Bible Memory as Ministry to Others
00:00:00.000 | Pastor John, it seems you have traditionally placed the emphasis on
00:00:07.680 | Bible memorization for the personal benefits derived from the discipline. Is
00:00:11.600 | there a community dimension to Scripture memory as well? Tony, usually when I
00:00:17.880 | try to defend memorizing Scripture, I'll go right to the soul work that it does
00:00:22.120 | in my heart. I love to memorize Scripture because something happens to my soul. I
00:00:27.800 | feel like I know God better. I have a more intimate relationship with Him. His
00:00:32.600 | fellowship is more steadfast as I take it with me through the day, but that
00:00:36.680 | that's not what I want to say this time in answering this question because
00:00:40.880 | something that happened last night, just to remind me of something that's happened
00:00:44.480 | many times, I want to encourage people to memorize Scripture, say two or three
00:00:50.040 | verses or a chapter, some precious unit, and then be on the lookout for what I
00:00:55.880 | would call immeasurable moments. Moments where the insertion of that text from
00:01:03.640 | your heart, eyeball to eyeball, without having to open a book and read it, coming
00:01:08.080 | from your soul, would make that moment explode with significance. So for example,
00:01:16.400 | we had over last night a missionary family who's going to be leaving
00:01:22.400 | actually tomorrow to go back to Southeast Asia, and we just wanted to
00:01:27.760 | one, save them having to make a meal, and the other is just to bless
00:01:33.680 | them as they go. And as we stood in the kitchen before we got our taco salad, we
00:01:38.440 | held hands, and they thought I was just gonna pray, and I said, "Let me give you a
00:01:43.360 | word from the Lord that I think is for you." And then I recited Psalm 121. I lift
00:01:49.880 | up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord
00:01:53.360 | who made heaven and earth. He who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will
00:01:57.040 | not slumber or sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade upon your
00:02:01.600 | right hand. He won't let your foot be moved. He's your helper. He's your keeper.
00:02:07.800 | He will keep your going out, and he will keep your coming in from this time,
00:02:13.120 | forth, and forever. I got it right last night. But you can see the relevance of
00:02:16.920 | that. For you're going out, and you're coming in. He's gonna keep you. And they
00:02:23.320 | were looking right at me, I think, with some surprise as I gave it to them. And
00:02:28.000 | my prayer is now, with that immeasurable moment, they'll look back and
00:02:33.040 | remember, Pastor John didn't just pray with us before the meal. He sent us off
00:02:39.000 | by reminding us God's gonna keep us on the airplane, keep us in the airport, keep
00:02:43.880 | us on the ground in Southeast Asia. He's gonna keep us when we go. He's gonna keep
00:02:47.440 | us when we come. And so my plea for folks is that they would take a few
00:02:54.320 | Psalms, Psalm 46, Psalm 16, Psalm 130, Psalm 121. For me, Psalm 130, "If you, O Lord,
00:03:07.360 | should mark iniquities, who could stand? Could not." How many times have I knelt
00:03:12.160 | down, put my arm on somebody who's just been broken for some sin that they've
00:03:16.800 | committed, and I've been able to just pray, "Lord, if you would mark
00:03:21.840 | iniquities, who could stand?" So I'm not elevating myself above this person. With
00:03:26.000 | the very Word of God, there's forgiveness with you that you may be feared. And how
00:03:31.240 | many times when I've been asked to pray in public, in some setting, my
00:03:35.760 | default prayer, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And on earth there's nothing that I
00:03:39.720 | desire besides you." So my point is this. There are situations in life that just
00:03:48.960 | cry out for a word from God from your soul. Not just, "Let me get my Bible out
00:03:55.320 | and read you a text," but rather give it from the soul. And I would just encourage
00:03:58.400 | folks, if they would memorize a half a dozen special passages of Scripture
00:04:04.840 | that fit a bunch of situations, and then look for those immeasurable moments, they
00:04:10.560 | would become an emissary of grace beyond all their expectations.
00:04:14.560 | Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast. Please email
00:04:18.480 | your questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. At
00:04:21.840 | desiringgod.org you will find thousands of free books, articles, sermons, and
00:04:26.080 | other resources from John Piper. I'm your host Tony Reinke, thanks for listening.
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