He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.  Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.  But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
--Isaiah 53:3-5

Here are the opening words to Pastor Chuck Smith's book, Why Grace Changes Everything: 

Have you ever pondered the significance of the simple phrase, "God loves you"? It may embody the most important truth anyone can grasp: that God has called us into a loving relationship with Himself. Our part is simply to trust and believe in the deep care and compassion God freely extends to us.

How beautiful it is to experience the freedom and joy of a love relationship with God! Yet how sad it is that there are so many who insist on relating to God in a legalistic way. Their righteousness is based on what they can do for the Lord instead of on what He has already done for them. They carry around a huge list of "do's and don'ts" to keep them bound to God.

I am no stranger to that depressing kind of negative righteousness. As I was growing up, I considered myself one of the most godly kids on the block because of what I didn't do. I didn't smoke. I didn't dance. I didn't go to shows. I was taught that such things were utterly sinful. So not only did I avoid those things, I also believed I was far more righteous than my weaker friends who indulged in them. I thought I was much more holy than the preacher's kid, who was known to pick up old cigarette butts and smoke them on the sly. I was above all that, and I was sure God noticed.

Still, I had a big problem. Although I didn't go to shows, I longed to see Snow White, so I felt condemned. I would get saved again every Sunday night and would promise God that next week was going to be different. I was lucky if my relationship with Him made it past breakfast Monday morning.

To read the rest of this book, available free online, go here.

Members of our email prayer circle already saw these items in the email they received yesterday, but I want to post them here for others who pray for us. 

Prayer notes – March 28

Item 1) Please pray for Marinela and her three friends who professed faith in Christ after studying the Bible with us in our home this weekend, for their spiritual growth.             

Item 2)  The hotel where we have our meetings has started turning away gypsies not letting them in so that they can go to our meetings.  Please pray for wisdom for us in trying to fix that problem, and also pray for God to provide a more permanent meeting place, so that we may make His word available to every race of people in Romania, without hindrance.  

Item 3) Please continue praying for our children's outreaches through gospel tracts and other means, and for our Easter outreach to all ages through tract distribution and the conversations it leads to on the street.        

Item 4) Next Tuesday, the monthly meeting for Calvary Chapel pastors and missionaries in Romania will be held at our place in Buzau.  Please pray for all those traveling here, and for God to bless that time of fellowship and use it to build up His laborers for the harvest here in Romania.

Item 5) Some church leaders of congregations in Slobozia, Fundata, and Calarasi (two cities and one village to the south of Buzau) expressed an interest in having us help their people learn to do and begin doing open air evangelism projects.  Please pray for God to open the right doors and help these churches reach out to the lost in their communities. 

Item 6) At the end of April, we're looking to begin doing evangelism with Romanians trained in Evangelism Explosion, for one Saturday a month, doing evangelistic outreach here in Buzau. 

Pastor Bobby is a pastor in South India that our sending church in Texas partners with.  Today an apparent attempt to take his life or abduct him was made by men outside his home pretending they were coming for a visit.  God gave him discernment that protected him from their grasp, for which we can praise the Lord.  I encourage you to say a prayer for him also, that God's protection will continue to be upon him and that his ministry will continue to be fruitful in a place where false religion dominates, persecution of Christians is harsh, and the spirits of darkness are strong. 

Sometimes, when ministers of the word, in the face of false teaching, choose to set the record straight on the fundamental truths of the gospel, they come under attack even from some who believe the gospel, but want them to be more "tolerant" of opposing views.  Dr. Harry Ironside's response to that viewpoint is more eloquently stated than my own would be, so I'll just post his brief essay here and encourage you to read it. 

Exposing Error: Is It Worthwhile?
By Dr. Harry Ironside

Objection is often raised even by some sound in the faith-regarding the exposure of error as being entirely negative and of no real edification. Of late, the hue and cry has been against any and all negative teaching. But the brethren who assume this attitude forget that a large part of the New Testament, both of the teaching of our blessed Lord Himself and the writings of the apostles, is made up of this very character of ministry-namely, showing the Satanic origin and, therefore, the unsettling results of the propagation of erroneous systems which Peter, in his second epistle, so definitely refers to as "damnable heresies."

        Our Lord prophesied, "Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Within our own day, how many false prophets have risen; and oh, how many are the deceived! Paul predicted, "I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch." My own observation is that these "grievous wolves," alone and in packs, are not sparing even the most favoured flocks. Undershepherds in these "perilous times" will do well to note the apostle's warning: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers." It is as important in these days as in Paul's-in fact, it is increasingly important-to expose the many types of false teaching that, on every hand, abound more and more.

        We are called upon to "contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints," while we hold the truth in love. The faith means the whole body of revealed truth, and to contend for all of God's truth necessitates some negative teaching. The choice is not left with us. Jude said he preferred a different, a pleasanter theme-"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 3, 4). Paul likewise admonishes us to "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Eph. 5:11).

        This does not imply harsh treatment of those entrapped by error-quite the opposite. If it be objected that exposure to error necessitates unkind reflection upon others who do not see as we do, our answer is: it has always been the duty of every loyal servant of Christ to warn against any teaching that would make Him less precious or cast reflection upon His finished redemptive work and the all-sufficiency of His present service as our great High Priest and Advocate.

        Every system of teaching can be judged by what it sets forth as to these fundamental truths of the faith. "What think ye of Christ?" is still the true test of every creed. The Christ of the Bible is certainly not the Christ of any false "-ism." Each of the cults has its hideous caricature of our lovely Lord.

        Let us who have been redeemed at the cost of His precious blood be "good soldiers of Jesus Christ." As the battle against the forces of evil waxes ever more hot, we have need for God-given valour.

        There is constant temptation to compromise. "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." It is always right to stand firmly for what God has revealed concerning His blessed Son's person and work. The "father of lies" deals in half-truths and specializes in most subtle fallacies concerning the Lord Jesus, our sole and sufficient Savior.

        Error is like leaven of which we read, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Truth mixed with error is equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent looking and, therefore, more dangerous. God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom Christ died.

        Exposing error is most unpopular work. But from every true standpoint it is worthwhile work. To our Savior, it means that He receives from us, His blood-bought ones, the loyalty that is His due. To ourselves, if we consider "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt," it ensures future reward, a thousand-fold. And to souls "caught in the snare of the fowler"-how many of them God only knows-it may mean light and life, abundant and everlasting.

Our Sunday evening Bible studies are held in the restaurant of a nearby hotel, which caused us a problem tonight, but God worked things out beautifully in the end of the evening. 

It started after we were already downstairs in the meeting room, and we didn't know what was happening upstairs until after the fact.  The people who run the hotel refused entry to four young women who had come to be in the Bible study, because they were gypsies.  (A people group that is looked down upon and mistreated here in Romania in the secular world outside the body of Christ).  We found out as we were leaving, when one of the hotel staff said they were waiting outside for us, and that the hotel can't afford to have gypsies in there, so they had turned them away.  We're seeking the Lord's wisdom on how to handle that situation, and we'll be asking Him to provide a new meeting place if something can't be worked out with the hotel owner.  Our meetings must be open to all Romanians, even though some of them might not wish it so. 

Thankfully, though, the four who had been kicked out persevered, staying there until we left and found out what happened.  We took them to our apartment to do the night's study there for them.  After a look at John 4 with them, all four made professions of faith in Christ.  These included two girls we had met before when my Dad was here last fall, who have come several times to our home to meet with us, (and even shown up at the hotel meetings before, and been allowed in until now).  They had heard the gospel several times, but tonight was the night they voiced readiness to trust Christ as their Savior.  The other two were girls we met for the first time today. 

They wanted to know if they can come in the future for our meetings.  Not knowing yet what will happen next week, we told them to meet us at our place half an hour before the scheduled meeting at the hotel, and we will all go there together.  Hopefully, we'll be able to just take them in without the hotel staff trying to hinder us.  But please be in prayer with us about that situation, and for God's provision of a new meeting place if we need that, as well as other arrangements for housing our mission teams when they come in from the US if needed.  (We won't take our teams and their money there, if the hotel bans us from having certain people attend the Bible studies in their meeting area.) 

On another note, rainy weather cancelled our park outreach for Saturday this week, but we'll look forward to many more opportunities for that in the coming months. 

We also had ministry this morning in Slobozia.  I preached at the church on Acts 12, and the people there seemed to be quite interested in God's word, which is always nice to see.  The church leaders have asked us to work with their congregations in Slobozia, Calarasi, and Fundata, to do evangelism training and help with doing open-air evangelism in their communities.  We'll be there again on Easter April 8, Lord-willing, and we'll look forward to God opening doors for that ministry.

This coming Saturday, we have tenatively scheduled some time for a visit here in Buzau with a leader of Evangelism Explosion for Romania, who will meet with us to make plans for bringing teams of trained Romanians to share the gospel with us here in Buzau, and we're looking forward to that. 

Many people have prayed with us for open doors for the gospel to go forth to the people of Buzau, and this year, we're looking at an opportunity that excites me perhaps more than anything we've done so far in evangelistic outreach since we moved here two years ago. 

A very good gospel tract designed for children, which you can read online here, has been translated into Romanian by my wife Lili and reproduced by Evantell, the ministry that made the tract.  They are granting us permission to publish and distribute the tract here in Romania.  Our vision is to use the tract distributing it to students this spring outside schools up to 8th grade as they enter and leave at the end of the day.  We'll also use the tracts with our balloon animal ministry in parks and other outreaches this summer.  This is an opportunity to give a clear, inviting presentation of the gospel to potentially thousands of kids in the city, who are at an age that they might be more open to the gospel than those who are older and more set in their ways. 

Please pray for this project to come together, and for God to continue to bless it, beginning with giving us wisdom on which local printing house to work with, and providing funding for us to produce large numbers of the tract. 

These words from H. A. Ironside's commentary on the book of Acts (chapter 12 when Peter was in prison) are a simple and true statement that is worth reading, so I am posting them here to pass them along to you. 

   "People say sometimes, 'Why do we need to pray?  Does not our gracious God know all about us and what we need far better than we do?'  But we learn from God's Word that He has chosen to do in answer to prayer what He might not do apart from prayer.  He gives in answer to prayer some things He will not give apart from it--'You have not, because you ask not.'  So prayer is the resource of God's needy people--prayer for ourselves, prayer in behalf of others.
   "Here you have the whole church in Jerusalem praying for Peter.  And while they were praying, God was working.  Things had gone on until it looked as though there was no hope for Peter.  God had permitted him to remain in prison many days.  He gave no sign, yet all the time He was working....
(And then Peter was miraculously freed by an angel.) 
   "...you see (God's) marvelous power in delivering His servant in answer to prayer.  For while the church was praying, God was working.  That is the way it always is.  Do you know why we do not see a greater demonstration of divine power among us?  Because there is so little prayer."

                                                --Ironside     

Presenting the gospel

The gospel is the good news that Christ lived a righteous life in our place, died in our place on a cross, absorbing all of God’s punishment for our sins, and rose again to give us who trust in Him life and fellowship with Him forever. 

There are many methods for sharing the gospel, but there is only one gospel.  Make sure you’re prepared to share the essentials of the gospel message.  It is advisable to avoid presentations like this:  “Ask Jesus into your heart and you will be saved.”  To us as Christians, that might mean something, but there is no cross, no redemption or need of redemption, and no forgiveness of sins in that message.  So a person who prays asking Jesus into his heart, but hasn’t actually heard and understood the gospel, will not be saved, but may think he has been—a more dangerous position than he was in spiritually before we witnessed to him. 

How do we avoid making a mistake like that in evangelism?  By focusing on what really is the gospel message.  What are we really trying to get the lost person to understand? 

That Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead. 

1)       You are a sinner.

2)       Your sin separates you from God and makes you worthy of punishment, because He is holy and perfect and cannot let you into heaven with sins on your record. 

3)       In spite of this, God loves you and wants you to be saved. 

4)       So Jesus became a man.  He lived a perfect life in your place.  Then He died a perfect death in your place on the cross.  He took the punishment for your sins, so He could give you the reward for His righteousness.  Then He rose again, conquering your sins and ending the punishment for them forever. 

5)       To be saved, you must believe these things and make a decision to trust in Christ to save you and forgive your sins.  

6)       If you trust in your church, your good works, your religious activity, or anything else, it will keep you from the kind of faith in Christ that saves.  You must admit nothing you can do will get you to heaven, and you must trust in Jesus alone to save you. 

7)       You can be saved right now, if you will make this decision. 

Key point on evangelizing:  Just giving information of the gospel but not inviting the person to trust Christ is stopping short of what they need to hear.  On the other hand, just inviting them to trust Christ without the information of the gospel may leave them not knowing how to be saved.  True evangelism involves both sharing the information of the gospel message and giving an invitation to the person to trust Christ right now. 

Your Testimony

Be prepared to witness to others with your personal testimony of salvation.  It is biblical to do so, and there are at least two major instances in the book of Acts where the apostle Paul uses his personal testimony of salvation to lead others to faith in Christ. 

The keys to writing a good effective testimony for evangelism are these:

1)      Speak the truth from the heart

2)      Make sure a clear presentation of the gospel is in your testimony as you share it—share how you came to understand who Jesus is and what He did for you, and how you put your trust in Him to be saved

3)      Focus your testimony on the issue of eternal life in heaven and how it is obtained.  This makes your testimony apply to every other person on earth who can then relate to it because what happened to you needs to happen to them. 

4)      Close your testimony by asking them if they would like also to have eternal life with God in heaven as you have.  This transitions the conversation so that you can present the gospel and invite them to trust Christ.