Ministry of the Word to Kudligi

Having known that I will be ministering the word on the Lord’s Day meeting in a Christian assembly in Kudligi, I prayed and sought the Lord’s leading for the timely word. Though the Pastor requested for a particular point, he also said, may it be according to the Lord’s leading. As I prayed, the Lord gave me a specific burden to ministry to the congregation on God’s Eternal Plan. 

In fact, the burden was not only for the believers in Kudligi, it was also for the three brothers who accompanied me this time in the ministry literature journey. Though they had been receiving the ministry of the word in all the meetings with Pastors in different localities, the Lord also burdened me to speak a specific word to them as I noticed some need while traveling together for one whole week.

Bible verse by Bible verse, I quoted to show God’s plan in creating man with three parts; body, soul, and spirit; how God, the Spirit, dwells in the spirit of man after regeneration; and the need to exercise spiritually day by day, moment by moment to contact the Lord by calling on the Lord’s name breathing Him in, by eating Him in the word through reading the Bible and pray-reading some key verses, and also by spending personal time with the Lord daily to fellowship with Him. For all these points, I gave them the relevant Bible verses. Meanwhile, I helped all the believers to call upon the Lord’s name out loud in Kannada a couple of times and also helped them pray-read and memorize John 6:63. The believers were all helped to exercier their spirit and enjoy the living Lord. When the burden was sufficiently released, I concluded the meeting.

After a time of lovefeast lunch, a group of Pastors came together in the same meeting hall where we had the Lord’s Day meeting. Then, I used the apparent discrepancies in Matthew 1:16 and Luke 3:23, and Hebrew 9:4 and Exodus 30:6, using the footnotes in the Recovery Version to show to the Christian leaders how the Recovery Version is a useful study-aid in studying the Bible in-depth. All the Pastors purchased the New Testament Recovery Version in Kannada and there, all our Bible stock was sold out!

In the night, we were invited for a dinner lovefeast in a village at the home of a brother who is by profession a farmer. When I was requested to minister the word for the family, the Lord burdened me to help them on the need for a joyful Christian life as a testimony to the people around them, especially in the village. I used Acts 16:31, the testimony of Paul and Silas in saving the household of the Philippian jailer. Despite being imprisoned, they were praising God joyfully, and despite the earthquake, they remainded calm and did not try to escape. Such a living testimony of the apostles was the gospel to the jailer which led him to the salvation of his whole household. 

This was a timely message to all the believers present there. Then, we enjoyed the lovefeast dinner prepared by the family and drank a cup of pure milk from their own cow. Thus, the burden for Kudligi was released.

May the Lord soon recover His lampshades in Kudligi!