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Growing Your Relationship With God Through Reading The Bible Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

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  Speaker 1: Good morning. We're talking all this week about growing closer
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  Speaker 1: to God through His word, the Bible. Well, if you
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  Speaker 1: want to get close to God, spend time with Him
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  Speaker 1: and listen to what He's saying to you. And the
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  Speaker 1: most clear way you can know what God is saying
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  Speaker 1: to you is by opening your Bible.
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  Speaker 1: And really you need to make the Bible central in
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  Speaker 1: your life, and we're looking each day at a different
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  Speaker 1: lesson of how to make the Bible central in your life.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday we saw you need to spend time with God
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  Speaker 1: in His word each day. And today, here's the lesson
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  Speaker 1: renew your mind by memorising verses that speak into your life.
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  Speaker 1: Renew your mind.
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  Speaker 1: By memorising verses that speak into your life. You remember
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  Speaker 1: on Monday I read with you from Psalm 119 and this, uh,
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  Speaker 1: beautiful words about what the word of God means in
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  Speaker 1: the psalmist's life. Let me read you just a couple
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  Speaker 1: of those verses again.
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  Speaker 1: How can a young man keep his way pure by
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  Speaker 1: guarding it according to your word and listen with my
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  Speaker 1: whole heart. I seek you. Let me not wander from
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  Speaker 1: your commandments. And then here's the key verse I have
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  Speaker 1: stored up your word in my heart that I might
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  Speaker 1: not sin against you. Well, you can store up your
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  Speaker 1: Bible on the shelf.
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  Speaker 1: But you can store God's word in your heart through
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  Speaker 1: scripture memory, and memorising verses has had such a massive
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  Speaker 1: impact on my own Christian life. I remember as a
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  Speaker 1: young Christian being a part of a Bible study where
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  Speaker 1: we started memorising passages of Scripture.
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  Speaker 1: We'd memorise a paragraph together, and each week we'd just
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  Speaker 1: add two verses to what we had already memorised until
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  Speaker 1: we finished the whole paragraph, and paragraph after paragraph, I've
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  Speaker 1: memorised so much of the Bible down through the years
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  Speaker 1: since that group. Almost every group I've been a part of,
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  Speaker 1: I've encouraged to join me in memorising scripture. What a
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  Speaker 1: difference it will make in your life too.
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  Speaker 1: How it will make the Bible central in your life.
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  Speaker 1: The apostle Paul said that we are transformed by the
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  Speaker 1: renewing of our mind, and few things will renew your
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  Speaker 1: mind as much as memorising Scripture. So here's 4 pointers
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  Speaker 1: for you in memorising Scripture. Number 1, find someone to
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  Speaker 1: memorise with you and agree with them on a Bible
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  Speaker 1: version that you'll both use.
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  Speaker 1: OK. You don't want to both be memorising different versions
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  Speaker 1: and then trying to notice what the other person's saying,
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  Speaker 1: right or wrong, as you are accountable and quoting your
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  Speaker 1: verses to each other. It's much better if you're memorising
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  Speaker 1: from the same Bible version, and find someone to memorise
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  Speaker 1: with you. It doesn't mean that you're both sitting there
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  Speaker 1: memorising at the same time, but during the week you're
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  Speaker 1: both memorising the same verses and then sharing them with
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  Speaker 1: each other.
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  Speaker 1: Actually that relationship can turn into an accountability relationship that
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  Speaker 1: goes way beyond scripture memory and blesses you deeply. Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: memorise short passages, adding two verses each week. So it
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  Speaker 1: can be great to memorise individual verses that really speak
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  Speaker 1: to you, and I encourage you to do that.
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  Speaker 1: But to memorise a passage often adds a lot of meaning,
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  Speaker 1: and as you go over the verses you've already memorised
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  Speaker 1: each week, as you're adding two more, those verses go
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  Speaker 1: deeper and deeper and deeper, and I can remember so
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  Speaker 1: vividly passages I memorised decades ago, because I had to
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  Speaker 1: say them so many times in memorising them, adding two
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  Speaker 1: verses each week. Number 3,
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  Speaker 1: Look for chances to share your memorised passage with other
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  Speaker 1: people during the week. Look for chances, just say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: here's what I'm memorising. Can I practise it with you?
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  Speaker 1: And just share it, and then maybe have a conversation
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  Speaker 1: about it, and you'll have a spiritual impact on the
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  Speaker 1: person you're sharing with, and it'll also go deeper into
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  Speaker 1: your own heart and mind. Number 4.
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  Speaker 1: Find the way of memorising that works best for you.
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  Speaker 1: People memorise in different ways. Some people need a visual something,
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  Speaker 1: some people, uh, even do a cadence. Some people even
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  Speaker 1: make up a little song with the verses words in it.
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  Speaker 1: I like to.
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  Speaker 1: Just memorise a phrase and then add the next phrase
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  Speaker 1: and say them both together, and then add the next
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  Speaker 1: phrase and say all of them together, but that's not
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  Speaker 1: how everybody works. Find out the way that works best
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  Speaker 1: for you, but whatever you do, put God's word in
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  Speaker 1: your heart through scripture memory. I'm John North.
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  Speaker 2: To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.