Hello, my name is Grace, and this is my testimony. My mom and dad have always been telling me about Jesus ever since I was born. I have always gone to church and started AWANA when I was five. AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. AWANA is a Bible club for kids where you memorize a lot of verses and learn how to follow God. I learned many verses like Titus 3.5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saves us through the washing of a generation and renewing of the Holy Spirit. I know that we are all sinners in need of a Savior, and that the human race is in desperate need of a Savior. Romans 3.23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I never have known a time when I have not known Christ as my Lord and Savior. I know that Jesus died on the cross, and three days later he rose again from the dead, and that he saved me from my sins. I cannot pay the price for my own sins, but Jesus, who is a sinless, spotless lamb, can. Every day I try to be pleasing to God, but every day I fail. By reading the Bible and praying, I understand some of how Christ suffered on the cross and died for me. As my mom helps me study in my Awana verses, and we talk about them, and she helps explain what they mean. The more I understand, the more I know what pleases God. I understand more about sin and feel guilty when I do choose what I know is wrong. As I get older, Christ changes the way I think. He has answered my prayers. I ask God to help me choose what is right and what would please him. My favorite verse is Titus 3, 5. This verse tells me that I can never be good enough to be able to go to heaven by my own actions only. It was God's mercy that saved me, and he made me new. Since I know Christ as my Lord and Savior, I can be saved and go to heaven so that anyone else that believes and has his faith in Jesus. I am a part of the body of Christ because of what he did for me. I want to be baptized because even Jesus was baptized. This is my way of showing everyone that I want to follow Jesus and be obedient to his commands. Being baptized doesn't save me. I am already saved. It is a symbol on the outside of what God already did on my inside. I hate being up here. I'm not even sure I need this thing. So, glasses will serve two purposes today. They'll help me read, and they make you blurry. So, I've been attending this church for over 13 years, and I'm not sure how many baptisms that I've seen come and go, but I've finally decided that I need to stop delaying and be obedient to scriptures and be baptized. So here's my humble story from wretched sinner to saved wretched sinner, because let's be honest, for those of us who are Christians, we're still wretched sinners, only now our sins are covered by Jesus's mercy. So for as long as I can remember, I grew up in a loving Christian home, mom, dad, and older sister. We went to church every Sunday, and I heard the gospel message as it is presented to young kids, probably at most churches. There is a heaven and a hell, and the only way to get to heaven is believing in Jesus. Yes, a little oversimplified, but I think you get the point. What kid in his right mind is going to go, oh yes, please, send me to hell? That sounds like a fabulous place. For that matter, what sane, rational adult would think that would be a good idea? So I did what I thought I needed to do to avoid that scenario and prayed a sinner's prayer with my parents around the age of eight. So I'm saved, right? Well, not so fast. I did not really understand the gospel message, kind of like the game of chess. You may know the names of all the pieces. However, if you don't know how to use the pieces, you will never successfully win the game. Of course, I'm not trying to make light of salvation by comparing it to a game of chess. But my point is, I knew all the players, God, Jesus, heaven, hell, and sin, but I did not understand how they all intertwined to result in salvation. My life went on as it would for any eight-year-old, Five days a week school, one day to watch cartoons and completely goof off, and then Sunday, the day we went to church as a family, and I put in my time with God. That was about the extent of it for many years. I did not put any effort, extra effort, in trying to get to know God or Jesus. I had my fire insurance, and I was good to go. Would I say my life made a radical change? Nah, not really. During my teen years, there were a lot of changes going on. Big surprise, right? More and more, I did not want to go to church with my parents. I went, but most of the time it was begrudgingly. I did not resist my dad too much on this issue. Not really sure why. Maybe deep down I knew that church was important and was something that I needed to do. My lifestyle, however, was more and more going in the wrong direction. I rebelled against my parents. My dad and I banged heads together on many issues and had many arguments. Looking back on them, they were dumb issues. The biggest issue that I remember was school. My dad, I think, had high expectations for my schooling. I, on the other hand, had lower expectations for my schooling. My language began to change for the worse. I think you can figure out what that means. Four-letter words were much more common in my vocabulary. It was during my teen years that I first encountered pornography. How I wish that I had never stumbled across that first magazine in my cousin's basement. It has been a scourge that has been a part of my life and has impacted me in ways that I will not go into here today. Just know that none of it was any good. It is only by God's grace that I now have success with this battle. Right after high school, my parents moved from New York to Maryland. At 19 years old, I was in no position yet to live on my own, so I had to go as well. Looking back, it was a good thing, but at the time, I did not want to leave my comfort zone. So after the move, my dad started the process of finding another church to attend, and for some reason, I continued to go with him. Again, I'm not really sure why. I think that if I fought hard enough, my dad may have said, okay, decide what you want to do. Luckily, it didn't come to that. One of the first churches that we attended had a healthy group of young adults, and very quickly they welcomed me into the church and started to invite me to events and Bible study. I liked the church, and after one Sunday attending, sitting around the table having lunch as a family, I told my dad, Dad, I like this church. I don't want you to go to it. Surprisingly, my dad was okay with this. I don't believe that he really liked the church anyway, so that may have helped. I've always seen this as the start of my own faith in God and taking ownership for my faith. Did I go to church every Sunday? Absolutely no. I finally broke from my parents' control and now I got to decide on my own if I went to church or not. In reality, I did go to church far more often than I missed. I still, however, would not have considered myself to be a Christian, just someone that knew There is a reality of heaven and hell and that there is something to be gained from hearing God's word. Foul language and pornography still were prevalent in my life. Sinner all week and put on my church clothes on Sunday. If you had seen me away from church, there's no way that you would have thought I was a Christian. I could be put on the proper Sunday face and attitude with the best of them. In 1995, Angel and I got married and started our life as a married couple. As such, we began the process of finding another church that we would attend. I believe that during this time, God was working to start to open my eyes to the real gospel message, the message that I have a sickness called sin, like it says in Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. That sickness has a penalty, which is death. Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death and eternal separation from God, and that like any sickness, I needed a cure. That cure is Jesus Christ. Romans 10.9 and 10 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. not maybe be saved, you will be saved. Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 13 that we must repent or we too will perish. Repentance is turning from your sin. Do a 180 and stop doing what is not honoring to God. So during this time of being newly married and my conscience being pricked with the true message of the gospel, I repented of my sin and like it says in Romans 10, believed with my heart that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead. So I have completely stopped sinning, right? Well, not really. Not by a long shot, but I am much more sensitive to my sin and how it is not honoring to God. I now know that if I confess my sin, He will forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness, as it says in 1 John 1, 9. Not just some of the unrighteousness, all of it. It is a great feeling knowing that God promises to save those that repent and trust in him. Jesus did not die on the cross to save me from hell, although that is part of it. He died on the cross to save me from the wrath of God for my sin, which requires a blood sacrifice. Jesus became that sacrifice, so I would not have to. Hell is a creation of God's to separate those who do not obey his commands to be born again. My prayer would be that my story may help others. who may not see the need for Christ, see that they have a sin problem and that there is a cure in the mercy and grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. So why am I standing here this morning? It certainly is not because I like standing on a stage airing some of my dirty laundry in my life. It is to be obedient to scripture, to make a public profession before my church family that I am a follower of Christ, that Christ has saved me and has taken my sin upon himself so that I can be in God's presence when he decides to take me home. All right. Kyle Peterson, on the basis of your confession of faith, of trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and your desire to demonstrate to your church family your heart's change and your commitment to him, I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Grace, thank you for sharing your story with us and because of what you shared with us and what you shared with me when we were over at, where was that, Dunkin' Donuts a couple weeks ago talking about this and you sharing a little life with me. Based on your testimony, it is my privilege to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.