and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you, an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.". Though this is Paul's farewell message to the Ephesians, it is also a message to all saved people. In essence he said, as Jesus said before him, 'feed and care for the flock'. This is another facet of studying to show ourselves approved. We need to be constantly growing, so that we can assist others to grow. By so doing, the Lord's army grows stronger each day. So my friend we have come to the place where I must close at not the end but the beginning. 207 ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ **************************************************************************** Eight years have passed since I wrote the above. Since then I have had time to meditate and have participated in bible studies. After better than a year in the last study I, opted out of the study. The study had disintegrated into a word study, forgetting the prime reason for the study was understanding God's message to us. So many times bible studies become either gossip sessions or platforms for one or two people to demonstrate how knowledgeable they are. I have continued studying on my own, and questioning the 'truths' that had been built into my spiritual understanding. I looked for scripture to defend everything I believed. When I took that approach some amazing ( to me anyway ) things happened to my scriptural understanding. I looked for scriptural proof for the 'rapture' . All I found were verses that men took out of context and said that they defended their position on when the 'rapture' would occur. I studied the three alternatives, pre, mid, and post tribulation and not one alternative could offer definitive scriptural proof. Then it dawned on me that I had ignored the 'do nothing ' alternative, that is to say if the Bible was mute on the 'rapture' perhaps it was intentional, and the 'rapture' was really an invention of man. When I reread scripture in that light, all of a sudden the time lines fell into place for me. Once again each person must study without 'private interpretations', I do not wish to place my understanding of scripture into your understanding, rather I am asking you to look to the Holy Spirit for understanding. Another area that was troublesome to me was what happens to the saved at death. We've all heard 'to be absent from the body...' , and 'Behold, I go to prepare a place... ', in funeral messages. But tied to that is the scripture where Christ calls the dead in Christ up. Is there a problem there? I think not, just as our children are present with us when they are asleep in their beds, so too are we present with the Lord, asleep, when we die. When Mary moaned about Lazarrus, Jesus told her he slept. There are many more 'understandings' that I have discarded, and strangely enough my faith has strengthened rather than weakened. My impatience with those who don't believe as I do, has turned to compassion. I more often than not now answer a question with a question. I don't want my will over their will, rather the Lord's will. By asking a question, without giving an answer, the recipient must either rest on their own understanding, or trust in the Lord. Sound familiar? I have emphysema, my lung capacity is at 10% of expected for my age. My pulmonologist says that I have thrown the statistics out the window. He says that with my numbers I shouldn't be walking around. Each time I pray I thank the Lord for this day, and consistantly I have prayed for the Lord's will not mine. So until the Lord calls me home, I'll continue doing as I do now. May the Lord bless and keep you. Ray Bachelder August 8,2002 **************************************************************************** |
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