Author: davebunnell

Dave Bunnell, American pastor serving in Romania. Walk of Faith: free grace devotionals, Bible teaching, sermon vids, & evangelism

Use Influence Wisely


“So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a bad report about the land—those men who spread the report about the land were struck down by the LORD.”
–Numbers 14:36-37

Twelve men went to spy out Canaan, the land that God had sworn He would give to His people. They all saw the same thing, but they came back with contradictory recommendations on taking the land. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, had faith in God, and pleaded with the people with all their might to trust in God along with them, and go and take the land.
The other ten chose not to believe God’s promise. Why? Maybe they thought God was lying. Maybe they thought He was incompetent. Maybe they thought He was weak. Maybe they just doubted He had really committed Himself to gaining the land for them, or just doubted His very existence. Whatever their reasons, though, they had no excuse. God had proven Himself. He had earned their trust. They could kid themselves all they wanted about having a reason to doubt Him—but the fact was there was no reason to doubt Him.
There’s no reason to doubt Him today, either. But people still do, fooling themselves with many arguments about why they shouldn’t trust God, if they even believe He exists in the first place.
Those 10 men learned too late the consequences of not just doubting God, but of using one’s influence to cause others to doubt Him. God spared the lives of everyone who listened to their discouraging report and refused to enter the promised land. But He didn’t spare these ten whose words robbed those multitudes of their chance to enter into the rewards God had set aside for them in the promised land.
There’s a lesson there for anyone who has influence. Be very careful how you use it. You can encourage others to know the Lord and trust in Him, or to encourage them to doubt His word and His will, thus missing out on the life eternal Christ already bought and set aside for them on the cross.
Every teacher who has tricked impressionable students into taking the ludicrous evolutionary theory seriously, and thus doubting the Bible, has made the mistake these 10 made. Every liberal “pastor” who has preached the silly notion that the Bible is flawed or that it is a nice set of allegories, but not absolute truth is also in this group. Every parent who has ever discouraged his child from taking a stand for Christ or following God’s will for His life, warning the child it would be a hard life, has done it too. The list could go on.
But what we need to realize is that we all have influence over someone somewhere. Use what influence you have to help people know and trust God, not doubt Him or His word. He has earned the trust of every person in the world. We have no excuse not to believe. And if we make someone think they do have a reason not to trust Him, we make a mistake that those 10 men were struck dead for making. We may live to see another day, but it won’t be because we deserve to.

Worship video from church in Cluj, Romania – 11 July 2010

Here are two videos from the worship service at the church in Cluj from last Sunday, when we introduced several songs that are new to our church for corporate worship. The videos include some praise songs popularized by the Fratii de la Toflea (Brothers from Toflea).
Part 1 — Songs “Vreau sa Iti Cant,” “Cine se increde in Domnul” and “Glorie Tie Doamne”


Part 2 — A medley including “Esti Pregatit sa Pleci,” “Mare Dumnezeu Avem,” “Suntem o familia,” and others.

You’ll enjoy the videos all the more if you play them full screen by clicking the arrows in the bottom right corner of the player screen and in HD by clicking on the HD icon. Blessings to you.

The basis for assurance of salvation

Sunday at the church, I brought this message from Ephesians 2:1-10 on the topic of how can we know for sure we are truly saved by faith in Christ, and how can we know we will keep our salvation to the end.

July Quote of the Month

“Let us be busy in our Master’s service, and particularly in trying to win others, bringing them to share with us in the joy of God’s salvation. When at last our little day of service here is ended, not one of us will feel that we have given up too much for Christ, or be sorry that we have labored too earnestly for His glory; but, I fear, many of us would then give worlds, were they ours, if we could only go back to earth and live our lives over again, in sincerity and unselfishness, seeking alone the honor of Him who has redeemed us.”
–H. A. Ironside

Today’s Outlook: Rainy with a chance of eternal life

Yes, it has rained all day today in Cluj, but we still did our park outreach, and God was still in it. As we sang songs of praise to Christ and handed out tracts, several people stayed to hear us play and sing in the rain, and five people made professions of faith in Christ. Praise the Lord!

Philippians Study Completed

Last night we completed our study through the book of Philippians. The audio recordings, in English and Romanian, are available for your listening online at the links below. Texts with an * in front of them are the “highlights – best of” studies. Hope you enjoy it.

Phil 1:1-6
Phil 1:7-14
Phil 1:15-30
*Phil 2:1-11
Phil 2:12-18
Phil 2:19-30
*Phil 3:1-3
Phil 3:3-16
Phil 3:17-4:3
*Phil 4:4-9 “Right Outlook”
Phil 4:10-23

* “highlights – best of” studies.

Outreaches this weekend

Lord-willing, this weekend, we have our first two big evangelistic outreaches of the summer. Saturday, the worship team and others will go to the city’s central park to do music, pass out tracts, and seek Divine appointments to share the gospel. Then Sunday, our church is joining with other ministries to do an outdoor public service to reach the gypsy population in the neighborhood where our church meets. Please pray for God to move mightily in these events, for the reaching of the lost and for the spiritual growth of young disciples who are new to public ministry. Please also pray for weather favorable to fruitful ministry, and for the weekly basketball outreach that is continuing on Fridays.
On another note, our friend Randy from Texas will be joining us in ministry this week. He flew out of Dallas this afternoon, and if all goes well, will arrive in Romania tomorrow afternoon.

Home fellowship update

Thursday we’ll finish the Philippians study before going on a hiatus to focus on summer outreaches. Afterward, Lord-willing, the next study will be on “God as He Longs for You to See Him” from the Chip Ingram book. I’ve never taught a study based on someone else’s writing, but that book’s teaching is so important I’m compelled to share it with the young disciples here in Cluj.

Is Jesus God Almighty?


And, if so, what does that mean to us? Today’s message at the church looked at those questions in a study of Luke 20:39-47. The audio recording, in English and Romanian, is here.

The Right Outlook

Tonight was another full house for our home fellowship study, of Philippians 4:4-9, looking at the right outlook for us to have as followers of Christ. The study looking at some very important issues for our thought life and prayer life, is available for your listening online here.

Dawkins is right about this part


“People certainly blame science for nuclear weapons and similar horrors. It’s been said before but needs to be said again: if you want to do evil, science provides the most powerful weapons to do evil; but equally, if you want to do good, science puts into your hands the most powerful tools to do so. The trick is to want the right things; then science will provide you with the most effective methods of achieving them.”
—Evolutionionary biologist and Pope* of the New World Church of God is Probably Fake, Richard Dawkins

He’s right that wanting to do right–not technological capability–is the issue of what separates good actions from evil ones. And it goes without saying, that a want to do right instead of what is selfish simply isn’t present in the human heart until said human heart has been touched by the God whom Dawkins calls a “delusion,” to his own demise.

*That title is sarcasm on my part, since the atheists who trouble themselves to write me lengthy hate mail tend to view Dawkins with unquestioning blind faith as their spiritual leader, and since Dawkins’ latest crusade is an ad campaign exhorting people with “There’s probably no god, so stop worrying…”