Independence Day in America! Wow, how we DO take that for granted, I thought. I was reminded about a talk my good friend Scott Wolfe gave one time about Dependence vs. Independence...we strive for independence in so many ways, but "God's economy" is built on dependence! A difficult concept to wrap our heads around many times.
After breakfast, one of the main Romanian pastors offered the devotional out of Mark 12:28-34. He asked, "What happens when a Christian loves God?" He went on to say that Jesus - in this passage - condensed all of the Scriptures into one phrase - LOVE GOD...from this, everything spokes off of this.
He said the most important thing is not so much that we believe in God (for the Bible says that even the demons believe in God), but LOVING THE GOD IN WHOM YOU BELIEVE. 1 Corinthians 8:3 says, "...but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him." When I believe in God, I know Him (or at least know about Him), but when I love God, I know Him AND He knows me...it's more of a two way relationship!
When you love God: You love yourself, your enemies, you love His word, you like to pray, etc.... Very powerful stuff.
We loaded up and got ready to head to Sacalaz, a community about 15 minutes from our hotel. Sacalaz is a community that Mocanu has been serving for about 5 years now. He is considered - from a popularity standpoint - much like the mayor of the village. LOTS of people know him there and the church is much more well known.
As we were getting ready to load the van, Mocanu introduced me to a new translator, Andrea. He told me that her neighbor (who goes to Golgatha Church) had heard about the work that we were going to be doing and that there was a need for translators. She knew that Andrea was a neat girl, but not a Christian. Andrea accepted the opportunity to come with us because she thought that she could help, and also brush up on her English...so she loaded up with us.
Overnight, Kandace had gotten very sick and was unable to join us. As we were driving to Sacalaz, Mocanu asked me if Lauren would be willing to lead her own team, separate from me to make up for the loss of Kandace. I was obviously concerned about safety for Lauren on the one hand (also because, remember, my wife had agreed to let her go only if I never let her out of my sight), but after talking to Mocanu, understanding the area of Sacalaz a little and knowing who she would be paired with, I felt pretty comfortable in her going...and we wouldn't be that far away from each other. Once comfortable there, I considered the fact that Lauren was really ready - from a spiritual standpoint - to make this transition. I felt that the Lord had some neat things to teach her that He could only teach her when she was "out from under my wing". Over the past two days, I could see that she was chomping at the bit to "run the conversation" instead of me doing it...she would always be whispering in my ear things like "Daddy, you need to say this...." or "Daddy, can I ask them if they want to accept Jesus yet?", etc. It was time. I asked that the Lord would protect her and reveal Himself to her through this.
When we got to Sacalaz, I presented Lauren with this new proposition of her going out on her own. I didn't know how she would feel about it - and I was not going to force her to do it - but (not surprisingly) she jumped at the chance! We met her new translator, a sweet young lady named Astrid, who spoke English very well, Danny (who had been with us for the past two days and, I was confident, would really watch out for her...although he didn't speak English), and a younger boy named Andre. We met as a big group, got to know some of the new Romanian/Sacalaz volunteers, prayed for the Lord to bless our time, and went out. I went off with Lauren separately and prayed with her, encouraging her that she could do it and to rely on Jesus to give her the words to say and when to say them. She was excited!
I went with Danielle and Andrea. We turned down one street and found about 3 boys (and 2 more who came soon after) who were playing frisbee. We stopped to talk to them, showed them the Cube, and all 5 wanted to accept Jesus as Savior! We led them in a prayer to receive Christ. When we finished, I worked with Andrea to talk to another young man who had arrived on the scene...at first he appeared too cool to talk to us, but we had a nice conversation. There was much distraction on the street at that point, and I could tell that while he seemed genuinely interested in what we were talking about, he was also being pulled back in to the "life" he had around him. We asked him if he wanted to accept Jesus as Savior, and after awhile talking about it, what that meant, etc, he decided that he was not ready. I told him that I could respect that - choosing to follow Jesus Christ is not a decision one should take lightly - but that he should also consider that it was no coincidence that God had brought me to that street corner on that day, and that he had been there at that time to hear THAT message. NO COINCIDENCE at all. This was appointed by God. I jokingly then said, "No pressure! Really." I invited him to come to the church Thursday night if he had other questions, that we would be there and would love to continue the conversation. He thanked us and took off.
At that point, the street that we were on became pretty deserted - compared to all the activity we had experienced right as we turned the corner. I took that opportunity to talk to Andrea. I asked her what she thought about all that we had been talking about with these different people. She said, "I think it's nice, it's a nice thing to talk about". I then asked her if she believed what we were talking about. She said, "Yes I believe in God and in Jesus." So I said, "Okay, if you were to die today, and Jesus were appear to you in front of the gates of Heaven, and He asked, 'Andrea, why should I let you in to my perfect Kingdom?', what would you say? Where would you go and why?" Andrea thought for a moment and said, "Well, I am a good person and I go to church, but I don't think that I can say for sure if I would go to Heaven. Only God knows that." I responded, "Andrea, what if I told you that God wanted YOU to know how you could go to Heaven - without a doubt - would you be interested in finding out about that?" She said, "Yes, I would." So, we talked some more about how God loves us...how He created us and has longed to have an intimate relationship with us. However, because of our sin (Romans 3:23 "ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." and Romans 6:23 "The wages of sin is death.") that we are born in to, we are separated from Him...He can't allow sin to enter is perfect and holy kingdom. But because God loved us so much, He provided a way for us to spend eternity with Him, through His son Jesus Christ. God sent His Son, Jesus, to come to earth, live a perfect life and die on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for my sins, your sins, everyone's sins. Through His death we can have the forgiveness of sins - once and for all. Through His death we can be justified and reconciled to God...but we must make a choice. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, accept through Me." Jesus is THE WAY that God provided to have a relationship with Him...not a way, but THE way. I told her that if there were other ways for us to get to Heaven, that Jesus died for nothing (Galatians 2:21). Through God's grace, He gave us this gift...we have done nothing to deserve it, but because of His grace and His mercy, we can accept this gift, and be made holy, because of what Jesus has done. I used the analogy - when you wake up Christmas morning and run down to the tree and look for presents that have your name on them, when do those presents really become yours? When you take possession of them, right? I could point to that present under the tree that has my name on it and say, "Yep, that's mine! See, it has my name on it!" But until I take the gift, unwrap it, and possess it as my own, I don't really "GET it". It is like this with Jesus. God has given us the gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus. Jesus paid the price for EVERYONE'S sins, and the forgiveness of sins is wrapped up in this gift. BUT, unless you accept Him as your Lord and Savior, you don't possess the gift.
I asked her...would you like to accept God's free gift of salvation today? Andrea said, "Yes, I would." AWESOME! We prayed there in the street and we rejoiced at what God had done. We walked back to the church for lunch.
When we got back to the church, I found Lauren there, who looked a little upset. I asked her how the morning had gone for her and she said okay...she had gotten to lead 3 people to Christ. I was thrilled! She looked less than happy about it though. When we finally boiled it all down and talked through the "smokescreen" (she and I actually got into an argument that I won't detail here, but I wasn't really proud of it - I was too impatient with her!), she wasn't having as much fun because she didn't have a strong relationship with any of her team. I was so concerned about the safety aspect of sending her out on her own, that I overlooked the relationship aspect. She wanted to be with me in the afternoon, so that's what we did. I encouraged her though, that even though she had not felt as connected to her team, God STILL used her to draw 3 people to Himself! Wow. Still, I thought that we should hang together in the afternoon. I was very proud of her for stepping out, trying something new - even though it was outside of her comfort zone. She did an awesome job!!
We went in, had lunch, and as a group celebrated Andrea as being our new sister in Christ...we cheered her and had a great time.
After lunch, Lauren, Andrea, Danielle and I went back down the same street I had gone down earlier with Andrea and Danielle. We ended up only talking to 2 people, but had a great conversation with one lady - Dora - for 2 hours! She had tons of questions - great ones - saying that she was confused after having talked with Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, 7th Day Adventists, Orthodox, etc as to what the central issue was. All claim to be Christian. We talked about a lot of things, but tried to bring it back to the fact that JESUS is the focus. If any religion/denomination puts a heavier emphasis on something else other than Jesus, then it is suspect, and should be questioned. If that religion/denomination communicates that the way to Heaven/salvation is anything other than Jesus Christ alone or if they preach Jesus plus something else, then it is contrary to what the Bible teaches. When I told her that God wanted to have a personal relationship with her through His Son Jesus, it was difficult for her to accept...in fact, she couldn't accept it. She said that she had done too many wrong things. I pointed out that Saul, before he trusted Jesus as Savior became Paul, murdered and locked up Christians! She was still wrestling with all that in her own life. I am thankful for Dora and pray that the Lord will continue to reveal Himself to her by whatever means necessary. She said that she would enjoy having Mocanu come visit her and talk some more. That was cool.
We went back to the church and loaded up to grab some dinner. Quite a full day! We recapped and as a team we "CUBED" 24 people, 12 of whom made a decision to trust Jesus as Savior!! Thank you Lord!
When we got back to the room, Lauren and I talked about the day. I apologized to her for getting upset with her. I asked her if perhaps we could arrange it for her to be with Diana as her translator, would she be interested in going it alone again Thursday...I made sure that she knew there was no pressure to do so, but I still felt as if she was ready. There were just a few too many "new" things that were in the mix this morning. Her face lit up and she said, "Yes, I'd really like to go with Diana!" I told her that we would have to pry her away from Bill (Diana had become like a daughter to Bill over the week - she had been his only translator), but we would see what we could do.
We prayed, thanking God for all He had done in us, through us and with us today. Because of my conversation with Dora, I looked up a number of verses that deal with forgiveness, just in case we ran into her again Thursday. I am sure that there are more than this, but in case any of you readers may struggle with this, here is what I found...may the Lord reveal Himself to you through His written word:
Acts 10:43
Acts 13:38
These are written to the Christians at Ephesus & Colossi - as to what they now have "in Christ" - as new creations in Him:
Ephesians 1:7
Colossians 1:13-14; 19-23
Colossians 2:13-14
We slept hard as usual.
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