We're talking about the sword, you know. The word of God is the sword of the spirit. You can't yield the sword if you don't pick it up. You can't use it if you don't know it. Right? So to hide God's word inside of our hearts, if you're always meditating, you can't be meditating on God's word and looking at something horrific on your phone at the same time. You can't do it. It's one or the other. So I I I love the fact that uh we have been commissioned by God to open up God's word and to dig down deep. Um there was a quote from uh JC Ryle who said, Let us read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure. Let us read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure. So every morning when we open up, we we we look for that golden nugget, and then we are just enamored with that golden nugget all throughout the day, going back to that single verse that stood out to us.
SPEAKER_09Oscar's got a black eye, Oscar's got a black eye. Why does Oscar have a black eye? Because I punched Oscar.
SPEAKER_03We have that now on record. Call it. Oh no.
SPEAKER_05That was off key and I'm turned if. That was not off key. Do it again. Oscar's got a and it was it was off.
SPEAKER_10Oscar. Okay, I gotta admit, that was uh one of the goriest, but one of the coolest pictures I've ever been sent in my life. I don't think it's a good idea to show it here. Well it was a lamb, wasn't it? It was. It didn't.
SPEAKER_05Your face had blood all over.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, it did. Well, you remember
what I said to you? I said that you were so jazzed to have that picture. I sent it to my wife. I was like, I mean, like your whole face was covered with blood. It was bad. So before people think I really punched you at home. You kicked me.
SPEAKER_03That's what it was. I what's funny is it happened on a Saturday and I was preaching guest speaking at a church on Sunday. And so I was playing basketball on get hit with an elbow. Uh, the guy who hit me did it totally by accident. He actually listens to the podcast, Ryan. I forgive you after you send the paycheck. Um, no, he was very apologetic. And honestly, when it happened, I was like, Oh, we're good, we're good. It didn't hurt. And they're like, Oh no, we're not good. It was just gory blood. So you didn't, it wasn't like feel that no, it didn't hurt. It just felt like a tap that you would usually get playing basketball.
SPEAKER_05So head wounds always look worse. I'd watch a lot of rugby and these guys covered in blood, don't even know it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. So I went to the uh I I called them and did a FaceTime with the nurse hoping that I wouldn't have to go to ER. And uh they're like, no, you need to come in. It's gonna be four or five stitches.
SPEAKER_05It's not.
SPEAKER_03You didn't get stitches? I thought you were gonna say 45 stitches. No, four or two, five. Four or two, five stitches.
SPEAKER_09I hear it.
SPEAKER_03Um so I, you know, I'm in there and the guy was like, yep, it's gonna be about 45 stitches. And uh I go, man, I I preach tomorrow. I don't want to patch. Can you just glue it? He goes, if you keep your eyes shut, because I don't want to glue your eyes shut by accident, I can glue it. And so we glued it and I'm good to go. That's good.
SPEAKER_04Did he make a didn't really tell? Did he make a sign anything?
SPEAKER_03No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_04Point to it and exactly what it's at.
SPEAKER_03The cut, the cut's right here.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, he did a great job.
SPEAKER_03And then what happens, Oscar? The glue just kind of falls off. It actually fell off this morning.
SPEAKER_10Oh, really?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, if it's a straight line and it's on your face, I've I've done this like I've had like five sets of stitches on my face. So I five or six. So I'd strongly suggest if you can do the glue, do the glue. It's less scarring. Do the glue.
SPEAKER_10Something about getting scars as a man. I agree.
SPEAKER_05Actually, I've got one on the knee.
SPEAKER_10My tag has a scar on it. I'll tell you guys, God bless the man who founded Babylon B. Check this out. Man who uses 37 matches to start barbecue grill. Pretty sure he could survive alone in the woods of Alaska. When questioned about the number of matches it took him to light the grill, Blanchard was quick to explain it was windy, all right? He said, it's always trickier to light a grill in February. Anyway, everyone knows that. Blanchard's friends agreed that he would indeed survive being stuck in the Alaskan wilderness as long as he was stranded with several pallets of food, a functioning satellite phone, lighter fluid, and approximately 1,468 matches. I love these guys, man.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, they're funny.
SPEAKER_10So creative. Seriously. But this led me to think. Good. Do you guys ever for the first time? First time ever, first time ever. Yeah, do you guys ever like contemplate being lost like in the wilderness and what you would do? You ever think about that? Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Could you survive, Oscar? I would need some resources. I don't think I can survive. You know, I think I could survive, but then I meet guys who are like survivalists, and I'm like, oh, I would, I would have no chance. You would survive. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_05What's the name of Tom Hanks movie that you and I watched? Uh we watched Castaway.
SPEAKER_04There was no volume. We watched it with no volume.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, because we thought it might be blast me on it. But we don't know if there was.
SPEAKER_04He didn't speak for the stuff. No, you didn't see it.
SPEAKER_05We didn't even know the name of the ball until afterwards.
SPEAKER_04But we figured out what was in the package at the end that he delivered. Cell phone. Satellite cell phone
and spinovacaine.
SPEAKER_05It was just so dumb. Don't open it, delivery food. Oh man.
SPEAKER_10That was a that was an intriguing movie. I mean, haunting almost in a way.
SPEAKER_05I would love to be on an island. I love I love ingenuity. I would love to put you on a few.
SPEAKER_10You would not. Ray, you think you could survive? Okay, you dropped in the middle of an island, nothing. There's nothing. No resources, no matches, no denting tools, no coffee. What would you do with a laptop?
SPEAKER_05I would use a magnifying glass to start a fire.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. Create a magnifying glass.
SPEAKER_05Always have one on me. But I think it's intriguing. Robinson Cruiser was a Christian. Daniel Defoe was a Christian. I think it's if you look at the original Robinson Crusoe, it's all about God's providence.
SPEAKER_10What was that uh that show Man vs. No one said wild. I was totally ignored. Wow. Thank you. Man versus Wilde, was it? Bear grill.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I watched that a lot, that guy that comes in after people have died and says what they should have done.
SPEAKER_10But how my first thought is, okay, I know I need fire. I have no idea how to start a fire. Like, I mean, I'm thinking, well, you get the little stuff you do strike stones.
SPEAKER_05No, you just you rub matches together.
SPEAKER_04You need Matt Holmes to do it. You know, yeah, well, when we went on a little hike, he had a little flint and stuff. He's all just real easy. It's just easy. Started doing it. I'm like, whoa, how did you do that?
SPEAKER_10That's a thing designed for that, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But like if you have this fire, could you just you just on the oven, you just push it and turn. It goes click, click, click.
SPEAKER_05Always carry a can of gasoline.
SPEAKER_10Oh man. I think, you know, seriously, like the stuff they should teach in school, stuff like that. Totally. You know what I mean? Like, give people some practical skills.
SPEAKER_03I'll tell you what, if I was alone, I would end up dying from like being poisoned because I'd eat something. Right. That would be my mushrooms.
SPEAKER_10Thank you, Lord, for the people who are the guinea pigs who ate that first thing for the first time. That would have been me. I'm not gonna lie. Yeah. No, I I would be I'd be in big trouble.
SPEAKER_04I thought if I was homeless in Huntington Beach, I'd just somehow get a fishing pole. You don't go on the pure Huntington Beach. They're always getting fish. Funny Mutt.
SPEAKER_03Easy, I've seen you without cell service. You definitely would not survive on an island. Ray without cell service.
SPEAKER_10Picture that on an island. A white island. Without what in a straight jacket.
SPEAKER_05Don't even talk about this.
SPEAKER_10With nothing to do. Time for a cool classy comment. This is from Luke Ramsey. Ray, Mark, Oscar Easy. Your podcast is the most edifying, encouraging, inspiring, and biblically sound podcast that I've ever listened to. I love all the laughter too. I've been listening for a couple of years now, and hearing about your faith and seeing it supplemented by your work for the Lord is amazing. I'm truly encouraged by you guys. And as Paul told the recipients of his letter to imitate his faith, I want to imitate yours. I love the jokes and the wisdom. So the new shortened versions don't change much for me, but I've started listening to both. Keep doing what you guys do, and please pray for me as I take next steps in my faith. I'm sure y'all have a lot going on, but just one time before it leaves your mind would be good, uh, so meaningful to me in Christ's love, Luke.
SPEAKER_05So we have we have shortened versions.
SPEAKER_10He's talking about you. Oh I love the shortened host. Well, thank you, Luke, so much, brother. We're so excited. Did I read this one before?
SPEAKER_02I can't remember. I don't think so.
SPEAKER_10I don't think so. You know what? Let's pray for Luke right now, that God would uh use him and give him wisdom
and empower him. Oscar, pray.
SPEAKER_03Heavenly Father, thank you for Luke, Lord. And and uh yeah, we lift him up to you, Lord. We pray that you would that he would recognize that ultimately he is saved to be an instrument in your redeeming hands, uh, and may he go to work, whether he goes to work in his family's lives, in his friends' lives, or strangers' lives, God, we pray that he would be obedient for your glory and his good. It's in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER_05Do you guys always feel comfortable praying in public? No. No. In public, you mean like No, if someone says, Would you pray?
SPEAKER_10Like over a meal.
SPEAKER_05Do you go gulp or what?
SPEAKER_04Well, that's fine. Let's gather in a circle and pray for 20 minutes before we witness in this area as everybody stares at us. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Always hold each other's earlobes when you pray.
SPEAKER_10No, in fact, we we wouldn't do that when we were doing evangelism mark for years and years. We'd say, We're not gonna do that because it attracts attention. Yeah. Uh especially if you're in a place where you're trying to be careful or there's security or whatever.
SPEAKER_05It always puts me in a difficult position when I'm out filming or witnessing. Someone comes up and says, Can I pray with you? And we're in public. And you don't know if it's gonna be 20 minutes with the hands raised or what in public. And I'll just say, I'll just be very quick about it if you would.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, pray, yeah, pry.
SPEAKER_09And now a radically revolutionary resource.
SPEAKER_02This podcast is brought to you by the Evidence Study Bible. We added the word study. We decided to highlight it.
SPEAKER_10I know we talk about it all the time and mention it every time, but today it's getting a highlight. Ray, you want to tell the people what we're working on?
SPEAKER_05Yes, well, we we it's the highlighted version. We're gonna soak the whole thing in yellow dye.
SPEAKER_10Finally. Oh, yes. You guys ever see books like that?
SPEAKER_05Like everything is it's like Well, why don't we just have a highlighted Bible without every page is highlighted, every verse.
SPEAKER_08They actually have a highlighted Bible. Yeah, but I mean everything. But it's different colors. Yeah, they're different colors.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but what would you uh what would you not highlight? A verse you don't like? No, the the idea is. I get the joke. Yeah, I get what you're saying. Highlighted. Stop doing that, Spence. I get it. Everything's high, different colors, just like what you've got on your laptop.
SPEAKER_02Highlighted. Ray has nothing. He has no notes. That's where are your notes, right?
SPEAKER_05Just because I I'm gonna confess something about today's um, were you late, Ray? Yeah, I was late, but um the whole thing is on memorizing scripture. Let me just tell you.
SPEAKER_04Everything is memorized.
SPEAKER_05No, no, no, no, no. You you guys just because you're young whoopa-snappers, you just have no understanding of aging. Sue and I, for the last probably seven or eight days, have been trying to memorize two Bible verses. Seriously? Seriously, and we cannot do it. Now I've memorized hundreds of verses in the past when I was younger, and it retains. But and they're still there, I still remember them. But when you get older, you cannot retain memory.
SPEAKER_10Trevor Burrus, Jr. But what is it about stuff that you have in there already? And why can't you put it?
SPEAKER_04The shelves are full.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the shelves are shelves are full of stuff. Full. No.
SPEAKER_05Full. So that's why I've got no notes, because I've got nothing to talk about when it comes to memorizing scripture. I'm gonna listen to you guys.
SPEAKER_03Wow. What are the verses here?
SPEAKER_05Anyway, the evidence study Bible is coming out in leather bound or bonded leather. We're very excited about it. It's got those little thumb things all the way through it. What are they called easy? Oh, yeah. Tabs. Index? Tabs tabs? Tabs. I think they're tabs. They're called tabs. Yeah, it's got tabs. You get the tabs thrown in.
SPEAKER_03Freed. You don't have to pay for it. They're in a separate box.
SPEAKER_05There's gonna be 66 of them. 66 in a separate box.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. So make sure to check out the Evidence Study Box. There's a lot in there, guys. We're talking about scripture memory today, which we'll get into, but um, that's why I'm highlighting the Evidence Study Bible. It's a good Bible not only to have for scripture memory, but for edification and encouragement. Amen. Don't forget the Living Waters mug, the Evidence Study Bible, Living Waters TV. All at LivingWaters.com. What are you pouring, Oscar? Tea. And don't forget the podcast YouTube channel. Tens of thousands of subscribers now.
SPEAKER_05I've got something on my notes. And you don't? Yes, I do. No. You have nothing. I have the word nothing. So it is nothing is something. You've got to admit it is something on my notes.
Even though it's nothing.
SPEAKER_10Richard Dawkins says nothing is nothing. Nothing is nothing. Isn't that funny how he used the word something when he was trying to describe nothing? Well, something. He must hate the fact that video exists. Seriously.
SPEAKER_05You mean you mean Dawkins?
SPEAKER_10That's what I said, isn't it?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I didn't hear you say Dawkins. Yeah, yeah, Dawkins. He said it three times. He did. He did. Your memory really is bad.
SPEAKER_02Who are you guys? All right, friends.
SPEAKER_10So today, yes, we are talking about the power, power, power of memorizing and meditating on scripture. Weren't there commercials that would do that?
SPEAKER_02Power, power, power! You're thinking of something. X power.
SPEAKER_05Oh, it's um this power in the blood. Everything met him?
SPEAKER_03No. You just said that, right?
SPEAKER_05I did. This is cool, gaslighting, isn't it? Yeah. And why do you guys get me to sign that insurance policy today?
SPEAKER_08You deserve every minute of it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. So um so today we're talking about uh memorizing and meditating on scripture. Ray. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I just did want to say this because I got a lot to say on this. When I was younger, I used to listen to Alexander Scorby every night. I have done for 50 something years. And what I did is I I I I loved listening to scripture, but what I did is I got all the Bible verses on evangelism, everything to do with anything, lined them up, went to a local Christian radio station, and got a guy who was called Velvet Voice. That's why they called him, because his voice was like velvet. And I got him to in studio to read all those verses, and then I made it available, all the evangelistic verses for memory, so that you'd have them ready. You know, for God's love the world, except you be born again, shall I, etc., etcetera, etc. So you have two. Two what? Two verses? No, there's there was about probably fifty or sixty, and they're all sitting in my memory banks, but the shelves are full.
SPEAKER_10Piper said, if you don't memorize scripture one way or the other, you will be weak all your life. You will not be able to stand against the devil without a sword in your hand. That's good. And you know, I I I don't know what it was, but as a new believer from the outset, I just knew I had to memorize scripture. You know, I just was like, ah, I gotta get God's word in my heart. Like, I don't know for you guys, but for me, not growing up with the word at all, like when I got saved, I was enthralled by the Bible. Like I couldn't wait to read the Bible. For me, it started with the with the proverbs. Like, I'm like, hey, this is wisdom, you know, like just the nuggets in there. And then the sweetness of identifying with scripture, you know, like where it says, you know, when a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Yeah, you know, I get saved, and all of a sudden, like I had so many people hated me. Suddenly you can relate. Suddenly there was peace, you know. The Lord just did that. A gentle answer turns away wrath, harsh words stir up anger. I began to use, you know, apply that and see the
fruit of that, you know. So was it like that for you guys when you got saved? Like, were you Oscar? I mean, you're an atheist. So were you intrigued by the Bible, hesitant at first about it?
SPEAKER_03Or um, I wish I had a love for the Bible when I first got saved. I was very confused about the Bible. As a matter of fact, I've I've had a memory where I told you guys, uh, you know, I was doing like this mentorship meeting with these pastors, asking them a lot of questions, and one of them finally was like, Do you have your own Bible? And I go, No, I don't. He goes, Man, you need to go get a Bible. And so I walked into a Borders bookstore, which doesn't even exist anymore, and I walked up to the section, and there's hundreds of options, and I have no idea the difference between NK and J V to NIV, nothing at all. For whatever reason, I just grab one, I look at the price tag, and it was like a hundred dollars, and I go, Yeah, don't be a and I left. Uh, and so I I struggled in those in that first year or two with God's word. I'll tell you though.
SPEAKER_07Wow.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I was a believer, but I was I knew you were gonna do that. Uh listener, every time I look up and to the right, because I'm trying to have a thoughtful idea for you.
SPEAKER_05Most people do look to the right, seriously.
SPEAKER_03It's because the creative side of your brain allegedly, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Um, let me think about that.
SPEAKER_03There it is. But uh I will say, you know, it was, I think it was Ecclesiastes that I really started to um, I really started to find awe and wonder in God's word. And Psalm 119, 11 was one of the first verses that I ever memorized. I hide your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. And it was, it was in that moment of memorizing that verse, it was like, this, this is really important. Um, and so to this day, I would say I started out being confused about the Bible, but to this day, it is it is the single source of wisdom that I stake my entire life on. How I go about my marriage, raise my kids, decide, you know, what I'm gonna do in life, how I hold myself accountable. It is everything to me. You can take away my entire library and leave me with my Bible, I'd be happy. Wow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Amen. I remember back in 1994, easy um said something very convicting. Or maybe it was legalistic, I don't know.
SPEAKER_08I'm sure it was.
SPEAKER_04But I'd asked him what he was doing, and he was memorizing the seven churches, the letters, the seven churches inside the book of Revelation. Do you remember that? The names of the several years. The names of the seven churches. And you had said something along the lines of like you can't even call yourself a Christian if you don't even know what the seven churches are.
SPEAKER_05Philadelphia, Thyrotira, uh Saddis. Oh, that's it.
SPEAKER_04Yours, Laodicea.
SPEAKER_05Uh Laodicea. Yeah. That's the Luke Woman. Yeah. Oh, but do you remember that? Yeah. Back in 1994.
SPEAKER_10I was like, I did because I remember because I did memorize them intentionally. Yeah. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyratirus, Artis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. Yeah, it stuck.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Wow. Yeah. It was an ech.
SPEAKER_05What's the acronym?
SPEAKER_10Yeah. And speaking of memory, thank you, Lord, for Eddie. This is the third episode. I try to remember this. I totally forgot again how we talked about it. I unboxed it. If I didn't get the text from Eddie right now saying remember to mention it, I would forget.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_10So here it is, friends. Face mask.
unknownFace mask.
SPEAKER_05Let me take a picture. Easy, hold it up just for a second because that's what it does look like a big end.
SPEAKER_10So, friends, we don't know who we don't know who sent these in, but we got four foot massagers.
SPEAKER_03It's a foot massage.
SPEAKER_10Ray jumps in the bigger.
SPEAKER_05Why on earth would there be four feet?
SPEAKER_10That's too big for me. Oh man. Anyways, thank you so much, whoever you are. Can you write and tell us who you are if that's you? And don't lie, someone trying to feel good by telling us it was you. Uh, but thank you. We've got four of them. Maybe they want us to use them during the podcast to feel relaxed. I don't know. But anyway, I'm excited
to try it out. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02Um I just sent you a text.
SPEAKER_10What's your text, Ray? Let's see. Yeah, right. We're live recording. Oh, there it is. That really does look creepy. All right. So um yeah. Yeah? No. Yeah, Mark, anything else to add besides my seven churches memorization?
SPEAKER_04No. I mean, but that was the first um challenge that I had because I never thought of memorizing uh the seven churches. I thought that was just so odd. You know, I mean, there's many different things that you could begin to memorize, and I thought, wow, this guy's like an academic.
SPEAKER_05So easy, could you very quickly, when you say memorize the seven churches, tell us what the weaknesses and strengths were of each of those churches?
SPEAKER_08Oh, yes, brother.
SPEAKER_10Let me elaborate on brother, brother. No, I didn't get the channel. I don't think I get the names.
SPEAKER_05So you just memorize the names.
SPEAKER_10That's the name. Oh, that's pretty powerful. Oscar's reading Revelation?
SPEAKER_05So here's a question, theological question. Thy word if I hid my heart in this King James Version, that I might not sin against you. Can a godly person not know they're sinning against God because they haven't read it in the scriptures?
SPEAKER_10Ooh. That's a good question. Well, I would say this. I I would say because God's law is written on our heart, um, we we would have a general sense, obviously, of of what's what's right and wrong in the side of God. And I think we have the conviction of the Spirit as well. But I would say that there are here here's what I what I always say, and that's why scripture memory is so important and meditation. We can't let meditation get lost in all this, because that's huge. So the reason why memorization is so important is because when you have God's word accessible, then it will convict you in the moment. Like I can't tell you guys how often, because of the scripture I memorize, it'll come to mind in the midst of me getting ready to sin and be a fool, you know, whether it's being jealous or envious or angry or whatever. Like God's word comes back. And when we don't have God's word to draw on, we will always fall back on man's fallen human wisdom. Always. And it's foolish. So, as an example, you might get saved and you meet someone and they're wonderful, and you think, wow, what a what a great person. We align on everything. I'm attracted to them, we have the same goals in life, chemistry. But they're a Mormon. Of course, God would want me to be with them. Because I mean, you know, they, you know, but if you have knowledge of scripture, don't be on equally okay with an unbeliever. You might think, why would God want me to pay taxes to a wicked, evil government that's supporting abortion and transsexual, uh, transgenderism and homosexuality? And but if we know scripture, it tells us to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, to pay taxes to whom taxes are due, you know.
SPEAKER_05Even in California.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. I mean, seriously, like, but that that's why we have the word. A wife who's married to a man who's not a believer, or maybe even if he is, but he's not walking in obedience to the word, she might think, Oh, well, I don't need to submit to him. But first Peter tells you what, even if they're not obedient to the word, you still submit, win them over without a word spoken. We're not talking about abuse, by the way. And anytime you're commanded to do something God forbids or forbidden to do something God commands, you don't submit to that. But generally speaking, that's what scripture says. So that's what I'm saying. When you don't go according to the wisdom of God's word, you'll go according to man's fallen wisdom and say, Well, this must be what's pleasing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_05So let's take it over to unbelievers. Um I've noticed when Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler, he didn't use the Sabbath commandment. Neither did Paul. Why is that? And it's been said that the sinner knows that he's in rebellion
to God, but he doesn't understand that God requires him to set aside one day and seven. There's other sins that the scriptures point out in the in the law, you shall not commit adultery. That's sitting up there in the conscience, shall not steal, shall not lie, blasphemy, people know that it's wrong. Second commandment, you shall not make yourself a graven image of any likeness of anything. That really isn't very strong on the human conscience. Uh-huh. And it's something that needs expounding, like Jesus expounded the Lord, made it honorable in the in the Sermon on the Mount. And so there are certain things that are written on the human heart that aren't very clear, as a Christian, would see them in clarity because we've got the scriptures.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Well, oh God, I was going to find out.
SPEAKER_03I was just going to um comment on your original original question. And I I'm trying to remember who it was that said it, uh, and I can't remember that. But a church father pointed out that, like, because of the sanctification process, God is constantly refining us. And a part of that sanctification process is that as we move about our Christian life to become more like Christ, He is slowly revealing areas of sin in our heart to make us more like Him. Um, so again, as a reminder to our listeners, you are when you are saved, you are justified. That is your right standing before God. You are a saved sinner, you are a son adopted into his kingdom. It is your sonship for both men and women. After that happens, the sanctification process begins. That's a synergetic process between you and God. And and so what I and I'm again, I think it might have been Calvin. Well, actually, it was Calvin that said this, which is that like we are supposed to be constant repenters. So to your to your question, Ray, there are areas of our hearts that are unknown to us that are holding on to darkness. And a part of the promise of God is that he who began a good work in you is faithful to carry it out. And one way in which he carries out that synergetic process is in our uh meditation and our memorization of scripture, which takes us back to this whole conversation. Uh, one of the values of memorizing scripture isn't just so that you can show off to your friends. Uh the value of memorizing scripture is because the thoughts that we have engage our actions. And it's how we relate to the world. You know, I'm uh a big fan of Seinfeld. There I confessed it. Both, you know, but I know you don't like Seinfeld. But what's funny is that both my wife and I like grew up loving Seinfeld. We used to watch it, and to this day, something will happen in our life. And maybe, listener, you've done this too, where you're like, oh, that reminds me of that friends episode. That reminds me of that Seinfeld episode, that reminds me of the office episode, wherever the case. What is happening there is that your mind is relating the experience you're having to something you've memorized. Why not allow your mind to relate the moments of your life to scripture? So that when someone cuts you off, so that when you're raising your children, so that when you're engaging with your wife or your coworker, instead of allowing your mind to head towards frustration or worldly things, it reminds you of the of the godliness of God, of the way in which he would want you to interact in that moment. And so memorizing scripture is there
so that it affects our actions, so that it builds fruitfulness into our lives.
SPEAKER_10Amen. Yeah, and then and then remembering, you know, the the nature of scripture, and remembering, you know, Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And that's what you're speaking about, Oscar. Like scripture is light uh shining in our hearts, and it reveals uh the the intent of our hearts and and what's going on in there. And so it's important that that we interface with it.
SPEAKER_05I just say this without scripture we'd be in darkness.
SPEAKER_10Seriously.
SPEAKER_05Seriously, proper dark. Thank God for his word. It's uh sweet to the taste, bitter to the belly, as it says in scripture, I think the book of Revelation, probably speaking of God's word, but I wouldn't realize my own heart without God's word. My own heart is a cellar full of cockroaches and vipers. And what the word of God does is bring light to us to show us ourselves in truth. Um that's what it's a lamp to our feet, so we can see what's going on. That's why I so encourage Catholics to read the Bible. And if I could have a uh a little chat with the Pope, I'd say, please tell people about God's word. Without it, we're in darkness. We don't know what sin is, we don't know what salvation is without God's word. That's why I want to get you chatting to the Pope when you go to Rome. I'm gonna do everything I can do that.
SPEAKER_10Just chat. Maybe I'll take him some. What what what fan is he? He's a fan of some baseball team. Is he? Chicago, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Does he up front? Does he he lives he lives in Rome?
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Take him a Chicago pizza. Ah, yeah. Is that thick crust, thin crust, or thick crust? Is that thin crust or thick crust?
SPEAKER_10In Italy, they usually do thin, I think. But Chicago pizza. Chicago key would be expensive. Oh, super deep dish. Yeah. I'll take him Tony's little man. He would convert. He would convert to Christianity, I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_09Yeah. So so yeah, it's so easy.
SPEAKER_05When you were a committed Catholic, and you were too mark, were you? Where were you committed to? Um, did you have any understanding of scripture? Or did you open the Bible? I did. I didn't.
SPEAKER_10I had a I had a children's Bible given to me by my aunt when I did my first Holy Communion when I was eight. That was the only Bible I had. And so as a at least at some point, maybe my friend Bill might have given me one uh when I was a teenager, but but I remember trying to read through the children's Bible, you know, and I'm in I'm in Revelation, I'm or Genesis, it's where I started, and then you know, you get to Genesis 5 and you've got the genealogy. I'm like, what is it? I mean, I didn't last long, you know. You know the children's Bible. And I don't even remember if it was the full version of scripture. It might have been, but with
like pictures and articles. Yeah, I think it was.
SPEAKER_05When I had I had a terrible experience when our kids were little, we're having devotions, and I purchased this thick children's Bible with color pictures all the way through Old Testament and New Testament, opened it up, and I saw John the Baptist's head on a plate. It was actually his head with his mouth open. Like that. And then uh and Herod and we were just horrified at what they saw as guests. So what I did, God forgive me, I got some markers and put a chocolate cake on that plate. Oh, really? I did. I drew a chocolate cake. That's what she grew up. She's saying, So why were Herod's guests so aghast at that chocolate cake?
SPEAKER_08Only Ray Comfort. Only Ray Comfort.
SPEAKER_04You know, one of one of the greatest things I've learned from Ray when it comes to meditating on scripture is someone. He has talked about it often. You know, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law. He meditates day and night. And if you do this, verse three, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. And then what's it say, Ray?
SPEAKER_05Whatsoever he does, that's a Lamborghini, that Whatsoever shall prosper. It's talking about biblical prosperity. We know that's not a greed thing. It's you know, your family, your devotions. Every everything will prosper that you put your hand to godliness as you walk in the will of God.
SPEAKER_04And I love it. And so that that is just that that has stayed with me for you know 30 years or so, ever since Ray. He's talked about it often. You know, delight yourself in the Lord, give you the desires of your heart. Uh I remember you teaching a message back in 1997 on dunamis, on the dunamis power of God being dynamic. And I remember, and I've never forgotten that. I I've never wanted to lose that dynamic.
SPEAKER_05How do you remember all the years? Did you ever sort of marker and write a little bit more? 1993.
SPEAKER_04It's we're talking about memory.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, if you hook it in right on the marker on your wallet.
SPEAKER_04But it's true, right? It was 1997, right? So I I I've always thought of things like this and what you're talking about with dunymus, and I didn't want to lose the power, and you talk about why you would lose the power, and that's caused me to abstain from sexual sin that from that message that you taught. And I'm thinking, man, I I I want to be a vessel of honor, ready for every good work. I want everything I do to prosper, whatever that means, whatever that looks like in the eyes of God, what God would call prosperous. And we're talking about the sword, you know, that the word of God
is the sword of the spirit. You can't yield the sword if you don't pick it up. You can't use it if you don't know it, right? So to hide God's word inside of our hearts, if you're always meditating, you can't be meditating on God's word and looking at something horrific on your phone at the same time. You can't do it. It's one or the other. So I I love the fact that uh we have been commissioned by God to open up God's word and to dig down deep. Um, there was a quote from uh JC Ryle who said, Let us read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure.
SPEAKER_06Wow.
SPEAKER_04Let us read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure. So every morning when we open up, we we we look for that golden nugget, and then we are just enamored with that golden nugget all throughout the day, going back to that single verse that stood out to us.
SPEAKER_05You know, if we really believed it's God's word, we wouldn't get past the word in in Genesis.
SPEAKER_04In How'd you get to the N? What does that mean? How'd you get past the eye? Yeah, I had to get the carnival.
SPEAKER_05Well, that was four years on the eye. Is that why you have the word? It's four years on the eye, and now I've come I'm on to the end. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Is that why you have the word in like that big?
SPEAKER_05I used that today on CBN. Did you? Yeah, when we did an interview. Yeah. I put that Bible there and I says, I haven't preached from my Bible for five years. I know. Because I've used my iPad and I've just gone back to that Bible because it's special.
SPEAKER_10So you took it back from me. Yes, I had it up in that cabin in my office guarded.
SPEAKER_05Did you get up when I know?
SPEAKER_10Well, you gave it to me before you died.
SPEAKER_05I thought I died that day.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, you know, I I love um 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is given by God and is profitable. It's God breathed.
SPEAKER_05If we knew it was given by we would have harmonized with that.
SPEAKER_10All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, what? Thoroughly equipped for every good work.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_10And we have to recognize that that there's a there's a wholeness, a completion that comes from scripture, but it's profitable. You know, I wrote about that in my book where I talked, I it was kind of one of those like who was that? Oh, fight like a man, a bold biblical battle plan for personal purity. Uh I talked dot com. Um,
but I I had um I had a subject heading for one of the sections in the book, and it was profiting off of God's word. And you know, it's it's a little bit of a teaser, but yeah, like we're called to profit from the word. Like we talk about charlatans, they're profiting off of God's word. Yeah, I want to profit because it's profitable for doctrine, for approval, for correction, for instruction of righteousness, because I want to be thoroughly equipped, you know. And I guess I I I think we as believers need to get to a place where we just say, like, are we gonna be all in or not? Yeah, are we gonna be all in or not? Like, stop messing around, stop carrying the Bible with you as a virtue signal when you go to church or you know, talk about, yeah, I was reading the Bible. Like, be all in. If this is God's word, treat it like it's God's word. I'm tapping my phone, God's word. Treat it like it's God's word, right?
SPEAKER_05Uh, because man, because it is. You know, attitude is so important. Uh, I rejoiced your word as one who finds great spoil, the psalmist says. That's in Psalm 13. Hidden treasure. Just think how you'd be. Sorry, you'd dig your garden, like you found some money under a tree once. Is that right?
SPEAKER_10Our school ministry, yeah, back in the day.
SPEAKER_05Tell us a story.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, well, we're um we uh got this property where we were gonna start a men's school and ministry, and it was dilapidated. It was like you remember it, Mark, you were there in that day. It's like the cross between a junkyard and dump. And so bathtubs and toilet seats and broken down cars. I'm sure there were there had to be all kinds of weird things there. But anyway, we cleaned it up, dump run after dump run, and then we thought we gotta, you know, look at the landscaping. And of all the trees on the property, there was just one we decided this needs to come out. So we cut the tree down, we're digging a trench around it so that we can, you know, pour water in, loosen the roots, and pull it out. And all of a sudden, our team, I wasn't even there that day, but they hear the sound of breaking glass. Look down, wads of cash
sticking out of the earth. $2,200.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I was I wasn't there that day either, but it dated back to when? 1930s. The 1930s.
SPEAKER_10All the bills dated to the 30s, so someone buried them there, you know, not trusting the banks in that time, you know. And we just happened to dig it out.
SPEAKER_05So how would you? I mean, just there's a sense of excitement. You can make a movie about that. It's just the sense of excitement finding everyone.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I know. This was before cell phones, man. I think we had cell phones being away. We had to get the camera. Remember, we took the money to the bank and they were like blown away. They had to exchange it for us because and it was it was starting to disintegrate, you know. Yeah, because it's exposed the you know the air. So before you talk about it. I was there at midnight digging that day all around the headland.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, right. Um, yeah, uh thy word of I hid my heart, thy might have sinned against you, and then say I rejoiced your word of one's one as one of one's great spoil. Hidden treasure. And it comes back to desire. The Bible says, desire the sincere milk of the word. It's something that comes from your heart, and that's attitude. If you can realize how beautiful and powerful and rich God's word is, then you'll then you'll desire the sincere milk of the word. So many professing Christians say to me, day after day, and it just happens like ten times a week, I would say, you're reading the word daily. I try to. It's crazy. Do you try and eat, you know, try and eat your food? No, I always eat my food. So prioritize it. Job said, I've esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. And that's what we need to do. Have that attitude, that um the desire the desire, like a newborn baby, to drink in God's word, the milk of the word.
SPEAKER_10Yeah. And you know, in Psalm 119, I mean we already cited verse 11, but you know, how can a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to your word? But um, you know, and then your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. So you keep your way pure, you keep it according to his word, and you make it the the foundation of your life.
SPEAKER_05This is a theological question. Jesus said, The word I speak to shall judge you on that day. What does that mean?
SPEAKER_10I think uh the standard of truth that he gave uh as the authoritative Lagos, the word of God himself, and the authority of his word and what his word signified, we will give account for on that day.
SPEAKER_05Sue and I have been reading the book of Revelation together. That's my wife. So really that's confident.
SPEAKER_10Oscar was in chapter four recently.
SPEAKER_05He was, yeah, near it, Philadelphia. Anyway, we keep seeing Jesus saying,
out of whom went the two-edged sword out of his mouth. And I was saying this, that's the word of God. It's speaking of that two-edged sword that comes out of its mouth, and that will judge the nations.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh Dallas Willard said, Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it filling our minds with what they what it needs. Yeah, and and and it's true, you know, but it is it is almost uh a lost discipline, I think, in the church today.
SPEAKER_04You know, you you can't share what you don't store. And and how amazing would it be that anytime somebody has an issue, a problem, a question, that immediately you have two to three verses just ready to go, ready to engage inside of a conversation. Uh, because that's what really that's what people need. If you're gonna encourage someone, if you're going to give them courage, it's it's found inside of the word of God because there's nothing that makes you more courageous than the word of God. And it's funny, out of Revelation 21, uh, verse 8, 9-ish, where it talks about that the coward will not be there. That uh Charlie Kirk, when he had passed, he said that he wanted to be known as one who was courageous and as a Christian, something, something along that line, right? But he wanted to be courageous, and he certainly was, you know, going on to the college campuses, ready to uh yield the political uh sword, but using the word of God as the most important sword when people would ask him, Why are you out here? Why are you doing what you're doing? He says, Well, I love America and I'm a Christian. I can't help but speak the things that I've uh both seen and heard. The apostles, it says that they they perceive that they were with Jesus. They knew that they had been with Jesus, they perceived that these were people who hung out with Jesus. It's not enough just to kind of get the word of God in you, it's inside of you to get out of you. And there's gonna be ample opportunity to get it out of you just as you live life, right? That that that's what you want to do. Uh Jonathan Edwards, he said, the more you have of God's word in your heart, the more likely you are to live by it. The more you have it in your heart, the more you're likely to live by it because you're continually convicted. You're not asking, well, what would Jesus do? It just it comes from the innermost
being, right? You we speak from the innermost being. Luke 6 tells us. So from that abundance of the heart, and I I want to be so spilling with the word of God that when somebody's uh near me, they're just being watered, they're just being refreshed. So you get it in you, and God will get it out of you. So you cannot uh uh share what you do not store. So stored in me.
SPEAKER_05Do you think every time you share God's word with an unbeliever, you have to give chapter and verse, like some people do? And do it in the King James English. Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_10Um This morning I ate breakfast. Not Luke chapter 447. It was always a reference.
SPEAKER_05Incredible memory. Um but yeah, you we we don't have to. No, no. You can you don't even have to do King James English. You can you can get the truth of God's word across to an unbeliever without moving a change.
SPEAKER_03So I don't understand. Someone has called me out as using a Bible verse without me realizing it. Like, oh, that's blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_05I go, Oh yeah, I guess it is. That's great. It should come naturally too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, I wanted to go back to what you said earlier, which is the lost art. And I think you're absolutely right. And it's it's a wonder, like the the question is why?
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Why have we lost this art of memorizing and meditating? Because to your point, I don't want to miss out on meditating. I want to get to that in a second here. I think the problem is that it's just we we have a buffet, and we're we're bypassing an amazing meal and settling for a hometown buffet.
SPEAKER_02Little on him. What's wrong with that? Golden Corral.
SPEAKER_03The DMV of the DMV of food. Um but truly, like you think about okay, you know, there's this story. Uh someone told me that they snuck Bibles in the China, and they show up to this home church, and uh they hand this relatively new believer her first Bible, and she just started weeping. She held it, kissed it, and cried
and thanked this guy. And she explained to him through a translator that she had been a believer for five years and that she had only heard about the Bible. Wow, but she'd never seen a Bible, and now she has her own, right? Like she that this is all she had. You think about the early church, um, or as they started translating God's word, you know, and and putting on papyrus, they would get these letters and they would cherish them. They would get up and read them every Sunday. They'd put them away, they would talk about them, they'd come back together. We gather for a Sunday football game. They would gather for the word of God to be unscrolled and read to them. And so for us today, like one of the problems is that and I and I'm talking to the person right now listening to us, going, man, but every time I sit down to read my Bible, I get bored and tired. Isn't it possible that you're so used to a buffet that you don't know what it's like to taste something so good for your soul? And if that's true, then my plea to you, as they've just said, stick with it. Stick with it because slowly your flavor palette will change. You're so used to a buffet of reading that you get on social media and in the news that you're settling for garbage for the soul. And what you need to do is stick with it because your flavor palette, the tongue of your soul, is gonna start to taste and see and savor the word of God. And and and on that note, what meditation is, you know, the difference between scripture memorization, reading, and meditation is that using that same analogy, to me, meditation is the difference between like when you're hungry and you're just eating what whatever, a bar of granola, you're just scarfing it down. But when someone makes you an incredible steak that's perfectly cooked, that's got all the seasoning that you've ever had, you take that first bite and you slow down. You savor every bite, you don't rush through it, you taste every morsel, you want that moment to last. That's meditation on God's word. You slow down and you allow it to marinate in your soul. You you reflect on it, you apply it, you pray through it, you you savor that moment, that word that God has for you.
SPEAKER_05I found out why dogs don't do that.
SPEAKER_10What oh, why they don't eat slowly.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you can give them a steak and it's gone in 0.5 of a second. And it's because they don't chew like we do. They go up and down. They don't do this to savor it, and also they're afraid someone's gonna take it off them. Yeah, probably get rid of it really quick. Yeah, but how that was good enough. Why don't you go? Why don't you go first? Because I hadn't finished. I was gonna talk about it. Ray's on coffee. He wants to talk about it. I was on co I'm on coffee, but I was um preaching
up in air once. I saw a Hare Krishna sitting down, going, Oh woman, or what they were doing, sitting cross-legged. So I I sat down beside him, had my Bible with him at me, and I started sharing the gospel. And while I was sharing with him, I put the Bible on the ground, he just said, Stop. Pick that up. A Hare Krishna. Yeah, because it was God's word and shouldn't be put on the ground. And I was once in a plane, and I mean he didn't even open the Bible, but it was holy. Uh I was on a plane, I was marking my Bible, and the person next to me got offended that I was marking the Bible. And and I think if traditional churches often put a Bible in a glass case right at the front of the church where no one can get to it or read it, but it's esteemed and not opened. And that's like looking at a meal and having nothing to eat.
SPEAKER_10Oh, that's good. Yeah. Yeah, and and there could be this weird idolatry as it relates to scripture, too. You know, where as you mentioned, I think earlier, Oscar, how you know we're doing it to seem spiritual or or to get attention or whatever. And we're miss we're we're missing the whole point of God's word. I mean, we should be humbled by it and uh more expensive.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Matt was gonna talk when I overtalked. Oh, yeah, Matt, talking about it. What was I gonna say about your memory improving?
SPEAKER_04I think I remember. Uh there was an old ministry friend that I was able to uh have uh breakfast with who has since uh left the faith. And we were talking, we're hanging out, and I had to almost keep apologizing for the amount of scripture that was coming out. Because that's kind of what for for me. Like I apologized because there was issue after issue, dilemma after dilemma that that was in this person's life, and scripture just kept coming out thinking of these different issues, and I finally I went, Man, I'm I'm so sorry. I go, I don't even mean to do that, it's just coming out because he had said to me at the beginning, I please don't quote scripture to me. Yeah, and I said, Hey, well, let's just hang out, man. And then at one point, when I said,
I go, man, I don't, I'm sorry, I didn't even realize that I was doing this just such a part of me. It's ingrained inside of me. So man, I I get it. Just just be yourself, you know. But that's the way the Christian is, right? If your hand was cut off, it should bleed scripture. Yeah, it should, it should bleed just this desire to honor uh the Lord, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, right? Think about these things. I want to think about the things that are honorable and pure, and I want to start my day like that, and that's the way I do. When I wake up, I reach over for God's word and I just start meditating through uh the word of God, and I and I love it. Yeah, I love it, and I can't get enough of it. And then I'm driving along and I I can't just put on music, even worship music. I might put on a worship song, but it's just the word of God that I have just continually going through the speakers. Otherwise, just give me the silence, which I hated before I became a Christian. I had to fill my day with noise. I'd have a little walk man, this little yellow walk man with cassette. Did you really? I did.
SPEAKER_02Walk person. Walk woman.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I remember playing like uh minute work or woman that talked to me all the time.
SPEAKER_02Sorry, Mark.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, or uh Boston or uh uh Credence, you know, I'd have little cassette tapes and I'd turn it over and stuff, or and I I couldn't get enough of uh that and I had to fill my mind with noise, and then when I became a Christian, I just preferred silence.
SPEAKER_05You know, why would your friend not want the word of God convicting? Yeah, the entrance of your word gives light, yeah, and they don't want the light.
SPEAKER_10Absolutely. And look, Jesus gave us a good example of scripture memory, right? I mean, Matthew chapter four, he's in the wilderness, he's getting tempted by Satan, and it is written, it is written, it is written, and three times in a row, he's he quoted scripture right at Satan. I mean, if that's not enough for us, then we've got an issue because our Savior, whose footsteps were called the follow-in, showed us the power of scripture against the enemy. And so, so it's important. I think, you know, Oscar, you mentioned that the issue of abundance, and it's true, like we have so much. And I think a lot of people are like, Well, I have it, it's on my phone, it's with me wherever I go. I could just pull it up, I could put in a search word or whatever. But you don't always have that luxury when you're talking to someone, when you're in the middle of something and you don't have your phone or a Bible with you or whatever. And so I think the other issue too is people will say, Well, I don't have time. What a lie. It's true, yeah. Think about how much time we have in our car. Think about how much time we have in the shower, think about how much time we have waiting at a doctor's office or to get our hair cut or whatever.
SPEAKER_05Why would you get here cut in the doctor's office?
SPEAKER_10You didn't do that, you don't do that?
SPEAKER_04He's had a lot of coffee. He really has, I can tell. And to put things into perspective, it takes you two to three minutes to read the average chapter of the Bible. Any chapter.
SPEAKER_10Well, you know, and I've learned that because I've memorized books in the Bible, and I'll I'll recite them and I've timed them. And I'm like, man, I can get through you know this book in that long or through this chapter that quickly. And so I'm literally, I'm I'm getting ready, I'm brushing my teeth, I'm taking a shower. Daily, that's
my habit. I'm because I I've memorized a number of books and I want to keep them there. So I I review them, and that helps me a lot, you know.
SPEAKER_05You know, after sorry, is he continue on what you're saying?
SPEAKER_10No, I was just gonna say it it's such an honor for me to be a part of the National Bible Bee Competition, which is uh an amazing ministry. And in fact, I wonder about it. What is it exactly? So it's it's a ministry that challenges young people to memorize God's word, to hide the word in their heart. And it was started because of a young lady uh who had her name was Shelby Kennedy, and she was passionate about memorizing scripture. Her and her family were missionaries, and and then she ended up dying in her in her early 20s. But everyone knew her because of her love for memorizing scripture and hiding God's word in her heart. And so some some dear folks who knew the family ended up starting this foundation uh in her name and then launching the national Bible Bee Competition. So this is my tenth year uh hosting, and and I'll be a moderator too. And you know, I'm the national spokesman for the organization.
SPEAKER_04And how do they find out? People listening, they're thinking, oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_10How do they find out? Yeah, Biblebee.org. Biblebee.org, check it out. And but these kids, I mean, they're memorizing some of them, the senior level, a thousand verses in the course of a summer. I've memorized uh that's about how many verses I've memorized with all the books I've memorized, but that has taken me decades. They're doing it in the course of a summer. I mean, I get humbled. I'm like, I'm a loser when I hear these kids, they're up on stage and they're throwing references at them, and in a split second, they're reciting scripture.
SPEAKER_04With passion and with passion.
SPEAKER_10Oh man, I mean, there's this one video of us at the we did a game show version of it, and I think it's got it had like 27 million views of this young woman. Her name was uh Bethany, I believe, and uh Bethany or Britney, and she was she was reciting the word and she just starts bawling her eyes out. And I mean, we were all sitting there like in tears too. The patent I'm like, what was going on there? And she just goes, God's word, it's so powerful. And I'm like, ah, so I mean, there's kids a part of this competition getting saved. They're getting born again because they grow up in a Christian home, their parents tell them, okay, you're gonna do this, and they're interfacing with the word and they're getting saved. And then others are getting on fire for the Lord, even if they were saved. It's just like changing.
SPEAKER_04And that's like Martin Luther's testimony as well, right? That he came across the scripture, the just shall live by faith. Right. And it was just like that was it. What?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So Bible B B I B L E B E E.org. Yeah.
SPEAKER_10Bible. Yeah, B-E-E. Bible B.org.
SPEAKER_05So many Christians, when I ask you to read the word daily, they say I get a verse each day. And that's like being happy with after dinner mints. Living.
SPEAKER_10That's your whole meal.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, come on, there's a whole meal you can have.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. So, so yeah, and then meditation, uh, that that's chewing the cud, like you're talking about earlier, Oscar. That's the whole concept of Psalm 1. It's your you're you know, you're bringing it back up, you're mulling it over. Be a power for God. Yeah. And look, and the thing is, is you can tell
the pastors that meditate on the word when they preach.
SPEAKER_05Comes out.
SPEAKER_10Like this isn't this isn't just like they put a message together, like this has soaked deep into their soul. Like when I hear guys like Paul Washer preach, when I hear guys like Piper preach, MacArthur preach, like you know they're soaked in the word. And and so so it comes out in that way. And we need to do that. We need to take time to sit and soak scripture in and and grow from it that way. Yeah, I'm gonna do that.
SPEAKER_05I mentioned many times before, but I'll say it again because of what we're talking about. I've got this wooden arm on our bed at home. And it's screwed in, and the arm comes down when I pull it down, it's about three feet long, and it's got velcro on it, and an iPod from the last century with scripture scrolling through it. So every night I soak my soul in the word of God. If I wake up, I don't lie there awake thinking I can't sleep. I just read read God's word and soak my soul in it. It's a wonderful thing to do, so you're never worried about insomnia because it puts me to sleep after about 20 minutes. Yeah. And go to sleep meditating on God's word.
SPEAKER_10That's wonderful. I I love it. And um, and guys, what are some of the the ways you you memorize scriptures when you do? Like what do you do? Uh are there any steps that could help encourage people?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you memorize it.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, just memorize it on a kid.
SPEAKER_04Repetition. Yeah. You know, just over and over and over again. I've I so absolute Syria Greece.
SPEAKER_10Mark, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04You know, there's a neat uh, you know, app, my Bible app, that you're able to pinpoint certain scriptures and then put that on repeat so you could have the same scripture um being repeated over and over and over again. So I could be driving and it could have just verse five of a chapter just over and over and over again. And before you know it, it just kind of comes out, right? I remember I was visiting a woman named Margaret and she was in some sort of hospice care, and I'd visit her on Tuesday nights. And when I went in there to visit her, she she she was not responsive at all. She couldn't carry on a conversation, she couldn't do anything. But the orderlies would dress her up, knowing that I was coming on Tuesday nights. And so I'd go inside there and I'd try to talk to her, I tried to witness to her, nothing, nothing really stuck. But then I started reading scripture, and as I was reading scripture, she started to finish the scripture. Wow. And the orderlies had never heard her speak ever before. Wow. So I'm now sharing scripture, and she was finishing the text that I was reading that I didn't have memorized, but it was stored up inside of her. And it reminds me of Cory Tinboom, right, who survived the Nazi concentration camp. She said, I had not memorized scripture for prison, but for life. Yet it was in prison that it became life. Right? So when Bibles were confiscated, her memory became a library. Yeah. Right. And that's what hardship, that's what difficulties, that's when good times. We are preparing and prepping for that moment, that time, because you never know what's going to end up happening. Ray, how many cups
of coffee have you had?
SPEAKER_05I just want to say if I'm ever thrown in prison, I want easy to be in the same cell because I have a Bible. I want numbers.
SPEAKER_03Would it be worth the singing though? No.
SPEAKER_05I could sing scripture to put me so you know, um, if you want to memorize, you're talking about that you can open your phone and just speak scripture into your camera. Just record it, and it'll automatically loop. It'll just keep repeating that go on and on for eternity as long as your battery. I mean, as long as your battery lasts.
SPEAKER_10Well, you know, Ray, on that note, I do want to say we talked about how abundance and a lot of times because of technology just kind of makes us sort of ignore scripture. But on the flip side, what a blessing. Like, I mean, you're think of what you're saying right now. Explain that to a saint back in the 1600s. Oh, you play the Bible on loop. They're looking at you like, what are you talking about? But we have that. Like you can listen to scripture. You can, I mean, there's so many different tools that we have that can help us. The scripture memory app is one of my absolute favorite favorite set I use. What's that? It's an amp salute favorite. Yeah. Uh the Bible memory app. I forgot its name. I call it the scripture memory app.
SPEAKER_08You should be called the scripture typer.
SPEAKER_10Ironic. With the Bible memory app, it is so good. I've memorized books with it, you know, because you you're able to break up the scriptures and you type in the first letter of every word. And if you get it wrong, it buzzes for you and it highlights it red.
SPEAKER_04It should shock you, is what it should do.
SPEAKER_10I know. And then you can also uh record your voice in it and then it plays it back to you. And so it's great. Um, there are other tools out there. Um, Meditation and Communion with God by John Owen. Check that book out. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald uh Whitney. You can get that through Nav Press. So there's a lot of, you know, the navigators have so many great resources. They're big on scripture memory. And so, friends, avail yourself of these things and understand that listen, if it's God's word, like I said earlier, then treat it like it's God's word. Uh be passionate about it and do it with, you know, do it with some friends in terms of memorization, like challenge each other and and quiz each other. There are so many things that you can do in that regard, but ways to invest our time in God's word and how does 2 Peter chapter 2 start off? 2 Peter chapter putting me on the on the spot. Um 2 Peter chapter 2.
SPEAKER_05In the beginning, God created.
SPEAKER_10Oh yeah, 2 Peter chapter 2 begins. Um, but there are there were also false prophets among the people, just as there are also false teachers among you. Yeah, so you know, but yeah, but it's like, you know, when you hide it in there, man, like you know, one of the things I do sometimes I'll be going to sleep and I'll meditate on scripture. And what I do is I see scripture like a landscape, and I envision myself hovering over the word, like it's a it's a territory, and and I see different features of the land, and they remind me of the verses and But it's awesome to fall asleep.
SPEAKER_05So that's a way to hook in memory.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, that can do that too. But but I feel like because after you've recited certain books for so long, they become like a map to you. It's it's strange. It's hard to, it's hard to describe. Because what I do is I break it up. So it's like Ephesians 1, 1 through 2, 3 through 14, 15 to 23, chapter 2, 1 through 10, 11 to 13, 14 to 18. So they're chunks. Because I when I first started, I was doing every verse with its reference. I started with the Gospel of John. And then I'm like, no, no, no. I gotta. So then I started small. I started with the small books. I did 2 John, 3rd John, Jude, Philemon. Then I went to, you know, bigger books, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. And then I like you add those together, and that's close to like I'm now at about 30 chapters total when you add them all together. So I was like, wow, I could do Matthew, 28, you know, Acts, 28 chapters, which one day I hope to get to, you know. But Third John, how does it start off? Lady and her children whom I love in truth. Oh no, it's third John. Oh, um, oh, I was reciting it this morning. Um, third John, um, the elder to the beloved You're supposed to be looking to the elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth. Yeah, it's easy.
SPEAKER_05You should look to the right. You will look at it.
SPEAKER_10You know, do I look the wrong way? You should look at the way that's the way that's the moon straight up.
SPEAKER_03The elder to the beloved Gaius. We we dare not talk about the word of God if we don't talk about who the word of God is. Uh and you know, first our John, yeah, John chapter one, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Why do we memorize scripture? Um, it was Jesus who gave himself for us, and so why should we not give ourselves to the scriptures? And that's the thing, is like that, you know. I was just I was just preaching this last Sunday, and something I mentioned is that there are so many people in the church that know about God, but they don't yet know God. They have not yet come face to face with God. And memorizing scripture is exactly that. Like, you guys know my wife. You know, she rides horses, you know that she's married to a crazy Mexican, you know that she has three kids. But I know my wife. I know what brings her joy, I know what brings her fear, I know how to make her laugh. I know her because I've come
face to face with her for 14 years. So, what we're talking about when we say memorize scripture and meditate on scripture, what we're pleading with you is come face to face with your Lord and Savior to know God. As one author said, coming face to face with God is to see God seeing you in love. Amen.
SPEAKER_10Amen. And as the old saying goes, you know, every new thing learned about God is a new reason for loving him. And how do we know about God? His divine revelation, he's given us his word. When you ask someone, you know, you talk to unbelievers, oh gee, you know, Jesus did this, that, the other. And then they and then at the same time, in the same breath, they're discounting his word. And my question is to them, how do you know that Jesus said that? Where do you get that from? And they all inevitably have to come back to the word. So, friends, we we hope you've been encouraged. You have the living word of God at your fingertips. Don't squander it. As D.L. Moody said, the Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible. And remember, it's not just memorization, it's also meditation. And uh, I love this final quote by Thomas Watson. He said, The reason we come away so cold from reading the word is because we do not warm ourselves at the fire of meditation. So you can memorize, but you've got to meditate, sit, soak it in, think on it, dwell on it, mull it over. And then ultimately, don't be merely a hearer of the word, as James tells us, but a doer. So let's do it, friends. There you have it. And don't forget the evidence study Bible that'll help you memorize and meditate. Guys, podcast at livingwaters.com. We want to hear from you. Encourage us, tell us you love us.
SPEAKER_09Don't forget it's all at LivingWaters.com. Thank you for joining us, friends. We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters. Ooh, is that coffee deep voice rate? Where we have no idea what we're doing.