The weblog of the Bunnells, missionaries serving in Romania on behalf of
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
New Prayer Note
Please join us in prayer for God to reveal His perfect will on the “keys” to the city of Buzau and how and by what means He wants to reach this city.Pray for fresh vision and direction, as well as the grace to do as He wishes, moving our own plots and plans aside to follow His lead and give Him glory for all He does.
Pray for us to grow greater in love for the people in Buzau, who need Christ.
Pictured at left with me above is Dan Magureanu from Bucharest, who is not only a gifted evangelist, but a minister training other Romanian Christians to do evangelism with the program known in the US as Evangelism Explosion. And perhaps what I like most about him is that he not only does evangelism and trains others to do it, but provides them opportunities to put into practice what they have learned for the spreading of the gospel and the establishment of churches in unreached areas. This month for the first time he brought a team to work with us one Saturday in the parks of Buzau, sharing the gospel. The team, pictured with us below, saw two women make professions of faith in Christ on a day when several families and individuals were given their first-ever opportunity to share the gospel. It was a joyous time, and we look forward to working with Dan and his people again, with plans to make this outreach a monthly event, Lord-willing.
“They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching….
“and to fellowship….
“to the breaking of bread….
“and to prayer.”
These are some of the sights seen this week at the annual Calvary Chapel Romania ministry conference.We thank all those who prayed with us for this year’s conference, since it was a blessed time and the Lord gave unity and close fellowship to those who attended, and touched their hearts with His love in new ways so that they will be equipped for serving Him across Romania this year.
At this writing on Saturday evening, it looks like the people of Romania have voted by a better than 3-to-1 margin today to overrule the parliament's impeachment of President Traian Basescu a month ago. The constitutional court had found the president innocent of any crime or unconstitutional abuse of power, and the populace apparently agreed with them instead of with Basescu's political opponents who suspended him from office last month with vague accusations of wrongdoing.
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. . ." 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4
There may be no human relationship whose integrity is more vigorously attacked by our enemy the devil and by our rebellious sin nature than the relationship of the marriage bed. Our fleshly desires and the influences around us make constant war against God's call to purity. When we live outside the boundaries God has created for our protection and provision, and for His glory, it hurts us and our loved ones in tragic ways and opens the door for blasphemy from unbelievers. But when we allow Him to sanctify us, we become pure vessels, set apart to carry the good news of His salvation to the world. 1 Thessalonians 4 teaches us that when we belong to Christ, we don't have to be at the mercy of our sinful desires; we have the Holy Spirit within us to teach us how to control our own bodies in holiness and honor, and thus meet God's standards for sexual morality. Those unchangeable standards are found in the Bible and are easy to understand: Marriage is for one man and one woman for life. We are not to have sex with anyone to whom we are not married. We are not to refuse to meet our spouse's physical needs. We are not to lust after others in our hearts, but to keep our thoughts focused on that which is pure and allow ourselves to desire no one but our spouse. Brothers and sisters, if your life does not match God's design for sexuality, today is the day to ask for and receive Christ's forgiveness and allow Him to cleanse you from unrighteousness. If you are deviating from His standards in any way, the living word of God and the Holy Spirit of God plead with you now: Do not remain as you are; be sanctified and set free to serve Him. God has all of the power, all of the wisdom, and all of the strength necessary to bring about even radical changes in your lifestyle and thought life. Surrender to Him and let Him do His work today. Your sanctification is His will. Let His will for your life be done.
Tomorrow, the Romanian people will vote in an election on whether to agree with the parliament's dismissal of President Traian Basescu a month ago or overturn it at return him to office. Please pray for the right thing to happen for circumstances leading to God being glorified and His church being established in this country.
Yesterday it showed that people were praying as our team from Bucharest was here to do evangelism, in that people were much more open to talking about God and the Bible than the average people of Buzau are. We saw major spiritual warfare leading up to the day, but God was, as should be expected, victorious.
Many people heard the gospel explained to them for the first time in their lives, and two of them--both women--made professions of faith in Christ as Savior. We hope to welcome the ministry team to work with us one Saturday per month in ongoing partnership.
This Saturday (May 12th), Lord-willing, we’ll be joined by a team of 5-7 Romanians from Bucharest to spend a day of fellowship and evangelism together.Please pray for the team to have unity, boldness and grace to proclaim the gospel clearly, good weather so we have people to talk to in the parks, and for the fixing of the Bucharest ministry’s van, so that all seven team members might come.(If it is still not repaired, they will have to come in a car that will hold only five.)Perhaps some might even feel led of God to fast Friday part or all of the day in prayer for His glory in Buzau.
On Sunday, then, we will do child evangelism as we have been doing in the recent weekends.
DaveBunnell Romania The Missionary's Day weblog-- Authored by Dave Bunnell. Dave and his family are missionaries for Calvary Chapel Garland (Texas) . View their Romanian ministry website here. This blog features exciting stories about what God is doing on the mission field, as well as reflections on the Bible and thoughts about walking with Christ.
You may use the email link by clicking on my name in the paragraph above to contact me about anything on this site, or any questions you have on matters of faith.
Sing to the Lord, praise His Name; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens... Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns." --from Psalm 96
