Brian Sumner

Brian Sumner is one of our frontline partner who travels all over the world doing outreaches involving skating, sharing his testimony, and speaking at Churches

Brian Sumner’s Testimony

If you wish to talk to someone about the hope and the new life that Brian found, please visit our Hope Line page.

From Brian’s website, his story in his own words:

“I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. I was born and raised in Liverpool England where I spent my time playing soccer, doing Martial Arts, eating fish and chips, beans on toast and not understanding life. At the age of 13 I had gone on vacation to New Jersey to visit my older sisters who were nannying there at the time. On my 13th birthday I received a skateboard as a gift from my sister, and from that time on my life became about skating. Soccer and Martial Arts were always inviting as a kid but when I found skating I knew it was something different.

Also growing up in Liverpool the streets are rough and the attitude can be harsh. Lots of street fights and conflict I always felt a bit out of place. Soccer was something I did because it was what kids do and Martial Arts was because of how interested in Bruce lee I was. Growing up my Dad would play Bruce’s movies and fill heavy industrial bags with folded newspapers and carpets for me to hit. Many rainy nights in Walton were spent like this.

Skating presented a new focus, new possibilities and something very personal. Those next few years involved many hours skating in the city center, to complete (huge pants and shirts) wardrobe change. Skating consumed my life and Liverpool had a powerful underground street scene that I was part of. We went around the country entering contests and going to events, all in the name of fun.

I finished school at 15, and headed out to America to stay with Geoff Rowley who being from Liverpool also, had invited me over. My first time on the West Coast and I knew I had found my home. At 16 I had been through a half year of Art college and after winning skate contests and getting in videos and magazines I was back to America to take skating to where it could go.

The next few years involved living in apartment after apartment in Huntington Beach with Andrew Reynolds, Jay Strickland, Jim Greco, Ali Boulala and the whole Warner Ave Crew stage of skating. Riding for Tony Hawks Birdhouse we spent day and night skating everywhere we could filming and shooting photos. I was a teenager traveling the world with no responsibilities but to skateboard, eat food and hang out in local Jacuzzis.

Life had planned out fine as far as what I had set my goals on and what I had faced. At around the age of 19 I got into a serious relationship with my future wife to be. She was best friends with Geoff’s girlfriend and so after hanging out heavily for just a few months, and with myself about to leave back to the UK, we opted to drive out to Vegas and declare our love to the world…

We also went ahead and decided we were so sure of all this that we also were ready for a child. Anyone out there knows, you are never ready for a child. And being a young couple with no responsibilities we were about to realize this.

Our love was as true as love can be as far as the world goes, and we were more than happy when we found out we were pregnant. I was skating, had a pro model for Birdhouse coming out, a pro shoe for Adio, was riding for Volcom and everything seemed steady. Somewhere between getting pregnant and having a one year old our whole reality changed.

When we meet people it is generally out of our selfishness. We like the person because, of the way they look, think, act, treat us, and so it is as much about us as is it about them. We were all about each other and as Tracy adjusted to becoming a mom I had no idea what was taking place. By the time I had gotten used to trying to be a Father, her hormones re-aligned and she was now in need of the same honey moon stage romance. We were all over the place.

I was touring, would have a hard time skating. There was jealousy, insecurity, having no clue how to walk in true love. We were lost! We talked about being separated so much that after just a few years we ended up divorced.

 

All those feelings of anger came back from being a kid in Liverpool. While making money, while traveling the world, while living the so called dream with skateboards and gear with your name on I had no clue about anything really. The thing that mattered most had failed, and I was frustrated.

I moved out into an apartment with a few more skaters and this only resulted in chaos. Partying get into fights and having no purpose. Skating had grown and when the police come to a school yard or business where you are skating, you don’t get skate tickets, you get trespassing or vandalizing tickets. A few fights, some tickets for skating and I end up in Court. Skating a spot one day at the river bed the police showed up to see what we were doing. I had a baton in my car that I did not know was illegal. Arrested, Court, probation. I have everything I dreamed of in skating, am divorced, am not a US Citizen and life is not making sense one bit.

 

Around this time, I would see my son as much as I could, I was trying to skate as much as I could but I just felt defeated, like nothing meant anything. Upon going to Court and choosing a place to do community service, I read at the bottom of the list, “Christian Thrift Store”.

I was raised about five doors down from a Catholic Church. God was something I just believed in but had no reality of who He is. Just an idea or something you talk about along with UFOS and Ghost stories late night.

 

I did pray at times and never liked hearing people blaspheme, but pursuing God was not something I was focused on. As I read “Christian Thrift Store” I thought about the cool vintage shirts, the old school baseball tees and the rest of what America throws away. Mixing that along with who knows what these Christians are going to be like, this should make my 120 hours community service pass fairly easily.

My wife and I were separated but did we stop loving each other? Did we want it to work? Our friends gave the typical advice of “we would meet other people” and that we were not the “right ones for each other”. We had no idea of the Bibles perspective and so we hadn’t really fought the fight we had made vows to fight, vows to keep, “till death do we part”.

Feeling like life had no purpose and knowing I was going to be at a Christian Thrift Store I decided I was going to look for God, and prove He wasn’t real. If He wasn’t real, then everything is permissible and nothing truly matters. We just happened, and my divorce, my having no understanding about life, would be justified away. This would in a sense let me off the hook for having no clue and allow me to do whatever I wanted regardless.

In all, I guess you could say I was over living, and wanting to be around my son so much while fighting with his Mom was not helping anything.

I took the direct approach. Read about Religions, figured out where they started and what they claimed, looked into evolution and many of the accepted theories, put it all together and when it collapsed, only thing standing should be Truth.

As I began at the Thrift store I had already ordered the History channel and National Geographic DVDS. Much of everything related to God was being t-voed and closely inspected. Reading what Darwin wrote in the “Origin of species”, looking for what the world has to say against God, and of course, for the first time, reading The Holy Bible.

While folding clothes, stacking books and moving furniture around the Thrift store, the mood was set by songs like “Hank Williams”, “I saw the Light”. Many of Johnny Cash’s Gospel songs were playing, along with popular worship songs. Most people there with Christians who were part of the local Church.

I challenged everything I could while there even making up extra hours by cooking food for the church on Wednesdays.

I was e-mailing Priests and Rabbis, questioning the book of Mormon and the Watchtower, trying to understand what “Enlightenment” meant. Why were my Rasta friends so mellow, why was their all those crusades and where was God today?

My community service was broken up over 7 months because I was still traveling for skating. Over those months I realized how so many of those Godless based DVDS where just theory, an idea, and often times a prejudice. I saw how many of the faiths never started and ended anywhere and didn’t answer the most basic questions anyone would expect to understand if there was a God. I also saw how many people that professed certain things never actually tried to walk along with what they said…

Basically in a large nutshell, there was no evidence for evolution. Darwin himself said his theory would be proven, or would not. Many faiths have a numerous amount of Gods without there being any accountability, so in a sense, whatever we think, can find a way somewhere, and so, making us our own god. Most faiths don’t deal with the issues of why we are here, if we matter, if we are to be a certain way and what happens after we die.

Through those seven months I found a book on the shelf in the Thrift store called “The Case for Christ”. This book helped answer a lot of those questions and point to the authority of The Bible.

I was still fighting with my now ex wife, nothing had changed, and I had gotten even more frustrated with everything. I made the decision that if God didn’t show Himself then what did it matter if I lived or not?

I had been reading in The Bible about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God who said He created man in His Image. The God who said He spoke the Uni (single) verse (sentence) into existence. The God who made a covenant with Noah, with Abraham and so with the Jewish nation and onto the people of the world. This God, was a God who cared, but who required commitment. This God had set in place 613 laws for which His people were to keep. As Israel bore witness of their faith in YHWH (YAHWEH), the neighboring peoples were able to submit to Gods authority, or not. Time and time again Israel rebelled and fell into sin and so God withdrew and sent them a Prophet to challenge them to turn their hearts back to the Father. Eventually God withdrew from the Nation for a season and sent his only Begotten son once and for all to die on the cross bringing atonement for the sin of mankind.

I read and read, watched and watched but had not met Jesus. I had prayed the sinners prayer a few times but never really understood what needed to take place. I was looking to God as a way to fix my life, to give me a sign of some sort, but the Truth of it is, I really needed to be forgiven of my sins.

I kept on that path until I had taken enough in, I had seen how the whole world was different before and after Christ came and died. I understood the History of the Jewish people and where the Old and New Testament fit in. I saw how so many variations of Christianity are not based on the Bible, and this all made what I was seeing many different people doing make sense.

I had been skating up at the Skate Lab and had ran into Christian Hosoi who had recently gotten out of prison. I asked him about Church and various things out of the Bible and he just told me to come to The Sanctuary. Sometime later I saw him again at a skate contest and then again at Vans one night. He could see I was searching and that night at Vans he was skating with his Pastor, Jay Haizlip. We skated and talked and I decided I wanted to check out The Sanctuary Church.

In my personal life I had already decided I wanted to be around my son as much as I could, and that I would do everything I could to be in his life daily. I bought a house after a year of being in the apartment with a bunch of skaters and I invited my ex wife to live with me for Dakotas sake. Also for us to consider things again. A few nights after the Vans session I went to the Sanctuary and heard a message out of

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

And also Galatians 5:16-21 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

I understood that I was in sin and it wasn’t that I needed God to change my life, but I needed God to save me from hell because of my sins. Every cuss word or foul thought had separated me from God eternally, because he is morally perfect, and cannot be around any sin. I had an understanding of the Bible but had no relationship with Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 that many come to Him calling Him Lord, but it is only he who does the will of the father, who will enter into Heaven.

That night after church I went home and again got into a fight with my ex wife. That night I went into the office and got on my face before the Lord. It was around midnight and I prayed a prayer about how I was over my life and that I was sick of fighting with Tracy, and not knowing how to be the Dad I should be. I called out being as serious as I could be and shared with the Lord my heart… Of course He already knew.

I said I was over everything, and that I wouldn’t believe unless He showed up. I plead with Him for 40 minutes about the simple things I don’t understand and the things we fight about that I am sorry for. I acknowledged my sins and asked to be forgiven. I told Him that based on the scripture I had read He made the claim He would free me of sin and send The Helper to me. Upon asking for forgiveness I said I would:

Get baptized

Remarry my wife

Give Him my skating

Submit to His Will and go wherever He required.

That’s night Just as Jesus Christ claims in His Word, that He has shed His Blood for the sins of whoever calls upon His Name, He was faithful.

I felt a presence approaching in that room that I can only describe as a ball of energy and in one instant, everything about my mindset and doubt was changed. He did what He claimed and transformed my life… I fell on the floor with joy but wept because I couldn’t believe people don’t know this is real. I spent another 40 minutes praising Him and praying for His Will to be done.

I went to bed around one and laid down next to my son with my ex-wife on the other side. She sat up with her eyes closed and gave me a speech about everything I had just prayed, confirming what had just happened. She laid back down and the next morning could not recall ever saying what she said.

We had nothing to fight about because I wanted to follow Christ and wasn’t interested in the house, who she could be with or what she wanted to do. She being raised Catholic came at me with question after question and challenge after challenge but three weeks later a man preaching at our Church spoke to her and she had an encounter with Jesus also.

I was baptized September 12th 2004, we were re-married a year later.

I have been attending the Sanctuary church since that time and am now a Deacon, and Preach Saturday nights called “Generations”. Dakota has a new sister and my wife is part of the children’s ministry and started a ministry for mother’s called ~Mott’s~ Mothers of Tiny Tot’s. I gave my skating to the Lord and have not looked back since.

I no longer ride for the same sponsors as I didn’t want to be anything like I was before Christ. Why push a brand that the majority of is not presenting The Gospel? People are still aware what is taking place of my life but I wanted to partner with Ministries and brands that are baring witness.  Do I want to be around the world doing all I can to get a photo in the mag? Do I need any of the things the world brought me? No, my call is to serve the Lord just as He called us according to His purpose. Pastor Jay, Christian and myself are part of the Uprising Ministry Reality Show that is simply for the purpose of sharing the Gospel.

As a kid I got knocked out on a handrail and woke up saying I had seen God, saying I had heard from God that He had a plan for me in America. I could not remember my sisters name, or who Ali Boulala was who was staying with me at the time but I was so persistent in saying God had revealed something to me. I also said He told me I would forget much of what I was told but that I would ride for Airwalk and would be living in America one day.

A 15 year old kid who has never been to Church or read The Bible and has no sponsors. For the next two weeks I had more joy than I had ever known. Everything was amazing and I would walk around talking about Jesus, about God and how amazing He is.

Years later at the age of 24 I met the Living Savior and He fulfilled His promise, transforming my eternity and my life. I was trying to explain the feeling to someone of the lord showing Himself real in my office that night and as I was trying to relate it to something, I said “one time as a teen I was knocked out skateboarding and…” and I realized that I had forgotten all about this experience for years. It was the exact same feeling from claiming the Lord revealed something to me, to years later when he showed up and set me free. I had forgotten all about what I said had happened, but it was confirmed years later. Amen!

Please consider The Gospel

I always thought that there may be a God. I looked around and would wonder. What is created points to Him as in

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

So what I was viewing in life, what is around, is an evidence of His Eternal Power and Divine Nature. If we stop and think, there are two options: Created or not created!

When people told me about Jesus or God it never made any sense, as the Bible says…

1 Corinthians 1:18 For 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.

So to the unbeliever, the one who doesn’t know Jesus, the Bible tells us that the message of Jesus coming to die for our sins is foolishness to that person. Also the Bible also says

1 Corinthians 1:20-21 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

So the message is going to sound foolish to the world… In John Jesus told Nicodemus

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

So man cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven if He is not born again.

John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

So Jesus has told Nicodemus, who came to Jesus asking how? What He must do, and that He cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why not? Because of our sin, we are separated from God. It doesn’t matter if you think you sin or not, we are not the judge, God is. Jesus tells us in

Matthew 5:18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

So the world will pass, but the Word won’t. His Word will accomplish its purpose as in

Isaiah 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Telling us that as we read this Word, it accomplishes its purpose, either giving life, or condemning.

How does it give life? We see that by it we are sinners, repent, submit and ask Jesus to direct our life.

Paul said in Romans 7:7 For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

So without the Law, pointing to Him being in sin, He would not of known what sins was. Sin, is doing the opposite of what God said. Sin is transgressing Gods Law.

Galatians 3:24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

How does it bring death? When we reject it and don’t believe, our sins will condemn us one day.

Most people say they are good, but the Bible says

Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, no, not one;

So no one is good

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

We have all sinned

James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

So if we have broken one of the 10 commandments, if we have lied once, we are a liar, lusted after a woman, we are an adulterer, looked at our brother with hatred we are a murderer, used Gods Name in vain, a blasphemer. We are guilty of it all! We are not good! What is our payment for sin?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Not only the death of the Body, which is a result of the curse for Adams sin, but the 2nd death for rejecting the Gospel Of Jesus.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

So once we die, we will stand before God and be judged, and as we have already read, we are already guilty, we stand condemned. Also you see that once we die, we are judged, not reincarnated. Hebrews 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

The Law, the Ten Commandments as well as the rest amounting to 613, requires the shedding of blood as atonement for sin. The Jews sacrificed animals and wiped blood over the doors on Passover. Today, Jesus has shed His perfect blood once and for all for our sins.

Hebrews 9:26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

But most people will reject this message, as the Bible says…

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

John the Baptist proclaimed it

Matthew 3:1-2 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

 

Jesus confirmed it

 

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

John 14:6 “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

Repent, meaning a one-time turning from sin, not taking advantage and never truly submitting to Christ.

The Apostle Paul said…

Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Believing does not mean just believing He is real, it means believing His message, of dying on the Cross, shedding His blood, washing away our sin as we submit to His Kingship and following Him. It means turning from our old ways and being a new creation.

James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

So we see that “even the demons believe”. James talks about how our faith should bare witness, by what we do. Our Walk should line up with our Faith…

James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

He is saying can such Faith? What is such Faith? True Faith, will produce evidence just as Abraham had Faith and believed God that he would have a son at 100 years of age, the evidence was also that later on he was willing to offer his son to the Lord, proving that His Faith did produce works…

Why do you see the Cross around the neck the sticker on the car and even the Bible in hand? These are not signs of a believer; true evidence is in their walk, and their fruit. Do people compromise their Faith intentionally, without crucifying their flesh and carrying their Cross? Jesus said…

Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

If we are His we will walk after the Way He walked. The Gospel is Good News; it’s the greatest news for all mankind. If a person knows this, then surely they will bear witness of it, just as is written in

Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. What are witnesses of? That Jesus truly died for mankind and rose from the grave and is alive today. What is the good news? That God Became man for us and shed His Blood.

Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

When we see Jesus we see the image of the invisible God.

1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Jesus is the only mediator, no one else. No other prayer, no other savior. We are to pray to no one else.

John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

And once we step over the line and ask for forgiveness and turn from our sinful nature, inviting Him in, He sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of us and guide us.

If we are truly His, there will be an evidence

James 2:20 “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”

Paul tells us in Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

He said… just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

So we are to live in the Holy Spirit…even though it is Faith that frees us from our sin

Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”

But…

Matthew 7:19-20 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

And Ephesians is clear that it is by Grace, we have been saved, through Faith, not what we did, what He did. It’s a free Gift from God. We are His workmanship, created in Christ for GOOD WORKS, which God, He, prepared for us before we were His.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Jesus is a gentleman, and when we look at the Law we see that we need a Savior. Our sin requires justice, which Jesus Provided.

And so it is clear, in scripture, that we are not good, we have all sinned, we need a Savior. God became man and died for us, allowing a way for us to be reconciled to Himself. He created us to worship Him, and be like His son.

Colossians 1:16 “All things were created through Him and for Him.”

That is our purpose!

Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

When I could see I was a sinner, as you can see above, I understood just what He did for me, and what He has done for mankind. We are a heartbeat away from Heaven or hell, and the Bible says tomorrow is not promised; today is the day of Salvation.

A person can have Faith Jesus isn’t real, they can’t know unless they look for Him with their whole heart, just as the Bible says

James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

Hebrews 3:15 while it is said: “ Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

He is real, but you have to meet Him on His conditions and see that your heart is wicked and we need the Savior. Our life ends and begins in Him at the foot of the Cross. Jesus died for you and I… I cannot show you Jesus, but the life of a believer should be a light to the world…

Matthew 5:15-16 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

It is between YOU and HIM. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

He Lives, and is the same yesterday, today and forever. His Kingdom is eternal. The reality is this…

Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Every knee will bow, and every mouth will confess. My Pastor used to drive a truck that on that back read “You will meet God one day, why not now?” People want to go to Heaven; they don’t want God to be there when they get there. He is a just judge, and cannot tolerate sin. If a person believes they don’t need the Precious Blood of Jesus to be washed clean, they what they are saying is He hung on the Cross and was Beaten for nothing. All in vain. Now, there is time for us to consider and judge ourselves, by His Word.

1 Corinthians 11:31-32 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

When we see that we are in sin, and the value of His Blood, we see how we can be reconciled back to God.

Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

When I saw of my sin, I feared God and was thankful for what He has done. Today I want to live for Him as He lived and died for all of us.

Galatians 2:19-20 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

John the Baptist said…

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

As we live our lives for Christ, He strengthens and guides, as His Mercy is renewed everyday. He tells us…

Luke 9:24-25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

The world tells us to live with-in the rat race, which at the end of the day makes us rats. Paul told us

Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

What Jesus did in public, don’t keep secret. As you work out your salvation with Fear and Trembling (Philippians 2:12), consider

Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

I pray your eyes are opened by His Word. If you are not a believer, that you would come to know Him, and that if you are, you will Carry your Cross, as we Fight the Good Fight. HE, WHO IS ABOVE, IS ABOVE ALL! ”

http://www.briansumner.net/testimony/