Matthew West Music Video Next Thing You Know With Mrs Graham's death recently a lot of people have reflected on how Billy Graham has touched their lives. Brought to mind this song...the video is kind of unique. I couldn't find a professionally done video, but, in some way, I think that is ok...
Angie, I think you are right...there is significant value in a youth ministry that leads our kids to Christ.
Born and raised southern Baptist. Gave my life to the Lord at 8, baptised at 12 or 13 (don't remember). Not sure what happened after that until May 1981. It was on a Sunday afternoon that I went to the Lutheran pastor's office where I was attending church in San Pedro, California. I told him I didn't know what he had that I was missing, but I wanted it. The rest is history. I never looked back. All the "once saved, always saved" and "free will" crowds can discuss all they want about if I was saved at 8 or at 23, but one thing I know....after age 23, there has never been any doubt. So, I am like the guy with two numbers, I suppose...
Can I have more than one number? Cause I first heard about Jesus and believed when I was 4. I was baptized at 13 and 15, and became the "prodigal daughter" before college, and New Year's Eve, 2003, I was 19 and I rededicated my life to Jesus(...and I walked away with a boyfriend who became my husband...oh the beautiful irony!)
6, 21, 24 & 28 - In the ironic twist, I was a reverse youth ministry guy. I had abandoned my belief, but ended up coming back because I wanted my children to have the chance to choose.
LOL 28 for me. I grew up dividing my time between the homes of my Jewish grandparents and my 100% non-practicing Catholic/Jewish parents. Took me forever to figure things out.
DC, I have dial up, enough said? This video was slow to load, but once I heard the song, I can tell what it is about...18, but I walked away from the Lord, and came back at the age of 40.
I grew up going sporadically to Catholic church with my parents on separate occasions because they were divorced when I was 2. I never really had a unified front to learn about Christianity but I knew many bible stories & my dad would talk about being saved from a church that he went to before I was born. My mom faded away from the Catholic church because they frowned heavily upon divorce in the 80's & my dad never got plugged into a church because he often worked 7 days a week. When I was in 8th grade (13 years old) I had friends who invited me to go to youth groups with them at a few different Baptist churches. I really enjoyed learning about the bible & I first accepted Jesus into my heart at a Christian concert because I knew at that time that I obviously believed in the Bible & believed that Jesus had come to sacrifice Himself for me. I did not get baptized because having a background in Catholicism I didn't understand the difference between Christening & Baptism. I didn't wholly understand what it meant to be a Christ-follower until I learned to give Him control of my choices, talk with Him daily & seek His counsel in my decisions. That turning point in my heart happened in Spring 2005 when I fully realized that I could not & would not have complete control of everything that happened in my life.
I was a very independant, determined college graduate who was strategically following my career path when an unexpected job change left me uprooted & feeling quite out of control. (Isn't that right where God wants us? =) Amazing how he can use any trial to give us joy by turning our focus from ourselves to Him!) On the evening of Tuesday February 22, 2005 I literally fell to my knees in tears & gave all control to the Lord (I was 25)- I put the job decision in his hands with complete trust & the next day I had the job offer I knew God had provided. In the fall of 2005 that company "miraculously" transferred me to California when my Husband recieved his orders from the Marine Corps. When we found our new church home here in California I finally understood what it meant to choose to be baptized in obedience to God & I have continued to grow & serve ever since.
That's why the irony is so beautiful...to US it seems ironic that certain things happen in a funny way, but the beautiful part is that it IS God's plan. I've learned just to pray that God's will be done in our lives. Rachel is correct, God WANTS us to feel out of control so that we fall (and call) on HIM to lead us in the right direction. :)
I also had two experiences. I accepted Christ as my Savior at age 11. But It wasn't until I was 29before I had fully accepted his forgiveness and began to live completely free. I remember throwing myself a huge party when I turned thirty. Because for 29 years I was trying to figure out who I was. Now I'm ready to live the fullness of life. PRAISE GOD
without counting the other times I let Him down I was 41. I was blessed to be raised in a christian home but through my teens I drifted away, back again in my late teens and early twenties, then out again at 28. Why did I wait so long to come back??????
It seems that so many of us have stories of how we left God and came back--i myself included. i just thank God that we did taste and see His goodness. Such a sweet taste is hard to forget for long!!!
I loved this! I got a little misty looking at those 27s, 28s and even 40s! Did anyone else get a little nervous when they saw those 1s?
I prayed the prayer when I was 4. I never left church or my "Christian lifestyle," but I don't think I really gave my life to the Lord until I was an adult. Hence the reason those 1's give me goosebumps. My daddy was a preacher, so not going to church was never an option. Jesus had a captive audience in me! I pray these little ones are captivated by Him as they mature into a full understanding of who Jesus really is and what role he expects to play in their lives!
Thank you, Jesus, for never letting me settle for being a "good kid"!
Wow...all great comments folks. Thanks so much. Jules, I have to agree with you...many of us heard the talk, walked our walk, then turned to Him. I think as a kid we just don't understand the price He paid for us. Some, like Soozanne set an example that we should follow...although we may walk our walk, we should instill in our kids that the standard is set by God, not us, and have them strive for that standard...as a father of three, I am talking to myself.
I see kids today that want something real, something strong, something that they can not only believe in, but trust...that makes my heart happy.
I was 20 or at least about to be it was May before my birthday on the thirtyoth when I started to go to church to try to save my dieing unborn son. I had come out of a short coma to hear doctors and nurses saying do you want to keep this baby! I thought what an awful thing to ask. I then opened my eyes and found it was me they were asking. I said what baby they said you are ( ) months pregnant if you want this baby we have to work hard now. I said of course I want him somehow knowing it was a boy. As they went to work I prayed Lord I know you can't save me I am guilty of the same sins that my mother was when grandma (the only person I knew who went to church regular) told Mother that she had committed unforgivable sins. But if you let my son live I will have him in church every time the doors are open untill you say differently. My son was born July 18th I had been on strick bed rest as my water had broke in May. I was married in September and my husband and I were baptized in the Spring a year later after our daughter was born. I kept that promise for both my son and daughter. But I didn't believe I could be saved untill May of the year I would turn 40 when I also recieved the Holy Ghost with many gifts. I got water baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost in October in obediance to directions of the Holy Spirit. The first baptism had been both with out faith and in Jesus Name alone. I still don't know if that part played any role or if it might have led me to the Holy Spirit. There is a lot of power in Jesus name. But it took 20 years before I heard the story of the woman at the well in
4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 4:2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4:4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 4:5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with [his] journey, sat thus on the well: [and] it was about the sixth hour. 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 4:8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 4:11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 4:12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 4:15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth. 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am [he]. 4:27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 4:30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. 4:31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 4:32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 4:33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him [ought] to eat? 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 4:37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. 4:38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. 4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. 4:40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. 4:41 And many more believed because of his own word; 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. 4:43 Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
DarkRadian..
I know my daughter understands "profession of faith" She may not know exactly what those words mean, but she KNOWS what it means to have Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. The Lord has blessed my wife and I greatly by allowing us to see and hear our daughter (who is currently 8 years old) stand up for and live out her belief in Jesus Christ. When we come across people in bad situations (drugs, sickness, etc.) she is the first to say "we need to tell them about Jesus"... and she is willing to do so. She has been to Mexico with me 3 times on mission trips, and although she was only 4 years old the first time she went, the Lord used her to touch the hearts of people there. She recently prayed together with me for the healing of a person in our church. The 'pure' faith that children have is awe-inspiring. We must try to be like them in that when we seek God's will, we do it without doubts or conditions.
Anyway, that's my opinion based on my experience. 8 year olds can be very passionate about Christ. Amen!
Billy Graham had a great impact on my life. When I was 20 yrs old I recommited my life to Jesus as I saw one of his evan. tv. shows. My grandmother had prayed hard for my salvation & the prayer was answered when I watched Billy G. on tv. Praise God! Many up hills & down hills & I am still serving the Lord. Would not think of letting go as I recall so many answered prayers & times that it was just God there when I needed someone. Praise God for Billy Graham & his ministries!
Can one really understand what it means to make a "profession of faith" when one is 16 or 25 or 40? :) We start with whatever level understanding we have, and we begin a journey of growth!
I would question the 1. Honestly that looked more like a mom or dad giving the kid the number, because the kid looks like "What the heck am I holding this for?". But that was just my initial reaction. ;)
For the kids in our children's ministry, I often find that they understand a lot more than most adults! Their faith in not hindered by worldy expectations, lack of faith, or other things we as adults battle with. They know God can do anything. Recently I taught on God moving mountains (in Children's church). Most adults say they believe that, but really, how many believe that God could or would pick up a mountain (literally) and move it???? The kids do! I think they mean the "prayer of salvation" with the fullest understanding they can have for their age, but like adults, they are continually coming to a deeper understanding of what salvation cost Jesus. At VBS this week, kids prayed to make Jesus "Lord of their lives". In their words, though, He gets to be the "Big Boss" of their lives. Same thing, different words. Do kids understand? Yes! Sometimes better than the adults. Will they, one day, come to a deeper knowledge of the things of God...I pray they do!
I came under conviction at age 13 during the revival at my boyhood home church in Albany, Ga. The evangelist's name was Billy Jackson (not Graham, but he was a "Billy" :-). I realized that salvation was more than just "believing." I had grown up in a Free Will Baptist church and had made a "profession of faith" and had even been baptised. Yet, during this message, I realized that Christ demanded more than believing ... he was asking for a personal relationship through realization of my lostness, confession, belief, repentance, and surrender to him as my Lord. I committed this at age 13 and it's been an incredible walk ever since -- "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in [me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Another note, I have a great deal of respect and admiration of Billy Graham. I believe he's one of the greatest evangelist that has ever lived and would place him in the category of a Paul. Recently, I heard a message by James Meeks of Salem Baptist Church in southside Chicago. He made a comment that "God is no respector of persons." He followed with the story of Joshua following Moses ... "As I was with Moses, so shall I be with you." The point of his message was that we have the same power of God living in us that is present in Moses, Joshua, Peter, Paul, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, and Billy Graham. Makes you wonder what we're missing such that we're not having the same impact on our world ...
Good thought Russ...or another way of looking at it is that we are having the same impact since we are salt and light...just that the other folks were/are more visible.
NewSong did a Tribute To Bill Graham several years ago. I haven't been able to find it on line.
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