shareyourstorynow.org

“David Nasser and Mac Powell Share Their Life Verses”

Brent, one of the techies in our Virginia office recently interviewed David Nasser and Mac Powell, who were touring with Glory Revealed. Here’s an excerpt from it:

[Brent] Great. Well, with all this talk about Scripture, I’m curious as to how scripture has impacted your lives. Do you have a life verse that really resonates with you?

[Mac] Yeah. Scripture has definitely had a huge impact in my life and it’s changed my life. In fact, when I was a senior in high school, I was kind of living life just for myself and what really brought me back to the Lord was starting to read the Scripture. I was tired of going to church on Sunday and having the pastor say, “Turn to the Book of Acts” and not having any idea where that was. So I thought, just from the perspective of trying to be a “good boy,” I’m gonna sit down and look through this thing for the first time in my life really, besides just learning Sunday School stories. I’m gonna look through this Bible and read a little bit of it and kind of learn where these books are.

And as I did that, I sat down and I started reading Romans and it radically opened my eyes to God’s Spirit and to what Christianity really is. And from Romans, later on in life, I’ve gotten what i consider to be my life verse: Romans 5:8. It says “While we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus still gave His life for us. He still died for us.” And that revealed to me that I don’t have to be a Billy Graham - and people don’t have to be the Billy Graham’s and Mother Theresa’s of the world - in order for God to save us. He saves us first, despite our sins, despite our weaknesses. He saves us and hopefully transforms us into more like people like Billy Graham and like Mother Theresa that affects and changes people’s lives and hopefully even more into the form of Jesus.

[Brent] That’s great.

[Mac] I know that’s a little long, but you can edit that if you need to.

[Brent] No, it’s your life verse, man.

[David] Yeah, there’s some stuff in there I didn’t know, Mac. That’s great. Well, My turn?

[Brent] You’re up.

[All] (laughs)

[David] I just really believe that the Bible, Scripture is the oxygen in my Christian lungs man. Without them, I suffocate. My walk with God suffocates. I just don’t see them as an additive, but as the main thing of nutrition, you know, in my daily life with God. The Bible is such a powerful thing. I mean, it’s the most hated book in the world. More people have burned Bibles than any other book and then more people have celebrated the Bible and bought it than any other book. I just remember for so many years of my life, I ignored it, bro. And then when I was eighteen, I gave my life to Christ and somebody gave me a Student Bible and said, “Here’s one that you can open up and start reading and studying. And I just remember thinking, Oh my goodness, look at the truth that’s in this thing. It’s more than just rules, you know? It’s a mirror. It’s the breath of God and God just started speaking to me through it, so I learned really quickly when I was eighteen that this thing called the Bible is the voice of God in my life. If I want God’s voice in my life, all I have to do is open it up. And He always speaks to me through it. He’s never failed.

When I first became a Christian, I was the first one in my family and five months after that, my sister became a Christian and then five months after that, my mother became a Christian as well. And when my mother became a Christian, I remember, I was spending the night, one night, at home and I remember that I woke up one morning and it was like three o’clock or four o’clock in the morning. it was still dark and I went down to get a drink in the middle of the night, and as I walked down, I could hear my mom weeping. And I walked into the sunroom and my mom was sitting there with one lamp on and she was just sitting there crying. Big old tear drops just falling on the Bible that she had opened and was reading and I was so concerned. I thought, what has she done. What’s going on? So i went over to her and said, “Mom, are you okay?” She grabbed my hand and she sat me down and we sat together. And I remember that she just looked at me and she said, “I can’t believe that I have spent so much of my life not reading this book.” And I was like Ditto! Me too! I can’t believe I spent eighteen years of my life without it. And she said, “I’m so jealous of you. I wish I were eighteen when I started reading.” So, we just started talking about the goodness of Scripture. I just can’t believe that people have an opportunity to open it up every day, and don’t.

My life’s passage is Galatians 2:20, where Paul says, “I’ve been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life that I live in the body I live by faith in the son of God. Who loves me and gave His life for me.” I don’t think it’s plagiarism when I say ditto to Paul in that, because that’s me, too. I’m dead. The old me is gone and a whole new me is walking around. I hang on to that passage. When I get into a fight with my wife and I just want to chew her out, I just remember, Hey, I’m crucified with Christ.

[All] (laughs)

[David] The old me is dead. The old angry me is dead. When I want to cheat on my taxes just a little bit and I’ve figured out a good way to fudge, I just think, I’m crucified, I’m dead. I’ve been set free from the old. In everyday practical life all the way down to the saving grace, it’s just sustaining truth.

Complete Interview at trudatmusic.com