Author: Ted

In many ways the 1980’s was just a blur. I became an Electrician at twenty one and was making decent money by twenty four. Life was all about having fun, so let’s party! I started using alcohol at fifteen, pot at seventeen and became a regular cocaine user in my early twenties. This eventually took it’s toll as I lost jobs and became more and more in debt.

But life went on and I became increasingly unhappy. I started to wonder…”Is this all there is to life?” I eventually hit bottom and considered ending it all. It was at this time that I cried out asking…”If You are there God, reveal yourself to me.” 

Work was not going well but I was transfered instead of being fired. At the new site I ran into an old friend who I had known from apprenticeship school. He had “Jesus Saves” written on his hard hat. I asked Brett about this Jesus thing. On our lunch break he told me about this Jesus, the Son of God, who had come into the world to restore us to a right relationship with God. He encouraged me to read the Bible. I bought a bible and started to read the New Testament. I came to Matt. 11:28-30 which says…”Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your soul, for My yoke was easy and my burden is light.” That sounded good to me! All this time I had thought that I need to be a good person for God to love me. But here was an invitation  to come just as I was.

I probably came to faith that very night but I wanted to make it official, so the next Sunday I went to a church Bret had recommended. When the preacher asked if anybody wanted to trust Jesus with their life to come forward and receive prayer. I did just that!

The changes were immediate. I stopped smoking, I stopped drinking, I stopped using drugs. My friends though I stopped living. When in fact I started to truly live, as God intended, free from the bondage that so much of this world brings. A new joy came into my life that was not dependent upon some substance, but came from the fact that I was fully loved by God. This journey has had it’s ups and downs but trusting Jesus with my life has been the best thing I have ever done!

Think of the Christian faith as a three legged stool. God often explains and builds in threes as the triangle is the most stable of structures.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Earth, water and air.

Mind, body and spirit

Faith, hope and love.

Our Christian life is much the same. It is meant to be lived out in a trifold manner.

The first leg we will call the Evangelical leg.  This is the proclamation of God’s love to the world through Jesus Christ as our only hope for salvation. This is not done merely to convert people but to make disciples.

Mathew 28: 19-20  “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The second leg we shall call the Incarnational leg.  This is manifesting Jesus Christ to the world through love and good works.

Mathew 25: 34-40  “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;  naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’  “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

John 13:34-35   “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The third leg we shall call the Contemplative leg.  This is the interior life with God which we nurture through prayer and meditation on the Word. 

John 15:4-5.  Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

There are others parts to our faith to be sure, such as fellowship with others, corporate worship and living a holy life. But I do believe the foundation of our faith rest on the three. Knowing God deeply, sharing the gospel through love and good works and making disciples. This type of faith will stand the test of time.