Eastern
Home
Missionary
Newsletter
Rev. Jai Mahtani
216 Thornberry Drive
Pittsburgh PA 15235
Tel:
(412) 371-2299
E-mail:
jaimahtani@msn.com
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you
alway, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.”
Matt 28:19-20
February 2005
To:
Council & Congregation
of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church,
PR
congregations, denominational mission fields &
contacts in eastern
US
Eastern Home Missionary Greetings
Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose
footsteps were once again heard loudly and clearly in the earthquake and
tsunami that hit Asia at the turn of the year.
We must remind each other that these are only tokens, really small
tokens, of the great and notable day to come.
And we must not fail to warn those around us of the final return of
Jesus Christ as Judge of all nations.
In recent weeks, the Lord has given me some opportunities to go on
television, radio, and newspaper to express those thoughts and to sound out the
gospel. Surely also in the midst of
such a disaster, the Lord hears the cries of repentance and faith, and gathers
His elect from the isles of the world.
May we therefore continue with zeal and devotion to reach the nations
with the gospel of grace. Thank you for
keeping all your missionaries in your prayers.
The Wise Builder
At
our New Year’s Day service we considered the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ
found at the end of His famous Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 6. Our Lord likens the one who hears and
carries out His commandments to a wise man who builds his house upon a
rock. He likens the foolish man to one
who hears but who fails to do Christ’s commandments. In fact, in the parallel passage of Luke 6 He sharply asks: “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the
things which I say?” (v. 46). We were
once again reminded therefore that ours is the calling to obedience. Our works can never save us. If our righteousness does not exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, we are doomed to hell. But having received by grace the
righteousness outside of ourselves in Jesus Christ, the fruit must be godly
obedience. That is the rock upon which
we must build our house: the revelation of God in Jesus Christ! Our trust must be in God, not in human
flesh; our obedience must be unto the Lord, not as unto man. May we wisely build our lives, our homes,
and our churches in the year 2005 of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Godly Christian Parenting
With that serving as our foundation, we are planning
to preach a series of sermons in 2005 on Godly Christian Parenting. The saints in Pittsburgh face many trials
with regard to raising covenant children.
Being relatively new to the Reformed faith, they struggle with practical
matters such as Christian discipline, family devotions, etc. The purpose of this series on Godly
Christian Parenting will be to lay out the biblical principles that must govern
our marriage, the importance of training our children in the way of godliness,
the necessity of good parental discipline, the need for providing Christian
education, the hardships involved in laboring with adolescents, learning to
provide good influence to our children in their dating and courtship, etc. We hope in this way that the preaching of
the Word itself will build up our covenant homes, which will in turn be the
foundation of a solid Reformed congregation here in Pittsburgh.
Special Services
According to our Church Order, Article 67: “The churches shall observe, in addition to
the Sunday, also Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, the
Day of Prayer, the National Thanksgiving Day, and Old and New Year’s Day.” Although the Pittsburgh Mission has not been
organized as a congregation yet, we hold these special services for several
reasons. We believe that it provides
God’s people a proper perspective in celebrating the holidays as they come
under the preaching. Besides this, on
the mission field, although in every worship service the gospel must be
proclaimed, these special services provide an excellent opportunity to bring
friends and family. Most other churches
do not have these special services. We
do. Once again at Christmas and Old and
New Year’s, we had several visitors. In
fact at two of those services, we had a lady
and her son from Japan in attendance. A
previous contact brought the woman and her son to join us in worship, and
throughout the services we could hear God’s Word being translated (in whispers)
for her to understand. We encourage our
members and regular visitors to bring along others for these services to hear
the gospel. Attached with this
newsletter, please find a flyer for the upcoming Good Friday and Easter
services, and consider inviting others.
.
Personal
Evangelism
I
have often said that personal witnessing under the lively preaching is the most
effective way to do evangelism. I would
like in this newsletter to illustrate that with some recent experiences. The Japanese lady I mentioned above is a
Buddhist. As members of Christ’s church
hear the gospel and pass the word around, in mysterious ways God brings others
to the preaching of His Word, sometimes from distant lands. We invited this Japanese lady and her son to
our home for a couple of meals. She
expressed appreciation for the preaching and, in her words, for “the open
heart” with which we received her. She
has since returned to Japan but we hope to keep in touch with her. Who knows what fruit this will bring? God promises that His Word will never return
void. He will accomplish His purposes
through the preaching of the Word.
Another example is from our
November visit to Lanham, MD, where I have been preaching once or twice a year
for Grace Presbyterian (USA). My wife
and I went to an exercise club Saturday evening with complimentary passes from
the hotel. After a rigorous workout, we
were relaxing in the Jacuzzi and reflecting upon God’s goodness to our
children. Before we knew it, someone
asked us our background, and we were talking to some six or seven individuals
at Bally Athletic Club. We were able to
pass out some of my name cards, and one individual came to church the next
morning with his son. Another gentleman
from the Holiday Inn where we were staying also worshiped with us. He was our server at breakfast the morning
before and met us the next morning to say that he would like to go to church
with us. Experiences like that are
heartwarming. They do not always
happen, but, in our experience, God often uses friendliness and hospitality
(literally “the love of strangers”) to open doors to witness.
Most recently we had another
wonderful experience, this time in Fayetteville, NC. Esther and I were on a day trip to Bald Head Island, where we had
met an Iranian lady during our vacation there with the family this past summer. In the providence of God, we ran into her
again this time. She told us that she
enjoyed reading our newsletters, and I invited her to come to church to hear
the preaching. During our conversation,
another gentleman came up to us to say that he was impressed with what he heard
and that he would like to come. We
exchanged cards, and the next day I called him with directions. On Sunday, the man brought two others, and
so we had three first-time visitors at the worship service. They stayed to visit after the service and
acknowledged that they had never heard the Reformed faith before. Being Pentecostal in background, they could
be heard exclaiming “Amen” and “Hallelujah” during the service. They had driven more than two hours to join
us that evening. Although they probably
will not attend regularly, they have requested that we send them literature and
tapes on the Reformed faith.
Fayetteville,
NC
I am thankful for the privilege to be able to visit
the saints in Fayetteville from time to time and to keep up with the contacts
of the past and pursue new ones as the Lord opens the door. The saints here are encouraged that another
new couple has been worshiping with them in recent weeks and months. Although the group is still very small, it
greatly appreciates the visits of the ministers and elders who come four to six
times a year. The preaching of the
Word, the oversight provided by Grace PRC and the DMC, and the visit of saints
from our churches is a great delight to them in their isolation. Let us remember them in our prayers.
Allentown
Visit
Elder Gary Boverhof and I
re-visited the saints in Allentown, PA in December 2004. We had a blessed time in Bible study and in
worship with the small group there. The
Word of God continues to be received with enthusiasm and love among the saints
in Allentown. We discussed the doctrine
of Total Depravity during our last visit, and plan to study the doctrine of
Unconditional Election during our next visit, scheduled for the end of February
2005. The small group of saints there
has asked for this systematic instruction.
A new family, with three children, worshiped with us last time, though
they had to drive over an hour. A flyer
is attached with this newsletter. Do
join us if you are in the area, and kindly pass the word around to friends and
family who live in the area. We wait on
the Lord regarding the future of this work.
Deer
Encounter
This winter we were confronted
by an unwelcome guest: a huge buck abruptly met us on a dark foggy evening
while we were in the Grove City area visiting our two older boys. Needless to say, we are thankful that no one
got hurt – apparently, not even the deer!
He got away, so we did not even get the advantage of a venison
meal! The “accident” resulted in a
couple thousand dollars worth of damage to the car we were driving. We are thankful that we have comprehensive
insurance on this vehicle, so we were responsible only for the deductible. We hear of so many such incidents, but,
believe me, when it actually happens to you, it is different.
Other Family News
Ben will graduate from Trinity this year and plans to
go to Grove City College. He is excited
and happy he got accepted there. If you
would like to attend his graduation at the end of May 2005, you will be able to
join us for the Memorial Day weekend at the same time. Sam passed his driving test, so we now have
four teenagers driving! Peter will turn
thirteen next month. Titus continues to
be an avid reader. Mary and Martha are
learning the piano, so that in time they can take over Jon and Dave’s playing
for the worship services. Esther
continues to be a wonderful help-meet, not only as
wife and mother in the family, but also as missionary wife. We thank God for the covenant home He has so
very graciously given to us.
Closing
Words
And we thank God for you. We thank you for your faithful prayers and
for the many greeting cards we received during the holidays. Let us, beloved, continue to be “patient in
adversity, thankful in prosperity, and in all things which may hereafter befall
us, place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall
separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand that without
His will they cannot so much as move” (Heidelberg Catechism, LD 10, QA 28). Let us remember that that includes tsunamis
and terrorists, so we must live not in fear but in hope, trusting in the living
God, and looking for our Lord’s promised return at the end of the world.
In His Love,
Rev. Jai Mahtani
