Walk of Faith devotional video on Psalm 96, a call to worship and to declare His glory among the nations. It’s God’s world, and He will reign. We must help the nations find salvation in Him while there’s still time.

Our series through the book of Galatians continues with chapter 5, verses 1 to 15.

Stay free.

Video is in English with Romanian translation.

A sermon about the day of rapture and resurrection through a study of John 11, and Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. By Dave Bunnell, August 20, 2020. This is an English language sermon that was previously done in Romanian at the church in Cluj.

Walk of Faith’s Summer of Psalms series continues with Psalm 61, looking at David’s prayer for long life and a legacy that would outlast him, and the heart for God that made the Lord willing to answer.

The series preaching through 1 Samuel continues with chapter 7.  Putting away the false gods that have been brought in alongside the true One in our lives brings revival, restoration, and victory.  Sunday messages are in English with Romanian translation.

For you and me personally

“…I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
–Gal. 2:20b

A Walk of Faith devotional by Dave Bunnell

More times than I can count, we’ve been telling the gospel to people in Romania, and told them of how Christ died on the cross for their sins, only to hear in response, “No, He didn’t die for me and my sins—He died for the whole world.”

Coming from an eastern orthodox background, that’s what they’ve largely been taught—that Christ died for the world in general, to make it possible for us to live a life good enough to earn God’s favor if we follow His rules well enough. But each person will remain responsible for his own sins against God in eternity, as the bad we do is weighed against the good to determine our final destiny. That false teaching is an easy sell for the orthodox priests, because it is what the fleshly human heart wants to believe: I can be good enough that God should accept me, the heart whispers to itself.

The verse above from Galatians provides God’s answer to their misconception.

When Jesus was on the cross, He wasn’t just making atonement in general. He was showing His love for me as an individual. He was giving His life for me. I was so drenched in sin and degradation that for me to come to God and please Him would require a price no lower than the very life of the invaluable Son of God sacrificed in my place. And although I didn’t deserve it, and never will deserve it, He loved me. He not only loved me, but loved me soooooo much that He gave Himself for me.

And He gave Himself for you, too. Personally. He valued you enough to pay that ultimate price for you. Galatians 2 says so, in personal terms. Think on that for a few moments. Let it sink in fresh and new. Let this truth run through your mind throughout the day today, restoring unto you the joy of His salvation: “Jesus loves me, and gave Himself for me.” Then live by that faith with exceeding joy.

Walk of Faith’s Summer of Psalms series continues with Psalm 2. Remember, the Lord reigns over all—over history, over all the earth, and over the future. And the God who reigns is the God who saves us and makes us His eternal friends.

Created on August 11, 2020

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Curious About Evil

A Walk of Faith Devotional by Dave Bunnell

“but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.”

(Rom. 16:9b)

A 2010 film, due to its subject matter and the fact that it was in 3-D, was promoted with the tagline, “Experience a whole new dimension of evil.”

The marketing team that came up with that knew something more than just how to turn a phrase or make a pun. They knew what lies within the human heart. Namely, a nature that is curious about evil.

That was a big part of how Satan caused the fall to begin with. God had made people in a world where they only experienced that which was morally exemplary. Adam and Eve had never seen evil, never heard evil, never spoken evil, never done evil. They were innocent regarding evil. They only had knowledge of good. And God, while giving them the opportunity to choose, commanded them to stay in a state of knowledge of only good.

Along came the devil, basically saying to Eve, “Don’t settle for knowing only good. Experience evil, too. Disobey God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You’ll be wise like Him, then. Innocence isn’t for you—come to know both good and evil. You’ll be like God, deciding for yourself what’s right and what’s wrong, and you won’t regret it.”

Of course, they did regret it. Choosing to know evil is choosing to experience death and a loss of the life and peace walking with a Holy God would bring.

Ever since she and her husband made the wrong choice, then, the battle rages within us all. Sometimes it takes religious forms, like in Buddhism, which is all based on the ying-yang philosophy that balancing the amount of light and darkness, good and evil, in your soul, is the road to inner peace. Other times, it shows itself in the temptation to read books, listen to music, or watch films that glorify darkness and curse the light. Gossip often has its roots in a dark desire to know all of the bad things others are doing. Even as Christians, we will be tempted to “look into evil,” if for no more reason than that we’re curious to know how bad things can get.

Perhaps we need to be reminded that when we seek ways to increase our knowledge of evil, we are playing with fire. Because of this tendency in us to want at least a vicarious experience of evil, Paul’s closing to the book of Romans contains this warning, “but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.” (Rom. 16:9b)

That’s a key to peace and fulfillment in your walk with God. Pursue righteousness, mercy, peace, holiness, cleanness of heart and mind. Focus your attention on knowing more about what is good and right and just. And while you focus your attention in that direction, make an effort to avoid feeding the desire to know about evil.

If you ever feel like you’re out of touch because you don’t keep up with “pop culture,” consider yourself blessed to be innocent, or even ignorant, of the level of evil that is in the world. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to rent that film everyone’s talking about because you want to experience the chills of a horror flick that takes violence to never-before-seen heights. Don’t let yourself be too curious about the portrayals in the latest music videos as the producers of them try to make them more and more pornographic to draw an audience. When your coworkers or classmates are dishing out the dirty details of someone’s sinful activities, don’t linger to listen.

Sometimes, the enemy might even try to trick us with thoughts like, “You need to know all about the latest things that the world is into, so that you can relate and reach them for Christ.” It might sound logical on the surface, but go to the Lord and tell Him that and see what He says. Ask Him how many people have been reached because they were impressed by some Christian’s ability to talk at length about the depths of society’s depravity. He might say you don’t really need any of that. He might tell you that faith comes by hearing, and by hearing the word of God.

It is good to be out of the loop about wicked things. As followers of Christ, let’s try to become more so.

Walk of Faith’s Summer of Psalms series continues with Psalm 100. When times are hard, sometimes we need help serving the Lord and maintaining joy. Today we see how and why we can still serve with gladness, and be rewarded now, and after this life.

Created on August 4, 2020