Dear praying friends, since our arrival
back in India three months ago, a lot has happened here and we are so very
grateful to our Lord—and to you for your prayers to Him on our behalf.
During the last quarter, our Lord enabled
me to meet with various Indian brothers for times of counseling, fellowship and
instruction. (Malachi 3.16!) In addition to these, nearly 60, times,
several joined me during some 24-hours’ fasting and prayer sessions—six times
over these three months. There were
about 20 other occasions around the city this quarter in which I was involved
in teaching Bible to various-sized groups.
In July, I was privileged to teach the Book
of Psalms to a batch of students at Pune for three days. Then in September, Ruth and Stephanie joined
me for another trip to that place to be an encouragement in the ministry to the
same dear saints. For three more days,
then, I was able to teach concerning The Holy Spirit, The Gifts of the Spirit,
The Errors of the Charismatics, The Cessation of the Miraculous and Revelatory
Gifts at the end of the First Century, and Finding God’s Will.
Some other pastors’ fellowships have
invited me to speak to them around Hyderabad, and lately I’ve spoken to two
such groups, teaching them many lessons for the “Man of God”, mostly from the
Pastoral Epistles.
To a place near the border of the next
state, Ruth and Stephanie also traveled with me for a few days’ Gospel
ministry. They taught three childrens’
Gospel ministry sessions, on our Lord and His sayings: “I AM the bread of
life,” “I AM the light of the world,” and “I AM the resurrection and the
life.” Then Ruth taught three sessions
for Ladies. Two sessions were on the
Beatitudes, and one was on Three things which make us Christlike. I spoke in three evening sessions on Christ
as Our Prophet, Christ as our High Priest, and Christ Our King. Additionally,
a large group met in another assembly in that town and allowed me to
teach them The Life Of Christ Seminar for three hours.
Other seminars (in a few other places away
from home) which I taught included “Life of Christ”, “Christ our Mediator,
Prophet, Priest and King”, “Deuteronomy 6 and Daily Family Devotions”, “The Holy Spirit, His Gifts, The Errors of
the Charismatics and the Cessation of the Miraculous and Revelatory Gifts at
the end of the First Century”, “What is the Gospel and How Do We Preach It?”
and other topics.
In order to keep up
with the expenses of the ministry here in India, we have a special account in
the IGM home office which we call our Church-Planters’
Training Fund. We are grateful for each
of you who has sent to this special ministry fund over the years. The amount in that fund, month-to-month, is
still quite low, and not sufficient for our current needs. Just now, for example, I placed a $1000.00
order for Gospel tracts. As our ordinary support levels have eroded by more
than 15% per month during the past year or so, may I request you to consider
giving something to our Church-Planters’ Training Fund? Thank you.
Please
Pray:
- For our continued
good health, and especially for spiritual and moral progress into
Christlikeness.
- For more
and more opportunities to serve our Lord in the Gospel would open up to
us. I am feeling a little tired
these days, but it is a happy tired.
- That our
financial support will remain steady.
The Lord is always so good to us, and we are grateful just that He
allows us to know Him, and that we are His.
- For the Lord Jesus to be glorified in us
at all times. And for our faith to
increase. May our Lord Jesus answer
your prayers, and our prayers for you as well, in all these areas.
Chit-chat: Ruth and Stephanie have been invited to conduct monthly children’s
ministry meetings in one local assembly.
In the last two times, Ruth taught from Luke 15, and the story of
Genesis and Exodus, to acquaint the youngsters with their Bibles better. In several
local Christian assemblies around Hyderabad, and elsewhere, too, I preached on
some Sundays from Psalm 133, “The Brotherhood of Christian Believers” (two
times), John 9.1-7, “Work, for the night
is coming”, Matthew 9.14-15, “A Plan For Prayer”, from Deuteronomy 6, “Maintaining Daily Family Devotional Times”,
Exodus through Deuteronomy, on “The Life of Moses (True Greatness—Service to
Others)”, Luke 9 & 14, “Self-Denial”, John 17.22, on “The Glory Of Our Lord
Jesus”, and from Romans chapter 14, “Sanctification Through the Work of the
Indwelling Holy Spirit of God.”
Ruth boarded a train all by herself early on the morning of the 23rd August,
and traveled four hours to a place where she’d been invited to speak to a
ladies’ fellowship. They all had a very blessed time in the Gospel of our Lord
Jesus. Ruth returned to us safely the
same day at evening.
In Christian Service,
The Schaefers
