Member Testimonies

I came to know Christ in 2021 when a friend (Bill) invited me to come and visit the church he attends. I did not really expect much from this visit. In fact, I had already visited the church previously and this was my second time visiting except the church was now located in Wentworth Point. It was a Tuesday night, and they were running the Essential Doctrines study at the time, and I remember being joined together with the children to watch a pre-recorded bible seminar in one of the other library rooms. It was then that I heard the gospel message which was so seemingly familiar and yet completely different. I say familiar because I grew up in a catholic household so God, Jesus, heaven, hell, and some bible stories were familiar to me. But when I heard the gospel that was preached that night at Wentworth Point, it was a completely different message – it spoke of my sinfulness (which was foreign to me), Christ the Lamb who was led to slaughter and a call for me to repent. It was quite a confronting message but was grounded in logic and truth. I remember learning about Israel in that sermon and how they offered a lamb to sacrifice every year so that they could transfer their sins over to it and that lamb was killed as payment for the sins. I never knew that it was a picture of Christ’s sacrifice and when all this was revealed to me and illuminated to me, I went home thinking a lot about my sin. At this point I still had quite a pre-mature understanding of sin and was extremely broken over some specific things I had done but as I kept coming and hearing, I soon learnt that it wasn’t just about specific things I had done but my whole condition that was the problem. This drew me to keep going to church to learn more of Him who forgives and redeems. It was also around this time when Bill gave me a bible as a gift, and the more I read, the more the truths in that sermon were affirmed. God was Holy, righteous, and unchanging throughout history, whereas man disobeyed. God, the faithful redeemer then delivered the people out of destruction. The more I grew in the knowledge of who God is, the more I eagerly desired to know Him and to keep coming to the gatherings where I could learn more of Him. To experience the complete and full forgiveness of my sins has been the source of peace and joy for me in the past year of dwelling in the Lord. It is a privilege to testify to the Lord’s work of salvation in my life. My prayer is for my loved ones to receive the same grace and forgiveness from the Lord. I praise God for He is always faithful, unchanging and graciously loving in my salvation and my continuing sanctification.

From childhood I grew up in a Christian home. I have been exposed to the scripture through Sunday School. During my teenage years I had a desire to know God and I began to read the Bible. I read verses like John 14:6 - ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ and Romans 10:9 - ‘that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.’ I believed, therefore when I was 18 years old, I got baptised. I had confidence that I was saved, and I was teaching Sunday school. The church I used to go to did not teach sound doctrine. It was when I started to go to Sydney Grace Community Church that I started learning the truth. In 2022 Pastor Dennis was asking us to watch the Bible Seminar on the church website and taught us about church membership. For the first time, I understood the full Gospel. It was then that I realised that all the years that I thought I was saved but God convicted me that I was not truly saved. I realised that although I went to church and even served in the church, I was not truly saved. God opened my eyes and showed me that I was living a life of sin. I did not understand what sin was, I did not take it seriously. I did not understand what repentance was. God showed me that I was nothing, that I was weak, and I understood the depravity of man. I understood that there is nothing I can do to save myself from sin and hell, I can only rely on God to save me, God humbled me. I repent and I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, that is the only way. I thank God for Pastor Dennis who preached the Gospel by teaching it in the Bible Seminar, it is a blessing to watch those videos. He remains faithful to teach and lead God’s church and continues to counsel me. ‘So, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ (Rom 10:17). I got baptised again in January 2023, as a testimony of my true salvation. Since then, God has transformed my heart and changed my life. I do not like the things that I used to like. I hate sin. As 1 John 2:15 says, I do not love the world or the things in the world, I love God. It says in Ephesians 2:8, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.’ and in Luke 9:23 - ‘If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’ This is the life I am living now. I am committed to God no matter what the cost. My heart’s desire is to know God, to love God, and to obey God. I have peace with God and my desire is for my friends and family is to also have peace with God. I thank God for Sydney Grace Community Church, together we are the salt and the light to this world.

Growing up, I was exposed to Christianity and the idea of God many times, both through school, family, friends, and social media but as I grew up it all felt so foreign to the life I was living. Without a relationship with God, I was living a life deep in sin. I’d find myself constantly chasing after worldly pleasures and temporary happiness which only left me feeling empty and unfulfilled. My life was very centred around success, wealth, relationships and myself. The goals that I had were unclear & self-centred, and if ultimately achieved would leave me back where I was. I was so focused on myself & so reliant on myself. In August of last year, I had the opportunity to join in for the weekly Saturday book study session for the first time. I was invited by my co-worker Shaina, to come along and meet people from the Church. There was a lot that I didn’t understand or believe, but what made me curious to see is everyone’s genuine & sincere faith. And that’s what got me interested. I was still so stubborn, because I was focused on what I already knew & the way I lived life, and lots of what I was hearing contradicted the way I lived my life. I was hearing & listening, but I couldn't really accept it. But one thing is for sure, each time I attended church & had a question answered I was collecting puzzle pieces. During a Saturday book study reading The Creation Answers book, we came across a chapter on the complexity of the human body from a biological & DNA perspective. This really got me thinking about how much we still don’t understand. Our planet is the perfect distance from the sun, having a perfect rotation speed for living conditions. All of these conditions seemed too perfect to be coincidental, and so I reached a point where I believed that this Universe was created by a God. After some more research I accepted that the historical evidence for the Bible is astounding and I accepted that the Word of God, the Bible, was true, and that’s when I began truly listening to the Gospel. It was a hard truth to accept, that God’s holiness and justice demand that all sin be punished by death, but the more that I accepted that God is the creator of all things and that He is perfectly righteous and just, it made sense to me that the punishment of disobedience to God would be separation from God, which is death. But the wonderful truth is that even though God's justice demands death for sin, He has provided a Saviour for me, who paid the penalty and died for my sins. My initial reaction to this was a feeling that I didn’t deserve this, combined with a feeling of love and appreciation for God’s grace. Accepting that this is the truth has changed my heart and given me newfound sense of purpose and joy in my life that I would not experience without God. I accept that God’s plans are what’s best for me, especially with my future, and since letting that go, I have found new peace. I accept that I am sinful by nature and will never be perfect, and I’m grateful that God’s grace & mercy has allowed me to live with Him eternally. Now that God has filled the vacuum in my heart that only God can fill, I’m ready to start building my life & foundation on solid rock.

I first heard the Gospel back in April 2022 through my sister, Shaina, when we were in Covid isolation. During that period, we were able to go through the bible seminars together where I heard the full gospel. This is also when I first met Pastor Denis and Sister Carin who helped me with my questions. Through the bible seminars, I learned about our sinful nature, how Jesus died for our sins and about repentance. It signifies how we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus and not by our own works which is very different from what I believed growing up. Growing up in a Catholic family, to be saved is all about your own works and good deeds. After hearing the truth, I started going to bible studies and Sunday services. It was very clear to me that salvation is our undeserving gift from God, through his Son, Jesus Christ, who died for me, for my sins. Knowing this motivates me to learn more and dedicate myself to worship God. The most memorable sermon I heard from Church was about the fruit of the spirit and the works of the flesh. The fruit of the spirit is what I can see in the lives of the people at Church. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control. The people I met at Church are the most genuine people I have ever met, and I can also clearly see the changes in my sister’s life after coming to Christ, she is happier and content which draws me closer to Christ. The sermon also talks about the works of the flesh, it talks about sin, sin in God’s standard which was prevalent in my life, the anger, the jealousy, hatred, drunkenness, all the worldly pleasures that I engage myself in. I was convicted of my sins. After knowing all this, I slowly started turning away from my sins, obeying God’s commands, living a more God-centred life. However, after a few months, I started to drift apart from Church, I was worldly influenced and gave in to temptations. Throughout the time I was away from Church, Shaina and Sister Carin was always there for Wednesday bible study, proclaiming the Word, helping me find my way back. Now I found my purpose in life, to live a God-Centred life, Obeying God’s word and to evangelise to the people around me. I learned to surround myself with the right people. I am always grateful to my fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ keeping me accountable of my actions. I found joy and peace in my heart knowing that God is working in my life and knowing that He is in control of everything comforts me. I still have a lot to learn and need a lot of guidance, I always pray to God that I continue to grow spiritually to glorify His name. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

In March 2021, I heard about the Bible from a friend (now my husband) whom I had met in graduate school at the University of the Arts in Bern, Switzerland, and visited the church he attended. At the time, I had no interest in the Bible or church. After that, I did not go to church and did not listen to him when he talked about the Bible. I had decided that I would not believe anything that did not seem to be true to me and believed that there was no way to know what would happen after death. For me, daily instrument practice, concerts, and auditions were more important. In August of the same year, he temporarily returned to Australia and I went to Japan. We wanted to talk via video, so we decided to set up a time to talk on zoom. He suggested we watch a bible seminar video together and we used the screen share feature and started watching the sermon in Japanese. I thought that since I might possibly marry him, it would be important for me to know that he believed so strongly. When I started watching the sermon videos, I was first struck by the fact that the earth was already written in the Bible long before man knew it was floating in space. “He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.” Job 26:7 The sermon then went on to discuss the fact that the theory of evolution has not been proven and that all the historical facts are found in the Bible. These things made me realize that there is a God who created everything, and I began to think that what the Bible says may be true! I continued to watch the sermon series, and at the part about man's sins against God, I clearly recognized my own past sins (disobeying parents, lying, swearing, hating others, etc.), and I knew that a just God would judge me (when I die), and as i was guilty, I would have to suffer eternal torment in hell with no end in sight. Whenever I learned that man was born a sinner and that he could not save himself by his own actions and what the Bible teaches about hell, I became afraid of God and filled with dread about the punishment I would receive. The next day, we continued to watch the sermon video. We learned that God Himself came into the world as a sinless human being and died on the cross as a substitute for our sins, and that we can be saved through confession of our sins, repentance, and faith in Jesus as our Savior. Because, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9 Knowing that I could only rely on the mercy of God, who is far more powerful than man, and at the same time knowing His immeasurable love, I confessed my sins, repented, and decided to believe in Jesus as my Savior and Lord.