Onesimus

Have you ever read the story of Onesimus in the Bible? Maybe you have never heard of this guy. I can tell you that up until a couple weeks ago I had no idea who this guy was. As it turns out, the story of Onesimus is one of the most powerful stories in the whole Bible and it needs to be shared! The story of Onesimus is found in the book of Philemon. Philemon is only one chapter long so it is easy to see why this story is often overlooked but there is so much beauty in these 25 verses!

You see Onesimus was a slave in Colossae and he had stolen something from his master and fled to Rome. The punishment for a slave who had stolen from his master in that day and age was death by crucifixion. Philemon was the slaveholder of Onesimus and also a large supporter of the church in Colossae. Once Onesimus reached Rome we find out that somehow he meets Paul the apostle and through this relationship with Paul comes to know Jesus as the Lord and Savior of his life! With a transformed heart and a new identity, Paul charges Onesimus to return to Philemon and reconcile for the crime that he committed. The book of Philemon is a letter from Paul to his brother in the faith, Philemon, pleading that he would spare the life of his new brother Onesimus.

“But if he(Onesimus) has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.” –Philemon 1:18

The beauty of this little book is that a criminal slave who deserved death was redeemed by the power of the cross and through grace was granted the opportunity for new life not as a slave but as a beloved son of God! Philemon listened to Paul and allowed Onesimus to live! Onesimus later went on to become the pastor of the church in Ephesus and an integral part of the growth in the early church. Talk about a story of redemption, I was blown away by this story that so closely parallels the gospel! What Paul did for Onesimus is exactly what God does for us! He meets us where we are, redeems us, stands in the gap and proclaims, “Whatever they owe, whatever penalty they deserve, charge it to My account!”

GOD IS SO GOOD!

An Update On Life

Hello friends! I hope that this blog post finds you doing well. It has been a little too long since the last time that I posted something on this blog and a lot of fun stuff has happened since the last time I posted! I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the last couple months and give you a glimpse into how life has been for me lately and a general idea of what this next season will look like for me. 

Work: I am thoroughly enjoying my time at Family Legacy! I am learning new things consistently and I always feel like I am a contributing member to the work that is going on around the office. In November I took a two week budgeting trip to Zambia that gave me renewed vision for what I am doing and was an awesome opportunity to connect with the kids I care so much about. Overall it is easy to stay motivated and enthusiastic about the work that I am a part of at Family Legacy.

Church: Outside of work the majority of my time has been spent plugging into the local church! I have plugged into Antioch Community Church here in Dallas and have had some incredible opportunities to serve in different areas through the kids ministry and with leading worship. I am consistently encouraged and challenged by my lifegroup and have found so much life in the church!

Zambia: This summer I will be heading back to Zambia to spend time working with the financials of our camp ministry at Family Legacy! I am very excited to be back in Zambia during Camp Life and I am looking forward to learning more of what my role will look when I move to Zambia full time. I will actually be in Zambia for two periods of time this summer and the dates are May 30^th-June 21^st and July 9^th-19^th.

Relationship Status: For those of you that are unaware, I have had the honor of dating a lovely girl by the name of Rachel Wyatt for almost 11 months now! She has been such a blessing in my life and a steadfast encouragement to me daily. Rachel is a junior at Texas A&M and serves faithfully at an Antioch church in College Station!

Housing Situation: God has provided so faithfully for me while I have been in Dallas in the area of housing. Early on I had the opportunity to live with two different families for some time but recently I moved into a townhome with two other guys my age. I am excited to be in community again with guys in my stage of life and find opportunities to serve the community around us!

Overall, I am learning so much in this season and thankful for the people that I am surrounded by! Thank you for continuing to remain an active part of my life. I have realized that I cannot keep in close contact with everyone but I would love to hear from you, if you think about it please give me a call or shoot me a quick email! (noah@familylegacy.com)

The Joy of Adoption

The concept of adoption has always intrigued me. The idea that someone would go to the orphan child and choose them to be a part of their family is amazing! The beauty of the whole process is that by being adopted you take on the identity of the one who adopted you. No longer called by your former name, you take on the name of the one who chose to love you! How beautiful is it that God, a perfect Father, chose to adopt us as sons and daughters! In Christ we are no longer called by our former identity but instead we are called by our new name, REDEEMED!

Although I have not yet had the privilege of adopting a child myself, I have had the opportunity to support both physically and spiritually a young boy from Zambia, Africa named Jason for the last 2 years. I first met Jason at Camp Life, a ministry that I work for that allows Americans to participate in a camp environment in Africa to tell children about the good news of Jesus Christ. Jason was a part of my small group and I got to experience this 7 year old boy not only surrender his life to Christ but immediately begin proclaiming this good news to anyone that would listen! God is in the business of saving lives and He will do it through whatever means necessary, even through the orphaned child! How awesome is that!!! Jason stole my heart in Zambia and I began sponsoring him to receive an education, basic physical needs and discipleship through Family Legacy.

At Family Legacy our mission is to care for the orphan child. There are over 1 million orphans in Zambia and we are committed to reaching every one of them. The greatest chance that we have to reach these children is through our Father’s Heart program. If you partner with Family Legacy for a small monthly donation you can provide an education, food and discipleship for an orphan child in Zambia! Like Jason there are thousands of children in Zambia that are hungry to learn and eager to have an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. By sponsoring a child you can provide a child the chance for new life, you can point them towards the cross through your love, AND you can participate in the JOY OF ADOPTION!

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will!” -Ephesians 1:5

If you are interested in sponsoring a child check out this link or send me an email at noah@familylegacy.com I would be thrilled to talk to you more about this incredible opportunity!

http://familylegacy.com/our-ministries/fathers-heart-sponsorship/

God is good, all the time! All the time, God is good!

Summer time is in full swing and this is the first time in four years that I haven’t spent at least half of my summer at T Bar M Camps. I learned so much from my time at T Bar M, but the concept that has impacted my life the most is this idea that God is good, all the time! Whenever a director or counselor is trying to get the attention of the rest of camp they will shout out a loud declaration, “God is good!” Then everyone is expected to respond back with matched volume, “All the time!” to which the person in charge will respond again with “All the time!” Then the crowd in final response declares, “God is good!” This is a great way to quiet a crowd but it also functions as a constant reminder that our God really is good… ALL THE TIME!

My job has officially started with Family Legacy and I am loving every minute of it! Although many of our staff is gone for the summer running camp in Africa, most of the accounting staff that I am working with is still here in the states. I feel like I am learning something new every day, and the more that I learn the more responsibility I begin to share with those I am working with. As I become more well versed in Accounting I am also learning more every day about how our ministry functions and the new and exciting projects that we are entering into. The best part of my job is the people that I get to work with! How cool is it that every day when I wake up I get to go work with people who have the same unique dream and vision to see the nation of Zambia transformed for the glory of the Lord! I feel so blessed to be working with such an amazing group of people, doing exactly what I want to be doing! God is good, all the time!

I am really enjoying this new season of life! God is teaching me so much about the sweetness of His gospel and the promises that He has for me. I am actively seeking out a church community and cannot wait to fully plug into a church here in Dallas! I desire to reach the brokenhearted here in Dallas and I want to make absolutely certain that I don’t miss my opportunity to have a ministry here in Dallas because I am too focused on my future ministry in Zambia. Your prayers are felt and your support is overwhelming, thank you for being a part of my adventure! GOD IS GOOD. ALL THE TIME. ALL THE TIME. GOD IS GOOD!!!

How To Give!

After much preparation and prayer I have officially started raising support for my new job with Family Legacy! I am excited about this process and have already been encouraged by friends and family in many ways. The Lord has given me so much peace about this process and I know that He will continue to amaze me every step of the way. In order to step into this new role, I am seeking out a team of faithful supporters that we spiritually and financially support me on this new journey. My financial goal is to reach a monthly donor base of $2,000/mo. I know that God will provide and I am excited to have each of you on board. I would love to have the opportunity to share my vision and story with each of you and would be thrilled to have you on my team!

The easiest way to give is to go online to:

familylegacy.com/noah

If you would like to be added to my newsletter list please send your name, number and address to noah@familylegacy.com

Thank you in advance for partnering with me, I know that the Lord is going to continue to do big things with Family Legacy and I am excited to be a part of the team. Please let me know if you have any questions relating to my role, Family Legacy, or giving. I am so thankful for your presence in my life and your willingness to stay invested!

"Learn to do good. Seek Justice. Reprove the ruthless. Defend the Orphan. Plead for the Widow."

-Isaiah 1:17

Why Do You Believe?

Have you ever been posed with the question "Why do you believe what you believe?" In that moment many of us frantically search through our minds for scripture and experiences that might be able to prove the validity of this choice in our life. Everyone has a unique answer to this question involving scripture, experiences, or a combination of the two, but at the end of the day we are still choosing to put our faith completely in a being that we have never physically met or seen. This can be a little unsettling at times but as God says in Philippians, He provides us with a peace that exceeds our understanding!

As I was processing through this question the other day I realized something that I had never really thought about before. The reason that I believe what I believe is because when I have read God's word and followed what it says, His promises proved true. Every time that I have chosen to serve someone else, God fills my heart with joy. Every time that I have placed my worries in His hands, He has given me peace. Every time that I have told His story, He has become an even greater part of mine. And every time that I have chosen to trust Him, He has faithfully directed my paths. OUR GOD IS EXACTLY WHO HE SAYS HE IS! I believe in this God because His words have proven true, His promises have been fulfilled, and He continues to fill my life with joy!

In that moment I made the decision that even if God didn't exist I am convinced that I would follow Him anyways, because following Him has given me greater joy, greater peace, and greater love in my heart than I could ever hope or imagine. The way that we live our life as followers of Christ doesn't make sense to the rest of the world, but what they don't realize is that our lives are abundant IN CHRIST! Our God is real and He loves His children!


"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."   -Hebrews 13:8

The Frozen Gospel

I don't know how many of you have been to the movies lately, but there were some phenomenal movies that came out over the Christmas break. I watched "Saving Mr. Banks" the other day and I was blown away by the story and excited to peer into the life of Walt Disney. Movies do an effective job of captivating an audience and telling a story. They are filled with disaster, triumph and love. Unfortunately many of the movies in our culture have begun to fill our minds with unneccesary language, excessive violence and pornographic images.

I was encouraged however over the holiday season by the movie "Frozen". Disney continues to make movies that are not only appropriate for the entire family, but their movies have a purpose, they tell a story and "Frozen" did not disappoint. Story is an interesting thing, how do you draw in an audience, hold their attention and then create an ending so memorable, and with such purpose that it could even change the way in which people live their lives. After I saw "Frozen" I was talking to a good friend of mine and he began to explain to me the deep parralels between "Frozen" and the Gospel. At the climax of the movie Disney broke away from the norm and true love was not represented by a romantic action but rather a moment of beautiful sacrifice. It wasn't some earthly version of love that destroyed darkness in this movie, it was true sacrificial love.

Now I don't think that Disney intended to share the Gospel with this film, I don't think that was their end goal. What I do know is that the best story ever told is that a Perfect Creator sent His only Son to die a painful death on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins, and that through this unselfish sacrificial gift, darkness was destroyed. Although Disney probably is not trying to spread the Gospel, whether they know it or not the reason their movie is becoming so successful is because they told the story that all of our souls are desperate to hear!



"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."     -Romans 5:8