AG STUDY GUIDE FINAL - The Forerunner

alongside us and illuminate our minds and hearts − is critical to fully
apprehending the mysteries surrounding God’s amazing grace.
Preface
I personally experienced the most amazing aspect of God’s good grace in 1980 at
the age of 26. In a moment of time I went from being a confident practitioner
and apologist for rationalism (unbelief) and immorality − to a man undone. I
was very conscious of a supernatural Presence as I knelt in sorrow, weeping as
my life of rebellion and profligacy unfolded before me. In my heart I knew that a
fork in my life’s road had been reached. I could stay on the path that I had been
on…or take the one that had opened up before me in the bright shadow of
Calvary’s cross.
I hesitated. I knew that this new way would require that I deny the self I had
grown so fond of serving and satisfying; that my lifestyle would have to undergo
profound change. I didn’t see how I could possibly live up to these challenges. I
suddenly became frightened, even sad. I knew deep down that the way of the
cross would lead to life. But I also knew that I didn’t have the strength for the
journey. The cords of sin I had entangled myself in were too strong.
And then the grace became even more amazing as a still small voice spoke to my
heart. I couldn’t make the journey in my own strength, I realized in a flash of
understanding. But I wouldn’t have to. A greater One would walk with me and
in His strength I would be made strong. Words of adoration and commitment to
the One who sacrificed His life for mine sprang up from my heart…and the rest
as they say is history. What was dead became alive and a whole new person was
born.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…”
I jumped with both feet into this new world that had opened up before me. I got
involved in a campus outreach and began training for vocational ministry. The
church I was a part of was full of revival fires and zeal for the LORD’s house.
And passion for “saving the lost” and making them into true disciples was the
outflow of this zeal. I was introduced to the writings of Charles Finney and
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