The perfect book you just gotta read

The Bible is the perfect book–correct in its every claim, authoritative in its every demand, helpful for every worthy pursuit, relevant for every generation and culture, necessary for every individual, accurate in its historical accounts, flawless in its prophecies of things to come, boundless in its ability to make God known, trustworthy in its every promise, consistent and cohesive in all its passages, and reliable and complete as a resource for meeting every spiritual need. It speaks to the intellect, and to the heart. It gives wisdom, and knowledge.
It has stood the test of time, proving itself unlimited in its power to withstand scrutiny of the honest seeker, and even the assault of disingenuous attacks thrust upon it by those of hard hearts who distort what it says or who are just unwilling to read it with an open mind.

What’s more, the Bible is God’s personal message for you. It applies to all of humanity as a whole, but it also speaks to you personally as an individual. It was written with you in mind.
It contains information you must understand if you want to go to heaven. God requires you to know Him, and He will judge you when you die based on your response to what He has revealed in the Bible, whether you’ve chosen to read it or not. God loves you and wants fellowship with you; and He wrote this book so that through it, He could establish a relationship with you, that will begin in this life, and grow, and last forever. You were created in God’s image, so you will never cease to be. You will exist somewhere forever. And whether your eternal state is one of infinite joy or unspeakable suffering is entirely dependent upon whether or not you come in this life to know God personally as He has presented Himself in the Bible. There is no other source of information that can replace the Bible as a guide on the road to heaven. No human teacher of any religion or faith can speak truth apart from what God has said in this book. No religious tradition can help you, if you follow it, instead of the decrees of the Bible.
And the Bible has answers, help, and comfort for every problem or issue you are facing today. If you live to be 110, you will never face any trial or tragedy outside the bounds of the Bible’s ability to help. It contains the answer to grief, to pain, to sorrow, to rejection, to every form of problem in human relationships, to loneliness, to depression, to anger, to violence, to hunger, to guilt, to sins you’ve committed, to sins committed against you, to family problems, to work problems, to money problems, to health problems, to ignorance, to bigotry, to war, to poverty, to terrorism, to fear, to death, to loss, to how to pray effectively, and to every other thing.
Don’t miss out. Read it. Believe it. Study it. Learn it. Find life in Christ through it. Share it with others.

The same message in Romanian:
Biblia este cartea perfectă – corectă în fiecare din afirmațiile ei, cu autoritate în toate cerințele ei, de ajutor pentru orice căutare valoroasă, relevantă pentru orice generație și cultură, necesară pentru fiecare persoană, corectă în înregistrările ei istorice, ireproșabilă în proorociile lucrurilor viitoare, nelimitată în abilitatea de a-L face cunoscut pe Dumnezeu, demnă de încredere în fiecare promisiune, consistentă și coezivă în toate pasajele ei, completă și de încredere ca și resursă de împlinire a fiecărei nevoie spirituală.  Vorbește intelectului și inimii. Dă înțelepciune și cunoaștere. A rezistat probei timpului, dovedindu-se nelimitată în puterea sa de a sta în picioare în fața cercetării celui ce caută din toată inima și chiar asaltului atacurilor viclene aruncate asupra ei de cei cu inimi întărite care deformează mesajul ei sau care nu vor să o citească cu o minte deschisă.
Și mai mult, Biblia este mesajul lui Dumnezeu pentru tine. Se aplică întregii umanități ca un întreg, dar de asemenea îți vorbește în mod personal ca și individ. A fost scrisă cu tine în minte. Conține informații pe care trebuie să le înțelegi dacă vrei să ajungi în rai.  Dumnezeu îți cere să-L cunoști, și El te va judeca după ce vei muri bazat pe răspunsul tău referitor la ceea ce a fost revelat  în Biblie, dacă ai ales să-l citești sau nu. Dumnezeu te iubește și vrea să aibă părtășie cu tine; El a scris această carte ca prin ea să poată stabili o relație cu tine, care va începe în această viață, va crește și va dura o veșnicie. Ai fost creat după chipul și asemănarea lui Dumnezeu, astfel că nu vei înceta niciodată să exiști. Vei exista undeva pentru totdeauna.  Iar statutul tău etern va fi ori unul de o fericire infinită ori unul de o durere de nerostit– depinde întru totul de tine – dacă vei ajunge în această viață să-L cunoști în mod personal pe Dumnezeu așa cum s-a prezentat El Însuși în Biblie. Nu există nici o altă sursă de informație ce poate înlocui Biblia ca ghid spre drumul către rai. Nici un om învățător al unei alte religii sau credințe nu poate vorbi adevărul fără ceea ce a spus Dumnezeu în această carte. Nici o tradiție religioasă nu te poate ajuta dacă o urmezi, în locul regulilor Bibliei. Iar Biblia are răspunsuri, ajutor și mângâiere pentru orice problemă cu care te confrunți astăzi. Dacă trăiești până la 110 ani, nu te vei confrunta cu nici o încercare sau tragedie ce nu-și va putea găsi ajutorul în Biblie. Conține răspunsul pentru supărare, durere, necaz, respingere, pentru orice formă a problemelor în relațiile umane, pentru singurătate, deprimare, mânie, violență, foame, vinovăție, pentru păcatele pe care le-ai făcut, pentru păcatele comise împotriva ta, pentru problemele familiale, problemele legate de lucru, de bani, de sănătate, pentru ignoranță, bigotism, război, sărăcie, terorism, teamă, moarte, pierdere, cum să te rogi într-un mod eficient și pentru fiecare alt lucru.

“Repent or you will likewise perish”

A crash in Iasi, Romania, Friday that instantly took 13 lives
A crash in Iasi, Romania, Friday that instantly took 13 lives

Friday afternoon in Iasi, Romania, a train smashed into a microbus that was being unwisely driven across the track in front of it, killing 13 people. The tragic event very much related to the passage we were already going to study at church this morning, in a gospel message.
Praise be to God there were some new professions of faith in Christ at the church this morning, after this message from Luke 13. Jesus gets VERY direct in that passage in His warnings to us to come to repentance and faith for salvation before it is too late. The message is in English and Romanian. I hope that it ministers to you and to anyone you share it with.

Complete 1 Peter study audio online

This week we completed the book study of 1 Peter at our home fellowship in Cluj. The recordings, which are in English and Romanian, are available for your devotional listening here.

A Living Hope (chapter 1a)

Living with Reverence (chapter 1b)

The Living Word (chapter 1c-2a)

The Stone Rejected (chapter 2b)


Somebody’s Watching Me (chapter 2c)

Husbands and Wives (chapter 3a)

Setting Apart Christ as Lord (chapter 3b)


Christ’s Victory in Death (chapter 3c)

Making the Most of Your Time (chapter 4a)

Preparing for Persecution (chapter 4b)

Humble Leadership (chapter 5a)

Be Ready for Attacks of the Roaring Lion (chapter 5b) Conclusion

Ajay Torres and DISC Choir

Here are two video clips of our friend Ajay, who Lord-willing is coming to Cluj for three weeks in September to train our worship team and minister with us here. In the videos, he is leading the Dallas International Street Church Choir. We praise the Lord and look forward to his time here, and ask you to pray that the Lord will use this special focus on worship in September to glorify Himself in our church fellowship.

Finishing 1 Peter

Lord-willing, tomorrow night at the home fellowship, we’ll have the conclusion of the book study of 1 Peter. After which, you’ll be able to come here for a post of the links to listen to the audio of the entire study, which began at the church on Easter Sunday and continued on Thursday nights afterward.

It Is Written

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
–Matthew 4:4

How wonderful and reliable is the written Word of God! Here in this passage, even the Author of the Scriptures repeatedly turns to them in the midst of a war of words with Satan. And with those Scriptures, He utterly conquers the enemy.
Jesus IS God, so every word that came from Him was proceeding forth out of the mouth of God. Yet He did not rely only on His words and thoughts of the moment to combat the devil, but recalled the permanent, eternal words that He had inspired men to write down over the centuries.
How much more, then, should we as His people turn not to our own wits or our own words to combat the forces of evil, but turn to these precious words of life found in the Holy Scriptures. The tempter is powerless over the man who knows the Word and commits in his heart to obeying it.
No battle, not even a battle against Satan’s temptations, is unwinable if your chief weapon is the Sword of the Spirit. Satan can’t win a debate against the words of God, because they aren’t like words spoken by men. God’s words are inhabited by His infinite power, so the devil fails to deceive those who know them.
If we’re armed with the Bible, we learn to be victorious in the Christian life. His Spirit within us uses the Word to help us say “no” to the carnal things this world lives on, even though our flesh still craves them. As we walk with Him and grow in maturity of faith, day by day we see our spiritual hunger for the Word grow stronger than the desires of our flesh.
Is your main focus in life seeking to meet your physical desires and needs? If so, you are in danger, because the enemy stands ready to exploit every physical desire and every selfish impulse in ways that will defile and destroy you. However, if you hunger most greatly for the “bread” of God’s Word, you will truly live the abundant life. “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
Oh, Father, we plead with You: Increase our hunger for Your beautiful word, that we may feed on it and live.

August Newsletter – Harul Domnului

The new edition of our quarterly ministry newsletter Harul Domnului is out today, and you can read it here. Hope you are blessed by it. It contains several brief ministry updates on happenings this summer. Information on how to subscribe to receive future editions by email is found in the newsletter.

Mourning what God mourns

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
–Nehemiah 1:3-4


Nehemiah was taken by surprise that day when he asked how things were in the home country of Israel.
Things are bad, was the report. Very bad. The capital city had suffered disgrace, and its people were very insecure because there was no gate to protect them from further trouble and harm. They had turned their backs on God and forgotten His covenant with them. So God had lifted His hand of protection from them for a time. Now they had begun to repent and return to the land, but the consequences of their sins lingered, and they were feeling vulnerable, humiliated, and defenseless.
Nehemiah was not personally affected. In fact, he lived in peace, safety, and extravagance as a servant and possibly a confidant of a powerful foreign king. But that didn’t matter now. Because Nehemiah loved his country, and more importantly, he loved the God who had formed his country and blessed it greatly with His presence, provision and protection in generations past. So this dire report shook Nehemiah’s soul.
At first, all he could do was cry. Just sit down and weep tears that welled up from a pain deep in his bones. This pain wouldn’t fade quickly. It would take several days.
Several days of mourning.
Several days of fasting.
Several days of crying out to the God of Israel and the God of heaven for His restoring hand to be upon His people once again.
Can you identify?
Do you mourn over the condition of your country, or your church, or your family? Are you in a situation where the people and places you care most about are in turmoil that rots your life with sadness while comfort seems to be so slow in coming?
If that’s the case, take heart. Because God uses a person who mourns what He mourns. God blesses the one who weeps when He weeps.
Nehemiah was such a man. So God had a plan for him. He would use Nehemiah to do some amazing things and bring about a level of restoration that seemed impossible in that moment when the bad news came.
For a time, Nehemiah would weep, and mourn, and fast, and pray. Then God would turn Nehemiah’s grief into dogged determination and utter reliance upon Him, and He would use Nehemiah as His instrument to rebuild a wall around the Holy City. Nehemiah’s resulting walk of faith would give him one of the most impressive testimonies in Bible history.
If the walls have come down for you, this book will be one you’ll enjoy studying. It will bring you hope, and give you guidance on how to be used of God to rebuild the walls once again.
If you’re grieving today over the news that has come your way, then God is already taking you on the first step of a journey of rebuilding. Now is the time for you to follow Nehemiah’s example on how to handle grief: When everything falls apart, take your tears to the Lord. In heartfelt prayer and an attitude of recognizing just how deeply you need Him, pray. Then today’s tears can become the seeds of tomorrow’s joy, because they will build your resolve and fortify your trust in a God who never disappoints those whose desire to serve Him does not wane and whose trust in Him does not waver.

Psalm 92

Psalm 92

1 It is good to praise the LORD, to sing praise to Your name, Most High,  2 to declare Your faithful love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night,  3 with a ten-stringed harp and the music of a lyre.  4 For You have made me rejoice, LORD, by what You have done; I will shout for joy because of the works of Your hands.  5 How magnificent are Your works, LORD, how profound Your thoughts!  6 A stupid person does not know, a fool does not understand this:  7 though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be eternally destroyed. 8 But You, LORD, are exalted forever. 9 For indeed, LORD, Your enemies— indeed, Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered…. 12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.  13 Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courtyards of our God.  14 They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green,  15 to declare: “The LORD is just; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

Satan’s Epitaph

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire…. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
–Revelation 20:10

Sometime in the future:

Here, suffering the continuous agony he deserves, lies Satan.  (aka the devil, the tempter, the deceiver, the accuser of the brethren.)
Early in his life, known by his given name of Lucifer, he was given beauty and privilege and the pleasure of being in the presence of the Almighty, All-Knowing God.  However, suffering from overwhelming pride and delusions of grandeur, he decided to try to unseat the One and Only from His throne and take over.  (Isaiah 14:12-15)  Obviously, that was a plan doomed to failure.
Then Satan spent his life going to and fro about the earth in an a 24/7 attempt to get back at God for His righteous judgment.  (Job 1)  For thousands of years, Satan battled against God, facing one defeat after another, for it is written, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”  (1 John 4:4)  With each attempt, Satan was multiplying the wrath of God that would eventually be his lot. (Matthew 25:41)
When the time came for humanity’s redemption, God Himself came to earth as a man to defeat Satan once and for all.  He allowed the devil to bruise His heel, but in the process, He crushed the devil’s head when He went to the cross and rose again.  (Genesis 3:15)
Because of that sacrificial death and resurrection, people who had been taken captive by the devil to do his will were set free, (2 Timothy 2:26) and they were guaranteed eternal life in heaven where they would be clothed in the spotless garments of the redeemed and live out the rest of eternity in bliss, loving and serving God and being loved by Him.  For it is written, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:17)
As time grew near for the end of Satan’s days of freedom, he suffered the horror of seeing those people, through no effort or merit of their own, defeating him utterly in the power of God.  For it is written, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Rev. 12:11)
In that moment, one of Satan’s most terrifying hours to date, it became more clear to him than ever before that unlike the Redeemed, he had absolutely no hope for the future whatsoever.  His anger flared up like never before (Rev. 12:12) and for a brief time he won some battles in his losing war.  He went on lying and deceiving many, but all the while he knew that in the end he would amount to nothing that lasts.  For it is written, “a lie is but for a moment, but the lips of truth will be established,” (Proverbs 12:19) and it is also written, “For this purpose was the Son of God revealed:  to destroy all the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
Satan would never attain the honor and glory he wanted.  He would not be worshiped for all eternity.  He would have no power, no prestige, no pleasure, no position, no purpose, and no reason for living.  He would always exist, but never live, and never escape God’s wrath.  Realizing that was coming, the devil grew all the more vengeful, angry, and violent.  But then, finally, the ultimate end came for him.  Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, defeated him and judged him and condemned him forever.  Then He cast him into the lake of fire, where he will always remain.
There, he will be completely engulfed from head to toe in the hottest flames that have ever burned.  His suffering will be without end and without pause.  The infinite wrath of an infinite God will be poured out upon him in full, excruciating measure.  And despite the power he wielded for a time on earth, there was never a single thing he could do to change that fact or improve his destiny.  For his epitaph was written long ago:  He “will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.”
Remember that the next time he bothers you.  Then take your focus off of him and start praising the Lord for what your future holds with Jesus.

Boring Pastor

An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps. “Where would you like to sit?” he asked politely.
“The front row please.” she answered.
“You really don’t want to do that,” the usher said. “The pastor is really boring.”
“Do you know who I am?” the woman asked.
“No,” he said.
“I’m the pastor’s mother,” she replied indignantly.
An uneasy silence for a moment, and then he asked, “Do you know who I am?”
“No,” she replied.
“Thank God,” he answered.