Saved by Grace through Faith, Prompted to Serve God by His Sovereign Work

Good morning! I rejoice greatly in the Lord for this chance to testify on God’s working in my life. I didn’t hesitate to accept this opportunity because I thought I really need to make myself known more to you, most especially now that you have welcomed me to the band. As requested by Rev. Hoshizawa, I will testify today on how I got converted for Christ and why I went to seminary.

How I got converted for Christ

Christ came into my life in March 1995. He made me realize my need of Him through one brother who patiently chased me for a bible study with him, after I promised to meet with him but evaded meeting him many times. Before Christ came into my life, I was like a wandering nomad. I had no sense of the purpose of my existence. I had no sense of why I do things – I just did and took whatever came for me each day for I had no sense of the future. For this reason I never took my schooling seriously but just contented myself with being mediocre in class.

Before Christ came into my life, my life was also full of darkness. I succumbed to alcoholism and fornication. I started to drink wine at age 8. I tasted drugs first when I was 11 and again when I was 15. Drugs did not have a hold on me, but alcohol did. So by the time I was 15, I was already a very strong alcoholic and eventually almost became alcohol-dependent. When I was 17, I sang in honky-tonk bars where drug users, alcoholics, and prostitutes were going. By this time, I got sick of urinary tract infection (UTI), ulcer, hepatitis, and insomnia. Praise the Lord I didn’t acquire AIDS or HIV. By this time, too, I was already sleeping with a 15-year old girl. I quitted from college to medicate myself but I went back to the same dark lifestyle after I recovered from insomnia. In 1994, I found myself back in school taking up another course. I carried my dark lifestyle to school so I continued wandering until Christ finally came into my life and totally changed me in 1995.

I recognize that Christ’s coming into my life is by His grace alone, and that the faith I had to be able to accept Him as my personal Lord and Savior was a result not of my own conviction but of His grace alone still. Without His grace, I would not have trusted Him for my life and I would not have come out of my dark lifestyle. The apostle Paul is right in saying in Ephesians 2:8,9 that it is by grace through faith that I have been saved and that this is not from myself but the gift of God.

Why I went to seminary

One very expressed change the Lord has caused in me is the conscious conviction I felt in my heart to serve Him for the rest of my life. He prompted me to enter seminary for training and equipping in the handling of His word. I then thought of finishing first my college course so I could be qualified to the Master of Divinity program and to give myself enough preparation for the training. By God’s grace, I finished college in March 2001 so I went to seminary in October of that same year. I entered seminary not because I dreamed of it before but because of God’s call, not because any man decided it for me but because I volunteered to, not to know whether or not I am called to serve Him but because I knew I am, not because I had nothing else to do in life but because I had no other satisfaction in life but to preach the gospel, and not because I had no place to go but because I was fully satisfied with being at the feet of my Lord and Savior. Who would have thought that I would enter seminary for training for lifetime service to the Lord? Not my parents, relatives, and friends who knew who I was. I, myself, even have not thought of it, never! The unchristian mind will never be able to understand why, but it was God, by His sovereign work, who sent me to seminary. Apart from God’s sovereign working in me, I would not have chosen to take Master of Divinity; I would, instead, have taken another course that will yield me prestige and money. For this, I understand the apostle Paul whenever he points to God’s sovereignty in his life when he makes an introduction about himself in his letters, like in 1 Corinthians 1:1a, wherein he says, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”

In short dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I got converted for Christ by grace through faith, and I went to seminary because of God’s sovereign working in my life. Thank you very much and may God bless us all.

(This is my personal testimony that i delivered during the worship service on October 21, 2007 at the Asakura Yorokobi Kyoukai, Kochi city, Japan in response to the request of our minister, Rev. Hoshizawa)

Ultrasound shows a boy

A Year of God’s Unmerited Favor

[The story has been told that one day the well known Christian author, C.S.
Lewis, walked into a room where a lively debate was in progress. The small group
of people that had gathered there was having a discussion about the major
religions of the world, and trying to decide what is the fundamental difference
between these other religions and Christianity. As Lewis entered, the room
became suddenly silent, and everyone turned to put the question to this great
Christian thinker. His answer was short and simple. "One word," he said,
"describes the difference between Christianity and all other religions. That
word is 'grace.'" End of sentence, end of debate.] - http://www.webedelic.com/church/graceworksf.htm
(accessed Oct. 1, 2007)

Grace (charis in Greek; chen in Hebrew; biyaya in Filipino, and megumi in Nihongo) is popularly defined as “God’s unmerited favor toward men.” Dissecting this definition would give us three of its basic elements: (1) it is from God; (2) man is the recipient; and (3) it is unmerited. It is a picture of the cross and all it represents.

Given this definition and though it would still be an understatement, my one year here in Japan can be characterized by a year of God’s unmerited favor, as has been in the past years. God has amazingly engineered a lot of events and circumstances, bestowed blessings and triumphs, and allowed trials and frustrations in my one year here in Kochi. I recognize His graciousness and faithfulness, and I am grateful.

1. I was awarded a Monbukagakusho scholarship for PhD. Although it is
in a small graduate school in a small university, I am still thankful because
then I get the opportunity for discipline in self-study, independence in work,
and all the accompanying difficulties that only serve to strengthen one’s
resolve;
2. I got married. God gave me a husband who prays, and who
undoubtedly loves me. Although his marrying me completely delayed all his other
plans, we both believe in and attribute our circumstances to God’s sovereignty;
3. I’m now with a child. I look at my big belly and smile at his
father, and I tell myself, this is another grace from God. I know of one here
who had to go through invitro fertilization (IVF) where the implantation
succeeded but the zygote strangely didn’t manage to grow.

These, and all the innumerable daily little joys, frustrations, triumphs, trials, blessings, friends I encountered in my past year in this foreign land are unmerited favors from our gracious God. I cannot be more grateful.

For His glory,
Che

(I came to Kochi, Japan on October 2, 2006)