My+Testimony

=**My Testimony**=

My name is Christian Dean Gehring. I am a Child of God, born to Brad & Cindy Gehring. I have lived for 16 years and when I was @ the age of five, I accepted Christ into my heart. I have recommitted my life to Him many times since then and have attended the same Church my whole life. Most (If not all) of the people who regularly attend Grace Community (http://gcc-online.org) love Christ (a lot of them whole-heartedly). Dave (our Senior Pastor) dose a tremendous job of preaching the word and developing biblically grounded followers of Christ. It was there I met Jesus and Began to Follow Him. But, I had never truly found Him and understood his love for me. Later in my life (8-9 I don't remember) I was Baptized @ West Lake in Newton, KS. Even then, I had not completely given my life to God, though I had made a public statement of my faith. Since that time, I had drawn closer and closer to Him but I still hadn’t come into a love relationship with the MOST HIGH. Though I had been "Born Again" through the Blood of Jesus Christ, my heart wasn't completely His, not yet. At the age of 10 my family meet an elderly couple (Don & Barbara) that moved in down the street from us; they would be there to guild me though much of my life. Then, one day Don & Barbara moved away, but the relationship I have with would not change. In May of 2009, I attended KLM (in Hesston Ks their website is http://www.hesstonklm.org/ index.html) with them. There I was consumed by the Holy Spirit and I finally knew what it felt like to be overwhelmed by His presence. There after the sermon Scout (The pastor there) invited everyone that was willing to love the Lord wholeheartedly up to the front so he could pray over us. I went up and when he got to me, he prayed allowed for me. He prayed to God that I would be a blessing to my generation and that I would touch the lives of people around me. I found the Holy Spirit but I would come to the Lord whole-heartedly soon enough. I all so had felt that God was trying to tell me something but I didn’t know what is was yet and I waited for Him to show me what He had in store for me next. (So, Let me show you what happened). When I started Junior High, the friendship I have with my Youth Pastor (Jim) would grow and so would my faith in Jesus Christ, but I still didn’t get what living a Christian life really meant. Then, I found out that Jim was leaving. He announced in January (2009) that the Lord had other plans for his life somewhere else and that in June he would resign as our Youth Pastor. So I went on our missions trip to Galveston, Texas not only to spend a little bit more time with Jim, but all so to serve the Lord in a place that need our help desperately. There, I was humbled to see the lives of people that lived in that devastated area of the world. I felt good about helping people in such need and I had a blast hanging out with Jim and everyone else in my youth group. On the night of 07/13/09, during devotions at Galveston, I realized that if God didn’t give me some kind of wisdom to guard my heart I was going to slip back into my normal life style and I wouldn’t have really changed. So, I cried out to God and asked Him to let me come back with something. Something that would change my life style in some way and my prayer was answered. The next morning we attended Watermark Church in Dallas, Texas and Todd (The pastor there) was preaching about a way of escape. How temptations in your life don’t have to devour you, but that God would help you endure them. He told me that they had a website that had their sermons on it and that if I watched “Why there is evil” (a sermon that's a part of the “Why Series”) that I would get a better understanding of what “evil” was and how I could resist it. (http://www.watermarkradio. com) So, what do you think I did when I got home? I looked at the website, I found the sermon he was talking about, and before I knew it, I had listened to the whole “Why series.” I had found the wisdom I had been looking for and because I went looking for wisdom, I found not only what I was looking for, but I also found the love of my Heavenly Father. In the sermons I heard that God was in Himself three in one persons (the Loving Father, His Faithful and obedient Son and the Helper (A Good, Loving and Holy Spirit, that surrounds them and completes them). Each one having a separate identity, but having one essence. He in Himself, before time began was in complete community within Himself. I understood that because He is love, He wanted to share it with others. I understood that because he was good he couldn’t allow evil in His presence, because any evil would affect Him and He wouldn’t be truly good anymore. So, He cast “The Morning Star” (the most beautiful of all His creations, all so known as Satan) from His presence when he said that He would exalt himself higher than God and sit upon His throne (not once but, 5 times). I understood that He did that so that His Goodness and Love wouldn’t be tarnished. I understood that He didn't want to prove that He was powerful by destroying him, but that He wanted to prove that He is Love and that He truly loves everyone He created. He allowed sin to exist for a moment in time so that He could prove is Love to His creation. I understood what role the Jewish race had in God’s plan and what the Church’s role had to play. Todd told me that the Lord calls sin adultery of the heart, because when you sin you betray is Love and protection to the lies, temptations, lust and foolishness of sin. I finally understood what guarding your heart from Satan really meant, and that I had to guard it, follow hard after God, obey Him and that when I did, I would find the fullness of joy and happiness that comes from letting Him hold you in His Loving and merciful arms. I knew that as long as I stayed there in His arms, I would be safe. But, when I let go and sinned I would be devoured by it. But, because God loves us and because we sin against Him, He had to find a way to forgive everyone of their sins and allow us to come into a loving relationship with Him, forever. But, to do that, our loving God, that had been with Himself for an eternity, had to send the Son to come into the World and be sacrificed for an atonement of all sin. On the Day that Jesus died all the weight of the world’s sin was put onto His shoulders, the Father’s wrath was then poured out upon Him and both the Father and the Holy Spirit turned their back on the Son because they could no longer bear to look at Him while the sin of the World was put on Him while He was put to Death on the Cross. But during the days and nights that Jesus was dead, He stormed the gates of Hell, took the keys of death from Satan, conquered death and arose from the grave and promised His disciples that one day He would return to take them Home with Him and then ascended to Heaven to sit at the right hand of God. On that day after Jesus ascended to Heaven (just like He told His disciples) Jesus sent us the Spirit to help guild us though our lives. On the day that He returns if you are saved you will hear the voice of the archangel, the trumpets calls from Heaven, and He will come back to earth riding on a cloud to take His children Home. Then will come the day of Judgment when our Father will let the Son loose on the world that nailed Him to the cross. He will take along side of Him Angels from Heaven and His wrath will be poured out onto the world and everyone that had not been washed clean of their sin with the blood of Christ would be cast into the lake of fire. He will create a new Heaven and a New Earth and will Judge everyone based on they're deeds. Rewarding those who we're saved and condemning Satan, his minions and those who had refused to believe in the Son.

(He says that those who hadn’t had an opportunity to accept Him as their Savior would be spared but those who had would be subjected to His Judgment). Only His children will be allowed to enter Heaven and live with Him for eternity, but those that reject Him will face His wrath. That is why it is important that we accept His free gift of Salvation so that we are not separated from Him forever and then to go out and tell people of the Love of Christ, because if you don't tell them who will? When I sat there listening to Tod’s messages I began to understand God’s Love for me and His grief when I sin (Of course not completely but I began to understand). It was there I found God. It was there I found His love and at the age of 15, I proudly announce my wholehearted love and faith in God to the world wide web and everyone on the internet. Feel free to ask questions and comment on “My testimony.”

May the Lord bless you and keep you all well,

Christian