Hi guys, so as Kevin said, my name's Anthony. I attend the church in Punchbowl down there
back in Sydney and I've come to support the brother as well as the other brothers
and sisters that are here today. Kevin's asked me to give my testimony so I've put
it together in the best way as I could so I hope it all makes sense and that would be
a blessing to you all.
Two verses I just want to refer to today in opening up my testimony because I want to
leave a reminder to you guys as well and an encouragement. So the first verses I'm going
to turn to is Matthew 7. Matthew 7 verse 21 to 23.
And Jesus said,
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils,
and in thy name done many wonderful works, and I will profess unto them I never knew
you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
And the other verse I want to go to guys is John 3.36. John 3.36 it says,
He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the sun shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
I don't know the exact day, hour or time I was saved. I know it was sometime in 2015.
I recall before I was saved, it may have been a year or two before, there was a soul
winner from the Baptist church around the corner came and knocked on my door. And at
the time I was an Adventist, it was a Saturday, so I should have been in church, but I wasn't,
praise God. And he attempted to give me the gospel. Like I said, at that time I wasn't
saved. I read my Bible, I loved the Lord, but I wasn't saved, I can admit that now.
I didn't immediately get saved at that time, but it was something that stuck with me, because
when we were having a discussion, we were having a back and forth, I sort of said to
him, we pretty much believed the same thing, which we didn't, and I sort of said, I should
be out there doing what you're doing. And then I asked myself, why aren't I out there
doing what he's doing? And the fact is that I wasn't saved at that point, so why would
I go out and knock doors and tell people about the good news and everlasting life if I wasn't
sure myself? So that was a good turning point in my life.
As we know, referring to the parable of the sower, the Word of God is likened under seeds,
and the seeds are the Word of God, and once that sprouts, once someone believes, they
sprout in the person's heart, they're saved. There's two major people I would have to say
that had an influence on me personally, with the seed, the Word of God, but also getting
the soil ready, would have to be Donald Tasman Griffin and Rhonda DeLee Smith. Donald Tasman
Griffin, that's my father, he chastised me very well. The Bible says, thou shalt beat
thy child and deliver their soul from hell. We're commanded to discipline our child by
the rod. And it's interesting that it says thou shalt beat thy child and deliver their
soul from hell, because it's sort of tied in with salvation, isn't it? Because it teaches
the person that there is a consequence for wrongdoing, and as we all know, all sin needs
to be judged. Thank God for Jesus, who took our sins away.
The other person I want to pay a special acknowledgement to is Rhonda DeLee Smith, specifically Rhonda's
daughter. I met Rhonda's daughter when I was in high school. Love the Lord. Rhonda
was very strict with her daughter in the things of the Lord. Had an old King James Bible,
I think they read. Taught her daughter in the ways of the Lord. Met her daughter when
I was in high school. I just noticed about her daughter, she had a lot of, being brought
up under the word of God, she had a lot of self-respect for herself, and had a very godly
character. That's one thing. Another thing Rhonda's daughter used to do for me is read
me the Bible. I heard about Jesus when I was younger, I was never always in a Christian
home. My dad had a Catholic upbringing, but he had the thought of, I don't want to push
that on him, because they're not given the proper Gospel, are they? They're not sure
about it themselves. Two things there, she had a lot of self-respect,
had a godly character. She read me the Bible. Another important thing that opened me up
to the Lord was, in 2016 I got my first Bible. It followed a tragic incident, where we'd
lost one of our friends that we grew up with, and the local Adventist church actually gave
me a Bible. It wasn't the proper Bible, the TNIV, but I guess it was a nice sort. It was
a Bible nonetheless, and I read that Bible, and another thing Rhonda's daughter did was
she actually brought me a devotional Bible. It was NIV. So I read that as well, and even
in the TNIV and the NIV, I guess the Lord showed me that there's differences here,
there's clear differences, and they're supposed to be the same thing, aren't they?
So like I said, I believe I was saved in 2015, and I believe I was saved when I was actually,
because if you're going to be a Christian, you want the right book to be living your
life, why don't you? So I searched. TNIV and the NIV can't both be right. I stumbled
across the New World Order Bible Versions documentary by Stephen Aniston, the church
– Faithful Word Baptist Church – and I don't know if you guys have seen it before,
but there's that gospel presentation at the end. It gives a gospel presentation at
the end, and it was Matthew 7, verse 21 to 23, and he talks about, you know, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of God. And why was it that
they didn't enter into the kingdom of God? Because they were trusting on their works,
and that really hit a nerve with me, because I was taught in the Adventist church that
part of being received into the kingdom of God, which had to be baptised, you know, they
say John 3, the water birthed is baptism. When you read it, it's actually physical
birth, birth of flesh, that which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of spirit
is spirit. When a woman gives birth, the water breaks, doesn't it? Wasn't taught that.
I used to think baptism was a part of salvation, but thank God it's not. What's that? Mark
16 says, he that believeth and is baptised shall be saved, but he that believeth not
shall be damned. It's not the lack of baptism that doesn't save. It's the faith, isn't
it? That faith that saves. Baptism's got nothing to do with the gospel. Something we
should do, but it's not a part of the gospel. Well, one thing I forgot to mention, guys,
before Rhonda's daughter purchased me the NIV, and I got to compare the TNIV with the
NIV, and I found out the KJV is the true word of God, I actually married her. And now
we have two beautiful daughters, Emmettie and Sadie, over there. And if you guys stick
around and see the service tomorrow, you might get the chance to meet her. Since being saved,
I preached the gospel to my wife. Now she's saved. She's believed in the Lord. Preached
the gospel to my little daughter, Am. Preached the gospel to my girl, and I believe she was
saved a day after her fourth birthday. But I want to go back to the two people I believe
were major influences in the seed, getting the soil ready and planting the seeds within
me. Sadly to say, to this day I'm not sure if they're actually saved. My father, as
you probably worked out, Rhonda DeLee Smith, is actually my mother-in-law. One can't
comprehend the fact that someone that's committed such great sins could just be saved
by faith. But what about Moses? He was a murderer. Where is he? He's in heaven. What about
David? He was an altar. He's in heaven. Because they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Or they'll say, you know, you've got to live a godly life, you've got to keep God's
rights, if they're not saying that. But if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. What's that saying? If you believe, you've got to keep God's law
for your righteousness. The death of Christ means nothing to you. You've got to believe
in His finished work. Okay, three things I want to finish up on,
guys. Thanks for listening to my testimony. Three things I want to say is Brother Bishop
Kev, Bishop Victor, you know, just from, like I said, I got saved by listening to online
preaching basically. You never know who's listening, guys. Just keep putting that gospel
in your sermons as much as you can. You never know who you'll save. You might save the
next bishop in Australia, you know what I mean? And encourage everyone else here as
well, guys. Matthew 7, verse 21 to 23. I think a sobering reality is that not all Christians
are saved. Not all Christians are saved, and that's where we come in. We've got the
gospel, we've got to go and knock those doors, and we've got to get that right. Because
that is a salvation by grace through faith. That's pretty much the fundamental thing
that separates Christianity from everything else. If you don't have that right, what
does it say? What did Jesus say? Depart from me, I never knew you. Not only I used to know
you, but I never knew you because I hadn't believed to be saved. And John 3, 36, he that
believeth on the Son hath, present tense, hath everlasting life, and he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Not only a lot of Christians
need the gospel today, guys, but there's a lot of people out there that are lost that
haven't heard about Jesus. Our parents can say anyone in our parents' generation
has heard of Jesus, but in public schools today they're taking the Bible out, what,
30 minutes a week maybe, if they're lucky with that. And not even those people that
are teaching the Bible are saved, I would say. So yeah, three things there, guys. Keep
preaching the gospel. Not all Christians are saved, and everyone, God is not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to the repentance and accept knowledge of
the truth. Alright, let us pray, guys. Dear Lord, I thank you for this gathering, I thank
you for your children up here today, and the fellowship. I pray that you'll be with Brother
Kevin as he does some mighty work in preaching your gospel, in teaching your children. And
you know what, Lord, as we found today, we're not always going to see a soul saved. We're
not going to always do soul winning, but let's at least do soul warning and throw as many
seeds as we can at the people up here in Queensland and Sydney. In Jesus' name, Amen.