My Testimony

My testimony is not a typical one or what most would call something miraculous or special. I didn’t go through any periods of trying drugs, alcohol, getting into a bad crowd, hitting rock bottom, doing the things that, honestly, make a good testimonial!

I come from a southern Baptist Christian family who never fought or had any evident problems. I never bothered anyone, gossiped, it’s actually called “talking trash” for guys. I thought I was a pretty good person. I thought I was a good Christian. I even read the whole Bible word for word from beginning to end when I was 17. The only time I remember cursing was for about 1 week when I was in middle or high school because I thought it was cool. That wore off pretty quick and said I wouldn’t ever do it again. I truly believed I loved God and that I was righteous because of my lifestyle. I thought, I’m different; I’m not a typical teenager! All teenagers want to be different. I even saved myself for the woman I would marry. Unfortunately, that is a rare thing for people my age in society. Because of my morals this boosted my sense of being what society thinks is a “good person”.

In spite of all this, I am the epitome of the word bashful. I truly am. No one has been allowed to sing Happy Birthday to me since I was 5 years old. I held my ears and screamed until they would stop. I have a picture of it too! Since then it’s been silent birthdays for me. I also greatly lack in the area of charisma. I used to look down or give one-word responses to anyone who would talk to me. I would go out of my way to not have to talk to anyone.

I thank God for my wife. We met at the back of Lakeshore Church in 2004 when it was over in downtown Rockwall. She was the only person I could really open up to. She has always had a heart so big I could never understand, but I loved her for that.

Still, I thought I was a born-again Christian. Five more years passed, and we were now living the American dream, if that even exists even more. Both of us had college degrees, were elementary school teachers, had a new house, one car payment, no real serious debt, and a beautiful 15 month year old baby boy. You think I’m going to say everything went down hill….but it didn’t. Things just kept getting better. Despite all these blessings I didn’t love people. That’s why I was so shy. I truly didn’t love people. I was nice, but I really didn’t care. It sounds awful, but true. I didn’t want to give anyone the time of day except my wife and son.

I was not a Christian. God says “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor. Those are the two greatest commandments. You’d think someone who read the whole Bible would know this. I was very knowledgeable of the word of God and other religions, but yet I didn’t get it. It’s like you heard something, but you didn’t listen. That was how I was to the word of God. I didn’t open my heart to it because I thought I was already good in man’s eyes.

I also skipped over these verses without paying much attention and I never really heard them in church..."Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death." - Revelation 21:8

Those verses are not popular, but they are truth, and they convicted me of my condition. I was on the highway to hell because I was indeed some of these things no matter how hard I tried to justify my sins.

I was lead to the Way of the Master if you are familiar with it. It was really a chain of events that sparked my curiosity, but now when I look back on it, it was all part of God's plan for me. I read some books, saw Fireproof, found Kirk Cameron’s testimony, and then was lead to Living Waters Ministries. If you’ve never seen the program they go around asking people on the streets if they would consider themselves to be a good person or where they would go when they die. I was like, this is good stuff, I bet I’d pass! Guess what… nope.

The thing is, I was presented the gospel all my life. I knew who Jesus was and that He died for our sins, most people in America know that. The problem with all that is I didn’t understand what sin really was and why we were all sinners. Way of the Master uses the Ten Commandments as a mirror to our conscience. It is true, Jesus fulfilled the law of the Old Testament for us, BUT, He used the Law to convict the heart. He spoke law to proud and grace to the humble. I was proud, as most people are which is why I didn’t understand grace, the Gospel!

You may be thinking Way of the Master saved me. It didn’t. Way of the Master teaching is not a method; it is the Biblical way Jesus and His apostles witnessed to the world. Our country has been poisoned with teachings of “living your best life now” and has thrown hell completely out the door. The fact of the matter is, I have broken every single commandment of the Law. I’m a liar, a murderer (have hated someone, Matt. 5:21-23) an adulterer at heart (Matt. 27-30), and a blasphemer. I deserve Hell, as we all do. Most of us don’t want to hear that, but it’s so sobering! It makes me appreciate so much more what Jesus Christ did for me.

I trusted in Jesus Christ and repented of my sins in January of this year. I became a true born-again Christian. I didn’t have a revelation or hear a thunderous voice. Everyone always told me to “accept” Jesus. God doesn’t need our acceptance. He needs our obedience. It says to REPENT and TRUST in our Savior. I trust Him with my life. I believe the actual word, believe, has been diluted through the years. To believe something is to trust in it. People believe in an elevator when they use it. They believe in an airplane to get them somewhere. If we believed in Jesus we would put Him on like a parachute and never take Him off. That is why most people try on the whole Christianity thing, to see if it’ll make their life better, and when it doesn’t we get back-sliders, false-converts and an awful stereotype of Christians. I was a false-convert.

I was so confused. I thought I was saved 3 different times in my life just because I said a prayer and I believed Jesus existed. If I believed what He really did I would not jump into sin rather than fall into it. I no longer justify my sin and I no longer jump into it. I have tendencies to lie and tendencies to do other sins, but the fact of the matter is we have a choice to sin or not to. We are responsible for breaking God's law. I have learned that true Christians will not jump into the sin, however we still do fall, but repentance is the gift of God. By the power of the Holy Spirit through salvation, repentance and prayer those things can be overcome.

Once I became truly saved I discovered every Christians purpose, to spread the Gospel. It’s called the Great Commission and we are all called to it. (Matt. 28:19-20) There are so many ways to spread the gospel biblically. And I'm amazed how God continues to show me mine. Callings have confused me in the past. I thought I was supposed to do so many things, but once you really surrender to God, He reveals things to you.

I applied to an evangelism conference/training in California with Living Waters. They picked 50 people to go. You have to do an application and be interviewed. I thought, it couldn’t hurt, they wouldn’t pick me anyways. Boy, was I wrong. I got a call and after the interview I was invited to come. There were lots of expenses and I didn’t know how I’d even get off of work as it was for 5 days. I kept coming up with excuses not to go when I was accepted, but God wouldn’t have it. The calling was too deep within me and my conscience consistently cried out. I told my wife if I didn’t witness to someone before I died I would have regretted my whole life.

I wound up going. It’s weird to go somewhere you have never been by yourself to meet people you’ve never met. I now have new brothers and sisters in Christ I will never forget. I learned how to share the Gospel effectively. I witnessed one to one, to groups, I (Mr. Bashful and Birthday screamer) stood on a box at a street light and preached the Law and the Gospel to people I didn’t even know! I approached people in the streets that I had never met. I saw conviction in there eyes. I saw people weep because they knew there were guilty. Were there one’s who rejected me, yes. But it wasn’t me they were rejecting. They were rejecting my God. There are so many people that hate the one true God. I got to experience this and it is deeply troubling. People expect God to be a divine butler who suits our worldly needs and lets them get to Heaven based on their good works or forgiveness. This is biblically wrong.

I learned the soul purpose of evangelism is to plant seed (spread the Gospel), not to get conversions. That is in God’s hand. That statement is a comforting one. I don’t know how I did it…..it had nothing to do with my knowledge, but the spirit-filled me. It was surreal. I have never seen God truly move in so many ways and seen so much unity and love. It wasn’t a retreat, it was a war. We all went to battle together. I experienced the body of Christ first hand. I cried because I knew I’d have to leave that and I still cry that I did. I didn’t know these people, but I loved them.

I now love people and fear for their souls of being in hell for the rest of eternity. That is what it is to be a Christian. If you’re not hurting for others I don’t see how anyone can be a “believer” in Jesus Christ. I really don’t.

I was a fool, plain and simple. I’m still a sinner I still deserve hell, but by the blood of Jesus Christ I am saved. I’m not here to “live my best life now”, I’m here to give glory to my Father and look forward to eternal life despite what is thrown at me. We live in a fallen creation. There is in fact one mistake in the Bible….and that was when Adam and Even took the apple from the tree of knowledge of good and evil(Gen 2:16-17) We are here to give glory to God because of us what He did for us by sending His one and only Son. That is what it means to be a Christian.

Romans 7:24-25

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Matthew 28:18 – 20

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Thank you so much for letting me share my testimony with you. If you have any questions feel free to write me an e-mail. May God bless you and yours!

In Christ,

Joey Acker