Confirmation Statement of DP

What does Jesus mean to me?

To me, Jesus means the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:8). I believe He is the only way or path to God. In the book of John, Jesus says “No one comes to the Father but through Me.” I want to know and love God, and Jesus is the only way to achieve that goal. I am not perfect; I know that I do make mistakes and sin all the time. Jesus has taken away all my sins by dying on the cross for me. Jesus is my Savior. His work on the cross is the only work that allows me to have an eternal relationship with God. “The law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Jesus is the truth, by looking or following him you will discover the way to God. An example from my life is, whenever I want to achieve a goal, like getting good grades, or winning an important soccer game, I will look to my coaches and my friends and teachers and parents and all that, but over all I will look and pray to God to help me. This does not mean that I will automatically achieve the goal just because I prayed to Him, but I will have his guidance with me. Sometimes the ways my prayers are answered are in a different way or a different time than I expect, but they are eventually answered.

I know how when people have something bad happen to them they blame God and ask “What did I do wrong?” but the truth is they did not put all of their trust in Him, or they worshipped someone or something over Him. If I had to choose between everything I know and love, and God, I would choose God, because the truth is God IS everything I know and love. What Jesus wants us to know and realize is that the way to Heaven and Eternal life with God is Jesus himself. Truthfully, if I had to choose between going to Church and a night out with all of my friends, I would choose my friends. I know this is wrong and I think this is what most kids my age would choose, because I don’t think we have really thought about what Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other gods before me” meaning we should only worship the real and true God. By choosing my friends instead of Church I am worshipping them over God.

I think that most kids my age aren’t mature enough to realize that Jesus is the only way to God. A lot of people ask, “Who is Jesus?” One answer to that lies in the Bible (as every answer does). Jesus asked his followers, “Who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” I am so thankful that God has shown me this truth expressed by Peter.

How have you grown in faith and understanding of God’s grace these past few years?

I’ve grown in my faith in several ways the past few years. Luke 15:11 is an example of God’s grace in the Bible- This is about the prodigal son.

Over the past few years God has blessed me with a growing faith. Before I came to Christ the King I did not know God and who Jesus is or what the big deal about Him was. I started out going to Sunday school every Sunday and forgetting about church, but when I got more interested in God I decided to go to church whenever I could. When I started confirmation my faith in God grew more. Before confirmation I still had questions about God and Jesus and I did not know what the Bible really was. By going to confirmation every Sunday morning and church right after that I began to understand more about God. These are examples of God’s grace drawing me closer to Him. Having multiple people to share their spiritual gifts by God’s grace with me is absolutely wonderful. Another example of God’s grace is, in the past couple of years, God has given me everything I need. He’s given me Himself, my house, and everything I own. God has graced me with so many things it is hard to write down all of them. I have gone on seven cruises; one every year, and God graced my family with the money to attend these cruises. God has graced me with wonderful friends and family whom I love with all my heart. God has churches that allow fellow believers to get together to share their faith with each other. Overall, God has given me everything I need, and whenever I need Him he is there for me, that is more than anyone can ask for. God helps me grow in my faith and understanding every day by providing for me. Right now my father is without a job, and I believe that God has done this so I can spend more time with him. Although I pray my father will get a new job soon, I do love having him home with me when before I could barely spend a single minute with him without him going off to work or taking an important phone call.

I know my faith will continue to grow now that confirmation class is ending. I will still attend church, and will come to Youth Group next year. I am also very blessed because a lot of my soccer friends also attend church, mostly at Reston Bible Church, and they always include me in their Youth Group activities and in their annual summer camp.

Why do I wish (or do not wish) to affirm your faith in baptism at this time?

I believe I should be confirmed because I believe in God the Father Almighty. I believe Jesus Christ the Son of the Lord died on the cross for our sins. I believe that after three days he was resurrected and sits on the right hand side of God the Father. I believe Jesus is our savior. I believe these things personally, for myself – not my parents making a promise for me as happened at my baptism.

One night with several of my confirmation friends we traveled to D.C to serve food for homeless women. Without Jesus affecting my life, I would not have served these homeless women. There were a lot of things that would have been more fun, but the encouragement of my parents and my confirmation friends helped me actually go down there and serve the women. I can see Jesus is in the hearts of those people that persuaded me. Confirmation is a statement of your faith. Confirmation is an extremely important step in my life. It is stating publicly that what I believe is in my heart. Stating that I believe in Jesus publicly is showing everyone that I am a true believer, it is not a secret. I hold responsibilities for myself and my own actions. I am thankful to have this opportunity to confirm my faith as it is a part of growing up and taking ownership and responsibility for my own decisions and actions. I know that my confirmation is a gift from God and I pray that I can steward this gift in a way that will honor God. I hope that I will let other people participate in continuing to help build my faith, because faith grows when it is shared.

How am I and how do I intend to use my gifts, talents, and abilities for the ministry of the church?

God has given me a lot of gifts, and part of the reason He gave them to me is so I can share them with others in our Church. I believe one spiritual gift given to me is the gift of faith, I intend to use this gift on others by sharing it with others. I can share it with my friends that also go to Christ the King by continuing to support those in my small group. I also believe I have the gift of knowledge – God has given me the ability to learn quickly. I have used this gift in the past to help teach younger children. I hope that in the future I would be able to build up this gift of knowledge with God’s grace and help from others. I would like to increase my knowledge so that I would be able to teach more people about God. I can use these gifts by informing my friends and others about Jesus Christ. I could help teach Sunday school to teach little kids about God. I could show my peers my testimony. I would also like to serve at Work Camp every summer so I can help serve God and others. I recognize that my gifts come from God. I know that spiritual gifts are “for the common good” (1 Corn 12:8). I would like to continue seeing where Christ the King church or my pastors will have me utilize my gifts. At 13, I am not sure I know what all of my gifts are yet, beyond sharing my belief in God and my knowledge. I might also be able to help coach younger kids in sports as I also have a gift of being very athletic. When I earn money for helping with soccer camps in the summer or from presents at Christmas or my Birthday I can share part of that with the church. But as I get older I will keep learning more about my gifts and will always, at every age work to give back to my community and my church.