So what I wanted to talk to you about the first, this first hour is a, um, it's a kind of a topical message. So, but I hope it'll be something that will be helpful to all of us. So the subject is the spiritual discipline of memorizing scripture. spiritual discipline of memorizing scripture. And when I preached this message a number of years ago at our church, and at the time my son, William, he asked me what I was speaking on, and I told him, and he said, well, that sounds dull. But he was a lot younger at the time. And so I hope that's not your response this morning. But one reason this might sound dull is a lot of times we associate memorization with having to memorize a lot of facts and information when we're in school. And a lot of that stuff ends up in the long run not being that useful or helpful. And so we may have a negative connotation about memorizing anything. And in fact, I read a, an article on this subject that said this, at first glance, memorizing Bible verses might seem a strange activity. For many Christians, Bible verse memorization is something kids do in Sunday school, not something that serious adults do. And that may be the attitude of a lot of people. But I hope that if that's your attitude, that will change by the time we're done. I hope it's not your attitude. All right, and what prompted me to think about this was several years ago I had a discussion with a man, at the time he was a pastor of a church up in Kansas City. His name is Dan Pentamone. He's visited our church a number of times. I don't know, I think, I don't know, John, you ever meet Dan? Okay, you might have met him, but he comes, and they come pretty regularly because In San Antonio, there's something called the National Bible Bee Competition. It's held, it's an annual event, it's held every year and it's like, has anybody heard of that, the Bible Bee? Okay. So it's like a spelling bee, but it's a Bible verse memorization competition. It's a national thing. Yeah, you can sign up for it. And, uh, and so Dan told me, so they come about every year because he's got, I don't know, six or eight kids and most of them have kind of gone, you know, taken part in this competition, you know, at least a couple of times. So, and he told me at the time that his children, had to memorize 1,000 verses to reach the national level of this competition. And then he shared with me that the student who won the competition, this was several years ago, for her age group, when she was only five, had memorized the entire Psalm 119. And do you know how many verses are in Psalm 119? A lot. It's 176. It's the longest chapter in the Bible, right? And she was five, okay? And I remember telling Dan, well, that's kind of convicting, right? And so it also reminded me of my own experience as a young Christian with an organization called The Navigators. So I was converted through, I was in college, but it was an organization which is The Navigators. It's a parachurch organization, kind of like Campus Crusade for Christ. but they're very active in the military and on college campuses. And so we did a lot of scripture memory. Um, and we use something called the topical memory system where we would memorize two verse, I think it was two verses a week on specific kind of key topics, uh, you know, Christian doctrinal topics. And so I still remember a lot of those verses. Um, and so, But regrettably, looking back, this is like 30 years ago, I was probably more committed to memorizing scripture on a regular basis in those first couple of years as a Christian than I've been since then. And a couple of years ago, well, actually it's been more than that now, a brother who's one of the pastors at our church, Craig Musselman, he and I, we began memorizing the book of Colossians together. And so our goal was, we were just gonna do one verse a week. And at that rate, we could have gotten through the entire book of Colossians in two years. Okay, and that seemed pretty reasonable, one verse a week, right? Well, you know, we got through about the first two chapters and into chapter three and then, you know, you just get sidetracked. And so we kind of, a couple of times we've started and stopped. And just recently, Craig told me, I said, we need to get back into Colossians. So we're going to try to make that a goal. So my objective this morning is to discuss some of the purpose and the benefits of memorizing scripture, and some of the obstacles that we face in doing it, and then some practical tips and motivators to help us to try to do this better. So what are some of the benefits of memorizing scripture? Why should we be concerned to do it? Well, there are several. And if that ever happens to you, well, then I think you'll more greatly appreciate your need for all of the spiritual weaponry that God has given us, including the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And that would be another reason to have Scripture stored up in your mind. Several years ago I heard a pastor on the radio discuss how scripture memory had helped him overcome a particular sin in his life. And so this pastor was being interviewed and he shared that while he was in college he had memorized 21 verses in 21 days using this topical memory system that I mentioned, that I did when I was in college. And so what happened was his roommate was wanting to memorize these verses. And so this pastor, he disagreed that he would help his roommate to do that, right? But in the process, he ended up memorizing these verses himself. And so he shared how those verses had helped him to defeat a struggle with lust that he was experiencing. Now, what do you think is the best biblical illustration of this truth that having scripture memorized supplies power to overcome temptation to sin? Jesus in the wilderness and the devil, exactly. Yeah, remember, Jesus' temptation by Satan in the wilderness. It's recorded in Matthew 4, one through 11. Matthew 4, one through 11. We won't look at all that, but I'm just gonna quote a couple of those verses. So each time the devil tempted Jesus, well, how did Christ respond? Well, he responded with the sword of the spirit, the word of God. So he used scripture that he had memorized to defeat Satan's temptations. Interestingly, even when Satan himself twists scripture to try to tempt him, so in verse 6 of Matthew 4, if you want to look at that one, we can. Matthew 4, verse 6, well let's see, in verse 5, then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple. and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone." So the devil actually quotes scripture to Christ here, right? But he's misquoting, he's misapplying it, and so Jesus then corrects him. Jesus said to him, again, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test, okay? So, but Christ defeats Satan's temptations, and he does it by using the word of God that he has stored up in his mind. And so one of the ways, we're talking about the benefits of memorizing scripture, why we should be concerned to discipline ourselves to memorize the word of God, all right? And so one of the reasons why is because it will provide spiritual power to defeat temptations to sin. That's one of the reasons we should do it. Okay, another reason why we should be concerned to think about being serious about memorizing scripture is it's a means of strengthening your faith. It's a means of strengthening your faith. And if you're a Christian, we all, I think, would say we want to have greater faith, right? We wanna have more faith. So Proverbs 22, you wanna turn there, we'll look at this, Proverbs 22. Verses 17 through 19. Proverbs 22, 17 through 19 says, somebody want to read that? Somebody have that? Open. Not I can read it, but somebody have it? You got it? Go ahead. Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your palm to my if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. And verse 19. That your trust may be in the Lord. I have made them known to you today, even to you. OK. All right. So here we're taught to apply our heart or our mind to knowledge. And then we're told if we do this, if we keep them within us, knowledge, God's words, God's statutes, we keep them within us. If they are ready on our lips, he says, why should we do this? Why should we have God's knowledge, His words, His law in our mind, on our lips? If all of them are ready in our lips, in verse 19, in order that your trust may be in the Lord. All right, and so having God's word in our mind, on our lips, it certainly applies to memorizing scripture, okay, and the reason why we wanna do that is in order that our trust may be in the Lord. So by having scripture memorized, it's a means of strengthening our faith, that our trust may be in the Lord, and it may come at a time just when your faith is being challenged the most, and by having scripture stored up, that can be a means that God can use to reinforce and strengthen your faith. Now also, how about memorizing specific promises from the Bible? That can also be a means of strengthening your faith, right? Let's say you're going through a trial or a difficulty of some sort, maybe a financial struggle, and you're tempted to doubt God's ability to provide for your needs, and then you can remember the promise of Philippians 4.19, that God will supply every need of those who are generous toward him. Anybody have that memorized, Philippians 4.19? And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Okay, so you're struggling, you're going through it. I can remember going through a period in my life when I struggled. I was having a lot of issues with my job. and you can be tempted to question God's ability, but a verse like that will help you to remember, God's gonna meet my needs, he's promised. He'll meet my needs. Maybe you doubt your salvation, or maybe you're confused about the doctrine of election, and you're wondering if you are one of the elect. Well, if you've memorized a verse like John 6, 37, John 6, 37, where Jesus promises That all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. Okay, well that can be a tremendous help to your faith, right? You can say, Lord, I come to you as I am. I believe this promise that you will never cast out one who comes to you, all right? So, memorizing scripture, another benefit is it can be a means of strengthening our faith, all right? A third benefit, reason why we ought to think about doing this more seriously, is memorization can be the means to greater intimacy with God and greater Christ-likeness. Okay, greater intimacy with God and greater Christ-likeness. So a couple years ago, a number of years ago, I read a book, a little booklet, that contains some poems and some other writings by a woman, her name is Frances Ridley Havergill. Are you familiar with that name? Yeah, yeah, she's written a number of hymns. Actually, well, she was a prolific hymn writer, a poet, an author, and one of her hymns that we sing, I'm sure you guys recognize, Take My Life and Let It Be. It's one of her more well-known hymns, but she wrote a lot. So her poetry, it's beautiful. And if you ever read it, this was just a short little booklet, just kind of a sampling of her poems, that it really exudes a deep love for Christ. And she lived a relatively short life. She was born in 1836, and she died when she was only 42 in 1879. But between 1870 and 1900, it's estimated that four million of her books were published. Okay, and so Charles Spurgeon, who was a contemporary of hers, this is what he said about Frances Havergill. He says, Ms. Havergill seems to me to have got into the very center of the storms that are disturbing others and abides in perfect peace. She seems to have penetrated to the very heart of God who is a consuming fire and rests absolutely in his love. She could never have written as she has except for an extraordinary intimacy with God. And so I thought, well, I mean, do you want to have an extraordinary intimacy with God? I mean, I do, right? And do you want your life to be characterized this way? Well, what was the secret to this extraordinary intimacy that she had with God that enabled her to write the way that she wrote? Well, for one thing, she had a deep love for the Word of God. And so all of her poems, they really breathe of Christ and his love. And so one of them in this this short booklet, one of them, I've forgotten how many lines the poem was pretty long, maybe 40 or 50 lines or something. But every line of the poem had a scripture verse, had a reference, every one. And so this woman, Frances, her sister, Maria, said this. Her sister wrote that Frances had memorized all of the New Testament books except the book of Acts. all of the minor prophets, Isaiah, and all of the Psalms. That's what her sister said. So certainly, if that's true, a large factor in the unusual intimacy with God that she experienced was her deep knowledge of God's word and the large portions of it that she had memorized. And so she had experienced to a greater degree than most what Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3.18, 2 Corinthians 3.18, Paul says, and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. Well, how do we behold the Lord's glory? Well, we behold Christ in his word, right? And so memorizing scripture makes our, it should make our gaze on Jesus steadier and clearer. Okay. So that's a third benefit for memorizing scripture. It's, it's a means of enabling us to have a greater intimacy with God. All right. Another benefit is memorization is a help in witnessing to and counseling others. So do you remember on the day of Pentecost, in Acts chapter 2, when Peter stands up and he's inspired by the Spirit, he preaches an evangelistic sermon, and 3,000 people are converted at one time, right? Now, what did much of his sermon consist of? Do you remember? It was at least two Psalms, correct, and the prophet Joel. And so he basically quotes from the Psalms and quotes from Joel verbatim. And God uses that, and 3,000 people are converted. Now, there's probably a difference between his, that was a unique experience, and he was a uniquely inspired sermon. you know, difference between that and maybe spontaneous situations that you and I may come up, you know, when we're witnessing to someone, right? But his experience demonstrates how having scripture memorized can prepare us to be ready for unexpected witnessing or counseling opportunities. You know, have you ever been, you know, witnessing to somebody, maybe a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon comes to your door, and you know there's a verse or a passage that directly addresses their question or their objection, but you can't remember exactly where in the Bible it is, right? Well, if you have, you know, kind of key passages of Scripture memorized, that will help you in situations like that. And the same thing applies in counseling situations. You know, maybe some, a brother or sister comes to you and they want some advice about something. Well, if you have verses memorized that pertain to that issue, that will enable you, help you to be a greater help in giving godly counsel, all right? So that's another benefit, to help us in witnessing, help us in counseling others. Another one is memorization can be a means of God's guidance, of God's guidance. You remember the psalmist writes in Psalm 119, verse 24, your testimonies are my delight, they are my counselors. And in verse 105 of that psalm, he declares that your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. So lamps are used to what? To guide us when we're in the dark, right? Or we don't know which way to go. And so do any of us need counsel or guidance on anything? Well, we all need it on a regular basis, right? We need guidance, we need direction, we need counsel from God. So in the same way that the Holy Spirit can bring to mind scriptural truth stored in our memory that can be helpful and useful in counseling others, it can also, the Holy Spirit can use that to provide guidance for ourselves, right? Okay, so that's another benefit of memorizing scripture. Not only that you can be a help to others, but God can use it to help you, to give you guidance, give you direction. Okay, another one, another benefit why we ought to think about being serious and intentional about seeking to memorize scripture is that it stimulates and promotes meditation. Meditation. Now, you know, in our day, the concept of meditation has somewhat of a negative connotation, right? I mean, we tend to associate, you know, when you think about meditation, you might think about transcendental meditation or yoga or Eastern or New Age religions. But the meditation taught by these false religious movements is very different from the meditation encouraged in the Bible. The meditation that's taught by New Age movements emphasizes emptying your mind as much as possible and trying to reach a point of mental passivity or trying to visualize your own reality. There's actually a website, howtomeditate.org. Okay, if you go there and it says this, it says meditation, the purpose of meditation, according to, this is a secular website, is to make our mind calm and peaceful. But Christian meditation, on the other hand, rather than emptying your mind to give it a false sense of peace, involves filling your mind as much as possible with God and with his truth. And so instead of being a passive exercise, It requires a great deal of mental energy and activity. Donald Whitney has written a book, Spiritual Disciplines of the Christian Life. Are you all familiar, or at least familiar with Donald Whitney? Yeah, yeah, and he's got a chapter in there on meditation. This is what he says. He defines meditation as deep thinking on the truths and spiritual realities revealed in scripture for the purposes of understanding, application, and prayer, okay? So it's deep thinking on truths and spiritual realities revealed in the Bible for the purpose of understanding, applying it, and then prayer. So meditation goes beyond just hearing, reading, studying, and even memorizing as a means of taking in God's word. And so there's an analogy, you may have heard this analogy, but of a cow chewing its cud to describe meditation. So a cow eats by chewing its food, swallowing, and then partially digesting it in the stomach. Okay. And I'm not a, I've just read this. I'm not a, you know, a farmer. I don't have a lot of agricultural knowledge, but this is what a cow does. But the food that is partially digested is called cud. And then the stomach sends the cud back up to the cow's mouth to chew some more before it's finally swallowed and fully digested. And this process is called rumination. Okay, so to ruminate is defined by the dictionary as to chew again something that has been chewed slightly and swallowed or to go over in the mind repeatedly and often casually and slowly. Okay, so the idea is that we should ruminate or meditate on God's word and memorizing scripture as a means to help facilitate meditating. And so let me talk a little bit more just on this whole subject of meditation, biblical meditation. The Bible refers to four general objects of meditation, things that we are given specific instruction that we should meditate on. And the one that is mentioned more often than any other is, what do you think? The Word. Meditation on the content of Scripture itself. We're given more instruction to do that than on meditating on anything else. Psalm 119 has many of these references, where in different verses, the psalmist says he will meditate on God's precepts, on His ways, His decrees, His law, His statutes, and His promises. Psalm 1, verses 1 and 2, declares that blessed is the man whose, what, whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night, right? Okay, so the primary focus of our meditation should be on God's word, all right? Now, but there are three other, at least three other objects of meditation that the Bible speaks about, things that we're given kind of specific instruction that we should meditate on. What do you think those might be? Any thought? Yeah. So one is God's word. We're told more often than anything else to meditate on God's word. Can you think of anything else that we're told to meditate on? To think deeply on? To ruminate? The gospel? Yeah, we're not told specifically. I mean, that would be maybe part of his word, right? It's revealed to us. OK, I'll tell you. Well, one is God's creation. God's creation. In Psalm 143, verse 5, David says, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all that you have done. I ponder the work of your hands. So it's appropriate to meditate on. If you ever go someplace, have you ever been out to the Grand Canyon or someplace where it's just the beauty, the majesty of the creation is revealed? Well, it's appropriate to meditate, to think. You know, you don't worship the creation, but to think if this creation is so spectacular and so beautiful and so, you know, immense and majestic, well, what does that say about the creator who created this, right? And so we can, you know, we're gonna head up to Montana this summer. We're gonna see Jason's folks. We're looking forward to that. And so I've never been, well, when I was a kid, I was, but I just, I'm looking forward just to seeing the spectacular beauty, the scenery, you know, and hopefully we'll do some fun things, but just, I wanna be there. I just wanna see it. So we can meditate. When we do that, that ought to give us a greater appreciation for God and His majesty, His glory, and His power. So we can meditate on the creation. Another thing we're told to meditate on, this is kind of related, is God's providence, His working in history. So Psalm 77 verse 12, Psalm 77 verse 12, the psalmist says, I will ponder all your work and meditate on your mighty deeds, okay? So you can do that even in your own life. You can go back and just meditate. Think about God's providence in your life and how he's worked to save you and to meet your needs and to get you through trials and struggles and difficulties and to get you to this point safely, right? I mean, we can meditate and be thankful and look back on God's works of providence in the world and in our own lives. And then the fourth thing that we're told specifically to meditate on is God himself or his character, okay? Psalm 63, verses five and six. Psalm 63, verses five and six, David says this. He says, my soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips when I remember you on my bed and meditate on you in the watches of the night. And then in Psalm 145, verse 5, David says, Psalm 145, verse 5, he says, on the glorious splendor of your majesty, I will meditate. So it's appropriate that we meditate on God. Just think about God and his character and who he is. So those are some of the things that we're given specific instruction that we should meditate on. So how does memorizing scripture stimulate meditation? Well, the benefit is if you've memorized a verse or a passage or a chapter, you can meditate upon it anywhere you are at any time, doing about anything. You don't have to have your Bible with you, or you don't have to be somewhere where you can read, because you've got it stored up in your mind. If you ever wake up in the middle of the night and you can't quite go back to sleep, you don't really want to get up and you're just lying there. Well, if you've got scripture stored up in your mind, you can meditate. You can think about it, right? I mean, you could pray also, but if you're too tired, you can meditate. Meditate on scripture. Meditate on God. In Psalm 1, verses 1 and 2, we looked at, previously we're told that blessed, happy is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. And then in the next verse, Psalm 1, a promise is given to the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, the man or woman who seeks to meditate on his law day and night. The promise is given that in all that he does, he prospers. So there's a connection between the practice of meditating on and delighting in God's word and spiritual prosperity or success. So if you're struggling spiritually or you're struggling with a certain sin or a lack of assurance of your salvation, well, perhaps it's due to a lack of meditation on the word of God. A similar connection between meditation and spiritual prosperity is made in Joshua 1.8. It's another verse that I memorized early on. The problem is, you know, when you switch translations of the Bible, you know, I started off, I was reading the NIV, I think, and I memorized a lot of verses in the NIV, and then I switched to the King James, and then I went to the New King James, and now I'm in the ESV. And so, you know, sometimes when you memorize it in one, you know, you don't quite get it right. But Joshua 1.8 says, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Okay? So again, there's a connection between meditating on God's word And prospering, at least in a spiritual sense, right? And having good success, so there's this connection. So memorizing scripture fosters meditation by making truth more accessible for the purpose of meditating upon it. And if you've stored up deposits of truth in your mind and your heart, it's easier to ruminate or to think deeply about these truths. Okay, so those are some of the benefits of why we should seek to memorize scripture. Maybe there are others that you can think about. Does anybody else have a thought as to what would be another benefit? Well, that's, yeah, that's good, that's true. Especially, I mean, hopefully here in this country, you know, we will for a while, but you don't know. And if you end up going over to the Middle East or going to some other country, yeah, you may not actually have a Bible, right? It could be taken from you, yeah. And so having the Word of God stored up in your mind, I'm trying to think, some of those Romanian prisoners who were kept in jail for many years, had scripture stored in their mind that sustained them, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Worm Brand, I've read part of his biography. Yeah, but I think he was even able to kind of do some, there were other Christians there, even do some kind of preaching when they would get together, just from what he had in his head. So yeah, that's a huge benefit, yeah. OK, well, so if there are so many benefits and helps to doing this, what are some obstacles or hindrances that we might have to memorizing? I think there are several, right? One is, could just be one, maybe just a lack of instruction, right? I mean, some Christians, you know, may never have really received any instruction on this subject, or maybe you've never really thought seriously about it. You know, it could be a new idea. You know, well, if that's the case, you know, hopefully, you know, you can see that there are many benefits of doing this, right? And hopefully that'll be a motivation to get serious about doing it. Another obstacle is, you know, some people say, I just don't have a good memory. Right? Okay. Well, but really, I think that's probably just kind of a poor excuse, right? Because most of the time memorizing, it's really mainly a problem of motivation. You know, if we can remember names of people and telephone numbers and addresses and birthdays, then you can memorize scripture, right? The question really is whether you and I are willing to discipline ourselves to do it. If you have small children, you know that they can memorize verses pretty easily. Earlier, I mentioned this Bible Bee competition where a five-year-old had memorized the entire Psalm 119, 176 verses. So if a five-year-old can do that, you and I can memorize scripture. This gentleman who who was, his name was Dawson Trotman. He was the founder of this organization, The Navigators, um, that I was involved with in college. He committed when he was first saved to memorizing one verse a day. And so he was driving a truck for a lumber yard in Los Angeles. So he had a lot of time, you know, driving around. So, but, but he did that. So for three years he memorized one verse a day. And so he memorized about a thousand verses in that three year span. Uh, now, When I first preached this message about five or six years ago, I also used the example of a man who a lot of you would probably know, the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaff. Are you all familiar with him? Okay, because he had memorized a great deal of scripture, and I was using him as kind of a positive example. But I don't know if you're familiar with what's happened to him the last couple of years. Sadly, he and his wife and two of his children, they've basically left evangelical Christianity to join the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is really very close to the Catholic Church in many doctrinal matters. And so in passing, I'll just mention, in fact, a couple of weeks ago, he posted a video where now he's promoting the perpetual virginity of Mary. So he posted it, which the Bible clearly does not teach. And so I watched a response to that video by James White, who's the Christian apologist. And so White, he gave a very strong refutation of these errors. Anyway, it's just sad that this is kind of a sober warning to all of us that just because somebody knows the Bible well, or maybe somebody's memorized a lot, and maybe they've articulated and defended biblical Christianity for many years, that doesn't necessarily guarantee their ultimate salvation. I mean, I don't know where this Hanegraaff is at, but he's certainly going in a bad direction. So, you know, we need to persevere to the end, trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. But it also, I think, teaches the importance of being committed to a biblical church where you can receive sound teaching and counsel and correction if, you know, you begin to stray doctrinally, right? Okay. So, but that's an obstacle. Some people say, I just don't have a very good memory. Well, that's really, that's probably just an excuse, right? Another one is just laziness, right? And that's kind of closely related to the excuse of I don't have a good memory. The fact is that memorizing the Bible, just like any other spiritual discipline, reading the Bible, prayer, fasting, evangelism, requires work and mental effort, right? And so why do many Christians neglect this? Well, this is what R.C. Sproul says in his book, Knowing Scripture. So he's talking about the neglect of studying the Bible among Christians. But this applies to memorizing also. This is what he says. He says, here then is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God's word, not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy. And I think that's, by and large, true. Okay, so let me just give you some, in conclusion here, maybe some applications or some helps in seeking to memorize. So what are some tips? Well, one is to have a plan. You can buy, there are prepackaged scripture memory plans like this one I taught, the topical memory system, or you can pick a topic that you're struggling with, or maybe you can pick a chapter or a book of the Bible, but just have some kind of a plan. You could write out verses or you could make a copy from your Bible. We used to do this. This is back before we had smartphones. But I had verses written out on little cards. And so I could carry them with me. And if I was at a point where I had some time, I could pull out this little pack and kind of review them. Another tip is to seek to try to memorize word perfectly. Because if you don't, then you'll lose confidence when you're seeking to witness or having a conversation with others. And it'll be easier to review if you've memorized it word for word, if you get it perfectly. So seek to do that. Another one is to review and to meditate regularly. So in order to retain what you've learned, you've got to review it. Our brains are wired that way. In fact, Donald Whitney says that at some point, it's not unusual to spend 80% of your time just reviewing verses you've already memorized. So that's something we need to do. If you have a smartphone or if you're savvy with computers, there are a lot of apps. The Bible Memory app, that's the one that Craig and I are trying to use to help us. But there are a lot of apps that you can download that will help you to memorize scripture. Another thing that you can do, you could use, if you're musically inclined, you could put scripture to music. which somehow that helps you to retain things. When I was a young Christian, I had a friend this is about 35 years ago, who had put many scripture verses to, I don't know if he did, or I think he did, or a friend did, but they put them to music, to tunes. And so when I would go over, I was single, and I'd go over to their house a lot to eat, and typically they would sing some of these scripture songs. And so I still remember some of them, you know, 35 years later, and I don't even review them, but because there's a tune associated with them. So that would be another means that might help you to store and keep things stored in your mind. Another tip could be, well, find somebody to memorize with to help keep you accountable. You know, some people might be able to just do this themselves, right? But a lot of us would benefit from having someone else to meet with or talk with regularly just to kind of be, help us to be consistent and keep moving forward, right? Remember though that memorizing verses is not an end in itself. The goal is not to see how many verses you can memorize, but the goal is increased godliness and conformity to the image of Christ and greater intimacy with God in our relationship with him, right? So we wanna memorize the word of God so that it can transform our minds and our lives. Colossians 3.16. It says this, Colossians 3.16, let the word of Christ dwell on you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Okay, so we want his word to dwell on us richly so that we can, one of the reasons we can teach and admonish one another. I'll end with this, a quote by John Piper. He wrote an article titled, Why Memorize Scripture? And in the article, he, John Piper, quotes another gentleman. His name is Dallas Willard. I don't know a lot about him, but he's a Christian writer and a philosopher. But this is what this gentleman says that Piper quotes. He says, Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That's where you need it. How does it get in your mouth? Memorization. All right. OK, well, now, you know, This all really applies to those of us who are Christians, right? Now, if you're not a Christian, actually, well, actually memorizing scripture could be helpful to you because God could use that. We're born again by the word of God, right? So if you're not a Christian, there's still benefit. Children, there's a benefit to memorizing scripture, okay? Because God can use that in your life to draw you, to awaken you, to see your need for Christ that you would come and put your faith and trust in him. So there's a benefit even for, you know, having our children memorize scripture, even if they're lost. So I pray that this would be, this has been helpful to all of us to give us a greater delight in God's word and a greater discipline in memorizing it so that the ultimately we would all know and love the Lord Jesus Christ more than we do now. Amen. Amen. All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, Lord. We thank you for what it supplies us with, the knowledge of you and the knowledge of sin. And Lord, thank you for the help we receive through your word. And I pray you'd help all of us to seek to have greater discipline, to store your word up in our heart, in our mind, that we would be more conformed to the image of your son, that we would meditate more on your word and on you and on your providence and even on your creation, Lord. So help us, help us to grow in this discipline. And I pray that you'd be merciful to save those who are unconverted, Father, even use your word in the hearts of our children to awaken them and to draw them to yourself. We ask these things and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.