Ministry update – salvation at the church today

A 16-year-old girl who has been coming to our church services and outreaches for about 8 months now responded to an invitation at the close of the service today wanting to be saved. Lili and I explained to her how she could be saved and she prayed with us, making a profession of faith that seemed to be quite authentic.
It was after a message I preached from Luke 19, which I had preached in America at the beginning of March on the parable of the minas. If you’d like to hear it, you can scroll back to the first Sunday in March and listen to the recording. The message was recorded today in Cluj, too, but most of the readers of this blog are English-speaking, so this time I am only posting today’s recording on my Romanian ministry site. If you would like to hear it and need the link, let me know and I’ll supply it.

How it happened….

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

New song on video

Here’s a new song that we did at an outreach for men struggling with alcoholism this evening. The words of the song and an English translation are below. The song is called “Pacatul Meu Te-a Rastignit/My Sin Crucified You.”

Sunt uimit și copleșit
I’m amazed and overwhelmed
de harul ce m-a mântuit
by the grace that redeemed me
Când pe cruce ai murit
When on the cross You died
Tu la mine Te-ai gândit
You thought of me

Chorus:
Păcatul meu Te-a răstignit
My sin crucified You
Din dragoste Tu Te-ai jertfit /2x
Out of love You sacrificed Yourself

O, Domnul meu, nevrednic sunt
O, my Lord, I am unworthy
chiar numele să Ți-l pronunț
To even speak Your Name
Sunt mântuit prin jertfa Ta
I’m saved through Your sacrifice
Te voi slăvi de-a pururea
I will praise You forever

Păcatul meu Te-a răstignit
My sin crucified You
Din dragoste Tu Te-ai jertfit
Out of love You sacrificed Yourself
Păcatul meu Te-a răstignit
My sin crucified You
Tu la mine Te-ai gândit
You thought of me
Păcatul meu Te-a răstignit
My sin crucified You
Pentru mine ai murit
You died for me

Zacchaeus

Today’s message at the church in Cluj was from Luke 19, looking at Zacchaeus, his life-changing encounter with Jesus, and what it all means to us. You can hear the audio online here. Hope you enjoy it.

A lesson of not just wee little importance


This Sunday at the church in Cluj, Lord-willing, I’ll be teaching on Luke 19:1-9, and the story of Zacchaeus in his very personal encounter with Christ. It’s a story you heard in Sunday School as a kid if you went, but my hope is that you’ve also studied it as an adult, because there is much to learn from it for your walk with Christ. Look for a recording of the study to appear on this site perhaps as soon as Sunday afternoon.

Back 2 Cluj

This afternoon we returned to Cluj, to get back into the ministry here after a 7-week, 3 state trip in America, during which time we had blessed ministry at 8 churches. It was a great trip and we very much enjoyed the time ministering to and with our brothers and sisters in Texas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. We’re looking forward to seeing what God does in partnership with teams later this year who might join us in Cluj for evangelism.
Now, after a couple days to try to adjust to jet-lag, etc., we’ll be back into our regular ministry schedule, and looking forward to proclaiming the message of salvation in the Easter season.
Our family is glad to be back, and our daughter Briana is reunited with her precious kitty, Phoebo, which is making both of them happy.

Today’s evolutionist response exposes the cloudy-mindedness of atheism

So in response to my recent comments on the implausibility of the theory of macroevolution, an atheist who identified himself as having a doctorate wrote, claiming that if I accept microevolution, then I must accept macroevolution, because they are essentially the same thing, being only different in magnitude. Now, that isn’t true, because they are entirely different in process, not just scope. Microevolution happens from one generation to the next in creatures as a result of rearrangement or loss of existing genetic information. For macroevolution to exist, there would have to be ADDED genetic information over the generations, which is impossible, hasn’t ever happened, and is not happening in the modern world. It must be accepted on faith alone, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
But even if the doc were right and the only difference between micro and macro evolution was the amount of change that happens and the amount of time it takes, to suggest that this means accepting one proves the other exposes the cloudy thinking necessary for one to become an atheist. It is like saying, if you believe there are men who can run 8 miles per hour and men who can jump 6 feet off the ground, then you must accept that there are men who can run faster than an indy car and men who can jump over the clouds, because the process of running and jumping is the same, only the magnitude changes.

Thought for the day

The world has never known a belief system more illogical than the evolution of species from a common ancestor by chance happenings apart from God’s design. Nor has the world ever seen a belief system whose adherents were more belligerent and arrogant than the atheists who defend the implausible hypothesis of macroevolution.