Hi everyone, my name is Tiffany Yu. I've been attending Berean for eight years and I'm going to be sharing my testimony. I grew up in a Christian household and was blessed to have heard the gospel. I'm so thankful that my father shared the gospel with me on many occasions before I was even in second grade.

My parents and my Sunday school teacher shared a gospel tract with me at an early age and I said that I accepted it. I wrote that date down in my Bible and I assumed I was a Christian. At that time, I had no reason to question or to test my faith.

I grew up attending VBS every year and participated in baptism in high school without really questioning myself. In the past five years, I've wrestled with serious doubts of whether I was a genuine believer at the time I had gotten baptized. In reflecting, prayer, wrestling with God's word, carefully examining biblical benchmarks and encouragement from my church body, I've come to the conclusion that at the time of my baptism back in high school, I'd intellectually acknowledged the gospel and got baptized because it was what was considered noble in the community.

The following are biblical benchmarks I have carefully examined to conclude I was not a genuine believer at the time I was baptized. Number one, I don't recall having a personal relationship with God. The gospel means being reconciled to a proper relationship with a holy God. My definition of being Christian was attending church, obeying my parents, and being a good person.

Second, I didn't understand my sin. I believe sin only encompassed overt acts like stealing, murdering, cheating. I knew I was not perfect, but I also believed I was a good child. I was well-mannered, a rule follower, and obeyed my parents. I tried my best to please my parents. Third, I did not understand the authority and power of God.

God's word was not inerrant over my life. Although I was exposed to the Bible at an early age, it was all head knowledge, and I never understood why I was memorizing these verses or did I see a need to apply these truths in my life. Fourth, I did not experience freedom from sin and joy in Christ as it says in Romans 8.

Romans 8, 1-2 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." Fifth, I was not producing fruit. I did not have the desire to increase in my love for Christ.

My desires were more self-serving. On the outside, I was a Christian since I was so involved and I wanted to be seen by others as being a committed Christian. But internally, my desires didn't concern Christ. Reflecting back, I was not living for, by, and through God. In high school, I felt a lot of pressure to do well and I had a lot of pride in my grades and extracurriculars.

I was surrounded by a group of ambitious and intelligent friends, and surrounded by them, I strove to be very academically focused just like them, and I wanted to work hard. I easily entangled my identity in wanting to attend a good college, get a good job, and live a good life.

In college, I checked out Berean on one Sunday in my freshman year, and I had a very hard time following along with Pastor Peter through his expository preaching. I wasn't used to the style of preaching and I didn't understand why he was cross-referencing many Bible verses. I later decided that Berean was probably not the right church for me.

But through the Lord's sovereignty, one of my friends was taking the BCC membership class the next summer, so I revisited Berean and checked it out with my friend Jessica. That summer, I remember how I had been so convicted by Pastor Peter's preaching from God's word. In reflecting, I saw how shallow my understanding of God was.

In my sophomore year, I began to understand God's attributes of his love, faithfulness, grace, and holiness through his word, and studying through the Book of Romans. Reading the holiness of God that year in small groups transformed my understanding of God's standard of holiness. Growing up in the church, I often heard about God's grace, but I had not personally experienced his true grace until I understood the depth of my sin.

God revealed that the internal sins of my heart offended him just as much as any overt sin as all of my sins, no matter big, small, they were all acts of treason and offensive to a just and holy God. I was so far from his perfect standard and there was nothing I could do to restore my relationship with God except through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

God opened my eyes and heart to recognize how Christ, perfect and righteous, was the only mediator who could advocate and serve as a propitiation to atone for my sins. In repentance, I experienced the freedom from sin and joy in Christ as I saw how God loved me so much to sacrifice his only son for my sake.

I can attest that God has truly been faithful and gracious through all seasons of my life, in seasons of joy and also in seasons of tribulation and trials. He has softened my heart to recognize my identity in him, that all things I valued in the past have decreased in its value as I've experienced a newness of life in Christ.

Philippians 3, 8 says, "Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. Through his grace, I'm continually challenged daily to die and forsake the desires of my flesh and to strive to put on Christ and to follow him.

I'm still a sinner, but by believing, I can see his power and provision over my life now. I have joy in Christ because my value and identity is rooted in him. I desire to do his will, to abide in him and to strive to become more like Christ as I commit myself to follow after him." Galatians 2, 20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me." Second Corinthians 5, 17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come." Thank you.