Greetings to you all! I just wanted to send a brief update of what has happened these past months, and how the Lord has been gracious in using us to reach the people with His Word.
Recently, I had visited a city in the western part of India. Pastor J. invited me to preach in his small congregation. He has been laboring for the Lord to plant a church among a Telugu speaking people (though he does have several languages in his congregation). Most of the Telugu speaking people in his congregation are working in Textile industry, having migrated from other areas of the Telangana region. I was told that there are more than 400,000 Telugu speaking people living in that city.
In our four days of meetings, the Lord enabled me to preach on the Infallibility of the Word of God, and the Authenticity of the Bible. This is a topic that is very relevant for this region, as the people are being deceived into believing things that are outside the Bible. False teachers hold (by doctrine and practice) the stance that the Bible is not sufficient for life, and that there needs to be extra-biblical experiences and revelation (like dreams, visions, prophecies). This has done great damage to the Name of Christ and the reality of the sufficiency of His Word.
I was also blessed to briefly cover the topic of,
“How to Study the Bible.”
(Context, Observation, Meaning, Application) of study to help guide them in this area. I believe that this study helped attendees realize the importance of the Bible, it’s trustworthiness, and the importance of studying it properly.
Reformation Conference:
We also conducted a reformation conference at our church recently in celebration of 500th anniversary of the Reformation. We were blessed to have a couple of brothers from like-minded churches come and minister to us. This conference covered the medieval period of the church and the challenges it faced. We looked at Roman Catholicism, and how it departed from the Bible, its unbiblical teachings and practices, and how the Church suffered through them. We then looked at how the Lord raised up, and used Martin Luther to stand for the truth of the Scriptures.
We also looked into the 5 Solas of the Protestant Reformation, and how Scripture alone is the infallible rule of faith and practice, and how salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and for the glory of God. These teachings challenged us to stand for the truth in our days, just like Martin Luther and the other men of God, stood faithfully in their days. There were around 80 people who attended this conference, with many of them completely unaware of the history of the Reformation. Many of them appreciated this conference.
Christmas Meeting:
We also conducted a Christmas meeting on December 21st in order to share the gospel to many non-Christians. This is a time when many Hindu and Muslims are interested in the reasons behind the celebration of Christmas. I was able to preach Christ, and the reason why He was sent into the world. I used the prologue of the Gospel of John to show this. I also taught of the effects that the gospel brings to man. I used an illustration of two warring tribes in New Guinea, who found peace through an exchange of one another’s babies. The same way, God sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross to bring sinners to God the Father. Jesus is our peace, and He brings reconciliation to us through the cross.
One of the attendees, who is professor and non-Christian, attended for the first time. He was invited by one of our brothers whom he met just last week. He was telling everyone that the message preached was unforgettable, and he was really touched by it. More than 30 non-Christians attended this meeting. Praying and trusting that the Lord would use His Word to bring eternal change in each of their lives. Please pray with me.
Your co-laborer in in Christ
S Rajan.
