I came to know Christ in 2021 when a friend, Bill, invited me to 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. 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 it 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 sins. I never knew that it was a picture of Christ’s sacrifice.

When all this was revealed and illuminated to me, I went home thinking a lot about my sin. At this point I still had quite a premature understanding of sin and was extremely broken over some specific things I had done, but as I kept coming and hearing, I soon learned that it wasn’t just about specific things I had done, but that my whole condition 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 that 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 was exposed to 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. But 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, 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, and 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 then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 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 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, 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 found myself constantly chasing worldly pleasures and temporary happiness, which only left me feeling empty and unfulfilled. My life was centred around success, wealth, relationships, and myself. The goals that I had were unclear and self-centred, and if ultimately achieved would leave me back where I was. I was so focused on myself and so reliant on myself.

In August of last year, I had the opportunity to join 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 was everyone’s genuine and sincere faith. That is what got me interested. I was still stubborn, because I was focused on what I already knew and the way I lived life, and a lot of what I was hearing contradicted the way I lived my life. I was hearing and listening, but I couldn’t really accept it. But one thing is for sure: each time I attended church and 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 and DNA perspective. This really got me thinking about how much we still do not understand. Our planet is the perfect distance from the sun, with the 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 that the Word of God, the Bible, was true. That is 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 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 the 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 a newfound sense of purpose and joy in my life that I would not experience without God. I accept that God’s plans are what is 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 am grateful that God’s grace and mercy have allowed me to live with Him eternally. Now that God has filled the vacuum in my heart that only God can fill, I am ready to start building my life and 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 was 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 motivated 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 talked about the works of the flesh. It talked about sin, sin in God’s standard, which was prevalent in my life: anger, jealousy, hatred, drunkenness, and all the worldly pleasures that I engaged in. I was convicted of my sins.

After knowing all this, I slowly started turning away from my sins, obeying God’s commands, and living a more God-centred life. However, after a few months, I started to drift away from church. I was worldly influenced and gave in to temptations.

Throughout the time I was away from church, Shaina and Sister Carin were always there for Wednesday Bible study, proclaiming the Word and helping me find my way back.

Now I have found my purpose in life: to live a God-centred life, obeying God’s Word and evangelising 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 for keeping me accountable for 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 I 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 what 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 realise 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 recognised my own past sins—disobeying parents, lying, swearing, hating others, and so on. 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 Saviour.

“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 Saviour and Lord.

I grew up in a Samoan household where I learnt about God, heaven and hell. Throughout my childhood, I attended church and participated in church events, not out of genuine devotion, but out of obligation to my parents. I had a very shallow understanding of the Bible. I only ever opened it to please others, especially my parents, and I did it to show off how “good” I could appear. I was a kid in the church who wasn’t so rebellious outwardly, but I believed no one could see my heart.

Throughout my adolescence, this continued on. I held on to the idea that I was a follower of Jesus Christ. This was a mask to appear righteous and good to others, but I was just like the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 23:27-28.

After high school, I joined the workforce and my pride, selfish ambitions, pleasures and status were most important to me. According to my own standards, I was a humble person. I kept to myself, staying quiet and not speaking much. This was my own deceitful way of outwardly trying to seem humble to get man’s approval or attention.

It was not clear to me before, but everyone, whether we like it or not, worships something and is a slave to something. I clearly worshipped myself in my own heart instead of God.

I remember always being told that “God is love,” and because I knew about heaven and hell, I depended on this idea. This love was my obvious ticket to heaven. I believed all my outwardly “righteous” deeds and “good” works would save me from hell because God would see them and surely, because God is love, He would recognise me and save me.

Over some years, I learnt some parts of the Bible, picking and choosing only what I liked, and I never liked the idea of being called a “slave.” I liked the Christians’ morality and knowing Christ only as my Saviour but not my Lord. I never believed or understood how or why Christ is Lord.

The God who I thought I worshipped was non-existent because I thought I could choose when to acknowledge God in my life, which were times when I was in need, when I’d struggle, worry, fear, or experience some suffering, and then no more outside of that.

Fast forward to September 2024, I came about Sydney Grace Community Church through my wife searching for a church online and we started attending regularly. After the first couple of services, I went to a Bible study and was taught by the men of the church about who God is, His character and about sin.

I learnt through the Scriptures that God is not only love but He is just (Deut 32:4). I learnt about the seriousness of sin and the wages of sin (Rom 6:23).

Going home that night, I couldn't stop thinking about my sin and I knew I was headed for hell. I was terrified, now that I knew my “righteous” deeds and “good” works were not going to save me. I really saw that salvation wasn’t through works but solely through faith, only believing in Jesus Christ, His life, His death and His resurrection.

Continuing to hear and study the gospel, it was so direct and clear to me. I can't do anything to save myself from hell, the eternal death. God convicted my heart and I finally knew that I was a sinner, and I became overwhelmed with the guilt of my sin, wanting desperately to be saved.

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

The Bible has taught me that true humility is knowing and understanding one’s own sinfulness against the absolute holy and sovereign God. The Bible is clear: we are either slaves to our sin or slaves to Christ’s righteousness.

The God of the Bible has always been here, even before the beginning of creation. He is eternal. Christ is my Lord and I commit my life to obeying His Word and commandments. God has made in me a new creation with new desires and a hunger for His Word.

I am now committed to obey and serve the Lord for His glory. My heart longs to serve Him and dedicate my life to Him.

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

Throughout my life, I mostly attended Pentecostal churches. Through the teachings and practices, I developed a false view of God, a disgusting self-righteous posture and had no real understanding about the consequences of my sins.

I thought I knew God and I thought I was a Christian. The title “Christian” I used flippantly and I never understood the weight of what that meant or what that is. I measured my goodness against others around me and figured I was alright and saw no need for change.

So I kept living as I pleased without any changes in my life, yet still claiming to be a Christian. Actually, I never knew God (Matthew 7:23). I practiced lawlessness and I loved it. I didn’t care much to please God.

I wanted Him to fit in my little box and only call out to Him when I was in crisis. My way of life was a total contradiction to what a Christian is, and I’ve come to learn that true Christianity is not about adding Jesus Christ to my life, but rather devoting myself to Him completely, submitting wholly to His will and seeking to please Him above all else.

I was much like the Pharisee we learn about from a teaching of Jesus Christ in Luke 18:9-14, someone who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector... For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

By the mercy of God, the gospel was shared to me through Sydney Grace Community Church and He has given me a clear understanding of the fundamental and vital gospel truths that I never understood, especially what it means when the Bible says, “God is holy, holy, holy.”

God is utterly holy. He is totally cut off and separate from sin. In Him, there is no sin. He is incapable of sin. He cannot even dwell with sin and yet, He longed to be reconciled to us sinners and that’s why He had sent His Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, our only hope of salvation.

John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

He came to save sinners, me. I am a sinner.

My confidence and comfort comes from the Holy Scriptures. My sins are forgiven and I’ve been rescued from eternal hell and suffering.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.”

2 Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Colossians 1:12-14, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Who rescued us from the authority of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

The gospel in its entirety was shared with me and the gospel has saved me.

John 8:36, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

He has given me new desires: a desire to live a life in accordance with the will of God, a desire to trust Him and obey His commands, and a desire to be faithful and obedient to the Father.

I desire to study the living Word of God and by His Holy Spirit, I will be equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). I desire to pray and live a life with the correct posture before God.

I pray for the privilege to share this wonderful gospel that has saved me with my dear family and friends. By the grace of God, I now know what it means to be a Christian. It is an undeserved honour and an eternal privilege. The gospel saves. Praise the Lord.

1 Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.”