From Going to a Catholic Priest, to Jesus Christ, My Great High Priest

Good morning.

My name is Diego Medina.

I grew up in Puerto Rico.

And growing up, I have
no recollection of my dad

ever speaking about spiritual things

or going to church.

And growing up, I think
we went to church -

Catholic church - 4 or 5 times a year.

I remember having to go

to do my first communion.

So I had to go take the classes.

So my recollection growing up

of a spiritual life

was going to church

when it was the major holidays.

And as I prepared for my first communion,

learning that to be right with God,

you'd go and confess your sins,

do a couple "Hail Mary's"
and "Holy Fathers"

and you're forgiven.

And it's a cycle.

You go sin again and go back and confess.

And growing up, I think
I was about 14 years old

when I realized that if that was the case,

every time I prayed the Lord's Prayer,

I was condemning myself even more

because at the end it says,

"Father, forgive my trespasses,

just as I forgive those
who trespass against me."

So I felt that the smart
thing to do at the time

was to change the Lord's Prayer.

And I changed my prayer as

"Lord, forgive my sins

and teach me to forgive others."

And I thought at the time

that put me in a better place.

Then something happened growing up

with my priest - the pastor

of the Catholic church I was going to.

He made a pass and we had a relationship

that wasn't God-honoring.

And at the time, I realized,

why am I going to a man

that is as sinful and as fallen as me

to be right with God?

So, with not knowing anything really

about Christ and what He did for me,

I started confessing myself in private

trying to seek peace with God.

Then I grew up, joined the Air Force,

and completely forgot about church,

about God.

During that time of those four years

in the Air Force,

I used to be very moral in appearance.

I remember being proud

of my mom being proud of me.

I don't know if that makes sense.

So being taken from that environment

where my mom was an overseer

and my family

and trying to live up to their standards

and their expectations -

taken away from that

and going to Okinawa

where nobody knew me

and nobody had any expectations,

the Lord used those four years

to really show me the sin that was in me.

I couldn't recognize the man that I became

during that time.

All the sexual immorality

and all the things that I did

that were so sinful.

And if my mom or my
family would have known

I would have been so ashamed.

But at the same time, I was glad

that they would never find out.

So I have no problem.

And through all that, I have no concern

about what God was thinking of me

and how I was increasing God's wrath

in my own life by my choices.

I came back to the states,

lost my job.

After I got out of the Air Force,

I got a civilian job.

Lost my job.

By God's providence, came to San Antonio

for a job offer.

At the time, I only had one
family member living here.

She was a professing Christian.

And I had no friends in San Antonio,

so I started going over to her house.

And it was good food.

As a single man, I loved that.

She had Bible studies,

so I started going to the Bible studies.

And I continued my life of partying

and sexual immorality,

doing business that was crooked,

and just trying to make money

and pursue financial freedom.

And as I start going to the Bible studies,

I remember I had a Bible,

so I started reading my Bible.

And I started reading from Genesis

and came across the commandments.

Something happened as I
started reading God's laws

and started reading
about His 10 Commandments,

I started seeing in my life

how I was not living up to them.

I started changing myself.

I wanted to be good.

I started changing the way I behaved,

my night life - put it to the side.

And I tried to reform myself.

And I felt good for about a month -

maybe two months,

and I saw how impotent I was

of keeping God's laws

and how my conscience would tell me

how guilty I was before God

and how futile my efforts

of reforming myself were.

I remember coming one night

from the clubs.

It was 2 o'clock in the morning.

I walk into an empty house.

I felt great as I was with my friends

dancing and partying and everything.

The moment I walked into my house

I was confronted with the fact

that I'm not right before God.

And I'd been trying to be right before God

for so many months in my own strength,

and knowing that the more I tried,

the more condemned I was before Him;

the more sinful

and the more deserving of His wrath

and punishment and going to hell -

definitely, I was sure

that it was the right thing for my life.

And I was tired.

And I remember falling on my knees

and crying out and telling God

I can't do it on my own.

And if You don't save me, I have no hope.

And things started to
make sense the next day.

I was able to go to bed, got up,

and I felt a relief and a hope.

I didn't understand
what it was at the time.

I'm driving and I saw a church

and I felt that the very next step -

the logical step, the right thing to do

was to go to church.

So I go to church

and I met my brother
Richard in that church.

And my Friday's became
from going out partying

to going to his house and
studying the Scriptures.

And it was such a beautiful time

to read the Word of God and understand

for the first time in
my life who Christ was

and what He accomplished for me.

And how I didn't have
to try to reform myself,

and how I didn't have to
try in my own strength

to be right before God,

but how I was able to trust in Christ

and His promise of working in me

and changing my heart

and giving me new desires

which I was able to see

right from the beginning

that He had given it.

I was spending Friday nights

with other single men

studying the Word of God

until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning

and it was sweet. It was good.

A week before that, a month before that

I would have thought those guys were crazy

so definitely the Lord was changing me.

And it's just growing in knowing,

in appreciating what He has done for me.

I always share how in the beginning

I thought that my sins were that big.

Therefore, Christ dying on the cross

was that big - just
enough to cover my sins.

And as a single man

growing in my faith,

I believed that I'd conquered my sins

and I was righteous.

And then the Lord gave me a wife

which has been such a blessing,

but the Lord has used her

in our dynamic, in our relationship

to show that He has so much work

to do in my life.

And the thing that
I thought I'd conquered,

He exposed it.

He showed me how selfish I still was;

how short-tempered;

how sinful.

And I remember looking back and saying

wait a minute -

so if my sins are not that big,

but they're this big,

I have no hope.

But yet, being able to look at Christ

and appreciating how
His dying on the cross

was not that big, but infinitely bigger.

And as I'm learning my life as a Christian

discovering things as
the Lord revealed them

that were still in my life -
that sinful nature;

those things that were not pleasing to Him

and being able to see that that sin

was so much greater in
my life than what I thought.

It was good to be able to see that Christ

dying on the cross is so much bigger.

His righteousness is able

to cover all my sins.

And ever since, it's been a journey

of putting sin to death

and discovering how many more

I have to work and bring to the cross

and plead with the Lord to put to death.

But the hope and the assurance

that He promised that He will finish

the good work that He started in me

and that He has already ordained

good works for me to fulfill.

And I can do them

as long as I remember

that Christ's righteousness is sufficient

for the peace that I enjoy with Christ.

And I don't have to worry

as I was a young man

having to go back and confess

and finding hope in another man

and my work.

But my hope is in Christ

and His finished work.

And I can enjoy peace with God.

As I continue growing in my walk,

that's my hope and that's my testimony.

Amen.