This Particular LIFE (Part 1)
Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. (Acts 5:20)

What an Altered Life!

It is obvious that THIS LIFE, as indicated by the angel of the Lord, is different from every other type of life. Therefore, it would be wise of us to investigate the distinctions that make THIS LIFE so particular. For it is a life that the people, to whom the apostles were sent, did not have. The people who would gather in the temple in Jerusalem did not possess or live out THIS LIFE. They were people who would gather regularly at the temple to bring their offerings to God and receive instruction from the leaders of their day. They, from man‘s point of view, were respectable and moral people who made every effort to conform their lives to the standards given to them by their teachers. (Pr. 16:25) Laws and regulations were lifeless tools that were being misused by their guides. These tools became instruments of torture and manipulation in order to control the carnal nature of perishing men. They were oppressed by men on the outside and condemned within by their own guilty conscience that they were not rightly related to a Holy God. The results of this guilt was manifested in their fear of being caught and found in sin. Therefore, they continually sought to reform their own ways by conforming to, and repeating again and again man made traditions. They were normal people living normal lives. Like people today who do what they can to obey the law and be a good citizen. They worked and raised families and planned for the future. They invested in their children, homes, lands, and communities, and were interested in the bottom line like men and women today. Yes, there were different classes of people who came from different backgrounds, yet they all shared very common and similar LIFESTYLES.

The apostles, at one time, were on this same course of life. (Eph. 2:1-5) Their professions were different but the way they lived life was the same. Some were into politics, while others fished for a living. Some worked for the government, and others were in rebellion to the established system. The one Person that tied all of them together was Jesus of Nazareth. Previous to Jesus uniting them for His cause, each of the apostles lived like the rest of humanity. They were sinners who lived with a conscience that condemned themselves in their sin. The problem they each faced was a self-centered issue of sin. Everything centered around themselves. (Rom 2:7-8) Even the attempts of clearing a guilty conscience was self-motivated in order to be personally free from the fear of being caught and condemned in their sin. They like us were motivated in everything and in every way for selfish reasons. The life they lived prior to being interrupted by Jesus, along with everyone else, was consumed with self and corrupt at every point. (Gen. 6:5 ; 8:21 ; John 3:3-5)

What happened to the apostles? They were granted repentance unto life! “When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, ‘Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life’. ” (Acts 11:18) God turned them from their sinful and self-centered life to THIS LIFE that they are now instructed to go speak about. This would mean that the Lord interrupted the life they were living and invade them by His grace to grant unto them a new life. The Bible calls it being RECONCILED. (Col. 1:19-23) When a man is regenerated and converted (born again) he is forgiven of his sin, made a new creature, reconciled from hostility and rebellion toward God and put in a position free of guilt and shame to live in intimacy and fellowship with a Just, Holy, Loving, and Merciful God. They are given the Holy Ghost of God to authentically represent Him upon the earth. (2 Cor. 5:14-21) When this happens, which is by the hand of God Himself, it is undeniably nothing short of a Divine Miracle and a Eternal Interruption. Disciples are given a new life. It’s a life that is unmistakably different from any past lifestyle, which was once consumed with self-centered living. It is a PECULIAR LIFE that takes ownership of its Possessor, and will be lived out by everyone who has been RECONCILED and INTERRUPTED by the Lord Himself. (Titus 3:3-8) It’s not a prayer, or plan, or a self-motivated decision that interrupts and reconciles sinners. No, it is Jesus who gives LIFE. He is the One who grants repentance unto this new life. Has He interrupted you? Is He your LIFE? Have you been told to “Go, stand and speak all the words of THIS LIFE?” Go tell all the people who do not possess THIS LIFE! (Luke 24:46-48)

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. [4] When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. (Col. 3:3-4)

“What I know to be True!”
The lifestyle witness of Nick Holden (Titus 3:3-8 ; 2 Cor. 5:14-21)

How God the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and the regenerating and renewing work of the Holy Spirit, interrupted me, a destitute deceiver, by invading my life with the conquering power of His grace for one distinct purpose. To make me His own personal vessel of mercy for Christ sake. Rom. 9:23

Five things I know to be true and pray that through this message, when I’m done sharing with you the witness that God has established in me, you also will come to know that each one of these can be true for you:

1. God’s grace toward me was not in vain
2. The call and conquest of the Lord Jesus Christ over my life
3. My passion for the authority and authenticity of God’s Word
4. I’m compelled by the love of Christ
5. God’s committed to me a ministry and message of reconciliation

I must let you in on a secret. It may surprise you when you hear this. But I have not always known these marvelous truths. That’s right, for twenty-six years I lived, ate, breathed and fought for myself. I was consumed with Nick Holden and his pleasures. Why? I was lost and perishing and had no clue of the freedom of being forgiven in Christ Jesus. I was full of deception, pride, lust, anger and wrath (Titus 3:1-3). I was selfish and did everything for my own profit. Even when I helped or commended others for doing a good job it was for my own personal benefit. Basically, I lived for my own glory and praise. I do know now what was wrong with me, but back then I didn’t. I was dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-5). I was blind to truth and there was a veil over my heart and I could not believe the message of the gospel of Jesus (2 Cor. 4:1-6). I was a product of the fall. I was conceived and born in iniquity with a nature that had a natural bend toward sin. I was depraved and so tainted with sin that everything I did was unacceptable to a holy and righteous God. I truly do know what it means to be reconciled to God the Father through the saving work of Jesus Christ (Col. 1:19-23).
I had been brought up in a ungodly home. I say ungodly because the presence of God and His ways were not supreme or final authority. My dad was catholic and my mom had no religious background. We thought being good was the way to earn passage and points with God. There was always an awareness about the Lord but not an awe centered desire to be well pleasing to Him. Sports, hunting and a good education were our gods. We gave everything we had to play ball and to be the best at what we did. My dad and mom invested their livelihood into us and the equipment we would use so we could be the best. My dad coached us all the way up until High School and then would come to every practice and travel to all our games. I was good at both baseball and football. My senior year I was voted male athlete of the year for Covington High Fighting Lions . Not only was I the male athlete of the year but also voted the best dad by my daughter. That’s correct, my little girl Elizabeth. My wife Stephanie and I started dating during our sophomore year and she become pregnant during our junior year. We were sweethearts all through school, even named by our peers to be “Junior Sweethearts” at the Sweetheart dance that year. What no one knew was that Stephanie was pregnant at the time. The summer before our senior year we were married, and have been now for over 19 years. We have three daughters (arrows), Elizabeth, Lydia & Lauren (Ps. 127). All this was a reality and even factual events that were going on in our life but they were all a lie. Outside of Christ it is impossible to discern the difference between what is real and what is truth. Our lifestyle was filled with facts and real events but it was one big lie (John 18:37).

I eventually joined the Navy and spent close to ten years with them. We traveled and lived in some nice places. We both told everyone we had been saved by Jesus. But we lived how we wanted. We went were we wanted. We watched what we wanted. We drank what we wanted. We talked how we wanted. We listened to what we wanted to listen to and we acted like any other average person. Though we claimed to have a supernatural salvation through Jesus, we had very little to no regard for God‘s way. We were claiming Jesus saves while living for ourselves and on our way to hell. We truly deserved HELL. We were monstrous sinners, who rightfully should be separated from such a just and holy God. BUT because of His mercy and the gift of Christ we have been delivered. God set both of us free from ourselves in 1997and delivered us from sin’s grip so we could know and follow Him.
Today, what I know to be true, is that it all started on a Sunday morning in July of 1997. It was at Northcrest Baptist Church in Meridian, Ms., while Bro. Malcolm Lewis was preaching and teaching from Mat. 16:26 “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” It was on this day that Jesus Christ INTERRUPTED my life and called me to be His disciple forever. It was on this day that God made me a new creation and He begin to teach me His truth by granting me repentance and gracing me with the faith to believe. Paul reminds Titus of his interruption in Titus 3:3-6, "For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior." I know what it means to be sin, and to live life for myself, pretending that everything is good. Today, by the grace of God, I‘m free. I am free to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to make us His very own disciples that would be known as Christians (graced followers of the Anointed One), by a world around us. Are you a Follower of the Anointed One? Are you Jesus’ very own disciple? Are you known as one who is obedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Jesus reveals to us in Mark 8:35 that we must lose our life for His sake and the gospel’s. This is why Paul told the church in 2 Thes. 1:8 that God’s wrath will come upon everyone who does not know God the Father and have not obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ which demands our life entirely and completely. Jesus is a life-giver and life-changer.

How was I delivered and made a disciple of Jesus?

1. By a Permanent Interruption (My life was interrupted by Jesus) Titus 3:3-7
2. By a Powerful Invasion (My life was invaded by God’s grace) Titus 2:11-14
3. By a Profound Influence (My life has been influenced by Christ’s love) 2 Cor.5:14-21
4. By a Progressive Interest (My lifelong interest in knowing the Lord and His purpose) Phil. 3:7-21
5. By a Purposeful Involvement (My lifelong involvement in God’s cause) Mark 8:34-38
6. By a Personal Investment (My lifelong investment in God’s kingdom) John 18:37
7. By a Providential Identity (My lifestyle being identified as a disciple of Jesus Christ) 2 Cor. 4:7-15