“You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Act 20:18-21 NKJ)

In these verses the apostle Paul describes to the elders in Ephesus his manner of conduct. In doing so he describes in part the character of the servant of the Lord, which every person who is in Christ is, or ought to see himself or herself as such in thankfulness to the Lord for redeeming him or her from his or her sin and misery. Though there is more to being a servant of the Lord, the apostle gives us basically 3 characteristics: humble, persistent and uncompromising.

First, the servant of the Lord is humble (v. 19). The humble servant is not boastful of himself, but rather boastful of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:31). This may mean being willing to be subject to abuse by others to further the gospel and kingdom of God, just as the apostle. There were many tears shed by the apostle not just because of the abuse he endured, but because the condemnation that was being confirmed by those who rejected the gospel message and sought to get the apostle to compromise the message to make it more appealing to them, or to just silence the apostle, which they were continually plotting to do. The servant of the Lord humbly understands the sovereignty of the Lord in the conversion of sinners and faithfully serves the Lord patiently no matter what kind of response he or she gets from the hearers of the message of Christ.

Second, the servant of the Lord is persistent (v. 20). Whether we are in a public place or in the privacy of a home we are to persist in pointing people to Christ, giving people real hope and real peace that is through Jesus Christ alone. This means we need to actively look for opportunities to proclaim the message of Christ wherever we are at. This will require us to seek out the Lord’s strength and wisdom for we are not inclined to just come up to people and talk to them about Jesus Christ. There are many problems in this world that we can talk about look for opportunities in those conversations to point people to Jesus Christ. He is our Rock, our Refuge, and our Strength in our times of great need, and perilous times.

Third, the servant of the Lord is uncompromising (v. 21). Though the enemies of Christ (including our sinful flesh) will seek to have you compromise the faith both in life and in doctrine, the servant of the Lord will not compromise from the true message of Jesus Christ. We must not soft pedal or “re-imagine” the message to fit the culture of our day. Man’s opinions of reality is not where we understand reality, but rather reality is what God says it is – after all, He is the Creator of reality and knows the fallen nature of man even better even fallen man, since it is contrary to God’s nature and at enmity against Him. We must in all cases testify that God has commanded all men to repent of their rebellion and hatred toward God and go to the cross of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, salvation and everlasting life, putting their wholehearted faith in Him and His atoning and redeeming work without compromise. This is the ultimate expression of love not only in God and His salvation; it also the ultimate expression of love toward our neighbors, as we humbly and persistently testify without compromise of the goodness and grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that gives the dead sinner life and an eternal comfort and peace that surpasses all understanding.

Jesus Christ didn’t come to rescue us from wicked politicians, or deliver us from the hands of evil men that seek to control and manipulate us through fear and intimidation. Jesus Christ came to bring us victory, comfort, peace and hope through His death and resurrection. He came so that as we endure the trouble of this world we would not submit to the evil desires of our hearts, as we seek His work of grace in our heart live faithful lives by the power of the Holy Spirit and in the wisdom of God through His word, the Bible.

Therefore, we ought go in the compassion and confidence of the Lord to sinners (no matter the outward appearance of, or the life lived, by the person) as God gives us opportunity; and leave the results to God whether the sinner will hear the call of the gospel, repent of their sins and come to Christ, or will hear the call and turn away from it, suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and further justifying their condemnation. All to the glory of God!

At RGM we are dedicated to spreading the gospel message of Jesus Christ without compromise. It is the truth that saves the world of sinners. It is the only true message of salvation and everlasting life; God’s salvation and light to sinners everywhere. We are laboring to spread the gospel both in the United States and to other nations; taking the message of Jesus Christ to the lost and those who sit in darkness. As part of that work and ministry we provide the opportunities for the saints to indirectly and directly participate in spreading the gospel to the nations and all people groups, to as many as will hear the gospel. It is sad to note that the gospel message has been so watered down so as to be nothing more than a man-centered works righteousness message, especially in much of western society. (It is impossible to live a godly life to the glory of God alone, unless God works grace in the sinner’s heart.) As a result, the true gospel message is changed and redefined (think, ‘re-imagined’) to compromise with the views of the world and the ungodly mindset that embraces all that is contrary to what is taught in the Bible; the infallible, inerrant word of God. In order to combat unbiblical evangelism we, at RGM, are committed to the Reformed Confessions and Creeds as biblical expressions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, formulating our tracts and evangelism efforts drawing from those 16^th and 17^th century documents of the Faith.

Many blessings to you through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,

Rev. Richard Stetler

We are excited to report the following activities in October & November:

Local Community Outreach Efforts

In October our activities for the year on the local level wound down with a book table at a third party event and one RGM event:

We had a table at the Tri-State Bible Conference on October 7^th & 8^th at the Dordt University, BJ Haan Auditorium.

• We made available Bibles, books and literature free of charge. Just about everything was taken – over $600 worth of book and materials – praise the Lord!

The Fall Reformation Conference on October 29^th and 30^th –“ A Biblical Worldview and the Great Commission.”

The conference was held at Redeemer United Reformed Church. It focused on the Christian worldview and how it affects our evangelism individually and as a church.  We had between 50 and 70 people in attendance, depending on which session it was. The speaker was Dr. Sacha Walicord, a former professor at Dordt University and is a visiting professor for worldview and apologetics at the Akademie fuer Reformatorische Theologie (Reformed Theological Seminary) in Giessen, Germany. He is also a board member of RGM.

Dr. Walicord delivered 3 messages at the conference on Friday evening and Saturday morning. He also addressed the student body at Western Christian High School Friday morning on the 29th.

The 3 messages were:

“The All encompassing Nature of the Great Commission”

“What is a Worldview: How our Worldview affects our Evangelism”

“Holistic Evangelism for the 21^st Century”

The address at the high school was titled: “All or Nothing at All”

We have had many people who were unable to come to the conference watch the videos of the messages; over 300 and counting. Videos of the conference messages and the high school address can be viewed by clicking on the link below:

A Biblical Worldview & Evangelism Conference Videos

Future Activities of RGM

The Schedule of Activities for 2022 is available at:

2022 Schedule of Events and Activities – Reformation Gospel Ministries

Conferences for 2022:

(Just wanted to briefly highlight the conferences for 2022)

1. The Annual Creation Conference is scheduled for March 26, 2022.

The focus of the conference will be on how to answer those who hold to compromise views of the creation account of Genesis. The speaker will be Dr. Jonathan Sarfati of Creation Ministries International. He has written several books on creation including the book, “Refuting Compromise.”

It will be an encouragement to all believers as we fight a spiritual battle against the lies and deceptions of the devil through his ministers that disguise themselves as “ministers of light.”

We are also excited to inform you that we have arranged for Dr. Sarfati to make a presentation at the Le Mars Bible Church the evening of March 27^th at 6:00 p.m.

Keep this conference in prayer: this ought to be an exciting conference, praying that many of the students from Northwestern College in Orange City and Dordt University in Sioux Center will attend the very important and informative sessions to learn how they might be able to defend against the attacks against the biblical account of creation as revealed to us in God’s inerrant and infallible word.

Click here to register for this free event (registration not required, but helpful): Creation: No Compromise

2. The Creation Conference in Dublin, Ireland that is planned for May 21, 2022.

The conference will be held in partner with Araan Reformed Baptist Church of Dublin. Rev. Stetler has been working with Rev. Mark Fitzpatrick to coordinate this very important outreach event in the Dublin area. Mark is the pastor of Arann RBC and the chairman of Reformation Ireland. Lord willing, Rev. Stetler will be traveling to personally help promote this event in Dublin. Please also keep this event in prayer.

3. The Annual Fall Conference for 2022 is being planned for the end of October.

The proposed theme will be “A Christian’s Dual Citizenship in a Fallen, and Rebellious World.” Though we are citizens of the United States or of a particular country, we are also citizens of the kingdom of God. So, how does this dual citizenship work out in a fallen world? What does Scripture teach us concerning this dual citizenship? We hope to have multiple speakers to make presentations on various subjects surrounding the topic of how we might live our lives under this dual citizenship in today’s political and social environment that has grown more and more hostile toward the gospel message and Biblical Christianity.

If you would like to volunteer to help at any one of our activities or events, please contact Rev. Stetler at refgosmin@gmail.com or by phone at (712) 441-5793.

For the monthly Financial Report (October, 2021), please scroll down to the next page.

Please keep Reformation Gospel Ministries in your prayers. We are in need of your financial support to fund the many projects we are currently engaged in – please prayerfully consider giving to this work of the Lord as we reach out to the lost in many countries throughout the world. Your tax-deductible donation is greatly appreciated.

Click here to donate: Donate – Reformation Gospel Ministries

Your Servant in Christ,

Richard Stetler, CEO

Financial Report

As of October 31, 2021