May 14
20

Know the Truth – A 13 Week Overview of the Christian Faith

Brothers and Sisters,

I would like to invite you all to a new class offered by Emmaus entitled, Know the Truth – A 13 Week Overview of the Christian Faith.

This class is geared towards Christians who have never been given an overview of core Biblical teachings. I hesitate to call this a new believers class because, although I do believe it would be a wonderful study for those new to the faith, I believe it will also benefit those who have been in the Lord for some time, yet have never studied the scriptures in this systematic way. Also, I would imagine that this class would benefit those who, though they do not profess Christ, are interested in learning more about the teaching of Holy Scripture. Feel free to invite friends and family, though they may not consider Emmaus their home church.

We will be working through a book entitled, Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian Belief by Bruce Milne. This book is divided into seven sections, which we will cover over the course of 13 weeks:

Part 1 – The Final Authority in Matters of Faith

Part 2 – The Doctrine of God

Part 3 – Humanity and Sin

Part 4 – The Person and Work of Christ

Part 5 – The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

Part 6 – The Church

Part 7 – The Last Things

Please order the book soon. If you’d like, you can read ahead in preparation for our June 8th start date.

While I highly recommend that you keep up with the reading, I have designed the lectures so that you will receive a fairly comprehensive overview of the book by simply attending the class.

You can either purchase the book on Amazon or pick one up from me on Sunday (I think I have about 5 left).

You can view the class schedule by clicking here.

I do hope that you will be able to join us!

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Joe

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Mar 14
10

Emmaus Essentials – LBC 1689 – Episode 19 – Of Justification

Episode 19 of Emmaus Essentials – LBC 1689 is up and ready for your consumption. The subject is chapter 11 of the Confession – Of Justification. This is truly a vital doctrine and I would highly encourage you to listen in. Questions considered are: What is justification? How is justification received? What is the basis for our justification? When is a person justified? What is the relationship between justification and sanctification? And, how were those who lived before Christ justified? I hope your are blessed by it!

Pastor Joe

Access on:

emmauscf.org/essentials

iTunes

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Oct 13
9

Review and Renew the Emmaus Church Covenant

The Elders of Emmaus have a custom of reviewing one of our Foundation Documents each month at our Agenda Meeting. This month, we reviewed the Emmaus Church Covenant. This is one of my favorite documents as it communicates beautifully our commitment to one another in Christ Jesus.

While reviewing the document, we were reminded that we are to review and renew the Church Covenant as a whole congregation, once a year, in the Fall. It’s Fall, and so we had better follow through on that commitment.

If you are a Member of Emmaus Christian Fellowship, would you please take a few moments to review the Church Covenant (link provided below), being reminded of the commitment that you made to your brothers and sisters in Christ, and also the commitment that they have made to you?

I look forward to standing on October 27th during our regular worship service, and publicly renewing this covenant together.

Blessings,

Joe

Church Covenant 

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Jul 13
9

I assume you have questions. Please ask them!

A New Wrinkle at Emmaus

No, I’m not talking about the fact that we are all getting older. I’m talking about the addition of something new – a new feature at Emmaus Christian Fellowship that I think will help us grow in Christ and our understanding of the Christian faith.

The Value of Asking Quality Questions

This new wrinkle is really quite simple – I am requesting that you as the congregation develop the habit of regularly asking quality questions that pertain to the Christian faith. It is my hope that these questions will then give leadership an opportunity to study and respond to issues that truly matter to you (if they matter to you, they probably matter to others as well).

I imagine that these questions will arise as you listen to sermons, study through Emmaus Essentials, have discussions in your GCG’s, study the Word on your own, and interact with others in the community. The idea is to encourage folks to think deeply on whatever they happen to be considering. There are no dumb questions. Anything goes (a humble and respectful tone would certainly be appreciated). Remember, if you have questions about something it is highly likely that others have the same questions in their mind as well.

Our Plan to Provide Quality Answers

I plan to receive the questions and then personally address them, or ask one of the other leaders of Emmaus to address them, in an appropriate forum.

Some questions will be addressed in a sermon or sermon series (I plan to devote at least one sermon every two months to Q&A). If the question is “big” a sermon series might be devoted to it. Other questions might be addressed through a blog post, through Emmaus Essentials, or through recommending books, articles, videos, or podcasts on the particular subject.

The idea is to encourage more engagement and critical thinking. This will surely lead to more learning for the one asking the question, the one providing the answer, and the church as a whole.

Please Participate

Please participate! Questions can be submitted at any time by going to emmauscf.org/questions, by sending an email to joe@emmauscf.org, or by simply calling me at 951-444-8765.

Please do not expect a full response to all questions immediately. I would like the leadership to have the opportunity to provide quality answers. That means we may need time to do some honest study, which takes time. We will respond right away to let you know that we have received the question and how we plan to address it. 

I look forward to the dialogue!

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Apr 13
15

Everyone Look! Emmaus Essentials Lectures and Notes for All!

Hello Church,

While I would certainly love it if everyone could attend Emmaus Essentials, I do understand that it is difficult to carve that time out, especially if you have a bunch of little ones at home. Lindsay and I definitely feel the pressure in that regard. I’m sure some of you experience other difficulties that keep you away, and by no means do I want to minimize those, but the “little kids in the home” issue is the one thing that I identify with at this time.Side note: Brings your kids to Essentials if they are old enough. Our family is almost to that point. I do doubt Damon’s ability to sit through an hour long class, though. 

The point I am making is this: If you are not able to make it to the Essentials class for whatever reason, would you consider keeping up by reading and/or listening to the class lectures on your own? Unlike Gospel Community Groups, which certainly require personal participation, something can be gleaned from Emmaus Essentials even if you are not in class.

Please explore the links below and decide how you would like to engage. There are a number of ways to go about it – reading, listening to Grudem, listening to Emmaus class audio, going over the notes, or any combination of these things. Doing something is better than nothing!

I plan on posting links to The City every Monday, updating the notes and the class audio, so that you can stay on top of things. I really do believe that study like this is essential for your continued growth in Christ. Please participate!

If you need help with the technological side of things, don’t hesitate to ask.

Class Overview

Week 1 Notes

Week 1 Audio

Link to Emmaus Essentials iTunes Podcast

Link to Wayne Grudem’s iTunes Podcast

www.emmauscf.org/essentials

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Apr 13
8

Foundation Document Review – Theological Vision for Ministry

The leadership of Emmaus Christian Fellowship makes a point of reviewing one of our Foundation Documents each month for the purpose of keeping the beliefs and vision of the church always before our eyes. We read the document and ask two primary questions: One, do we still believe the doctrine or philosophy of ministry expressed within to be true to scripture? And two, are we faithfully teaching or fulfilling the principles laid out in the document?

We find this to be a helpful and challenging practice. The review process is helpful in that it forces us to take these (sometimes rather long, and some might say, dry) documents out from the file cabinet (the digital file cabinet, of course), read them, discus them, and in so doing, be reminded of the vision and beliefs of the church. Without being disciplined to regularly review our Foundation Documents it would not take long for the original vision of the church to be lost and for us to grow flabby in regard to our upholding of biblical truth. The process is challenging in that it forces us to ask orselves hard questions. It forces us to go back to the scriptures and to discuss things perhaps more deeply than we have before. It forces us to honestly evaluate the church and our leadership within the church and ask the hard questions, “are we being faithful?”, and, “in what ways do we need to grow?”

Here is a link to our Theological Vision for Ministry which we reviewd last month. We feel that this is a beautiful, challenging, and deeply important vision for Emmaus Christian Fellowship, and we would encourage you to read it.

Below is our yearly review schedule. Please keep the leadership in prayer as we meet twice a month to study, pray, and fulfill the other obligations associated with serving as overseers in the church. Please feel free to attend the open agenda meeting on the second Tuesday of each month at 7pm. Details about the location will be posted on our website and on The City.

Yearly Review of Foundation Documents

January – Mission, Vision, Passion, Commission

February – Emmaus Distinctive’s

March – Theological Vision for Ministry

April – Resolutions

May – Statement of Faith

Spring Retreat – LBC 1689

June – Emmaus Catechism

July – Chicago Statement on Inerrancy

August – Position Papers

September – Membership Process

October – Church Covenant

Fall Retreat – Bylaws

November – Policy and Procedures

December – Job Descriptions

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Jul 12
3

Question and Answer Opportunity

Hello Church,

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this sermon series but have one regret: there is so much more that could be said concerning the unfolding of the story of redemption and the typological nature of the Old Testament!

I acknowledge that I have moved very quickly, only briefly introducing these concepts to you, but please understand that I plan to address this topic in two ways in the future.

One, the history of redemption will always be in view as I preach. In order to understand the scriptures one must keep both the whole and the parts in view. The moment we begin to look at the small details of the text and ignore the overarching story of scripture (the meta-narrative), we are lost. The same is true if we pay attention to the meta-narrative while ignoring the individual parts. In the next couple of months we will be going back to the study of an individual book (probably in the New Testament), moving verse by verse through the text. No matter which book of the Bible we are studying we must keep the history of redemption in view. In this way, instruction concerning the unfolding of God’s redemptive purposes will be never ending.

Two, I plan to teach through the history of redemption in much greater detail in an Emmaus Essentials course a few years from now. I would like to give you all an opportunity to progress through the current Emmaus Essentials track before offering a more “advanced” track. We are laying foundations now by studying systematic theology but there is so much more that I would like to teach! Please remain faithful in attending Emmaus Essentials so that we can continue to grow together in our understanding of scripture.

Because we have moved so quickly through the history of redemption (covering the whole Old Testament in only a few months) I would like to request questions from the congregation. These might be questions that you used to have, currently have, or think other might have. The point is that I would like the opportunity to answer those questions either from the pulpit or through writing. If you have questions pertaining to this sermon series please post them here and I will do my best to provide answers.

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Jun 12
12

Sign Up for Emmaus Essentials

Hello Church,

Just wanted to remind you that it’s time to sign up for Emmaus Essentials – Making Sense of Who God Is.

The class will start on July 3rd and run through the rest of the summer.

I was reviewing the subject this past week and I can tell you that it’s going to be a good one!

Click HERE to join!

Blessings,

Joe

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"Him we proclaim,
warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone mature in Christ."
(Colossians 1:28, ESV)

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