By Mark Graham
I am not a morning person. I really am a night owl. But every Thursday morning, at 6:30 a.m., a group of about 50 committed men meet in Showker Hall to study the scriptures together with Jon Heeringa as our Bible scholar. It is excellent.
Paul reminds us in Romans 10:17 that “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” and again in Romans 15:4 “that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Each of us should study our Bible daily and pray regularly on our own. Something does happen when saints gather together to study God’s Word and walk away to apply it in our individual lives. That is a major goal of the Thursday morning men’s Bible study.
Dozens of men meet each week to learn and fellowship together,
The doors open between 6:15 and 6:30. Faithful men prepare good breakfast fare for $2 a person. Men fellowship together sitting together. Jon starts at 7 a.m. and teaches until 7:30 when we are given time to discuss the lesson and answer some pointed questions. The study ends at 8 a.m. to give us time to get to work or meet our various schedules.
Since September, we’ve been studying the life of David from First Samuel. As we’ve been working through David’s life, it has been a constant challenge from Jon to have our group look intently into a man after God’s own heart and compare where we are in our own lives to King David. We are constantly encouraged to answer questions like: What’s God saying about Himself and us, his creation? What does God require of us to live a Godly life in Christ? What are God’s promises to us? Finally, what action is God calling us to in our relationship with Him and others? We are a long way from finishing the life of David.
In years past we’ve studied the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Lord’s Prayer and other in-depth scripture studies worth the time and effort. Jon has been helpful to provide us with a single page study guide each week, full of questions to ponder and the scriptures we will cover. Probably half of the men attending aren’t even members of First Presbyterian.
Psalm 119:105 reminds us: ”Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Get up early, bring your Bible, $2, something to write with and an open heart to hear God’s Word. It is worth every bit of the effort.