68. Aaron – The Gospel of Grace is changing lives in Indonesia

Name: Aaron
Date: Jan 2008
Location: Indonesia
Note: Aaron is personal friend and a minister of the gospel. He preaches in churches and teaches in a Bible school in Indonesia. He is on Daily Rhema.


Dear Joshua,

After being exposed to about 12 Indonesian churches, sometimes having preached more than once in some of these 10 churches (in Jakarta, Batam, Medan and Surabaya), I realized that they are deeply entrenched in the law approach. Living the Christian life is a struggle for many of them.

For many of these churches the emphasis is "to do” in order for God to love and accept them. Messages like "if you don't give God can't bless you", "the tsunami is a sign of God's judgment because of sin", "and you must be holy before you can approach God" - is without the revelation of the finished work of Christ.

Each time I preach on the lavish love of the Father from Luke 15, the people had reservations about God’s unconditional love. As long as the believers are taught to believe that they have to do something to be accepted and loved by God, they will be frustrated because none of us are able to be perfectly righteous to deserve salvation.

It was only in 2004 that I decided the only way to help them is to bring to them an understanding of the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God which brings salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16-17). The Gospel of Christ is about what Christ has done for us on the cross. It is about the righteousness of God through Christ.

I started to study all 16 chapters of Romans and each time I preach in the churches or teach in bible schools it is all about the Gospel of Christ.

The Gospel of Christ is also called the "Gospel of Grace" or the "Gospel of Peace". When believers believe that God is no longer angry with them but at peace with them, their hearts begin to be receptive to God. And they begin to see God as a loving Father. They begin to experience His grace.

I have since taken time to teach them slowly line upon line until they begin to understand that meeting together on Sunday for a formal worship service is not to do something to please God, but to keep seeing how much God has DONE FOR US.

Having taught about 3 batches of bible students totaling about 30 students, the process of change have begun - this is because they told me that they are now able to differentiate between the good-news message and the "bad-news message" which they have been hearing for such a long time. They are responding to the good news of the gospel, and many are experiencing revival.

One evening, after teaching on the gospel of grace in a church, an elder came to shake my hands and told me how he appreciated the teaching sessions - he also said that he never understood the Bible that way before and hoped that I would come back soon.

Another sister in her late twenties told me that what I taught concerning the Gospel of Christ should be taught to everyone in Indonesia.

I had the joy of hearing a fulltime worker said this to me: “During the worship in church on Sunday I just started to weep - I have never wept like that before - I could not continue playing the keyboard and asked someone to take over my place. I went to sit with the other believers but I continued to be overtaken by tears.” It was the work of the Holy Spirit.

These are some of the things that have happened because God loves His own people. The Gospel of Christ is drawing many people back into an intimate relationship with God in Indonesia.

Aaron