I’m fourteen years old, and I’m a preacher.             ‘A preacher?’  You may say.  “Fourteen years old and a preacher?”             Well, just hold on; let me tell you what I’ve been through.  It will show you that freedom has a cost. A False Conversion             When I was five years old, I prayed to receive Christ as Savior.  I had wanted to be baptized, and as I thought I was a Christian, I thought it would be fun to do.  (I had no real relationship then with my Savior, but thought I was fine with God, as most little children do.)             The way this came to be was that the congregation we were attending at that time was having a baptismal service.  I told my father that I wanted to be baptized, and he said something to the effect of:  ‘Well, you need to have Jesus in your heart.’  My Dad led me in a prayer asking God to save me, and at the baptismal service I was baptized.  (Before this, I had preached—as a 3-4 year old does—in a congregation we had gone to, in between either the Sunday School and church service or our normal service and a service for the homeless.)             After I had gotten older, I met a boy whom I’ll call Tom.  He and I hit it off together, and we soon became fast friends.  Somehow, though, we got into sexual perversion, and it became a habit.  Tom* realized we were doing wrong, but I was thinking spiritually at this time.  Also at this time, I put on a ‘spiritual’ act, and had mostly everyone—even myself—fooled.             About the time that our family had a house fire, I got into pornography.  As an 8-10 year old boy, I don’t know if it had (at the time) as much of an effect as it will have on a boy in puberty, but it was still very wrong!  I emphasize this for anyone struggling in that area.  After awhile, I had very little contact with Tom, though if I remember correctly I still kept dealing with pornography until I was finding more disgusting things than I had had up until that point that had pornographic material in it.             Soon though, (and thankfully) I cooled down and started to realize that I needed Jesus.  Still, an idol remained: Drums.  I had had (and still use) a drum set since I was seven, and I loved to play them.  God had given me a gift, but I used it for myself.  I realize that I was using them as an idol when one of my siblings was playing on them and I ‘had’ to make sure they still worked.  I repented, but still (if my memory is correct) I was not saved. A True Conversion             One morning, while praying and asking forgiveness from God, I was filled with joy.  I don’t know if I knew what was happening, but I was saved!             My Mom noticed something different about me and asked me if I had been saved recently.  I hesitated, then said yes.  (I had to think about it, because I don’t think I knew exactly what had happened.)  She then asked me if I wanted to be baptized again.  I don’t remember exactly what I said but I think I said yes.             My mom also had me share my testimony at a place where some street preachers preached.  That was the first time I had come close to preaching in a few years.  Shortly afterwards, God gave me a sermon, and I preached it with the street preachers that I had shared my testimony with.  It became a habit to go and preach with them on Wednesday nights and later on Thursday nights.             The ‘Fall-away’             Shortly after I was baptized, I would worship God while playing drums at church.  Soon, though, I got to where I had gotten stagnant with God.  This is what I consider to be the period that I fell away from Him.  I began to be legalistic, and I started obeying a voice that I thought was God.  The voice would tell me to take a leaf or stick outside and put it in a certain place.  It wasn’t good where I put it, and I would have to move it.  I soon began crying, though the voice would tell me Bible verses based off what I did.  The verses were not condemning me, but I did not feel free. Ups and Downs             I went on like this for a while, struggling with whether I was a Christian or not, until one day I told God that in His Word He said that whoever “calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13b, NIV) and I immediately felt better and felt the desire to read the Bible.  Although it did not always stay that way, I recognize that as my coming back to Christ.             I stopped preaching with the street preachers, because I felt that God wanted me to stop preaching for a while.  Also at this time, I had what I think to be my biggest crush ever.  Jenny* was a godly young lady and, though she was one year older than me, I fell ‘head over heels’ in ‘crush world’ over her.  The day came when (as the crush game goes) I found out she liked another boy instead of me.  I went into my room and cried, ‘heartbroken’ about what I heard.  I prayed and asked God to take care of her, and of me, and lead us where He wanted us to go.  From this comes two reasons that I have decided to keep my heart clean of such things: Number 1: it brings heartache, and number 2: I want my heart to be pure of such things for God and for my future wife. Freedom Isn’t Free             The point being, freedom isn’t free.  Jesus showed this through everything He did (example, Jesus’ trials and death).  God has also shown this through my life.  I have given up many things (though not as many as Jesus) to live for God.  In Luke the Bible says that Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  (Luke 9:23b, NIV)  The thing that sticks out to me is that He said “He must…take up his cross daily.”   Not sometimes, or most days, but daily!             I wrote at the beginning of my testimony that this will show you that freedom has a cost.  God has given us freedom, but we are to use it for His glory.  In other words, we may be free, but we are not to use this freedom to sin.  “What shall we say, then?  Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means!”  (Romans 6:1-2a, NIV)  This disproves the ‘grace’ (do whatever you want) movement.             Freedom is not free.  I have been set free (and from many bondages), but this freedom comes with a price.  This price is nothing compared to the world’s price.  Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30).  We may not have as much ‘fun’ as a worldly teen may have, but we are free.  I would not take back any of the sin I left behind.             Young person, Jesus would like to use you; He has used me, and I am nothing.  We are all nothing without Christ.  God will use us if we let Him.  Let God use you—nothing without Him—for His glory today.† *Names changed to protect friends’ identities.