3:16

You know, for me it was
I had a deep, deep conviction of being a sinner.
I grew up in a Methodist church.
We went to church every Sunday.
I had all the pins, you know, for going a year
without missing a Sunday.
And I came away
with only one understanding, but it was a good one
because it was part of the building blocks
that led me to faith,
and that was “sinners go to hell.”
Of course, I thought good people
go to heaven. Sinners go to hell.
And I knew which I was.
There was no question in my mind.
The part I was wrong about was
there aren’t any good people who go to heaven.

But still,
that deep conviction lasted with me
from the age of five to the age of fifteen.
I was terrified of death.
Whenever I heard of a person dying or a funeral,
I was terrified
because I knew one day I’m going to die.
To give you an idea,
I remember at the age of seven we went camping
and my dad had built a bonfire
and I stood looking at the bonfire at the sticks
that were burning.
And the thought that went through my mind was,
I wish that I could have just been made a stick
instead of a human because that stick is
going to burn up, and it’ll be over.
But I’m going to burn forever in hell.
I had very strong conviction of that.

Well, that worked on me for ten years.
In those ten years I just proved it
more and more every year.
No hope for me. I know where I’m going.

And then finally a guy came to me
and we met and shared with me John 3:16.
And to be honest, I didn’t understand it at all.
But he said, “Memorize this verse.” And I did.

And I met up with him two or three weeks later
and he said, “Did you memorize verse?”
I said, “Yeah, I could quote it. John. John 3:16

“God so loved the world
that He gave his only begotten Son,
so that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have everlasting life.”

I went through it didn’t mean anything to me.
Well, he thought I had become a believer.
I didn’t understand what the verse meant.

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