freedominChrist

Michael Stokes Testimony

"SALVATION IS FOUND IN NO ONE ELSE, FOR THERE IS NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN BY WHICH WE MUST BE SAVED." (ACTS 4:12)

JESUS CHRIST!

"I am the light of the world" (JOHN 8:12)

"So if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36)

My life started in southern California in 1972. I had good parents and a happy life until I lost my dad due to an ugly divorce when I was eight years old. My parents were separated three different times. By the time I was in sixth grade I was introduced to a drink called Everclear this is a drink that is 90% alcohol. I was also starting to experience cigarettes and occasionally marijuana at this age. By the time I was a sophomore in high school I had been in six grade schools, three junior high schools and at the age of sixteen I dropped out of school and started doing construction work. I was already experiencing the affects of alcohol addiction.

At this point of life I got married to my girlfriend who was pregnant. This was not a storybook beginning considering I had a total of two credits toward my high school diploma, a dead end job, and a progressing alcohol problem. I soon started dabbling with other drugs that were going to make my life quite a bit more difficult. I had developed a desire for cocaine and crystal meth, which currently has a recovery rate for addicts of zero %. I knew these addictions had a hold on me considering I was three months behind on rent and would spend all the money I had to get high. I hated the life I was living and considered suicide a few times do to the guilt I was experiencing. It got to the point where I was going to move my wife and children in with her parents and I was going to live at the men’s shelter downtown SLC, UT.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow.” Though they are red as crimson they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)

It was at this point of my life when I walked into a Bible believing church for the first time in my life. My wife and I walked into this church and we really enjoyed the way we felt in there. When the service started we both began to cry because of the presence of God we felt in that building. The preacher was sharing out of the Bible how God loves us and how He came into this world to save sinners. I knew that I was a sinner, and at the end of that service the preacher gave us an opportunity to come forward and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. He explained that Jesus would give us a new life and a new beginning. So I went forward and some people helped me pray, and when I was praying I knew something had changed but did not fully understand what happened, I just knew it was good and that somehow everything was going to be ok. I will never forget driving home and saying to my wife, “Honey, I don’t even feel like smoking anymore.”

I started falling in love with the Bible and started noticing scripture was like life to me. For example, the Bible says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I knew this was true for me because all my addictions were miraculously gone. I had the power to love my wife and kids the way I wanted to. My wife was also changed and celebrating her joy in our Lord Jesus and all that He did for us. We did not deserve what He did for us, nor did we work for it. And so that also helped me understand that the Bible is true because it says, "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another." But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.” (Titus 3:3-6)

A Quick Study on Biblical Salvation

Friend I am sharing this with you because I know what God has done for me. He has saved my soul, my marriage, and reconciled my family and He promises to never leave me nor forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5) Maybe your situation is not as bad as mine was. Maybe you’re a good person and help people whenever you can and raise your family well. Friend, I have not found one scripture in the Bible that says doing these things can earn you a relationship with Jesus Christ or get you into heaven. Don’t be deceived, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (John 3:3). The Lords disciples asked Jesus who could be saved. The Lord responded, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26) Lets read a few more scriptures that can help us begin a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

"I am the gate; whoever enters through Me, (Jesus) will be saved."
(John 10:9)

The Bible says that, "all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) It also says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) The scripture is all very clear that God loves us so much that He died for us. "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this; while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) The Bible also says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) The Bible says that God is not willing that any perish. Lets read that. "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

The Bible makes it very clear that God is a loving God, and that we can start a relationship with the Lord through faith, and a willingness to turn from our sin and acknowledge Him as Lord of our life. The Bible says, "That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9) In the gospel of John we read, "Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name He gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12) We are not born right with God. We must come to a place where we recognize our sin and repent and ask Jesus to forgive us of our sin. That is why He died on that cross, the Bible says, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Friend it is my heart’s desire that you would come to a saving knowledge of my Lord and Savior through faith. Would you pray a prayer similar to this one from your heart? If you do God will save your soul, and forgive your sins.

Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you and ask you to forgive me of my sin and to come into my heart and make me the kind of person you would have me to be. I turn from and repent of my sin and make a willful decision to follow you. I believe you died for me, and that God raised you from the dead three days later. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Congratulations

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast."

If you have any questions or need prayer you can e-mail me at the address below.

If He did it for me,

He can do it for you!

Michael Stokes

Contact Michael Stokes, freedominjesus1@yahoo.com

freedominChrist

Michael Stokes