Laura, the boys, and I want you to know how much we appreciate you stopping by the Desert Willow Baptist Church web site! It is our desire to be a blessing to you in any way we can! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me. I can be reached at (505) 553-1511.
Laura and I have been married for 24 years and are originally from Fresno, California. We were high school sweethearts and have had a wonderful journey together.
Soon after we were married, I joined the US Air Force and served for 9 1/2 years. In that time, I saw many parts of the world and enjoyed various duties serving our great country.
But like many "Christians" I wasn't committed to the Lord. I rarely attended church or read the Bible. I wasn't a faithful giver and I did not represent Christ well among my co-workers. I lived life as I saw fit and had my own plans to rise quickly through the Air Force ranks.
Over time, my wife watched me drift farther away from God. And with that, she began to envision a future where her children would not be raised in a committed Christian home. She saw her own dreams of having a Christian husband crumble. It was then she began to pray for me. She asked God to get a hold of my heart. During this time, I was away from Laura and was deployed to southern Italy.
The Bible says the prayer of a righteous man is powerful. About 30 days after Laura penned her prayer to the Lord for me, my world imploded. All of a sudden one day, I felt myself becoming horrified at how I was living my life. It was strange, but very real. And the more I thought about it, the more emotional I became. Over the course of several hours I completely fell apart--it was that fast. The dread of facing God at that moment was so intense I couldn't leave my barracks. I stayed there all afternoon and wept until I couldn't weep any more.
The anguish of sinning against God was consuming me inside. It was then I began to confess the deepest and darkest iniquities of my heart. It was sometime around midnight that my confessions started to transition into great comfort. My prayers of pain began to echo back with God's pardon! I then started to weep again, this time with tears of joy. I was so excited that I stayed up the rest of the night praising God! Needless to say, I was happy, but exhausted as I worked a 12 hour shift that day!
I called Laura as soon as I could and shared everything that had happened to me. She was completely STUNNED! Not only had the Lord changed my heart, but I had decided to serve Him full-time! Now she was weeping tears of joy. To make a long store short, I left active duty and enrolled in Bible College. When I recieved my degree, my family travelled across the country with me for 2 1/2 years to help raise support to start Desert Willow Baptist Church. It has truly been the highlight of my life.
I wonder, what do you think God has in store for you? Realizing God's destiny for you begins by realizing you've sinned against Him. All of us have not only fallen short of God's Divine perfections, we have greatly offended Him and grieved Him by how we live our lives. Has that fact ever deeply penetrated your heart?
But, confessing sin is one thing...asking God to save you is another. I can confess I violated the speed limit to a judge but I will still have to pay the fine. In that case, confession doesn't get a person very far. One of the many things I understood that night back in 1994, was that Jesus "paid the fine" for the laws I broke. I confessed my sins, but then I realized that Jesus had "paid my fine" with His life's blood on the cross. With that knowledge, I gladly trusted in what He did to save me!
I claimed to be a Christian, but I needed to be sure I was on my way to Heaven that night. I didn't want to take the risk that my "fine" had not been paid. If a person dies without their "fine" being paid, they will go to God's jail forever--the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).
Here's the good news...your "fine" has been paid by Jesus Christ! But YOU MUST plead with Him to dismiss your "case" (it's NOT automatic). I trust you will take seriously your standing with the Divine Judge and ask Him take you off of the road to Hell and put you on the road to Heaven.
We believe our church motto that says, "It's not where you've been, but where you're going." This applies to anyone who wishes to start over in any area of life. So, let go of yesterday, embrace Jesus today, and follow Him forever!
Your friend in Christ,
Pastor Kevin Murdoch
