Testimony-FP

ME

I’m Kyle- I’m 37 years old, been married for 11 years to my beautiful wife Kayla, and we have three kids: Brayden, Ava and Elena.

Brayden just finished 4th grade at Science Hill, Ava is finishing first grade here, and Elena turns 2 next month!

I love playing basketball, working out, reading, and being a student pastor!

I’ve pastored for over 15 years in TN, WV and here in KY.

I love what I do!

But sometimes being in the spotlight has its challenges:

My most embarrassing moment I can remember was when I was about to go up and lead the music at our church here in Science Hill.

Five mins before church started, the zipper on my pants broke! No time to go home and get more pants right!? So my wife tried to pin my khaki pants together… but it was a hot mess!

You ever tried to get up in front of a few hundred people and speak when your fly is broke?

It’s what nightmares are made of…

The next day our lead pastor let me know: “You need get that fixed”. Thanks for the reminder, Captain Obvious!

When I was 21 years old I worked at the Nissan Car Factory in Smyrna, TN and went to school full-time at Middle Tennessee State University. I made good money, my job paid for my education, I had a nice car, insurance, my own apartment and I was on the way to having a pretty successful life. I worked hard all week, and partied hard all weekend, did exactly what felt good for me.

But after a while life started get old.

The friends I hung out with were shallow and sometimes used me because I had a grown man job and made more money than them. I had turned into a shallow friend bc I hung around shallow people.

But more than anything, with all that stuff… I was missing something BIG.

WE

Have you ever gotten exactly what you wanted but then it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be?

Maybe it was this AWESOME Christmas or Birthday present you just had to have that kinda sucked once you got it.

Maybe you had that one crush you wanted to date for FOREVER who turned out to be a complete jerk…

Whatever it is, sometimes the things that we think we HAVE TO HAVE in life aren’t as great as we think they are.

GOD

A few thousand years ago, there was a king who had it ALL.

Money like Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon- (trillionaire)

Hundreds of wives and girls on the side.

He was one of the most famous and smartest men who ever lived.

By this world’s standards, he had it ALL.

Near the end of his life, you know what he had to say about it all?

Ecclesiastes 1:1 “…Everything is meaningless!

You mean me being popular doesn’t mean anything? YUP.

Having tons of money doesn’t mean anything? In the words of the 90’s rapper Biggie Smalls: “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems”.

Some of y’all thinking: “I mean, I’d like to have that problem…”

Being smarter than everyone else doesn’t mean anything?

NOPE.

All that King Solomon achieved, all the stuff that he got, living everyday of his life like he was on “The Bachelor” meant nothing to him in the end.

Proverbs 14:12

“There is a way that appears to be right,

but in the end it leads to death.”

King Solomon figured out that all of those things he was seeking and eventually got… everything that made him look successful to everyone around Him… was literally killing his soul!

And that’s exactly what was happening to me…

I would party every weekend and it was fun at first… but then it got really old really fast.

I would go to downtown Nashville in places where the music was so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think- much less have a conversation with someone- so none of my friends really knew me, just the fake me that put on a happy party face.

Fights would break out in these places and at parties I went to… one time there was a riot and my friend Chris was involved. He was trashing this group of guys and they were reaching into the trunk of their car to pull out a whole lotta guns so they could use US as target practice… when the cops showed up and stopped them.

One time I drove from downtown Nashville to my home in Mt Juliet, which was around a 25 minute drive… and I don’t remember the drive at all because I was intoxicated.

All this stuff led me into a deep depression and darkness in my soul.

Then one morning on Thanksgiving weekend, after a night of partying with my mind still a little fuzzy bc I was hungover, I decided to go to church to make my Mom happy.

I got there early, so I decided to go into a Sunday school class.

It was a big class, with around 25 people in it.

I sat in the back, half asleep, but what the teacher Tony Allison said during those next moments woke me up in a hurry.

He said that the people who go out and party, drink, go from relationship to relationship always searching for that next good feeling… those people are empty inside.

There is a gaping hole in their soul that cannot be filled with those things. ONLY GOD CAN FILL IT.

It hit me like a ton of bricks.

Everything that he was talking about was everything I was going through.

I had everything I ever wanted, but my life was meaningless and my soul was empty.

I told God that I was either going to physically die and end it that day or die to myself and give my life to Him.

20 minutes later at the beginning prayer in a church service, I made the better choice, turned from my sins, and gave my heart and life to Jesus.

It was like a ton of bricks that had been weighing down my soul was released in an instant!

God changed everything that day- I went from depression to joy. From death to life. Each day went from torture to a new sense of opportunity. I had purpose, a clear direction and calling in my life.

All those friends I used to party with I invited to church- and they actually came! I had a whole row of friends that I had bugged into coming to church with me.

And a little over a year later, I became a youth pastor.

God changed everything in my life, but He also changed my eternity.

I was destined for and deserving of hell… but by His grace He now lives in me and I will live forever with Him in heaven.

Romans 6:23

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

YOU

Have you tried out all the stuff you thought would make you happy in life and found it all meaningless?

Does your life seem empty and it’s beginning to drag your soul into darkness and so you try to fill up your life and soul with more meaningless stuff thinking it will help- but it never does?

There’s only one way that hole inside your soul can be filled: By giving your life to Jesus.

Call to Salvation

*Bow your head and close your eyes*

If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, let me tell you what He did for you.

Jesus left a perfect heaven and came to an imperfect world to become a humble servant and die on the cross for you.

He was killed in the most brutal way possible- beaten repeatedly with whips full of small pieces of bone and metal that ripped out his skin.

Then massive nails were driven through His hands and feet and into a wooden cross.

And on that cross He died, becoming the ultimate sacrifice for your sin and mine.

God came to earth to die the most horrible death imaginable so that you could live forever with Him.

That’s how desperately He wants to be with you.

I urge you, if you don’t know Jesus, get to know Him.

You can pray this prayer with me:

Salvation invitation

Prayer for re-dedication to Christ

'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! '

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

WE

What if we all lived with a constant meaning and purpose with out lives?

What if we all lived every day filled up with the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, with purpose and calling?

We would lead our friends who are hopelessly lost in sin to a relationship with the hope-giver, Jesus Christ.

I believe God would change our community in ways that would blow our minds.