The Purpose of Scripture Supply
As a senior pastor of two different churches over the last 35 years I have had the firsthand opportunity to appreciate the resources at my disposal for studying the word of God. I’ve had the best material available in the original languages by truly gifted men. When I started a study of a book of the bible it always felt like I had a team behind me as I read the pages of their commentary. I didn’t just have one such commentary during my study of the book of the bible, I had 6 to 12 to read and study.
By the work of the Holy Spirit through the words the writers wrote clarified my view of a passage, changed my heart and my life. The words the Holy Spirit prompted them to write rebuked me at times, sometimes they encouraged me, but I can so truly I was constantly being altered by what they wrote because those dear servants of Christ had during their time in the word been to the alter of Christ; I was altered because they had been to the alter!!
As I became more and more involved in missions around the world I was amazed by the pastors and teachers in the places I was blessed to visit as I served beside them. I was given opportunities to teach at their churches, conferences, and bible schools. These people loved Jesus, they loved their people and wanted to feed them God’s word. They didn’t lack passion nor purpose! After my time of teaching with them in many different countries these pastors would come up to me and ask me for my notes. Some pastors who had been at the conference would ask if I would come to their area and teach the people in their region. Other times, people who had been watching the live streaming of the services I was blessed to teach at would reach out to someone they knew at the conference or service to invite me to come to their country to teach. We had pastors reach out to me from countries I have never been to and confess that they had found my notes online and had been using them to teach at their churches, conferences, and bible schools! These occurrences became more and more frequent, and I began to realize that God was at work in my notes like those men of the commentaries I had studied. I was humbled by this revelation but also challenged by it.
In Matthew 10:8, though the context deals with specifically with healing I also believe it to by true of the other gifts that God bestows on His servants, Jesus said, “..Freely you have received, freely give.” Then in 1 Corin. 4:7 Paul wrote, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” I began to think; these blessed pastors in Africa, India, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Central America and else where didn’t lack passion or purpose in wanting to teach the bible instead they had two things that kept them from being better able to teach the people in their churches through the bible and neither was their fault! They simply lacked resources! They either didn’t have available material in their language to aid them in their study or even they had material they lacked the funds to be able to purchase it! And though the material is readily available to English speaking pastors it comes at a financial price that because of America’s wealth we can afford! There are many very good teachers that we American pastors can get their teachings to aid in our study. But if the material is published then it becomes of no use to the native pastor who lives in a country outside of USA.
What I realized was that I had in my notes of teaching though the books of the bible my own complete commentary of verse-by-verse study that has never been published! Pastors have been asking me for these notes, so why not start a website and put them all out there so that any pastor from anywhere can take them for free and use them any way the Lord leads them?
That is what Scripture Supply is all about! We are working on creating this site so that God’s servants can have access to material that they wouldn’t have available or couldn’t afford even if it was available. We also wanted to offer our service to you for FREE, the material is FREE and so are Denise and I! The only thing we ask is that you keep it FREE by not selling it or publishing it!
We would be blessed to come to your area or church to teach as God provides for us but even if we cannot come quickly the commentaries I have written on this site can go much more places all at the same time where we cannot!
This site will continually be updated, and we pray that you will eventually be able to download the material in your own languages through the use of Artificial Intelligence software. I will also continue to finish new studies as well as a weekly podcast all of which will remain FREE!
I have recently retired from pastoral ministry after 35 years to dedicate the remainder of my life serving YOU and we count this service to you an honor and a privilege. Blessings to you all and may God receive all the glory!
Pastor Dale Lewis and Denise Lewis