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            My favorite Bible study tool is a concordance.  It contains only scripture, so you do not have to worry about comments with elements of Calvinism, Premillenialism, or other prejudices.  But you do have to learn to use it to get the most out of it.  In the past I used one just to find passages, but now I can build whole lessons with just a concordance and a Bible.

            I prefer Young’s Analytical Concordance.  (Yes, I hear some of you preachers snickering, but this is not for preachers.)  There are things you can do with it that you cannot do with any other concordance on the market, and you can usually get one for about $13-14.  Yes, it is built on the King James Version, but that and the original 1901 American Standard are the two safest versions out there.  I usually start my studies with them, then branch out to other translations to get a little more insight.  By starting with something you can trust, you will be less likely to fall into error caused by a mistranslation or, as some versions seem to be, a commentary in disguise.

            The first step in using a concordance is just to get acquainted with it.  Think of a word in a verse you know, but cannot find.  Let’s say you wanted to find the passage that talks about being able to do anything “through Christ who strengthens me,” but you do not know where it is except somewhere in the New Testament.  Pick the least common word in the phrase because that will give you fewer choices to have to look through.  “Strengthen” fits that description.  Look up “strengthen” in your concordance.  I find that word on page 940. (All my copies of Young’s appear to be the same—the difference in size and price has to do with the thickness and quality of paper and binding.)  Under that word you will see several groups of words.  Each group has either a Hebrew or Greek word, and its anglicized (English-lettered) version, followed by every passage that translates that particular Hebrew or Greek word by the same English word, and a snippet from that verse.  Immediately you can skip over the ones in the Old Testament because you know it is a New Testament verse. Finally in group 18 you see endum, the anglicized Greek word, and the two passages that use that word, translating it “strengtheneth,” including Phil 4:13 and the snippet, “through Christ which strengtheneth me.”  That sounds a lot like what you want, so you check it out and, sure enough, it is the passage you had in mind.  Sometimes it isn’t and you just have to keep looking, but if you have the word right, you will eventually find the passage you are looking for.

            That’s really handy, but not what you would call a deep Bible study, right?  Exactly.  There is much more you can do.  We will start with some simple things that are still interesting and useful. 

First, I am sure you can see the value in knowing what other verses have to say about the same word.  So you can actually choose a word in a verse, then after you find the word in the concordance, look up every other time that word is used and translated by the same English word.  You will learn a lot if you just jot down a point from each verse.  Primarily, you will learn that some of our simplistic definitions are wrong!  “Faithful” does not mean “full of faith.”  In fact, we do not even have to look that one up in the concordance to figure that out.  What do we mean when we talk about someone’s husband not being “faithful?”  We mean he was not true and loyal to her.  Now look up that word in the concordance and every passage using it, and see what I mean.  Try the same thing with “godliness,” often defined as “a short form of ‘god-like-ness’” (as if it were actually written in English to begin with).  You might be surprised at what you learn! 

            Here’s another interesting use for this wonderful tool.  Many times in English we have different words for what is essentially the same thing, but the new word adds a little something to the meaning.  How about “bread?”  What if I say “loaf” instead?  “Baguette?”  “Biscuit?”  “Bagel?”  See what I mean?  It is all bread, but there is something different about each.  The same is true in Hebrew and Greek.  Look up “queen” in your concordance.  You will find several different Hebrew words for that one English word.  Read the verses and make some notes.  You will find that one of those words seems to indicate a woman of royal lineage, another seems to refer to queen mothers, and still another is used when the woman is simply the king’s wife, but not of royal parentage.  Doesn’t that make you wonder about some other things?  What were David’s wives called?  How about any other queens of God’s people?  What was Jezebel called?  Look up every passage using “queen” and you may be amazed.  You may even find some that do not refer to women at all.  Before you know it, you have spent two hours studying and have some little tidbits of information that probably no one else has ever bothered with—not even your preacher.

Yes, we can get into more serious word studies, and I plan to show you how to do a comprehensive one next time.  But for now, try some of these things.  The more you use your concordance, the easier it will get. 

And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. Nehemiah 8:8

Dene Ward

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The older I get, the more amazed I am at how many errors I was taught, and simply accepted without question.  Was it mere laziness on my part or just no knowledge of how to study?  I know which answer I prefer, but it is probably not the right one.  Now I have gotten to the point that I actually prefer to do my own discovering.  If I hear something from someone else, the first thing I want to do is check it out--especially if it sounds too perfect.

            Why do we need to study?  Here comes the first mistake you will often hear:  Because the Bible says, “Study to show thyself approved.”  Wrong!  That word, “study,” which is in the King James translation, is a King James era word that does not mean “study” as we know it, to open a book and read.  It means “work hard” or, as my American Standard translates it, “give diligence” and can be applied to anything, not just sitting down with a book. 

            I have developed a passion about not misusing scripture.  That’s what the Devil does, especially in Matthew 4 when he tempted the Lord, so I do not want any part of it.  There are better passages, correct passages, we can use, notably, Acts 17:11: Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the scriptures daily, whether these things were so.  Do I want to be “noble” in God’s sight?  Then I’d better start studying my Bible and not accepting what I have always heard, even if good old brother So-and-So said it. 

            One of my biggest areas of study is in the use of words.  Do words really matter?  If Paul can make an argument based upon the number of a noun, Gal 3:16, and Jesus can make an argument based upon the tense of a verb, Matt 22:31,32, you had better believe they matter.  And remember, Jesus was quoting from a translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, not from the original Hebrew scriptures, so yes, we can make arguments that specific about the scriptures, even if using a translation.

            And precisely because of that, I worry about our culture, with the way people look condescendingly on those who are concerned about such things as bad grammar and poor communication skills, as if they were petty and obsessive and other more crude terminology.  The more I read, the more horrified I become.  I have read no less than three novels in the last year using “ahold,” as in, “I could not get ahold of her.”  It was not always in dialogue passages, where dialect would excuse it; it was used as if it were an actual word.  How many of us hear (or say) every day, “Hopefully, the weather will hold out”?  The weather will not do anything “hopefully,” much less hold out!  It cannot hope.  And then we have people who make adverbs out of any noun they find by adding “wise” to it.  Weatherwise, trafficwise, newswise. So now we have, “Hopefully, things will hold out weatherwise,” instead of “I hope the weather holds,” which is not only better English, but fewer words!

            And what does that have to do with anything scriptural? Our use of words can affect those we talk to about their salvation, for one thing.  We have gotten so careless that we often use words incorrectly, leaving false impressions about the truth, and what we really believe, and those words can be dangerous:  We have heard that certain who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls…Acts 15:24.

            I may surprise you with the application I make here.  We often use words like “Trinity” and “Synoptic Gospels,” sometimes just to look intelligent (at least that was my excuse), without knowing their full theological import.  What denominations believe about those words is NOT what you and I believe about them.  Look them up before you use them in front of your friends and neighbors.  Most people have access to a Zondervan Bible Encyclopedia, either at home or in the church library.  And most people have access to the Internet.  You can find anything on the Internet.  So what does Trinity involve in the theological sense?  Not just the oneness in mind, thought, and action of the Godhead (which I prefer as the scriptural word), but such notions as the Eternal Sonship, implying that Jesus derived somehow from the Father.  It also completely denies the scripture, “This day have I begotten thee” Acts 13:34, by stating that Jesus was always the Son. The reading gets really heavy and you probably will not finish it, but you will see that you do not believe what the average denominational minister does when he says “Trinity.”

            As to “Synoptic Gospels,” all we usually mean is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke are similar, and John is different.  However, the whole doctrine states, among other things, that since Matthew, Mark and Luke are so much alike, they must have been taken from one another, with Mark obviously coming first (Markan priority), and they were certainly not written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  And that is just the beginning.

            So words are important, both how you use them and where.  Just because you can spout a dictionary definition of a term does not mean you fully understand the ramifications of that doctrine.  Be careful that you know what you are talking about, and be careful of your companions when you use certain words.  In our assemblies we can sing, “Blessed Trinity” and know exactly what we mean.  In our Bible classes we can talk about the Synoptic Gospels and know that we all believe Matthew wrote Matthew, but out in the world you cannot. 

            So here is your first assignment:  look up some of these things; and other phrases you may have wondered about.  Find the five basic tenets of Calvinism (TULIP).  That is what most of your religious friends believe.  Look up “the imputation of Christ’s perfect life.”  Make some notes.  And above all, be careful how you say things.  God decided the best way for Him to communicate with us was through his Word.  Our carelessness and laziness can easily be translated “irreverence.”   

Oh how I love your law.  It is my meditation all the day, Psalm 119:97.

Dene Ward

            I have been asked for some tips on Bible study.  First let me make this clear:  I am not an expert on this subject.  I am as far from being a Bible scholar as you can get and still know the basic Bible stories. 

            Do you want my biggest secret?  I work at it.  Yes, I will be happy to share my methods, most of which would make a true scholar laugh himself silly.  So please understand that these are not for preachers or academics.  They are for us ordinary people, who never studied hermeneutics or Greek grammar or any of those theological arguments fit only for quiet, dusty rooms instead of life.

            However, you must realize that there is no magic formula.  It’s like losing weight.  You still have to be hungry and you still have to exercise and you still have to give up a few things, no matter what the diet scammers tell you.  With Bible study, you still have to work—that means reading till your eyes cross and making notes till your hands cramp and then thinking about it for days, or maybe years, before it all gels and comes together.  There is no shortcut.

            And speaking of “thinking” about it—most people have an erroneous idea of what meditation is all about.  You don’t cross your legs in the floor and hum with your eyes closed.  You don’t repeat a verse over and over like a mantra.  Instead, you think of the ramifications of a Biblical idea you have been studying, then put two and two together as you begin to collect more verses in your notes, and ultimately in your memory, and more concepts in your understanding.  Suddenly, you will be thinking about things one day in the middle of washing a sink full of dishes and the light bulb will come on--you think of something you had never thought of before.  The joy in that moment is worth all the hours you spend over a table piled with Bibles, concordances, and papers.  What does the Bible say about the righteous man?  “His delight is in the law of the Lord,” Psalm 1:2.  If you don’t already love the Word of God, I really can’t fix that.

            So for the next few Mondays, I will give you both my methods and my thoughts on Bible study.  I will approach this as if teaching a class, giving you assignments for the week.  I promise that if you do these things, you will become better at doing your own Bible study, and will probably develop a few methods that suit you better. 

            This will not happen overnight.  I am much better at this than I was 30 years ago because I have become familiar with the tools and how to use them, and because, yes indeed, I did find a few shortcuts, though they probably only save a few minutes instead of a few hours.  You will become adept too, but only if you continue to do them past these few weeks, over and over and over.  Practice is the key.

            Feel free to write me if you have questions (left sidebar:  contact Dene).  I hope you will find this helpful, and will enjoy the discoveries it brings you, both in the next few weeks and in the future.

            Remember—Bible study methods for us ordinary folks, for the next 5 Mondays.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.  Psalms 1:1-2.

Dene Ward

            No, that title is not a typo.  Well, it is actually—a typo on purpose.  That is what happens when you try to type “One Key Off” with your hands exactly one key off from the correct starting position.  Even when you make the right moves with the correct hands you get something that makes no sense, that isn’t even pronounceable.

             How many times do we do that with the Bible?  We start studying in the middle of things, with the most difficult things, with things that do not even apply to our lives.  What do we get?  A big mess. 

            If one fundamental fact is wrong, you create a long line of false doctrine.  Calvinism, anyone?

            If one step in logic is left out, you find yourself believing something so ridiculous, you may eventually lose your faith altogether when you come to your senses, or worse, actually come to believe it so emphatically that you take others down the drain with you.  How else do some of these strange cults get their start?

            If you get bogged down in things far removed from what you really need to get through life, how will you ever grow?

            Isn’t it odd that simply being one key away can make such a huge difference?  Be careful where you put your time studying the scriptures.  Match one passage with another.  Anytime your interpretation of something does not jive with another scripture, my guess is that you are at least one key off, maybe more. 

            Start with the simple, start with what you need to believe to be in Christ.  Then move to what you need to live your life every day.  Worry about Revelation and Zechariah a little further down the road.  Find someone you can trust to help you.  Elders come to mind, and good Bible class teachers.  But whatever you do, be careful where you put your faith.  One step away from the truth is not a good place to be.

Hold the pattern of sound words which you heard from me, in faith and love which is in Jesus Christ.  2 Tim 1;13.   

Dene Ward

          Men seem to have a problem with prepositions.  Keith, for example, mixes up “in” with “over,” “on,” “at,” and “beside.”  When he takes anything out of a drawer, his idea of putting it back is to put it on the counter over the drawer, rather than in the drawer.  In the morning, he leaves the cough drop wrappers on the floor beside the bed, rather than putting them in the trash can.  When he undresses, he throws his clothes at or on the hamper, rather than putting them in it. 

            I could accept that this is just a “man thing” except for this:  this same man makes Biblical arguments about prepositions every day.  The best explanation to me is that we all see what we want to see instead of what is really there, and hear what we want to hear instead of what was really said.

            Many of my friends have the same problem.  They want to live as “good” people and think that Christ and the church have absolutely nothing to do with their salvation.  The Bible, on the other hand, says that “in Christ” we have redemption (Rom 3:24), the love of God (Rom 8:39), sanctification (1 Cor 1:2), grace (2 Tim 2:1), and salvation (2 Tim 2:10).  Not out of Christ, but in.  Which of those things are you willing to do without?

            Baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), not after or because of, and we are baptized into one body (1 Cor 12:13) not on a convenient Sunday nor because we were voted in.

            Some of my brethren have a similar problem.  They think that sitting on a pew is what makes us in Christ.  Yet the scriptures they quote every Sunday tell them that “in Christ” we are new creatures (2 Cor 5:17), created for good works (Eph 2:10).  Not only that but we must prove we are in the faith and we do that by showing Christ in us (2 Cor 13:5), following in his footsteps in those good works (1 Pet 2:21).  We prove we are sound in the faith by the way we live our lives every day (Titus 1:10-2:13).

            Prepositions are not that difficult and they do matter.  Do you want to eat dinner at the table or under it?  Do you want to take a shower in the bathroom or out of it?  Do you want to sleep on the bed or beside it?  Do you want your wife to feed you breakfast in bed or on the bed (where she threw it at you because you obviously do not understand prepositions!)?  See?  All it takes is a little honesty with ourselves, enough to see beyond our biases, beyond “what I’ve always heard,” beyond “what mama said,” and you can make the same changes that those people of the first century did—pagans who before lived lives of sin without giving it a second thought, who had no concept of monotheism, who had to change every aspect of their lives, even to the point of bringing persecution upon themselves and their families, and many times death. 

            Maybe that’s the problem.  We are simply not that honest, brave, or sincere in our devotion to God and a Savior who gave up everything for us.  We want to throw the clothes at the hamper and say to God, “See how much I love you?”

            Let me tell you something—He ain’t buyin’ it.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27

Thanks to Keith for being such a good sport about this one!

Dene Ward

            Now pay attention!  “Irregardless” is not a word; the word is “regardless.”  “Preventative” and “attentative” are not words; the words are “preventive” and “attentive” without the extra “ta” syllable.  You go to an “orientation” session to become “oriented,” not “orientated.” 

            You are not “laying” in bed.  If you were, there would be a pile of eggs there.  Today you “lie” there, yesterday you “lay” there, and in the past you “have lain” there.  However, if you are talking about something you put in the bed, then today you “lay” it there, yesterday you “laid” it there, and in the past you also “have laid” it there. 

            The words are not pronounced “comPARable” and “irrePARable,” they are pronounced “COMparable” and “irREParable.”  And at least until recently when the lexicographers finally gave up and put it in as an allowed pronunciation, the word was correctly pronounced “off-en” without the T, rather than “off-ten” with the T.  At least know that the pronunciation of the word “often” has been corrupted, please. 

            “Hopefully the weather will clear up” is an impossibility.  The weather cannot do anything hopefully, and that is the word being modified in that sentence.  What you mean to say is, “I hope the weather will clear up.”  “Hopefully” used at the beginning of a sentence is almost always wrong.

            You cannot “bring” something to a place you are not at; you TAKE it there.  When you feel ill, you feel “nauseated.”  When you are “nauseous,” you are causing nausea in others, although my dictionary tells me that it has been used wrong for so long that they have created a second definition for it.

            You know what is so aggravating about all of this?  I am not a grammarian.  I did not have a grammar class after ninth grade.  The English classes after that were all literature and writing.  Any real grammar scholar could find fault with me.  I was, in fact, re-reading an old devotional the other day and found a split infinitive in it.  I am just an ordinarily educated person when it comes to grammar.  So if I know all these things, what in the world happened?  I see and hear them in what purports to be professional speech and writing all the time.  It’s one thing for us common folks to be less than careful about how we speak, but shouldn’t the pros have standards?

            Before you start on me for being too picky and fussy, let me remind you that I am in good company.  Paul and Jesus both made arguments based on word choice and grammar.

            In Galatians 3:16 Paul uses the number of the noun “seed” to prove that Jesus was the fulfillment to the promise to Abraham.  Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed.  He said not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.  In the first major controversy in the new kingdom, when Jewish Christians were attempting to force Judaism on Gentile Christians as necessary to salvation, that was important.  Pretty picky of Paul, wasn’t it?

            Jesus proved to the Sadducees the resurrection of the dead when he quoted God as He spoke to Moses on Mt Sinai from the burning bush, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  At that point, those men had been long dead, yet God spoke of them in the present tense.  Jesus said, But as regarding the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, Matt 22:31,32, an argument based solely on the tense of a verb.  Good thing it had nothing to do with “laying!”

            We have a tendency to think of those people in “Bible times” as primitive, ignorant folks.  Jesus made a claim of Divinity to them using two words, which of necessity were in the present tense.  Before Abraham was, I AM, John 8:58.  Did they catch something so fussy and nitpicky?  I think so.  They took up stones therefore to cast at him.  I wonder if today’s generation would have just shrugged their shoulders and walked on.

            It is permissible to be picky with the Scriptures.  We are in good company when we are.  Be careful however, that your pickiness is not about pettiness.  “Picky” and “petty” are not the same.  Jesus and the apostles were one, but not the other.  Study the difference, study your scriptures.  God did choose words to communicate with us, not subjective feelings.  Aren’t we glad?  There can be no mistake if you have it down in black and white.

Truly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the law till all things are accomplished.  Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.  But whoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, Matt 5:18,19.

Dene Ward

I don’t know how many times in my life I have heard people say the Law
of Moses was a matter of form religion only, that the heart did not matter to
God one way or the other.  How anyone could think this of a religion whose mantra seemed to be Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (Deut 6:5) is
beyond my comprehension. Yet all of us have blind spots where what we have heard all our lives keeps us from seeing things right under our noses.
            
Here is a list of passages to read at your convenience in the next week.  It will amaze you, stun you, and forever more settle the matter.  God expected his people to live the Law every day of their lives, not just on the Sabbath.  He has always wanted their hearts.  Isa 1:11-17; 29:13; 30:8-14; 58:13,14; 66:1,2; Jer 7:8-10; 8:8,9; 22:3,4; Eze 33:13, 30-33; 34:1-31; Hos 6:4-6; 10:12; 12:6; Amos 5:11-15; 8:4-10; Mic 6:6-8.  
   
Yes, form was important to God.  It showed exactly how much faith and devotion his people had to obey him in even the smallest details.  As God told Moses, See that you make things according to the pattern which was shown you in Mount [Sinai], Ex 25:40.  Jesus even said the Pharisees were right to be careful to follow the Law exactly:  Whatever [the Pharisees] bid you, do and observe…for these things (tithing even their herbs) you ought to have done, Matt 23:1,23.  But he went on to say that the heart was even more important:  You have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, justice, mercy, and faith.  God expected their obedient following of the pattern of worship to match an obedient life of righteousness, coming from a pure heart of faith, love, and mercy.  He flatly told them that none of their worship would be accepted otherwise.
             
Why do you think Jesus was so angry with the scribes and Pharisees?  They prided themselves on knowing and keeping the Law, but they seemed totally ignorant of those scriptures listed above.  He quoted several of those passages to them (Matt 9:13; 13:14,15; 15:8,9), ending with, Go learn what this means, the ultimate insult to a scribe, a “teacher” of the Law.
             
Those Jewish leaders were still under the Law at the time.  Do we, who have a better covenant, a better priest, and better forgiveness, think God will expect any less of us?  God demands more than simply following His law to the letter. 
He expects a life of service from us, Inasmuch as you have done this unto the least of these my brothers, you have done it also  unto me, Matt 25:40.  Let’s not sit on our pews congratulating ourselves because we are following all the rituals correctly, if we have left so much else undone throughout the week.  As Peter reminds us in 1 Pet 4:17, judgment will begin with us.  We had better make sure our hearts are ready for it.
 
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.  Take away from me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melodies of your viols.  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream, Amos 5:21-24.

Dene Ward


  

Until we got Chloe, we had always practiced what pet owners know as “self-feeding.”  You fill up the feed pan and a few days later, when you notice that it is finally empty, you fill it up again.  Magdi always just ate what she needed to eat and no more, like most animals do.  In spite of the fact that she was an athlete who worked off an incredible number of calories every day, she was never tempted to overeat.

Then came Chloe.  We kept up with the “self-feeding” once she started eating adult food because we wanted to make sure she got enough.  Magdi had a tendency to claim the feed pan as hers and guard it whether she was eating or not.  But we should have realized when we stood over Chloe and looked down that she was getting plenty to eat.  Instead of a straight line from her shoulders to her hind quarters, there was a significant bulge on each side.  When we took her to the vet, the doctor strongly recommended a low calorie diet.  Self-feeding does not work with Miss Piggy dining in the doghouse.

In just a couple of weeks of measured daily feeding she slimmed down. She was much more active, running with Magdi across the fields as they played, and tearing up the ground to greet Keith at the gate when he came home.  She even leapt into the air chasing a bee a few weeks afterward and managed to get all four feet off the ground a foot or more.  We no longer have a piglet with a cold wet black nose and a wagging tail.

God practices a sort of spiritual self-feeding.  His word is available to us any time we want it.  He has given us elders, wise leaders who see to our more formal spiritual meals, and who take that responsibility seriously.  But we can reach into the “pantry” any time we want and snack to our hearts’ content.  In fact, the shame is that instead of looking pleasantly plump in a spiritual sense, too many of us look like we have been on a fast.  When I have labored over a meal for several hours and hardly anyone comes to the dinner table, and those few just pick at their meals, I get a little miffed.  Don’t you suppose God does, too?

Now, more than any other time in history, and here, more than any other place in the world, we can study the Bible any time we want to.  Where is our appreciation of the providence of God?  Where is our hunger for the meat of the word?  Have we filled ourselves up with the empty calories of pop culture and the simple carbs of modern philosophy to the point that we have no room for real food? 

Take a moment today to examine what you are taking into your spirit, what you are filling your soul with, and determine to make a change in your spiritual diet.  Jesus called himself the Bread of Life.  Aren’t we interested in that life at all?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread out of Heaven to eat.  Jesus therefore said unto them, Amen and amen, I say unto you, It was not Moses who gave you bread out of Heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of Heaven.  For the bread of God is that which comes down out of Heaven, and gives life to the world.  They said therefore to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.  Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of Life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes on me shall never thirst, John 6:31-35.

Dene Ward

Because of double sessions in the later years, I missed them in high school, but I did have one year in a small town where grades 7-12 were packed into the same school.  Every Friday afternoon during football season, our three afternoon classes were each cut 10 minutes short so we could meet for the final thirty minutes of the day in the gym, cheer with the cheerleaders and their shaking pompoms, clap along with the band until our eardrums nearly burst and our hearts beat in rhythm with the bass drums, and get a gander at those beefy young men—16, 17, 18 years old, bigger than even my own daddy.  As a chubby, frizzy-haired 12 year old, it was the closest thing to a riot I ever experienced.  We all yelled and screamed and applauded and hooted at renditions of the opposing team mascot.  We were going to win, we were sure, and we screamed, “We will WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN,” till we all went home hoarse and hyped up on school spirit.

Sometimes we won, sometimes we lost, but we all showed up again Monday morning, bleary-eyed and less than thrilled to be in our first classes of the day, a long week ahead of us and all thought of football and “Our Great School!” a distant memory.  Pep rallies have their place, but if emotion is all that keeps the spirit going, it isn’t much of a heart is it?

Elijah found that out on Mt Carmel.  Everyone pictures this great contest as his ultimate victory, perhaps the biggest in the prophet’s life.  They forget to turn the page in their Bibles. 

Yes, the crowd saw an amazing miracle.  The prophets of Baal called all day to a deaf god made of metal.  They tried to get his attention with loud cries, with dancing and with self-mutilation.  No one answered. 

Elijah on the other hand, made the request as difficult as possible, soaking the sacrifice and the wood and filling up a trench with water till it overflowed.  Did you ever wonder what those poor three-year-drought-stricken people thought as all that water ran off onto the ground?  But none of it mattered when Jehovah sent fire from Heaven that licked it all up in a flash, and consumed the sacrifice.

Then the pep rally began in earnest.  The people fell on their faces and said, The Lord, he is God.  The Lord he is God, 1 Kgs 18:39.  Can’t you hear it now?  The chant probably continued on, over and over and over, louder and louder, as Elijah called for the prophets of Baal and slew them all.  The exhilaration he felt must have been amazing.  “We did it, Lord!” he must have thought.  “Finally your people realize that you are the one true God and they will worship you again.”

Turn the page. 

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life...1 Kings 19:1-3.

Our assemblies have a small element of the pep rally in them.  It is good to cheer one another on, in the same way the men of Antioch laid their hands on Saul and Barnabas, prayed, and sent them on their first preaching trip, Acts 13:1-3.  It is wonderful to encourage a weak soul who has come to us for help.  It fills the heart to sing praises to God and to commune with one another around the Lord’s Table.

Yet Paul does not spend much time on that emotional aspect of our assemblies in 1 Cor 14, about the clearest picture we have of a first century assembly.  Instead, his constant reminder is “Let all things be done unto edifying,” v 26.  It is, he said, the only thing truly profitable, v 6.  Paul understood that the pep rally aspect of an assembly wouldn’t last beyond the echo of the amen, but good solid teaching would carry one through life.

If your idea of “getting something out of the services” is that excited, heart-pounding feeling that comes with emotion instead of deeper insight into the Word of God through good teaching and hard study, you are stuck in high school.  Mature people can remain motivated without the hype.  The understanding wrought by hours spent with God in quiet runs deep in their hearts. It keeps them encouraged when times are rough, wise when Satan does his best to deceive, and controlled when temptation pulls every string and pushes every button.

Pep rally religion doesn’t last, but the Word of God in one’s heart abides forever.

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away...For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings...If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples,  Hosea 6:3-6; John 8:31.

Dene Ward

            Until we got Chloe, we had always practiced what pet owners know as “self-feeding.”  You fill up the feed pan and a few days later, when you notice that it is finally empty, you fill it up again.  Magdi always just ate what she needed to eat and no more, like most animals do.  In spite of the fact that she was an athlete who worked off an incredible number of calories every day, she was never tempted to overeat.

            Then came Chloe.  We kept up with the “self-feeding” once she started eating adult food because we wanted to make sure she got enough.  Magdi had a tendency to claim the feed pan as hers and guard it whether she was eating or not.  But we should have realized when we stood over Chloe and looked down that she was getting plenty to eat.  Instead of a straight line from her shoulders to her hind quarters, there was a significant bulge on each side.  When we took her to the vet, the doctor strongly recommended a low calorie diet.  Self-feeding does not work with Miss Piggy dining in the doghouse.

            In just a couple of weeks of measured daily feeding she slimmed down. She was much more active, running with Magdi across the fields as they played, and tearing up the ground to greet Keith at the gate when he came home.  She even leapt into the air chasing a bee a few weeks afterward and managed to get all four feet off the ground a foot or more.  We no longer have a piglet with a cold wet black nose and a wagging tail.

            God practices a sort of spiritual self-feeding.  His word is available to us any time we want it.  He has given us elders, wise leaders who see to our more formal spiritual meals, and who take that responsibility seriously.  But we can reach into the “pantry” any time we want and snack to our hearts’ content.  In fact, the shame is that instead of looking pleasantly plump in a spiritual sense, too many of us look like we have been on a fast.  When I have labored over a meal for several hours and hardly anyone comes to the dinner table, and those few just pick at their meals, I get a little miffed.  Don’t you suppose God does, too?

            Now, more than any other time in history, and here, more than any other place in the world, we can study the Bible any time we want to.  Where is our appreciation of the providence of God?  Where is our hunger for the meat of the word?  Have we filled ourselves up with the empty calories of pop culture and the simple carbs of modern philosophy to the point that we have no room for real food? 

            Take a moment today to examine what you are taking into your spirit, what you are filling your soul with, and determine to make a change in your spiritual diet.  Jesus called himself the Bread of Life.  Aren’t we interested in that life at all?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread out of Heaven to eat.  Jesus therefore said unto them, Amen and amen, I say unto you, It was not Moses who gave you bread out of Heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of Heaven.  For the bread of God is that which comes down out of Heaven, and gives life to the world.  They said therefore to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.  Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of Life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes on me shall never thirst, John 6:31-35.

Dene Ward