This issue of Teaching Resources completes our theme study in the Beatitudes. Most of the articles in the Theme Section are related to various aspects of handling suffering. Thomas Watson, and Jeremiah Burroughs provide helps for being patient during suffering. The articles from Charles Spurgeon and A. W. Pink set forth a Christian perspective on the whole issue of suffering.
We have also included a number of other studies that we hope will prove helpful. Thomas Boston’s How We Ought to Think about God’s Providence warns about some dangerous attitudes that one might be tempted to adopt during times of suffering. In the series on the Holy Spirit by A. W. Pink, we see something of the role that God the Spirit plays in our lives while we suffer.
In this issue, we also continue a study begun in our last issue. This quarter, we have included Frank Boreham’s study of C. H. Spurgeon’s favorite text. This story of Spurgeon’s conversion bears reading time and time again. It provides a powerful testimony to the converting power of the simplest message from the Word of God. It also serves as a wonderful reminder that numbers do not matter. The small congregation that you preach to each week may have great impact in God’s plan for this world. It reminds us of the importance of the conversion of even one soul. Finally, we have concluded this issue with a Puritan prayer from The Valley of Vision.
As to our own lives, the Lord has continued to bless us in many ways. This past May, Jim graduated with his Ph.D. from Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary. In the process of seeking the Lord’s leading for our lives, we felt the leading of the Lord to become involved with some teaching work overseas. We will continue to live in Little Rock and Jim will travel to Europe to teach 2-3 week modules in seminaries and Bible institutes. In addition to teaching overseas, Jim will also be available to teach occasionally for churches and at conferences here in the United States. We will begin this new ministry this fall and especially appreciate your prayers as we move to work with this ministry as full-time missionaries. May the Lord bless you in your service for Him and may you be a testimony for our Lord as you “rejoice and be exceedingly glad” when trials come your way.
By His Grace,
Jim & Debbie
Teaching Resources International 