Spurgeon's Conversion

Last Sunday in my sermon I mentioned the story of Charles Spurgeon's conversion. Here is the story:

On January 6th, 1850 (159 years from Tuesday) there was snowstorm on a Sunday morning in the city of Colchester, Essex (England). A young boy who was not yet born again but knew he needed spiritual help set off to church but because of the snow stopped at an old Primitive Methodist Church.

There were 12-15 people in attendance and the pastor did not even make it because of the snow. So a uneducated deacon got up and without preparation simply read a passage of Scripture and rambled on and on for 10 minutes on that passage. The passage was from Isaiah 45:22:

"LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH."

The young boy later wrote of this account:

He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus—"My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, 'Look.' Now lookin' don't take a deal of pains. It ain't liftin' your foot or your finger; it is just, 'Look.' Well, a man needn't go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn't be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, 'Look unto Me.' Ay!" said he, in broad Essex, "many on ye are lookin' to yourselves, but it's no use lookin' there. You'll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, 'Look unto Me.' Some on ye say, 'We must wait for the Spirit's workin'.' You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, 'Look unto Me.'"
Then the good man followed up his text in this way:—"Look unto Me; I am sweatin' great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin' on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin' at the Father's right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!
When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, "Young man, you look very miserable." Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, "and you always will be miserable—miserable in life, and miserable in death,—if you don't obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved." Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, "Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin' to do but to look and live." I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said,—I did not take much notice of it,—I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, "Look!" what a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, "Trust Christ, and you shall be saved."

That happy day, when I found the Saviour, and learned to cling to His dear feet, was a day never to be forgotten by me. An obscure child, unknown, unheard of, I listened to the Word of God; and that precious text led me to the cross of Christ. I can testify that the joy of that day was utterly indescribable. I could have leaped, I could have danced; there was no expression, however fanatical, which would have been out of keeping with the joy of my spirit at that hour. Many days of Christian experience have passed since then, but there has never been one which has had the full exhilaration, the sparkling delight which that first day had. I thought I could have sprung from the seat on which I sat, and have called out with the wildest of those Methodist brethren who were present, "I am forgiven! I am forgiven! A monument of grace! A sinner saved by blood! "My spirit saw its chains broken to pieces, I felt that I was an emancipated soul, an heir of Heaven, a forgiven one, accepted in Christ Jesus, plucked out of the miry clay and out of the horrible pit, with my feet set upon a rock, and my goings established. I thought I could dance all the way home. I could understand what John Bunyan meant, when he declared he wanted to tell the crows on the ploughed land all about his conversion. He was too full to hold, he felt he must tell somebody.

Writing Out Testimony

My mom asked me to write out my testimony -- how I came to the Lord and my spiritual journey -- for Christmas.


It has been enjoyable to think about the spiritual influences in my life. God has been so gracious. Here is the first draft of this testimony.

My Testimony, Part 1

Letter of Thanks from Chris Starr

Last week I posted something about my friend, pastor Chris Starr, who lost his daughter by his mistake of leaving her in the van on a hot Sunday afternoon (read here).

Many of you have been praying for Chris and have sent him cards, emails, flowers, and various expressions of love and support.

You can email him at pastorchris@mtziononline.org and here is a letter of thanks that he has recently sent out:

Dear Family & Friends,

We want to thank you so much for your notes of comfort, words of encouragement, and most importantly your prayers. We have never faced grief and sorrow to this degree in our lives. Through the shock, grief, and pain, we feel as though are hearts have been ripped out of our chests. We loved Cassie with all our hearts. Certainly, our hearts are completely broken.

The love and support from friends and family, and church, and those we don’t even know has been overwhelming. We don’t know how to say thank you to so many people and wish we could write everyone individually. We have sensed the thousands of prayers that have gone up on our behalf and God’s grace has been sufficient to help us through each day. Each card, email, phone call, visit, flower, and words of love have helped to comfort us. Thank you so much for the love and concern you have showed to our family.

Our God has been our anchor in this storm. Please don’t stop praying for us as I know that grieving is not once and done, but a process. Our heart’s desire is to glorify our God and that we might better be able to help others through their personal tragedies. I know God will teach us so much through this trial. A couple of verses that have been anchors for us to hold onto during this time include:

Psalms 138:3
³ In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

Psalms 71:3
³ Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

A Testimony of Faithfulness - Elna Westfall 102 Years and Now with Jesus

Today I had the privilege of driving with Dave VanAcker to Fergus Falls (MN) to attend the funeral service of Elna Westfall. Elna was the mother of Arvid Westfall who is an elder at Grace Church.

Elna went to be with Jesus at the ripe old age of 102! Her life was marked with signs of faithfulness. First, the faithfulness of God that was the foundation of her life and of her faithfulness. Faithfulness in Elna as a devoted follower of Jesus, faithfulness as a wife to her husband Walter (who died in 1988). Faithfulness in Elna as a mother of four children (Arvid is the third of four children). Faithfulness as a grandmother, and great-grandmother.

Arvid shared a few thoughts about his parents and highlighted two things that were driven home to him by their example.

1) Integrity and
2) Service

Arvid had the opportunity of watching his parents live their lives in honesty (Arvid shared about the old days in which his parents would sharecrop and send a third to the land owner) -- which is so rare in our culture--and sacrificial service. It is no surprise to me that these two qualities abounded in Walter and Elna because I have seen them in their son over the six years that I have known him. More important than the virtues that these saints displayed is the faith that they obtained in the person of Jesus Christ - to the salvation of their souls! Praise God for His everlasting faithfulness.

Psa 71:18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

Isa 46:4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

Reaching the Lost - Sermon and Testimony

I was so encouraged last Sunday morning when Tim Harris shared his testimony about his conversion. I loved his honesty--"I almost didn't come this morning because I was so nervous." Tim was rescued from a life of drug addiction and sin on Easter 2007 in a jail. He has received forgiveness for his sins through Jesus Christ and has been born again. I think of these verses as I think about Tim:

Ephesians 4:22-24 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, (23) and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, (24) and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

This truly has been happening in Tim since his conversion by God's grace.

It was then great to hear from Saul Selby who shared his testimony of coming to faith in Jesus from an atheistic, drug-addicted past.

Saul challenged us with the significance that God uses people to TELL others the truth of the Gospel which saves. God uses PEOPLE to bring the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to others.

Romans 10:13-15 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? (15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

You can download Tim's testimony and Saul's sermon here or go to the sermons page at www.gracewyoming.com.

Sharing the Gospel Next Door - Testimony

Please take the time to read this testimony by Matt Howard about the opportunity he had to share the gospel with his neighbors last Monday.

Grace Church,

After a recent discipleship group God once again showed Himself to be powerful and amazing.

For years now I have listened to drunkenness, cursing, yelling and all manner of dysfunction come from one of the houses in my neighborhood. Also over the years I have developed a friendship/relationship with the family. We've talked around campfires and exchanged different lawn and garden services as needed.

Sunday He had laid it on my heart to share the Gospel with family. The desire came with such urgency that I couldn't ignore it. It was time.

On Monday, as we studied the chapter about being debtors, I felt like I was going to burst out of my skin because I absolutely had to share the Gospel with them. Steve ran and got me a couple of Gideon New Testaments, Brian prayed for the witnessing encounter to come and the spiritual groundwork had been laid.

We got home from DG group and I immediately changed clothes, grabbed my garden hoe and weeded in the garden waiting for them to come home. They did come home. They were all there. They weren't drunk and they had just been fishing and had a full stringer. They were so excited to show us the stringer of fish, they invited Annie and I in to their house to see them. I couldn't believe it!
So there we all were: four adult men from their family, one woman and two young girls and me and Annie.

After we finished admiring the fish and having small talk, I said, "So I've known you guys for quite a few years now and I have something very important to tell you."
They all said, "oh no we're in trouble!"
I assured them it wasn't bad, but very very good.
I told them that I had some things to ask them about spiritual things.

I said, "I have twenty dollars sitting at my house for anybody here that passed the good person test. Anybody want to try and win twenty bucks?"
They all ended up wanting to win the money, so I went through the good person test with each of them right in row.

"John, have you ever killed anyone?"
nope
"Have you ever told a lie?"
yes
"What does that make you?"
a liar I suppose

"Ah $%#! John, you failed the good person test," said Jack who was standing over by the door.

We went through everyone in the room seeing if they could pass the test by going through a couple of the ten commandments. Not one person passed and it quickly became obvious that none was going to win the twenty dollars.

I then shifted the conversation.

"It says in scripture that it is appointed for a man once to die and then face judgment. If you were to die today and stand before God to be judged do you think you'd go to heaven or hell?"

Almost in unison they all said, "Heaven...we hope."

"Why would God let you in?" I asked. "What qualifies you to get into heaven?"

The father and his brother said, "If you do more good things than bad, you can make up for them."
Then John said, "The Bible says God is a forgiving God. And furthermore if you obey your father and mother and do good by them you're following one of the commandments."

So I said, "How much trouble would you get in if you vandalized my house?"
They said, "Lots, I suppose. Probably get a ticket and have to go to court."
Then I said, "How much trouble would you be in if you vandalized the governor's mansion?"
"More," they said.
"And what if you vandalized the White House? How much trouble would you be in?"
"We'd be locked up for a long time then!" they said.
Then I asked, "What if you vandalized the house of the infinitely big and holy God of the universe? How much trouble would you be in?"

And one of the first grade age girls exclaimed, "An infinite amount of trouble!!"

Jack exploded with surprise, as only Jack can, "That's exactly right! She's exactly right!"

"So would you say that the debt that we would owe God would be infinite and unable to be paid back?" I asked.

"Yes, it seems that way" they all agreed.

"You see," I said, "the punishment for our sin depends more on the nature of the one sinned against than the nature of the crime. The bigger the person we do a bad thing against, the bigger the consequences and punishment."

"So what does that mean for us then?" I asked. "There we are standing before the infinitely holy and perfect God of the universe on our judgment day and we've all told a lie and broken His law. He brings down the gavel and pronounces us what?......."

"Guilty." They all said.

"I guess we're all going to hell," exclaimed the father. "We've known that our whole lives Matt. Is that all you came to tell us? Is there any more to this?"

"Absolutely!" I said, practically jumping out of my seat. "There's is some VERY good news."

"2000 years ago God sent His son Jesus to earth. Jesus said He was God and He proved it by doing miracles and having wisdom and power that couldn't be explained away. He lived a perfect life, He never sinned, and then He was killed on a cross."

The little girls gasped, "Oh no! no!"

"Yes," I said. He was killed for us. In the Bible it tells us that Jesus who knew no sin became sin for us. He took all of our sin into Himself. In Isaiah chapter 51 it says that it pleased the Lord to crush His Son. God the Father looked upon Jesus all full of our sin and He punished Him with an infinitely big punishment. The punishment that was due to us, Jesus took. He died and raised from the dead three days later to break the power that sin and death have over us. Scripture tells us that if we place our faith in Jesus we will be saved from the wrath of God. If we repent, turn from our sin and turn to God we will be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved."

"Wow, I've never heard it like that before." Jack said. "I've never heard it with those words before."

I then handed them the Knowing God tract that I printed off on two pages of paper. I handed them the two Gideon New Testaments and pointed them to the back of them where the Gospel was clearly written. They thanked me for sharing with them and I told them that if they ever had any questions or if they wanted to talk about anything spiritual they could feel free.

There were no tears, sinners prayers or visible signs that anything was accomplished, but in my spirit I knew that the Lord was powerfully moving in order to get the words of life to them and sink them deep into their hearts.

We chatted about things, they invited us to go fishing with them and Annie and I went home worshipping and praising God together that He had orchestrated such an amazing encounter.

Please pray for this family. Pray that God would save them and bring them to repentance and give them saving faith through His word working in their hearts. Pray for Annie and I that we would continue to have an effective witness to them both in words and in deeds.

Praise Him!
Matt

Evidences of Grace in Tim Harris

Three highlights for me in 2007 relate to a guy named Tim Harris. Harris is member of Grace Church and a personal friend and fellow member of my discipleship group.

• The first of these three was when his friend (now wife), Michelle, asked me to pray for him--that he would be rescued from his horrible Meth addiction and receive salvation in Jesus Christ--and hearing months later the report of his salvation (in jail) and freedom in Christ over the bondage of drugs.
  
• The second, is when I got to baptize Tim (as you see in the picture) during the summer -- as he testified publicly of his faith in Jesus, his commitment to follow Him, and of the radical new birth that had come into his life by the sovereign grace of God.
  
• The third highlight was when I was given the privilege to marry Tim and Michelle in September [by the way -- Michelle's story of salvation is equally as dramatic and contrasting of the old and new life] at Grace Church on a Sunday afternoon. Two lives who had collided with each other for so many years in so many sinful and damaging ways, were now being harmoniously united in Christ for His glory and the joy of these two souls.

Both Tim and Michelle Harris have plunged themselves into the body of Christ at Grace Church and desire to grow as followers of Jesus and serve God and the body in whatever way they can.

This Sunday, Tim is going to share his testimony of conversion before the morning sermon preached by Saul Selby. Saul, who will be preaching, is a former-addict and is now running an evangelism ministry to the local jails in the surrounding counties. Tim was saved in jail.

Please pray for Tim and Saul as they share this Sunday.
Pray that God would enlarge our heart to delight in the Gospel and deliver it to others.