This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Ignite the Light Ministries radio and podcast. It is our mission to help listeners develop a deeper relationship with Jesus by sharing what the Bible says and what it means. We aim to encourage and equip you to serve others, share the gospel, and reflect Christ in every aspect of your life. I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd.
Thank you for tuning in. All right, at this time. I would like to welcome Mr. Jason McCormick. He's going to share his testimony.
I'm just gonna be quiet and sit down. No. Thank you, guys. It's two people I like to recognize here. They've done an extreme amount of hard work in my life.
I love the music there to see. And my mother, um, they've been with me. before addiction through addiction to redemption to them. And I just wanted to thank you guys. You know, my mom told me after I got clean and got sober, she told me about the prayer that she had prayed.
Upon me at my worst off and my addiction, and she prayed. She let me go as her son, and she gave me to Jesus. Anyway. And I think that was a prayer that changed my life. That's when Jesus started intervening in my life.
Anyway, I'll start my testimony. Good morning, everyone.
Okay. My name is Jason McCormick. Before I begin, I just want to thank God for what He's done in my life. and for the opportunity to share my story. with you this morning.
My testimony isn't about how strong I was or how I turned my life around. It's about the grace of Jesus Christ. and what he can do if all life is surrendered to him. My hope today is that you hear my story, you won't see me. Mm-hmm.
You'll see the faithfulness of Yahweh. I grew up about five miles from here on the James River, and from the outside my life looked pretty normal. But as you'll hear, God was working even when I couldn't. See ya. Looking back now, I can clearly see that he was pursuing me every step of the way.
I grew up with an amazing mom in Bravo. When I was around 11 years old, my mom and dad separated. From that point on, I really didn't have a father to give my life. But God gave me a grandfather who stepped into that role. He became the man I looked up to.
It's a man who raised me the greatest scholar figure I ever had. That leads me to a moment And my wife always hurt you back in chains. When I was 12 years old, My grandpa was correcting me. And the moment I hear, I looked at the man who stepped in when I didn't have to follow the man who raised me. The man who loved me like his own mouth spoke the most painful words I've ever spoken.
I hope you die. That night he suffered a massive heart attack and passed away. From that day forward, the enemy was turned. The same liberty over and over and you kill him. I never told anyone.
I carried the guilt for years. I believe I was responsible for his death. Mm. and the guilt and shame have become constant companions of mine. Trying to numb the pain, I started drinking around the age of 16.
I was attempted. I was attempting to silence the guild. Eventually alcohol led to pornography, then cocaine. and then methamphetamines the addiction that would nearly destroy my life. I got married when I was 23 years old.
I can also say I was the husband and the wife deserved. I was manipulative, deceitful, and completely consumed by addiction. My life had come become completely unmanageable. One by one I watched everything I valued slip away. I lost my home, great jobs, and many of my relationships.
More than anything, I'd become someone I'd never wanted to be. I got divorced and moved back home to my grandparents' house. Years later, my grandfather became very sick. My mom called me and told me she was dying. And I need to say my goodbye.
I tried my best again. I couldn't even make him a hu I couldn't make it a hundred yards to my mom's house. My addiction had such a grip on my life that I was completely enslaved to it. Instead of saying goodbye to the woman I loved, I decided to get home. I'll never get that moment higher.
I know it broke me and only deepened the guilt I had carried for years. Shm. One night I found myself lying on the floor in my grandparents' house. completely broken standard ceiling and window. How did my life get here?
My dickset left me empty, desperate, and hopeless. The track marks on my arm were visible reminded of how far I had fallen. But the deepest worms weren't on my mind or body, they were in my heart. For the first time I realized I couldn't fix myself. I had run out of answers and I needed help.
In that moment I wished the words I'd never imagined would change my life. God, you're real. I need help. I'm at 2D. Two weeks later, God answered that prayer, but not the way I expected it.
Everything came crashing down with the sense of cheating test it was Raided my house, I was arrested and charged with possession and distribution of illegal drugs. For the first time in my life, there was nowhere to run, not for the consequences of my choices. and not from the condition of the core. While I was in jail, my brother's wife Nikki Carl told me about a program called Houstoness. She explained to me as if it was like a battle the boot camp.
She said if I was willing to go, they would arrange for me to be released. I didn't say yes because I was looking for Jesus. I said yes because I wanted to be out of jail. But God, in His mercy, used the very decision I made for the wrong reasons to lead me to the one. You could truly set me free.
What I didn't realize was that God was already answering a prayer I whisper on that floor. When I arrived at Eaglesness, my life began to change. I didn't hear about Jesus, they love me like Jesus. For the first time in my life I felt accepted and I felt like I belong. And I realized something that changed everything.
Drugs weren't really my greatest problem. There was a medicine I was using that on the balloon I didn't know how to heal. For years I believed I was beyond God's forgiveness. I thought if people knew me, they would reject me. But Jesus doesn't run away from broken people, he walks to women.
He didn't wait for me to clean myself up before he loved me. He met me in the middle of my mess and began changing me from the inside out. In John 10, 27, Jesus says, Now sheep hear my voice. They know me and follow me. At Eaglesman, they taught me something I had never experienced before: how to spend intentional time with God through journaling.
I would thank him for who he is. I would wear out everything on my heart: the guilt, the fear, the questions. and the pain. Then I will get quiet. Listen and write down what I sense the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart.
As it lined up with God's word, over time I realized I wasn't just praying and journaling to God, I was building a friendship with Him. Two journals in particular changed my life. I poured out years of guilt over my grandfather and grandmother. As I prayed, I sensed the Lord speaking in my heart, Jason. I needed them more than you did.
Then I sensed him say something I'll never forget. I'll forget it was on.
Now I want you to forgive yourself. That movement began a journey of freedom. For years, I believed I had to pay for my sins. I punish myself with guilt, shame, and addiction because I believe that's what I deserve. But then when God showed me something that changed everything.
Either Jesus paid for my sins, Oh, I still had to. The cross settled that. Jesus paid my debt in full. He rose from the grave, defeating sin and death so that people like me could have a brand new life. The same power that raised him from the dead is the same power that transformed my life.
That is the moment I truly understood grace. Grace isn't something you earn, grace isn't something you deserve. Grace is freely given. Grace isn't just a word, grace is a person. His name is Jesus.
She just didn't forgive me for my past. He paid for it. When I finally believed that she started using this grip in my life, And it's Jesus, could forgive me, help and I'll not forget all this. From that point on, forgiveness became a way of life. As I continued pursuing God, I knew he was calling me to something more.
One day after church at Eagles Nest, I was overwhelmed with emotions. And the only words I could say were Lord feeling dying. Looking back, I realized I was not physically, but spiritually. The Lord had given me a vision of myself trapped in an ice sphere. And it was as if years of guilt, pride, addiction, fear, and shame had frozen my heart.
Piece by piece he took away everything that wasn't from God until he changed my heart. Layer after layer he removed the old man. And when he reached my heart, I wasn't just asking Jesus to rescue me from my addiction. I was beginning to surrender every port of my life to this minister. Yeah.
The man I had been was done and the new Christ was creating and finally beginning to live. As God continued to change my heart at Eagle Class, I still had to face consequences of my choices. And that's where I went to court for my girl charters. The judge sentenced me to one year in jail on weekends. It's a long time.
I remember walking into jail the first weekend, sitting in a cell by myself, and realizing I couldn't control any of this. I simply pray, Lord, if this is where you want me to be, then so be it. After serving my second weekend, I received a phone call that I would have never expected. The remainder of my sentence had been suspended. And that moment I realized God wasn't just changing my circumstances.
changing the horror. He was teaching me that surrender isn't about the outcome we want, it's about trusting Him no matter what the outcome is. Today My life was completely different. I now have the privilege of serving in ministry. working alongside the end, but exactly where I once was.
Every man who comes to the doors reminds me of of the person Jesus rescued. I remember the brokenness, the hopelessness. the shame, the feeling of being in trapped. But I've watched God take those very broken places in my life and he's on the kitchen. You never left no warmth.
Beside other men and tell them what someone once told me. No one is too far gone. There is hope. And that who was the name of Jesus. If you're here today carrying the guilt like I was, believing you gone too far, believing God can never use someone like you, I want you to know I'm standing here as proof that those are lies.
There's no addiction too strong. No failure too great, no amount of shame that the blood of Jesus cannot wash away. Joel 2.25 says that God will restore The years that we just have to have I spent years believing my life was beyond repair. But God had a different plan. Taste the hair coming up.
This is my wife Casey and this is my little girl Emerson. Um Just a little backstory, I didn't ask for my testimony. But I wasn't supposed to have kids, and God said otherwise, this is my little girl. And this is my beautiful wife. Today I see the beautiful looking wife and beautiful daughter.
Sometimes I think back to that floor while I was on its leg completely broken, crying out to God for help. He went to I'm sorry. After hearing my testimony, my father-in-law got placed on his heart to restore that very house. He wanted to renovate it and give my family a place to call home. At first I didn't fully understand the significance of what God was doing.
and it hit me, just as that house had been broken down I nearly forgot it. God had taken my life, which is far more broken than sworded. Every time I walk through those doors, I'm reminded that God doesn't just make things better, He makes things all new. I'm reminded that God. Today I found myself on that very same floor, not broken, not hopeless, not begging God for help, but playing with my daughter.
and thanking God for a little like he was still. The very place where I once cried out in desperation has become the home of my lap. our life in order and worship God for his faithfulness. Only Jesus can write a story like that. When I was 12 years old, I believed one sentence.
It would define the rest of my life. I hope you die. For years I helped his words over my identity, but Jesus spoke something greater over my life. I forgive you, my son. Those words change everything.
They change my eternity. They changed my family, they changed my purpose. And today I have the privilege of telling others, the same Jesus, he rescued me. It's still rescuing people today. I believe it was this, if God can redeem my life, He can redeem any ones.
All glory belongs to him. Yeah. Jason, thank you so much for. sharing your story with us. I would But we all really appreciate you, appreciate your courage.
to be honest and to be vulnerable. with us. God is moving in his I remember the first time. Uh we met was at uh Bain's Coffee and you could just Feel the Holy Spirit just in the room, just all over you, man. Or maybe it was just that extra shout out of espresso I have.
I just got my hand shaking a little bit. I don't really know. God is telling a fantastic story through Jason's life. And it is amazing. to see Romans chapter 1, verse 17, it says, For the gospel, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.
And we talk about the cross, what Jesus has accomplished, God's righteousness. Is revealed, but it's both in the past tense. But verse 17, it is actually written in the present tense. We get the sense that the righteousness of God, it is revealed in the cross, but in the present tense, the righteousness of God is. Being Reveal.
He is pulling back the sheet now. Today, he's pulling back the sheet of his righteousness so that we get to see more clearly who he is, just how good Jesus is, and how much he loves us. Jason's story, you are getting to see God's righteousness being revealed today in a brand new way. Way, don't miss that. Church, God's righteousness, His goodness, His love, His power, His healing, His ability to redeem and transform is being.
Revealed. Each day in new stories, in new ways. It's amazing. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 9. It says, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. It's a beautiful verse. We cannot earn our way to God. It is by faith.
We are saved not by works. But why? You know, oh maybe I want to work my way to heaven. Why can't I work my way to heaven? God says so.
That's certainly a good enough reason. But we back up from Ephesians 2:8 through 9. Look at Ephesians 2:1. It says as for you You were dead in your transgressions and sins. Why can't I work my way to heaven?
Well, because of our sin in the BC period, that's before Christ, and because of our sin. Uh we are dead. There's no good work we can do. We are dead in our sin. When you die, what does your employer do?
He stopped paying you. There's no good works we can do. We are dead in our sin. We don't just need to work harder. We don't just need a doctor.
We don't just need a change of lifestyle or change of habits. We need to be brought back from death. We need to be brought to life again. Who among us can do that? Who among us can bring a dead person to life?
Look at verse 4. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. Even when we are dead in our transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved. Mercy is when somebody gives, or when somebody doesn't give what you deserve. That is mercy.
They have mercy on you, they withhold. God is merciful, but by grace you have been saved. Grace is when somebody gives you something that you don't deserve. Not only is God merciful, God is gracious to give us new life. Though we were dead, By grace you have been saved.
God makes us alive again, resuscitates us. In verse 6 it says, And God raised us up with Christ. Seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. We are raised up with Jesus and this is done in Jesus. By grace we've been saved through faith.
Not of yourselves. It is only by God's grace, by God's love. God's mercy, we've been made alive. Only by Jesus' payment on the cross for our sin, that we are made free from sin. Sin is Selfishness towards other people.
and its rebellion. Against God. That's what sin is.
Now typically we read verse 8 and 9 and then we stop. It's not a result of works. It's by grace. Amen. And that is correct, but don't miss verse 10.
Verse 10, for we are God's handiwork. Created in Jesus to do good works. We are God's. Handiwork. He didn't just save us.
We are His handiwork, His masterpiece. Each one of us is made special with intention and love. You are God's masterpiece by His own wording. I want you guys to say that with me. I am God's masterpiece.
Can we say that together? I am God's masterpiece. One more time. I am God's masterpiece. Think that over your life.
Church. Not just because it feels good, it does, don't it? But it's not just because it feels good, it's because God says it. God says it, so we believe it. We put our faith in Him.
By grace, you've been saved by faith. I am God's masterpiece, not because I earned it, not because I always feel it, but because my God said it. And I believe it.
So don't think for a second you're unlovable, that you're too far gone, that the battle is over. Don't think for a second that God is done with you. You are God's handiwork. created in Christ Jesus. to do good works that God goes into tomorrow and prepares for us.
When we step into a relationship with Jesus, we step into a brand new life. It's no longer wandering, no longer waiting for the days to be over, no longer wondering what's the point of all this. We walk with Jesus who has laid our steps. ahead of us. All right.
Well, we will go ahead and we will close in prayer. We're going to have a final hymn of invitation. I think I go ahead and pray for the food that we're going to have as well.
Sound good? Fantastic.
Alright, bow your heads with me and we will close in prayer. Lord Jesus, we are so thankful. for all of the work that you are doing today. Lord Jesus, we are thankful for Eagle's Nest and the work that they are doing. to lift men up and to pull them out.
God, and to give them new life, Lord Jesus. We're so thankful for our brother Jason. Who came up here in courage and boldness to share his testimony? Lord, we just ask that you just keep your hand a blessing upon him. Lord, we pray for the food that we are going to eat, Lord, that it be a nourishment to our bodies.
We are thankful for the hands that prepared it. Lord Jesus, we close in your name. Amen. Please stand for our final hymn. And then after that, I will transition to Yeah.
Um Be beautiful, most gracious eyes, for every sea, all of good. Oh, America, thy heavens shed his grace on thee. And proudly good brother on sea to shining sea. Oh, beautiful name in the earth. Oh lifelink and goodness to see Hey there.
I hope this sermon has enriched your day. If you like this message, I want to personally invite you to join us for Sunday worship. We have two locations in Virginia. Trinity Methodist Church in Concord, and Mount Comfort Methodist Church in Appomattox. Come join us Sunday morning at 9.45 and we will help you get connected.
As always, I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd. Thank you for tuning in.
