- CHAPTER 12 -
The Invitation

The reason I have shared all this with you is because it has happened in my life. This is not some fairy tale conjured up by some mystical person years ago. This is the truth as passed to us by God. This is God’s good news message for all people. As the angel said the shepherds on Christ’s birth: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) Christ the Savior has been born and He sits in Heaven at the right hand of God desiring all to come and share in His wonderful blessings. He is waiting patiently even for you.

I would like to share with you my personal story of how I met God. Like many people, I was raised in a religion that shaped my view of God. I thought I knew all about God. I thought I had all the answers. Even still, something wasn’t right. Life was empty and meaningless. Something was missing. I thought this void was a lack of friends. I never imagined it was a lack of God; at least, not until I met God one Friday night at Church.

My Personal Story

The night I met Christ, I pulled into the Church parking lot estranged. I didn’t want to be there. The local youth pastor had invited me to a young adults gathering the week prior. He did not mention it would be held at a Church. He also did not mention they were meeting to talk about God. He made it seem they would gather for bowling or some other outing. When He called me that I night, I wanted to say, “No.” There was a six pack of beer waiting to ease the arduous work day. But, I had a thing about sticking to my word. In the back of my mind, I could hear a voice saying, “You said you would go.” So, I went begrudgingly.

Sitting in the pew, I had my full guard up. Having been cheated by one religious cult, I wasn’t ready to adopt another. I was raised as one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who taught people to fear God and the Devil. Though I had long since left the Jehovah’s Witnesses, their doctrines were still woven deep in my mind. Christianity, as I had been taught, was a false religion used by the Devil to lead people away from the truth. As such, churches disturbed me. I didn’t trust Christians, especially those who claimed that Jesus was God. Their devotion was creepy and their spirituality seemed phony. Even still, I saw them as people. They could believe whatever they wanted and that was fine. I was going to believe whatever I wanted regardless.

That night, the group of thirty or so young adults sat around quiet. From what I gathered, they seemed to meet weekly to talk casually. In past settings, a select few would dominate the conversation. This night, however, the talkers said they felt like being quiet and listening. They wanted others to have a chance to speak. This meant no one was talking. We sat there in solitude and boredom. I thought, ‘Well, if I am going to be stuck here, I might as well ask some questions.’

My brother, who had been a Christian for several years, had been arguing with me about God for awhile. There were a few things that confused me. One of these was the question of salvation. “What does it mean to be saved?” I asked.

Suddenly, the entire group lit up like a Christmas tree and everyone had answers. They began explaining salvation to me just as my brother had so many times. Just as before, I still couldn’t understand it. They seemed to be talking in code and nothing made sense. They told me that those who were saved knew they were going to Heaven. Being saved meant your were saved from Hell. To me though, that didn’t seem like enough of a reason to jump up and run to God. I thought, ‘if God was going to condemn me, that’s His choice not mine.’

Some time into the discussion, another man joined us sitting on my right side. Little did I know at the time, this was the pastor of Church. The man on my left was the youth pastor who had invited me. One kept asking me if I had ever broken any of the Ten Commandments. The other asked, “Do you want to go to Hell?” I said, “I have been to Hell. My life is Hell. I am not afraid of Hell. I know I am a bad person. What I can’t figure out is why all you people think you are going to Heaven? What makes you so much better than me?” Very humbly, they quickly told me that they weren’t any better than me. They explained that Jesus had died on the cross for our sins, even my sins. I remember sitting there thinking, ‘If that is true, why don’t I feel forgiven?’ The only conclusion I could derive was that God had forgiven me, but I had not forgiven myself.

They continued by telling me that in order to be saved I had to give everything up to Jesus. They explained that prayer could only be heard if it was through Jesus as he is our mediator or representative for God. They said Jesus was the truth, the light, and the way. Still, this all didn’t make any sense to me. I needed something more concrete. Jesus isn’t here on earth, so how was I supposed to love him or follow him? I loved God, or so I had thought. Why wasn’t I saved? What was so different from me and these people where they could possibly think I was lost and they were saved?

At some point, it finally occurred to me what I had been doing wrong. Firstly, I was prideful. I believed in God. I just didn’t believe He was a part of our lives. I couldn’t understand how God could let so many terrible things happen in the world when He has the power to change them. My answer was that he had left us to fend for ourselves. In essence, I thought God had turned His back on us.

The second thing was not accepting God’s love and forgiveness. Sure we must forgive and love others, but we must also realize that we are loved. We must realize that even though we have sinned, God loves us. With love comes trust. We must learn to trust him. That means even though these bad things happen in the world, we must trust that God is doing the right thing.

Thirdly, we cannot fight sin on our own. In other words, we do not have the power to stop sinning. We must accept that we are sinners and no matter what we will sin. We can overcome our sin by letting Jesus direct, guide, help, and control us. True salvation comes only from Jesus. He was a perfect man who died for us, so that we may live for God. He saved us from God’s wrath. Being saved means accepting Jesus into our hearts. He carried our sin on the cross for us so that we may live. Simultaneously, if we don’t let Him carry the burden of our sin, then how can He? We must give it all to Him, and let Him help us overcome our sin.

Lastly, when we say Jesus has saved us, we are saying He is our Savior. This means Jesus is our Lord and God. We have recognized and accepted that Jesus has all power and authority over earth. He has the power to forgive sins. He has the power to change lives. He has the power to help us.

After this, I still thought to myself, ‘sure, it sounds good and all, but how can you actually do something that is so abstract? Jesus isn’t here.’ While sitting there thinking about all this, one of the preachers asked me if I wanted to be saved. I told him “yes” and then asked “how?” He then said, “You have to accept Jesus into your heart.” But this seemed so intangible to me. It didn’t seem to make any sense. And so, I said, “What do I have to do?” This confused the pastor as he knew there was nothing we can do to save ourselves. We are not saved by works. And so I said, “Do I have to stand up, sit down—what do I have to do?” He then asked, “Is it all right if we go to the altar and pray?”

I went with him as we kneeled down at the altar while the rest of the group circled around us. We all started praying. My eyes were closed and my ears were open listening to his prayers crying out to Jesus. I could hear people crying in the background. My fists were clenched, and my body was shaking with fear. It all seemed hokey and fake, just like watching it on TV. I kept thinking, ‘I should just get up and leave.’ I thought, ‘I don’t belong here. All these people are nuts.’ Still, I prayed. I prayed to God asking him for help. I prayed and asked God to save me from all these strange people. I kept praying and God did not answer.

Finally, I had decided that I would pray to Jesus. I had prayed to God for many years and He never answered. ‘Maybe Christ could talk to God for me,’ I thought. So, I prayed to Jesus saying, “I don’t know what I am doing here. All these crazy people are around me chanting and I am trapped here on the floor. Please, I need some help. Please Jesus save me from these people.” As I began calling out to Jesus, something changed. My clenched fists fell flat against the altar and tears came streaming down my face. Jesus was standing before me. A large towering figure stood over me. At his feet I cried, “I am sorry Jesus. I am so sorry. I am such a horrible person.” I cried and cried.

Then, something entered into me accompanied by a new peace. A new relief entered causing all the bad to float away. All my anxiety, my pain, my fears, my frustrations, and my sins had lifted off of me. I felt peace and joy. At the same time, the preacher sensed something also. We both rose up off the floor. Through all the tears, I could barely see all the people around me. The preacher asked me if I had accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and savoir. I said “yes”.

The large crowd began giving me hugs and telling me how much they loved me. Thirty different people, I had never met before, poured their hearts out for me that I might be saved. They welcomed me into a new life. To this day, I don’t remember many of their faces. In that moment, my mind was in eclipse as my heart overflowed with love.

Afterwards, the group broke out in praise and worship. One of the members pulled out a guitar and started singing joyful songs. I had never heard such music that spoke of such wondrous joy. Everyone seemed to know the words by heart. It was the greatest night of my life to have finally met Jesus and join in worship with a group of people I knew had truly loved me. Though I could not sing with my mouth, my warm beating heart praised God within me.

After nearly three hours of discussion and prayer, I had to use the bathroom. I departed from the crowd and headed to the back of the church building. As I was walking, it felt like someone was following me. I looked over my shoulder several times not seeing anyone. The feeling persisted even while I was standing at the bathroom stall. I called out, “Hello, is anyone there?” No one answered. Upon walking back to the bathroom, I became worried as the feeling did not leave. Just then, I realized what it was. Jesus was with me. I was now a member of his flock, and He my Shepherd. He was watching over me as my protector and giver of life. At the time, I had never heard or know of such a thing. Later, I would learn about this in the Bible. To be a Christian means that person has the Holy Spirit. “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” (Romans 8:9)

Up to that night in my life, I had known deep pain, sorrow, and misery. That night, I had wanted to drown my sorrows in beer. Instead, Christ invaded my life with love. I had now been filled with peace, love, and joy. This was not a momentary or fleeting gift. This was lasting. Though I had experienced a new birth that night, my life was now hidden with Christ. Awaking everyday with God filled my life with new meaning. Since that day, I have never known such sorrow that weighs down the heart to death. Rather, I have known true joy that is lasting even through difficulty and hardship. The world may be bad, but God is with me. I am comforted by His love and His Word.

Upon telling my brother the news of what happened, he cried. He was filled with great joy. He then said to me, “You know that you have to quit smoking.” This, however, didn’t make sense to me. The reason I turned to Christ was because I needed help to conquer sin. Why then would I quit now? Why would I return to such slavery having found this new freedom? I told my brother that I would pray about it and so I did. I prayed to Jesus and said, “Lord, I have tried to quit smoking many times and have failed. Honestly, I don’t want to quit. I like it. The drug makes me feel good; though, I love you more than cigarettes. If you want me to quit smoking, I will. But, you must help me. I can’t do it. You must take the smoking out of me.” I then continued to smoke.

Two weeks later, while standing on the front porch, I felt God say to me, “I want you to quit smoking.” In reply, I said, “Okay Lord, I will. I trust you. But give me until midnight tonight. Then I will put down my last cigarette and let you take over.” That night, I did just that. I quickly puffed my last cigarette until the clock hit 12:00am. I then let Jesus take control. The next few days were difficult, but never like before. I felt withdraw, but Christ kept me strong. I have never touched a cigarette again.

This event taught me an important lesson about trusting in God. Because of this, I quickly placed my faith in Him concerning everything. Since then, He has blessed me in many ways. One such way is through Bible study. Before that night, I had read the bible several times much to my own frustration. The Bible seemed confusing, boring, and overbearing. I could never read further than one chapter and it always left me with many questions about the meaning. However, having Christ in me made the Bible easy to read. As I read the pages, they came alive with meaning. I could understand what was being said as though I was reading the average magazine. The words made sense to me so I read the entire Bible through in three months time. To this day, as I read the Bible I can hear the Spirit of God illuminating Scripture to me so that I might understand it.

Christ has also blessed me in many other ways. He has strengthened my relationships with those I love including my family. He has brought people in my life that truly love me. He has also blessed me with a wonderful wife that shares my heart. I can say with confidence: God is good. This is proven by so many wonderful things God does in my life that exceed all measures of greatness this world seeks to achieve.

Having experienced the good news in my own life, I want to share it with others. That night, after having experienced something so wonderful, I went around telling everyone about it. I was like a young child who had ridden a roller coaster for the first time. Afterwards, the child went to all his friends saying, “You gotta try this! It’s awesome!” That is why I am telling you this now. I want you to share in this new life. Truly, it is a most wonderful gift. And so, I am sending you, whoever you are, an invitation to join many others and me in this wonderful Kingdom. Come, just as you are, to the throne of grace. Come and drink of the water Christ is offering. Come, repent, and be baptized so that you too may enter into the gifts of God.