 Northern Kentucky Emmaus July 2023 Newsletter Represent“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.Luke 9:23-24To save our lives, we must lose them. That’s a mind bender, for sure, but clearly vital to understand. Jesus said it to the disciples after they’d already dropped everything to follow Him from town to town. They sacrificed their careers, homes, and relationships for the man they believed was the Messiah. Life as they knew it had turned upside down, but more would be required of them, and Jesus was doubling down. He knew what lay ahead. He knew He was leaving. And He knew they would become pillars of the early church, in charge of spreading the truth about salvation to the world, discipline the masses, and claiming Christ in the face of imprisonment, Torture, and death. They would lose their lives on earth-figuratively and literally-for the sake of all they would gain in heaven.And they did it well because their testimonies, their personal stories of what Jesus had said and done, were potent demonstrations of His trans formative love and power in their lives. They shared the gospel with an unstoppable, contagious, relentless passion that-to be honest-seems kind of rare these days.How come?Well for starters, they weren’t in love with themselves or their own stories. They weren’t branding their Christian narratives for maximum personal benefit, approval, or sympathy… or for clicks or likes. They weren’t assigning themselves the hero role or belaboring their “before Christ” dysfunction with all its juicy, sensationalist tidbits. When you look at biblical examples, it’s amazing how few words are given to their broken pasts-the almost exclusive focus is on Jesus.Take Mary Magdalene. The fact that she was delivered from seven demons is a crucial aspect of her testimony because it showcases Jesus authority and why she responded to Him the way she did. And then that’s it. That’s all the detail we need to know. In other words, her autobiography wouldn’t have been titled The Dark Years with three hundred pages dedicated to describing the monsters within. Fascinating? Sure. But powerful and effective and glorifying to the one who rescued her? Not so much. There’s a reason we meet Mary Subsequent to her healing-because that’s where the real story is.There are a few other things we know about her: (1) she followed Jesus and financially supported His ministry until His crucifixion, which means she gave everything she had to follow Him: (2) she endured the crucifixion and stayed close to Jesus while He suffered and died: and (3) as mentioned in “Delivered,” she was the first person He appeared to after He rose from the dead, and she was the one He sent to tell the disciples the universe-altering news. All because the old was gone and dead. Jesus had given her new life.Which means that even if you’ve been a believer for all of ten minutes, those minutes are entirely more relevant than the twenty, forty, or eighty years of darkness prior to your conversion. Reason being, we’re called to represent Jesus and to die to the lives He saved us from. When we do that, and when He stays the hero of the story, our words and lives become real-time, potent demonstrations of His trans formative love and power.PRAYER FOCUST. Thank God for how He’s transformed you, repent of any times you’ve represented Jesus poorly, and ask Him to be part of how you tell your story.(From The Chosen 40 Days with JESUS)Your brother in Christ,Greg Beagle Northern Kentucky Emmaus Community Lay Director De Colores!  DATES TO REMEMBER: The July Gathering will be on 7/13/23 at Immanuel Boone campus (1440 Boone Aire Road Florence, Ky) with fellowship starting at 6:30 pm and the gathering starting at 7:00 pm.Save the Date Candle light service October 21, 2023 @ 8:00 pm Agape Party July 9th 2:00 pm -5:00 pm and August 27th 2-5 pm. Please contact Jennifer Meyers for more details. Our September gathering will be at Devou Park 9/13/23  Please pray for Sara Berry as she begins making phone calls to put together the team for Woman’s Walk #49 October 19-22 at Higher Ground Retreat Center. Pray for the pilgrims for WW#49 pray for open hearts and open minds, pray for those church leaders who haven’t been on a walk yet, and pray for those who have said no several times. |
