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Church In Detroit |
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Church In Detroit |
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How I Got Saved! Written By Rick Coleman |
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(Ephesians 3:17-19) Praise the Lord! I was about ten years old when I got saved. I never realized how old I was when I got saved until about two years ago a sister from Mansfield, Ohio came up and showed me in her Bible that she wrote, "Rick Coleman got up in front of the altar in 1960." (I forget the exact month.) She said, "I wrote this down the day you got saved." I was surprised that someone wrote that down, but anyway I knew I was saved, and I remember going forward. I remember exactly where my father was sitting in the pew, and there was my sister, Penny. She was probably there also. Anyway my Dad went forward. He was saved, but he went forward to reconsecrate himself to the Lord. He was all the way up in the front, and here I was only a ten year old kid, scared to death to go up there, but for some reason I walked up front, and I received the Lord, and I asked the Lord to come into me. I really believe that from that point on I always had a conscience toward the Lord. I would always pray every night to ask the Lord for forgiveness and always felt bad and would always open myself to the Lord to pray to Him all the time.
So as a young kid, you also like to do worldly things and have a lot of fun. The Lord was always there, but never so real to me in my life. But several times in my life, from that point on, I would remember times consecrating my life. I remember one time specifically. I was about 15 years old. I went to a camp, and the persons we met with really believed in the gospel and preached the gospel a lot. So when I went to the camp they had. One night, I remember exactly where I was sitting and exactly what the room looked like, and they asked if there was anyone who liked to reconsecrate themselves to the Lord, to give their life to the Lord. At that point, I had such a sense, I need to consecrate myself to the Lord, so I raised my hand and afterwards we had some prayer together. It really meant something to me.
Eventually in my high school years, when I was 16 or 17 years old, I began to realize that Jesus Christ was really real. He just wasn't something I grew up into. I was a good boy, and I had a good life, but just when I was about a senior in High School, the Lord became very real to me. This is when my parents began to meet with the church in Mansfield. I had been meeting with them for eight months. I would go to the meetings just because my parents went. I would fall asleep in the meetings, and I would do anything in the meetings to stay awake. I enjoyed being in the church meetings because afterward they had snacks a lot. But, eventually, for some reason, I can't tell you when or how it happened, for some reason all the fellowship about Christ and the Lord, the reality of the church life was all of a sudden real to me. It's like I was in a meeting, and all the time no matter if I fell asleep, the Lord and the Spirit was always getting into me. So brothers, it is better to come to the meeting and sleep than to stay at home. Come to the meeting and sleep; something will happen to you.
Anyway, from that point on, the Lord became very real to me, and I began to realize that the Lord is very real. From that point I really realized how I appreciate my salvation. Even I remember many times growing up: The friends I was closest to, I always had a desire to preach the gospel to them and tell them something about Jesus. I remember once, especially. I still many times think about this person. He was a young boy from Austria, Germany. He came with his parents, and he didn't know much, and eventually I grew up with him. He and I were very close friends. He was a Catholic, and I remember specifically how I desired to tell him about Jesus.
I always realized that the Lord was very real, and His salvation was very real. More and more we have to appreciate the Lord as our Savior. I really began to appreciate more and more. Lord thank You for saving me. Even though I knew my parents were saved, I still knew that I had to be saved. Some way my parents began to love the Lord and began to follow the Lord very fully in the church life, and I also realized I had to follow the Lord not just because my parents followed the Lord, but because, Lord I also followed you. I never regretted, though we have had many experiences, many hard times, the Lord always takes me through many things, and you realize the Lord is real, and salvation is a full salvation!
Rick Coleman rc at churchindetroit.org
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| How We Got Saved! | |||
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| Copyright © 2007 Church in Detroit | |||
