Pastor Michael Clary posted this on his X account and I just had to share it with y'all.
Here's the story of Stephen:
He got into Marxism in college. He spent the next 15 years seeking meaning and redemption through political action. When he and his girlfriend broke up in 2020, she committed suicide. That was a very dark time, but also a turning point.
The insanity of tyrannical government, LGBTQ ideology, and BLM riots jarred him. He came to see his politics as an impractical, vain, & self-serving distraction from his own wickedness.
He ultimately concluded that this ideology was evil and harmful to individuals and society.
Meanwhile, he began to see the value of the evangelical upbringing his mother gave him. He began to appreciate his mother's faith he'd rejected years before. He began to feel grateful for the cultural Christianity he'd experienced in his Kentucky childhood.
One of his childhood friends is a member of my church who stayed in touch with him. They started talking about the gospel. Stephen ended up meeting other men in our church who shared Christ with him.
They were different and he knew it.
Their lives were marked by a kind of masculine love, joy, strength, biblical knowledge, self control, and maturity that inspired him. He said they were like a "different species of human." This gave him a vision of who he could be if he followed Christ.
Finally, over the course of one weekend, that's what he did. He attended a Christian funeral on a Saturday, where the scriptures pierced his heart and convicted him. Then, he visited church on Sunday and heard about how all the Bible is about Jesus.
My sermon that day was on Luke 24, "The Road to Emmaus." I remember where he was sitting, head down, clearly in tears.
That day, he confessed his sin, repented, and committed to following Jesus as Lord.
The change in his life has been glorious to watch. He is humble, repentant, and full of joy. He's in a men's group reading classics like Augustine and Calvin.
He's mortifying sin like Owen, quoting Bible like Bunyan, and delighting in Christ like Edwards.
Our church recently did a college outreach where we passed out hotdogs & shared the gospel as ppl passed by. Stephen pulled me aside to show me a photo from 3 years ago, where he stood in the exact same spot to campaign for Bernie. Now, he was sharing Christ like a man on fire.
PRAISE THE LORD.
A dose of hope for this week. ✊
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