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Hello Friends!
So sorry it’s been a while since our last
update. We
have been busy with the rest of our classmates in School
of the Bible. Here's a photo of them!
This
past month and a half we have continued to study the Old
Testament through Ruth.
With Leviticus, we studied what God was trying to
convey to the Israelites – holiness.
We learned that God was trying to do something
very unique with His people – set them apart as holy
unto Him, but first He had to illustrate to them what
holiness was. So,
through the sacrificial system (using tangible objects
which they could understand), God taught the Israelites
about His holiness and how He desired the same for them.
We also learned that the practical laws
which God gave them were “for their good always” –
helping them to live healthy lives.
We started our study on the nature of man – how
we have freedom to choose God and therefore can truly
love Him, for without freedom, love is, by definition,
impossible. We
learned that He will not force us to be holy, but we can
work out our sanctification by building our character to
be like Him.
We also studied the first half of church history
– up through the Reformation.
It was very interesting to learn about the
history of the church – the Roman Catholic Church, how
the pope became the head of the church, the marriage of
church and state, and the sacrifice of the martyrs.
It was eye opening to see how a misunderstanding
of or sheer ignorance of God’s Word can lead to
unfortunate acts such as the Crusades.
One of our teachers continues to remind us that
God is at war against sin and ignorance, especially
within the church.
We really understand that now after looking back
upon history.
Martin Luther and John Wycliffe were very
inspiring as they understood that the Bible should be
accessible to every person – the priesthood of all
believers. Although Luther wasn't perfect, he did
teach that man is saved by grace through faith.
These things which we take for granted in the
twenty-first century were hard fought for during the
Reformation. (Here,
I’m going to make a shameless plug for the recent
movie “Luther.”
It’s really great!)
Last week, we did our pastoral internship up in
Lima, Ohio with Lima Community Church of the Nazarene.
It was really neat to
meet with the pastors, sit in on Bible studies, and just
see the behind the scenes ministry.
We learned the significance of united
intercession in the body of Christ to really impact a
community. We
were blessed to stay with a really awesome couple and
their dog, Dexter.
Justin and Anna
Lewis
After Ohio, we spent a few days near Elkhart,
Indiana and were educated on the life of the Amish.
Very interesting!
The town of Middlebury where we were staying was
probably over 50% Amish.
That’s the wrap-up!
We hope you guys are doing well and enjoying your
Thanksgiving! We
love you.
In Christ,
Beth and Jason
PS ~ Beth’s brother, Drew, got
married to Hilary Pascoe on November 5th.
It was a beautiful wedding, and it’s great to
have balance restored to the Gossett family with another
female Gossett! J
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