Hey there!

One of my friends asked me to write out my testimony. So, here is some of my

testimony, or better put ~ His story of how He rescued me and started transforming
me from being a child of darkness and slave of sin to become a child of God and
servant/life-slave of Jesus Christ!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts ~ : )

your friend and a servant/life-slave of Jesus,

Steven : )

__________________________________________________________________________

My story starts when I was pretty young. When I was 5 or 6, I realized that I had been
a bit rebellious [as the oldest ~ ] and because of my dad and mom continually
teaching me, I prayed a prayer asking Jesus into my heart. As I compare that to what
Jesus said, that wasn't when I surrendered complete control of my life to Him, but
that was the start of the journey. Then when I was in 4th grade at a private Christian
school, one day they had a missionary lady and her daughter and she was talking
about missions to Asia or Russia or Africa.. maybe all of them, but the main thing that
grabbed me that day was I heard God say to me ~ I want you to do that someday. Of
course, I was nowhere near ready to do that, but I accepted His offer and asked Him
to train me. In my high-school years, I was pretty stubborn and lazy, but my dad and
mom kept working with me, graciously and patiently. There were several points in my
high school years that were crossroads for me, when God showed me I was still as
rebellious as ever, but that He wanted me to give Him complete control. I
surrendered most of my life to Him a number of times, but there were areas that I
still held onto, until my senior year. I don't remember all of the surrounding situations
and circumstances, but I do remember my dad helped me to see I really did need to
surrender every drop, square in ~ 100% of my life to Jesus Christ. I finally did that in
my senior year, and funny enough that was just days before maybe even the night
before a concert by a group called 'Truth'. I still remember at least 2 of their songs
from that night. So, that was the main turning point in my life - when I just gave Him
all of my life and asking Him to teach me, no matter how painful, how to please Him,
and how to love the things He loves, hate the things He hates, and how to love others
like He loves us.

So, that event was in 2002. God kept seeking me out and wrestling with me to teach
me not to be so stubborn, and I surrendered that in 2006. Since then, I couldn't say
that it's been smooth sailing, but every step is getting easier. I have still been learning
(the hard way) what all is included in honoring my dad and mom ~ whom I love dearly,
and learning how to: "So then my brethren, let every man be quick to listen, slow
to speak, and slow to get angry." ~ so much wisdom in that verse - James 1:19. I
have several life-verses ~ verses God has used to call me out of this world to Himself,
but one of my all-time favorites is Proverbs 1:7 ~ "The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." and Proverbs 9:10
~ "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy
One is understanding." ~ 2 very powerful verses that describe a principle that has
been a key factor in my life, and a foundational principle that continues to transform
me. The "fear of the Lord" could be best described by looking at the examples of
those who see angels and Jesus in person ~ an intense reminder of their sin and that
they are standing in the presence of the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, holy
Judge of Whom nothing is hidden from His eyes. Quick examples: Joshua (Joshua 5:13-
15) when he realized that he was in the presence of God, he fell on his face in
worship. And then Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-9) when he saw that he was in the presence of
God and seeing His majesty, his response was: "Woe is my, for I'm undone! Because
I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for I
have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." ~ So, not a terror that makes us run from
God and not just a simple respect ~ but a holy reverence that teaches us to run from
sin: "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil."
(Proverbs 3:7)

Now back to what God has been doing in my life. For the last several months, God has
been, again, challenging me to take my relationship with Him to a whole new level ~
which is so exciting! At the end of20last year, I found that I was hitting a wall on
understanding more of Him and His amazing Living Word, so I asked Him to open my
eyes and show me a new way to be digging deeper into His Word. And He answered
that prayer! Though, it was different than I expected [Doesn't it always seem to go
that way ~J] So, God got me started on studying some the chapters in the Bible that
aren't taught on much, but are foundational: like Matthew 13 and John 10. Also, He
led me to put a study together ~ a collection of verses really, listing what Jesus said
about salvation, what it looks like to be one of His disciples, how to know if we are,
and the cost of being a disciple, etc ~ very neat studies that have been sending my
'roots' even deeper into His Word. God also has me doing 3 different studies right now:
one on the phrase: "the fear of the Lord", one on the concept of being a bondslave of
Jesus Christ, and another on what it looks like practically to walk with Christ daily
and how to strive to please Him in every detail. ~ Exciting stuff! (If you would like to
get any of these studies, just email me here or at: Steven.H3@gmail.com)

Also, starting in the summer of last year, God rearranged our ministry areas and
circles of influence, and started training us how to share the gospel of Jesus Christ
with anyone, anywhere, including going to the streets of downtown Orlando regularly
~ which is awesome challenging, and inspiring ~20all at the same time!

Also, over the past 8+ years, God has been talking to me about taking the good news
of the Messiah -Yeshua to His chosen people – the Jewish people. God has used several
verses to challenge me and direct me toward reaching out to the blessed Jewish
people. One verse God is Romans 10:14-15: "How shall they call on Him of whom
they have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him of whom they have not
heard? And how shall they without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless
they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the
gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!'" God opened my eyes not
that long ago, and pointed out that this verse in context is talking about how the
gospel needs to be taken to the Jewish people first and then the Gentiles. Then God
also showed me a couple of weeks ago even more: that passage is right in the middle
of Romans 9-11 which talk about how God has not abandoned the Jewish, nor has He
forsaken His unconditional, everlasting covenant with Abraham and his descendants
that He made in Genesis 12:3. I believe whole-heartedly that the churches in our
nation have left behind our foundation, including ignoring God's focus on the people
He chose to be His own. The majority of churches in this nation also miss the fact that
I and many other Gentile followers of Jesus are grafted into the root – (Romans 11:16-
18). Another verse that has caught my attention is Romans 1:16 ~ "For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." Romans 2:9-10
also emphasize that: take the gospel to the Jewish people first and then the Gentiles.
Also, Jesus' last words to His disciples in Acts 1:8 point out the same thing: Jewish
people first, then Gentiles. Besides these verses though, God has been giving me a
heart for the beloved Jewish people since before I graduated. I don't know any
Hebrew yet, but I'm working at it, a bit slowly. But, I do know that in God's timing,
God will continue training me and preparing me, and I'm looking forward to it!

One last note, God's story in my life is still being written, so 10 and 20 years from
now, I'm sure there will be more exciting things to share. As I look over the last 20+
years, I see God has brought me through so many crazy things, and helping to see past
hypocrites to God's standards, etc. It's been an exciting journey and I expect it will
continue to be that!

~ your friend and a

servant/life-slave of Jesus,
Steven