Well, in the next two days we will be having quite a bit going on in the life of the Bebees. The first and most important though, is that tonight, YES TONIGHT, Ryan will be preaching at the evening service at Dayspring Fellowship. I will let you guys know if they record it and if it will be available on their website.
Please keep Ryan in prayer if you read this before tonight. He is preaching on 1 Peter 4:1-6. It has been late nights and lots of studying, but praise the Lord that He gives great joy in the reading and studying of His word! We have already had some great conversations, and I have been blessed by the preparation that Ryan has done already!
I am currently reading a book called "Acquainted with Grief". It is a biography of Wang Mingdao, who was a leading Christian pastor in China in the past centure. I'm not sure that we would all agree with all of his doctrinal stances, however, I have been so amazingly encouraged by his boldness to uphold truth, to not compromise when it comes to the gospel, to speak boldly when needed and yet seek to live a quiet life in the midst of the turmoil and dissention of communist china (1 Thes 4:11-12). I read this quote to Ryan and i wanted to share it with you all b/c it is the prayer that we have for our church and pastor, and for any church that Ryan and I have the blessing of joining!
"I have no desire to do something great. It is simply my hope, in this world where truth is beclouded and where teh lusts of men have broken their banks, to be able to testify to God's truth and to live out His life. I wanted to be faithful unto death; in my own particular sphere I want to glorify God; and I want to spread the fragrance of Christ wherever I go. It is not so much a large church that I want to build; it is rather to build up a church according to the mind of God. Two needs stand out in the world today. One is for model believers; the other is for the model churches. My prayer accordingly, is that we may be model believers, and that ours may be a model church." -- Wang Mingdao
And one more quote that I thought was so precious to our view of the gospel:
"What is the greatest need of manking? It is extravagant clothes? Is it lavish food? Is it a congenial occupation? Is it adequate medical provision? Is it upright politics? Is it a comprehensive system of law? Is it a higher level of society? Is it harmony among the nations? Is it the reform of our habits? Is it the establishment of virtue? All these are the needs of mankind. But the greatest need of all is not among them. Mankind's greatest need is to come to God for forgiveness of sin in order to have eternal life. Whether people acknowledge it or not, their greatest need is to be brought into touch with God. For God is the source of all happiness. But they have been cut off from God by sin and they themselves are unable to bridge the gap. What else can people do but endure pain and await the onset of death?" -- Wang Mingdao
I pray that we will be as passion and have the zeal that Wang has for the church, and the gospel. May we also fight the onset of a "Social Gospel" that seeks to meet people's NEEDS, but NOT THEIR GREATEST NEED!
ALSO -- tomorrow, Ryan goes into surgery for his shoulder. You can check out what happened if you return to the post from last year. He will be in surgery for an hour and a half, and they will reconnect an existing ligament to help support the shoulder and connect it to the clavicle. They will clean up some things in there, and will shorten his clavicle so that there is less possibility for arthritis and to aid in the reconstruction. We have to be in Fredricksburg at 11:00 and he will go into surgery at 1:00. You're prayers will be greatly appreciated, and I will keep you all updated when I get back to a computer! Thank you again for your support of Ryan and I!!!
