Ministry of the Word: Bharatpur and Gatholi

Bharatpur is a town in Rajasthan bordering Uttar Pradesh. The brothers in Mathura and these brothers in Bharatpur were once together in the same Christian group. But due to some reasons, they all broke away from the "parent" group and formed their own independent groups. This group was run by a group of four brothers who claimed to have about 35,000 believers with them as they conduct public meetings in different parts of North India. To this group, the Lord has led us.

In fact, the way we came to this place was quite unexpected. As it was about 35 kilometers away from Mathura and none of the brothers in Mathura nor the brothers with me knew driving four-wheelers, I had no option but to drive. I generally do not drive others' vehicles other than my own except for emergencies or is really needed to drive. Therefore, it was a new experience for me to drive to a new place, that too, to visit a group of believers in Bharatpur.

Initially, we shared testimonies and ministered on some basic exercises of the spirit by calling upon the Lord's name. When it was my turn to speak, the Lord gave me the burden to expound on the church and the building up of the church as found in the Bible, starting from Matthew 16:18, 18:17, the to Acts 1, 2, 4, 10, 11, and some epistles. I did not prepare to speak this way, but it was the timely word the Lord gave to these brothers who needed to hear the truth concerning what the church truly is according to the Bible, what the locality of the church should be, and the need for oneness for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Then, I introduced the ministry literature as a means to help one understand the word of God with proper interpretation. They all received the free Rhema books, and the key brothers also decided to purchase the entire set of Hindi books. Therefore, all the books I took were delivered to them. I believe the Lord has spoken His heart's desire to this group of brothers who are also serving the Lord. May the Lord work in them through His words spoken and through the printed ministry books to open their eyes and see God's heart's desire concerning the church. I do believe, one day, the Lord will recover His testimony in Bharatpur.

Later, we drove to Gatholi, on the side of Uttar Pradesh, to meet with a group of believers whose leading brothers are also enjoying the ministry of the word now through the brothers in Mathura. There too, we ministered the word on basic spiritual exercises in addition to the testimonies of two brothers. When my turn came to speak, the Lord burdened me to speak on baptism. I didn't know why I had to minister on baptism. I generally never did a ministry on baptism in a public gathering except in a gospel meeting or home meeting or to new ones when we were burdened to baptize new believers. But the Lord knew why. I faithfully ministered on the seven significances of baptism, with Bible verses, point by point, explaining to all the saints and seekers.

The following day in Mathura, when the meeting was full of spirit and new believers decided to take baptism, the leading brothers who listened to the ministry on baptism the other day knew exactly what to do. It turned out that the burden for baptism was for the brothers who took the lead in the two localities, Mathura and Gatholi. Since they are the local brothers preaching the gospel to many new ones, they need to be equipped with the truths. It was for them, the word on baptism ministered. Along with this, I also expounded on the timeline between believing and baptism as seen in the Bible. We read about baptism in Acts 2, 8, and 16, with the emphasis on the word "immediately." This has been enlightening to the brothers as there has been a concept among many Christian leaders that they need to wait to observe the new believers if there were qualified to be baptized. Actually, according to Mark 16:16, the first verse I read in the meeting, followed by the baptism of Jesus and others in Acts, baptisms recorded in the Bible are all immediate. Any believer, a genuine believer, is qualified to be baptized.

May the Lord recover His lampstand in Gatholi soon!