I AM NOT ASHAMED
"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." (Romans 1:16)
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A todos los que visitan este portal por favor visiten nuestra paguina en español.
Cristo El Unico Camino
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HOW CAN I BECOME A CHRISTIAN?
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Unless you have been born again, you WILL NOT enter the kingdom of heaven! Jesus said this. There is NO other way!
(Read John 3:1-16)
Click for sermon series
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Welcome to ONE WAY JESUS!
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Statement of Faith
This statement of faith is that of gotquestions.org, but one that I absolutely concur with and would be most appropriate for this site.
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Statement of Faith
This statement of faith is that of gotquestions.org, but one that I absolutely concur with and would be most appropriate for this site.
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"My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior."
- John Newton
- John Newton
MY STORY: A Sinner Saved By Grace
Growing up in Florida, I had a terrible childhood. I won't go into detail here, but I was abused from the time when I was a toddler to about 10 years old. No one ever knew, I kept it stuffed down inside, but I acted out in other ways as a result. I had a lot of problems in school, other kids would make fun of me. I ran away from home when I was 17. I got engaged at the age of 18. That was a terrible relationship. I loved my fiancee, but I didn't know how to treat her properly because it had never been modeled for me. We fought all the time. When she ended the relationship, I got severely depressed. That's when I joined the Navy. I didn't really like the Navy. I was depressed and I wanted out.
When I got stationed in Chicago, I met a guy who introduced me to the rave scene. I didn't like the first party that he took me to, it was all Hardcore music (think pounding bass at 200 bpm, lots of yelling and screaming). It gave me a headache and quite frankly it was frightening. But then I went again, and fell in love with House music. I started going to raves every weekend. I finally felt like I had found a place where I belonged. Everyone was so accepting and loving. But after time went by, I started to see how empty and shallow people really were. I loved the music, they may have to, but it seemed like a lot of them were just there for the drugs. I had a friend in the Navy who also loved House music and he bought turntables and a mixer. We learned how to mix records.
After I got out of the Navy, I stopped going to raves and started going to clubs. But even the club scene felt empty, people were getting drunk and using drugs there too. I felt empty inside, like there was a void in my life. My life seemed purposeless. After a car accident in 2001 which left me injured and unable to work, I started to think, "Man, what if I had died? I don't know that I would be going any place good!" That scared me and motivated me to read the New Testament Bible that the Gideon's had given all of the sailors in boot camp. I can't even remember what passages I read. All I know is that God was speaking to me through this book. All my life I had rejected God. I was basically an agnostic. I remember a friend telling me that she had started going to church and I got rather upset with her. I said "If you keep going, then I can't be friends with you!" But I was now humble enough to accept the possibility that there might actually be a God.
The Gideon's New Testament Bible had a prayer of salvation in the back. I began to pray this prayer. I confessed my sins to God and asked Him for forgiveness. I recieved Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. A wave of emotion came over me. I felt like a new person. In fact, I was a "new creation". I had been "born-again". Everything that I had been searching for all my life and I finally found it! The emptiness inside me that I was trying to fill with things of the world was finally filled with the love of God. Because of the abuse in my childhood and my sinful choices in life, I always felt like I was not worthy enough to be accepted by God (and in fact I wasn't worthy enough, but I did not find this out until later). I thought that He could never forgive me. Now all the shame and guilt had been washed away! I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I had been forgiven and set free. Oh what a glorious day that I shall never forget!
Soon after, I decided that I really wanted to buy a Bible. Once I bought it and started reading it, I couldn't get enough of it. God started convicting me about certain sins in my life. I started sharing my newfound faith with my friends and coworkers. Some seemed genuinely happy for me, while some others thought I went bonkers and would just assume avoid me! I found out about Christian radio and started listening all the time. A year later God brought a beautiful girl into my life. We started dating and shortly after watching "The Passion Of The Christ" together, upon visiting a local church where the gospel was being preached, she repented of her sins and gave her life to Jesus Christ. She found out that one of the pastors that I listened to on the radio had a Bible church in the area. So we started going to church there and started serving almost immediately.
Bobbie and I were soon in love! We got engaged and 1 year later we were married! I truly believe that God brought us together. She is living proof to me that God answers prayers! We basically started out in our faith together (I came to faith 1 year earlier) and have grown tremendously since then - not only in our relationship to Christ, but in our relationship with each other. Christ has always been and remains our main focus. I remember telling her when we were dating that she would never come before my relationship with God. At the same time though, I try to love her the same way that Christ loves the church. I know that I will always fall short, but that is the standard by which Christian husbands are to love their wives.
Growing up in Florida, I had a terrible childhood. I won't go into detail here, but I was abused from the time when I was a toddler to about 10 years old. No one ever knew, I kept it stuffed down inside, but I acted out in other ways as a result. I had a lot of problems in school, other kids would make fun of me. I ran away from home when I was 17. I got engaged at the age of 18. That was a terrible relationship. I loved my fiancee, but I didn't know how to treat her properly because it had never been modeled for me. We fought all the time. When she ended the relationship, I got severely depressed. That's when I joined the Navy. I didn't really like the Navy. I was depressed and I wanted out.
When I got stationed in Chicago, I met a guy who introduced me to the rave scene. I didn't like the first party that he took me to, it was all Hardcore music (think pounding bass at 200 bpm, lots of yelling and screaming). It gave me a headache and quite frankly it was frightening. But then I went again, and fell in love with House music. I started going to raves every weekend. I finally felt like I had found a place where I belonged. Everyone was so accepting and loving. But after time went by, I started to see how empty and shallow people really were. I loved the music, they may have to, but it seemed like a lot of them were just there for the drugs. I had a friend in the Navy who also loved House music and he bought turntables and a mixer. We learned how to mix records.
After I got out of the Navy, I stopped going to raves and started going to clubs. But even the club scene felt empty, people were getting drunk and using drugs there too. I felt empty inside, like there was a void in my life. My life seemed purposeless. After a car accident in 2001 which left me injured and unable to work, I started to think, "Man, what if I had died? I don't know that I would be going any place good!" That scared me and motivated me to read the New Testament Bible that the Gideon's had given all of the sailors in boot camp. I can't even remember what passages I read. All I know is that God was speaking to me through this book. All my life I had rejected God. I was basically an agnostic. I remember a friend telling me that she had started going to church and I got rather upset with her. I said "If you keep going, then I can't be friends with you!" But I was now humble enough to accept the possibility that there might actually be a God.
The Gideon's New Testament Bible had a prayer of salvation in the back. I began to pray this prayer. I confessed my sins to God and asked Him for forgiveness. I recieved Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. A wave of emotion came over me. I felt like a new person. In fact, I was a "new creation". I had been "born-again". Everything that I had been searching for all my life and I finally found it! The emptiness inside me that I was trying to fill with things of the world was finally filled with the love of God. Because of the abuse in my childhood and my sinful choices in life, I always felt like I was not worthy enough to be accepted by God (and in fact I wasn't worthy enough, but I did not find this out until later). I thought that He could never forgive me. Now all the shame and guilt had been washed away! I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I had been forgiven and set free. Oh what a glorious day that I shall never forget!
Soon after, I decided that I really wanted to buy a Bible. Once I bought it and started reading it, I couldn't get enough of it. God started convicting me about certain sins in my life. I started sharing my newfound faith with my friends and coworkers. Some seemed genuinely happy for me, while some others thought I went bonkers and would just assume avoid me! I found out about Christian radio and started listening all the time. A year later God brought a beautiful girl into my life. We started dating and shortly after watching "The Passion Of The Christ" together, upon visiting a local church where the gospel was being preached, she repented of her sins and gave her life to Jesus Christ. She found out that one of the pastors that I listened to on the radio had a Bible church in the area. So we started going to church there and started serving almost immediately.
Bobbie and I were soon in love! We got engaged and 1 year later we were married! I truly believe that God brought us together. She is living proof to me that God answers prayers! We basically started out in our faith together (I came to faith 1 year earlier) and have grown tremendously since then - not only in our relationship to Christ, but in our relationship with each other. Christ has always been and remains our main focus. I remember telling her when we were dating that she would never come before my relationship with God. At the same time though, I try to love her the same way that Christ loves the church. I know that I will always fall short, but that is the standard by which Christian husbands are to love their wives.
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Two years after we got married, Bobbie gave birth to our son. We named him Nathaniel, which means "gift from God". He has been such a blessing in our lives. God is so good! He has filled our hearts with love, peace, joy, and happiness. Bobbie and I just celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary Oct. 8, 2011. Nate will turn 5 years old Dec. 26, 2011 (wow, how time flies) and we are teaching him to love the Lord. Baby Noah was born September 13, 2011. Nate is so excited to be a big brother! Life in Christ is so exciting -- I'm loving the journey and I can't wait to see what God has planned for us next!
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I hope that you find this website helpful and come to trust it as a great resource. God has blessed me with a passion for evangelism and the gift of discernment. I also have a strong desire to learn apologetics (defense of the faith), to know why I believe what I believe and to be able to give a reason for the hope that lies within me. On this website, I have tried to share what I have learned in the past ten years as a Christian attending a local church where the Bible is being taught book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, week after week. I am also blessed with a job where I can listen to Christian radio, sermons on my I-pod, or my audio-Bible eight hours a day, five days a week. In the past eight years I have listened to thousands of messages. I have read certain books of the Bible several times, the entire Bible at least once and I am also part of a weekly Bible study. I have read a number of Christian books. I also have studied the world's major religions and various cults as well as major philosophies and worldviews of the day.
After a while I started to accumulate this knowledge of God and the Holy scriptures. I'm not saying this pridefully, but my head was becoming full of knowledge, yet I was not using it. Oh, sure I was sharing my faith with others, but so much of what I was learning just remained in my study notes and in my noggin. This is part of the reason why I created this website. I needed to get this information out to others and not just become another "consumer Christian". I know all too well, that if you don't use the information that's in your head, you tend to lose it. I didn't want this to happen to me.
I also know how important it is to share Christ with others. It is the Great Commission! God tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. How will they hear of Jesus if no one ever tells them? I feel a great burden for the people around me who are perishing. Jesus said "13 For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) I want to help people find that small gate and narrow road that leads to life - eternal life, which can only be found in Christ Jesus. I am not coming from some ivory tower somewhere. I have lived through childhood abuse, despair and depression, and even rejecting God but eventually coming to faith in Him. No, I've never been to seminary. Nor do I speak, read, or write Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. I'm not a pastor, though I do aspire to be one. Like one Christian once said, "I am simply one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread" - the Bread of Life!
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My life verse: (Galations 2:20) "I have been crucified with Christ; and 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."
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I hope that you find this website helpful and come to trust it as a great resource. God has blessed me with a passion for evangelism and the gift of discernment. I also have a strong desire to learn apologetics (defense of the faith), to know why I believe what I believe and to be able to give a reason for the hope that lies within me. On this website, I have tried to share what I have learned in the past ten years as a Christian attending a local church where the Bible is being taught book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, week after week. I am also blessed with a job where I can listen to Christian radio, sermons on my I-pod, or my audio-Bible eight hours a day, five days a week. In the past eight years I have listened to thousands of messages. I have read certain books of the Bible several times, the entire Bible at least once and I am also part of a weekly Bible study. I have read a number of Christian books. I also have studied the world's major religions and various cults as well as major philosophies and worldviews of the day.
After a while I started to accumulate this knowledge of God and the Holy scriptures. I'm not saying this pridefully, but my head was becoming full of knowledge, yet I was not using it. Oh, sure I was sharing my faith with others, but so much of what I was learning just remained in my study notes and in my noggin. This is part of the reason why I created this website. I needed to get this information out to others and not just become another "consumer Christian". I know all too well, that if you don't use the information that's in your head, you tend to lose it. I didn't want this to happen to me.
I also know how important it is to share Christ with others. It is the Great Commission! God tells us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. How will they hear of Jesus if no one ever tells them? I feel a great burden for the people around me who are perishing. Jesus said "13 For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) I want to help people find that small gate and narrow road that leads to life - eternal life, which can only be found in Christ Jesus. I am not coming from some ivory tower somewhere. I have lived through childhood abuse, despair and depression, and even rejecting God but eventually coming to faith in Him. No, I've never been to seminary. Nor do I speak, read, or write Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. I'm not a pastor, though I do aspire to be one. Like one Christian once said, "I am simply one beggar showing another beggar where to find bread" - the Bread of Life!
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My life verse: (Galations 2:20) "I have been crucified with Christ; and 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."
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| Lowell's_baptism.mp3 |
| Bobbie's_baptism.mp3 |
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My background was agnosticism. Bobbie's background was Roman Catholicism. She will tell you that while she knew about God, she didn't actually "know" God. For an overview of Roman Catholicism and what it teaches click here:
Roman Catholicism Vs. Biblical Christianity
My background was agnosticism. Bobbie's background was Roman Catholicism. She will tell you that while she knew about God, she didn't actually "know" God. For an overview of Roman Catholicism and what it teaches click here:
Roman Catholicism Vs. Biblical Christianity
