Episode 71

In this next installment of the How Were Your Barriers Removed? series of the Removing Barriers podcast, we sit down with Judy and hear how God removed barriers to save her soul. Judy grew up in a Mennonite home and by all worldly accounts had no reason to fear the wrath of God that is sure to come. But God in his mercy made it clear that she needed salvation and today, we get to hear just how He did it and how her life has been different ever since. Join us on this episode to hear how those barriers were removed.

No one can ride on the coattails of their parents when it comes to Salvation. A lot of my barriers were removed by my parents, but I still had to trust the Lord and come to realization of my own sin. And just like that, any child that grows up in a good home still needs to realize that themselves, that they may not have lived in the world, but that they still need to accept. Christ,

thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers Podcast. I’m Jay and I’m MCG, and we’re attempting to Remove barriers so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

This is episode 71 of the Removing Barriers Podcast, and this is the 19th in the series of How Were Your Barriers Removed? And in this episode, we’ll find out how Judy’s barriers were removed when she came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hi, this is Jay MCG, and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers dot net and subscribing to receive all things Removing Barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removingbarriers net. Donate removing a Clear View of the Cross

Judy, it’s a pleasure. And welcome to the Removing Barriers Podcast. Hello. Thank you for having me. Great. Well, let’s dive right into it.

What state or country were you born in, Judy? I was born in the country of Mexico. Mexico. Cool. Yes. Where in Mexico were you born in the state of Chihuahua? Okay. Are you fluent in Spanish? No, I’m not. I’m actually not Hispanic. So natively. What are you? I am German, but not the same German as my husband, not from Germany. So it’s Mennonites that live in Mexico. There’s about 100,000 MENA nights that live in Mexico. And so in the state that I was born in there’s, about 75,000 that live there currently. So I am German, but it would be Mennonite, as many of them would call culturally, but I guess it’s more a religion.

So how did you up in Canada? Well, I was two months old when I moved to Canada, so I didn’t remember anything from Mexico before that. My parents, my dad grew up in Mexico, and my mom grew up in Mexico as well as in Canada. They were always back and forth. And so when I was two months old, we moved back to Canada. And then I grew up in Canada. And then when I was 14, we moved back to Mexico, and then I lived there for six years, and then we moved back to Canada. And now I’ve been here since. Wow. What’s the temperature up there today? You mean here in Canada? Yeah. Today was pretty nice. It was up to eleven degrees Celsius, so I’m not sure what that is in Fahrenheit. Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound warm enough. It wouldn’t be warm enough. Might not be warm enough for you, right? Yeah. Pretty good. I have a friend that live up there. He convinced me to come and visit, but I heard it constantly being a negative up there. So I’ll stay where I’m at. Yeah. Now you mentioned, Judy, that you’re not fluent in Spanish, obviously, because you’re not Hispanic. But do you speak German, whether high or low German? Yes. I speak high German. Low German. I do speak some Spanish. I don’t know if I consider myself fluent, but I do speak all three languages as well as English. Okay.

And your family, then you said, was you described a group of people that I’ve heard people from Canada described before, but I can’t say that I fully understand it’s a Mennonite group that are living in Mexico. Could you describe what your family was like? The family that you were born into? What is the Meta Knight faith? What was your family like that you were born into? Ok. So my family that I was born into would have been religious but unsafe and so dependent on culture is a workspace Salvation. And you have no assurance you just do your best. And hopefully you can get to heaven through that. So that’s what I was born into are the Mennonites very Conservatives in their jazz and music and way of living. Educate us on who are the Mennonites. Okay. So there are very conservative Mennonites, and then there is less conservative and there’s actually quite Liberal Mennonites. And we had from all three in the area that we lived in. So a lot of people think that they are very conservative. However, a lot of them would look just like normal anyone that would live in the world. Okay.

So before Salvation, what was your life and upbringing like? You seem like you move back and forth from Mexico to Canada, dive a little bit deeper into your family upbringing. Do you have siblings? Yes. I was born into a two parent home, and I’m the second born of three children. So I have an older brother, and I had a younger brother who passed away when he was 13. I’m sorry. It’s all right. But we know that he’s in heaven because he trusted Christ as his Savior, too. Comfort. Yes. What a comfort. And so my parents were not saved when I was born, but they trusted Christ when I was probably around five or six years old. But before that, there was alcohol, worldview music, movies in the house and stuff. But we went to Church on Sundays and God and Jesus and Church was all not foreign to our family.

When you say that your parents got saved when you were about five, you said, Is that correct? Yes. Now that’s quite a young and tender age. Do you recall a difference in the way that your household was run from before your parents Salvation and after? And did you hear the gospel for the first time when they got saved and they started teaching you or was that something that happened later on? Yes, I do remember a difference in my family as far as I can remember. I only remember one time that I saw alcohol in the home, and so it was gone after they were saved. And I clearly remember my mom taking all their worldly CDs and taking them outside to the burn barrel. And my older brother asked me, Why don’t you sell them? But she was making a statement, and that definitely was impressed my heart now, as an adult, to see that they made a strong stand like that. And you asked also about the first time I heard the gospel. They took us to Church. However, I don’t ever remember them explaining the gospel to me. I think they would have been more like just would take us to Church. They were new in the faith as well. And so I don’t remember the first time I heard the gospel, but I know that the Church, we were going to preaches the gospel and every Ministry of that Church was and is focused around souls being saved.

You say, don’t remember the first time you heard the gospel. Do you remember the first time you came to a full realization of your sin, realizing, hey, as young as I am, I am a sinner and I’m in need of a savior. Do you remember that? Yes, I do remember that when I was seven years old and it was July 7, 2002, I wrote it down and it was a Sunday evening after an evening service. And my mom and I were driving, I think, home from Church and I knew I was lost and that because of my sin I would die and go to hell. And at that point, I already knew what to do to be saved. But I guess to start a conversation with my mom, I asked her how to be saved. And so she may not have known how serious I was. But she said, you have to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and come into your heart and save you. And I was serious. And so I asked her, Can I do it now? So right there, as we were driving, I prayed out loud, and I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my heart and save me. Amen. Wow.

I wonder what sorts of things were coming together in your life to bring you to that point of realization. Most people, when they’re that young, probably don’t have a full understanding of their sin. They may think, oh, my sin probably is not that bad. Or maybe they’re not even thinking about their sin at all. But for you to feel the weight of your sin at that age and to understand that you need Salvation, do you recall or maybe perhaps in hindsight, do you see what things were converging together? To bring you to that point. I would just have to say that the preaching of the word of God, there’s a lot of things that I don’t remember, but I knew enough. And in hindsight, I have actually gone back and listened to the sermon that my pastor preached that evening, and it was filled with the gospel. And I can see now why I was so convicted at that point. And even though I didn’t have a life full of sin, that some people may grow up and they have their whole life in the drags of sin, I still realize that I was a sinner and that I needed Christ to save me.

How do you think the power of God works? Because a lot of folks think that if you have a testimony, quote, unquote, where you can talk about the growth in and that God saved you from that shows the power of God in someone’s life. Do you think the opposite is true in someone like your life, where you were saved at a young age, and yet you didn’t grow up and abandon the fate of your parents and of what you were taught at a young age? Do you see the power of God in that as well? Yes. I believe the power of God is in anyone that is saved. And I’ve had the privilege of working in a children’s Ministry for several years. And just every time you see a child that realizes that they are sinner and become saved, too, it just doesn’t work in my heart. And I know that sometimes when people get saved at a young age, when they grow up, they may not appreciate it as much, but I believe that God can still do that work in their hearts as they walk with him. The power that they have been saved from. Oh, yeah, definitely. My pastor that I grew up under. He would say to us that he thinks the most powerful testimony is the person who gets saved at a young age and grew up and keep on serving the Lord. But I think many times in the Church we have it the other way where we think that the most powerful testimony is the person who God saved out of a life of sin, which both of them show the powerful saving Grace of God. So definitely, I would agree on that.

Do you think that you experienced any barriers to Salvation and how are they removed? So I think a lot of barriers would have been removed by my parents in that they were saved at a young age, and had they never been saved and taken me to Church, I may not have ever heard the gospel. So in that sense, I’m very appreciative of my parents because they faced a lot of battles when they got saved. And however, I know that I still need to realize myself that I was a sinner. And so I think there were barriers that were removed by my parents that made it easier for me to accept Christ. But yet at the same time, the barrier of seeing myself as a sinner.

You say something that I’d like to maybe explore a little bit more if we could. You talked about difficulties that your parents encountered as a result of becoming saved. Is it because in the midnight faith, is there a sort of a disassociation or maybe a shunning of people who come to genuine repentant faith and leave the mentality faith? I wonder, because there are many religions that will pretty much dissolve you and stop fellowshiping with you and stop talking with you if you become saved. And I wonder if in the midnight faith do they perhaps feel like, oh, well, what’s wrong with that person? I mean, we’re saved, and now she’s acting like she’s totally saved. What is she holier than that? I don’t know. Is there like, a shunting that’s happening in the midnight community when someone comes to genuine faith in Christ, or were there other difficulties that your parents were experiencing? Yes. I think the main one was when they would have left the Church that they were going to. And it wasn’t so much leaving the Church and even being saved as much as it was being baptized. And so in the Men and I faith, they believe that if you’re baptized, they call it re baptized. Then that’s the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That was the big thing that my parents would have had from their families, that they would have faced challenges. Okay. I’m sorry. Let me make sure I understand. So in the midnight Faith, do they practice infant baptism? And if you’re baptized again, that’s blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or are you baptized into the midnight faith? And if you’re baptized again, that’s blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, right? Any form of baptism. They think whether sprinkling pouring, if you’ve been baptized, wouldn’t even necessarily be within the Mennonite faith. If you become a member of the Church before through baptism, then they believe that if you get rebaptized, then that’s the blast for me against the Holy Spirit. I’ve never heard that before. Do you know what scripture they use to back that up? I do not know, but just there is that scripture that talks about the blasting of the Holy Spirit, but the context doesn’t talk about baptism. Yeah, the rebaptism at all. Oh, wow.

You’re listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. We sit down with Judy, and we are finding out how were her barriers removed. We’ll be right back.

Hey, thanks so much for listening to the Removing Barriers podcast. Did you know that you could find us on Twitter, Gab, Parlor, Facebook and Reddit. Go to Removingbarriers.Net/contact and like and follow us on social media removing a clear view of the cross

two Corinthians, five, one, seven says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new after Salvation. Judy, what changes were evident in your life? I remember very clearly that I had a strong desire to be baptized. But as a child, I didn’t understand everything. So I’d ask around with the other kids how long after Salvation they waited to be baptized. And I would hear of some kids that waited years. And I thought, Man, I have to wait years now, but I got a little bit better teaching on that. And then it was 364 days after I got saved, that I forgot that not that you were counting or anything, but 354 days. Was it the leap year? No, it wasn’t. It was July 7 that I got saved. And then the next year, July 6, that I got baptized. Okay.

So when you were baptized? Well, obviously we know that the baptism waters do nothing to save or nothing to sanctify. It’s just an outward testimony of something that happened inwardly. Well, obviously you felt better because you had to wait 364 days to do it. What was different in terms of, like your friendships? Perhaps. I know at seven that’s a real tender age. And friendships are probably they probably change, like the seasons, of course. But do you remember having a hunger for the word more or maybe wanting to learn more disensatiable, hunger for the word or anything like that? Do you recall anything like that happening to you? I do remember that we had Sunday school on Sundays and Wednesday nights. We had master clubs. And I just remember I would just pour my heart into the homework or the Bible verses, and I loved it. And I had a strong desire to move forward that way. That’s wonderful.

What would you say to folks who would question your Salvation? Because you will say you got saved at seven? How would you navigate that path with someone even say it is a serious question and not more of a marketing question. But it’s a serious question to you. How would you navigate that? I would explain to them that I was serious and that I realized that I was a sinner. And the Bible doesn’t say that there’s an age limit that you can get saved at. And I would use Romans ten, verse 13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I called upon the name of Lord. And I know that I am saved. Amen. Yes, that’s wonderful. I know the Scriptures talked often about. Well, the Lord talked often about not letting people despise your youth. I’m thinking of the verse where Paul is talking to Timothy. But I’m also recalling where the Lord was very displeased with the disciples because they tried to shoot the children away. And like all your kids are in the way, you don’t know what’s going on. Get out of here. And the Lord was very displeased with them. And told them, don’t do that because the Kingdom of God is made up of ones like these. And so we don’t want to lead our children into thinking that they’re saved when they’re not. We don’t want to give them that sort of false Salvation assurance. But if they genuinely turn and they genuinely see their need for a savior, the Lord is more than willing and more than able to save them as well. And so hearing your testimony and what you would say to people who would question that, I think is pretty important because you may not understand everything as a child, but the gospel is pretty simple. A child can understand it right for us to kind of put that stumbling block before children. I don’t think that pleases the Lord at all. In fact, didn’t he say that you’d be better off with a millstone tied around your neck and thrown into the sea? Yes. Anyway, I think that’s really cool to hear that testimony.

Do you think that the way your barriers were removed? You talk about how your parents removed a lot of your barriers when they got saved and they worked to kind of smooth out the path and help point you to the cross? Do you think that the way your barriers were removed would be effective in the lives of other children, perhaps have the same barriers that you do? Do you think the way your barriers are removed would be effective in their lives as well? Yes. I believe that everyone has a testimony that somebody can relate to whether they’re saved at a young age or older age. There’s always someone that can relate to you. Your testimony. And I often think of children growing up in some churches and that may never be saved and end up leaving the Church when they grow up. Their parents or grandparents may have paid a price for their faith, but they have never accepted it for themselves, and no one can ride on the coattails of their parents when it comes to Salvation. A lot of my barriers were removed by my parents, but I still had to trust the Lord and come to realization of my own sin. And just like that, any child that grows up in a good home still needs to realize themselves that they may not have lived in the world, but that they still need to accept Christ. Two things. Statistics have shown that most of the folks in the Church majority. I don’t remember what exactly percentage was, but a lot of folks in the Church they got saved at the early age in terms meaning before they were teenagers. Majority of the Church is made up of folks who were saved before they were teenagers, and also just the fact that as a child, as Joe was saying, Salvation is so simple that it’s only a few things you have to understand. You have to understand that you have sinner, gives a Holy God, and there is a punishment for it. And there’s an escape. And I think most children understand that at least the ones that grew up in a home where their parents would punish them for the wrong that they do and reward them for the good that they do. I don’t want to oversimplify it, but that’s essentially what Salvation is. Realizing that you have done something wrong. You have offended the Holy God, and because of that, your decision just punishment. But Jesus has made a way to escape that. And I think a lot of times we make it overly complicated. Even works based Salvation is more complicated than the true biblical Salvation, because all these things you have to do what the Bible says, whose call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Right.

So, Judy, tell me, what are you doing personally in the area of evangelism to help remove barriers like the one you face in your life and in the life of others. So as I mentioned before, I was able to Minister in the children’s Ministry for several years. Right now, I’m no longer in that Ministry as I’m a stay at home mom. But I loved working in that Ministry, and it was a four year old, and although I didn’t see many of them personally saved, it was just such a joy to be able to plant those seeds in their hearts and then to hear from their parents a year or even two or more later that their child was saved and that I was able to have a small part in that it’s such a joy every time I hear of a child that is saved. It just shows that the gospel still works and is still alive. And as I mentioned, I’m a stay at home mom. And so my Ministry opportunities look a little different now than they used to. But I’m still involved in several ministries. But I think one of the greatest ministries is raising my children and putting them in an environment where they see what Christ did for them, that they would also accept Christ as their personal Savior one day and then serve the Lord with their lives. I also seek different opportunities to give out the gospel in form of a tract or a booklet. I tried to do creative ways. I know. Last year for Christmas, I prepared some goodies and then had a booklet that explains the gospel. And so we brought those to our neighbors. And so this year I’m planning to do that again into several more of our neighbors and just getting the gospel into other people’s hands. All right. So one thing I said to my wife, Jay, a lot of times I think we missed the fact that our home and our children is a mission field. Right. So what are some of the things you do? And I know your son is young, but what are some of the things you’re doing present in your home to kind of point your son to the cross even at an early age. So I think the greatest one is that me as mom and my husband as Father, that we walk with the Lord and that we have a vibrant walk with him, because if we don’t have a walk with the Lord, then we won’t be able to pass that on to our children. They will be able to see if it’s real or not. And so we seek to walk with the Lord. And other than that, we pray and we have Christian books and we try to avoid anything that’s worldly, especially media, television, things like that.

Judy, let’s go into a little bit of a fun section just to find out some of your favorites. What is your favorite scripture verse? My favorite scripture verse is Proverbs three, five to seven, trust in the Lord of fulfine heart and may not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. Why is that so often when I go through a situation in my life and I’m worried or focused on the situation way too much, I’ll often go to these verses. I’ll take the situation praise by phrase. And so the first one is trust the Lord with all thine heart. I should do that and lean on to thy known understanding. This one really gets me. So I try to think, what is my own understanding in this situation? Okay, well, that’s not what you’re supposed to lean on. And so then acknowledge him in all the ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct my past. We can have peace knowing that he will direct us and then also be not wise in thine own eyes through the Lord and depart from evil. That I need to be free from sin in my life and not take my own way is the right way. And I need to be cleansed from sin and he will help me. Amen.

What is your favorite historical biblical account? I would think of the story of Esther, and I love how she was used of God, that she was a lady, used of God, knowing that ladies can be used of God. So can I. She didn’t know whether her life would end the day that she went to the King to plead for the Jews. But she had faith in God and she served the Lord, and she was used. My Billy oven.

What is the most convicted verse of Scripture passage to you, Colossians. 323 and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. Every time I read or hear this verse or verses similar to this one, I’m always reminded of my motive behind any kind of service for the Lord and whether it’s to please God or for the accolades of man yeah. That’s convicted. Yes.

What would you say is the most comforting Scripture verse for you, one John, 44 year of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Just to know that we have the victory, it gives you such a comfort and confidence as you walk through life that no matter what you go through, that we have overcome and that the Lord is greater than any evil that we may see in the world. I have used that scriptive verse many times with folks, even on Evangelism, when sometimes they will give testimony of Salvation. But they feel like they are struggling so much. It’s just great to know that we have overcome. And I think a lot of times Christians have lost sight of it. We have read the back of the book. We know who won but still act as if we have been defeated. So that’s definitely great.

What is your favorite hymn of the fate? Surely goodness and mercy. Although there’s many that I love. But I would say this one. I’ve always been drawn to the song. I like the melody, but the more I would listen to it or play it, the more the words would stick with me. And I love how it corresponds with Psalm 23. Amen,

who is your favorite giant of the faith from the Bible? I would think of Joseph and the story of his life and just all the things he went through. And he didn’t lose faith in God. Yeah. We’re homeschooling our sons and currently in the Scriptures, where we read every morning we’re reading the story of Joseph. And this morning we were reading how he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and how he had to go to prison for that. And I didn’t say this to my boys, but I can imagine how bitter I would feel if I were falsely accused. And I was sent to go rotten jail for two years as he had. But even in the jail, he kept faith in God, and God was with him and God brought him out. That was something that I don’t think my boys fully understood it because my oldest son said to me, he said, Mommy, why did he go to jail? He’s not a bad guy. Bad guys go to jail. And I said, Well, that’s the point. So she lied about him and he had to go to jail even though he was innocent. Kind of like how Jesus had to die for us, even though he did no wrong. He paid for our sin. Of course Joseph wasn’t paying for sin, but just the idea of someone having to endure wrong because of something you did think about that for a second when you say, Joseph, that just reminded me of what our boys are learning in home schooling so far. Yes. Joseph is one of my favorite character in the Bible. I remember as a teenager into young adults, there was a series of messages I listened to over and over. It’s called Living a Functional Life in a dysfunctional World, and it goes through the entire life of Joseph. And I just remember how much of a blessing those were to me growing up in my faith at that point. So definitely.

All right, Judy, how can those barriers be removed in the life of others? So think of any barriers in any one life and tell us, how can barriers be removed in the life of others? Okay. So the Bible says that we have to come to God as a little child. In Mark 1015, it says barely, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God. As a little child, he shall not enter therein. So this means that each person will humble himself and become as a little child to accept Christ. So I like to use the Word List book when presenting the gospel to children. So I’d like to use the colors to illustrate this. So the first color is the color yellow and yellow represents the gold in heaven, and heaven is a wonderful place, and the streets are gold, and there are mansions in heaven. But the best part is that Jesus is in heaven and we should all want to go to heaven. But how do we get there? So the next color is the color black and black represents our sin. And so it means that we are all sinners. We have a black heart. Everyone is sinner. We are born sinners because we have a black heart full of sin. We cannot go to heaven. The Bible says in Romans 323 for all have sin. So to think that you are a good enough person to get to heaven is a lie because of our sin, we are separated from God. Romans 623 says, for the wages of sin is death. If you die separated from God, you will go to a place called Hell. There is neverending fire, pain and sorrow. But the worst part is that you will be separated from God forever. And you must believe that you are a sinner, and that because of your sin, you will go to a place called Hell. So the next color is the color red. Red is for the blood of Jesus. We saw that black hearts cannot enter into heaven. And the red means that Jesus, who is in heaven, loves us so much that he came down from heaven, and he died on the cross for our sins. It means that Jesus blood was shed for us. John 316 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. You must believe that Jesus died for you and for your sin. White is the color for a heart so clean. If we believe that we are sinners and believe that Jesus died for us on the cross and trust him to wash away our sins. He will give us a brand new heart. Romans 1013 says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and the last color is green is for growing, which means to hide God’s word in your heart. After a person is saved, they need to grow just as grass grows. A Christian should grow and a Christian can grow by reading the Bible and praying and going to Church. And so just to go over it again, yellow is for the gold in heaven. And heaven is a place that we all want to go. Black is for our sin. And because of our sin, we will go to a place called hell and be separated from God forever. Red is for the blood of Jesus. But because Jesus loved us so much, we don’t have to die and go to hell. If we accept him as our Savior. And if we believe in our heart that he died for us and we call upon Him, he will give us a white heart, a clean heart, and he will save us. And in green is for growing. As a Christian, we should grow in the Lord. Amen.

Judy, thank you for joining us on the Removing Barriers Podcast. Thank you very much for having me.

Thank you for listening to get a hold of us to support this podcast or to learn more about removing barriers, go to removingbarriers. Net. This has been the Removing Barriers podcast. We attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.