EMMAUS SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL STUDIES

The book has been really interesting and intense for me. It is that one book that everyone opens to and starts trying to read, then gets about to Cain’s descendants and gives up. It was really amazing to see all of these bible characters, but really see them. In all of their sin and depravity. The thing that I thought I really gained from the most out of Genesis was the whole story of Joseph, seeing how his circumstances lead him to where God wanted him to be. That is really encouraging for me to know that God will be in control of my life like that and I will be right were he wants me to be at the end of the year.

At first when I read James it seemed like a complete change of ideas, it had a lot of emphasis on works, instead of faith. But as usual after getting all the background information and understanding what the original reader was going through it all made sense. I felt like I learned a lot from this book, realizing that a lot of the truths of the Bible I keep in my head, but I don’t really live them out. Like I understand Christ died for my sins, but do I really live it out? Honestly no, I can barely trust God to deal with my emotions and thoughts, even though in my head I know he already knows, and still loves me. I feel like I need to take on this burden and try and deal with it myself, but that’s not living out what I’ve learned. This book is really helping me see that I need to get these basic truths in my heart, so I can begin trusting and learning.

These two books have been really amazing for me. I feel like they came at the perfect time. First my final application in 2 Peter was being able to really support my faith so that I can be fruitful in my life. Part of the book was a list of things we need in order to support our faith, and I just wrote down what those things mean to me and how I can implement them into my everyday life. Also in Jude my final application was remembering the basis of my faith, knowing who I am in Christ. Sometimes I have a really hard time remembering that, I feel worthless and unlovable, and I just let that take me over. But through this book I’ve just been constantly reminding myself that I am loved and cared for, by Christ. Sometimes it is harder than others, and I wonder if I really get it in my heart, but the more I work on it, the less these thoughts of worthlessness come into play.

The over all theme for this book was taking comfort in Christ’s second coming. I had never really spent much time thinking about it, I don’t know if many people really do now a days. If I did think about it, I just assumed that it probably wouldn’t happen in my life time, so I always brushed it off to the side. But in reading Thessalonians I realized that it was and should be today a real thing. The Thessalonians believed and trusted in it so much that they even stopped doing work on earth. Now I always thought of the second coming as a scary thing, but Paul really shows that it is not scary, and we should be comforted by it. So I guess what I learned this book is that the second coming is not some scary event that is going to take place long from now, but it is a comforting thing that could happen any day. But that doesn’t mean I am going to stop working.

The main theme for Galatians was freedom in Christ alone. The application is that we do not have to do anything else, we are set free by what Christ did for us. This book was especially moving to me because it made me realize that I do not have to do anything to better myself for God, he takes me as is.

The major theme for Luke was that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Luke used this through out the book showing Jesus going out and meeting people where they were, even if they were considered unlovely by society. My application point that I picked to be most relevant to my life was loving your enemy. This truth came at a perfect time of my life with the beginning of football season. During football season I become really angry over games and it is really not a good thing. So I took what Jesus said about loving my enemy, and applied it to loving my team’s rivals. Well maybe not love, but just not so much dislike. So I have decided that I really need to pray and meditate on not getting so worked up over a game, because when it comes down to it, it is just a game. This is something that I defeniatly can not do on my own so I am going to need God’s constant help with this.

Major theme: Focusing on heavenly things, not earthly things
Application point: Not focusing on what I think I should have, but focusing on what I do have, eternity with Christ.
Additional thoughts: I think that this book has been good for me and my time management skills, it has really pushed me to the edge but I think that because of this, I will do much better on all of the upcoming books.