1 Year Study Plan – the Road to Emmaus

How would you respond?

Have you ever thought what it would have been like if you were one of the 2 people on the road to Emmaus that were approached by Jesus after he rose from the dead? What would you say? How would you respond? What would it do to your faith? 

Read Luke 24:13-35 and consider Jesus’ reply to the disciples in verse 25:

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

When was the last time we read the prophets or more generally, the old testament? How can we “believe all that the prophets have spoken” if we don’t even know what the prophets have spoken?

What difference would it make?

When the 2 disciples finally understood how “all the scriptures spoke of Jesus” they were deeply encouraged and excited to share with others: 

32And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. 

Can you hear the excitement in the text? Jesus had just given them a bible study and opened their eyes to the truth about Himself and boosted their faith in the promises of God. “That very hour”, after a 7mile walk from Jerusalem when “it is toward evening, and the day is far spent” (v28) they decide to return to Jerusalem, 7 miles away, to tell everyone of what had happened! 

Can you remember the last time you were this excited about a bible study? Or the last time your were so eager to share the word of God with others?

A work of God

This is a work of God, to “open our understanding” but our responsibility is to seek and ask and knock and be diligent. Our privilege is to be “a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. Our gain is to be “furnished for every good work”. Our witness is to be “more fair-minded (noble) as we receive the word with all readiness, and search the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so”. 

If you wish to embark on this journey and do this in community, we will be built up together in faith. Not just knowing more about Jesus and his return but trusting more, “wise and quick of heart to believe”, excited and eager to share. 

The Vision 

The vision for this 1 year study plan is to search the scriptures together, from Genesis to Revelation, looking for Jesus, “the founder and perfecter of our faith”. We will be following a reading plan together, choosing from a list of available studies and discussing our findings.

Even though we will not be able to go into much detail with every book we will aim to gain a good understanding of all the promises, descriptions and prophecies stored in the scriptures concerning Jesus. And as we diligently seek Jesus in this way, we believe that He will “open our understanding”.

This plan and the resources made available in this post are intended to suit people at varied stages of their faith and different styles of learning. You will find that the “level of complexity” of the resources increases as you go down each list. Click on the underlined text to view the resource.

Format of the Study Plan 

Introduction Study

In week 1 we will start with an introduction study. You can pick 1 or more of the resources below:

The above resources are only suggestions but the idea is to have a different resource used by each person in the group so that when we meet we may have a rich discussion about our learning.

Reading Plan

From week 2 we will begin a 1 year reading plan which will take us through the whole bible chronologically, reading every day, about 3 to 5 chapters per day (about 15min). You can print this Reading Plan with Study Tools and read from your bible or you can listen to someone reading for you on Daily Audio Bible or read/listen in any language at Bible.com (YouVersion).

Study What We Read

At the beginning of each book, in our reading plan, we will go through an overview of the book and undertake as many, or as few, studies as we wish. Here are some suggestions:

Discussion Group

Finally, every 2 weeks, we will have the opportunity to meet in person or virtually.

In the meetings we will share the notes we made while reading, and specially the references to Jesus. We will also bring up questions about what we read and find the answers in the scriptures together. See meeting schedule here.

As this is a 1 year plan it will start at the beginning of the year. However, you can join us at any time.

Please contact Ivan Santos if you have questions and are interested in joining this study.

A JOURNAL OF THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

Have a look at the notes we have made so far in our journey through the Bible looking for Jesus. A Journal of the road to Emmaus.

More related Studies

Throughout the year between the reading and book overview studies we may have capacity for more, if so, here are some suggestions (this section will keep growing):

Children:

Would you like to bring your children along this journey with you? I encourage you to do that. Here is a recommendation:

Jesus Storybook Bible (Sally Lloyd-Jones)

Series:

Series of Audio or video studies to expand your understanding of the Bible.

Disciples Church Sermons

BLB Women’s Study Resources

Unlocking the Bible (David Pawson)

Panorama of the scriptures (Ray Stedman)

Evidence for the Bible (Mike Winger)

How to find Jesus in the Old Testament (Mike Winger)

Learn the Bible in 24 Hours (Chuck Missler)

Foundations (R. C. Sproul)

Advanced Inductive Bible Study (Dr. David Bauer)

Theology and Apologetics Podcast (Thomas Fretwell)

Books:

If you prefer to read a book here are some recommendations:

The Good God (Michael Reeves)

Church History (Andrew Miller) Audio or Book

Historical Context of the Bible (Bruce W Gore) Video or Book

Systematic Theology (Wayne Grudem) Audio or Book

Other recommended books

Courses:

BLB Institute (Accreditation with Lancaster Bible College)

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