But obviously, this is something grandly much more than that. This is not a, "Oh, nice, you're taking your faith a little bit more seriously now." This is an immense, immense moment because we realize that the baptism ceremony signifies a grand spiritual truth of the salvation of your soul. And so in order to prepare our hearts, I want to point our minds to the fact that, yes, visually they're entering into water, coming out of the water, all to symbolize the truth of salvation.

That as they do that by faith, they're uniting with Christ through faith. That their lives will be wrapped up in Christ. And that by their union, they would enter the water, symbolizing their death with Christ. That His sacrificial death is covering them. And so the penalty that they deserve for their sins is satisfied.

And in rising out of the water, they're uniting with Christ in His resurrection. That they would symbolize their newness of life that they have before the Lord. That God would cause them to be an absolutely new creation. These are all immensely huge spiritual realities. And a thing that I want to point to is the fact that this huge stark contrast is the contrast between death and life.

Is the contrast between far, far away from God as opposed to being one with God. It is not just a little line in the sand. This is a huge chasm wider than the Grand Canyon. And so when I say this is a huge moment for you not to be taken lightly, this is absolutely true.

But what's more, even what Jesus says in this passage that we're looking at, I'm going to make the case that this is more important than obviously any graduation you would participate in, especially because we have some students here. It's bigger than your high school graduation. It's bigger than even, may we say, marriage day.

It's bigger than perhaps in the future, the first time you grow your family and have a child. It might be even bigger than 50th anniversary. It's big. It's huge in its importance. And Christ is going to explain all the more why it is so important by the way He describes what salvation is in this one perspective.

Taking a look at this passage again, in Luke chapter 13, an individual who was walking with Christ simply asked a theological question or maybe even a question of reality. "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And Jesus answers by saying, "Strive to enter through the narrow door.

For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." That is quite one of the more difficult passages in Scripture to swallow, to comprehend. Are you saying that there are individuals who would actually want, they have a desire to enter into the kingdom and yet might not be able?

So the very first point I have for you in looking at that answer that Christ gives is that this is a huge moment for you. This is something of a privilege because there is a natural limitation to what Jesus says. And the point is, what you participate in today, only very few can say that they have as well.

Only very few can say that they have. Although yes, we understand that the gospel of Christ is an offer, is an invitation that has been cast to many, the sobering reality of it is there is a limitation because Jesus in his answer, he answers indirectly, but the way that he answers clearly says the statement of the reality that it is a limited few.

And therefore, we need to have a very thankful attitude, a very privileged attitude of this that has been given a narrow door. A narrow door by which we must enter has been given to us. He continues this theme of having a limited nature by the things he says next.

Take a look at verse 25 and following. He says, "Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, 'Lord, open up to us,' then he will answer and say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets.' And he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from, depart from me, all you evildoer.'" The next point I have for you is on top of the fact that this is something in many ways reserved for a very few, there is the reality that God will close the door.

God will close the door, he said. But there is a limitation, we can just simply say, on time. That God says in this passage, or Christ says in this passage, in yes, this is parabolic way, that God is going to, the owner of the owner is going to shut the door and even if people ask, he's going to say, "I don't know you." I want us to think about that for a moment.

Have you heard perhaps a gospel message where somebody has said to you, "Take your time, think about this. Sit over what's been said." Now all that, fair enough, sure, of course you want to be informed. But is it a true statement that God will always be there whenever you're ready?

That no matter how long you take, no matter how many chances you have, that God will extend his hand of grace to you? According to this, just as in the time of Noah, when Noah built an ark, and in the appropriate time it says that as the animals entered, as the family entered, it was God who shut the door.

That's really interesting to think about. For us, if ever we thought, maybe because we think, "I've got plenty of time, I haven't reached a certain stage of my life." There are a lot of people who are getting baptized who are really young. They're high school students, they're freshmen in college, so what, 16, 17, 18.

I'm so glad that you have heeded this call of God. Because although yes, you are young, you're absolutely right to feel a sense of urgency to decide now. Because it is an absolute lie if we believe, "I have plenty of years to decide." If we believe, "I'm young and I have plenty of time.

Once I reach a certain stage, once I reach that college years, once I reach that age when I'm an adult, once I reach that age when I have a family, once certain things are set and stable, then I'll think about it." That is an absolute lie. So there is this urgency, and that urgency continues starting from verse 26, and we repeat that verse 26 down to verse 28.

Take a look what he says. He talks about how the people who are shut outside, how they will speak. He says, "Then you will begin to say, 'We ate, drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.' And then he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from.

Depart from me, all you evil doers.' In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves being thrown out." The point I want to make with that is, added to the sense of urgency is how final it will be.

It is going to be absolutely final. In this passage, I want to highlight, no matter what excuse, no matter what rationale, argumentation they give, there is a finality to it. Yes, the gospel is clear that God is an incredibly patient God, amen? But the fact of the matter is, we should dare never be so presumptuous to think that we could abuse that patience.

There is going to be a finality when God judges, when God decides that it is time and He closes the door, there is going to be no second request, there is going to be no pleading, pounding on the door and saying, "Oh, come on!" There's nothing like that. And so there is a final judgment and it's going to be, according to this passage, devastating and tragic.

Devastating and tragic. It's almost as the picture of perhaps a prisoner standing with his face up against a chain-linked fence, wondering and only wishing. And perhaps to the audience, there is an incredibly convicting point. He says, "You're going to see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, whom you trusted to be your ticket into heaven, whom you thought automatically, 'I'm Abraham's child,' that you would get in." There's going to be a rude, rude awakening.

Perhaps we might complain and say, "Oh, I didn't get a fair chance. Come on, you gave that guy five chances." There is going to be none of that. God's judgment is final. By way of review, the points that I'm saying, all we're saying is there is a truth that Christ is telling us.

That this, what we're doing in the baptism, the decisions they have made, this is definitely not the same par as just doing some kind of preventative maintenance or a graduation to step up in their maturity. I repeat the idea I began with. There is a huge stark contrast between where they were and where they're headed.

There is a huge, huge divide. There is going to be eternal agony where there's gnashing of teeth, or there's going to be an eternal joy with God in His presence. And why am I talking about that? Because I want to make sure that the exhortation of Christ is received with the sobriety that He expects.

When He commanded in verse 24, "Strive to enter through the narrow door," I pray and hope that we do not hear that with, "Okay, sure, I'll try." With the urgency that He gives, the person simply asked the question, "Are there many people who are going to be saved, or is there just a few?" Do not dibble and dabble in just theology, but He is making a direct commandment, "No, you need to make sure." And for those of you who are here, I want to make the same plea and exhortation to you.

If there is such a serious divide, you need to make sure. If you go to the hospital to take a test on whether you have cancer, you cannot sit on that and say, "Well, I guess I'll take a look at it when I have time." You need to know.

If you understand that there are dire consequences here or there, you need to know. And I need to know. If you're a father, if you're a brother or a sister, if your child is in that hospital room with a physician, and they're doing operation, and they're doing exam, whether that individual is going to live or die, you will want to know.

And in that same way, I want to challenge you. When He says, "Strive," you need to know. You need to know who God is. Whether you believe He is a Creator or not, you need to know who Christ is, who is He, what has He come to do. You need to know where you stand in front of this God and in front of this Savior.

You need to know on which side you stand. And that is the gospel that Jesus is saying to us. You need to understand. And perhaps if you didn't hear a gospel like this before, maybe you've received the kind of gospel where someone said, "Well, all you need to do, no matter where you are, just come as you are.

You don't have to change. There's a free gift for you. Just come and take it." I want to say to you, it is a free gift that God gives you. Part of the reason why, although I said, "Yeah, this is more important than graduation. This is more important than a wedding ceremony," then you might wonder, "Then why don't we have a huge celebration?

Why don't we parade you around and be like, 'Yeah, you did it!'" It's because there is a free grace and gift given to you where all you have to do is go through the door. It's not based on your work, your track record, or anything that is meritorious to you.

However, the gospel that we receive and the urgency that we receive cannot be dissected from God Himself. Where we think solely upon, "How do I come and how do I get this free gift?" without understanding what is God doing and who is He to us. And therefore, this is what I would like to say as a last exhortation.

The amazing part of the gospel that we understand from this passage as well is, yes, there is this momentous, impetus call for us to see the urgency, to see the great divide and come and enter to that narrow door. But the amazing truth, in verse 29, He says, "And they will come from the east and from the west, from the north and the south, and recline at the table of the kingdom of God.

And behold, some are last who will be first, and some who are first will become last." I want to say to you, the truth of the matter is, yes, the flock is small and the gate is narrow. And not every single person will be saved, which is an incredibly sobering reality.

But the grace of God is that although not everyone will be saved, anyone can be. It doesn't matter if we're from the east, it doesn't matter if we're from the west, it doesn't matter if we're low, it doesn't matter if we're weak. Should we be willing to come and heed the invitation of Christ?

The offer is there. And He beseeches us, "Walk through this door." And therefore, the admonition is there for us. Strive to enter. And I want to make this call again, if you're here with us visiting, especially those of you who are family and friends, please don't see this as they are just simply maturing and they're getting spiritual.

They have made and heeded Christ's call to enter into His kingdom. And the same offer is made to you. And the same urgency is there for you. You would need to come to this gate and when the Lord says, "Come through this narrow door," I pray that you would say, "Yes, I will." And if He says, "And you have to leave the baggage behind you," then you would say, "Sure, gladly." Because you are the God of the universe.

You are the Savior. So at this time, we're going to hear the testimony of how, for these brothers and sisters, God has led them to that point where they would come to Him, to come to repentance and faith. Let's take a moment to pray for them as they come, and then we'll invite our first person to enter, to come to the pulpit to share their testimony.

Heavenly Father, we thank You so much that God, You warn and instruct us. We are in our own state, deceived and fooled to think that we're okay, to think that we're safe in this life. Lord, we thank You that You warn us. Lord, there is judgment to come. And time is of essence.

Lord, I ask that You would continue to just convict us of this truth and hear Your words of grace that You have said, "Whosoever would come, whosoever would repent and humble themselves, You would not turn away." We thank You, Lord, that You are such a gracious and merciful God.

We want to be encouraged and we want to glorify You in remembering all the stories and testimonies of the brothers and sisters now. Would You grant to them boldness and strength? And Lord, would You grant to them clarity as they speak? We thank You in Christ's name, amen. Amen.

Would you join with me in giving a warm welcome to our first sister, Kate Lee. Hello. My name is Kate Lee, as Pastor Mark just mentioned, and I'm going to be getting baptized today. So I'm getting baptized for two reasons. Number one, I was sprinkled at the age of 15 at a Presbyterian church, but I can't say that I was a genuine believer at that time.

And number two, I was really blessed reading Colossians 2.12. I'll read that right now. Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised Him from the dead. So because of this verse, I wanted to partake in the physical representation of my new life that Christ brought upon in me.

Okay, so now I'm going to start my testimony. Ironically, I gave my life to Jesus during my freshman year of college, which was 2011. And I say ironic because it was the place I wanted all of my worldly dreams to come true. So growing up, I was severely ambitious.

I was really hungry for a worldly career. I wanted to climb up the corporate ladder as soon as possible. I like bluntly stated, I just wanted to be the best. And I didn't want anyone getting in my way of my success. But all the more, I was having one foot in the world and one foot with God.

While pursuing these worldly goals, I wanted to still be a Christian and go to heaven. And I wanted to be this rich, worldly, successful Christian because that's totally possible, right? I see it all the time. It's like, I don't know, I just thought it was normal. But my dreams were crushed when I went to college.

And my pastor preached these crazy truths. He said, if you want to be a disciple of Jesus, you have to take up the cross, surrender everything, and follow Him. And yeah, I was so confused. So if that wasn't crazy enough, he said, it is so hard for those who are rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And I thought that was so strange because out of the five years that I grew up in youth group, I never heard words like that. So I thought I was at a cult or something. But I actually checked with the Bible and I found out that those were the words that Jesus actually said, and I couldn't argue with it.

And so I knew I wanted to love Jesus, and I know He died for me so that I can have eternal life. But I was really involved in my university, just working all the time, studying nonstop. And I was super stressed and anxious with all the work I was doing.

Yeah, it was just, I was crazy. But I knew I had to pick a side because it was so hard to live both lives. As I mentioned, I had one foot in the world and one foot with God. And the more and more I found out about the truth, I couldn't do both.

The two worlds were separating, and I knew at one point I had to pick a side. And God was graciously revealing to me my pride and my lukewarm faith. I began to realize I was extremely self-centered and prideful. You know in Philippians, it says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit." I was doing everything from selfish ambition or conceit.

And I was also really convicted by the disciples in Matthew because when they met Jesus, they immediately, immediately left everything to follow Jesus. They left their parents and they left their jobs, like their only source of income as fishermen to just be with Jesus. And I knew that I had to surrender my career ambitions to seek Jesus because my pride was a hindrance to my faith and my ambitions were blinding me from seeing God.

So one thing after another, I slowly began giving things up, whether it was like certain activities or grades or like the way I studied, whatever it is. And at every stage that I surrendered something, God met me so much more and began to show me the sweetness of his mercy and grace.

So through the word and grace of God, I began to genuinely hate my sins and weep over them. And while I was seeing my sins, I was really depressed and broken. But in light of seeing how great my sins were, I realized how much greater the crucifixion was that he actually died for me.

And all of what he did on the cross was to pay for our sins. It was so awesome. Sorry, I was looking for my place. He died the death that I deserved and lived the life that I couldn't live so that I can be in union with him forever.

And to me, that was crazy. And in response to understanding these truths, I knew I couldn't live my old life anymore. And in light of seeing like how great this eternal life was, I didn't care to succeed in the world the way I wanted to, because God already gave me eternal life of fullest joy.

And so I, yeah, God began to change me a lot throughout college. I wasn't as anxious over little things because I trusted him with the greatest thing. It's kind of like the lesser to greater logic. If God took care of the greatest thing, which is my eternal life, then it doesn't make sense for me to worry about little things like when my next paycheck is coming or where I'm going to go next or stuff like that.

It just doesn't make sense. It's just silly. And as if that wasn't enough, he didn't just die for me and let me figure out the rest of my Christian life on my own. But while pointing out my sins to me, he gave me grace to fight through them too.

So that's like the continual grace of God that I experienced throughout college. And my entire character just began to change. I grew like less bitter as he healed me of certain relationships. And I actually wanted to love and care for other people and like love them. And that was weird because I just cared about having like superficial friendships.

And as I mentioned, I grew a lot less anxious. So though I had this nice university education, a well-built resume, and a highly coveted job offer at the end of college, it all seemed like complete rubbish in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord. And I was no longer suffocated by worldly standards.

I was no longer like hungry from pride and these like never-ending ambitions. Everything just seems so meaningless. Like they're all going to fade anyway. I have eternal life. Why does it matter? And yeah, in contrast, I was completely satisfied by God's presence and work in my life. And I really did feel like a new creation.

So in lieu of all this, I didn't want to go back to my old life. I was totally in love, head over heels, committed to Jesus from experiencing all of this. And yes, it is a struggle. I still see my sins over and over again, but I have experienced the fullness of God, God's presence and work in my life that I understand that obeying and abiding in Him is far greater than the temporary satisfaction of sin.

So because of all that Christ has done for me, my life was His. That's the only natural response that I could have for understanding the truth. And it was no longer under my control in the anxious way that I wanted to plan my whole life and my future, but I just wanted to give up my whole life to God.

And again, like as in response, I wanted God to do whatever He wanted or needed with my life, wherever He wanted me to go. So I surrendered this pretty little American dream I had of my life and let God write my story. So by the grace of God, out of college, I rejected this job offer that I really wanted.

And I spent a year just serving in my college ministry and just working part-time to make ends meet and just discipling girls, like teaching the word. It was just so awesome. And then, if that's not crazy enough, God led me to go to Japan for two years to teach the word to Japanese children who've never heard the gospel before.

And I don't have time to tell you my testimony of Japan, but it was some of the hardest years of my life, but also where I felt and experienced God's greatest intimacy. So pretty much... Oh, actually. So now I'm here getting my teaching credential, which is totally unexpected of what I wanted to do five years ago.

And God radically changed my life, and I've never been so joyful and full of life since. So that's my testimony, and I'm so thankful that I got to share it. And I hope that as I shared it, you all can keep me accountable in case, for some reason, I want to run away and someone in here has to rebuke me and bring me back.

So thank you. If you understand that when you go into the water, you're united with Christ and his death, and then when you come out, you're united with Christ and his resurrected life? Yeah. I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hi, my name's Anthony.

I'm a first year in college, and this is my testimony. So like most people, I was born and raised in a church and went to Sunday school every week. As a kid, I grew up being very anxious and never really had any friends within the church. And because of this, I was just constantly afraid of talking to people.

I never really understood why we went to church and hated going for the most part. I didn't understand sin. I didn't understand who God was. And I didn't understand what any of that had to do with me. The next few years into my junior high, my home church relocated, and I stopped attending Sunday school.

And in this time, while I was still surrounded by a Christian environment, it was the beginning of my distance away from God. Fast forward a few years to when I was a sophomore in high school. I was super stressed about an Algebra 2 test I had the next day, and I was as moody and anxious as a teenager can be.

And for reasons I can't exactly remember, I got into the biggest fight of my life with my mom. There was yelling, slamming tables, and words that shouldn't have been said. I was so mad that I had every intention of hurting my mother, and specifically remember the words that came out of my mouth.

I said, "It's because of you I don't go to church anymore." And while I myself was frozen in that moment about how much my anger took over me, I'm sure as a mother, there was almost nothing more heartbreaking you can ever hear from your own son. The next day, I actually ended up failing the Algebra 2 test.

But more importantly, the fight I had with my mom made me really evaluate what I was doing with my life. I was conflicted about how I grew up in a Christian household, yet wanting to have nothing to do with God, and knew I had to make a decision in how I lived my life.

I'm ashamed to say that that day, I ended up making the mental decision to cut off any ties I had with God and with church. And to be honest, for a while, I felt burden-free and content with my life. There was no more worry, no more guilt, and no more shame.

The thing was that my whole life, even as I got older, I started to learn about science and evolution in science class. I always believed that there was God. I just didn't care. To a certain extent, I knew I was going to hell, but none of that really mattered to me.

And in this period of time, my apathy turned into bitterness, which eventually turned into a season of hatred towards God. The next year, when I was a junior in high school, I had the biggest crush on a girl that I thought I could be potentially in love with. Long story short, I was rejected.

I idolized this girl so much that my emotional state was at its all-time low. It was my first ever broken heart that lasted almost two years to the middle of my senior year, the same time all the other seniors were stressed because of college. In that time, the culmination of anxieties about the future and my still-broken heart made me desperate to find answers and happiness from somewhere.

Later on, as the guilt of not having touched my Bible in so long began to grow, I had a friend who coincidentally asked me to come out to his church. I was curious about what they had to say and initially just went to clear my conscience. As I continued to come out for a while, I don't remember the messages, but it caused me to contemplate about what my purpose in life is and the relevance of God in it.

But in the end, I still felt empty and stubborn to admit that God can mend my heart. Within the next few months, two very prominent people came into my life. One of them, ironically, was my big sister, who loved me unconditionally until the birth of my life. The other was my new brother-in-law, who somehow convinced me and brought me out to my first ever Berean College Bible study.

In this time, I was still broken from the past and anxious about the future and life in general, but when I saw them get married, it was my first exposure to clearly seeing God's love and sovereignty shine through that left me in awe. Through them, it was the first time in my life where I ever heard the gospel and truly believed that I was a sinner.

When I first came to Berean, I honestly thought I was a Christian because of how I was raised, but also struggled with the thoughts that I had already gone too far down the road of sin to be forgiven. I was anxious more than ever due to the new environment, but as I kept attending, my grief towards my own sin began to grow as I started to learn about God's forgiving character.

Even now, I honestly still don't completely understand His mercy and how He could ever forgive someone like me, a sinner, who neglected Him multiple times throughout his life. After I truly repented for the first time in my life and declared God as my Lord and Savior, I found comfort knowing that He knew how lost and empty I was, even after my season of hatred, that He never changed and sent His Son to die on the cross to atone for my sins.

I admitted my weakness and my utmost dependency on Him and started to see how He sovereignly orchestrated my life from the beginning to where I am now by transforming my sinful heart of stone. By God's grace alone, He has saved me from my sin and is the reason why I am here today.

Lastly, I would just like to share Romans 6, 17-18. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you are committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Thank you. I think you understand when you're going into the water, you're uniting with Christ in His death, and then when you come out of the water, you're uniting with life. I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hello, everyone. My name is Nicole, and I'm currently part of the Berean Adult Ministry, and I'm here to share with you all God's saving work in my life.

Sorry. Okay. Sorry. Okay. I grew up attending a Christian church where I learned about God, Jesus, numerous Bible stories, and what I needed to believe to go to heaven. I actively participated in church at my home church, volunteering in the children's ministry, getting baptized in ninth grade, attending endless prayer meetings, going on overseas missions, and participating in almost every conference and retreat.

I loved going to church, and church was where I felt most comfortable and where I had met my closest friends. I, with many others around me, thought that I was a good Christian. Yet in the midst of it all, I didn't know who God was or what the gospel was, more so what the gospel is to me personally.

I didn't have the need for a savior because although I knew and even stated I'm a sinner, I didn't really see myself as a sinner. Though I would not voice out my thoughts, I was comparing myself with others, thinking I was good because I didn't do "bad things" and failed to see the sins in my own heart, namely my unbelief and rebellion towards God, and the desire for self which was reflected in the way I was at home or wherever I didn't feel the need to appear good.

"I am a sinner" was one of the points I needed to believe to go to heaven. I sought out God because I didn't want to go to hell, not because I saw my sins as sinful and needed Christ to cleanse me from my sins. As a young child, whenever I would question whether I was saved or not, I would assure myself with the fact that I've prayed or I've done Christian works.

I also relied on how others thought of me to assure myself of my salvation. My goal was to go to heaven, and I was doing what I thought I could to get there. My view of God was also wrong. I saw God as one loving and forgiving, but His holiness and justice was something I didn't consider or understand.

With this wrong, one-sided view of God, I took God's grace for granted, sinning and consoling myself that God's grace forgives me. I had the form of religion but was self-righteous and self-seeking, pursuing what pleases my flesh and was not a Christian. What happened? God revealed the gospel to me through a variety of avenues.

During the summer after I graduated high school, I randomly came across a gospel YouTube clip where the preacher used God's law to first help the hearer recognize their need of a Savior and then share Christ's work on the cross. Initially, I watched it, wanting to learn how I can share with others, but one night, I began reflecting on myself and realized I was in the same sinful state, but I had not understood it before.

That's when I first really understood that I was not good and therefore I needed Jesus. Secondly, a college staff member at my home church led a verse-by-verse study of Romans where I saw how holy and loving God was, and the gospel became very clear that God in His holiness demanded justice for sin, that I deserved His just wrath, yet He showed His love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I was humbled, realizing that I was relying on my works for salvation. Furthermore, I started attending Burien's college Bible study where I was made to reflect on whether I loved Christ or simply the things of Christ. By God's grace, I recognized I am a sinner in need of a Savior, and near the end of college, in the privateness of my own room, I came to God in repentance of my sins and received Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

Throughout the period of recognizing these truths about God, the gospel, and myself, I went through numerous doubts about whether I was saved. I knew I wasn't a Christian previously, and I didn't want to make that same mistake again. Through these moments of doubts, God in His mercy helped me see that it is by Christ's death and resurrection that I am cleansed completely from my sins and that I can approach God not because I've done X amount of works, but by faith in Christ and in His work alone.

I am thankful to God because I know that it is God who has begun His work in me and He will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. I thank God for not leaving me in my condemned state where I was presuming that I was a Christian because I've done the Christian things and had knowledge of the Bible, but instead shown me mercy by revealing Himself and the gospel through His word.

I thank God for changing my heart. Before I viewed obedience as an obligation, but now I desire to obey God. Before I simply loved the things of Christ, but now I desire Christ and His ways. May all glory and praise be to God who sent His only Son Jesus to save me from my sins and for being the author and perfecter of my faith.

Thank you. You understand that when you go into the water, you're united with Christ in His death, and when you come out, you're united with Christ in His resurrected life. And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Hello. My name is Jonathan, and this is my testimony. All my life, I've grown up in church surrounded by an immense amount of Christian influence. Having much of my family heavily involved, I learned at a very young age that church is important and we need to go every week so we can learn about Jesus.

However, even though I had an idea of Christianity and that I needed to obey God in order for me to please Him, my life didn't necessarily reflect this. Aside from church, I rarely acknowledged God in my life and focused on pleasing myself, whether it would be playing with my friends or whining to my parents so I could get what I wanted.

Only at church or when my parents would read me the Bible would I actually think about God. Many things that I was taught never really stayed in my mind and would go through one ear and not the other. In fourth grade, I began to start cussing at school with my friends, separating my church life with school life even more.

It was during this time where God began to reveal my sin and that I needed to repent and ask for forgiveness. I remember feeling anxious and full of guilt as I didn't really understand God's forgiveness and felt that I somehow needed to make up for my sin. Despite my tendency to keep things to myself and not expose my sins, my convictions drove me to reveal them to my mom and tell her of my profanity.

During this time, she must have shared the gospel. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I remember feeling an extreme amount of relief as I realized that Jesus came down to die for me in order to take away my sin. I can lay all my burdens on Him because He has already paid for that on the cross and there's nothing I can do to earn His favor.

In Isaiah 118, it says, "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." From then on, I felt a huge burden lifted. I prayed to God as long as I could remember, but it was probably around this time that I prayed with saving faith and began to actually seek a personal relationship with God.

I read His word every day and had a desire to please God in everything I did. I can definitely say that my relationship with God was not perfect after this moment. There has been countless times where I've sinned against Him, causing me to question my faith and whether or not I am really saved.

In my life, I've sinned over and over again, and after each time, I sometimes struggle to humble myself before God and repent for the same sin that I have done before as I feel a sense of guilt and unworthiness for God's forgiveness again. How can He forgive me when I just committed that sin yesterday?

However, God is gracious and merciful and He has already paid for my sins today and for the rest of my life. Hebrews 10.22 says, "Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." I know that this doesn't mean that I shouldn't care about my sins anymore, as there should be a sense of guilt that the Holy Spirit instills in me.

It is the Almighty God who I am sinning against after all. However, God has taught me that my relationship with Him should not be defined by this guilt, but should be defined by gratitude because I know that Jesus has freed me from my sins. Although there are times when I can't help but feel sorrowful, the guilt leads me to repentance as I don't want my sins to hinder my love for Him.

In response, I not only have peace in my heart, but as I continue to live my life, I have a desire to know about this gracious God who has saved me, a disgraceful sinner, and called me His son. Reading God's Word and having a strong relationship with Him helps me to fight against my sins as I try to acknowledge God in all my actions.

I know that I will never be perfect, but because I am grateful for what Jesus has done, it causes me to desire to please God and live my life for Him. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5, 14-15, "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again." Thank you. Just to explain, this is his father. He's not some stranger just taking over. He's one of the elders of our church, and I asked him to come and help.

I know Jonathan and Faith, they've been members here longer than 99% of our church. I know that many of you invested in them, prayed for them, and you probably can't believe how old you are seeing how old they are, and standing here giving their testimony. I know a lot of you guys invested your time and energy, so we're very thankful for all the teachers, all the Sunday school teachers, and especially the youth group teachers who've been investing in them, but especially the parents, and obviously the father and mother who've invested and prayed for them for so many years.

That's why I asked Elder Philip to come, and he's going to help out with the baptism. Okay? Jonathan, do you understand when you go into the water, you're united with Christ in His death, and when you come out of the water, you're united with His resurrected life? And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Hi. My name is Faith. I'm a sophomore in high school, and this is my testimony. Being a pastor's kid kind of meant going to church regularly every Sunday, and then attending Wednesday Bible studies during the week. And then during Sunday school, I knew all the questions, or the answers to all the questions asked about the Bible story that we were taught that day.

And then I prayed, and I gave a dollar for offering every week. And I memorized all of my memory verses and sang all the songs, and I prayed for offering when it was my turn. And in Sunday school and in regular days, I guess, I was a good kid.

I didn't really get in trouble that often, and I usually listened right away, especially in Sunday school, because my mom was the teacher back then. And then, yeah, so overall, I was a good kid. But even though I went to church and I learned about God, I didn't really understand why I went to church or why I was learning about God.

I just did it because I had to and because my parents were Christian. And then when I went to youth group, I felt like everything, like all the stories that I had learned about in the Bible had changed, and they became for older people. And so I couldn't understand what I was learning on Sundays.

But then, yeah, so then I couldn't understand all the sermons Pastor Mark was teaching. And then because of that, I couldn't answer the questions in small group, and so I was always kind of quiet, I guess. And then a little bit after I joined youth group, I started understanding, and I started questioning why I went to church and why I believed God.

And then in eighth grade, I kind of figured out all the answers to my questions, but I still wasn't really sure why I believed God was real. And then, so like I said before, I was a pretty good kid, and I didn't really get in trouble. But then at the end of eighth grade, in the beginning of ninth grade, there was a lie I had told to my parents, and it stretched out for a while.

And they found out, and then I got in trouble, obviously. But then even though I got in trouble, I asked for forgiveness, and they forgave me right away. And so I don't know why, but it was just so amazing to me that my parents could forgive me right away, even though I had committed what seemed to me like a big sin.

And then so that caused me to think, if my parents could forgive me right away for something that seemed so big to me, how could God forgive me of all my sins that I committed and will commit, and even more, that he would send his son to die for me?

So that was my life-changing story. But then that night, I prayed to God and asked him to forgive me, and then I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. And then I also prayed with my parents, and I had a big talk with them about lying. And so in the youth group, we got to memorize Philippians 2, 5-13, but verses 5-8 really stood out to me.

Have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

So even now, I still don't have answers to all my questions, but I have the answer to the most important question. I know who God is to me, and I know what he means to me, and I'm saved by grace and grace alone, and through God's grace, I'm able to have a relationship with him.

So I have faith that I will grow more in my knowledge with him, and my relationship with him will make it stronger. Even though I sin constantly, I know I have faith that God will always be there, and I'll always be able to turn to him whenever I need to.

Thank you. Do you understand when you go into the water, you're united with Christ in his death, and you come out, you're united with Christ in his resurrected life? I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hey, everyone. My name's Angelo. I'm a first year at UCI, and this is my testimony.

I did not grow up in a Christian household. I started going to a church in the seventh grade, and there I was introduced to the gospel. At that time, I believed I accepted Christ, but now if I were to look back at my life, I do not believe I was saved because of my understanding of the gospel was incomplete.

I essentially proclaimed to accept Christ because I feared hell, and I thought that was the end of my Christian faith. When I started high school, I started going to my current home church. There, my view of God expanded. I learned that although God is wrathful, he is also loving and merciful.

Through church services, youth group, and interactions with the church community, I had a better understanding of what it meant to worship a God that loves. However, my understanding of God was still very shallow. The context of most of my prayers would just be me asking God for his blessings.

Essentially, I still live for the things of the world, and I thought God was a tool to help me get about life easier. I believed in a loving and merciful God, but did not truly understand what it meant to declare him as Lord over my life. Around my junior year of high school, I entered a season of apathy towards my faith.

I was rarely convicted for messages on Sunday services or Friday night youth group. I felt like I've already heard every sermon, and I did not find much value in reading scripture. I was overwhelmed by responsibilities as a student preparing for standardized testing. I was physically and mentally drained with daily volleyball practices.

Being at home also added to the overall stress level I had because of family issues and pressure to do well in school. Overall, God has stripped everything away from me. During this time, it was during this time that I realized that following the course of this world had no value.

I eventually approached God in prayer, confessing my pursuit for glory and worldly success. I put my faith in God, trusting that despite whatever unfortunate circumstances I was in, that God was still somehow a God of love. One of the major things I declared God's lordship over was my volleyball career.

Throughout high school, I invested so much time and energy in volleyball. After I repented over my sins and truly accepted Christ, I had a change of attitude through the way I played volleyball. Despite being the captain of my volleyball team my senior year, I no longer cared as much about my performance, but instead I cared about the message I would be sending to my teammates through the way I played volleyball.

Ultimately, I found less value in the competitive aspect of volleyball and more value in showing sportsmanship and encouraging team unity. As my last year of high school ended, I wanted to grow in faith, but I did not know how to. Despite accepting Christ, I felt that my view of God was still so small.

I knew that something was wrong with me, feeling like I've heard every sermon before. So all I really knew how to do was pray for God to reveal himself to me. During my first week of college, I came to Berrien. When I arrived, I remember feeling so welcome. I realized that everyone's eagerness to get to know me, to ask about my name, my major, where I'm from, was all rooted in their love for Christ and their desire to get collegians rooted in a church.

I wanted to develop this great love for Christ that I saw through my brothers and sisters at Berrien. Eventually, I discovered that the core of this faith that I saw through the community at Berrien was founded by scripture. As time went on, I was constantly enlightened and convicted by the expository preaching at Berrien and recognized the richness of God that can be revealed through scripture.

In response, I decided to root myself in Berrien and even in my own time, I would study scripture, which was something I never truly found value in, in the past. Overall, God has been merciful to reveal his worthiness to me through his living word and work of the spirit, which is why I can joyfully proclaim my identification with his death and resurrection today.

Thank you. So you understand when you're going into the water, you're united with Christ in his death, and when you come out, you're united with his resurrected life. I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hi, my name is Jennifer, and I'm currently a fourth year at UCI.

Ever since I was young, I grew up attending church with my family. I was baptized when I was 10 years old, but I did not understand the totality of the gospel, the way in my sins, and who God was until I came to college. Growing up, I thought sin was external acts like deceit, cheating, stealing, and murder.

I thought only pastors read the Bible. I prayed to God as if he was a genie. I never really paid attention to a sermon, and I focused on having good Christian morals to identify myself as a Christian. Because I thought sin was only an external act, I was blind to other sins of the heart, such as pride, selfishness, fairness, and overall ungodliness that tore apart my relationships with my family.

I lived my life as my own God, desiring my own glory. Psalms 53 says, "The fool says in his heart there is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good." I was blinded and indifferent to what sin was, and had a skewed view of God.

My identity was rooted in the world's standards and expectations of getting good grades, going to college, and being successful. When I left to start college, I knew I wanted to join a Christian fellowship and find a church to attend, not to grow my love for God, but for Christian friends who had similar values as me.

In the first couple weeks of fall quarter of my freshman year, a few sisters and I talked a lot about God. Specifically, they would talk about wanting to grow in the faith, and because I didn't want to seem off and awkward, I said, "Me too." But in my head, I was thinking, "Oh my gosh, these girls are those extreme crazy Christians, and what does growing in your faith even mean?" Around this time, I also started attending Brain and CCM, which is a Christian campus ministry in Irvine.

And when I began to actually listen to sermons and read God's word, God opened my eyes and humbled my heart and heart by revealing to me the seriousness of sin in my life, and the hatred God had for sin. And it was so deeply rooted in my heart, and that I was in rebellion against God every single day.

There was nothing I could do to save myself, but God is so faithful and merciful to an undeserving sinner like me, for sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross and bear my sins, and three days later, resurrect so that I can be forgiven of my sins and receive his amazing gift of salvation.

As it says in Ephesians 2, 4-5, "But God being rich in mercy, and because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved." Knowing this truth and the weight of my sins, I repented, asking God for forgiveness of my sins, which drew me further away from him, and asked that he would reign in my heart and be Lord over my life.

Knowing Christ's love and recognizing my sin for heart, opened my eyes to see my pride of sin and lack of love towards my parents. I was humble in desire to seek reconciliation and reflect Christ's love to them. From freshman year until now, God has grown my faith, love, and obedience to him through the reading of his word and through prayer.

He challenges me to trust and depend on him in every circumstance, reminding me that my identity is ultimately founded upon Christ. He continues to reveal sins to me that I was once blinded to, and would never consider to be sinned, because I rationalized that they were part of my personality.

For example, I tend to be a very anxious person, whether it be about grades, driving, my financial situation, and the future in general. There are many times I was consumed by these thoughts during the day and lost sleep over them. Even though anxiety may not seem serious in my eyes, God continues to remind me that it is a sin and it is serious in his eyes.

My anxiety represents a lack of trust in God and his sovereignty over my life. In times of anxiety, I had to surrender all these thoughts to God, but continually repent of them and ask God to grow my trust in him, knowing that I am weak. I can confidently say that he is good, sovereign, and true peace is only found in him.

Colossians 3, 1-3 says, "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is ending with Christ and God." Throughout the past few years, I have been constantly humbled and reminded to surrender my whole life to him, seeking to exalt him in everything.

Although I repeatedly sin and fail, I am eternally grateful for his mercy and grace that allows me to persevere and seek to give glory to him in all that I do. Do you understand that when you go into the water, you're united with Christ in his death? When you come out, you're united with his resurrected life?

I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Alright, hello. My name is John Choi. I'm currently in BAM. I was raised in a Christian family and both my parents were pastor kids. I have one older brother, Chris Choi. He also goes to Brigham, you guys may know.

So, because I was raised in a Christian family, I would go to church every Sunday. And during those Sunday services, I would hear, "All you need to do is believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and you are saved." So as a kid, that meant I could do whatever I wanted as long as I believed in Jesus.

So in high school, I would party after my football games and go to church on Sundays. I would have no remorse for my sins. I thought I was good because compared to my other friends, I went to church on Sundays. This Adrian mindset carried over to college. I went to Irvine Valley College for two years and transferred to Davis.

But during my time at IBC, I went to Bruin for one year, but I honestly hated it because I thought it was a bunch of Pharisees who never struggled with sin. They did not fit the mold of what I thought a Christian looked like. My thought of a Christian was, "It's okay to sin because you have Jesus." I thought everyone in Bruin were faking it and just wearing masks.

I changed ministries and went to a ministry that fit my criteria of Christianity. I found friends that were okay with partying and going to church. We would party together on weekends and go to church. We would routinely arrive late to church every Sunday. So my heart was not there in worship and it was honestly just a checkbox off my list.

I transferred to Davis where I found a place in the middle of nowhere and knew no one. But honestly, this was a blessing in disguise. My first week there, I had one of those broken down moments. After coming home from a fraternity party, I broke down and asked myself, "What am I doing?

Is this how my mother raised me?" I went down on my knees and I cried out to God to help me. I took my faith more seriously. I served in my church. I went to overseas missions and served as a small group leader. So transformation started to happen. However, I noticed that I was still involved with drinking with my friends.

I felt like my life was no different than a non-Christian. I realized there were certain sins that I could not escape. So after I graduated, I noticed that my friends that I served with and drank with stopped going to church. And that's when I moved down to San Diego and told myself, "I have to go to church." So I did find a church and during my time in San Diego, I was just a Sunday churchgoer and didn't really serve.

I just went back to partying and sometimes even instigating house parties on weekends. After San Diego, however, I got a new job in Orange County. And before I moved, I told myself I wanted to find a church that would keep me accountable. I did not care about fellowship or hanging out with people that had my same interests.

I wanted to find a church that knew the truth and preached the truth. I knew that brand from freshman year, so I decided to go here. I will listen to sermons about this post-Christian world that we live in. How we live in a world that cheapens grace. Sermons about nominal Christians or being cultured in the church.

Also sermons on what a real Christian looks like as well. It's not just saying, "I believe in Jesus Christ and I'll be saved." It's more than that. If you are truly saved, you have to separate yourself from the world. You cannot love the worldly things and love God. I evaluated myself and I realized I met the criteria of a nominal Christian or a Christian that has been cultured in the church.

It took me almost half my life to realize it, but I'm blessed that God revealed it to me at this time. It's a scary thought because all your life you think that you're a Christian, but you're really not. With how much I have sinned and how many times I've cheapened His grace, He could have easily kept me blinded of my iniquities.

Instead, He showed me grace and mercy upon me and showed me the truth and the light of what it means to pick up the cross and follow Him. I thank Him for not leaving me during those times in college when I had no heart for worship. He tugged onto my heart little by little.

He gave me a conscience and made me question myself and my faith. God showed me so much patience and grace in my life and it makes me want to do the same for others. So as I get baptized today, I am professing that God is Lord over my life and I will no longer live with the world, but live for Christ and Jesus Christ only.

God bless and thank you. You understand when you're going into the water, you're united with Christ's death and when you come out, you're united with His resurrected life? Yes. And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (applause) you