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Greetings Friends!
A
beautiful, foggy morning in Tyler
January has been a busy month for
us. Beth
turned 26 :) and school has been marching right along.
We are continuing our trek through the Old
Testament, learning about Judah and Israel’s descent
into captivity. Each
of us was assigned a minor prophet to study and share
our research with the class.
Beth taught on Zephaniah (since Zephaniah 3:17 is
one of her favorite verses, she wanted to know the
context:), and Jason taught on Micah.
Beth
Teaching on Zephaniah
Sorry,
no photo of Jason teaching. Someone was too engrossed in
his teaching to remember to take a picture!
It was humbling and sad to read
through this part of Israel’s history.
We saw that as the people hardened their hearts
to God and began worshiping false gods, the Lord was so
faithful to provide prophets every step of the way that
fearlessly proclaimed His truth.
Several kings such as Josiah and Hezekiah were
encouraging as they took authority to turn their kingdom
back to God, tearing down the high places, and
re-establishing true worship to their Father.
But sadly, the majority of kings chose to walk in
their own strength and pride rather than seek God’s
face, and the people followed.
We saw that the Israelites were
actually looking forward to the coming day of the Lord
because they were so convinced that all of their enemies
would be punished while they remained God’s holy
people, set apart.
However, they completely missed the fact that
they had their own part to uphold in the covenant.
As God remained faithful to them, they chose to
turn away from Him.
In spite of all of the prophets’ warnings, most
of the people seemed shocked that judgment came because
they were so blinded by their sin.
However, the people of Judah in
Babylonian captivity did turn back to God and sought His
face. It
was inspiring to read that in the midst of their
captivity, they came back to their First Love.
God was faithful to reassure them that the
captivity would end, and there would be a remnant left
to restore Jerusalem and the temple. At this point in our studies, the people of Judah have just
returned to Jerusalem (after 70 years in captivity) and
rebuilt the temple. This
remnant would never again return to such depths of
idolatry. It
is hopeful to see this refined and purified remnant
restored in their relationship with God.
Now, if we could just get past this idea that the
covenant is about external rituals instead of an
internal heart change, we would be doing well.
This is what Jesus will teach when he arrives on
the scene and alters the course of history, forever.
We’ll talk more about that when we get to New
Testament Studies.
On a personal note, we went to the
baptism of our nephew Gage in Waxahachie last weekend.
It was great to see him give his life to the Lord
and hear about his relationship with God :)
Gage
was baptized at the Oaks Fellowship Church in Red Oak,
TX.
We have found a church here in
Tyler! We
have been attending Trinity Fellowship Church since
December. It’s
a great combination of spirit-filled worship and
in-depth Bible teaching.
Thank you for praying for this!
Also, on March 3rd-13th,
we will be going with a team (6 of us altogether) to
Monterrey, Mexico on outreach.
We will be working with a church there, teaching
the Bible in a 3 day seminar, preaching in 4 Sunday
services and a Saturday youth service, and visiting
people in their homes in the mornings.
We’re excited to share what we’ve been
learning and dive into practical ministry. After our outreach, we will have a weeklong spring break to
relax!
We hope you all are doing well and
would love to hear from you!
Thank you again for all of your love and prayers.
Be blessed!
Love,
Jason and Beth
Fun
Picture
Our
nephews Gage and Garrett wearing their late
great-grandfather's World War II Navy uniforms!
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