“And Moses said unto the LORD, O my LORD, I am not eloguent…I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”  (Exodus 4)

“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication…”  (Acts 1)

“And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power…”  (1 Corinthians 2)

 

Reader,
Tonight we attended a Bible study. It was a Bible study that filled me with great joy.  I did not cry, but I had tears in my eyes. What was it that caught my spirit and and filled it with the aforementioned joy? I think I know what it was, but first a word about                Christ-ian lay-men

Christ-ian laymen were the servants of God that laid the foundations of our faith. The disciples were not formally trained nor was our Lord formally trained. The disciples were considered to be unlearned and ignorant fishermen. The Lord never called or used the formally taught. There were institutions that trained prophets and preachers.

In the Old Testament, Elisha was chosen to carry Elijah’s mantle or in other words, Elisha was enabled and allowed to put forth God’s Word when Elijah was taken up.  There was a school for the training of prophets but none of them were used by God, Elisha was hand-picked to preach the Word of God. The last sentence does not imply that God did not use any of these schooled prophets, God may have very well used the schooled prophets but not in the way he chose and utilized Elisha.  Formal training in Bible and Theology is a good path for some, but the laymen who were chosen and taught by God should never feel inadequete for their lack of formal training.

Why was I so filled with joy in the Bible Study?  I saw persons of God gathered together with the Word of God as the point, the reason for being gathered together. The Bible study leader was a man, that was humble, unschooled, but full of love and gratefulness to be able to search the Scriptures with fellow Christ-ians.  It was beautiful and the Sprit was a Certain Presence.

I love the church our Lord has built, I love the persons in the church that God made. I felt like I was a disciple in the upper room and without their/our Leader. But in that upper room was the Spirit of God.

So much love and joy.

Godspeed.