November 2003 En-Gedi Newsletter

November 2003

Shalom Friends!

Within a few days we will have the privilege of meeting in Atlanta with some of the leading scholars on Jesus and His cultural setting. The relationships with these men of God have greatly benefited the Christian community around the world. Understanding Jesus’ teaching and all of Scripture in its context has a huge impact on how we read and act upon God’s Word.

Even though we have been struggling financially, we feel the Lord is blessing our ministry richly. Hardly a day goes by without new contacts and opportunities for service. Our Board of Directors recently dedicated a full day in a retreat setting to help us discern where the Lord is calling us. We recognized our unique gifting and opportunity to impact the world by taking the revitalizing Hebraic approach to studying God’s Word and to distribute it through publications, seminars and our website. We will stretch whatever talents of silver and service the Lord entrusts us with to advance His Kingdom as far as possible. We invite you to participate in this exciting work with both your financial gifts and prayer.

This month the story of the Emmaus road in Luke 24 is on our minds, where Jesus walked along with some disciples after His resurrection and explained what all the Scriptures said about Him. They remarked that their hearts "burned" from what He told them. If I had a time machine to visit one scene in all of history, being on that road that day with Jesus would be my choice! This month En-Gedi is preparing for a class that is focused on the theme of the Emmaus Road, and thinking about plans to go to Israel and walk that very path:

With Burning Hearts and Opened Eyes:
Seeing Jesus in All the Scriptures

New En-Gedi Study for Women - Wednesday mornings,
9:15 - 11 AM, January 7 - February 18, 2004
Christ Memorial Church WOW (Women of the Word),
595 Graafschap Rd, Holland, MI

When Jesus met the disciples on the way to Emmaus, He showed that He was the fulfillment of all that the Scriptures had promised. After He was gone, the disciples remarked, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:52)

Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have walked along with them?

In this seven-week study we will look at scenes in Jesus' life which had enormous implications, and were the fulfillment of two thousand years of Scriptures. We will dig below the surface of the text, unlocking the rich meaning that is only clear when we study the expectations of the Jewish people and the words of Jesus' Scriptures. We will look at the implications for these events in eternity, and what they say to our lives today.

1/7 The Wise Men: Who Were They Looking For?

1/14 Baptism by John: This is my Beloved Son

1/21 In The Desert: The Battle with Satan

1/28 On a Mountain Top: The Transfiguration

2/4 To Seek and Save: The Repentance of a Tax Collector

2/11 The Last Supper: Passover & Covenantal Meal

2/18 Pentecost: The Seal of the Covenant

Sign up by calling Ellen DeLong at Christ Memorial Church - 396-2305 x 152. The study book is $15, which will be available at the first session. Childcare will be available. We really hope you will join us for this very rich study time.

Note: For En-Gedi friends who live at a distance, we apologize that you can't be there. To address this need, we are currently praying about how to teach classes using distance learning on our website. Stay tuned for developments along these lines in the future.

En-Gedi Website Update

We hope you all have visited www.egrc.net since it was redesigned and enhanced last summer. We have added a glossary and a tutorial for doing Bible study research online. We have just begun a new series for our devotional, Water from the Rock, on "Messianic Expectations" – the prophecies in the Old Testament and how Jesus fulfilled them.

The response to this ministry has been very good. We are getting new sign-ups from China, India, Ukraine and other places all across our country and the world. Some are from Christians in places where Christianity is outlawed or unsafe to practice openly, so the web is a wonderful resource for them. Recently a pastor in Hong Kong contacted us, asking for permission to translate our articles into Chinese! (See http://www.diakonia-hk.net/devotion.php.)

Currently our site contains over 120,000 words of Hebraic Bible commentary and more than 250 links to other useful sites, on topics like the feasts, biblical images, Hebrew, Israel, archaeology, etc. The forum area is active, with a discussion going on by our readers in China! We are very excited that the Lord is helping us find ways to expand His Kingdom by the virtually boundless means of the Internet, and we are praying for greater resources to expand this part of our ministry even more.

Study Opportunity in Israel:

May 18 - June 2: The Life and Land of Jesus
A Study in New Testament Backgrounds and Biblical Geography

We would like to invite you to an excellent opportunity to study in Israel in May of 2004. Emmaus Educational Services will be leading a study trip to Israel, with Dr. Steven Notley as guide. Dr. Notley is one of the most knowledgeable scholars around on Jesus' Jewish context. He lived in Israel for 16 years and directed field study for students at Jerusalem University College for much of that time, and has taken over a thousand lay-people, pastors and students on study trips to Israel. He currently teaches at Nyack College in New York City.

Many of you have been asking, since En-Gedi was going to go last March but the Iraq War caused us to postpone our trip. This year Emmaus is leading a trip that will be longer (16 days) and will cost $1725 plus the airline ticket to Israel (currently about $1100 from Grand Rapids, MI). This is an outstanding value compared to other trips, even with less expert guides. En-Gedi's director, Lois Tverberg, will be going, and encourages you to consider coming too. If you are considering it, please let us at En-Gedi know (egrc@egrc.net, 616-355-2200). Emmaus also is leading a shorter trip to Israel, March 4 - 14, which is $1425 plus air. More details are available at www.emmausonline.net. If you decide to sign up, please indicate that you heard about it from En-Gedi.

One of the unique things we will do is to walk on the real road to Emmaus. The traditional site is about 17 miles from Jerusalem, too far be walked both ways in one day, as it says in Luke 24. A small group of scholars has found an old Roman road, still visible, that leads from Jerusalem to a small town much closer by that was called Emmaus in ancient times. Few people know about it, so it is truly an experience you may not get on any other trip!

Pastor's Conference March 8 - 12 with Dwight Pryor

Next spring En-Gedi is co-sponsoring with the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies a conference called Thru Messiah's Eyes: Examining the Core Concepts of the Christian Faith through the Jewish Eyes of Jesus, the Messiah. It will be held at the Prince Conference Center in Grand Rapids. Dwight Pryor has impressed audiences in our area several times as a powerful speaker and true authority on Hebraic study of the Bible. Joining him will be Dr. Timothy Brown, of Western Theological Seminary, and Pastor Rob Bell, of Mars Hill Bible Church. It should be a powerful time of study and discussion. The deadline for the $100 deposit for early registration is November 30, so it is important to act soon. Call us if you have questions. For more information, go to this page.

We hope that these opportunities will cause your "hearts to burn" and help you grow in love and knowledge of the Lord.

Blessings --

Lois Tverberg, Director
Bruce Okkema, Executive Director