I graduated from the Institute of Inductive Bible Study in Moldova. All the gratitude for the teachers

I’m so happy about yesterday’s special day. I graduated from the Institute of Inductive Bible Study in Moldova. I publish in this article my speech of gratitude from the event. I graduated from a special Institute, different from many other institutions. I say this because I have seen its impact on my life, which I write about below.

The institute taught me how to search the Scriptures

Here I received skills that would help me look deeper into the law of the Lord, not superficially. It was here that I learned to study the Bible as part of my daily spiritual discipline. I understand how important this is, because in James 1 it is written that you cannot be happy in the work if you are not a doer of the Word in deeds, and you cannot be a doer with deeds if you do not deepen your eyes and persevere in the law of the Lord.

Here I received these skills and I became happy in the work I do.

Graduation of the Institute is not the culmination of this custom. Studying the Scriptures, participating in sessions is already a discipline of my spiritual life. I have made a decision for my life: to attend the annual sessions of the Institute and to invest continually in my training as a Bible teacher, as I have been taught:

“Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.” (1Timothy 4:15-16 NASB)

This Institute taught me to make disciples

The institute has started a beautiful process of discipleship in our country and in many other countries, a process that continues from generation to generation, because we are taught as Paul taught Timothy:

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2 NASB)

This Institute has given me vision for a lifetime, which is clearly written in the pages of the Holy Scriptures, but which few Christians have accomplished. I mean the great task – go and make disciples… Few end up fulfilling it, because they are not taught about this importance or they are not taught how to do it, they do not have a living example.

We have the great blessing and the great grace to be taught at the Institute of Inductive Bible Study in Moldova to make disciples, to be taught about this importance (because if you do not, you miss your calling as a Christian), to be taught and how to do it. Thus, I am now able to make disciples through English, journalism, and Bible study groups.

The disciples, whom I learn from the Word and in whose lives I invest, grow future leaders. I look at them with admiration when I see their thirst for the Word, their great desire to know and understand the Scriptures more and more. Children, youth, adults, all have such a beautiful attitude toward studying the Word.

On August 28, at the lake in Danceni, four of my disciples will be baptized. Today I planned the event and I warmly invite you to be with me. This is how we see and enjoy the results of the work we do.

I see this in their eyes when I teach them, when I see their textbooks completed in all seriousness and so meticulously, in detail, from the questions they ask, from the way they keep asking me when we start again. In the summer I went to the International Mission School – Precept Ministries Eurasia, where I am a professor at the Faculty of Journalism. When I had a day off, the mother of the students from Danceni, Natalia Florea, called me and said: “Come to teach them at least one lesson, they can’t wait for you to teach them; at least one”.

 

Inductive Bible study grows them so beautifully in their knowledge that they can be confident that they will have a steadfast faith, so that when false teachings come, they will know how to distinguish them, how to argue, how and where to open Scripture for explanations and to give the reason for the hope that is in them. Such disciples are we taught to grow at the Institute of Inductive Bible Study in Moldova!

My heart also rejoices when I see their desire to get involved in the ministry and to serve. They are a great help in camps, in evangelism, and in all the work we do.

I am growing trustworthy people, future leaders, whom one day I want to see graduate from the Institute of Inductive Bible Study. Some of my students reach the age of 14 in the winter and will be able to be admitted to Timothy’s School. Those who are not yet old enough with tears in their eyes say that it is too difficult for them to wait another 3 years. Such a beautiful wish!

Today they were at the celebration with us and we enjoyed it together.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the teachers so dear to my heart!

Dear teachers, how much I thank you for all the effort and all the investment in me, so precious, so important! What a great crown you will have in heaven! You taught me through living words and letters, being far and near, in word and deed, in the living example that I had so close, in joys and sorrows, in hardships and good times, with advice, rebuke, gentleness and love.

My life has been changed so much by the Word of God. Looking back, I marvel at the beautiful way God has worked in my life. I never dreamed it would be so beautiful. God has worked in my life through you, dear teachers, because you have responded to His call and through your obedience and dedication. God has written His plan in my life through your obedience, dedication, and love. You are living teachers of Ezra 7:10 and you transposed it into the lives of your disciples, as it is written,

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10 NASB)

I think of all the situations when I ran to you for advice … what would have happened without your advice? I think about all the teaching I have received, which aligns my life so beautifully and protects me from so many problems. What would my life have been like without your investment? How many lack mentors, and I have such wonderful mentors! I am truly blessed and I carry you in my heart with all gratitude!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Sister Profira Gradinaru, who motivated me and helped me to become a student at the Institute of Inductive Bible Study in Moldova; she supported me in all my years of study. Your contribution, Sister Profira, is so great! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Thank you very much to my friends, who are always by my side and rejoice with me in the great love they carry for me. I love you a lot! I thank God from the bottom of my heart for you, because through you I see a real, 3D part 🙂 of His love for me. You are the proof of the mercy, kindness, friendship, and love that God offers me. He is such a GOOD Father, who has given me wonderful sisters, with whom life is LIFE. I will never tire of saying this.

Translated by Olya Trikolich