2 Corinthians 5:17, 18  “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.  Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”

We are filled with praise and joy in the Lord as we relate to you all the wonderful things the Lord is doing here in Italy.  Since the middle of June, 10 new believers have asked Jesus Christ to forgive their sins and come into their heart as their Lord and Savior.  God is harvesting His field and with great joy and humility we thank Him for allowing us to be a small part of it.  

Without the Lord drawing the people to himself there would be nothing here, but because He is doing all the work, our joy overflows we see hearts moved, broken and thankfully praising the Lord for His great salvation.  When we talk to people we find they know about Jesus, but they don’t know Him as their Lord and Savior.
•    Christian, from England, and her father David both asked Jesus into their lives after viewing the Left Behind Series.
•    Alex, a Christian Romanian, we talked to at the beach, and his cousin, Adrian, rode their bikes in the scorching sun to church.  Adrian,14 years old      asked Jesus into his heart.
•    Enzio, a good friend of Chris’s who works three job came to the church and accepted the Lord, he is witnessing to his girlfriend now.  
•     We met Nathaniel (24) and his mother at Maria’s restaurant, she had been talking to him and his mother about the Lord.  Maria called us to come to dinner and speak to them.  They came to our table and as Maria translated Nathaniel accepted Jesus as his savior,  They both have come to the church.
•    Mico, who owns a construction company and his girlfriend have been coming to church for many weeks, he recently asked the Lord into his heart, now his favorite words are, “ Praise the Lord”.
•    On Monday evening, Jo took Erich to a friend of his cousins who owns a gas station and was having troubles.  Erich spoke to him for quite some time, then invited him to the movie Fireproof.  After the movie, he gave his heart to the Lord.
•    John Luca, (24) came to the Bible Study in Rome on Sunday Morning, he asked Jesus to come into his heart as his Lord and Savior.
•    Lilly Anna (86) and her friend Valentina (96)  both asked Jesus into their hearts in the lobby of a hotel they were vacationing at. Maria translated as Erich shared the scriptures with them.  Both said they knew about Jesus but didn’t know how to get saved.

•    The video of the latest baptism is on our website  praizegod.com,
•    Please join us in prayer for the new converts in Italy as they reach out to their family and friends telling them all about their relationship with the Lord  Jesus Christ.  

•    We thank the Lord for family and friends like you who pray for us and share in the blessings of what the Lord is doing here in Italy. The following scripture keeps us focused on the Lord and what He is doing.
•    Psalms 90:12 Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom”
•    A little laughter for the month.  We bought some sunscreen, we could only find it in the children’s department.   After spreading it on our face and arms we noticed how white it made us.  So we got the dictionary out and read what it was for:  We had a great laugh as we found out it was not sunscreen, it was diaper rash ointment!! 
–
Erich and Jean Grieshaber

JOHN 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…full of grace and truth.”

Grace is more than prayer before a meal, It is God sending his only Son to die as a criminal so that God’s enemies might live.  From the perspective of most human beings, grace is a free gift–undeserved and unearned.

From God’s perspective, grace is a priceless sacrifice--costly and precious.  Such great grace deserves great gratitude.  The following is Jonathan Edwards explanation:

1.  “It was total grace that God gave us his only begotten Son.
2.   Grace is great because of the excellency of what is given.  The gift was infinitely precious because it was a person of infinite glory, one infinitely near and dear to God, one infinitely worthy.
3.  Grace is great in proportion to the benefit we have in Him: deliverance from an infinite,  eternal misery, and enjoyment of eternal joy and glory.
4.   Grace is great in proportion to our unworthiness; instead of deserving such a gift, we merited infinite ill from God’hands.
5.  Grace is a free gift.  It was what God was under no obligation to bestow.
It was what we did nothing to merit.
It was given while we were yet enemies, and before we had so much as repented.
It was from the love of God that saw no excellency in us to attract it.
It was given without expectation of ever being repaid for it.”

We pray that you accept God’s gift of Grace through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus, emptied Himself, came to this earth as a babe, lived, taught and died for each of us. Because of His death and Resurrection all who believe in Him will receive God’s Great gift of Grace and Eternal Life.

Erich and Jean Grieshaber

G=GREATEST
R=RESTORATION
A=ACTION
C=CHRISTIANS
E=EXPERIENCE

2 CORINTHIANS 12:6  “AND HE SAID TO ME, “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.”

GRACE MEANS THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO TO MAKE GOD LOVE US MORE.

GRACE MEANS THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO TO MAKE GOD LOVE US LESS.

GRACE MEANS THAT GOD ALREADY LOVES US AS MUCH AS AN INFINITE GOD CAN POSSIBLE LOVE.

Is there someone in your life that is not where you want them to be?  Remember God’s grace and what it means.  It is the greatest restoration action Christians experience. Ask yourself, where is that person in God’s restoration action?  The person may not be where you want them to be, but be assured, they are in God’s restoration process  and the Lord’s grace is sufficient for all of us.

Are you at a point in your life that you’re not satisfied?  Remember what the Lord told Paul and us, “My Grace is Sufficient for You.”  You are in the restoration process given to you by the Lord.  Thank the Lord daily for your restoration and always remember, one day we will be with Him and all will be restored.

May the Lord Bless you on this wonderful Resurrection Day as you turn your heart to the Lord and experience His wonderful GRACE.

John 3:36,
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

How many of us Christians really think about the tremendous consequences of not sharing the gospel with the billions of people who are lost throughout the world, because they do not believe in the Son, Jesus Christ.  How sad to realize that when they die they will all experience the wrath of God.  Do your hearts cry out as ours, “Lord, use us to reach the lost, whenever and where ever You desire not our will but Your will only.”

Jesus assures us the harvest field is ripe, in your family, in your neighborhood, work place, recreational place, city, country, the world over. We pray that your desire is the same as ours, “Lord we are your ready and willing laborers, please send us to work in your fields every day of our lives.”

Matthew 9:37, 38 “The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few. (38) Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

In October the Lord sent us to Latina, Italy a community we knew nothing about, but the Lord did!  He heard the prayers of a faithful Italian couple, Luca and Deborah Sinastra, as they were asking the Lord to send them laborers in the harvest field where He had planted them,  Luca grew up in a Christian home and has ministered for many years in Italy.  Debora and he attended a Bible School in Florida and have established a church in their home with faithful families attending.

The Lord immediately immerged us into this community of 150,000 souls, most do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Daily we walk the streets, praying, sharing the gospel with tracts and hold conversations.with those the Lord leads us to.  The one-on-one Bible Studies continue with ones who have accepted the Lord this enables them to grow in their walk with the Lord as they can ask questions and interact with the studies. Erich also preaches on Sunday evening in Luca’s home.  The home church experiences much opposition from the people in Luca’s apartment building They claim to be disturbed with the the singing and praising of the Lord.  Even though we try to keep it as quiet as possible.  It’s so strange about the complaints for the people have to put up with the disturbance of the peace from the pubs often located in the bottom floor of the apartment buildings, the one across from us goes on until 1 in the morning with loud speakers resounding off of our building. This week a older woman in the pent house above Luca 3rd floor apartment decided she would take matters into her own hands and do something about this group of people attending the Bible Study. so she got in the elevator and rode it up and down keeping the doors closed so no one could enter, therefore most of us walked down the three flights of stairs after the meeting carrying chairs and instruments. Suddenly we heard a loud bang on the 2nd floor and a lot of screaming and banging.  The lady had pushed too many buttons causing the elevator to break and was stuck between two floors.  It took the fire department 2 hours to break the doors down and get her out.  She then told her story of how she was tired of people coming to the Bible Study using the elevator and attempted to stop them.   Today we acquired a meeting hall in the hotel to have our Sunday evening service in.  Praise the Lord for He meets all our needs.  We have many people who want to come to the service so now we won’t be hindered by space or objections from the neighbors.

Would you please join us in prayer for salvation for the people we have ministered to this week on the streets.
1.  Salvation for the three men we met at the park playing the bongo’s they said they are willing to come to the church.  They are homeless and need the Lord.
2.  Salvation for the man in the Internet store, he is planning to bring some friends.
3.  Salvation for the local Baker and his son who is recovering from a serious accident.
4.  The restaurant owner and cook where we often visit.
5.  The young Chinese cook who said he wants a Bible Study.
6.  Salvation for an Italian man that Erich and Luca have been meeting with.
7.  Pray for the people coming to the church to reach out to their family and friends.
8.  Pray for a car so we can pick people up, as the buses don’t run on Sunday in many of the out skirting towns.
9.  Pray for the three girls from the Philippines for salvation.
10.  Pray for the families that are split apart because of legalism.
11.  Pray for laborers to come to the ripe harvest fields.
12.  Pray for the financial needs of the ministry as it takes $1.50 to buy one Euro , so we loose half our purchasing power.
13.  Chris plays the Jembe, percussion drums, please pray for him to get one so he can join the band for worship.
14. Pray for the Lord to open closed doors for many others to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our prayer for all our family and friends is for the Lord’s to bless you and your families and the ministry He’s put you in.

Love in our Lord Jesus Christ,  Erich and Jean Grieshaber

Just a short note about the new year ……..