February 25, 2006
Beloved brothers and sisters
in Christ,
This short note is written
to serve three purposes.
First,
to let everyone know that my beloved Helen is now with the Lord in glory.
Her spirit was set free at 8:45 p.m. Thursday night, February 23rd.
“…..the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the
name of the Lord,” Job 1:21. I just praise and thank
the Lord for the sweet years that we had together, and I praise Him that
she is now out of her pain and suffering. In His wisdom, He chose to take
her home to glory where she will never know suffering again. And I know
that I shall soon see her again, for our Lord is coming soon.
Second, I want to praise
and honor the Lord for the faithfulness of His promises. Folks,
the Word of God can always be depended upon. His Word tells us in
Ecclesiastes 11:1, “Cast thy bread upon the waters:
for thou shalt find it after many days.”
There is no question in my mind that this is talking about
the gospel of Christ; “the bread of life,” John 6:31-35. Fifty-two years
ago I began preaching God’s wonderful Word. Forty-one years ago the
Lord began expanding my ministry beyond the four walls of the local church.
Through these years I have had the blessing of seeing His Word go into far
flung places that I never dreamed about reaching when I was a young preacher.
And it was all accomplished through “faith” in the Lord and His Word. We never
asked anyone but the Lord for money, just like He said to do, Matthew 6:6. But God has a principle in His
Word…..
In Romans
15 Paul stated [in context] that if the Gentiles are partakers
of the “spiritual things” of the Jews, then the duty of
the Gentiles is to minister back to them in “carnal [fleshly; physical; needful] things,” Romans 15:27. This principle set forth
obviously goes beyond the Jew-Gentile relationship, for it has been practiced
by God’s people right through the centuries of this dispensation.
In 1 Corinthians
9:11 the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “If
we have sown unto you the spiritual things, is
it a great thing if we shall reap your
carnal things?” The subject under consideration
in this chapter is providing for the physical needs of the suffering saints
in Jerusalem. This principle,
faithfully applied by true believers, is what results in the fulfillment
of Ecclesiastes 11:1. Praise the Lord! And that
brings up the third thing I want to share with you dear people.
The Lord has fulfilled
Ecclesiastes 11:1 in our behalf. Our needs
have been met and surpassed. We have received all we need for the burial
expenses of my dear wife. I express my heartfelt appreciation to one and
all who helped to meet this need, and yes, to those
who wrote kind, sweet, encouraging letters and emails to us, who weren’t
able to help. May our Great God richly bless each one of you dear people,
and reward you a hundredfold for your love and tender care. God bless you
all. Please do not send any further love offerings for my wife’s
funeral expenses. There is or will be some other dear brother or sister
who desperately needs help, and I will pray that the Lord will direct you
to them even as He directed you to me. Galatians 6:2 and 1
John 3:18 are still in the Bible. May God give each of us
the grace to continue loving and helping and praying for one another even
until our Lord comes.
Dear ones, right at
the moment I am deeply involved with preparations for my wife’s funeral
service. So forgive me for not answering each of you personally at this
time. If the Lord permits, each one who responded will receive a personal
letter or email from me in the next few weeks. Thank you again, thank you,
thank you, and may the Lord richly reward and bless
you is my prayer.
For those who may be
interested…..Funeral services for my dear wife will be held on Monday,
the 27th, at 2:00 p.m. at the Nilson
Funeral Home in Columbia, Missouri. I know some of you may think
this very strange, but by my wife’s request I will be bringing
the message at her funeral service. Please be in prayer for me. I will
certainly need the Lord’s strength to fulfill her request.
May God bless you all
is my prayer. We’ll see you soon in glory,” Psalm 30:5.
In the love of Christ,
Pastor F. M. Riley
P.S. All excess funds received
will be used in the Lord’s work, or returned, according to your
wishes. Again, you can contact me as listed below:
Last Call Gospel Ministry
3305-D
Clark Lane PMB 147
Columbia,
MO 65202
Email 36364@centurytel.net
or
fmrglorybound@centurytel.net
Phone 573-814-4560