“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…”
Ephesians 2:4-5
God raises us from death to life. That’s how every Christian becomes a Christian. Yet the details of our conversions are as different as each of us. God writes many unique stories in His one big story of saving people for Himself. We’re telling these stories on Sunday mornings.
This past week, we heard from Dylan. Here is his salvation story:
I wasn’t raised in a Christian home. Growing up, Sunday was donut day and not much else. Around the time I became a teenager, I began to feel as if something was desperately wrong with me. Outwardly, I was just a normal kid – video games, friends, not getting into too much trouble. Yet, inwardly I was deeply ashamed and depressed. I had begun to feel that my life was some kind of failed experiment. Life had only just started, and it did not take me long to feel as if something was desperately wrong.
And then, one day in June 2008 (I was 14), a friend of mine asked me if he could talk to me about Jesus. I was a little annoyed – I had argued with my Christian friends and knew I didn’t agree. But something was different about this time. For the first time, I heard the gospel. This thing that I had felt was wrong with me I realized was sin. I had heard that the wage of sin was death and that Jesus received my wages in my place. He bore my sin. I learned about a loving Father who did not spare his own son but gave him up for my sake. I had no will in me to argue. I had questions, but it was as if my hard heart had melted away. I no longer had to live in shame – but was freed from the bondage of sin and death.
There was a brief period of peace and joy knowing that I was loved more than I could have ever imagined. Around this time, I met my now wife Christy and we began studying the Word together and going to Bible studies and church together. But the joy was brief. I want to say that suddenly I was happy, no longer depressed, and life became easy. But It didn’t, and I wasn’t. If you have ever read Pilgrim’s Progress – I ran from the city of destruction crying out “Life, Life, Eternal Life!” and I fell into a bog. I was confused. In some ways, I felt sadder than ever. I learned about the best savior—his goodness and kindness toward me—but I also learned the ugliness of my own heart. I began to read my Bible and heard all kinds of scary warnings. I began to tell others about my faith and get rejected. I began to doubt and fear – not that the gospel was true, but that I had truly believed it.
And then we found this church. I was sixteen years old and going into my junior year of high school. My parents weren’t a part of the church and my family life felt messy. Christy and I were young, navigating our own relationship and wanting to honor the Lord with our lives. And it is here that I think I found one of the most precious gifts that Lord provides his people – the local church. It was 2010. Our budget was low. Our church was small. We met in a corporate park. But our savior was big. We didn’t have many resources. But we had a Mike. We had an Eric and Kirsi. We had a Nate and Anne. We had a Dustin and Kristin. A Les and Sue. We found a small, statistically insignificant group of faithful friends and pastors who took us in. They answered many questions. Took many calls. Sat in many meetings. Shed many tears with us. It is here that I learned that the local church is the most important place in the world. It is the very setting of New Testament life.
For the better part of the next 3 years, I struggled daily with doubts and fears. But slowly I gained steady assurance. Christy became my wife and helper – we got married and had kids. 17 years have passed since I became a Christian and 15 years since we stepped foot in Sovereign Grace. I am not the same person as the one who stepped into that corporate park in Irvine. But the most important things in my life have not changed – I am saved, being saved. I am assured. And all of this because I have friends – you all – who refuse to give up on me, and who won’t stop telling me about Jesus.
And, as frightening as it might be, there are more people like me out there. There are more Dylans and Christys in this city – living like sheep without a shepherd, waiting to hear his voice. Ready to experience what Paul describes in Colossians 2.
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
The hundred some odd salvation stories in this room are not going to be celebrated into eternity because they unique, but because they are so similar. They are the story of us being made alive together with God – and with one another.
Amen! May God write more salvation stories among us.
If you would like to share your story in an upcoming service, please contact the church office.
