Testimony: Growing in Grace Conference 2021

Trinity Baptist Church, NJ

This year, the youth from Iglesia Bautista Reformada (Reformed Baptist Church) in North Bergen, NJ and Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, NJ as well as several from other churches, had the opportunity to attend the “Growing in Grace Retreat”, where we were able to hear a series of sermons titled “Sons of the Most High”. This series was based on the Bible’s teaching in Luke 6:35 which says, “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (NIV). Pastor Alan Dunn from Grace Covenant Baptist Church in Flemington, NJ led this series.

The Lord, through His Word and the knowledge he has granted to His servant pastor Dunn, spoke to me about the importance of being like Him who is our heavenly Father. First, I must contemplate God’s great majesty to be able to comprehend whose daughter I am. The Lord is “Elohim”, the God of Israel. This word is the plural form of the word “Eloah” which is God. Having used this word in plural form to reference God, shows how magnificent His being is, and how he is not like the pagan gods of this world.

As I contemplate God’s being, who is Most High, as His daughter, I must be like my Father. As a daughter of God, the Lord has given me the authority to administer His Word to others, and to biblically adjudicate my surroundings and the people in it. I must mold my conscience according to the Scriptures and not according to the teachings of this world; that way, when I make judgment of other people and circumstances, I may do so piously, just like my Father God the Most High does. I must see those that are derailed from the Lord’s path as lost individuals whom I must show compassion to. I must teach them who God is and His Son Jesus Christ the Savior, just like how my Father the Most High showed me who He was when I was lost.

Just as my Father God the Most High did this to me, His daughter, so I, as His daughter, have to do the same with others. This series of sermons was a great blessing since it reminds me who my Father is, His character, and how He expects His children to be which is to be like Him. In the midst of a world where paternal orphanage is abundant, and most importantly spiritual orphanage, this series of sermons reminds of the God Most High who has existed since the foundation of the world, who still exists, and will continue to exist eternally. He has adopted me as His daughter through His Son Jesus Christ and now commands me to live like Him. Likewise, He continues to extend this opportunity of adoption to those who are still spiritually orphaned.

What a blessing it is to know that I am the daughter of God Most High. Thanks to Him for reminding me of this great truth, and may this truth encourage me to look more like my Father. Amen.

– A testimony by Jatna Domínguez, member of Iglesia Bautista Reformada in North Bergen, NJ