Dear Brothers and sisters,

It is with great joy do I write to you that we baptized four people yesterday and welcomed them into the church membership. We baptized Yogesh, Koteswari, Mary and Rajitha in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We give thanks to the Lord for doing that Supernatural Act of converting these people by changing their stony hearts into the hearts of flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the power of the Gospel message. We have clearly witnessed how powerful the gospel message is in the past few months. We can identify ourselves with the Apostle Paul when he says 

“ And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 

1 Cor 2:1-2

And Paul goes on to say that his confidence is not in the wisdom of men but in the power of God, which is the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Let me share with you the testimonies of Yogesh, Koteswari, Mary and Rajitha briefly so that you will continue to pray for them.

‘Yogesh’ has been coming to our church for the last four years. It is kind of sad that the people who introduced him to the church are no longer coming to the church. Yogesh’s conversion is an answer to our prayers. We prayed for him to be saved for nearly 3 years. God is a prayer-answering God. Yogesh, like many of us, has had the privilege of hearing the gospel many times but he only viewed church as a Sunday gathering event. Although he thought that it was a good idea to go to church on Sundays, he was not prepared to cut off his ties with the world and sin. After many persuasive gospel conversations, the Lord in His Grace, opened the eyes of Yogesh and now he clearly sees that he is a sinner and confessed that he was blown away by the fact that Christ took his place on the cross to save him. He works for a semi-governmental firm in V___________ and he is single. He desires to help the church in the future. He also wants to get a better job. Please pray that he will remain with us in the church in V___________ and be a witness for Christ. Please pray for his family. They do not have a hope that Yogesh has (they are unbelievers). And thank you all who have prayed for his conversion.

Koteswari was a regular attendee of a Roman Catholic Church since many years. She always thought that she was a good person. She also saw a lot of church-going and baptized people acting like anybody else. She was certainly confused when she saw a lot of professing Christians who were acting like everyone does. We challenged her beliefs many times by showing her the scriptures. It was in the past few months she discovered that it was not by doing good works will we be saved but trusting solely in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. This simple understanding changed her life completely. She is very much happy to commit herself to the local church and would like to serve the Lord in whatever capacity she can. Please pray that she may be a powerful witness for Christ in her community. She is single and pray that the Lord would bless her in the future.

Mary was born in a nominal Christian family. She went to a Charismatic church previously. They baptized her there without inquiring her if she was saved or not. But she didn’t have a clue about the gospel of Jesus Christ. When she came to us a couple of years ago, she had many health issues. We offered her whatever help we could and mainly we prayed for her. And the Lord heard our prayers and the Lord healed her as well. It was not an instantaneous miracle. But the Lord used our prayers and supplications to heal her and also heal her soul eventually. When we challenged her that a baptism without repentance and faith in Jesus Christ is no baptism at all, she was troubled. She sought counsel from a lot of pastors (whose gospel understanding has been minimal) who advised her not take baptism for the second time but none of them asked her if she was saved or not. It gave us an opportunity to explain to her what the gospel is all about. Suddenly she discovered that she was a sinner and Christ died for her sin. It was our privilege to baptize her and welcome into the church membership. She gladly agreed to become the member of our church and promised us that she would do whatever she can to minister to the Lord by serving the church. Please pray for her husband Chandra Paul and her two children that they may come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

Rajitha was born in a nominal Christian family. She came to one of our Bible studies on Wednesdays and eventually had many of her questions answered. She also expressed in her words that she could not attain her salvation by doing good works only by trusting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. Again it was our privilege to baptize her and welcome her into the membership yesterday. Rajitha’s salvation is also an answer to our prayers. Would you please pray that she may be a powerful witness for Christ?

Challenges in the Church

Would you please continue to pray for a couple of our members who have not been coming to church for the last three months? Please pray that the Lord may give us patience, grace, boldness and wisdom to warn them with love.

Church Building Work

The Building work is being progressed. The ground floor ( the sanctuary) is almost done. We have to install false ceiling, lighting, windows and flooring. Please pray that the Lord may supply all our needs according to His abundant grace. We have many needs to be met. We solely depend on God who is our Ebenezer. Please continue to pray that this whole project may be completed by the end of October 2017 so that we will have many gospel meetings and conferences during the Christmas season.  

In His Grace,

Sandeep

Romania

Dana L.

Dana L.