Freedom In Christ

November 27, 2019

I Once was lost, now I’M FOUND…

Always striving to feel accepted and loved, everything Padina did only left her feeling like something was missing. How can you do everything you know to be right, everything you have been told and trained in the religious schools, and yet still feel unloved by god? Why is god so distant? Why doesn’t he hear me?

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“I hated Christians. I was told if you killed a Christian you got a one-way ticket to heaven. When I would hear about Christians being persecuted, it would make me happy.”

— Padina, before she met Jesus

All the religious teachings and service rituals only produced more hatred in Padina’s heart, which was completely closed to hearing about Jesus. When her depression became so great that she attempted suicide, she knew deep inside that Allah had not done anything for her. She had no peace, no joy, and no hope for her future… until Jesus.

When Padina was about to commit suicide, everything changed. That night she heard a message on the television from a pastor who said that Jesus wanted to come and bring her hope and a future. But this actually angered her at first. The possibility that the God she was taught to hate could actually be the one who holds the keys to her freedom. What a risk she would have to take to believe that her heart could finally feel the love and acceptance that she could never get from Allah.

When Padina agreed to give Jesus a chance, she had no idea how serious Jesus was. He was indeed after her heart, and that very night He came and healed her mother of terminal multiple sclerosis. He so intimately and personally showed His love to her by speaking to the deepest cry of her heart—the healing of her mother.

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“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”

— Jeremiah 32:27

When we read transformational stories like Padina’s, we are once again reminded of the power of God’s love. His power is so great that it can soften even the hardest heart. Perhaps you are thinking of someone you know, maybe at work or school, and you think to yourself, ‘This is the last person that would ever come to Jesus! Even that person—the love of the Father can effect.

When you think about Muslims, keep this perspective in mind that even the hardest heart is never too difficult for God to reach! Let’s believe and pray that God will woo many more to His heart this winter. Thank you for supporting our efforts in the most difficult to reach places.

Click below to read Padina’s full testimony on our Stories page.

#UNTILJESUS

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We believe the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are inspired by God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct. (2 Timothy 3:15-17, 1 Peter 1:21)

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent who has revealed Himself as embodying the principles of relationship and association as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Luke 3:22)

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for us, in His present rule as Head of the Church, and in His personal return in power and glory. (Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:31)

We believe in the creation of mankind in God’s image, and the fall of man, resulting in universal guilt and total depravity; and the necessity, therefore, of redemption and restoration; that all men and women are lost spiritually and face the judgment of God, that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and that repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for regeneration by the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:17)

We believe salvation is received through repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, being justified by grace through faith, man becomes an heir of God, according to the hope of eternal life. (Luke 24:47, John 3:3)

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life in the presence of our Lord, and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation and eternal punishment. (Matthew 25:46, Mark 9:43-48)

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and that all true believers are members of His body, the Church, which has the duty to preach the Gospel to every person. (Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 2:22)

We believe that we must dedicate ourselves to prayer, to the service of our Lord, to His authority over our lives, and to the ministry of teaching, preaching, the prophetic, the apostolic, and evangelism. (Ephesians 4:11-13)

We believe in upholding the ordinances of the church of water baptism and holy communion.

The ordinance of baptism by immersion is commanded by the Scriptures. All who repent and believe in Christ as Savior and Lord are to be baptized. Thus, they declare to the world that they have died with Christ and that they also have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life. (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:16, Acts 10:47,48, Romans 6:4)

The Lord’s Supper, consisting of the elements—bread and the fruit of the vine—, is the symbol expressing our sharing the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4), a memorial of His suffering and death (1 Corinthians 11:26), and a prophecy of His second coming (1 Corinthians 11:26), and is enjoined on all believers “till He comes!”