After Brian gave his message last week, I chuckled to myself thinking, what if I told my non-believing friends the main points that I took away from the service?  “I am not important.  Do not follow my heart, and I am going to die.”  And then near the end of the service, a quote by Nikolaus Zinzendorf was on the screen:  “Preach the Gospel, die, and be forgotten.”  

Guys, that service shook me!  I can’t get it out of my heart, and I am in a better place because of it.  

I grew up in a Christian home.  I was obedient, never got into trouble at school, and I followed scripture to the best of my ability.  The only problem was that I thought that I deserved to be a child of God because I had earned it.  It was about me, and not Christ. I had no idea that I was living a life of pride.  And there I was thinking I was just being obedient!  My young heart had a lot to learn, and it still does.  In my early twenties, I went through a phase of questioning if God was real.  I moved away from my hometown and was attempting to establish my own identity outside of my parents for the first time ever, and I ended up on a path in the opposite direction of Christ.  

Thankfully, and by the grace and mercy of Jesus, I rekindled my faith shortly after and understood for the first time that my salvation was dependent on a God who is bigger than ME.  I realized that I serve a God who loves sinners like me.  I had always been a sinner, but my pride had gotten in the way of knowing that full well.  I grew to understand that I am nothing without Him, yet with Him, I am something.  I am like Christ when I depend on Him, and when I let go of myself, I become a better person.  This past week I was reminded that even as I serve at ACF it is about praising God with my heart rather than just my works alone.