Ray Family Update from April 2015

Dear Praying Friends,

It is no coincidence that the first four letters of ministry spell mini. In the words of John the Baptist, “He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). That is what ministry is all about—making more of Jesus and less of myself. Unfortunately, many, including myself, have used the ministry for self-promotion. While the apostles’ testimony was “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:5), the opposite seems to prevail today.

Everything we do stands the possibility of being tainted with selfish and impure motives. We struggle to preach of the holiness of God without somehow speaking of our own. We speak of God’s power but all to quickly turn the hearers to contemplate our own. To further complicate the problem, God’s people have grown an appetite for such preaching and teaching. Like in the days of Jeremiah, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so” (Jeremiah 5:31).

While I am aware that this type of preaching/teaching has become the status quo, I have to believe it grieves the Lord. And while it may be easy to see when others maintain this type of ministry, I want to know when I do it. I want the Lord to smite my heart when I increase and He decreases. It may be easier to borrow illustrations or tell stories from my own experiences, but I want to challenge myself to “Preach the word” (2 Timothy 4:2). I want the people of Antioch to have an appetite for the word! I want an acute awareness of my accountability before the Lord and my debt to the people.

Trying to Heed Good Counsel

Before going home to be with the Lord, my pastor (David F. Reagan) admonished me to “Always be planning for twenty years down the road, but do well what you are doing today.” I have to be honest here, I can dream and plan in fifteen minutes more than I can accomplish in an hundred lifetimes. So much so, that I struggle to heed the latter part of the counsel. I am beginning to think the only way a man can do both is with the help of faithful saints.

The Lord, in His wisdom, taught and gave direction to His disciples, and, when the time was right, He sent them forth to facilitate the furtherance of His own calling. In other words, His calling became their calling (John 20:21). The same principle holds true today. As God burdens the heart of the man of God, he must express this burden to the people God has graciously given him. At that point, God has to raise up some people who will help facilitate the work.

I can dream with the best of them, but my testimony will be a shadow of what it should have been should I leave this world as the man who could only dream about what to do for the Lord. In the spirit of openness, I hope you will bear with me as I set forth some of the burdens of my heart fully knowing that none of this will happen without the help of God’s people.

* Complete and publish the four-volume set Daily Strength: Devotions for Bible Believing Study (also need help getting the word out about the availability of volume one)
* Finish my editorial work on a new hymnal
* Finish my editorial work on One Book Rightly Divided written by Douglas D. Stauffer
* Hold marriage “seminars” at home and abroad as an outreach of our church (Marriage Matters Ministries)
* Complete a book on marriage (a project that is barely underway)
* Begin and complete a four-volume set on Bible doctrines following the same layout as the devotional series
* Redesign or rebuild LearntheBible.org to make it cleaner and more user friendly (and recruit help to answer all the Bible questions presently going unanswered)
* Complete the building and property renovations to Antioch Baptist Church
* Continue writing new gospel tracts as well as some to minister to specific people groups
* Open day school for those in our church who wish to put their children in a classroom environment
* To be continued

Prayer Requests

* Pray that I will faithfully preach God’s word and God’s Son!
* Pray for faithful men and women who will help facilitate the overwhelming burden of my heart to do the work of God “while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).