RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Making Disciples – 6
Sammy Tippit: We’ve been talking about taking the Word of God into your life because Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Corey, we talked about how there are three ways… Read the Word, hear the Word, and meditate on the Word. Now I want us to go a little deeper. These last two things I want to mention are perhaps where most people struggle.
4. Memorize the Word of God. The psalmist said, “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” When I look at the temptation of Jesus… In every case, Jesus quoted the Scripture, so obviously he had memorized the Scripture. He had taken it in. How important do you find memorization of the Scripture? Is this just some kind of religious deal? What role does memorizing the Scripture play for you?
Corey Webb: Well, Sammy, it plays a huge role in my life because what I’ve found is that it gets me out of trouble. When I memorize the Word of God, it helps me realize there is a difference between the truth of God and the lies of the enemy. Right in the very beginning, in Genesis, when Satan realized Eve was confused about what God had said, he went for it.
He went right in, and she bought right in. Adam did the same right away.
When we memorize the truth of God, it reminds us of the truth. It reminds me of the truth. It helps me see, “Wait a minute. That Devil is lying to me.” In Philippians 1:6, Paul says, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…” There are times when I just feel like, “Man, I’m just blowing it all the time. Man, there’s nothing good about me. Oh, wait! The truth! ‘Be confident of this. He who began a good work in me…’ Jesus is going to carry it on!”
Sammy: Yeah. You know, when I was a young Christian, no one taught me this. There were just a couple of other guys and me. We started meeting for a time of prayer and reading the Word, and we started, early on in my Christian life, memorizing the Scripture. I didn’t realize how helpful that would be down the road. That was in the mid-1960s, when I came to Christ.
In the 1970s, I started going into communist countries. I’ll never forget pulling up to the border in Romania. As we came to the border, the guards came out. They took our suitcases out. They searched our suitcases, and they confiscated our Bibles. Now we were going in to minister, to preach, so what were we going to do? We didn’t have any Bibles.
That was the one thing the communists were angry about and wanted to keep out of the country. It was the Scripture. So what happened was I had all of those Scripture verses I had memorized for many years in my heart, so I could stand and preach the Word of God. God just used that. What I found was that in those countries, the Bible and Scripture memorization were so important.  Some of the guys I worked with (who were young disciples) had memorized entire books of the Bible. I was blown away by it. We had a youth singing group who traveled with us, and to be in the singing group, they had to memorize the book of James, the book of 1 Peter, and the book of 1 John.
Corey: Wow.
Sammy: Part of their musical presentation was to sing, and they were great singers, but then they’d quote a chapter of Scripture. Boy, when they would quote the Word, God would just fall. So memorizing Scripture is really important. Then there’s a 5th thing.
5. Study the Word of God. Now what is the difference between studying the Bible and doing everything else I’ve talked about? I’ve talked about reading the Word. What is the difference between reading the Word and studying the Word? Explain that to me.
Corey: Well, when you read the Word, you can look at that as a devotional piece. You’re looking at something at that moment that may give you an encouraging word at that time. But when you study the Word, you’re actually looking at the text that was written, and then you’re thinking through who that message was for when it was written. Then you’re looking at the meaning of that message, and then you’re also looking at how that message is applicable to our lives today.
Sammy: Yeah. One of the things Satan did when Jesus quoted the Scripture was come back and quote the Scripture too but out of its proper context. He twisted it. So it’s important that we have a balanced understanding of the Scripture.
Corey: Absolutely.
Sammy: Because Satan will twist the Bible. I mean, I’ve seen the Bible to do terrible things. That’s not what we’re talking about. When you read it in its context, the proper context… That’s the difference we’re talking about between studying the Word and reading it. There are several types of studies. One of my favorite types of studies to do is a character study.
Corey: Okay.
Sammy: One of the best studies I’ve ever done was on the life of Moses. It changed my life. Have you ever done a character study or taken a person in the Bible and just kind of researched all the Bible says about them?
Corey: Yes.
Sammy: Tell me about how you do that.
Corey: Well, Jeremiah was one who God really used a lot in my life years ago. When I studied Jeremiah, when I studied who he was, I realized right away that Jeremiah was a teenager when God called him. When you read in Jeremiah, chapter 1, you see that God says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…”
Sammy: Jeremiah said, “But I’m just a young person!”
Corey: Yes. Yes. God said, “No, wait. Don’t say that.” God took Jeremiah… When you study his character traits and realize Jeremiah was known as the Weeping Prophet, you see Jeremiah had a very soft and kind heart, yet God called him and set him apart for a mission to take a very bold message to the people of the Southern Kingdom who had rebelled against God.
As you study the character of who Jeremiah was, you see his ability to not give up and to push through (although he struggled at times). When you read Jeremiah, you realize he never convinced one person to turn from darkness to light, yet he never gave up. He fulfilled exactly what it was God wanted him to do.
Sammy: So what you were looking for was, “Okay, how did Jeremiah deal with this tough ministry he had?”
Corey: Right.
Sammy: When you did a study on him, you kind of gleaned things from his life.
Corey: Yes.
Sammy: So when you’re studying a book of the Bible, you’re reading all of the context and seeing where the flow is going. That’s a book study. There’s a character study where you take a person… I took Moses, and I looked everywhere in the Bible (both the New Testament and Old Testament) that talked about Moses. I kind of gleaned all of the things about Moses from that.
Then there may be a word study where you say, “Okay, what does this word mean?” Pray, for instance. “What does it mean in the Old Testament? What does it mean in the New Testament?” Take that. “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed…” Paul wrote.
So we need to study the Word of God. After those five things, there’s one last thing I think we probably ought to say. We need to apply the Word of God. I’ve seen people take the Word of God in and become proud. God doesn’t bless that. We have to keep coming back to where we began.
Corey: That’s right!
Sammy: There’s this humility. It’s not studying so you get puffed up and say, “Man, look at me. Look what I know about the Word,” but it’s to say, “I want to learn more about Jesus.” We have to keep that in the forefront of our minds. Is that right
Corey: Absolutely. That’s where James says, “Don’t just be a hearer of the Word, but be a doer of the Word of God.” As most people today study the Word of God, they’re not saying, “I need to learn something else.” It’s, “I need to start doing what I already know I’m supposed to be doing.”
Sammy: Yep. Let me give an illustration. My fingers represent the way we take the Word in. Hear the Word, read the Word, meditate on the Word, memorize the Word, and study the Word. Then we get a good grip on the Word. But the palm of the hand is the application. I’m going to take it, and I’m going to apply it. Now I really have a good grip on the Word. So if you want to have a good grip on the Word, do those five things and apply them to your life, and you will grow into the image of Jesus Christ.