A Testimony of Receiving Christ and Growing in Christ in the Church, Steve Kline

This testimony is of a Christian experience, a testimony of receiving Christ and growing in Christ. This statement is not intended as a boast of attainment nor as a statement that ``I have arrived'' and have no need of more growth. But through God's merciful operation I have been brought to Him and brought into a situation conducive to growth in Him. I want to share with you how this came about, and the benefit that receiving Christ and going on with Him has brought.

I did not start out as a follower of Christ. I have very much experienced both sides of Christ: before Christ and after, apart from Him and in Him. I remember a time in college, while I was participating in a six-week field course, a discussion came up about some people at a Christian college somewhere, mostly with a ridiculing overtone. One girl made a comment about them not being ``worldly''. I asked what she meant by that. Her answer was (with a certain kind of gleam in her eye), ``Oh, ha-ha, it means you haven't `gotten around'''. I answered back, ``Or maybe it means you've `been around' and found something better.'' I don't know if anyone that was present understood what I said, but that was my testimony. I had indeed `been around' in the kinds of things they were pursuing for fun, pleasure, etc.--but I had found something better. I had found Jesus Christ. I will begin with a brief coverage of before I received Christ and was apart from Christ; then I will spend a bit more space on things after my receiving Christ, my enjoyment of being in Him.

The years of my childhood were pretty typical of those of many American kids of the 1950's and 60's. Thankfully I had a stable family life, and my siblings and I were able to participate in many activities that provided a rich experience of the good things in life: neighborhood swimming pool, scouting, team sports, some nice vacations out west. Of course, I also experienced some ``downers'': I was not a fast runner and was not very coordinated in sports (though work at it eventually got me to be about average much later in life), and that led to the typical ``putting down'' by peers at school. I weathered the ``downers'', enjoyed the good things, went to school, learned, grew up.

By late in high school, I began to get more and more exposed to things I would now label as ``sinful''. At the time, these things seemed attractive. Many people were doing them and seemed to be having fun. I gradually got into them. Eventually, after high school, I got into some very unprofitable things; though at the time, I thought they were great.

I went to California, because that was supposed to be ``where it's at''. Eventually, because of the lifestyle I was living, I ended up in a very bad situation. I can't describe how that situation was engineered, but it basically cut me off from everything that was a source of enjoyment to me. It even cut me off from everyone I considered my friends (there was a betrayal involved, and I didn't know who was the source of that betrayal, so I couldn't trust anyone). I say that situation was ``engineered'', because at that juncture an opportunity came to go to a Christian meeting. I really only went, as far as what I was conscious of, to get away from other things. Really, though, God had worked me into a corner, and had prepared me to meet Him.

I thought the speaking in that meeting was corny. Then, at a certain juncture a man told us all to bow our heads. Then, he said, ``Now, whoever has accepted Jesus Christ into your heart, raise your hand''. Why did he use the past tense? I didn't know why, but my hand started to go up. I said to myself, ``You can't do this, you haven't accepted Jesus Christ into your heart''. But my hand kept going up. As my hand got high in the air, an inexplicable peace came over me. I even had a sense of something coming into me, and I said to myself, ``This must be the Holy Spirit''. Let me make something clear. I have talked to many people. Not everyone, in receiving Christ, has some kind of sensation. I guess I needed that. But it was something I had no expectation of. The meeting was soon over, and I was on my way back to my situation, but something in my heart was profoundly different. I had a witness, a conviction in my heart, that Jesus Christ really was the Son of God, that He had really died on the cross as the Savior of the whole world, that the Bible really was the Word of God.

The first thing I did was to get a Bible. At that time, it was the ``King James Version'' with the ``Thee's'' and ``Thou's'', etc. But it didn't matter. As I read the Gospel of Matthew--Wow, it was great! Mark--it was better! Luke--even better! John--Wow, even better! Acts! Even the Epistles were great! I had tried reading the Bible on two other occasions before, giving up each time after three or four chapters. But this time it was different. I really had received the Spirit, and I experienced what the disciples experienced when Jesus was with them after His resurrection, when ``He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures'' (Luke 24:45). Unless you have had the experience, you just can't imagine how rich, how profound, how exciting the Word of God is!

Soon, I figured I ought to go to church. Why? Because that's what Christians do--they go to church on Sunday, right? So I went to the Episcopal Church, where I had gone when a child. For a while I visited the ``Rector'' on a fairly regular basis, asking questions about my Bible reading, as I was now beginning my second time through the New Testament. I also became a helper with the Junior High youth group. But, unfortunately, there was really no speaking of the Word of God there. The sermons were mostly on the moral issues of the Vietnam war, and other such discussions of ethics and the like. The routine rituals gradually became just that, routine. Also, I was back in Georgia, where I had come from, and back with my old friends. And gradually I went against my conscience, which was not really yet that strong, and got back into some of my old habits. My Bible reading was soon dropping off. Before long I was living a life not much different from the life I had had without Christ. Only my conscience would bother me now, though its protests were getting fainter and fainter.

I was back in college now. At the beginning of fall quarter, about a year and a half after receiving the Lord, a group of Christians were out on the plaza with an electric bullhorn preaching about Christ. It was interesting to see such a thing. I stopped to observe. Right afterwards, two of them came up and invited me to a ``young people's meeting''. It sounded good, but I was really too busy, between working and going to school and Episcopal Youth Council meetings--and the one night a week I had reserved for myself, mainly to ``party''. But I kept running into them at school and found that I just enjoyed being with them. They invited me over for dinner and to go to one of their meetings.

For dinner, my friends from school took me to the apartment of a couple that had two little kids. The time was really nice--they sang songs about the Lord and spoke of Scriptures they had enjoyed that day. Then I went to the meeting place, getting there early. Each one as they came in proclaimed something like, ``Praise the Lord!'', ``Jesus is Lord!'', ``Christ is my life!'', and whoever was present would respond with, ``Amen!''. People began to spontaneously pray, actually mostly praise, one at a time, with the rest responding to each request or word of praise with, ``Amen!''. The things they were speaking and praying certainly elicited an ``Amen'' from me also. I just jumped in. True, it wasn't what I was used to in the Episcopal Church, but there was a bright response in my spirit. The meeting was filled with Scripture reading, singing of meaningful, enjoyable songs, and everyone speaking their enjoyment and appreciation of Christ. The speaking of a few of the ones was particularly strong and profound. Everyone's portion added to the whole. I had the realization that these people weren't just playing around; they meant business. And by the end, I realized that the whole meeting was orchestrated by, filled with, and centered on the same Spirit I had experienced a year and a half earlier when I received Christ. I was filled, satisfied, and joyful.

Things began to happen rapidly. I went to only one more ``party''. Having had my spirit so revived, the Lord was able to enlighten me concerning the realm in which I had been living. One morning a few days later, as I looked in the mirror at the beard and long hair I had been growing to impress others, I realized I didn't need that anymore. It was no struggle to leave my old living behind; it was a joy to embrace the Christian life. The happiness I had been seeking in so many vain things was exceedingly fulfilled in knowing and enjoying Christ and meeting with the church.

By the Lord's grace, I have now continued meeting for quite a few years with the local church. Let me cover a few matters of the blessings that have come into my life through this participation. Let me begin with what I consider one of the greatest blessings God has given us, His Word. The enjoyment of the Word that I had begun to touch at the time of my initial contact with the Lord has been revived, enriched, and greatly expanded through two things that are prominent in my church life, one a practice, the other a ministry.

In the church in Atlanta, where I first began to grow in the Lord, we would ``pray-read'' the verses of the Bible frequently. This practice was, and still is, such a great way to dive into the Word. We would speak the Scriptures back and forth with one another, phrase by phrase, with a praying spirit, digging out the meaning and rejoicing in every phrase and every word. As a result, the Word really got into me and affected my life, even my view of everything. Once an acquaintance from school who met with a group known for their study of the Bible was speaking to us of the benefits of memorizing the Word. He demonstrated haltingly as he struggled to correctly quote the verse he had been working on. Another brother from the church and myself smoothly and effortlessly finished the quotation for him. Honestly, in a short time I had memorized (with no intention to do so, or effort) hundreds of Bible verses, simply through the enjoyment of pray-reading the Word. This has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. Still to this day, the Lord refreshes my spirit, so often and so much, through my coming back to the Bible and speaking the Scriptures before Him and musing upon His precious Word!

Also, regarding understanding the Bible, I have been greatly helped through the ministry of Witness Lee, along with Watchman Nee. The conferences given by Witness Lee that I have attended and the books by him and Watchman Nee that I have read have been so helpful in giving me, first of all, a clear perspective on the facts of the Bible, and second, insight into the revelation and vision the Bible conveys. The Spirit who first began to open my understanding of the Scriptures has been so very much with this ministry to continue to open the Word to me.

I remember the first book I read, The Economy of God. I found that throughout the book, again and again would be references to passages in the Bible. I made it a point to look up each one and study it to see how it related to what Witness Lee was covering in the text of the book. I still do this. By doing so, I found that his ministry was simply to point out what is there in the Bible already. It was like someone parting some branches of underbrush and revealing a diamond lying there in the ground. A lot of times the diamond was lying there right out in the open, yet people walked right by it for years. Take for example Colossians 1:25-27, which says, ``...the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations but now has been manifested to His saints; to whom God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.'' Read that again a little slower. Consider the way this passage is written! The language! Is the topic of this passage a minor point of the Bible? Clearly it must be a big matter. ``The word of God''! ``The mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations''! Wow! You got my attention. What is this mystery?! What is this rich, glorious mystery that was hidden for generations but that Paul was commissioned by God to make known? What is it!? It is ``Christ in you''. The matter of Christ in us has been one of the focal points in Witness Lee's ministry over the years. Yet, before Watchman Nee and Witness Lee began to faithfully minister regarding Christ in us, one could hardly hear or read anything dealing with this matter in Christian circles. This ministry has helped me focus on matters at the heart of God's revelation, His Word. As it says in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, ``But as it is written, Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man's heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But to us God has revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.'' These are the things the Lord has used this ministry to bring me into. My everlasting thanks to the Lord!

Another matter of blessing I have received through my life in Christ in the context of the local church is to know Him, and to know Him as life. To know Him is of course the chief blessing of all! But it is related to the former blessing of the Word, and it also relates to the blessing I will cover after this, the matter of my human life, my daily living. I understand what Paul meant when he was speaking of what motivated him to suffer so many things, when he uttered such phrases as, ``on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord'' and ``that I may gain Christ'' and ``to know Him''. Through the ministry of the Word and through my living in the Body life I have come to know Him. I am gradually learning to recognize His indwelling Spirit of life within me. And how precious He is! He is not just a historical figure that I love. He is present, and He lives within me.

Knowing Him as a Person, and as a Person who lives within me, is integrally related to living in the Body of Christ. One of the chief testimonies that the Lord has raised up among us in the local churches is the oneness of the Body of Christ. Because this truth shines so brightly, if I encounter conflict I cannot just run away from it and join another group. Because of the practice of the oneness of the Body among the churches, Ephesians 4:3 ``has teeth'': ``Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.'' To keep the oneness of the Spirit in my local church and among the churches, I am forced to take Christ as my person and live out Colossians 3:12-13: ``Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering; bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive.'' The oneness of the Body also forces me to take Christ and receive all kinds of fellow believers, regardless of our natural differences, as we are instructed to do in Romans chapters 14 and 15. In short, the ministry of the Word and the work of the Spirit have made me aware that Christ is in me as my life, and the context of the Body life has provided the perfect environment for me to live by Him.

Lastly, let me finish with a brief word about how my personal, daily, human life has been enriched by knowing Him in the local church. When I first received Christ, I was of college age, but had dropped out. I was aimless. After receiving Him, and especially after getting on an even keel with Him, I was able to apply myself and move forward. I am not that ``smart''; I never received high scores on ``SAT's'' or ``GRE's'' (college entrance exams); but with the inner core of my being satisfied and strengthened with Christ, I could be diligent in my studies. Do some people do well in college without Christ? Yes. But I know for certain, without a shadow of doubt, that Christ in my heart had a tremendous impact on my character. I vividly remember critical junctures when things got real tough, and the Lord inwardly encouraged me-- through the Word, through other members of the Body, through various ways--when the Lord has encouraged you, you know it, it's real! I had no intentions to do so at first, but eventually I went on to receive a Ph.D. I now teach college at Arkansas Tech University. Visit my web page there if you care to: <www.atu.edu/acad/mining/people/misk/>. I appreciate this help in my human life and thank the Lord for it.

Besides being helped by the Lord in taking care of my livelihood, He has blessed me with a wonderful wife and two great kids. I intend to make a family web site soon. I'll try to get it linked here when I do. In the matter of my marriage and family, I am thankful that Witness Lee so often made reference to experiences in his marriage life and family life. Marriage life was one of the main contexts to which he applied the riches of Christ. It is the mercy of the Lord that I attended so many conferences with Witness Lee and so often heard this kind of speaking, because the things I heard and applied in my life have really had an effect. Ultimately though, this and all blessings come simply from our great God, our loving Father, our saving Lord, to whom go all the thanks and praise! Honestly, I cannot thank Him enough. At several junctures I have felt the rising of tears of joy here as I consider all His blessings as I write this testimony. I pray that you too will come to know Him, Whom to know is eternal life! The grace of the Lord be with you.