Bread of Life Church of Fresno
Welcome to the Bread of Life Church Podcast! This podcast seeks to bring the Bible to life through teaching and sharing what God has given us in His word. The goal of these messages is to obtain a functional spirituality that is worked out on a daily basis through the love and power of God.
Bread of Life Church of Fresno
002 BoLCF Daily - A Lost Coin in the House of God - Jason’s Testimony
Joining us this week is Jason Guenther! He is a leader in the church in various capacities and today he shares with us something he doesn’t often get to share - his testimony of being found by God after going through a time of drifting away from his true purpose and call in life
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Welcome to Bread of Life Daily, where we take a few minutes of the day to orient ourselves toward God and connect with a brother or sister in Christ. We hope this episode helps you love God, love people and serve both. Hey everyone, this is Kyle Beeler, hosting this episode of Bread of Life Daily. With me in the studio is Jason Gunther, a man who needs no introduction, but nevertheless, jason, why don't you introduce yourself? You're too kind.
Speaker 2:Kyle, jason Gunther. I've been at Bread of Life 16 years. The only people, I think, who've been there longer probably Annie Gilbert, dawn, val Carolyn and, of course, my wife, alejandra, who I met here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so been around the block. You've seen a lot of things. Today we're going to be talking about Jason's testimony, so some other things that he's seen and other blocks he's been around. So, without further ado, let's all gather around him listen to his story. I'm sure it's going to be encouraging and edifying. So, jason, why don't you go ahead?
Speaker 2:Sure, thank you. A lot of people's testimony starts with something like I was in deep rebellion, addiction, etc. And then God dramatically and radically changed me. My story actually looks very much like the product of the sun in the Bible. I was born into church, raised in a Mennonite church. My parents took me there when I was a kid. I said the sinner's prayer at five years old. I got baptized at nine years old. I went on a mission trip when I was 16, spent the whole summer serving God, but in all of that I hadn't really developed a faith of my own. I was still living out of my parents' identity and ultimately it was my mom's identity. She was the one that faithfully had us read the Bible every day.
Speaker 2:Growing up, on the outside I looked very much like your poster-perfect Christian boy. On the inside, I really had very little knowledge or desire for God, especially when I got to college and I started making my own choices. I drifted very quickly, stopped going to church, found opportunities to work instead of being around God, to the point where I had begun to live fairly rebelliously, dabbling in things that young men dabble in, and shouldn't Even started a relationship with a girl that would not end up being my wife, but I thought she would. And there came a moment where, in the fashion only God can do, she spoke to me through somebody and this girl broke up with me in a way of essentially saying I was manipulative and abusive. It said a whole litany of things that, as she was saying them, I was hearing the voice of God saying you have become something very different than what you are intended to be. In the shock and the humility of that, I ended up going and essentially just sitting on my bed and I heard God very clearly say I will stop at nothing to have your attention. Do I have your attention? That was the moment that I can clearly remember as the day that my life changed. So that would be my dramatic moment, if you will.
Speaker 2:I never looked back from that and although there was plenty of growing pains in the days ahead, you know you fast forward 16 years and I'm now in a place where God's really blessed me. I'm still working out my salvation daily with fear and trembling. But if you talk about lost coins that Jesus has the parable in Matthew I very much felt like a lost coin. And I feel like because I understand people who have grown up in church and either drifted or just never known God for themselves. I understand how people can find themselves in a place where they know they should be something and they're not yet. So I hope anything in my testimony blesses people. It's that lost coins are still very much a desire of God's heart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're in the house, but they are still the lost coins. You know they're off in the corners. I think it's a good testimony, especially because a big part of our church is kids. You know we have so many kingdom kids in the back every weekend and probably a lot of us grew up in church just like you did, maybe even did similar things mission trips and Sundays and reading the Bible with their parents and stuff. So I think it'll be really encouraging to see, or rather to hear, your story and be able to identify with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm very aware too, even with my own children, that I cannot just read enough Bible to them and they'll be saved. We pray for our kids, we teach our kids, we encourage our kids, we discipline our kids, but at the end of the day, there comes a moment where they have to know God for themselves. God has to break in with revelation on their lives for them to be radically transformed, and I think that's the biggest lesson that I learned. Going from youth into adulthood is everything that my mom instilled in me. That didn't save me. What saved me was the moment where God broke in on my life and said I am now your Lord.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and it's tough because you can't really control that. I mean, I have my little daughter, eden, who's a year old now, and me and Nicole pray for her all the time for salvation, that God would call her to himself, that Holy Spirit would meet her, and it's totally scary thinking that, you know, it's not up to us when that happens or how that looks, but we just trust God's sovereignty and his good will.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not up to us, but I will say this. When we make an environment that is conducive to the spirit of God, like even in my darkest state, something in the back of my mind knew that at some point God would call me back. So a prodigal son is just that. I was still a son of the house, but I was a prodigal, and it was because I had been raised in it that there was something that would bring me back. Like Proverbs says you know, train up a child in the way they should go. When they're old they won't depart from it. I do believe that that is generally true of Christian children.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think it'd be good to close today just with a prayer. I mean, a lot of people will relate to things you're talking about and, even if we don't, we probably know people who do or we will meet people who do. So if you could just pray for our community out of your testimony that you've shared today, Absolutely, father.
Speaker 2:We are so thankful that you don't give up on us when we have moments of struggle. God, we thank you that you are gracious and merciful and it's your kindness that brings us to repentance, lord, and while we do seek to know you, god, at the point of obedience, not just the point of our need, god, we're also aware of your deep love for everyone around God. I ask that, for anyone who hears this Lord, that they would be both encouraged and convicted. Lord, if they are lost coins in the house, lord, that they would find their way back. God, that your long arm would find a way to swoop them back into the house of God. Lord, with love and with lordship, god. And for parents who are raising children, that they would understand and be encouraged. Lord, that they'll do their best. But ultimately, lord, it's you who saves. We love and we trust you in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. Thanks for joining us today. We hope this session will help you love God and people more. Now we'd love to hear from you, Send comments, suggestions or questions to daily at bolcforg For more about Bread of Life. Church of Fresno. Look us up online and reach out or, better yet, come join us. We hope you have a blessed day.