What Would We Know?

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching” (Acts 2:42a). This was the Scripture for Pastor Mel’s teaching titled “Being Fully Devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching” this past Sunday. When he reminded us that when the New Testament church came into being they did not have the part of the Bible we call the New Testament. All they had was the Torah. At that point, all I could think of was the Downhere song “Cathedral Made of People” from the album “Ending Is Beginning”:

If they shut down the churches
Where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo
Where would you go?
Where would you go?

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her

If they burned every Bible
What would you know?

If they tore your marked-up pages
How would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal
What would you know?
What would you know?

When they throw you in prison
What will you do?
When they hate you for the things
That you know are true
They can tear down this temple
But they can't touch you

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her

Pastor Mel’s sermon certainly got me to thinking. Could you and I survive without the church building? How would we learn? Who would teach us? I know we could survive without the building. But without a Bible? That would be a lot harder. What some of you may not know is that before any of the books of the Bible were written more than 3,000 years ago, the stories and songs were passed from one generation to another by word of mouth. It makes me wonder if we would be more devoted followers if we had to learn God’s Word by memorizing it. All of it. All 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. How can we become better students of God’s Word?

A few weeks ago, Pastor Mel introduced our congregation to “Life Journals”. The reading plan that is introduced will take us through the entire Bible once a year. We have an opportunity to become more intimately acquainted with God’s Word by journaling using the SOAP method (Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer). We could then answer the questions in Downhere’s song:

What would you know? We would know the Scriptures because we studied them intimately.

How would you grow? What will you do? The same thing Marcia did when she was having her MRI done. Singing the songs of worship and going over the Scriptures because they would be written on our hearts from our time in the Word. “We are a cathedral made of people in a kingdom that the eye can't see. We're a house, we are the bride where God's Spirit lives inside and nothing ever could stand against her.” Nothing can stand against God’s Word. My challenge to you … join us in journaling our lives.

Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry