News Letter 2018 from Editor
Dear
Brothers and Sisters,
We
greet each one of you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We praise
God and thank you very much for your continued partnership with us in
supporting and praying for our ministries in the most un-reached regions of
Tamil Nadu.
On
the 25th March we celebrated Palm Sunday with all our believers
going on procession holding Palm leaves in our hands. It was a testimony to the non-Christians
about the Lord Jesus Christ who went on a triumphal procession to Jerusalem two
thousand years ago. On the 1st
April, we celebrated Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death. Christ was the Passover lamb who gave himself
for us so that our sins could be forgiven and we could be redeemed from
death.
When
Jesus was with his disciples he promised to send another helper, the Holy
Spirit who would be with them forever
and they will not be left alone (John 14:16, 18). After Jesus rose from the dead he was in the
world for 40 days appearing to his disciples many times and teaching several
things (Luke 1:3). Before Jesus left the
earth he gave orders to his disciples that they must wait to receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1: 4, 5 ; Luke 24: 49). So after 10 days, on the day of Pentecost as
the believers gathered in one place, they were filled with the Holy Spirit
(Acts 2:1-4).
The
festival of Pentecost (which means fiftieth) is also called the festival of
harvest (Exo 23:16, Num 28:26) or the festival of weeks (Exo 34:22; Lev. 23:16)
represents the first fruits gathered as the result of the labour of those who
completed the spring grain harvests in ancient Israel. On the first Pentecost in the early Church
after Jesus Christ’s resurrection a great miracle occurred- the Holy Spirit was
poured out on the 120 believers. The
apostle Peter now filled with the Holy Spirit boldly explained his listeners
that if they repent and get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, they will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17, 38-39). Peter was empowered by
the Holy Spirit to challenge thousands of people. The Holy Spirit empowers us now to be
effective witnesses. So as a Christian
minority let us not be troubled, but let us be assured of the empowerment of
the Holy Spirit in the midst of opposition and difficulties.
At the festival of
Pentecost, let us remember that in this world we are simply at the
beginning of the harvest for the Kingdom of God. The apostle Paul understood this: “But now
Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of
those who have fallen asleep . . . For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his
own order: Christ the first fruits, afterward those who are Christ’s
at His coming” (1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:22-23). Anyone who
is now called and chosen by God is included with Christ as God’s first
fruits. The Bible teaches us that God
must call people (John 6:44; John 6:63). Our Creator, therefore,
controls the timing of His harvest. When God founded His Church
by imparting His Spirit to believers on the Day of Pentecost 50 days after
Jesus’ resurrection, He was expanding His spiritual harvest. It was the
beginning of what Joel prophesied, that God will ultimately pour out His Spirit
on “all flesh” (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:14-17). Pentecost serves as an annual reminder that our Creator still works
miracles, granting His Spirit to those called to be the first fruits of His
spiritual harvest, empowering them to carry out His work in this world. The Spirit of God,
who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ
Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same
Spirit living within you (Rom 8: 11)
J.M.M School
In
the month of February a team from Wisdom Foundation (a wing of Jesus Redeems,
Nalumavadi) came to our school and showed puppets and magic and taught good
values for our school children. The students greatly enjoyed the programme.
We
celebrated the 8th Annual Day of our JMM / Lady Martin Nursery School
on the 6th April. Mr.Osborn
(CEF Erode co-ordinator) was the chief guest for the function. Through puppets he shared the gospel with the
audience. The children performed
cultural programme with much enthusiasm.
Prizes were given to the students and the staff members. We praise God for Sir. Lawrence Martin who
gave generously all these years for the development of the school. Also we praise God and thank others who are
pastors and friends including our relatives who support this ministry with
their regular offerings.
At
present the school does not have a hall to conduct special meetings and
programmes. So we have a plan to build
one. This hall could be converted into 2
classrooms during other times. The
engineer has estimated the building cost to be Rs.18,52,000. Please pray for this need. Thus the school has to continue to grow to
meet the needs of the surrounding villages that do not have any opportunity for
schooling. The British missionary
William Carey’s motto was “expect great things from God and attempt great
things for God”. We think it is
important for us to expand our good work that is done in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ who loved children and said everyone must be like them in order to
enter the Kingdom of God. As I am
writing this news letter child abuse has been the top stories of the day. Let the Christian Schools be bulwark of the
nation.
Recent Programmes
1. In
the past 3 months 17 people have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal
Saviour and received baptism. Their
names are: Karrupal(F), Ayyapan(M), Eswari(F), Nagammal (F), Manjula (F),
Sanjana(F), Thangamma(F), Eeswari(F), Rajagopal(M), Palanisamy (M), Duraisamy
(M), Masiriyammal(F), Gandhimathi(F), Sasikala(F), Rajamani(F), Ganga(M) ,
Kaveri (F).
2. On
the 4th Saturday of every month JMM Bible College is conducted in
our church premises. About 40 students
have enrolled for this theological training.
Rev.Dr.S. Jayakumar is the visiting teacher for this programme.
3. On
account of Easter celebrations, a three days convention meeting were arranged
in our church. Evangelist Augustine
Rajasekar was the special speaker for this programme. About two thousand people attended the
meetings. On Easter Sunday a special
lunch was given to the believers.
4. On
the 29th March training was conducted by Mr.Jeyaraj Abraham (IBL,
Chennai) for children ministry and youth ministry workers.
Vacation Bible School
We
have planned to conduct the Vacation Bible School from April 30th to
the May 3rd. We have a target
to reach 700 children from the age groups 4 years to 16 years. We will be spending for travel, refreshments,
lunch, book materials and prizes. It
costs around 2,20,000 rupees. Please
pray for this important need.
Odisha ministries
In
the past 3 months about 19 people have received baptism (11 ladies and 8
gents). A new programme for the beggars
“poor feeding programme” was organised.
33 beggars participated in the programme. Food and blankets were given and the gospel
was also shared. One of them was healed
from leg pain and she was able to walk without the stick. After this programme 3 men and 2 women
beggars left begging job and are now going for field work as labourers. The Orphan Home in the Kanthamal district
needs your prayers as the children grow and became youth.
One
of the branch church buildings is not fully completed. Please pray for this need.
Prayer Requests
1. Please
pray for all our well-wishers who may experience healings in their bodies and
soul and have long comfortable life to live for the glory of His name
2. There
are long disputes in settling the sharing of river water between the
states. Please pray that Tamilnadu would
get the right amount of water from the neighbouring state of Karnataka.
3. Please
pray for the elections of the Indian government in May. Please pray that those who favour the
Christians would come to power. Also
pray for a stable government in the state of Tamilnadu.
4. Please
pray for the protection of girls and women in India as the number of criminal
activities has increased steadily.
5. Please
pray that the people in Tamilnadu would not experience water scarcity in
different places of the state. Please
pray for good showers in the summer season.
You may send your sacrificial
offerings to:
Account Name:
Jesus Miracle Ministries Trust, Savings Bank A/c No.019801000025516, Indian
Overseas Bank, 711Erode Road, Kavindapadi – 638455, Erode district, IFSC:
IOBA0000198.
Account Name:
JMM Nursery & Primary School, Savings Bank A/c No.019801000039124, Indian
Overseas Bank, 711Erode Road, Kavindapadi – 638455, Erode district, IFSC:
IOBA0000198.
For
donations outside India you may send to the following bank a/c:
Ida
S / Samuel J, Savings Bank A/c 1144155000061011, Karur Vysya Bank, Erode Road,
Kavindapadi -638455, IFSC: KVBL0001144, Swift code: KVBLINBBIND
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