Reflecting on this Semester- Fall 2019
Life has been crazy. It feels like it was just a couple of days ago that I was wrapping up teaching the book of Exodus and writing a blog reflecting on the new school year and what was ahead. Life has been moving so fast, I looked down and it was November. So much has unfolded over the last 2 months. I would love to share some of the highlights with you.
Teaching Books
Over the past few months, I have had the pleasure of teaching a few books of the Bible for our School and for our Biblical Narrative Series.
I had the pleasure of teaching Kings and Joel for our School of Biblical Studies. I was excited to teach 1st and 2nd Kings because these two books help give us a roadmap to the rest of the Old Testament. With Kings, we are able to better understand the context of all of the major and minor prophets. It was really fun to help walk the students through this daunting book and show them how even Kings points us to the Gospel. Kings surprised me by showing how much God ran after his rebellious people. Through the entire book, we see that Israel is walking away from God and choosing to rebel against him. In the midst of their rebellion, he sends his prophets to try and get the people to turn back to him. I found myself not only teaching the history of these books but also of the great character of God that we see in them.
Last week, I was able to share with our students Joel. This book might be the polar opposite of Kings; short, simple and light on historical details. Joel shows us yet another aspect of God. This book often scares a lot of people away by talking about “the day of the Lord,” but for me, Joel always gives me such hope. Joel teaches my heart what true repentance looks like. Repentance isn’t saying “ill do better,” it is collapsing on Jesus. Joel also shows us that Jesus can bring life-changing restoration, he can “redeem the years that the locust have stolen.” The message of hope rings in my heart every year that I teach this book.
Biblical Narrative Series
One of the most exciting things that we have been working on this year is the Biblical Narrative Series. For those of you who might not know, the Biblical narrative series is a lecture course that we offer on Monday nights. Through the course, participants learn about the relevant historical background, main ideas, and themes of every book in the Bible. Our aim is to give people the tools that they need to better engage the Bible as they walk through the Scriptures. We offer two separate courses, an Old Testament overview and a New Testament overview.
This Fall we are wrapping up the Old Testament overview. We have had 80 people from 11 different churches studying with us every week through the Bible. We have been so excited to see the reception of this program from the local church. As we move forward as a ministry, we are exploring more ways that we are able to help the body of Christ here in Orlando engage the Bible and walk with Jesus!
Family
Lauren and I are just 3 months away from celebrating our one year anniversary. We are so excited to close in on this milestone and celebrate together.
Speaking of milestones, this past September my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. My sister Kelly put together a surprise anniversary celebration for our parents and Lauren and I were able to journey together to surprise my parents. It was an awesome weekend of seeing friends and family. It was a real out of body experience to see a house full of people who have been touched by my parent’s ministry.
We have been so blessed by these two and continue to look to their marriage as a beacon of hope. If our marriage can be 1/10 of what Brett and Carol Ray’s has been in their lifetimes, then Lauren and I have an amazing life ahead of us.
What is ahead.
From here until the end of the year is a long road. With the holiday’s life is about to really speed up. In the next few months I have a few different opportunities to teach, please pray that God will move through me in a powerful way and that hearts would be moved closer to Christ.
November 9th- The Pause youth retreat
November 11th and 14th- Teaching Ezekiel for ESBS
November 24th- Guest teaching for a local church
December 9th- Teaching Zechariah for ESBS
December 15th- Guest teaching for a local church
Please pray as I prep that God would have his way with all of my speaking engagements. Pray that I would get out of the way and let God do what he does best!
Prayer Requests:
Current Students- I can honestly say that this class of students are some of the best SBS students I have ever seen. They are smart, funny and genuinely awesome to be around. Please pray that their year at Emmaus would be restful and that they would meet Jesus in the Scriptures.
Future of Emmaus- We are so excited about what lies ahead. We are dreaming up new ways to help Central Florida engage their Bibles. Please pray for God to give us a clear path of which way to go. Please also pray for our future students. That God would begin to call people to come and study the Bible with us.
Emmaus Staff- While this has been possibly the best semester our ministry has ever seen, some of our staff members have gone through some real trials to get where we are now. Car trouble, family health issues, and finances are a few things that have slowed us down. Please pray that our staff would be unified in Christ and that we would have peace as we walk together.
Thank you so much for your continued support. It is so much fun to see God moving here in Orlando, Florida in such powerful ways. It is an honor and a joy to be used by God in this ministry and it is because of people like you that I am able to do what God has called me to do.
