Post by ewerluvd on Dec 12, 2006 9:12:28 GMT -5
The Lord is my Shepherd
The Salvation Testimony of Jennifer M. Seest
Those of you whom I’ve had the blessing of having in our home know something about me: I LOVE SHEEP! You could literally spend hours “counting sheep”, for they are in nearly every room of the house! It is a rather unique “collectable”...but WHY SHEEP?
“To whom much is given, much will be required....” When Pastor Crosby calls for testimony time in church, and someone stands and testifies how wicked they were when the LORD saved them.... Dear friends, I am that “chiefest of all sinners” mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. It was not because of a particular sin I was involved in, but because of all the blessings and opportunities I had. I grew up in a Christian home. I was in fundamental, Bible preaching churches as long as I can remember. I was blessed with being in Christian school, then Christian college. After college graduation, I was blessed with a full-time position at THE WILDS Christian Camp & Conference Center. I had made a profession of faith at the age of 10; but honestly, I was trying to “earn” my salvation all of those years! Ephesians 2:8 & 9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast”
Somehow, I thought that I could DO the right things...act like a Christian, walk, talk, dress like a Christian.... I thought I had it down pretty good, too! But God looked down and saw the truth: I was a goat trying to “blend in” in His sheep herd. I had not placed my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. I knew I was a sinner, but I didn’t even believe that God loved me, that He sent His Son to die for ME.
February 4th, 1990: I was literally wasting away. I was not just thin, I was gaunt...and I was miserable. Then one Sunday morning, we were being taught “Four Things God Wants You to Know”. The first was “My love for you will NEVER change.” I couldn’t make it past that. I began to cry and could not stop. I went home and began to pray...to pray repentance, but also to pray with FAITH that I would be forgiven, my sins GONE. Before then, it was like a “confession”, but NO faith in Jesus Christ’s atoning blood removing my sin from His Father’s sight FOREVER!
I stopped crying, and a peace like I’d never known came over me. I began noticing that God’s Word MEANT something far more to me than it EVER had before. The old hymns of the faith were SO precious to me. The “good works” that I had been trying to do—in the FLESH (and were actually “filthy rags”!)—became REAL and from the heart...for the LORD instead of for my own “glory”. It was a whole new world; I was a whole new creature!
I shared my testimony with my pastor, Pastor Bill Hill in Brevard, North Carolina. I wanted to know if I had just taken another “spiritual step” or if I’d actually FINALLY become a Christian! When it came right down to it, he asked me, as I was the only one (besides God *_*) who knew my heart. And believe me, I KNEW. I saw from inside the difference...the CHANGE. PRAISE GOD! I’m one of His SHEEP!!!
I want you, too, to know the Truth of Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Who is the “him” that verse is speaking of? JESUS CHRIST! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He went to the cross to pay for our sin. Do you know the Shepherd as your Saviour from sin?
The Salvation Testimony of Jennifer M. Seest
Those of you whom I’ve had the blessing of having in our home know something about me: I LOVE SHEEP! You could literally spend hours “counting sheep”, for they are in nearly every room of the house! It is a rather unique “collectable”...but WHY SHEEP?
“To whom much is given, much will be required....” When Pastor Crosby calls for testimony time in church, and someone stands and testifies how wicked they were when the LORD saved them.... Dear friends, I am that “chiefest of all sinners” mentioned by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament. It was not because of a particular sin I was involved in, but because of all the blessings and opportunities I had. I grew up in a Christian home. I was in fundamental, Bible preaching churches as long as I can remember. I was blessed with being in Christian school, then Christian college. After college graduation, I was blessed with a full-time position at THE WILDS Christian Camp & Conference Center. I had made a profession of faith at the age of 10; but honestly, I was trying to “earn” my salvation all of those years! Ephesians 2:8 & 9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast”
Somehow, I thought that I could DO the right things...act like a Christian, walk, talk, dress like a Christian.... I thought I had it down pretty good, too! But God looked down and saw the truth: I was a goat trying to “blend in” in His sheep herd. I had not placed my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. I knew I was a sinner, but I didn’t even believe that God loved me, that He sent His Son to die for ME.
February 4th, 1990: I was literally wasting away. I was not just thin, I was gaunt...and I was miserable. Then one Sunday morning, we were being taught “Four Things God Wants You to Know”. The first was “My love for you will NEVER change.” I couldn’t make it past that. I began to cry and could not stop. I went home and began to pray...to pray repentance, but also to pray with FAITH that I would be forgiven, my sins GONE. Before then, it was like a “confession”, but NO faith in Jesus Christ’s atoning blood removing my sin from His Father’s sight FOREVER!
I stopped crying, and a peace like I’d never known came over me. I began noticing that God’s Word MEANT something far more to me than it EVER had before. The old hymns of the faith were SO precious to me. The “good works” that I had been trying to do—in the FLESH (and were actually “filthy rags”!)—became REAL and from the heart...for the LORD instead of for my own “glory”. It was a whole new world; I was a whole new creature!
I shared my testimony with my pastor, Pastor Bill Hill in Brevard, North Carolina. I wanted to know if I had just taken another “spiritual step” or if I’d actually FINALLY become a Christian! When it came right down to it, he asked me, as I was the only one (besides God *_*) who knew my heart. And believe me, I KNEW. I saw from inside the difference...the CHANGE. PRAISE GOD! I’m one of His SHEEP!!!
I want you, too, to know the Truth of Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Who is the “him” that verse is speaking of? JESUS CHRIST! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He went to the cross to pay for our sin. Do you know the Shepherd as your Saviour from sin?