Actually decided that church is important enough to where they're willing to come back a second time to hear your word preach dear God and
Father I just pray that you would use this service in the heart of everyone that's here dear God
And please help us to learn some great truth from the Bible something that would help us to be in church
20 years from now something that would help us to be a productive soul winner for many years to come dear God help us to
Grow and take our Christianity to new heights dear God in Jesus name. I pray amen
Now tonight's sermon picks up a little bit where this morning sermon left off
I started to talk a little bit at the end of this morning sermon about
Memorizing the Bible and I talked about some of the benefits of memorizing the Bible
I talked about the fact that the Bible says in both Psalm 1 and Joshua 1 8 that if you
Memorize the Word of God if the Word of God does not depart out of your mouth if you meditate on these things day and
Night as the Bible says that whatsoever you do
Shall prosper I mean, that's a pretty big promise something think about that for a little while
How would you like to and I'm not talking about money?
I'm not talking about you to drive up in a in a you know in a Pontiac
You know that's all decked out with leather seats and a sunroof, and it's got the P at the end for extra power
That's all I'm talking about that kind of prosperity. Okay. I'm talking about a spiritual prosperity
How would you like to go through life where everything you do prospers?
How would you like to raise kids and prosper doing that be successful?
Raising kids the word success is used one time in the Bible
And it's in Joshua 1 8 when he says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth
But thou shalt meditate there and day and night then shalt thou make thy way prosperous
He says then shalt thou have good success. I mean, how would you like to be successful in your marriage?
How would you like to be a successful soul winner?
How would you like to be successful in whatever you put your hand to doing how would you like to end up life as a success?
Okay, that's a great promise
It's a pretty broad
Promise to if you'll meditate in the Word of God day and night as it says in Psalm 1
but number 2 we also heard that in that John 15 7 Jesus said if you abide in me and
My words abide in you you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you
Well, that's a pretty big promise to how would you like to say God?
Here's what I want you to do and God will do it for you. That's a pretty big deal
He says well, there's a way to do that abide in me and let my words abide in you
And then number 3 we talked about this morning is just a quick review of this morning case you weren't here
but number 3 we saw that being filled with the Word of God is
Equivalent to being filled with the spirit. I might be the fullness of the Holy Spirit now
That's not what the sermon was about this morning
The sermon was about the verbal inspiration of God's Word
But that's where I ended up on that note of an application if you remember
But number 4 look if you would at Matthew chapter 4 in your Bible the first book in the New Testament the book of Matthew
Chapter number 4 and we'll see the fourth reason to memorize the Bible
Just getting right into the sermon here
Look at Matthew chapter 4 verse number 1
My wife knows what that noise was
Matthew chapter 4 verse number 1 the Bible reads then was Jesus led up of the Spirit
Into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil and when he fasted 40 days and 40 nights
He was afterward and hungered and when the tempter came to him he said
If thou be the Son of God
Command that these stones be made bread and in verse number 4 the Bible reads
But he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone
But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God now the Bible says of course famous verse Psalm 119 11
The Bible says thy word have I hidden my heart that I might not sin against thee
Now here Jesus is putting that into practice where he's confronted with
Temptation from none other than the devil himself and when he's confronted with being tempted by the devil
What does he rely upon he relies upon the Word of God that he has committed to memory?
Where the devil comes to him and points out a certain temptation and he answered said it is written
How did he know that because he had it memorized he had memorized it from the written Old Testament scriptures
He said it's written man
Does not live by bread alone
But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
Read on a little further in verse number 5 the Bible reads
Then the devil take him up into the holy city and said at the monopentacle of the temple and sayeth unto him if thou
Be the Son of God cast thyself down for it is written
He shall give his angels charge concerning me and in their hands
They shall bear thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone
Jesus said unto him it is written again thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God
Again the devil take them up into an exceeding high mountain and show them all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them
And say it unto him all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me
Then sayeth Jesus unto him get thee hence Satan for it is written
I shall worse at the Lord thy God and him only shall thou serve
You see all three times three different temptations three different angles that the devil is coming at Jesus every single time
He's combating it with the Word of God that he has committed to his memory
That's why David said thy word if I hid in my heart
Then I might not sin against thee now if you have a sin that you're dealing with we all do
We're all sinners. There's not a just man upon the earth that do with good and sinneth not
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous. No, not one
They're all gone out of the way the Bible says there's none that do with good
No, not one if you're honest, you know that just like I do you sin every single day
I'll guarantee you that not a day goes by that you don't sin
Now, how are you going to combat the sin are you even trying?
I mean God willing I hope that you're trying to to combat some of these sins in your life
Well, how are you gonna do it?
Well, for example, if you're dealing with a certain sin
You could memorize a verse from the Bible that has to do with that sin and quote it to yourself when you're tempted to sin
For example, let's say you're having trouble controlling your eyes
Let's say you're having you know, maybe this is more for men, but you're driving down the road
There's all the filthy billboards that are up you walk into the gas station
You're trying to pay for your gas and there's a whole big row of filthy magazines just before the service ten minutes before the service
I walked up to buy something at the gas station and what did I see but it just a roll of filthy magazines
And I had to avert my eyes immediately. I didn't want to be sucked into staring at the world's garbage
I didn't want to look at the temptation that the devil had before me of all the filthy
Pornography that's out on these aisles in the gas station in the grocery store. You know what I'm talking about. Yes, it's pornography
Yes, it's ungodly. Yes. It's wicked as hell. Well
What did I do? I walked in the gas station. I was thinking about my sermon, too
I walked in there this roll of filthy magazines. I quoted Psalm 101. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes
I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. And so I quoted that verse
I will set no wicked thing before my eyes and I hate the work of them that turn aside
It shall not cleave to me and when I quoted that verse boy
Looking at the magazine isn't appealing at all when you quote that verse because the spirit kicks in and says man
I want to live for God. I hate ungodliness
I want to be righteous and holy and clean and pure and good and godly and so that's how I was able to overcome that
Temptation maybe you're timid and shy about soul-winning
Maybe there's people that you know that you should be preaching the gospel to at work
You know friends family co-workers and you know, you're supposed to give them the gospel
But you find yourself just timid shy afraid. Well, you could quote a verse like this
How about how about Ephesians 6 19 and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth
Boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel or maybe a verse like Mark 16 15
Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and on and on you could you could memorize several verses about
soul-winning for boldness
Maybe you're trying to quit some kind of a sin. Maybe you're trying to quit something like say smoking
That doesn't affect anybody in here. I know that but let's say you're trying to quit smoking
How about this one what know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you
Which you have of God and you're not your own for your bod with a price therefore glorify God in your body
And in your spirit, which are gods, you know, you could quote that kind of a verse if you're trying to quit smoking
You know if you wanted to quit drinking alcohol
You can say wine is a mocker strong drink is raging and whosoever is deceived
Thereby is not wise a verse that I learned that that was one of the first verses
I memorized actually when I was four years old and so learning verses that have to do with your particular sin
Can help you to overcome sin
It's another great benefit of memorizing the Word of God all of us are dealing with something at any given time that we're trying to
Excel in that we're trying to get out of our life or something. We're trying to get into our life
Hey use the Word of God to strengthen you you'll find yourself
Finding the sin not so appealing when you quote the Word of God and God's Word will cut to your heart and you'll say
You know I can do this I can be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might
But if you're not relying on
Memorized Bible then you're trying to do it in the flesh is what it is
And that's why that's why sometimes it's more difficult and so try this and that this can help you
But I want to talk to you tonight about some memorization techniques that I use and that I've learned from people and that and so forth
Now those are the four you know for good reasons to maybe get your attention to make you think about well
You know maybe I should be memorizing the Bible. We'll get to more later
Maybe this is something that I should be working on
But I'm gonna tell you something and let me be a little bit personal a little bit tonight
Maybe and tell some things about my life
I'm gonna tell you something memorizing the Bible is my is the driving force
Behind Steven Anderson. I mean that I mean that's the thing that keeps me going
I mean the thing I mean they're a good night
There are ups and downs in life aren't there there are ups and downs in my business
There are ups and downs in this church
You know there are ups and downs in my personal life obviously everybody goes through ups and downs
There's no temptation that's taking you, but such as this common demand, and we all have bad things happen
We all get in a rut so to speak and I'm going to tell you something if I had to pick the one thing
That's the driving force with me the one thing that keeps me going
The one thing that's my passion my greatest passion in life is
Memorizing the Bible honestly, and I mean maybe I don't preach about it all the time
But I preach about you know I try to preach the whole Bible
I tried not to sound like a broken record
You know I try to preach different things and a variety of things
To give you the balanced diet of what you need to grow as a Christian
But I'm going to tell you something this is the big thing for me
I mean that now soul winning is is vital soul winning is everything. I mean I every week
I'm out giving the gospel to people. I'm soul winning
I try to give the gospel to people I know and that's important
That's something that I do because the Bible commands me to do it
And that's the main reason why we're even here on this earth as Christians
But I'm going to tell you something this is that this is the thing that I spend more time on than anything
This is the thing that I spend the most time and energy on is memorizing the Bible now. Let me tell you this
Let me tell you how I got started memorizing the Bible when I was 16 years old
I went to a summer camp, and this was a totally liberal summer camp
This was the NIV I mean every service was started with rock music
I mean it was like heavy metal rock music. I'm not I'm not exaggerating at all
I mean it was it was in the lights were flashing and stuff
These were the church services at this camp and the last it was called Hume Lake
And so my dad actually went there as a kid too back when it was a little bit different
You know oh yeah, that's where I went son
It's not the same anymore dad, but anyway
I went there, and it was like Baptist week when I went there so they toned it down a little bit
But it was still just you know this heavy metal hard rock music you wouldn't even believe it, okay?
Everything was the NIV everything was wrong, but one good thing. I got out of this camp
I was 16 years old and they had a chapter in the Bible that the the week was emphasizing
And it was Philippians chapter 3 was what was being emphasized
And we would memorize a different verses from this throughout the week one verse a night while we were there
Well, there was a special prize for your team if people on your team would memorize the entire chapter of Philippians chapter 3
Just during this week of camp then we got more points for our team or what have you and so there were two other kids
And myself decided you know we're gonna do this. We're gonna memorize the entire chapter of Philippians chapter now
They were all doing it in the NIV okay, but I refused to do it
You know I said no, I'm doing the King James Bible
Okay, and I didn't really know why but I just knew that the King James Bible is right and this other one is dumb
Okay, I'll put it that way and so I remember everyone in the cabin
You know because everybody had to learn a few verses and a few of us were trying to memorize the entire chapter
Well everybody's saying it in the NIV and it was messing me up
You know it was confusing me because they're saying it a little bit different
And so I remember just going outside the cabin just sitting outside by myself outside the cabin with my Bible
Learning Philippians 3 by memory and by the end of the week
I had memorized Philippians chapter 3 that was the first chapter that I ever memorized in the Bible when I was 16
Besides I think I learned Psalm 23 is a little kid
You know just a little short chapter, but this was the first substantial chapter that I learned
Well on the way home. I was on the bus, and I was so excited about it
You know this wasn't really that hard
I mean it took me all week, and I was working at it and working at that thought you know that
It's really not as hard as I would have thought it would be to memorize the whole chapter
I mean, I thought it'd be almost impossible, and so I said I said you know what I'm gonna learn Philippians chapter 4
And so on the bus ride home. I sat and worked on it. I learned about half of it on the bus ride home
I learned about half of Philippians chapter 4, but I got home, and I just kind of forgot about it and
Quit working on it, and I got to the point where I had forgotten both of them
Both Philippians 3 and the half before that I learned well about a year went by and a year later
I really picked up this thing for studying foreign languages
And so I started learning all kinds of foreign languages as a hobby that I had and I want I really wanted to travel around
And see the world you know I wanted to go to South America
I really wanted to go to Europe and I wanted to travel around and so I started learning these languages
And I I developed a system. I worked at a pizza place called roundtable pizza, and so I it's a really good pizza place
I wish they'd open up in Phoenix
It's really good. They don't have it in Arizona
Unfortunately, but anyway
I developed this system where I had three by five cards in my pocket
And I would just write a word on there just one word in a foreign language
Just a noun or verb or whatever and I put the word on one side
And I put the you know the Spanish on one side the English on the other side the German on one side things on the
Whatever, and I have those in my pocket and while I made pizzas at roundtable pizza every five minutes
I would pull out that card and just read that one word
And I would just say that one word over and over again and just chant it like 500 times and then five minutes later
I pull out the next card, and I figured out that I could learn 50 words a day because if I just spent 10 minutes
Chanting them over and over again times six you know so that's six words an hour
And then six times eight hour day at the pizza place
That's 48 words, and so I was able to learn a couple of different foreign languages really fast
Just by memorizing the words, and then I'd get home and study the grammar, but I already had all the words memorized
I mean how hard is it to learn a language when you already know every word?
Memorize and so I started doing that for a while well. I planned this trip
when I
Graduated from high school. I was 17 and a half years old and I started college right away to set community college
I did that for one semester and at the end of that semester
I was turning 18 now my mom wouldn't let me go anywhere until I was 18 okay, so I said mom. I'm turning 18
Now I can do whatever I want
I'm gonna go to
Germany by myself you know on this trip
And she didn't like that idea at all of course that I said I'm gonna do this you know there's something I want to do
I want to travel around I want to see the world and so I planned this trip to Germany and and and I
Did it to where I was going to go there and stay with some different pastors and things and and do something spiritual you know
While I was there, but I went there, and and it was two months before I was going there
I got out of that semester community college
And I figured you know I'm gonna work two jobs
For these two months until I leave to Germany so I can make some money so I can have some spending money because I was
Gonna be there for three months, and so I got a job working for an amusement park called Thunderland
Okay, and it was these little kiddie roller coasters going around everything like that. Well. This was my job literally at Thunderland
I stood at the gate, and I opened the gate
You know let the little kids come through and get on the ride
I closed the gate, and then there were two buttons
There's a green button and a red button you can probably guess what the green one did and what the red one did okay?
So I pushed the green button, and then I'd look at my watch you know and two minutes later
120 seconds later I pushed the red button, and then I've let the kids off the ride
And then I'd let you know and repeat as often as necessary for eight hours solid okay, so it's a very
Tedious monotonous boring job, okay?
So I decided well, I'm gonna start learning German
You know I want to I want to master German in these two months so that when I go there
I'm gonna be able to speak German when I get there, and but then I thought about it and for some reason
I was thinking about it. I said you know what I
Don't want to sit and learn German. I said you know I want to give God the preeminence
And so I said instead of learning German
I'm gonna try memorizing the Bible, and this is the first time I've ever messed with it since I was 16 on that camping trip
I said I'm gonna. I'm gonna spend these two months instead of learning German. I'm gonna memorize the Bible
Because I'd read this verse in John 15 where he says if you abide in me and my words abide in you
You shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you, and I read that verse
I said you know what I'm gonna spend two months memorizing the Bible, and then when I get to Germany
I'm just gonna pray and say God help me to learn this fast while I'm here
And so that's what I did I didn't learn German at all for those two months
I decided and I knew a little bit from college and everything
But I I just said you know what I'm just gonna memorize the Bible and so I stood there all day
And I took these note cards and instead of writing just one word in German on there
I wrote verses from the Bible on these note cards, and I'd write about three on one card
I had a card and it disappeared on me. I was trying to have an illustration here
But there I can use this card
And I would just write about maybe three
Verses on the card and I'd have a big stack of them
And I put it in my pocket and what I would do right after I push the green button
I'll pull out the card okay, and I'd study and I just get one little phrase remember
I'd learned that just chanting one word is really easy
So I pull it out and just maybe chant about five words of the verse like let's say I was gonna learn this verse
You know Matthew 4 4, but he answered and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone
I would just quote it like this, but he answered and said but he answered and said literally that much
Just but he answered and said but he answered said but he answered and said but he answered said just while I'm the center
But he answered and said is written, but he answered and said is written
It is written man shall not live is written man shall not live is written man shall not live man shall live by bread alone man
Shall live by bread alone bread. You know just on and on I
Wouldn't move that fast obviously I'd say hundreds of times before I moved on to the next part
And I just say him and say him and say him well in the course of that time doing that I learned
These are chapters
I learned I learned the book of Habakkuk which is three chapters long, and I learned the book of Joel
Which is three chapters long, and then I was still you know really like the foreign languages
So I learned the book of 2nd John in Spanish, and then I learned Psalm 11 in German 1st
John 1 and Romanian, and then I went back and I I refreshed chapter 3 of Philippians
And then I finished chapter 4 and then I just kind of got into chapter 1
But here's what I here's where I went wrong, so I learned a total of 11 chapters
you know during that two-month period and
By the way my little sister Lisa remember Lisa. She was here a few months ago
I don't know if you had a chance to meet my little sister Lisa
She saw me doing this
One day, and I learned I was learning 2nd John in Spanish that day, and it's really short
It's like 13 verses and so I was gonna do it in one morning because I had about four hours
And I said I'm just gonna learn this and my little sister saw me doing it
And you know what she learned it with me. She learned it in English, and she learned it the same morning
I learned it only took her three or four hours either, and so it's not it's not that I'm some kind of a prodigy
I mean, it's something that anybody can do if you just chant things over and over. It's not really that hard
But here's the problem. I left for Germany. You know I flew out to Germany
Right when I turned 18 years old and I got there
And I just got so bored with quoting the same 11 chapters every day
Because I I didn't really know how to retain them except
I just have to say these every single day and so every day every day
I just said the same 11 chapters every day well a couple weeks into my trip. I mean I'm having fun
I'm busy, and so I just say you know I just do not have the discipline to quote these again
You know I'm just can't do this anymore, and so I just went about my business about a month and a half later
I said boy. I need to I need to tune those things up
You know I need to I need to say those and you know a month and a half later. I couldn't say any of them
All 11 of them were gone
Okay, and it was so and it was depressing to me because then I tried to relearn them
But you have no idea how frustrating it is to try to relearn something that you used to know
Because you don't have the excitement of doing something new
You know and it's not really that exciting to finish it because you've already done it and so it was just so depressing to me
That I just pretty much just threw in the towel and said you know what forget it
And I didn't even memorize the Bible again. That was when I was a
18 I started when I was 17 and I turned 18 right before I went to Germany and so that's when I pretty much just forgot
those 11 chapters completely
Well all the way from then until five years later when I was 23 years old five years later
I didn't work on any memorizing at all really and
five years later when I was
23 years old because it was in April of 2005 yes, I'm only 25 years old okay. Yes. I'm a little kid now
I'm 25 years old, but I'm married with four kids all right. Give me a break and so
when I was
23
Which is five years later. I
Was I don't even remember what I don't remember why but I was having my wife look up something for me on the internet and
She stumbled across this website. She's the one who found it
I don't even remember what she was looking for
But she was just surfing the internet about something and she found this website that said you can memorize the New Testament in five years
And she told me about it. I said there is no way I mean that's that's insane
That's impossible, and I sat down started reading it
You know and it just intrigued me got my attention, and I started reading it and reading
I said you know what this will work
I mean this makes sense
and I figured out that the reason that I failed the first time is because I was trying to say the chapters every day and
You cannot keep that up forever. I mean to quote the same chapter of the Bible every day for years
I mean we're talking about 700 times
700 days in a row you're gonna have the discipline to quote the same chapter from the Bible
I mean, maybe you have that kind of character
But I you know I don't have that kind of discipline that kind of mental training to do that because it's gonna get old
After a while, and I mean I'm not trying to say that the Bible is not always new and exciting
But to say the same chapter every day it gets boring
I mean all let's face it and so I read this and it explained a system
And this is what I want to tell you about quickly it
Explained a system where once you learn a chapter of the Bible and by the way
I recommend you learning by the chapter, and I know that's hard to learn an entire chapter
But even if you even if you want to pick a short chapter
You know learning chapters will help you remember it a lot better than than learning verses
Well, I read on this chart that said that if you memorize a chapter in the Bible
And you quote it every day for one week like once you really know it well once you got it down
For example psalm 15 who's got psalm 15 memorized raise your hand all right you better have it because I took you out to eat
And so otherwise you owe me some money
But anyway, it's a joke, but anyway psalm 15 you got psalm 15 memorized, right?
Do you want to just let psalm 15 slip away and forget it now you want to keep it memorized?
You've already done all that work think about how much work. It was to learn it
It's not going to take very much work to retain it
But it'll take a lot of work if a month and a half from now you say you know
I think I want to learn that again and take a lot of work, okay
It's a lot easier to keep it in your mind and never lose it so here's what you do
Once you have it down to where you can say it fairly quickly. You know you know it very well
You don't really have to stop and think that much you quote it every day for one week
So from here until next Sunday, just quote it every single day one time
I mean how long is it going to take to quote psalm 15? It's probably gonna take you about
25 seconds is that about right? I mean it's about five verses long you probably quoted in about 25 seconds
Well, then after next Sunday. You just quote it once a week for a month
Okay, so then you quoted it every day until next Sunday. Well then after that you just quote it once a week
For five times you know for four or five weeks for about a month
Then once you quote it every week for a month you quote it every month
For the rest of your life
Now quoting it once a month for 25 seconds
That's pretty easy, and you'll remember that chapter and not only that but you'll you'll get better and better at it month after month
I mean month that even though you've got a whole month without saying it you will get sharper and sharper at it
I mean chapters that I've known for years that I quote only once a month
I can quote them better now than I could when I first learned them
And so that's how you do it and really quoting it for 25 seconds a month
You don't need any character at all
I mean just even if you don't do it on the exact right day
You can just you know because you got to pick a day and say this is the day
I quote it every month, but even if you're a few days early a few days late
Hey, I think you know what I got 25 seconds. I think I'm gonna quote this okay
How hard is that right pretty easy so when I read this boy? I was excited this while I was 23
I was so excited because I it was a it was a goal that was reachable
Where I could really learn a lot and not have to quote it every single day
Because that's so tedious, and I just didn't have the strength to do that and so you know I jumped right into it now
I was in Bible college and
Flip over if you would to Psalm 119 in your Bible right in the middle of your Bible Psalm 119 verse number 97
Psalm 119 verse 97
Now
I was in Bible college when my wife stumbled across that and
So I had a lot of spare time on my hands because I'm and you say what spare time
You know Bible cause busy schedule you're working full-time or school. Yeah, but you know what when I was in Bible college
Sometimes it's a little bit boring. Okay. I'll be honest with you and
Just sitting in class and there's a lot of dead time in classes where maybe the teachers working with somebody else
Or you're waiting you finish the test early or everybody's passing in their work or blah blah blah
There's all this dead time. You know what it's like to be in school in
School there's all this wasted boring time my by the way
I home school my kids you know long it takes us to home school our kids every less than two hours
You send them to school. It's like eight hours, and they learn less
And so there's just a lot of wasted time at any school that you go to whether it be a Bible college or a school
Or what have you so I had all this time, so this was going to be a piece of cake
Okay, read if you would psalm 119 verse 97 the Bible reads
All how love I thy law
It is my meditation all the day now ask yourself this question who is writing that verse right there
Well, it's King David is the one that God is using to speak that verse
Do you think that he was a busy man? I mean he's the king of Israel
I mean he was running a whole nation. He was also directing their military at this time. He was the general
He was the king he was a an important man, but he said you know what throughout the day
I'm meditating on the Bible is what he said throughout the day. I'm learning the Bible look at the look at the next verse
The Bible says thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than my enemies for they are ever with me
I have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies on my meditation
I understand more than the ancients, but as I keep thy precepts now David was a man who memorized and thought about the word of God
All day long he said and we'll see more verses where he talks about that
So here I am in Bible college. What did I do?
Well, I had my note cards every day. I've bought a big stack of three by five cars to school and while I was in school
throughout the day
While the teacher was talking you know I had my Bible out
And I was copying down
Verses onto my note cards getting ready for what I was going to memorize that night while I was at work working second shift
You know about a shift of maybe two to ten o'clock or two thirty to eleven o'clock whatever
I worked that day
And so I was writing down the verses that I was going to be learning that night and while I was writing them down
They're kind of getting in my mind a little bit too as I'm as I'm copying them down
And then while I was at school also while I was between classes walking from one class to the next
While I had a little dead time I would quote back the chapters that I was supposed to quote back that day
And so during this time you'd not believe this I literally learned five chapters every week, okay?
I don't know how I did it like I couldn't even do it right now
But just sitting in school for five hours a day. I found a way to do it
I've never been able to do it since okay, but when I was there in school
I would do this and I would learn about 20 verses a day
And it added up to about five chapters a week
and so I sat there just writing out the cards while I was there and
Then at night as I was at the job. I do the same thing. I'm working on the fire alarm
I'm turning the screwdriver every five minutes approximately I pull out my card
You know I'm walking to from point A to point B
I pull out the car, and I would just get a new phrase just one little phrase you know
But he answered and said it is written, but he answered and said it is written, but he answered and said it is written
You know on and on and I would quote that for five ten minutes
And then when I had a spare second I pulled out you know man should not live by bread alone man
Should not live by bread alone man should not live by bread alone man should not live by bread alone
Then I do that for eight hours when I got done with that. I'd get in the car, and I'd drive home and
While I was driving home
I'd already said every phrase in that chapter
300 times and so then I would try to put the whole chapter together on my way home on the drive home
Because I'd already had the pieces and so it wasn't really that hard to put the whole thing together on the drive home
And then the next day I'm back in school
And I would quote what I needed to quote daily what I need to quote weekly what I need to quote monthly and what have you?
Well now I'm a lot busier, okay
So I'm not able to do it at that rate anymore because I don't have any part of my day where I'm sitting
Down in a room being forced to sit still for five hours, and so now here's what I do
I don't even have time. I don't even write out the cards anymore
I have a Bible software program called a sword who's ever heard of that before got it, right?
You know if you don't have it you should get it and talk to me after the service
I'll tell you about it
But if you download it for free and what I do now is I just print out a page like this takes me a couple minutes
And I just print out a chapter like this and now I just keep this in my back pocket while I'm working or in my
tool belt or
Sometimes if I don't even have time to print this out
I got my pocket New Testament and by the way if you don't have a pocket New Testament take one of these for free after
The service they're yours grab one just make sure nobody's looking look both ways and then grab one and seven in your purse
now these are for you of course to take as many as you want and
I'm telling you. I just pull this out. I mean if I don't even have time to print this
I just pull this out while I'm working and think you you say well. I don't have time. You don't understand my life
It's so busy. It's so hard
I'm telling you you have so much dead time in the day that you don't even realize that you have I mean that I mean
You know what sometimes I don't have my New Testament with me and sometimes
I don't have this with me, and I'm not memorizing the Bible. I just find myself thinking about stupid things
You know an idle mind is the devil's workshop
You know the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked the Bible says who can know it
And I just when I don't do this
You know I'm just some stupid song will pop into my head that I heard you know at the last job site
Somebody was playing the radio
You know some stupid TV show that I watched ten years ago or something will pop into my head
Just dumb things will come into my mind. Hey, I'd rather spend that time
Meditating on God's Word, and I mean I find myself throughout the week in line at the post office in line at the DMV
Standing at the gas pump pumping gas
Waiting for the manager at a job. I pull up somewhere. I'm waiting for somebody. I'm waiting for this person
I'm waiting for that person. I'm in the shower. I'm brushing my teeth. I'm shaving
I mean there's so much time in your mind is just
Floating around doing nothing and boys you could get this if you could get this at your hand all the time
If you could have this in your mind all the time you'll find yourself. Just quoting a chapter of the Bible
Hey, I got a couple minutes. I think I'll quote a chapter of the Bible that I know all right
I've got a couple minutes. I'm gonna pull this out and learn some new verses
I'm telling you you will you will learn so much Bible
And I'll tell you this right now the people that I've looked up to throughout my life
Heroes of mine preachers and and great spiritual men they would get up in the morning
Very early in the morning, and they would read the Bible for two hours every day or read the Bible for one hour every day
Now that's that's that takes a lot of character. That's hard to do, but I'm going to tell you something
You if you do what I'm talking about tonight if you meditate in the Word of God day and night as David did
You will read the Bible more than two hours a day equivalent
I mean think about you could quote the Bible you could learn your verses for four hours
Six hours seven hours. There's no way anybody in this room is going to sit down and read the Bible
You know for six or seven hours every day consistently
But this is a way you could know that's why David said look down at your Bible and in Psalm 119
Look what he says in verse number 90
Verse number 99 look what he says I have more understanding than all my teachers
For thy testimonies are my meditation
I understand more than the agents because I keep and keep their summer retaining the Word of God
Remembering it because I keep thy precept
He said I have learned more Bible what David is saying then the people who taught me the Word of God
He says I know
more Bible than the old ancient man knows the Bible because he said I
Discovered that not just reading the Bible for 15 minutes when I wake up in the morning
Not just before I go to bed reading the Bible for 15 20 minutes
He said I've learned to meditate on God's Word throughout the day
Day and night having God's Word ever with me as it says in verse number 98
You see there's a secret that David discovered of
meditating on the Word of God throughout the day that allowed him to learn more Bible that allowed him to be
More wise that allowed him to understand more that allowed him to get more done because he'd learn this great secret from the Bible
Now Psalm 19 7 don't turn there, but this is what the Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect
Converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure
Making wise the simple now
I have my children memorize the Bible because the Bible says that it will make
Wise the simple and if you hear this morning
You'll this sermon will make more sense to you also because you know the power and the value of God's Word that we talked about
This morning, but see these kids they yes, they're homeschooled
You know, yes, we teach them the science and the math and the English and history and all that stuff
but I'm going to tell you something 10,000 times more important the most important thing that these kids do is memorize the Bible and
If they have to live the sacrifice the history or the English or the math one day that will be sacrificed
But learning the Bible verses never sacrificed and these kids come out smarter
Studying the Bible because the Bible's wisdom is so much better than man's wisdom any history book any science book any math
This will make give you understanding this will make you a wise person this will make wise the simple my son Solomon
Let me tell you this
Right about the same time this actually before I discovered this I did an experiment with with my son Solomon when he was two years
Old just a couple years ago. This is about the time
Experimenting on your son. He's like a guinea pig. Okay a couple years ago
My son Solomon. He just turned two years old. Here's what I did
I read to him just to try this out just to see what would happen
I read to him the book of Jonah form just very short chapters four very short chapters book of Jonah
I read him the book of Jonah
every night
for about two or three months
So I read it like 90 times
Okay, and every once in a while
I would talk to him and explain to him what some of the words meant some of the more difficult vocabulary words
But the story of Jonah seemed like a pretty understandable story even for a two-year-old
And so I read to him the book of Jonah in its entirety and boy sometimes
I did not feel like reading the book of Jonah again, okay?
But I read it to him every night just to try this out
And you know what he almost had the book of Jonah memorized at the end of days two years old
Just from listening to you wasn't even trying, but I just read it to him every night every night and about three months later
What I started doing was I would leave out words, and he would fill in the blanks
I would just leave out a word and he would fill in the word and I believe that different words every night
He could he could fill in any work, and I don't know if he could have quoted it verbatim because he was so young
I couldn't even tell him okay. You know say it to me. You know he's just
Cuz he's two years old right, but this is something that anybody can do
I mean something that even a tiny little child can learn
Later on I taught him
2nd Timothy chapter 2 which has 28 verses this is when he was about 3 years old. I think three and a half and
I told him I was gonna buy him a soldier outfit if he learned it, okay
So I taught him this and and he learned it he memorized my wife taught him a lot of it
And he learned when he was three
2nd Timothy chapter 2 and I took him down and bought him you know the camouflage the army helmet
You know the fake machine gun and so you know the boots
I got him the whole decked out thing and then he learned Romans chapter 10 after that now
He's learning the book of Ecclesiastes you probably know that and he's almost done with chapter 9
Which is over 180 consecutive verses and he's
77% of the way to getting his swing set in the backyard when he finishes the book of Ecclesiastes
See there's something that anybody can do I mean it's not even a little kid can do it I
Mean a five-year-old boy has more Bible memorized than probably the typical preacher
Probably the typical Bible scholar probably some guy with a bunch of letters after his name
And may be a BS
MD and yes, I did emphasize those two letters, but you know all these stupid degrees that he has behind his name. Hey my son
Probably has more wisdom than he does because he's got 10 chapters of the Bible memorized
That's better than some degree on your name on the wall somewhere
And I'm going to tell you something memorizing the Bible will give you more understanding my son here
I've been here to say and he say oh he's a prodigy. He's a child, but he's not a prodigy at all
You know he just learns the Bible because my other son Isaac
He learned he's got a few chapters under his belt my younger son
John's got a few chapters under his belt because these kids when they learn the Bible it gives them intelligence
Tell the public school that we don't need smaller class sizes and more computers and more chemistry labs
We need the book that you kicked out in
1947 that's what would bring up the SAT scores. That's why the scores have gone down the toilet
Hey
That's why there's gangs and shootings and violence and and a police officer walking up and down the playground with the orange vest on
Hey, I'm going to tell you something. It's the book that you kicked out in 1947
That's why you're turning out a generation of idiots because you kicked out the Holy Bible. That's why
This is the textbook that I will rear my children with this is the number one two three four five and six and seven
Eight nine and ten textbook that I'll rear my children with because this is God's Word. This is from the mouth of God
This is the Holy Bible. This is the wisdom of the ages right here
But turn are you still in Psalm 119, I think I still have you there
Let's finish up this this little section here where it says in Psalm 119
Let me find my place here
First number 100. I understand more than the ancients because I keep thy precepts
I have refrained my feet from every evil way
That I might keep thy word. I have not departed from my judgments for thou has taught me
How would you like God to teach you the Bible?
How sweet are thy words unto my taste?
Ye sweeter than honey to my mouth through thy precepts. I get understanding
Therefore I hate every false way. Let me read these other verses to you Psalm 63 6
You don't have to turn there when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on the in the night watch as David said I will
Meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings
I will meditate in thy precepts talking about the Bible and have respect unto thy ways
Princes also did sit and speak against me
But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes my hands also while I lift up unto thy precepts
Also while I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes
Let the proud be ashamed. I'm reading several different verses
Let the proud be ashamed for they dealt perversely with me without a cause but I will meditate in thy precepts
Listen to this mine eyes prevent the night watches
That I might meditate in thy word. He said I'm I'm memorizing and reading the Bible so much that my eyes are falling asleep
I'm so tired, but I want to stay up and just read one more verse from the Bible
You see I don't know what that's like. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good
Hey get into this thing of the Bible and you'll find yourself wanting to stay up a little more just to read one more chapter
Just to memorize one more verse
And then the verse that we started out with tonight in first timothy chapter four
Paul told timothy meditate upon these things
Give thyself holy to them that thy profiting may appear to all he said
Here's the advice that i'd give to you timothy. Just give yourself completely
To studying the bible meditate on these things day and night give yourself. Holy
W-h-o-l-l-y. Holy holy to the study of god's word. He said your profiting will appear to all
Now i'm going to tell you something
I wish that I could get you to understand how important this is and I wish I could get you to understand
That this is what will keep you in church
Year after year
This is what will help you to understand the bible so that when some false prophet and some false teacher and some charlatan comes along
You'll be able to say that's not true
Because it is written
Fill in the blank whatever you've learned
And so back to the story I I learned
This method, you know when I was 23 years old memorizing about and you know the first few months, you know
You start out with kind of a jump start you're excited about something and I had all that dead time
Just sitting around in college
Boring my brains out and so I sat there and I learned the bible and I memorized a lot
But you know, I came to a point after doing that for a couple of months
You know, I was on like five chapters a week. Okay, so I got to where i'd learned about 50 chapters
And I was just learning like too many
And so I just kind of hit a wall
Where my mind just fried and I couldn't I just couldn't keep it up anymore
What I was trying to pull back everything and so I lost a lot of the chapters that I learned
You know, I forgot a lot of them and it was frustrating but because I had this method I thought you know what?
I can get back into this I can keep this going
And so I went back and relearned and relearned and got caught up and I did it again. I got up to about 80
You know and again
I kind of hit a wall where I lost a lot of them and I had to go back and learn more
And it's a little bit frustrating, but I realized to just limit myself to about you know, one or two chapters a week
Was about the max that I wanted to learn because if I learned more than that it just got too much
You know your mind is only capable of so much I guess
And so I got to where I would just do one or two chapters a week and that's where i'm at right now
You know, I do about one to two chapters a week and I work on you know
Refreshing the ones that I know and and keep going back and learning them and learning them and learning them
And my goal is to memorize the entire new testament and i'm one third done
And my goal after that is to memorize the entire bible which I believe is is possible with god all things are possible
And even just humanly speaking it's very possible to do that
now
You say well, I don't know if this is for me, I don't know if i'm ready to do this
Well, look start small start with something small. You've already done psalm 15
Pick something that you already maybe know a little bit maybe psalm 23
The lord is my shepherd I shall not want, you know things like that that you know
Pick something small and learn it and whatever you do. Just don't forget what you've already learned
And you can just keep learning more and learning more and learning more and learning more
I'm gonna tell you something. It'll revolutionize your understanding of the bible
I mean, it'll give you insight into things that you've never seen before
You'll learn more than you ever thought possible from the bible
I mean, it's something that will revolutionize your study of the bible. I'll tell you right now. It'll it'll
Keep your mind occupied. It'll get some of the junk out of your mind, you know from your from a sinful past
You know, we've all done things in our past that we don't like to think about
Hey just so clean out your mind
And fill it with the things of god fill it with something good and productive and right to be doing with your time
And so I would encourage you to just start small with it maybe
But just get some cards write down some verses pick a small chapter pick a small book of the bible and just try it
Just put it in your pocket and just whenever you have a dead time whenever you have a few seconds
Just pull it out and just begin to go over it a little bit
And you'll see that you have dead time like that all the time
You'll find yourself all throughout the day learning
And you'll be able to take it to new heights and you'll learn more bible than you ever thought possible
I'm telling you this this will change your life
If you would get into this, I mean it'll revolutionize your life and I mean that
And I mean this is this is something that I wish I literally wish I could just spend you know my whole
Life on it, you know, I get so busy at my work
Sometimes I can't spend as much time on it as I want to or sometimes I used to be able to
But I just I find a way to just make time to do it because it's so important
And so I hope you know
Tonight's sermon was not a typical sermon for me. Usually my sermons are all just bible, you know
I told a lot of stories a little bit of of myself and and how I came to these things and learned about these things
But i'm going to tell you something
The reason that I did that is because I I want you to just decide that tonight right now
That you're going to work on this and try and do this and you know do it at your own level
You know, i'm not saying I mean it took me years of working up to it
You know first I learned a couple chapters I failed, you know, I got back into it
I learned 11 and I failed, you know, and now i'm learning more and i'm going to fail
No, okay. Hopefully I don't fail this time. But anyway, hey start out with something and and learn it
And uh, there's nobody in this room that couldn't learn a chapter of the bible
nobody in this room
and so
I encourage you to just decide that you're going to work on it. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
Father I just pray that you would please just help everyone in this room to understand that with god all things are possible
And not to let people's man-made barriers and just people's ideas that things
Can't be done or that it's not for me. God help everyone to realize that
This is something that you would have them to do to memorize the bible to learn the bible and to meditate on it day
And night father and please help everyone in this room to understand the joy of going through the day
With jesus christ right there side by side with you
Quoting the bible throughout the day
With the presence of god and the presence of the holy spirit right there through his word
Father please just help no one in this room to say well this isn't for me
And god, please just encourage the people in this room to just maybe start with something small start with a few verses
And to learn the bible and to memorize the bible so that they could be in this thing for the long haul
and