectively, I never knew Him. When I was younger, I went to church and fellowship simply because my parents brought me there, and I never had a true desire to learn and understand God's love. As a result, I became apathetic to the people around me, because I didn't understand how to love.

All I cared about was myself, and how I could be better than others. My number one priority in life was academics, because I wanted to get into a good college. I had this false notion that college would define the rest of my life, so God and church to me was merely an afterthought.

I told myself that I would focus on God later when I entered college, because that's where there was a huge opportunity for growth. For some reason, I just thought it was okay to put off God for later. When I was only accepted into UC Irvine, I was bitter about it, because I always thought I would be going into UCLA.

I told myself that at UCLA, I would be at a great school in a beautiful city. I would have gone to Grace Community Church and been transformed by MacArthur's teachings. It was something that I wanted so much, but there I was thinking that God had denied me of my dream.

I was arrogant in thinking that my plan was better than God's, and I thought that I knew what was best for me. My first quarter at Irvine was lonely. I lacked a sense of purpose. I decided to attend Bruin because it didn't feel right to skip out on church, despite going to church.

I was still not actively pursuing a relationship with God. I would listen to the sermon, but I failed to apply that wisdom. At church, I rarely spoke to the people around me, so I didn't feel like a part of the community. What I was going through was what I had gone through in the beginning.

I was still apathetic. During winter break, I decided to make a bigger effort in pursuing my faith. I decided to try to be more plugged in at church, whether that be through talking to people more intentionally or going to Bible study for the first time. I also wanted to join a campus fellowship, so I decided to check out Crossroads Campus Ministry.

Something in the back of my head was telling me that this was the right course of action, even though I didn't necessarily understand why. At first, it still wasn't easy, and I still felt left out and alone. Everybody had already known each other from fall quarter, and there I was awkwardly trying to meet new people.

Even during service, I was still not actively listening and applying to the message. What made the turnaround for me was a message at CCM about adoption. The passage was on Galatians 4, 1-7, and it was verses 6-7 that truly spoke to me. So here are the verses. "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father.' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." To me, I never really considered my relationship with God in such a manner that I was his son and also an heir with Christ.

I knew that God was an all-powerful being, but I felt that I was unworthy of having a relationship with him because of my sins. I would always ask myself, "How could he love me and truly be my Father in heaven when I was so unworthy and full of sin?" I was conceited in my way of thinking as I thought that my sin was greater than him.

However, I learned that his love and grace for me, which was displayed in the shed blood of Christ on Calvary, is more than sufficient to forgive us of our sins. Not only that, but we are also given an opportunity to live in him and like him as heirs and his children.

After hearing this message, it changed my whole perspective on God. I felt broken knowing that I had been so prideful in my thinking. I wrongfully thought that it was acceptable to waste the last 18 years of my life putting God aside as an afterthought. By doing so, I had missed out on opportunities to deepen my relationship with him.

What was even worse was the fact that I had not recognized the ways that he had been working in my life. I had failed to acknowledge his love for me, the one love that I should have been most focused on. From that moment, I wanted to be reborn in him, so I asked that he would forgive me of my sins.

I truly desired to turn away from my past life in order to live a life that would reflect a relationship where he was truly Abba Father. I surrendered everything that I had been idolizing before and asked that he would be the one to dictate my life. I wanted to place him first in my life so that he would be my one desire, delight, and defender.

To me, it is simply amazing that our Father in Heaven loves us so much. So I strive to be able to recognize this love every moment in my life, so that I may live in him and also glorify him in everything I do, no matter what struggle I'm going through.

Thank you. Do you believe that you've been united with Christ in his death and also that you've been united with Christ in his resurrection? I do. I baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hi, church. My name is Ben Yang, and my family and I have been attending church for about a year now.

After listening to testimonies, college was a long time ago for me, so I won't talk about that. So many times when I hear testimonies of other believers, you know, there's a time I look and they talk about addictions and family drama or something else. I look back at my life and I realize my life's been pretty easy.

Who wants to listen to my testimony? I was baptized at my church growing up, but learned during BCC the reasons behind full immersion baptism. That's why I'm here today. I grew up a middle child, and there's drama to that, to parents who loved God and showed my siblings and I what it means to be a true Christian.

My family was never a traditional Korean family. We were often referred to as the Brady Bunch. Having grown up at a Presbyterian church, I was surrounded by other kids, similar beliefs to myself, and attending retreats and revival meetings. It was in junior high at a retreat where I decided to make the commitment to follow Jesus and accept him as my Lord and Savior.

I don't remember a whole bunch from my younger years, but I do remember realizing the sacrifice that he made was one so that I could be with him for all eternity. And I realized that if I believed in him, my life would be changed for the better. When I look back at my life, it's not that I haven't had my fair share of disappointment, sadness, or insecurities.

What gets me through these times is knowing that God loves me and is in control of my life. There's a sense of peace and contentment knowing that God is with me through all ups and downs. Knowing that God is truly in control of my life and my family's life allows me not to live a life of worrying of what tomorrow or the next day will bring along my way.

This isn't to say there aren't times where I have my doubts and concerns, but knowing that God who loves us and gave the ultimate sacrifice has my back is a feeling that allows me not to freak out at the challenges that come up. I've found strength in God and truly trust in his plan in my life and my family's life these past couple of years.

Some of you may know my son Connor. Those who were at VBS last year might recognize his name because he's the one everyone's yelling at, "Hey, Connor, stop that. Connor, come here." Connor was diagnosed as autistic when he turned two. There are still many days and nights where my wife and I are wondering why God made him this way.

One thing I never doubted is the fact that God did plan for him to be this way and that he was created in God's image. I am at peace in knowing that God loves him and is a plan for him as he grows up. Thanks for listening and I look forward to growing together with you here at Berean.

Thank you. >> Okay, Ben, do you believe that you've been united with Christ in his death and also his resurrection? >> I do. >> God's eyes are in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit. >> Hi, everyone. My name is Shannon and I'm a freshman at UCI and I've been at Berean since last November.

So here's my testimony. Growing up, I went to church every Sunday with my family. Although I heard the Bible stories and I memorized the Bible verses, I never really understood why I did these things. I thought it was simply because my parents wanted us to. Despite the message of love that I heard every Sunday, all I heard was the discord of my own family that made me feel so upset inside.

Throughout middle school and high school, I started understanding the message of Christianity, that Jesus died for my sins and if I accepted God as Savior, I would be saved. But my mind was set against it, feeling that it was so hypocritical to hear messages about God's grace and love and seeing such strife in my family.

I thought, if Christians look so good on the outside but have so many problems on the inside, isn't Christianity just so hypocritical? How could people claim to love God so much but hurt each other so much? I kept going to church on Sundays, but it was an empty routine because my parents insisted we go.

During this time, I also struggled with sexual immorality and I was left feeling very guilty. Now it wasn't just the strife in our house that made me a hypocrite, but my own actions and choices. The greater the guilt I felt, the more I felt distanced from the perfect God that I had spent my life hearing about.

Although I was in small groups and serving the church, and on the outside I looked so optimistic and like a good Christian, under the surface I was just judgmental and prideful and steeped in sin. Coming to college, I decided I was an adult now and my life was my own.

I became adamant in my rebellion against God. I didn't want anything to do with the church or Christianity, because all the sin in my life left me with a lot of guilt. But I thought that guilt came from a Christian background. So instead of struggling with my sin, I chose to live in it and hoped that the further I walked from Christianity, the less guilty I would feel.

Three weeks into college, I felt emotionally empty. The sexual immorality that I thought would be fun and liberating to embrace just left me feeling hurt and angry. The other worldly pleasures I pursued didn't give any fulfillment. The guilt didn't fade away, but only got worse and I couldn't understand why.

Everyone else living like this seemed to have a great time, so I decided to go to church in the hope of somehow feeling better or less guilty. I asked a homie about what church he was attending and I ended up at Berean. The service talked about humility and God's grace and I started to examine my own life.

Why did I think that my way was much better? Why had I walked away from church and I realized it was because I wanted to be the master of my own life and be in control? I started wondering if maybe letting God be the master of my life would be the answer to filling the emptiness.

I saw the joy that the people had around me during church. It wasn't out of social expectation. It was a true love for God and I wanted that. So I started coming out to Berean every weekend hoping that peace would magically come upon me if I came out to church enough.

I was still reluctant to give up my control of my life. I thought coming to church every Sunday was enough to be right with God again. Then one weekend, I don't remember what the message was, but I realized the wrath I deserve for my sins and especially for blatantly rejecting my creator and making myself God of my own life.

And I also realized that God was so gracious and loving. He could have chosen to punish me, but he pursued me and he gave me so many more opportunities to come before him and repent. And I realized what a gift salvation was and how loving God was. So I asked God for forgiveness for my rebellion and for my sins and I thanked him for the grace that he had given me by sacrificing Jesus to take the punishment and the wrath that I deserved.

I asked him to be the master over every aspect of my life and surrendered everything to him. In the months following, I saw my life changing before me. Even in the face of family problems that came up, instead of feeling fearful and angry, I felt confident knowing that God is sovereign and that he would use it for his glory.

Instead of seeing prayer or spending time in his word as a chore that would waste my precious time, I started feeling peace from spending time with him. I saw that all my time is his to use as he wills. I wanted to know him more and I still do.

Although I still struggle with sin, I'm no longer satisfied to live in it. I want my new life in Christ to be lived to bring him glory and to share his word and his relentless and unconditional love with others. So that's why I decided to get baptized. To show that although I said I was Christian in the past, my life has been flipped, turned upside down, from knowing who God is and what he has done for me.

I want to share it with everyone I know. Thank you. Hi, Shannon. Shannon, do you believe that you've been united with Christ in his death and also his resurrection? I do. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hello, everyone.

My name is Kevin. I'm a second year at UCI and started coming to Berean the start of this school year. And this is my testimony. I was born and raised into a Christian family. My parents were the ones that dragged me out to church in the beginning. However, you know, back in the day, I was too mature to really understand what was being taught.

And I would be told these Bible stories. I would be told the gospel. But I never really understood what was being taught. And this would probably be my spiritual life in elementary school. And I think middle school was when I started to be able to pick up on things and really, I guess, think for myself about some of these things.

When I was a middle schooler, I was plugged into my church's youth group where I would look up to older brothers and sisters and see how they would handle themselves being at church. And I would look up to them as my role models and examples. And I would quickly try to pick up on how they would handle themselves and try to incorporate that into my life.

I would read my Bible. I would pray. But it wouldn't really be for the purpose of myself. It was just to fit in and just to, you know, mimic the older brothers and sisters at my church. So this would probably be where I was at in middle school. I wouldn't say that, you know, I was a believer at the time and I was only intending just to fit in as well as just have friends.

As high school came by, many of the church leaders were moving on. And there was a big need for service for my youth group. And I volunteered to help lead worship. However, it wasn't really the purpose of serving the church. It was really just for self-glorification. I just wanted to look good.

And quickly after, I was humbled when a worship set that I led in front of the whole church went disastrously. And I found out that my purpose for leading worship is to honor and glorify God. It isn't to put myself on a pedestal and to glorify myself. So this was during my freshman and sophomore years.

And I thought just during this time, I thought that I was growing in my faith. But it wasn't until junior and senior year when I completely fell off the map in terms of my spirituality. Due to, you know, stress from school and a lot of stress from my parents, my parents really focused on grades.

They didn't really care about how I was doing spiritually or anything else really. They really pushed me and that's what really stressed me out and made me depressed. And also, in high school, I got bullied. And just during that time, it was, you know, really hard for me to really find someone to talk to.

It kept all of this bitterness inside of my heart. And I felt like I couldn't go to my parents because they would just talk to me about how my grades were doing. And just during this whole time, I stopped going to fellowship completely. And I isolated myself. And there were people at my church that were trying to reach out to me, but I made the decision to close myself off to everyone.

And I felt like I was alone and I had no one to comfort me. So, yeah, during that time, I wasn't seeking God at all. I was really focused on myself. I was very jealous. I was very envious of everyone because I really didn't know why all of this was happening to me.

And, you know, it got to the point where I just didn't really want to live anymore. But then, the summer leading into college, my home pastor decided he wanted to see how I was doing. And for some reason, I didn't close myself off to him, but because of the respect that I had for him, I agreed to meet up with him.

And I felt like during that meeting, that was a meeting that really changed my life. It really changed how I viewed certain things on life. I told him what was going on in high school. And he told me, you know, like, throughout that whole time, you weren't alone because God was always there with you.

And that was something that really convicted my heart. And that's something that I definitely hold on to all the way up to today. And something that he also really stressed about is the importance of finding a fellowship and a church when going to college. And because of the respect that I had for him, I guess I just wanted to try it out again.

I agreed to that. When I came to UCI, I joined CCM. And CCM was definitely a group that really, really grew me in my faith. So, yeah, joining CCM was really great for me because I joined small groups at the time. And small groups single-handedly changed my perception of Christianity.

And although I grew up in the church and all my life thought that I was a believer and I was saved, I came to realize what being a Christian was all about, and that was to honor and glorify God in all that we do. It was not during this time that I truly accepted Christ to be my one and true Savior.

So, during CCM small groups, we would go through Fundamentals of the Faith, as well as Desiring God by John Piper. And I began reading my Bible and actually praying to God out of a genuine desire to really learn more about him and really to connect with him in this way.

And my love for God grew so much during this time because I knew that he was watching over me throughout this whole transition. And it was during this time where I really felt convicted by the gospel message. And I really came to understand how much God loved and sacrificed for me.

I knew that I could trust God, knowing that it was truly his sacrifice that saved me from my sin and destination of hell. I did not just believe that God was real, but I knew that he was real, due to the circumstances and how my first year of college went about.

My eyes opened, making me realize how much of a sinner that I was. I remember truly repenting over my sins and asking God for forgiveness. There were definitely a lot of people that really played a role during my first year of college. A lot of older brothers that really reached out to me.

And there's a lot of them, so I don't want to name them all, but I just want to say that I love you guys a lot. You guys are definitely the reason why I'm still committed to church and CCM, just because you guys are encouragements to me. And you guys are definitely the light for me.

So I found a home and family at Berean Community Church, and I really feel connected to God at Berean. And everyone has definitely welcomed me with a joyful heart. And I'm excited to continue my journey and walk with Christ, and I believe that through CCM and Berean, I can accomplish that goal.

I've been baptized before, back when I was a junior in high school. However, I feel like I need to get baptized again, because my actions as a junior didn't reflect a justified and sanctified life. I was not a genuine believer. I never repented of my sins at the time, but rather got baptized because other people were getting baptized.

Since the beginning of my college career, I can now truly say that Christ is my first love, and that my relationship with Christ is the one thing that I will hold onto for the rest of my life. I realize that Christ is everything, the gospel is everything. I'm small, and he's big.

Just how it is stated in Galatians 2.20, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now have in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me." Thank you.

Baptize you in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit. Why don't we go ahead and stand together as we say our prayer.