Italy

Thursday afternoon, Lucio Stanisci and I sat down in North Hills California as he told me about his work in Italy.  Less than .01% of the 70 million population is what we call Evangelical Christian.  That is, most of the country claims Catholicism while holding to things quite contrary to the gospel of Jesus the Messiah as presented in scripture.....but that will be dealt with in another post.

Friday evening, my family accepted an invitation from Lucio to attend an open house for friends and family of their ministry.  It was a wonderful evening hearing how the Lord is preparing men at the seminary to go to Italy, the "missionary graveyard" as it's called, to preach the clear gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's called the missionary graveyard because most missionaries leave Italy within 5 years never to return.  The gospel message is what Christ did on the cross, that He completely saves man, to those who believe and submit their lives to Him, and that good works play no part in salvation.  Good works are a result of salvation like turning the car on is a result of having gas in the tank.  But turning the car on (good works) does not put gas in the tank as Catholicism claims.  Catholicism says that we are saved by faith and justified by works, which is a heretical doctrine according to scripture.

There is a dire need in Italy for solid churches and a great need for men to be trained in the exegetical study of God's word.  That simply means that a man can look at the grammar, the context and the historical setting of a passage (among a few other things) and determine what the writer meant to convey to the original audience.  This sounds basic, that a person could read the Bible and understand what is means, but that very notion is under severe attack here in the USA as well as abroad.  "That's your interpretation", "what does the Bible mean to you?" are common ways this ideology is used.

Lucio and another missionary named Massimo Mollica are called to preach and teach the word of God, to plant Biblical churches and to train the indigenous leadership to shepherd their own sheep.  What a fun evening it was!  Tears were shed by some of the Italians that night as they dreamed the gospel will be once again spread to their people.

Lucio explains the situation much better than I.  Want to meet Lucio?  Watch this clip.  http://www.gty.org/Resources/Videos/Story01

Want to meet Massimo?  Click here:  http://www.gracechurch.org/mollica

May the Word of the Lord go forth.
(Oh yah, two more days of Gladiator Greek!!!!)

FOTS

Fellowship of The Saints.  This is the Sunday morning class Ann and I are part of at Calvary Bible Church in Burbank.  It's comprised of people 25-90 years old.

This morning I had the opportunity to teach on "loving one another".  The capstone of our gift from the Holy Spirit.  The greatest gift we have.  Even if a man can do all miracles, but has not love, he is nothing.  If a person has the faith to move mountains, but has not love, he is nothing.  People will know that we are true disciples by our love.

It was a fun yet convicting lesson to teach.  Very encouraging too, as God continues His work in us and through us: a work that He will finish until the day of Christ Jesus.

I hope you are doing well.  I pray you are pursuing the Lord through His word and prayer on a daily basis.  I pray you are serving in a church and loving those who are your neighbor.  In John 13, Christ gave us a new command to love others as He has loved us.  Loving others is not new, but loving others as He has loved us, in His humanity here on earth, full of submission to the Father and gracious to even Judas as he washed his feet the night he would betray Jesus....yes, that is new.

Baptism Class

One of the many joys I have in being an intern at Calvary Bible Church is teaching their Baptism class.  After a person gets saved, that is they trust Jesus as Savior and live as His servant, they are told in the Holy Scriptures to be baptized as a public identification with him.

The best thing about the class is getting to work with people on writing out their testimony before they get baptized.  Their testimony is their story of how Christ drew them to Himself, saved them and changed their life.  It is pretty neat to see how many different ways a person comes to trust in Jesus as Savior.  They all hear and respond to the same gospel, but their circumstances are all very different.

A question for you.  How many kinds of baptism are spoken of in the New Testament?  1, 3 or 6?  The answer is 6.  Did you know that?  I didn't, until I looked into the scriptures just like I ask those who attend the class to do.  I'd encourage you to do the same.  Remember - Baptism means immerse.  So one can be immersed into many things.  The hard thing is not to bring your presuppositions to the scripture but to let the scripture speak for itself.

Dave

Prayer with the Elders

Once a week the time comes for prayer with the Elders.  This is a very enjoyable time of praying for the people of our church, city and nation.  For those not at our church, there is a prayer and praise list printed up each week from requests turned in on Sunday.  That list is provided to the elders and the church prayer team to pray over each week.  We end the prayer time each week by praying with each other at the mtg.  It's a great way to stay in touch with the body (the church) and each other.

Had a nice time reading the Word this morning at 5:30am at Starbucks.  Why go to starbucks?  A friend invited me to come over and bought me a coffee.  We didn't talk much.  Just read and enjoyed good fellowship.  This friend and I have been texting each other daily in the morning to try and encourage the other to get up early and study the Word and pray.  Try it.  Find a friend who can mutually encourage you to draw closer to the Lord.  Do so on a daily basis.  The Lord is good.

Jesus is God

Jesus is God.

If a person knows this, believes it and lives like it, life is different.  It cannot and does not stay the same.  A person's life before knowing Christ and after are and should be drastically different.  When they aren't, then a person should read 1 John.

1 John is written to believers who need to be encouraged of their salvation and to fight against the heresy of the day, which is still prevalent in our day, that a persons talk and walk don't have to match.  What people say today is "that's nice for you" or "I have my own relationship with God, but don't go to church, study my Bible or pray much".  Of course this goes against the picture of the true Christian life painted in 1 John.  "Those who love God, obey Him".  Notice, it's his way or no way.  There is no ambiguity in that statement.

1 John is what I'll be studying in the Greek over the next 5 weeks.  I'm really looking forward to it.

On the family side of things, some of the income we had coming in, is no longer coming in.  Please pray the Lord continues to provide for our needs.  We know and trust that He will.  If that comes in the form of a job for me, please pray I am able to manage my schedule and family well.

I'm half way through Gladiator Greek.  Ann and I are both very tired from the rigors of my schooling.  Please pray the Lord provides in such a way, in all areas of our life, that we are able to press on.  A good friend of mine here at TMS has just decided not to register for the Fall for many reasons (all personal).  The fight to stay here at school is real....

Praying for you,
dave

At war....

This Christian phrase, at war with the flesh, means one is constantly battling against the desires of the world.  Desires to live sinfully.

But we must walk by the Spirit. (and through the power of the Spirit)

We must submit ourselves to Christ as Lord and Savior.

"For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. " Gal 5:17 CHRISTIANS do not live to please themselves.  They live for the purpose of another.  They live to glorify God.  Do not wait until your dying day to try and turn your life over to Christ. This past week I went to visit a family.  The Dad was literally dying.  My pastor shared the gospel with him from John Chapter 3.  Hopefully this man could hear and turned his heart to the Lord. The man died 6 hours after we left.  His funeral is next week.  Please pray for this family...for those left behind.  Pray that those of them who aren't saved, that they will confess with their mouth Jesus as Lord and submit to their lives to Him. Eternity is at stake.  Where do you stand?  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2010:9-17&version=NASB This life, the things of this world, are not worth an eternity in Hell.

Elle Turns 5

Seems like yesterday that...OK, not really. Elle was born in Laguna Beach California, around 7am, 5 years ago. Amidst all the studies, meetings and ministry, the Lord provided a nice time with the family as we celebrated Elle's birthday.

Since our yard is 90% in the front of the house, not much goes on without the neighborhood kids showing up. Once word got out that Elle was having a birthday, a few more guests started to show. Ann anticipated this and made an extra cake....what fun!

Here's a few pics of the occasion.
(first post of pics...hard to read text I know...sorry)