Galatians...the gospel of freedom!

Subscribe in a reader This is Daniel.  He's 22 and comes to us all the way from Norway.  He was the first student to sign up for this years school, and has been planning to do this program since October of last year.  We're so excited he's here.

The past few books have been huge for him, and the lights are really coming on in his heart as he begins to see more clearly the implications of the gospel of grace.  The reality of the finished work of Jesus on his behalf, that sets him free from the burden of having to earn God's love through any good deed that he does, has really been sinking in.

Just today he was excited to tell me that "Galatians is really making sense," which is a big deal, because its a difficult book to understand, and he's hearing it in his second language.  He specifically mentioned to me today how cool it was that the promise God made to Abraham (1800 BC) had something to do with Jesus (Galatians 3:6-10, 16)...which means, among many other things, that even in the OT the implications of grace were in play, and that God was saving people in the OT through faith/grace not through law keeping...this is a huge revelation, and just one of the many gold nuggets to be found within Galatians.

the unstoppable gospel!

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We've just begun to study the book of Acts, and Eileen is doing an unbelievable job of bringing us into the reality of what happened in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, as the young Christian church began to understand the implications of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  The truth of the gospel, in all its power, began to spread radically around the world.

The really exciting thing is that ONLY ONE MONTH into the ESBS the truth of the gospel is bearing fruit in the lives of our students!  We had a prayer time this morning together as students responded to what they've been learning so far here at the ESBS, especially as it relates to the awesome truth of the gospel (the idea that Jesus really did live the perfect life we couldn't live, died the sinners death we should have died, and set us free!).

Here are some direct quotes from our prayer time this morning as the students processed the truth of the gospel.

" God move this from my mind to my heart."

"Help me realize that I need to stop striving for your love, pierce my heart and help me understand what this means and how I should act, how I should live."

"I've heard this all my life but I feel like I'm finally understanding it for the first time."

"I've had a revelation of my identity so far at this school, but I forget it so quickly."

LETS PRAISE GOD FOR WHAT HE'S DOING IN THE LIVES OF THE STUDENTS.  THIS IS HUGE, LIFE CHANGING STUFF THAT'S TAKING PLACE!

THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THIS!!!

cannon lecture

Subscribe in a readerLast week Scott Pitts gave a two hour evening lecture on the cannon of scripture, explaining how the various books within the Bible came to be regarded as scripture.  It was a fascinating lecture.  We were joined by "Crossroads ministry international," a small discipleship ministry in Shelby NC that runs a 12 month discipleship program for recent college graduates.  Scott Pitts has forged a partnership with Crossroads and we're trying to intentionally include them in what's going on here in Lake Lure.  We also had a few high school-aged students show up from the Lake Lure community, which is also a strategic shift we're trying to make this year.  I want to very intentionally invite the community into as much of the school as possible.  It was a fun evening.

YOU'RE INVITED THIS THURSDAY

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This thursday Scott Pitts (one of our staff members) is giving a two hour evening lecture on the cannon of scripture.  The lecture answers the questions "why do we have 66 books in our Bible, where did they come from, who made those decisions?"

This is a fantastic lecture and you're all invited to attend.  IT STARTS AT 7...If you're free, come up and meet the students, see the program in action firsthand, and learn something new about the Bible.

THIS IS ALSO AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY TO INTRODUCE THE ESBS TO SOMEONE NEW.  If you have anyone in mind who you think would be interested in what's happening here at the ESBS please invite them to attend this event.

Let me know if you're coming (tphillips@camplurecrest.org)

moving forward

Subscribe in a reader  Today the students begin their fifth book, Mark.  They're now finished with what we call the "seminar phase" of the program, and they're ready to start building their own "chart style" commentary on each book, using the inductive Bible study skills they've learned over the past three weeks. The past three weeks have been lecture intensive, with classes everyday morning and evening.  The lecture pace slows now to three mornings a week, giving the students time to study through the content of the book on their own.

So far I'm really pleased with what Im seeing in the students.  They're all very mature, and they all seem driven to discover the text for themselves.  It's such a privilege to be a part of the discipleship history of such amazing people.  It's going to be a very good year.

Looking forward we ALREADY HAVE AN INTERESTED STUDENT FOR 2011!  Last week we had an evening lecture on the historical background of the new testament era.  The lecture includes a skit on Greek culture.  I invited everyone I could think of.  One girl in particular, who came with a former Lurecrest staff member (Iman), was really impressed with the program and is interested enough to come back next week for a more formal campus visit.  She's in her mid 20's, working professionally, in ministry with Young Life, and totally excited about the opportunity to study the Bible like this.  Meeting people like her confirms afresh that what we're doing here, what YOU ARE INVESTING IN HERE is TOTALLY WORTH IT! and TOTALLY UNIQUE, and it's a wonderful reminder that there are folks out there who would absolutely LOVE to do a program like this!  We need to simply pray that God would continue to send the right ones our way.