MY STORY
By David E. Rembert
What the Lord has done in my life is truly remarkable. The following is only a glimpse. Nevertheless, I want my story known even if it’s only a partial one.¹ I want my children, my children’s children and their children; even the children yet to be born to know what the Lord has done. I want the world to know what the Lord has done. I pray that it will encourage all who read it to be faithful and fruitful followers of Jesus Christ.
We are told in Psalm 107:1-2, “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary…” I want to begin by giving thanks to God for His goodness and His lovingkindneess that lasts forever. I want to thank Him for His abundant grace and His redemption through Jesus Christ. On September 12, 1971, I placed my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.² On that day my life changed forever. My sins were forgiven. I was reconciled with God. I was given a place in His eternal kingdom.³ God gave me a purpose for living and a passion to serve Him. Indeed, I have much to be thankful for and much to praise God for. As one of His redeemed, I want to say so.
MY STORY
Obviously, my story is still in the making since I am writing this. Therefore, it is my deepest desire that when it is all said and done my entire story will honor God. I want the focus to be on Jesus, not on me. He alone deserves the credit and glory.
One thing God has done in my life is to give me some wonderful friends. Friends that love the Lord and walk faithfully with Him. For example, on December 25, 1998, my son Tim, my daughter Lydia and I had Christmas breakfast in the home of Jim and Patti Baird. When the breakfast was over Jim asked a question. A question that I will never forget and for which I will be eternally grateful. He looked at Lydia and said, “Lydia, has your Dad ever told you how he became a Christian? Has he ever shared with you the events that led him to that place in his life where he fully trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord?” Lydia said, “No, he has never told me.” Jim then looked at me and said, “Don’t you think you need to tell Lydia your story?” I said, “Yes, your right, I need to do that.” Then, Jim said, “Well, now is a good time - tell her your story.” After sharing my story with Lydia on that Christmas morning I decided to write it down in a little more detail.
My story started when I was born in Kentucky on February 2, 1944, and raised in the hills of West Virginia. That officially makes me a Hillbilly. At the age of nine my parents moved to California. The combination of being a Hillbilly and a Californian will go along way in explaining some of my strange idiosyncrasies.
As a young boy I remember being filled with joy. I had a wonderful childhood. I remember being totally convinced that there was a God. However, I knew nothing about Him. My parents never took me to church. They never talked about religious things, at least not in my presence. They never told me about God or Jesus.
As I grew into a young adult I realized that I had lost the joy I knew as a young boy. I tried to pass it off as part of growing up. Yet, deep within me, I knew there must be a different answer. I knew there must be a solution for the lack of joy and the emptiness I had in my life.
Several times I tried to read the Bible that my mom gave me on my 21st birthday. That was the first Bible I ever owned or had in my possession. It was a beautiful white King James Bible. Each time I started reading it I began with Genesis chapter one. After a few chapters I would put it back on the shelf. To me, at that time, the Bible was boring, a collection of stories that were unbelievable. It just didn’t make sense. That Bible sat on my bookshelf under a stack of magazines and newspapers for the next six years.
In 1970 I was working for an architectural firm in down town Los Angeles. One of my coworkers, Art Hoyer, gave me a pocket size Gospel of John. He asked me to read it and to let him know what I thought about it. I took it home and placed it on top of the Bible that was buried under a stack of magazines and newspapers. Occasionally, Art would ask me if I read that little book yet. I couldn’t read it, I wouldn’t read it. The truth was, I did not want to read the Bible or that little pocket size Gospel of John, so it just sat there.
I thought that I could fill the emptiness in my life on my own. I thought getting married would fill that void. However, it didn’t, even though Kathy was a wonderful wife and we had a wonderful marriage. I thought having a successful career and making lots of money would fill that emptiness. So, I pursued that goal. I thought acquiring material possessions would solve my problem. I bought a new home at the age of 26 and had a brand new car sitting in the driveway. However, the emptiness was still there. The directions that I took in life were unfulfilling. There just wasn’t any joy in my life.
Shortly after Kathy and I bought our home our next-door neighbor invited us to a Bible study. I declined to go several times. However, because of Kathy’s tears and her desire to know our neighbors, I went reluctantly.
As I sat in that Bible study I observed what appeared to be a genuine joy in the lives of those that attended. They seemed to have the joy that I thought you lost when you grew up. It was because of the joy in their lives that I continued to go back to that Bible study week after week. I had to find out if they were faking it. As it turned out, they weren't, it was genuine.
The Bible study teacher started going through the Gospel of John. When he got to John 3:7 where Jesus said, “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” I discovered for the first time in my life that I was not a Christian.
Then, the Bible study teacher explained John 3:16-17, which says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” He explained what it meant to believe in Jesus. He used a chair analogy. He said, “You can look at the chair all your life and believe intellectually that the chair will hold you up if you sit in it. However, that chair does you no good until you actually put your trust in that chair by sitting in it and trusting it with your entire being. We are to trust Jesus in the same way.” I knew that I had never personally trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I had never asked God to forgive my sins. I had never asked Him to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. I only believed intellectually. I did not believe with my heart.
We attended that Bible study for several months. The people never told us what church they attended. They just said they loved Jesus and wanted to learn more about Him. So, we had to ask them where they went to church. They said they attended Yorba Linda Friends Church, a Quaker church. Now, Kathy and I had a box of Quaker Oats at home, so we knew something about Quakers. Therefore, I asked if they still wore those black hats. Well, they got quite a chuckle out of my ignorance. Keep in mind, I was a Hillbilly.
Kathy and I decided to try out their church. Up to that point I had only been to church three times in my life at the age of 27. One of those times was on my wedding day.
Barney Schaffer was the pastor at the time. His message that morning was out of the third chapter of the Gospel of John. He focused on John 3:16-17. He finished his message by giving people an opportunity to ask Jesus to be their Savior and Lord. He said you can pray right where you were sitting. So, on September 12, 1971, I prayed and asked God to forgive me of my sins, and to come into my life and be my personal Lord and Savior. The prayer went something like this: “Dear Heavenly Father, I know that I am a sinner. Please forgive me of my sins. I believe that Jesus died for my sins upon the cross and was raised again on the third day so that I may have eternal life with You in heaven. Please come into my life and take control of my life. I am confessing to You today that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord. Amen.”
Barney invited anyone who prayed that prayer to come forward. He said it was important to make our faith public. In addition, he wanted to pray for anyone who took that step of faith. We were sitting all the way in the back of the church. My heart was racing. I was about as nervous as an introvert could be. But, I went forward and Barney prayed with me.
When I turned around to go back to my seat I noticed that everyone from the Bible study was sitting in the first two rows. They were crying. Tears were rolling down their cheeks. I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong to make them cry. I found out later that they were tears of joy.
While driving home from church I prayed my second prayer. I told the Lord that I knew He forgave my sins, but I did not know anything about Him. I told Him that I wanted to know more about Jesus. At that moment I had an overwhelming desire to read the book of 2 Peter. When I got home I began to read. When I got to 2 Peter 1:8, I was floored! Notice what we are told in 2 Peter 1:5-8. It says, “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” God gave me the key to fully knowing Jesus and being fruitful in serving Him.
On my first day as a new believer in Christ I learned the value of prayer and the value of God’s Word. From that very first day of my new life and relationship with God I had a passion to study the Bible. I wore out the Bible my mom gave me on my 21st birthday within a year.
Many other things took place on that first day of my new life in Christ. For the first time since childhood I had joy in my life. For the first time since being an adult the emptiness in my life was gone. God filled the emptiness with the presence of His Holy Spirit. For the first time in my life I wanted to please someone other than myself. I wanted to please my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For the first time in my life I had a purpose. I wanted to serve the Lord, glorify Him, love Him and walk with Him. I knew my sins were forgiven, I knew He was now in my life and I knew without any doubt that I had eternal life.
The next morning, when I went to work, I decided to let Art Hoyer know about my new life in Christ. I sat across from him at his desk in a large room full of people. I said, “Art, I made a decision yesterday. I asked Jesus to be my Savior and Lord.” Art burst into tears. Now I am a quick learner and knew those were tears of joy. When Art gathered his composure he said, “From the first day that I gave you that little Gospel of John I have not stopped praying that your eyes would be opened to the truth and that you would receive Christ into your heart.” Unknowing to me, Art had prayed for me daily for an entire year.
As a follower of Jesus Christ I have continually experienced the value of prayer and the value of walking in obedience to the Word of God. Prayer has preceded every significant thing that God has done in my life.
God began to do an amazing work. He changed my priorities. He prompted me by His Spirit to make some additional commitments. For example, Jesus Christ was not just my Savior, but also my Lord. He was my Lord in my home, my workplace, my church and in every other place. He was in control of my life. I opened up the closets of my life and gave them to Jesus. I asked Him to clean them up, so He would be glorified. I did not want my will to be done but rather His will to be done in my life. I made a commitment to be in His Word daily and to be ready to be used by Him.
Then, I discovered something else. A friend shared with me Ephesians 6:11-12, which says, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” I quickly learned that I had an adversary who was not happy with my new found faith in Jesus. I quickly discovered that the devil did not care what I read as long as it was not the Bible.
I think busyness is one of the tools that the devil uses to keep us from spending time with the Lord in prayer and in His Word. It was certainly true in my case. I had to get very creative to be in God’s Word daily. I needed to be purposeful with my time. I got up at 4:30 in the morning. That was the only time I was not distracted by the various activities that demanded my attention. I went into a stealth mode finding quite and secluded places so I could be alone with the Lord in prayer and in His Word. I had to fight for my time in God’s Word. I made it a priority and God honored that commitment.
In addition, I took advantage of various seminars and Bible studies that were offered. For example, I attended Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s Thursday night Bible study for several years. I wanted my life, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, to be in complete harmony with the Word of God. That was one of my heart’s desires. Time in God’s Word became a priority for me. Not just reading it, but studying it.⁴
As I studied God’s Word I discovered that He gave all believers a spiritual gift to use in serving Him. Over time I learned that mine was teaching.⁵ God gave me the desire and the ability to study His Word and explain it with applications that helped people walk with the Lord. My purpose and passion in life was to provide evidence for God’s existence and enable people to be living evidence for God’s existence. I wanted to help people grow in their knowledge and understanding of God. I wanted to help people enter into a personal relationship with God. I wanted to help people be faithful and fruitful followers of Jesus Christ.
Through thick and thin I dedicated 28 years as a laymen serving the Lord at Yorba Linda Friends Church. I had the opportunity by the Lord’s leading to serve as a Sunday School teacher with children, youth and adults, as a midweek home Bible study teacher, as an elder, as a fill in preacher, and as a conference speaker at men’s retreats and family camps.
Those 28 years, from 1971 to 1999, with Jesus was an amazing journey. I would not trade them for anything. However, it was not always easy. At times my faith and walk with Jesus was challenged and stretched to the limit. Especially when Kathy, my best friend and wife of 30 years, was being consumed with cancer. Yet, by God’s grace He carried me through those tough times. He renewed my commitment to Him and to His Word. As a result, He took me by the power of His Spirit working in my life through His Word to a higher spiritual level. I learned what it meant to walk by faith and by the Spirit in obedience to God’s Word.
We have all heard that hindsight is 20/20. We can look back in our life and see the reasons why certain things happen. Though that may sometimes be true, I must say, I cannot explain why God has done certain things in my life. Why He took Kathy home when He did and in the way He did, I do not fully understand. However, I had to learn to stop bellyaching. Therefore, I decided to stop asking God why He did what He did and started asking God what He wanted me to do next. Some times we need to bend over and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get on with our life walking with Jesus. That is what I did. God used the circumstances in my life to prepare me for even a greater work for Him. That came in the way of a call to vocational ministry.
My call to vocational ministry, as a pastor, began in September 1998 shortly after Kathy went home to be with the Lord in July of that year. The Lord placed a strong desire on my heart to take an early retirement and use my spiritual gift to serve Him more fully. I prayed for the Lord’s help in placing me in a position where my finances would not hinder me from serving Him or be a distraction in serving Him. I asked the Lord to take care of the many commitments that I had to my employer and clients. I asked the Lord to provide qualified people to take my place, so I could retire on good terms. I wrote a life purpose statement based on my spiritual gift. Then, I wrote out my hearts desires and gave them to the Lord in prayer.⁶
Six months later, March 1999, the Lord answered my prayers. He began fulfilling my heart’s desires. He moved within my heart encouraging me to take a step of faith and take an early retirement from the secular world. After considerable prayer I set a date to retire at the end of May 1999. I told the Lord that I wanted His will to be done. I asked the Lord to either open a door so wide that I could not help but go through it, or close it so tight that I could not go through it at all. I wanted His perfect will to be done in my life, even if it meant staying employed in the secular world and serving Him there. I understood that no matter where we are in life we are still in ministry for Christ.
I did not tell anyone about my plan to retire at the end of May, only the Lord. So, when the door was opened for me to move into vocational ministry I knew it was the Lord opening the door. On March 24, 1999, Yorba Linda Friends Church asked me to come on staff starting June 1, 1999. The timing was perfect. They wanted me to use my professional training as an architect and manager to help build their new Worship Center. Little did I know the Lord’s ultimate plan. Two months later on August 1, 1999, the church asked me to be their Executive/Associate Pastor. That allowed me to use my spiritual gift and my professional training in management to serve Him more fully.
Quite often the Lord uses our experience to prepare us to serve Him in even a greater way. In May, 2001, it became clear the Lord was again leading me into another area of ministry. After considerable prayer I decided to take a step of faith and resign my position as Executive/Associate Pastor. On the Saturday morning following my last day as Executive/Associate Pastor the Superintendent for Evangelical Friends Church Southwest gave me a call. He invited me to pursue a Senior Pastor position in one of the Friend’s local churches. This would allow me to fully use my spiritual gift in serving the Lord.
On June 16, 2001, I began a series of interviews with East Whittier Friends Church, which ultimately resulted in a call to be their Senior Pastor. Their vision as a church perfectly aligned with my hearts desires, my passion for ministry and my life’s purpose statement. On August 19, 2001, I accepted their continuous call to ministry as Senior Pastor starting September 1, 2001. I served as their Senior Pastor for nearly seven years.
Towards the end of 2007 the Lord began placing on my heart a strong desire to move in a new direction in serving Him. I was convinced He was leading me to move to Prescott Valley, Arizona to write and publish several books and start a Friends Home Church. So, after considerable prayer I took a step of faith. I left East Whittier Friends Church on March 30, 2008, and placed my home in Yorba Linda, California on the market. I moved to Arizona in September 2008, trusting I was in the Lord’s will even though my home hadn’t sold.
The Lord kept bringing several Bible verses to mind. The first was Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” The second was Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” The third was Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established.” The Lord was in the process of giving me a new appreciation for how He applies those verses. My faith was again being stretched as my plans were being refined and redirected.
For eight months I lived with my daughter and son-in-law who also moved to Prescott Valley, Arizona. During that time, as I waited for my home in California to sell, the Lord clarified His purpose for my relocation. It was not to start a Home Church. Rather, it was to dedicate time to writing and publishing. Once I realized this, my home in California sold and I was able to buy a new home in Arizona in April 2009.
By the Lord’s grace and the leading of His Spirit the door was opened for me to write and publish. My first book was published in September 2009 with a second book in the works. With help from my son-in-law, Mike, we developed a new website in May, 2010, at www.livingevidence.org. This replaced a previous website called Rembert Ministries which my son Mark and his friend Chris Pollinger helped develop. Then, in September 2012, with Mike’s help, I began writing a devotional blog at www.laborforthese.org. The Lord by His grace has seen fit to expand my ministry. My devotional blog is currently viewed around the world in over 40 different counties.
Throughout my life I have learned that God always honors His Word when we make it a priority and the standard by which we live. He always honors our commitment to Him when we submit to the Lordship of Christ and the leading of His Spirit. My commitment to the Lord and to His Word has not changed. My passion and purpose in serving the Lord has not changed. Both are as strong today as they were in the beginning. My desire is to finish strong with Jesus, so He receives all the glory.
References:
- See Psalm 78:1-7
- See John 1:12-13, John 3:16, Romans 10:9-13
- See Colossians 1:13-14
- See 2 Timothy 2:15
- See Romans 12:6-8
- See Psalm 37:3-5
Revised and Updated May 2015
My story is dedicated to my children, my children’s children and their children; even to the children yet to be born.