>> Hello. My name is Kevin, Kevin Lee, and this is my testimony. Before conversion, I was lost and gave into many fleshy desires. Often I was jumping from one worldly satisfaction to another, and there were really three main things that I idolized. None of these things are bad in nature, but the desires of my heart and my lack of wisdom led to idolatry.

The first was woman. Growing up, seeing other couples would naturally influence me into wanting a girlfriend. When I got into a relationship, that was the thing that I idolized. She was the center of my life. The second was school. I was addicted to success and allowed the pursuit of worldly knowledge to take over my life.

Lastly, it was my social life. I was always a people pleaser and rarely said no to going out, clubbing, drinking. I lived my life the way I wanted to because I thought my life was my own. I was blinded by darkness because believing that my life was my own completely contradicted God's word.

First Corinthians chapter 6, 19 through 20 says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you are bought with a price, so glorify God in your body." After not attending church throughout college, I started attending Berean after I graduated.

I graduated college. Almost unconsciously, I began saying after sermons, attending Bible study, and enrolling in BCC, the basics in Christianity class. Quite frankly, I was surprised. This was unlike myself. At one Bible study, there was someone who I got to know, and he hit me with the tough question.

Would you consider yourself a Christian? Initially, my answer was yes because I had grown up in a Christian home like many of us. But as we kept talking, I quickly realized, no, I was not a Christian. I did not remember the last time I opened up the Bible. I lived from my fleshy desires, and I had no idea who God actually was.

Over the next couple of weeks of reading scripture and just being blown away by the things that God was revealing to me, I was convicted to the point of ending the relationship with my girlfriend at the time. She was a nonbeliever. And scripture says, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?" 2 Corinthians 6.14.

She was confused. My friends were -- my unbelieving friends were confused. They were even more confused when I said this was to glorify God. But it made so much sense to me because it was the first step in -- the first step I took in obeying God. I surrendered to my convictions, and I placed faith in Him.

Another night after Bible study, I was playing ping pong with Pastor Mark. It was quiet. And I told him what had happened, and that although I was truly broken, I was eager to know what I needed to do next. Pastor Mark and I prayed that night, asking the Lord for forgiveness.

I needed to ask for forgiveness because I destroyed my relationship with God. Just because I was going to church again didn't mean God and I were on good terms. In submission, I asked, "Lord, please set me free from the kingdom of darkness." And really, this was the start of my reconciliation with God and the night of my conversion.

Through no other power but His, He gave me the right to become His child. And I was filled with joy. No longer was I living for the world. I was now living for the Almighty God. And afterwards, Pastor Mark told me that those in heaven are cheering in joy, and that put a big smile on my face.

After conversion, God has blessed me with an eternal perspective that has killed the silly opinions I held before that I won't go into. This eternal perspective has affected every aspect of my life, daily activities, my purpose, my pleasures. By the Holy Spirit, I may now fight to kill the sins and idols that once enslaved me.

I feel the joy in fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ. And most importantly, I'm excited to learn the truths of the Bible and to hear what God has to say to me every day. Looking back at all my defiance to God, it deserved eternity in hell. And that's the truth of it.

Despite all of it, God has been present in my life through all the uncles and aunts who stressed the importance of faith, through my parents who never failed to remind me that God comes first, and to my own brother, a younger brother, who prayed for my salvation. I know now that Jesus, the perfectly obedient Son of God, took on the Father's wrath for me, the wretched sinner, and for that, I give my life to Him.

Thank you. (Applause) - You can sit. All right, Kevin, give me your left hand. Kevin, do you understand that when you go into the water, you are uniting with Christ in His death, and that when you come out, you're uniting with Him in His resurrection, so that you too may live a new life?

- Yes, sir. - I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Applause) (Cheers) - It's cold, huh? (Cheers) - Hi, my name is Alyssa Nguyen. Actually, I'm kind of scared, so if I cry, sorry. (Laughter) I was blessed to have been born into a Christian home and learn about God from a young age.

I remember going to church every day, or every Sunday, but I thought it was just a place to hang out with friends and eat snacks all the time. In Sunday school, I thought that these stories about the Bible and God were cool, but I also thought it was something that I just had to learn, something like math or spelling.

As I got into high school, I started to serve more at church, but I thought that that was something that I just had to do as a good Christian. I thought that I could define my own idea of right and wrong, that compared to other people, I wasn't a bad person, that I didn't do the things that outwardly seemed bad, that looking at other people, that they did.

I thought that the mark of a good Christian, yeah, was not doing bad things, but trying to do good or going to all the events and all of that. So I had a very small view of what it meant to be good, and I didn't see that I wasn't good on my own.

So as a result of me thinking that I could be good on my own, my own heart was filled with a lot of pride, that in my service, I was taking all the glory for myself, and thinking that all the good things I was doing was for myself, and that deep down, it was all just in an effort to have people think well of me.

I really idolized how people regarded me, and that was the main motivation for a lot of the things that I did in high school. And yeah, I didn't want to see or acknowledge the fact that I was a sinner, and at the same time of not wanting to acknowledge the fact that I was a sinner, I saw how I continued to struggle with different things, just an inability to be patient, especially with regards to my family.

I saw that on my own, I couldn't refrain from doing these things. And so the summer after my senior year of college, I think my brother came home, and on the outside he looked the same, same guy, but I saw how he had changed in the little ways of being disciplined, in his prayer and devos, and that was something that I hadn't seen before, and it was something that I wanted for myself as well, but I also wanted to continue to hold on to that idea that I could be good on my own.

In college I started to learn more church, and started to see the gospel even more fully, and that I saw who God was and is, that he is holy and perfect and just God, and that I saw who I was before God. I truly saw that I was a sinner, that I wasn't good on my own, that I was in need of a savior, that I was an enemy of God in the ways that I live for myself and for my own glory.

And it was during this time, just learning all of these things, that God revealed to me my sinful nature, and through his grace and mercy, he humbled me in my pride, allowing me to see all these things, that it wasn't by my own ideas of being good that I was saved, but only through Christ.

And so I repented of my sins, and began to acknowledge Christ as Lord over my life. It was during this year that I saw the beauty of the gospel, that sinners like me can be forgiven, redeemed, and adopted through Christ in his life, death, and resurrection. And after this, I saw a change in the way that I was able to view my family, that I was able to fight these sins of anger and impatience, something that I was not able to do before, because before I was enslaved to these sins, but now with the Holy Spirit, I was able to respond in love and patience to them.

So yeah, I'm so thankful to God, to how he has continued to be faithful in my life, and just allowing me to see him and my need for a savior. And it says in Galatians 2.20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me." Thank you. It's a little cold. All right, give me your left hand, Melissa. You all right there? Okay. Melissa, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and when you come out of the water, you're uniting with him in his resurrection?

Yes. Okay. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hi. Oh, this is tall. For those of you that don't know me, my name's Abby. I'm from San Francisco. I grew up in a pretty conservative Chinese church. We have one grand piano and a lot of hymnaries.

But, yeah, so this is my testimony. I previously believed that I was saved around the third grade, that I prayed this prayer of salvation, and though sometimes I felt unsure, all that was on my mind was "once saved, always saved." This prayer of salvation was based on Romans 9-10, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

With the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. This part in verse 10, "Jesus as Lord," meaning Jesus as your master, as the one who you live to serve, I don't think I truly understood the meaning of what I was praying, or the weight.

It was during the beginning of my study of James here, in like October, that first prompted me to question when I was saved. Specifically, James 1-26, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless." I read this, and I was kind of like, "Oh shoot, that kind of sounds like me." It was really making me reflect on the way I was living my life, and the motivations behind my decisions.

I was thinking back to high school, or even prior to high school, I know that I never bridled my tongue when I was angry, which was a lot of the time. I definitely was very vocal about it. I would grumble a lot, I would slander others. Just thinking about who I was in high school, and how clear-cut this verse is, really made me do a lot of thinking, and made me realize that I did not truly confess Jesus as my Lord, or as my master.

I realized that I lived life as a nominal Christian, under the title of Christian, while my actions said otherwise. I lived for myself. I did things for my own glory and pride, and for my own benefit. I never really saw fault in myself because of those things. I rarely ever apologized for anything, and I wasn't reading his word, or praying, nor did I care to at the time.

In Judges 17.6, it says, "In those days, there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes." That is how I was living, not recognizing Jesus as my true king. After 18 years of being a professed believer, I knew that I did not know God.

Through all this living in sin, God was never on my mind, throughout my day or week. I was really content with my life, which I felt was separate from God. This life that I thought was a result of my own works and efforts, I did not attribute to God any of it.

I don't believe I ever truly confessed or repented any sin that I committed. I remember going to all these conferences and retreats, and feeling this spiritual high, praying and confessing these sins of ignoring God or not reading. However, when I returned back to, for lack of better words, the real world, my life didn't look any different than it did before I went to the conference, or it probably changed for like two days.

Living my life with this false notion that I did not need God contributed to a big sin that I struggle with, which is pride. My first two weeks of college were pretty difficult for me, academically and socially. I wasn't understanding any of my basic courses for my major, and my non-believing roommates, which I chose, were fulfilling their earthly desires that may not have been so legal in the dorm room at 3 a.m.

It was pretty loud on school nights. It was really hard to sleep. I have videos if you want to see them later. I had never felt such feelings of loneliness and inadequacy that deeply before, but I am really thankful to the Lord for that experience because it was then that I truly turned to the Lord and saw my helplessness and my brokenness and realized that my identity in Christ is more than sufficient.

I remember my first service here, I think it was the second to last message before Pastor Peter left for India. It was about the wheat and the tares, and I think he said something like this. If he didn't, sorry. But I think he said something like, "Sometimes the wide way is to keep going to church if that's what you've been doing your whole life." And just remembering that makes me so thankful that God revealed himself to me and opened my eyes to the sin that is in me and that I didn't continue this path of thinking that I was on the narrow way, when in fact I was headed for destruction.

During that experience, in my first couple weeks here, my eyes were truly opened to how nothing is of my own works and that everything is by God's grace and mercy. He humbled me, and I believe that I experienced true reconciliation with Christ through the repentance of my pride. I believe that that is the moment that I truly acknowledge Jesus as the master of my life.

I remember in table groups on a Friday night, we talked about how we need to make sure our reliance on Jesus is not based on emotion. This again got me thinking because the experience was very fresh. I wanted to make sure that I was acknowledging Jesus as my master, not just because my circumstances were really difficult, but I did come to see how easy it was to rely on God when my earthly circumstances were harder or didn't go my way.

But I was reminded that God isn't like a safety net that is only useful if I fall. He is God Almighty. He doesn't need us, and there is nothing that we can offer him or that he would need that he cannot achieve himself within the blink of an eye.

Yet he loves us and cares for us so much that he sent his only son to be mocked and spat upon, put to death in the most humiliating and gruesome way. It is because of God's unfathomable love that I am able to stand here and proclaim that I have died to my former self and now live this new life in Christ.

All right, Abbey, give me your left hand. Abbey, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and when you're coming out, you're uniting with him in his resurrection so that you too can live a new life? Okay, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Hi, my name is Joe, and my Chinese name is Fang Qizhou. I grew up in China, and I came to the United States in 2016. My mom converted to Christianity at that time, but I haven't heard anything about the gospel before I came here. I agree with her about the existence of God and supernatural beings, but I don't think I have anything to do with the one who created me.

He just has authority over me and everything else that he created. Growing up as the only child, the world was all about myself. As a self-conscious person, I didn't care about others at all, but I pretended to be considerate and nice to others so that they would speak highly of me.

I felt jealous of those who were more popular than I am. I hated them and slandered them when I was behind them. When I was in junior high school in China, I often showed off how smart I was by talking endlessly during class discussions. One day I was enjoying others' worshiping, amazement, and appreciation of how much I knew.

However, other students who equally wanted to look smart and become popular interrupted me and shouted loudly, "You don't have the right to speak because you are not a good student," parenthesis, "than I do, than me." Afterwards, I discovered a conflict. I seek out my own glory, so do others.

I realized I hurt others while pursuing my own reputation the same way they did to me. Then I began to reserve my opinions and distrust people, for I knew they don't really care about me. When I came to the U.S. as an international student, I felt increasingly left out.

It turned out that although I missed my friends, they don't really consider me as part of their life that they couldn't afford to lose. I felt no one loves me except for myself, but even myself hated just me most of the time. Because I noticed my hypocrisy. I'm being selfish while acting to make people think I'm altruistic, being arrogant while trying to make people think I'm humble.

I began to refuse talking with people, even if I had to. I talked sarcastically and aggressively. I felt hopeless. I lost my passions and my goals. The only thing I was sure about my life was death, which would happen sooner or later. I had to escape reality by playing video games excessively.

Last April, my bike was stolen, and I was sitting on a bench trying to recall where I lost it. A staff from Bridges, his name is Justin, he's here. He came to ask if I was okay, and he invited me to his home for their Friday dinner, which is for international students.

People are nice at Bridges, which is the name for their ministry, and I get to truly act as if I'm at home, even though I'm not at home. At the dinner, a student shared her testimony. She said we are all sentenced to death, which I totally agree with. However, she told us that Christ died in our place and took the punishment for us so that we don't need to die anymore, and our relationship with God is restored through Christ.

I thought my relationship with the supernatural being was not restorable, for I thought I was unworthy, but when I heard there is life, my hope was reignited, and I no longer felt I was living in a nightmare of fear, of the fear of death every day. I also wondered why other Christians seemed to care about me.

I thought it was impossible for them to care about me unless they are loved by their God, and I can see their prayers for me are sincere. As I learned more about God, I began to know that I was not the abandoned kid I thought I was. Even though the world would love its own, John 15, 19, God loves me, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, John 3, 16.

Although I didn't deserve anything, it's only his grace which is far greater than all my brokenness, and then I decided to follow him and see how deep he loves us. As I understand more about how holy and faithful God is, in contrast to how unbelieving and ungrateful I am, I began to appreciate God's love more.

I became more willing to admit my weaknesses and trust God more. I am able to love others without thinking too much how they will repay me, and able to love those who are hard to love because that is how I am loved by God. I don't slander other people behind them.

I'm not willing to talk with people and build relationships with them and spread the love I receive from God. Although sometimes I feel the hate and distrust inside myself still, but I can pray to God and appeal to him, for I trust that he is the one who is in power.

Alright, Chi-Jo. Go ahead and take a seat. Take my left hand. Chi-Jo, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and when you come out of the water, you're uniting with him in his resurrection, so that you too may live a new life?

I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hi, my name is Kaitlyn, if you guys don't know me, and this is my testimony. Being born into a Christian family, I've always had the privilege of going to church every week, but honestly, I never really saw it as a privilege.

I always identified as a Christian, but I didn't really know what that meant other than going to church on a daily basis and believing that God was real. Throughout elementary school, I had seen church as more of a chore, and sometimes just a fun place to be at. I struggled in a big church because I couldn't recognize people, and I was always disinterested in the actual lessons that were being taught.

After we moved and came to Berean, it was a shock to me how small the youth department was. At the time, the lessons seemed so much more personal, as there was only a few kids, and I enjoyed going to church and took in whatever was being taught. However, this feeling was short-lived as middle school came around, and I began seeing church as a chore once more.

Although I didn't mind going as much, I also didn't care about missing and sometimes even tried to skip Friday nights or Sundays. Going into senior year, I became pretty distant from my school friends, and I tried to rely only on myself when I ran into any problems. Although I had asked some church friends to pray for me whenever I ran into difficulty, I never really prayed to God or asked him to help me in any of my problems.

I tried not to act like it and refused to believe it, but I had become very self-reliant and prideful. I wanted to help out as much as possible--oh, sorry. Later on, my parents had decided to open a ramen shop, and I was really excited for them and also for myself.

I wanted to help out as much as possible, and seeing the amount of work they had put in, I also wanted to work hard. But I ran into a lot of problems and eventually found myself complaining about the other workers and--sorry-- and how my parents had handled things. My pride had gotten the better of me as I tried to make things my own and made a lot of selfish choices.

One night after work--for those of you that don't know, I really like talking to my parents about everything that happens during the day. But that night I had just been complaining pretty much about one of the workers and kind of slandering her and just talking bad about her. My mom had pointed out that I had absolutely no reason to dislike her.

She hadn't really done anything to me. It was just certain things like how she was working or her relationship with the other workers. She questioned me why I was so focused on making only her look bad, and that made me feel really uncomfortable, being told so directly about my flaws.

It had consumed my mind. I realized why I had been so quick to bash on her and why I was so focused on her bad side. It made me really frustrated. On my way home from school the next day, I still had been thinking about these thoughts all day long.

On the car ride home, I finally thought just how sinful my heart really was and how much anger and just sin was in it. It was such a simple statement that my heart was full of sin, and yet my pride was hit really badly. I began to feel so much shame and guilt.

But at that moment, I praised God for just being so gracious to me. I see I used that moment to really break me down. I finally turned to him for help and really came before him, just asking for help and just being so thankful for him. Halfway through the car ride, I began to cry, which is really scary while driving.

I was really thankful there was traffic, so then there was a lot of stopping. But because of that traffic, I had so much more time just to think and reflect on myself. At the same time, just really ask God for forgiveness. I used that time to just pray for him for help because I had realized how useless I was.

Just kind of reflecting on all the past lessons I've heard of, all the sermons that I've been taught, really was helpful for me. I was so thankful for him sending his son because only through Christ I had already been forgiven. Although this was a truth I've heard pretty much all my life, I never really rejected the idea, but I never really accepted it either.

But in that moment, it just felt so real and very close to heart. It was like a big slap in the face. All my life I've been hearing the gospel, and yet I always refused Christ as my Lord and Savior, and yet he still had the mercy to reach down to me and save me.

In Colossians 1, 21-22, it says, "And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled in you his freshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." It was so crazy to me that despite how much sin I had, Christ had made it possible to reconcile with God.

And understanding and accepting that Christ is the only one who can save me, I think I also had great relief in that moment that nothing I could do would have been able to redeem myself. Even though I tried so hard to be a good person and a good Christian, seeing how far from God I am and how much sin filled my heart, I'm so thankful that it's not up to my works or anything that I do.

In Romans 3, 23, it says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." After all that, although I still had a difficult time dealing with sin, God truly changed my heart, attitude, and mindset.

I think our Friday night table group had hit it right on the nail when we discussed that although we still sin, for us as Christians, it is a struggle. And I wasn't, after that, I wasn't just cruising along with sin and just allowing it to just take over my life.

Now I'm like, I'm struggling with it and trying to fight back. And I'm very thankful that God has been with me and has just really blessed me throughout my life. Even now, I'm very scared of public speaking, and yet I have confidence to share the gospel. As it says in one of my favorite verses, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." And that's in Romans 1:16.

Thank you. Do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in His death, and when you're coming out, you're uniting with Him in His resurrection, so that you can walk in newness alive. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Hi everyone. My name is Amber. For those of you who don't know me, I've been a member here at Berean for about four or five years. And if you're wondering how I've not been baptized, well, I have the privilege of sharing that with you today. Hopefully it will be a source of encouragement and God will be glorified through it.

So I grew up in a Presbyterian church. I was baptized as an infant and raised in the church. I think for me, and I'm sure a lot of people who grow up in the church have a hard time discerning what it means to be a genuine believer. Every week it was a consistent pattern of just going to church with family, and my understanding of being a Christian was just doing that, just going to church.

I was very unaware of my sins. Not that I believed I was perfect or anything, but there was just no genuine fight or struggle against it. On top of that, I was just very self-righteous. I took a lot of pride in having the title of being a Christian, and I even looked down on those who didn't know Christ, although I myself didn't know Him personally either.

For example, I have this one distinct memory from fourth grade. I had this classmate who was Jewish, and I just looked over and told her, "You're going to hell because you don't believe in Jesus." And then she started crying, and then I got sent to the principal's office. And then I told my principal, you know, I was just sharing the gospel with her, and then I got released.

I think just that silly example just sheds light to my self-righteousness and how skewed my understanding of my own spiritual condition was. My assurance of salvation at the time just came from, you know, just coming from a family who were Christians and by external works, like going to church, trying to read the Bible, and praying.

But I think God really just used a difficult childhood for me to humble me and to show me that being a Christian isn't by heritage or any type of external works, but really by having faith and knowing Him personally and finding life and joy in Him. I lost my father traumatically at a very early age, and my family suffered a lot of financial hardships.

And I think just generally for me, I lost hope. I was very unhappy with my circumstances and had a hard time just accepting that all of it was fair. Shortly before I entered high school was one of the most difficult times for us, and having come to such a low point of my life for the first time, I actually got on my knees and prayed and asked the Lord to help me have faith.

I acknowledged God and His holiness. I understood His ultimate power and authority over my life and realized that it wasn't by my works or heritage that makes me a believer, but by placing trust and faith in Him. Gradually from there, I had a desire to know the Lord deeper, and I slowly started to recognize that I was a broken and sinful person who needed a Savior, not just to pull me out of difficult circumstances, but rather to be my source of life and joy, so that no matter what happens, I have something greater to hope in, and I knew only Christ could fulfill that.

Philippians 3, 8, "I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ." There really is no life, hope, or joy outside of Christ, and I am so blessed and grateful that God chose to reveal those truths to me.

So, fast forward 10 years, which brings us to why I'm getting baptized now. I had mentioned earlier that I grew up in a Presbyterian church, and I was infant baptized. I got confirmed later as a genuine believer, and at the time, I believed that that was my baptism. Once I came to a Baptist church, I realized baptism was done differently, but I hadn't given much thought further than that, because I knew I was saved at the time of my confirmation.

However, it wasn't until a couple months ago when I was asked by my brother-in-law, who is a pastor who practices infant baptism, why I decided not to get baptized by immersion, if that's what my church practices and believes. I couldn't really give an articulate answer, because I had no confidence in what I believed.

I really just wasn't sure. And aside from knowing I was a genuine believer at the time of my confirmation, I never really questioned if my infant baptism counted as a true baptism or not, and I didn't have any personal conviction to be immersed. I think from that point on, I realized I needed to do my research and look to Scripture to come to my own terms of what I believed.

Although I wish I had done this much earlier, I was thankful to be challenged in this way, to use this opportunity to practice searching the Scripture to see what was true, rather than kind of passively accepting and blindly believing what the church does. And as overwhelming as it was looking into the theology behind both views, I knew this was important for me to study, because it would ultimately dictate how I view and interpret the Word.

So to put what I ultimately concluded from all of this into concise terms, my conviction comes from Romans 6, 3-4, which says, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father, we too might have walk in newness of life." So if baptism is given as a sign to represent being united with Christ in his death, and united with Christ in his resurrection, it should have not been given to me as an infant when I was not united with Christ.

Therefore, I cannot confidently say my infant baptism was a true baptism. So out of obedience and out of personal conviction, I'm excited to stand here to get baptized for the first time through immersion and proclaim to you all that I am living a committed life to Christ. That's all.

Thanks. Alright, yeah. Alright, Amber. Do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and as you come out, you're uniting with him in his resurrection? And I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Hi, my name's Joanna, and I'm going to share my testimony. I was born in a Christian family and grew up going to church for most of my life. The image of God I had in the beginning was of someone who was a spiritual figure that would take care of me and love me.

He was someone who would be there for me only when I needed him most. I thought of my relationship with God as being more of, if I did my part of the job, then he would do his. I did not have much communication with him, but it was much more of a work relationship.

I knew who God was and learned about him every Sunday at church. I spent my college years living as a Christian by going to church, joining a fellowship, and reading the Bible. But most of the time, my spiritual motivation came in waves. Sometimes I was very active, and sometimes I was not.

Being young and wanting to have a lot of ambitions and goals for the future made me realize that my purpose was not to live for myself. The world I lived in, which I always thought was amazing because it offered me many opportunities to achieve my goals and desires, appeared broken when I found out it was covered with sins.

I thought since I lived as a Christian for many years and was a better person than most in the world, I was saved from all the brokenness. But I realized I still lived in the broken world and was a sinner like everyone else who looked for worldly things to find satisfaction.

Jesus was the only one who could save me from my brokenness, only I still was separated from God because I did not know how I could be with Christ. I continued to live my life thinking I was a believer and knew what the gospel meant, not realizing there was so much I didn't know.

In around fall of 2019, I started to realize the meaning of the gospel and what it meant to me. Admitting that I was a sinner and didn't deserve the love of Christ, the fact that Jesus died on the cross and conquered death, made me realize that there was no one greater than him.

I was very unworthy of everything he gave me because I mostly took advantage of things. The only way for me to be with Christ was to reconcile my relationship with God that was broken from all the sins I had committed. I said a prayer to confess my sins and ask God to accept me.

After becoming a believer, I felt a heavy weight that was lifted. I felt secure in Christ and knew that my relationship had been restored. I now know what my purpose is as a believer and try to live my life communicating and strengthening my relationship with him every day. Alright, Joanna.

Go ahead and give me your left hand and then take a seat. Joanna, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and as you come out, you're uniting with him in his resurrection? I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So I'm just going to read, but bear with me because I didn't read as a kid. So my name is David, and I've been coming to Berean since November of 2018. Priscilla and I had visited Berean several times as visitors from Tucson, and we really enjoy the teachings here.

So when we finally moved to California, we didn't have a reason to look elsewhere. We anticipated the transition to be difficult, since we both were used to our small church in Tucson where everyone knew everyone else. I thank God for connecting us to Berean, and we're truly grateful for all the Bereans who welcomed us with open arms.

To tell you about how I came to Christ, I grew up in a Christian home. We'd have Bible study every night, singing worship songs, and recite the Lord's Prayer, and say grace every meal. I practically grew up at church, spending most of my Saturdays and Sundays with the church choir and watching my parents serve at church.

And I think because of this, it was always challenging for me to share my testimony, since I'd never really had a road to Damascus moment. It wasn't until I left my first stable job, I can truly say, I sensed Christ leading and guiding over my heart and my life.

My parents struggled financially when I was attending college, so I also had a lot of student loans. There was a constant fear around money, and that I would not be able to support my future family, let alone myself. So when I think about the time I left my first full-time job in North Carolina, packed all my things from my parents' place, drove 30-plus hours to marry Priscilla, who was studying in Arizona, I can now say that Christ led me to Priscilla and our marriage, but back then I was just being young and fearless.

I was finally on my own, away from my earthly parents and away from free housing and being financially more responsible. But Christ really took the wheel as he introduced me to a community of believers, got me plugged in to church. Things I really wasn't praying for at the time, but he knew exactly what I needed to grow as a man leading a family.

It was then I truly knew after 20-plus some years growing up in the church that he truly is the Lord and the ruler of my heart. I can't remember when I had ever been baptized by immersion. I attended several churches growing up because I just followed my parents and didn't really think much of it when we moved from church to church.

I want to say that I mostly attended Presbyterian churches and I can only guess that I had been sprinkled as a baby. And I do vaguely remember being confirmed in middle school. Spent the last seven years at a Southern Baptist church where they required members to be baptized by immersion before they can serve.

But somehow I ended up serving as a music director for the three, four years without being asked to get baptized. And not that it was something I refused to do, but I also didn't feel strongly about the difference to speak up because I didn't think I needed a second baptism to prove my faith to anyone.

After the recent members meeting, Berean's meeting, I felt the conviction to speak up, realizing how prideful I was, selling short the symbolic meaning of baptism. Colossians chapter 2 verse 12 reads, "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, this burial and cleansing which signifies death to the old life of unbelief and purifying from pollution of sin, not only I found baptism powerful but biblical." Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 reads, "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." Not only was I prideful in thinking that I didn't have to follow baptism the way it was written in the Bible to somehow validate my salvation, but I was also wrong to believe in my own interpretation of the scriptures without truly studying the Bible.

Priscilla is baptized, and I hope that as the head of the family, I can be a spiritual leader of the family and not become a stumbling block. I look forward to celebrating and experiencing the rekindling of love to God for all he has done for me in making me part of the new covenant in Christ through repentance and faith.

Thank you. Alright, David, go ahead and take a seat. And then, just give me your left hand. David, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and when you come out, you're uniting with him in his resurrection so that you may continue just to walk in the newness of life?

I baptize you—not yet. I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hi, I'm Brenna. I'm a junior in college, and I've been attending Berean for, I think, two and a half years, and I've been a member for a little over a year.

Like many people here, I was baptized once before in a way that didn't really count, and so I felt convicted to be baptized again in a way that truly reflects what Christ has done for me. I grew up going to church because my family went, and that was what we did, but I think my heart was hardened against the gospel from a pretty early age.

I had no genuine love for the people in my life, especially my family. As a kid, whenever I'd get in trouble, which was a lot, and my mom would reprimand me and point me to a Bible verse, I would outwardly nod my head and listen, but on the inside roll my eyes and just kind of hate the way that she preached to me.

Sorry, Mom. I was a smart kid and a good student, and that was kind of dangerous for me because I let that feed my enormous sense of pride. For as long as I can remember, I was constantly comparing myself to others and judging myself to be superior to everyone.

As I got older, I was bitter, I was angry, I was selfish, and I knew those things, but I didn't really see a problem with that. I stayed in church because youth group was fun, and it was my main way of socializing, and I was baptized around the age of 14 because I think all my friends had been baptized, and I figured I might as well do it, and a youth staffer had approached me and asked me if I had been baptized, so I kind of just did it out of an obligation.

Even though I constantly wavered between thoughts of belief and unbelief, I was baptized anyway and just kept living my life. Things started to change when I was like 15. My health basically just took a nosedive. I would eventually be diagnosed and learn to manage my symptoms, but before that happened, I just got worse and worse, with no answers and no diagnosis, and when my body was just failing like that, I think my mind just started to follow, and I became severely depressed.

People knew that I was going through something, but nobody really knew what it was because I just built my identity around being arrogant and just isolating myself and relying only on myself and keeping secrets, and I had spent so long either using people for my own gain or just pushing them away for the sake of my own privacy and pride that I didn't know how to reach out to others to get help, and I was too broken to keep relying on myself.

I didn't understand it at the time, but this brokenness was God's grace. He had to drive me to a point of utter despair so that I would see my need for him. As I was consumed by illness and depression, I felt that nothing I had done or would ever do mattered.

I wasn't even sure if I would live past 20. Nothing brought me joy. I hardly ate. I stopped going out with friends. I was just empty. I kept up a facade of faithful churchgoer and A student because I felt like I had to, but I was just crumbling away inside.

I thought there was no reason why I should continue to exist if my existence was so worthless. It kind of all peaked about four years ago. I was 17. I had a depressive episode so acute. It was one of the most terrifying things I've ever been through. I don't really have the words to describe how it felt.

I kind of just felt like I wasn't real anymore. I was numb, and I could see that my life was futile, but I had this overwhelming sense of urgency, like I had to do something right then and there. But at the same time, I felt trapped and stifled by something that I could not name.

It was a very bizarre experience. It was terrifying. I'm no medical professional, but I may have been having a nervous breakdown. I don't know. Yeah. So in order to suppress that panic, I just laid down on my floor and turned on some random music just to distract myself or, I don't know, just to try to get myself to feel normal again.

And in God's great mercy, he allowed me to hear the gospel through the words of a songwriter who had been just as lost as I was. And when I heard the message of a God who died for the sake of love, it kind of just broke me, even though I'd heard the gospel a thousand times before, for some reason this time it clicked.

I had come to a crossroads. I understood there was—it was like there was a hand extended to me, and if I did not take that hand, I knew I would die, because I had led myself to this point. My selfishness and my futile human efforts to be self-sufficient and—yeah, to be self-sufficient and just above everyone else, it was so entirely sinful.

Even though I was just breaking down in tears at this point, a wave of peace came over me. And a lot of those things that had been consuming me suddenly didn't really matter anymore. All that mattered was that I began to understand why God died, and it was truly good news of great joy, that he defeated the grave for a desperate and broken sinner who had spent her whole life running away, thinking that she could live a life apart from God.

He took my sin and endured horrific sorrow so that I wouldn't have to. I had been forgiven, and it was through no merit of my own. God had pulled me out of rebellion against him, even though I had been kicking and screaming. He washed me and justified me and gave me a new heart.

And so from that night on, sanctification and my long road to recovery had begun. It took many years for my mind to recover, and my body may never recover. But all of that mattered so much less in the light of my new gift of life and hope. I started to find joy in reading the word that I had once despised.

And on my second day of being a Christian, I was able to make things right with a person that I had formerly hated. And I was so confused when this was going on. I was like, "What am I doing?" But I knew that this was God. I knew that the only way that this could happen is because he had changed me.

My priorities and my very identity started to shift, and I was learning how to love my family and repair my relationships with them. And I was learning to love the church, how to value kindness and forgiveness instead of clinging to my bitterness and my anger. God has continued to soften my heart and give me a love for him and for his people.

And he has been faithful to put me through even more trials since my conversion to refine me even further, and I am grateful for that. I just want to leave you with one of the first passages I read after I became a Christian. 1 Corinthians 15.10 says, "By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain." It was true for Paul when he wrote it.

It's true for me now, and I hope that it is true for you. Thank you. Do you want to take off your glasses? Okay. She said, "I can't see without them," so she'll keep them on. All right. Bernard, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and as you come out, you're uniting with him in his resurrection so that you too may live a new life.

I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hello. My name is Jacob Hahn, and I'm wearing my wife's membership shirt, so it's a little tight, so I apologize. That was by accident. So I grew up in a Presbyterian church.

I was infant baptized. I took a baptism class given by Pastor Peter Chung, so thank you, Pastor Peter. But I'm up here because I'm being baptized because I truly do believe it's biblical, now more than ever, and more importantly, it's because that's what my Savior Jesus did. I've grown up in church pretty much all my life, but I wasn't saved until I entered high school.

That's when my sheltered suburban life was rocked. Up until high school, I thought my parents were happily married, but that was far from the truth. To this day, I'm unsure what exactly triggered my parents' divorce, but regardless, it was actually the beginning of my journey to salvation. When my parents' marriage began to fall apart, I tried to turn to things that the world had to offer, but by God's grace, I never went too far off the deep end.

When I was in ninth grade, I started attending a church, Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, where Pastor Peter Chung was my high school youth pastor. I had befriended some good friends who encouraged me to talk to Pastor Peter because he, too, had come from a broken home. Talking and meeting with Pastor Peter and spending time with my friends at church helped me immensely with my difficult situation, but I still had not accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

I had grown up knowing that I was a sinner. Jesus loved me, and he had died for my sin, but I never believed it and never accepted him into my heart as my Lord and Savior. I distinctly remember on a Friday night at a praise and prayer night. If you went to a Korean church, you know what I'm talking about.

The setting was the lights were dimmed, and it was getting emotional, and that's when the praise leader--it was just him and the guitar--and he told the congregation, "If there's anybody that's hurting, I want you to put your hands on him and pray for them." That's when my best friends Jay and Sam put their hands on me and started praying for me.

It was at that moment I felt this immense conviction in my heart, and that's when I accepted him as Lord and Savior. Still to this day, I know God used Jay, Sam, and Pastor Peter to turn me to Jesus. Though that day started my Christian journey, it took me a while to truly actually understand the gospel.

When I became saved, I quickly began studying, memorizing. I was hungry for his word. I'd wake up early in the morning memorizing, but the more I knew, the more legalistic I became. I started spitting out verses to my friends when they were doing stuff wrong, and I started thinking, after all, I wasn't that bad compared to that guy over in the corner that was committing sinful things.

It wasn't until I transitioned from high school to college when I heard a sermon by Tim Keller preached that I started beginning to understand the gospel a little more. Throughout college, I continued to serve in a leadership capacity, and in that way, I think I started thinking that, you know what, I think I'm okay.

And it wasn't until that I actually transitioned from college to becoming a police officer that I truly understand the depravity of my heart. I became a police officer for the LAPD during my final two months of my senior year of college. I applied during my senior year of college, expecting the hiring process to take a year, but in fact it took four months.

Due to the recession at the time and the uncertainty of the academies in the future, I was advised to start ASAP. So here I was as a college student on Friday, May 24, 2009, and a police officer May 26, 2009, that Monday. My transition from a college student to a police officer was an abrupt one.

The academy wasn't so bad, but when I hit the field, I began to see the world for what it was. I did nine of my 11 years in South Central LA, and if you're not familiar with that area, that's the birthplace of the Bloods and Crips, and it is a different world from the comforts of Orange County.

And in my 11 years, I can tell you I've seen several hundred shootings, homicide, violent crimes, you name it. I won't go into detail. If you want to know, you can talk to me in private, and I'll tell you everything because I remember it all. And not only that, I was being cussed out and being called every name in the book, and I was changing, and not for the better.

I was becoming cynical, jaded, and I was becoming angry. I wasn't able to attend church because in my first year, you didn't get to choose your schedule, excuse me. So I would often go months without going to church. And on top of that, I was becoming angry at church members for how sheltered they were, how they were not seeing what was going on only 20, 30 miles away from their homes.

And on top of that, my dating relationships were not working out, and that continued to make me upset and angry. Even some of my friends started telling me that they didn't like what I was becoming, and they missed the old Jacob. My job was changing me instead of Christ changing me.

About two years into my job, something changed, and to this day, I know it was only God. I slowly began to realize that I was the worst of all sinners. Through my transition as a police officer, I began to realize that through my mistakes, I was no more deserving of grace than the rapists, child molesters, murders that I arrested.

How did that happen? I don't know. All I can say is God was allowing me to see the world through his eyes. The turning point for me was when I walked into church on a Sunday after missing just months, and a particular song was playing, and it said, "I will be still and know you are God." And it reminded me of the verse Psalm 46.10, "Be still and know that I am God." And I understood, despite my circumstances, the noise and the distractions that were surrounding me, he was still God.

And as Pastor Peter Kim so beautifully and simply put it a couple weeks ago, despite our circumstances, despite what I was going through, the answer is always Christ. And I knew that, but that day, it just pierced the depths of my heart. And from then on, I've understood that I am, as Paul says, the worst of all sinners.

My Christian journey is far from over, and I'm still being sanctified. Every day is a struggle to seek him and not to things of this world. Every day I sin, but in the words of Isaac Newton from the movie Amazing Grace, as he's getting old, he says, "Although my memory is fading, I remember two things.

I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior." Thank you. Oh my God. Alright, Jacob, do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and as you come out, you're uniting with Christ in his resurrection? Yes. I baptize you, whew, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Hello. Thank you for your patience. Okay, so, whew. Hello, my name is Michelle, and this is my testimony. I grew up in a Presbyterian Christian home and was also baptized as a baby. Growing up, I attended church regularly and was taught to be a good person. I never had a problem with this, as I always liked following the rules and striving to be perfect in everything.

But unfortunately, there was a lot of turmoil at home, and so my parents fought regularly until they finally separated and then got divorced when I was in the eighth grade. During these two years, my brother and I were separated from my mom. I could only see her for brief periods of time due to custody battles and things like that.

And during that time was when bitterness towards God took root in my heart, and it revealed the absence of faith and love for God. I felt absolutely justified in my anger, thinking that I deserved to be blessed because that's the reward I should have received for being good. But in that year, I moved to a new church where I attended a retreat and fully heard the gospel for the first time.

The words of Ephesians 2, 4-5 highlights the transformation that took place in my heart. "But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved." Once I understood that God loved me so much to the point that he would send his son down for my sake, and that in his grace he blessed me with the greatest blessing he could give me, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior and surrendered my life to him.

Afterwards, I was confirmed at that church as a genuine believer, but as a baby Christian, I didn't understand the significance of publicly professing my faith to the church and was simply eager to do so because my mom and church family encouraged me. But as I deepened my understanding of the gospel and learned that baptism symbolized the union with Christ in his death and resurrection, I realized that being baptized as a baby did not signify that because it was not out of my own desire to commit my life to the Lord, but rather an act done by my parents on my behalf.

I needed to make that choice and proclaim my faith for myself because God had saved me from the depths of my sin when I was completely dead in my trespasses and had given me new life through his Son. As it says in Romans 6, 4, "Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." When I was a baby, I was still dead and sin reigned over my life, but now I can confidently say I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

Thank you. Alright, Michelle. You're supposed to sit a little bit closer up. You want to take my left hand? Alright, Michelle. Do you understand that when you go into the water, you're uniting with Christ in his death, and then when you come out of the water, you're uniting with him in his resurrection so that you too may walk in the newness of life?

I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, we're going to invite the worship team to come on up, and as they do, just some free beef announcements. What a great time again for us to fellowship, and hopefully, especially if some of you guys have been Christian for a long time, a great time to remember, reflect upon God's work in our lives and the time that we were saved.

After the service is done, we're going to continue to just fellowship outside. There is refreshments. I encourage you guys to stick around, and then again, fellowship with each other. As you can tell, over here, it's wet and a little slippery. After the service is done, although I know you guys want to come up and congratulate and take photos with the people who've been baptized, please do so on my left side here or outside in the courtyard, but please don't walk around on this area, okay?

And then finally, again, for those of you who are visiting with us, who you're hearing the testimonies, and perhaps you're wondering, curious, wow, what kind of experience do they really have, but you haven't yet experienced that for yourself, we really encourage you to come ask, you know, to ask the questions about how do you connect with the Lord, in what ways are we sinners, what are they talking about when they say forgiveness, what are they talking about when they say repentance.

Please come and ask. You'll see the pastors here up in the front, and again, also, we have resources outside with free Bibles and books for you to look at. to look at. So again, please visit with us. Thank you.