Stephen Ray: God Has Declared Me, "Not Guilty"

2,000 years ago a man stood condemned in the Roman courts. This man claimed to be the living God, sent to earth to save humanity from sin and death. The penalty for his crime: death. The police tape had been taken down, the detectives had gone home, and the case was closed. Had they known the man was truly innocent, that the jury had been paid off from the start, they might have let him live. Unlike most dead men though, this one didn't stay dead. He rose! Suddenly sons and daughters began to prophesy, young men had visions, older men dreamed dreams, and the word of this Jesus Christ spread throughout the whole world.

Now, the case has been reopened, and you are left to answer the question: what happened?

My name is Stephen Ray. I am a recent college graduate with a bachelor’s degree in communication. I have been a student here at Emmaus for 3 months now. As a detective of Scripture it has been an incredible journey to see God’s hand through the pages of Scripture as well as in my own life. I grew up in the small town of Holly, MI. My Father has been a camp pastor of multiple camps all of my life. As a child I grew up traveling the country with my father watching him lead thousands of youth to Christ. As a child, when people would ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would respond with, “what my papa does”.

During the summers I found myself working at Camp Lurecrest in Lake Lure, NC. While working there the assistant camp director, David Butts, took me under his wing as a mentor. Knowing my heart for ministry and leadership, David told me over and over again, “Stephen, you've got to know your bible”. Camp Lurecrest was the current location of ESBS, and over the years I built a relationship with Tom Philips, and I knew years ago that I needed to come to this school.

Here at the school we take on the role of a detective. Using the Inductive Bible Study method, we try to get back into the first century mindset so that we can get a full understanding of the text. We watch the police tape and reopen the case. One of my biggest frustrations was leaving the first few cases, Philemon, Philippians, and Ephesians feeling like I

couldn't

know every detail. It took a while to realize that I

wouldn't

leave every case with having memorized every detail. I realized this when one of our teachers told us that this year we are here only to start the investigation, these cases will have to be revisited in the years to come.

While being a detective of the gospel, the most eye opening discovery happened in the case that I’d forgotten about. All throughout the New Testament we see that those who believe in Jesus are called righteous. To be righteous before God means that in the courts of heaven you have been legally declared, “not guilty”. Not only have those who believed in Christ been declared, “not guilty”, but we have been given the very righteousness of Christ. As I have spent more time learning the Bible I see more how God views me.

I thought I was coming here to investigate the case closed 2,000 years ago. I did. But in reality, I came to solve the case of my own heart. As for that one, the verdict is in: Not Guilty.

Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell is one of our students this year. We are pleased to have him share his story with you of how and why he came to Emmaus. He was the first to apply and be accepted in the Emmaus class of 2017! We are so thankful for his heart to follow where God leads, his humility to listen as God speaks, and his desire to love and serve his fellow students while he's here.

"I ended up coming to the Emmaus School of Biblical Studies (ESBS) through no less than an act of God. I guess you could say that everyone who ends up at a school where all you do is study the Bible for ten months straight is always an act of God, however I completely recognize the work of God in getting me to this school.

I separated from the military during July 2016, where I served for five years. During these five years I was lucky enough to experience traveling the world to many exotic places. During the last of these journeys I ended up being stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Besides the adventure of living in Japan for two years I also had the pleasure of meeting Jon Black, who happened to be the Chaplin of the base chapel. Over the course of many months Jon and I's relationship grew into an amazing friendship and we developed a mentor/mentee connection.  One day, during one of our many get-togethers, Jon began to tell me of this really amazing school that he was on the board of and believed I would be a good fit for. That school happened to be ESBS. I took the next couple of months to pray about this school and eventually discerned that was where God was calling me to in the next chapter of my life. That was a year and a half ago and I can happily say that God is faithful and has brought me to this new place called Oviedo, Florida were ESBS is. It has been a month now since classes started and I can honestly say that I have been blown away by the experience thus far.

The thing that has impacted me the most so far about being here is learning how much I didn't know about my Bible. I grew up in the church. I heard all the stories and probably every sermon that you could imagine. But as the days go on here at ESBS the surprises never cease. God is using the instructors to peel back layer after layer of depth that I never knew the Bible contained. Whether it be looking at the historical context that each passage was written under or "color coding" until every page looks like a rainbow exploded onto it, I have been exposed to the beauty that truly is the Bible.

In a way that I believe only a School of Biblical Studies can do, ESBS has taken this thing I thought I knew so much about, the Bible, and has revealed to me the secrets and underlying truths buried beneath its covers. I can't wait to see what the rest of the school year entails."

Up and Running!

We are so pleased to announce that this Monday, August 15th, we began the tenth year of the Emmaus School of Biblical Studies!

Staff training & prep for student arrival

This is the tenth year of the school's existence, but the first year that we will be running it at Canterbury Retreat & Conference Center!

Tom teaching the importance of having a Biblical worldview

Things have been busy over the last couple of weeks as we have met, discussed different aspects of the school, bought food, set up dorm rooms, and picked up students from the airport. This week we are introducing them to the Inductive Bible Study method through the book of Philemon. Our students are already doing a fantastic job, and we are thoroughly enjoying getting to know them and having them get to know us. We have already seen them reach out to each other and begin to build a Gospel centered community that seeks to encourage each other in their pursuit of God and His will for their lives.

Classroom setup

Next week we will introduce the students to you. We will be taking individual as well as class pictures, so that you can follow along and put faces to the names of the ESBS class of 2017!

The Joy of a Teacher

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
- 3 John 1:4 -

In 3 John, the apostle John was writing to a man named Gaius. He was writing to him because Gaius was having trouble with some other men in his congregation and he needed encouragement and instruction on what to do. What was John's encouragement? He was rejoicing over Gaius, rejoicing because Gaius knew the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he was living it out, holding fast to what he knew was the truth.

John's greatest joy was to hear from other Christians that Gaius was living out his faith, diligently continuing in what John had taught him.

One of the greatest joys you can ever have as a teacher is to hear that your students are doing well, pursuing what they love with a passion, and continuing in what you taught them. At Emmaus we feel this all the time. We get phone calls from students who are leading Bible studies in their churches, going to the mission field, and reaching out to at-risk-youth. We see facebook posts and twitter feeds that tell us our students are passing on what they've learned here at Emmaus, and they're living lives that glorify God in all that they do.

Just recently one of our students from last year, Eric Frid, decided to memorize the book of Galatians. There are no words to describe how excited this makes us as a staff! Not because memorizing Galatians makes him any more spiritual than the next person (after all, isn't that the entire message of Galatians? Salvation and acceptance through Jesus, not works?!), but because it's an intentional attempt of Eric's to stay rooted in God's Word and to allow it to sink deep into his heart and mind. And when the Word sinks deep, it transforms us.

A year at Emmaus can change your life. You get into a habit of studying and wrestling with God's Word. You grow in your relationship with Christ because the Bible starts to point out which mindsets and habits are good and godly and which ones need work. It's hard to get away with not doing your work and not spending personal time with the Lord outside of your study time. You are dropped fully and completely into the vat of the Bible. You learn a little bit more of what it means to depend on the Holy Spirit for wisdom, guidance, and perseverance.

But leaving can be extremely hard. You don't have the same accountability you once had. You don't have to get up and study God's Word. It gradually becomes easy to forget all that you've learned, to fall back into old habits, and to let Netflix do it's thing.

Eric used to be an atheist, lost in drugs and sin. But God is a good God. He is a God who chooses to save us because He loves us, not because we're worthy. And He chose to save Eric and his wife, Amber.

In coming to Emmaus, Eric (and the other students as well) chose to fight a battle. It's the battle of getting to know God's Word. It's the battle of early mornings and late nights and more information than you feel you can handle. It's the battle of taking baby steps towards living the way God calls us to live. It's a battle of discipline.
In leaving Emmaus, Eric has faced the war of continuing to learn his Bible and live it out in a world that daily rejects the God who created it. Eric desires to love God, to love his wife and children, and become, daily, more of the man he knows God created him to be. And memorizing the book of Galatians is playing a part in all of that.

And it gives us all no greater joy than to hear that our students, like Eric, are walking in the truth. We are so extremely proud of all of them. We're thankful and we rejoice every time we hear or see them making the intentional choice to be transformed by God's Word. It reminds us of how powerful God's Word is, how it can take who we once were and make us into someone entirely different, and how important it is for us to keep reaching out and showing others His Word as well.


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When The Light Goes On

Emmaus Ministries.

In the eyes of the world at large we are very small. In the eyes of the world we are very foolish.

You want to do what?

Equip the body of Christ with the Word of God.

You moved from how far away to be here in Florida?

From North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, and Colorado.

Why would you do that? Why would you leave family and friends, homes and financial stability to run a school whose average attendance has been nine people every year? Why would you "risk it all"?

Allow me to explain...

There are moments when I truly feel alive. It's not skydiving or driving really fast or bull riding that makes me feel this way

(none of which I have any desire to do)

. For me, the times when I truly "feel alive" are when I open up my Bible, look into tired eyes, and watch the Holy Spirit turn the lights on inside the people facing me.

Those moments make me want to cry and laugh and throw my hands in the air!

But instead I watch quietly in humble awe of what I see the Lord doing.

My

words are not what turn those lights on, it's

God's

Word coming alive for the very first time that switches on the light.

Over the past few months we've been teaching Inductive Bible Seminars at different churches in the Orlando area. Last night I wrapped up a study on Titus and at the end I asked the people there how Inductive Bible Study had changed their view of Scripture or their relationship with the Lord or even their view of themselves. One lady, around 80 years old, told me that she'd always read her Bible, but the last few months have been the first time she's ever studied it and understood what she's reading. She continued to tell me that she now feels able to study it on her own. She knows where to start and how to do it.

That's a big deal. Have I told you how those moments make me feel?

Several of the rest of the group echoed the exact same thing. The more I think about it, the more my heart fills up to overflowing.

Ministry is not always fun. It's not always exciting or interesting or easy. Sometimes you wonder if it's all worth it, if the world is maybe, just maybe, right in thinking that we're crazy. But when I look into eyes with lights coming on, and I hear someone tell me they know how to study Scripture and grow in their relationship with the Lord, that's when I know that it really is all worth it. When I think of previous students, remember their stories, and look at where they are now because of a solid understanding of Scripture and a grown relationship with the Lord, that's when I know it's all worth it.

The world may think of success in terms of numbers, low-risk, and security. But with the Gospel those indicators are not always a good measure of success. The Gospel is about relationship with God. It's a call to pick up our cross, to walk as Jesus walked, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The good news of Jesus is that we are created and loved by an all-powerful God who wants to be in relationship with us, to remove the sin that separates us from him. And it starts with picking up your Bible and getting to know who this God really is.

Small or large, this is the heart of Emmaus Ministries. And I whole-heartedly believe that it's worth it.

God bless,

Ellen

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