Stedman, Ray C. - Expository Studies in Genesis

Excerpt:
It hardly needs to be said that the place to begin reading a book is at the beginning. Still, many people have the habit of reading the last chapter of a book first. But if you try that with the Bible, you will become very confused indeed. The best place to begin with it is at the beginning.

There are, however, many who find it difficult to begin with Genesis. They are thrown off by the language, which they find to be a bit stiff and somewhat antiquated, especially if they are reading one of the older versions.

Others are discouraged because they bring to the study of this book certain infantile concepts about God and the Bible, which have been retained from their childhood. I call these "Teddy Bear" ideas. Most of us slept with a Teddy bear when we were little, but discarded it when we grew up. But unfortunately we have not discarded many of the "Teddy Bear" ideas we had as boys and girls about God and the Bible, but instead have carried them over into adult life. When we impose these Teddy Bear ideas upon the Scriptures we discover that the Bible has a tendency to turn us off, and that the book becomes dull and uninteresting to us, and understandably so.

Still others come to Genesis rather prejudiced by the widespread rejection of this book as unscientific or primitive in its concepts. So they read the book, especially the first chapters, with a sense of distaste. They read it simply to be informed about a book that is as widely known as this. But they are already prejudiced against it, and consequently they never really see what is here. They never really hear the words of this book.

Therefore, I would like to suggest that in this present series we attempt to read this book as though we had never read it before, to carefully note what is said here, and what is not said. We must remember, as we study, that Genesis is the first chapter of the story that ends with the presentation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the declaration of the way God has found to obtain the release of human life from despair and death, and to bring it into power, excitement, and grace. In other words, the God of Genesis is the God of the rest of the Bible.

About the Author:

Raymond Charles Stedman - October 5, 1917 – October 7, 1992  Ray was born in Temvik, North Dakota where his father, Charles, worked for the railroads. The family lived for a while in Miles City, Montana, then in Tacoma, Washington and finally settled in Denver, Colorado where his father worked in a Burlington Railroad roundhouse. Ray's mother, Mabel, was asthmatic and developed a heart condition, and after the age of six Ray lived with his aunt. His father abandoned the family, and all efforts to locate him were to no avail.

Ray came to know the Lord at a Methodist revival meeting at age of ten and, living on a farm, began to preach to the cows. His dream was to one day become a surgeon, and after high school in Montana he entered a premed course at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. Financial difficulties forced him to drop out. After working in Montana, Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, he moved to Hawaii to work for Libby Pineapple when World War II broke out. He enlisted in the Navy there in 1943. During the Hawaii years Ray began to lead Bible studies for both civilian workers and navy personnel as well as preaching on a local radio program. It was during this season that Ray realized the Lord wanted him in full time vocational ministry.

Ray met his wife Elaine in Great Falls, Montana, and at the close of the war they were married in Honolulu on October 22, 1945. Upon their return to the mainland in 1946, Ray began a four-year course of study at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), graduating in l950. Ray and Elaine spent two summers during seminary with Dr. J. Vernon McGee at Lincoln Avenue Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, California doing youth ministry. This was just before Dr. McGee began his long ministry at the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles. The Stedmans went on to spend one additional summer in Pasadena at Emmanuel Baptist Church. In the fall of 1950, after traveling for several months with Dr. H.A. Ironside, Pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, Ray accepted the call (conveyed to him by Robert W. Smith) to serve on the staff of Peninsula Bible Fellowship (PBF) in Palo Alto, California. The Stedmans then moved from Great Falls, Montana to the Bay Area with their two young daughters, Sheila and Susan.

PBF had begun two years earlier as a small Bible study, prayer, and fellowship group led by a group of lay leaders from several local churches. By l950 it had grown to the point of needing pastoral staff care. Three letters arrived in the PBF mail box on the same day, written by Christian leaders in different parts of the country, with none of them having any knowledge of the other letters. All three encouraged the PBF Elders to consider a young man named Ray Stedman to fill their pastoral need. Based on the strength of those recommendations, a brief meeting with Bob Smith at DTS, and a meeting after graduation in Palo Alto with the directors of PBF resulted in Ray being offered the position without hearing him preach.

PBF was to become PBC, and Ray's leadership here was to last 40 years, culminating in his retirement as a Pastor and Elder on April 30, 1990. During those 40 years God blessed Ray and Elaine with two more daughters, Linda and Laurie, and eventually eleven grandchildren. Ray and Elaine have lived in Grants Pass, Oregon since his retirement, surrounded by their daughters, Sheila, Susan, Linda, Laurie, and their families, all of whom live in the Northwest.