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Episode 57 – Memorize Scripture | #Faith4TodayPodcast · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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Is memorizing Scripture outdated?
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Or could it be one of the most powerful spiritual practices
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that we've just simply forgotten about?
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In this episode of the Faithful Today podcast, we're going to
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look at how Jesus himself relied on memorized Scripture, even on
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the cross. How storing God's Word in our
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heart can renew our mind, strengthen our prayers, reshape
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our instincts. If you've ever thought I can't
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memorize scripture, this episode is for you.
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Let's talk about how scripture doesn't just inform us, it
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actually forms. Who we are, Let's go.
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Hey, well, welcome to another episode of the Faith for Today
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podcast. My name is Matthew, I'm your
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host, and it's a delight to have you with us here for episode 57
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of the Faith for Today podcast. Today we're going to talk about
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memorizing scripture and the value and the power that comes
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from it. As always, our desire is to help
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you not just be inspired from a message, but to help you
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integrate that that message into a life of faith.
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So we want to move from inspiration to integration, and
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that's how we have faith for today, having loyalty to Jesus
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each and every day. So I'm going to recap Sunday's
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message. I'm going to share a little
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bonus content with you and then respond to a few questions that
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we had come in. So in this sermon, it was the
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final message in a collection about the practice of scripture,
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and I talk about why memorizing Scripture is not an outdated
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religious practice, but a vital part of our spiritual formation
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modeled by Jesus himself. I begin by sharing how Scripture
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kind of memory shaped my life from a very early age, and how
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despite living in a world with instant access to information,
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nothing can replace God's word in our hearts, not even Google.
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Now. We see this powerfully in
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Matthew 27, where Jesus's final words on the cross come from him
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quoting Psalm 22 not as an expression of doubt or but
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rather as a deliberate act of faith that draws on the full
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story of God's redemptive plan. Jesus drew strength from the
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Scripture that he had memorized. This shows that Scripture wasn't
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just something Jesus knew, it was something that He lived and
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He had living inside of him and sustained him even in moments of
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suffering. I then kind of explained in the
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message how memorizing Scripture forms kind of this inner library
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that the Holy Spirit uses to guide us, renew our minds, help
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us to resist temptation, and it strengthens us in seasons of
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pain. Scripture memory helps us to
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hear God's voice, retrains our thinking, and it helps us to
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counter the lies and deceptions with the truth of God's Word as
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we draw on God's strengths even when we're under pressure.
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Now this practice alongside with reading and meditation and study
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shapes us over time into people who think, feel, and live more
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like Jesus. The goal is not just to know
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Scripture, but to become the kind of people who whose
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instincts, reactions, and imaginations are formed by God's
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word. We want to have the mind of
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Christ and all that we do and say and think.
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I want to share a little bonus content with you today.
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And the first thought I wanted to share is how we renew our
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minds. I talked to you about how
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memorizing Scripture helps you to renew your mind and renewing
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your mind isn't just about thinking certain thoughts or or
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trying to get rid of old thoughts.
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It's actually about recognizing old thoughts, capturing them and
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replacing them with with the truth.
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I, I, I think about it a lot in terms of second Corinthians
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chapter 10, starting in verse 3. Listen to these words says, for
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although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to
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the flesh. And since the weapons of our
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warfare are not of the flesh but are powerful through God for
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demolition of strongholds, we demolish arguments and every
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proud thing that raises up against the knowledge of God.
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And we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
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So a few things that we set up #1 Paul is saying that the
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battle that we face isn't really a fleshly 1, but it's more of a,
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an ideological one. It's one that happens in the
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realm of our thoughts, our minds.
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It's been long stated in Christianity that the
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battlefield is in our mind, that there's a battle in our minds
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because the battle of thoughts, ideas, and that's how the enemy
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works. He lies our ideas that are false
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or contrary to the full truth of God that the enemy brings and
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plants into our minds, getting us to buy into things.
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Now those thoughts come in all sorts of ways, things that we
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read here, see, observe, and even the little whispers and
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inner dialogue that can happen in, in our lives.
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And, and scripture here is telling us that we're not
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fighting just flesh and blood, but rather there is this battle
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in our minds. And so we we have to be willing
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to, to take every argument. What, what argument?
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It's not the arguments that we maybe have verbally.
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That's a part of it, but it's more of the internal dialogue
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that you have. Have you ever been driving down
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the road kind of rehearsing a situation or a scene in your
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mind and you're in the middle of an argument with somebody or,
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or, or something comes into your mind that is contrary to what is
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true. And so you're battling out
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between, is this a real thing or is this a false thing?
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Is this a real fear? Or is this like a, a
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catastrophized idea of some reality in my life?
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And, and we have this argument on the inside of us.
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And then there are other times where there's vain imaginations
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where we're thinking incorrectly about other people or thinking
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incorrectly about ourselves and, and we start to demonize other
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people. We start to have arguments and
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then we're putting faces to the arguments.
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Or we're starting to like, imagine us doing something and
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overcoming something and winning something.
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But it's not just that we're winning.
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It's that someone else's picture comes to mind that we're proving
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wrong or that we're overcoming and we're defeating and we're
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winning, right? Like it's this imagination realm
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of our minds and it is in the realm of our thoughts that the
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enemy can gain strongholds in our lives.
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And the only way to demolish the stronghold is by renewing our
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mind, by taking thoughts captive and making them obedient to
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Christ. So in other words, every thought
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that comes into your mind that is of God or not of God, you've
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got to grab the thought, not, not let it sit, not let it keep
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running laps in your brain. You have to capture it and
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examine it. Is this thought helping me obey
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Christ or pointing me to a life that obeys Christ?
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And if not, I've got to be willing to replace that thought
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with a true thought that is helping me obey Christ and walk
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in the way of Christ and represent Christ correctly.
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I when I was in youth ministry, I would teach this text and I
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would use the illustration of dodgeball that that renewing
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your mind is a little bit like playing dodgeball with your
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thoughts. The idea is not to get hit and
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knocked out. We don't want to get taken out
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by the wrong thoughts. And the enemy of our soul is
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constantly hurling thoughts and accusations and lies and fear
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and worst case scenarios into our minds.
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And I mean, he's just hitting us with him and we're trying to
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dodge them all day long and not get hit by these wrong thoughts,
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by these vain imaginations, by these arguments that Paul is
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talking about. And what we want to do is we
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want to catch them as they come at us.
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So we capture and catch the thought.
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And we say, is this of God? Is this true?
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Is this right? Is this lovely?
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Is it admirable? Is it praiseworthy like
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Philippians 3 tells us? And if it's not, then we fire
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back at the enemy and we throwback thoughts that are
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true. In fact, the Bible says that the
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word of God is like a sword. Life and death are in the power
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of our tongue. And so I'm going to use my words
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to speak the truth of God. And it's like throwing the
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dodgeball back at the enemy and nailing him every time because
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he can't overcome that truth. He, he submits to the words of
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Jesus. And there's the authority in our
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words and mouths. And so it's not that we're
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creating a new reality that somehow our words are magic, but
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rather it's important to realize that your thoughts follow your
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mouth, your thoughts follow your words, your thoughts.
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They can, they can, they can create these ruts that we talked
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about in our minds where, where we have this entropy in our
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thoughts, the psychic entropy that occurs in our lives, where
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our minds drift towards chaos, our mind drifts towards
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negativity. By default you are a negative
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person and I am a negative person.
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By default we think about worst case scenarios.
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By default we let fear dominate our minds.
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By default we let insecurity control the narrative MRI.
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By default we believe the worst about other people, not the
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best. And that's that's our mindset is
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in that way. And we grew the more we think
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those same thoughts. We are grooving ruts and
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patterns of our minds. We're we're building
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strongholds, building grooves in the dirt Rd. that aren't letting
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us get in or out of them. But it is with our words that we
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shape new thoughts in our minds. And it is with our words that we
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use the word of God like the sword of the spirit that it is.
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Remember, in Ephesians 6, Paul gives us the armor of God, these
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pieces of truth about our salvation, our righteousness,
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truth of God's word, the peace of God, the a righteousness that
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we have faith and loyalty that allows us to to charge forward
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as a shield. But then he says that we have
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the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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The the sword is like the only offensive weapon in that it's
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the only way we attack the enemy.
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In other words, if you pair Ephesians 6 and 2nd Corinthians
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10, we get an understanding that Paul is saying with the word of
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God that you speak, you are firing back at the enemy and you
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are taking thoughts captive and making them aligned to who
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Christ is. And if it doesn't align with
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Christ, you speak truth to replace the thought, to replace
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the lie, and you fire it back at the enemy.
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And that's how we overcome the Word of God hidden in our
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hearts, spoken out of our mouths, Help us to renew and
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change our minds. I think it's really important
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that we grab a hold of the truth that we don't have to let every
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thought that comes into our mind remain in our minds.
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You don't have to. You don't have to let every
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thought about worst case scenarios dwell and take root in
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your mind. You don't have to.
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But the longer you think them, the more comfortable you are in
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thinking them and the more repeated you will have that
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thought. Why?
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Because that's how your brain works.
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Neurons that fire together wire together.
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So the more your brain and your thoughts think a certain way,
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the more those certain things are in your brain.
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So the battlefield really is in your mind.
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Renewing your mind is not just about thinking the right things.
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It's about replacing the wrong things with the right things by
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saying God's truth. And so memorizing Scripture is
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so vital to renewing our mind, to breaking down the
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strongholds, to dismantling false arguments, and to
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utilizing the sword of the Spirit against the enemy that is
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firing things at you. The second thing I wanted to say
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about memorizing Scripture is that memorizing Scripture helps
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expand our ability to pray God's will.
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We talked about four things that the memorizing Scripture does,
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but one that I didn't mention is how memorizing Scripture really
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does expand and enhance your ability to just pray from your
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heart to God. When you pray the Scriptures,
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you're praying the will of God because God's Word is His will.
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It's His ways, right? We know it's His heart.
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He's revealed His heart, His character, His life, His desire
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to us and His Word. So when we are praying God's
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Word, we are also praying God's desires, God's will, the Kingdom
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of God come, his on earth as it is in heaven.
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And so when you have scriptures that you have memorized and you
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sit down and you're talking to the Lord about requests, you're
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making intercession, you're communing with him, you'll have
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a repository of scriptures of this library of, of truths that
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you can pull up and use the words of scripture in your
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English words to pray as you talk to God.
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So memorizing scripture really does help expand your ability to
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pray God's will in the moment without having to go look for
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it, having to search for it, having to find the right one.
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No, no, it's hidden in your heart.
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And you could just from your heart begin to pray and talk to
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the Lord. And out of your heart will come
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the things that you've hidden in your heart, namely the truth of
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God's Word. Another thing that we didn't
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really hit on, but I kind of mentioned it at one point in the
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message, but memorizing Scripture, especially the Psalms
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as adds vocabulary to your repertoire when you are
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personally praising God. So, so there are inevitably
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moments in a service in our time of worship corporately, where
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the, the, the lyrics on the screen kind of go away or we
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are, we are no longer singing the lyrics on the screen, but
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there's kind of a moment of kind of spontaneous praise or
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personal praise and, and the worship leader will say
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something. Now begin to give your own song
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to the Lord or lift your own praise to God.
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When you have scripture memorized, especially the
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Psalms, you have a a larger vocabulary to praise God with.
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In other words, you can borrow the language of Psalms that
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you've memorized to allow that to be the expression of praise
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to God in the moment of worship. So in the moment when we're
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sitting there and they say, Hey, lift your own song to the Lord,
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you just begin to sing from your own heart to the Lord.
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And you've got a, a large so many times when I'm in that
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moment, I am singing phrases from Psalms or other parts of
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Scripture that are about God that I've memorized that I've
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got in my heart. Lord, I thank you for your
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goodness. Lord, it doesn't matter where I
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go from the heights you are there and the depths you are
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there. Come magnify the Lord with me.
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Let us exalt his name together. So Lord, I magnify your name
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right now, I exalt you. I lift you high, and so I'm
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giving God verbal praise spontaneously from my heart.
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And it's the overflow of my heart that is giving thanks to
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God. What's overflowing from my
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heart? The scriptures that I've
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memorized and put in my heart about God.
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So when you have scripture memorized, you not only can
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pray, you not only can renew your mind and do battle with the
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enemy, but you also strengthen, enhance and expand your
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vocabulary of praise and worship to the God.
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You expand your knowledge base of lyric and song that you can
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sing to the Lord on your own. And I can't tell you how
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powerful that that really is. In fact, a couple weeks ago we
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were in worship and one of our is our second service.
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And there was kind of a moment of kind of what I call like a
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say law moment or a crack in the praise.
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In other words, we're in between songs and one song is ending and
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we're cross fading into another song.
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And but there's a moment of just personal praise.
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And there's this idea of, Hey, would you just lift your own
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song? Would you let the Lord know how
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much you love him? Would you thank him in your own
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words? Right?
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Express personal praise. And I just began to sing a
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phrase again and again in my heart.
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I just began to sing it out loud.
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Sing it out loud. Sing it out loud.
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And after a little while, I mean, I don't know what it was.
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It was just in my heart. It was something in me about the
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goodness of God, the greatness of God that was just pouring out
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of my heart, the abundance of my heart.
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My mouth was singing. My mouth was speaking in this
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way. And Taylor, who was leading at
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that time, kind of heard it, and I didn't know that she was
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really listening and I certainly wasn't trying to lead her in it,
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but I just was singing. And then immediately I heard her
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in the melody that I was singing.
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And then the melody that she was playing just began to lead the
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entire congregation and singing that same thing.
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It was like this new song of praise that was being written to
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God. In fact, Psalms tells us to sing
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a new song to the Lord, a hymn of praise to our God.
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Many will then see and fear him and put their trust in the Lord.
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That's the Psalm. And so we were obeying that we I
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was just singing the song to the Lord.
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Taylor heard it resident. She started leading and we had
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this moment of just kind of personal, spontaneous, corporate
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praise where we were beginning to just sing a new song to the
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Lord. And it was a beautiful moment of
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worship. And it all started because there
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were songs of scripture, truths of Scripture.
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The language of Scripture was in our heart and it came expressed
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in personal moments of praise and worship to God.
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When you memorize Scripture, especially the Psalms, it adds
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vocabulary to your personal moments of worship to the Lord
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that are flowing from your heart and the new song that you're
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singing to him. The last thing I just want to
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reiterate is that Jesus himself, he read the scriptures.
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Jesus meditated on the Scriptures, Jesus studied the
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Scripture, and Jesus, Jesus memorized the Scripture.
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And for us as a people, we want to continue to live the way of
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Jesus, which means that if that's how Jesus interacted with
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Scripture, then that's how we should interact with the
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Scriptures. We read it, we meditate on it,
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we study it, and we memorize it. Now I've loved hearing your
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feedback and there have been something in the heart of so
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many in our church that have been resonating with this
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collection of teachings. I've heard from so many of you
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that it has been so helpful and encouraging and I love it.
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And I just want to remind us from from the very beginning, I
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said that these messages by and large have come from our friends
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at Practicing the Way. And in fact, they have a, a
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podcast, Practicing the Way podcast and they do a four or
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five part series on the practice of Scripture.
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And so if you go find that on Spotify or Apple or YouTube and
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listen to the Practice of Scripture part of their podcast,
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you're going to find some added information that is great
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additional insights. So a large portion of what I
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shared was resources that they provided to churches to share.
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And a portion of it, 2030% of it were, were things that were in
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my heart to share and stories that were true to me or or
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application that I wanted to make for our specific context.
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And so I'm really grateful to the folks at practice.
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The way for helping create resources for churches like ours
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to grow in learning the way of Jesus.
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And this is how Jesus interacted with Scripture.
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And so this is how we as apprentices to Jesus want to
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interact with Scripture too. All right, let's get into a few
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question and responses now. We had a few come in and I want
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to answer them here as we go. Question #1 What advice do you
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give to those who say quote UN quote, I can't memorize.
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I think there's a lot of us that that's kind of our first
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reactions. Like, man, I can't, I can't
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memorize scripture. The reality is that's really
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just not a true statement. You can memorize something.
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You have phone numbers memorized.
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You have dates of birth memorized.
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You have lyrics to songs memorized.
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You have movie quotes memorized. You have names memorized.
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There are things that you have memorized and you might be like,
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well, I, I, my, my brain is tapped out.
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I can't memorize more. It's, it's out of that's not
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true either. So it's not an issue of
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impossibility. It's really an issue of
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practice. We just aren't rehearsed.
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It seems foreign to us and it feels really daunting, but it
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doesn't mean we can't memorize. So my first response is to
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acknowledge you can. You just have to determine that
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you will. The second thing is start small
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and realize it's OK to go slow. We had over 100 people text in
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to get the list of scriptures that I put out there for a
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recommendation on scriptures to start memorizing right.
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There were a ton of scriptures on that list.
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And by no means do I expect everybody to memorize all of
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them even this year or in the next three years.
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But rather I wanted to give a list of really great scriptures
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that have been helpful for me in my life that I've memorized.
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And I wanted to provide that. And we had over 100 people just
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immediately texting the same day asking for that.
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And so if you if you want a list of scriptures to begin
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memorizing, you can text the keyword memorize two,
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620-604-9280 again, 604-6620, 604-9280, and just text the
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keyword memorize. No exclamation points, not
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memorization, not memory, but memorize that one word to that
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text line and we'll send you back the link of a document that
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has several scriptures. Kind of a starter pack of
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scriptures that I think Christians should memorize or
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can memorize and realize. Just pick one scripture at a
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time. Go start small and go slow.
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Maybe just pick one scripture and maybe instead of memorizing
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all of Psalm 23, you just memorize Psalm 23, verse one.
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The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
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Just memorize that one, just one verse at a time, little by
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little, and you'll begin to build a repertoire and an inner
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library of the Scriptures. Another thing that I would say
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you feel like you can't memorize is memorize it with other
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people, get accountability, start a competition.
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In fact, I had a lady in our church text message me and say,
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Hey, I, me and a couple others are thinking about doing like a
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competition to see who can get the most scriptures memorized by
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a certain date And the whoever wins, they buy them dinner,
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right? They get free dinner or
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something. I was like, it's a great idea.
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Tell other people about it. We'll get others involved.
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Maybe you want to do something like get people in your life,
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the friends of yours and do something like that meant start
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how many scriptures can you memorize?
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Or in a in a month, in three months and in six months,
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whoever's got the most kind of kind of wins, right?
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Get a competition going. I think another thing is when
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you memorize a scripture, reward yourself, do something fun,
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right? Go get some ice cream, give
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somebody a high 5, get a gold sticker star and put it on a,
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you know, like you're in elementary school, right?
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And just put a star on a, on a, on a big note board hung in
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your, you know, kitchen somewhere for like scriptures
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that you've memorized or whatever.
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Do something to visibly reward and celebrate what you've done.
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You'll begin to, to, to, to gain some traction and, and
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memorization again, when I say go slow, I mean, don't, don't
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feel like you have to slow down to memorize.
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I mean, give yourself time to recognize it's going to take a
24:52
long time to build a library. So that's okay.
24:56
I've been memorizing scripture since I was probably about six
24:59
years old. I'm now 4243.
25:02
So I've had a lot of years of memorizing Scripture.
25:04
You may not. You may just be getting started.
25:07
That's all right. You start where you are, not
25:10
where you think you should be. And then finally, man, just
25:15
remember memorization is about repetition.
25:18
So it's really about verbal repetition.
25:21
So the more you repeat something out loud and the more you use
25:24
it, the more sticky it becomes in in your mind.
25:27
So maybe do something like put it on your lock screen.
25:29
So every time you look at your phone or close out an app on
25:33
your phone, there's the verse that you're trying to memorize
25:35
and you just say it to yourself. Maybe use it as a password, put
25:39
it on a on a post it note somewhere.
25:42
Maybe just print it on a plain piece of paper and stick it on
25:46
your mirror in your bathroom so that every time you're brushing
25:49
your teeth in the morning and in the evening, yes, I said twice a
25:52
day, at least brush your teeth while you're brushing your
25:55
teeth, you're looking at the mirror and you're just saying in
25:58
your mind the scripture. So brush your teeth and speak
26:02
the scripture and you'll do that twice a day.
26:05
And, and once you've read the scripture three times, then you
26:08
know you're done brushing your teeth, right?
26:10
Or, or something like that. Maybe, maybe you just put it on
26:13
a wall in your dining room so that every meal you're sitting
26:16
down to eat and at the meal before the meal is over, either
26:19
at the beginning, at the end, sometime in the middle, you're
26:21
saying the scripture as a family, right?
26:23
These are ways that you can create repetition.
26:28
Verbal repetition is how it gets sticky and helps you memorize
26:33
it. So create a strategy in a
26:35
practical way that helps you say it again and again, verbally
26:40
repeating it so that you can memorize the scriptures.
26:45
Second question, you mentioned that our minds can create quote
26:50
UN quote ruts like in a dirt Rd. in the message, how do we get
26:54
unstuck in a way of thinking? All right, so I mentioned taking
26:59
every thought captive and kind of playing dodgeball with the
27:01
devil with your thoughts and your thinking that I think is
27:05
the best way. But let me just say this first,
27:09
it's really important that you recognize that you have a rut.
27:14
I think a lot of people are blind to certain patterns of
27:19
thinking that we just think we're stuck with or are normal.
27:24
And it's going to take a lot of humility and kind and honest
27:27
friendships and patience to notice how that rut is actually
27:33
showing up in our lives. There are certain people that
27:36
have certain perspectives about things.
27:38
It's really just a rut of thinking built out of by trauma,
27:42
by pain, by, by environment in which you grew up in that you
27:48
think a certain way about certain things.
27:50
Well, I, I, I think you have to, it takes some humility and other
27:54
people in your life to actually help you recognize that you have
27:59
a stuck way of thinking that you are in a rut in your thoughts
28:03
process about certain things. So, so I think you've got to
28:06
recognize it first, but then you can capture the thought, write
28:11
it down when you think it, write it down and then speak out loud
28:16
a different truth. If once you recognize the rut
28:19
that the thought that you are maybe in a stronghold with, then
28:22
you can identify a truth that replaces that lie.
28:26
A truth that helps you renew your thinking more to a biblical
28:29
way of thinking rather than to a behavior pattern that you've
28:33
always had in your life or to a a way in which you lived your
28:36
whole life. Like you've got to train your
28:38
thinking different. So you've got to use the word in
28:40
that way. So again, your words direct your
28:44
thinking. So if you want to get rid of the
28:48
rut or create a new rut, you need to repeat words out loud
28:52
which create new thoughts because your brain tends towards
28:56
chaos, not the beauty of God's word, not a library of
29:01
scripture. So we've got to use God's word
29:03
to speak truth. And so go back and listen to the
29:06
message. Go back and listen earlier in
29:08
the podcast when I talked about playing dodgeball with your
29:10
thoughts. I think that's the best way to
29:13
groove new patterns of thinking and to get out of old ruts in
29:17
our in our minds. But it really takes some honest
29:20
humility and others to help us see ruts that we're in often
29:26
times. Here's another question, what is
29:30
your favorite go to scripture for hard time slash bad days?
29:35
This is a really hard question for me, not because I don't have
29:38
an answer, but because I have too many answers.
29:41
So I would say it depends on what kind of difficulty or bad
29:45
day I'm having. Like if it's just a blah day,
29:47
like I'm just in a funk, it's Psalms 100 verse 4.
29:51
Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with
29:53
praise. Or it's Psalm 1611 that says in
29:57
his presence is fullness of joy and at his right hand are
30:00
pleasures evermore. So I'm reminding myself that
30:02
there is joy in the presence of the Lord.
30:03
So I'm going to lift up praise to him.
30:06
I for you It says Psalm 54. Why are you so downcast?
30:09
So myself put your hope in God. That's not Psalms, that's Psalms
30:14
34 I think so if I'm just having a blah day, those are some of
30:19
the scriptures that I love. If I'm feeling shame or
30:23
separation, it's first John 19 if you confess your cities
30:26
faithful and just to forgive you or it's Romans 81.
30:28
There is there found now no condemnation for those who are
30:31
in Christ Jesus. If I'm feeling fear or having
30:35
like worst case scenario thoughts, it's Second Timothy 1
30:38
and verse 7. God has not given me a spirit of
30:40
fear but power, love and the sound mind.
30:44
If I'm feeling insecure or unsure, it's be strong and
30:49
courageous. Have I not commanded you be
30:51
strong and courageous? It's Joshua one and verse eight
30:55
other scriptures that I go to a lot on bad days, hard days,
30:58
difficult days is Philippians 377 and 8.
31:02
I have counted it all as trash so that I can embrace Christ and
31:06
be embraced by him. It's first Peter 567 and eight
31:11
that God resists the proud, but he gives grace to a humble.
31:13
Therefore submit yourselves under God and he'll lift you up
31:16
and do time casting all your cares on him because he cares
31:19
for you and then be aware that the devil roars is like a
31:23
roaring lion seeking who he may devour or James foreign verse 8
31:27
resist the enemy and he will flee.
31:30
Draw near to God and he will draw near to to you.
31:34
And then sometimes it's Matthew 633 Seek first the Kingdom of
31:39
God and his righteousness and all those other things that I'm
31:42
worried about are going to be added unto unto me.
31:45
And I start off then in verse 25 of Matthew chapter 6 when Jesus
31:48
says do not be anxious about anything.
31:53
And and so those are some of my go to scriptures when I'm having
31:59
a hard time, when I'm having a bad day.
32:02
I didn't even get into scriptures if I'm feeling ill or
32:06
sick, if I'm feeling alone. Some of those are like James 4
32:10
versus 8 drawn either God, he draws near to you.
32:12
If I'm feeling just separated from God a little bit like man,
32:17
I didn't even list Hebrews 4, which says that we could come
32:22
into His presence with boldness to find mercy and grace in the
32:27
time of need. That's a go to scripture for me.
32:30
So I've got a lot of go to scriptures for hard times and I
32:35
think all of those scriptures are in the list that I provided
32:40
for anybody who wanted it. Now can I just be honest?
32:45
I am not good at remembering the references or the address of
32:50
where scripture is located in scripture always.
32:53
But I do remember the scriptures pretty clear.
32:55
So I remember what the scripture says and I sometimes can
33:00
remember where it's found. But if you can remember what a
33:04
scripture says, that's much more important than just remembering
33:07
where it's found. So obviously if you can do both
33:10
great. But put a great like, I just
33:13
wanted to let you know, like I've got a lot of scriptures
33:15
memorized. I don't have a lot of like
33:17
scripture references matched up with the scriptures very well.
33:22
So just a moment of of honesty there.
33:27
Last question, I kind of feel like I should know this when you
33:31
mentioned in the message about Desert fathers, but what or who
33:34
were you referring to? Really great question.
33:38
So let me give you kind of a technical answer.
33:41
The Desert Fathers and mothers were a Christian movement that
33:44
emerged in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
33:47
They comprised in places like Egypt and Syrian, Syria and they
33:53
were Christians who kind of abandoned cities and villages to
33:56
inhabit desert regions. Now their communities kind of
34:00
extended across the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, and
34:04
the vast majority were laypeople and not really clergy.
34:08
Their withdrawal from urban centers to the deserts,
34:13
therefore desert fathers and mothers kind of centers,
34:16
responded to a fundamental shift in Christianity's culture,
34:20
cultural position. So when when Constantine
34:23
embraced Christianity and it became the empire's official
34:27
religion, the faith transition from a countercultural
34:32
opposition into alignment with established power structures.
34:37
And there were some Christians who found this transformation
34:40
troubling, believing their faith should remain prophetic and
34:44
world denying rather than conformist.
34:47
And they felt that spiritual discipline was necessary to
34:50
produce genuine devotion to God rather than pursuing a uniform
34:55
lifestyle. By 8346, practitioners would
35:00
choose between either a solitary Hermitage or a communal
35:04
monasticism. Their spiritual practice
35:08
centered on core Christian fundamentals, repentance,
35:11
prayer, fasting, silence, and compassion.
35:14
So they were very contemplative, in other words, and they exiled
35:18
themselves into inhospitable desert regions and places
35:22
because they believed the authentic Christian life
35:25
required separation from urban distraction and dishonesty,
35:29
enabling them to embody Jesus's teachings more literally.
35:33
Now I always caution on like extremes.
35:38
And so I think the desert Father and mothers personally, my
35:41
opinion took some things to some extremes, but they were right on
35:46
in this idea of needing to resist culture and cultural
35:51
assimilation in a way that was contrary to the practices and
35:55
the ways of Jesus. And they reclaimed and re
35:59
centered their lives on spiritual practices as a way of
36:03
being formed into the way of Jesus.
36:06
Now again, I I think they took it to an extreme of separatism
36:10
because I don't think separating from culture, nor do I think
36:16
automatic assimilation into culture is the proper way of
36:20
living the way of Jesus. In fact, I think it's about
36:23
experiencing redemption, resistance, and renewal in the
36:26
way of Jesus that allows us to live the way of Christ in the
36:31
culture that we are in. And that's why we want to become
36:34
people who experience redemptive formation through spiritual
36:38
practice, not necessarily retreating away from all of
36:42
culture, separating entirely from the world that we live in,
36:47
like moving to some commune area or some isolation area.
36:52
That's, that's not what we're called.
36:53
We're called to be salt and light in the world, but we need
36:56
to develop good flavors and bright lights, and that requires
37:00
formation and spiritual practices.
37:02
And that's why I like learning some of those things from desert
37:04
fathers and mothers who really prioritized and oriented their
37:09
entire life around the spiritual practices.
37:12
And I think that we can learn a lot from them in that way.
37:17
All right, I hope this has been helpful.
37:19
I love these last four conversations about the practice
37:21
of Scripture. We'll start a new subject matter
37:25
as we get into some new things. I'm excited as a church for
37:28
Vision Sunday. All these things coming up.
37:30
It's going to be really awesome, really fun.
37:33
But as always, friends, thanks for listening.
37:35
I love you, and I hope today's episode has helped you.
37:39
Have faith for today. I'll see you soon.