Jesus, my Lord and Savior! Hi, I'm glad you came by. I want to share with you how Jesus is the best thing that has ever happen to me and I truly believe that He will be the same for you. I became a Christian when I was in 8th grade. Back then, when I was in middle school, I use to get picked on a lot because of my ethnicity. I remember sitting in the school cafeteria and while eating, students would come by and slap me in the back of the head. They would try to make fun of my language, notice I said try, because I thought they were sounding dumb when they were trying to make fun of my language. I remember being scared going to school and walking to school. Sometimes I would go home and tell myself that I hated this world and I hate living where I'm living. Saddest part of it all was I wanted to die at times, all because I didn't feel accepted. It's funny one day, I decided that I could not go to school like this and continued being afraid. My way of thinking was, if I want this to stop, then I have to do what they do, act the way they act and talk the way they talk. I began to hang out with the crowd and I notice my school life was in trouble. I started to skip class, act up in class and even picked on other students. One day, I will never forget this, every morning I would eat breakfast at the cafeteria and every now and then some people would come and mess with me, but there was one brother that would come to my aid and started talking to me about Jesus. His name was Richard. He would walk around everyday with a bible in his hands and he would dress almost like a preacher. Now this is an eighth grade student we're talking about here. I was pretty amazed how this brother could just walk around like that with a bible in his hands, and the last thing I wanted was a brother like him to come to my aid. I admit, I felt embarrassed and shocked at the same time. But the cool thing about this brother was that even though I had told him that I was not interested in Jesus, he was persistent. He never gave up on me and everyday when he saw me, he would come sit next to me and share how great Jesus is in his life and how Jesus could be awesome in my life too. He told me that I didn't have to live a life of fear nor did I have to be ashamed of who I am. He told me Jesus loves me more than I ever know and that Jesus had an awesome plan for me. Now this got me thinking, I started to think about who created man and this world we live in. I dwelt on questions like, if Jesus loves me then let Him show Himself to me.
Then one very special day, a day that change my life forever, during lunch time at school I saw Richard from a distance and I felt a tug in my heart to approach him and when I approached him, I told him "Richard, I want to know about this Jesus and I want you to lead me in that prayer you were talking about." Richard's face glowed with a huge smile and it was funny we both held hands in front of all these students and he led me in prayer to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And when we both said "Amen", even though there were students laughing at us, I did not feel ashamed nor was I embarrassed. I was smiling and I told Richard thank you very much and from there my journey with Christ began.
I went to church with my sister, which is still the same church I attend today. Vietnamese Baptist Church is truly a blessing in my life. Though the name of the church is Vietnamese Baptist Church, I have attended long enough to know that it's not a church that is based on religion, but a church that is purely based on Jesus and having a real relationship with Him. Remember when I said earlier in this testimony that one of my questions before I accepted Christ was, "If Jesus loves me, let Him show Himself to me." Well, Jesus did absolutely that! I saw Jesus through the people at the church. This family of Christ here is awesome, you just got to experience it for yourself! Think about it, if you were to die tonight, where would you go? Life is so fragile and you never know when you will leave this world. Our days are numbered and short.
Do you ever wonder what would happen to you after you leave this world? If you do, I have awesome news for you! God has a plan and that plan is to give us life not just on earth but for eternity in Heaven. Eternity, that's a long time! But the bad news is there is also a Hell. God gives us the free will to choose life in Heaven or life in Hell. It's easy for us to say we would rather go to Heaven, but there's a price for that. The price lies in your decision to either accept Christ, or deny Him. It's as simple as that.
My friends, God loves you more than you will ever know, and He wants you to spend eternity with Him in Heaven, but He also loves you enough to let you choose which path you want to go. I'm here to testify to you that Jesus is the only way there. I've experienced it for myself, will you? Jesus came down over 2000 years ago to die on the cross for our sins and defeated the power of Satan. But not only that, three days later He rose from the dead. Now you tell me who can do that, that's unnatural, but only God can! Buddha's body is still in the grave, Muhammad's body is still in the grave, Jesus' body is missing. That's because Jesus has risen and ascended to Heaven where He rules right now and watches over us and lives in those who believe in Him.
My friends, a life in Heaven or a life in Hell all depends on one decision. That is to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and spend eternity in Heaven, or deny Him and spend eternity in Hell. It sounds brutal, but I'm just being blunt with you because life is that fragile, and if it wasn't for Richard coming to my aid and telling me straight up about Jesus, I promise I would not be the same today and my life's destiny would have ended in destruction. I pray that God will open your eyes so that you will see Him and that you will make that life changing decision now. Life on earth is short, eternity is long, which path will you choose? If you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and receive the gift of salvation meaning, you will go to Heaven, then all it takes is this short prayer. First, you have to acknowledge that you are a sinner. Next, you have to confess your sins. Then, you have to invite Him in as your Lord and Savior. Finally, ask Jesus to take full control of your life. So to break it down, just repeat this prayer and believe what you're praying and it shall be done. Here it is, "Jesus, I come to you now and acknowledge that I am a sinner. I confess my sins and ask you for forgiveness. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and three days later you rose from the dead. I invite you into my life and accept you as my Lord and Savior. I give you full control of my life. In Jesus name I pray, AMEN!" AMEN, that's it, you are now a Christian. The angels in Heaven are dancing and partying because of the prayer you just prayed. God bless you and now this wonderful journey with Christ begins!