It's Time for a Review…
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; Deuteronomy 4:9
IT’S TIME FOR ME TO REVIEW ALL MY BIBLE VERSES, Genesis-Revelation, and to select a few new verses to add to them. I haven’t done this in a while and I’m ashamed of myself. There are at least 100 verses on prayer that I need to focus on this year. I’m 85 but I still need to review and learn. I hope you will join me in reviewing all the verses you know and add a few new verses. Have you ever done this? Please do it.
YOU PROBABLY KNOW MORE VERSES THAN YOU THINK. At least, you know significant phrases from verses. If you know some Bible phrases, look them up and copy the complete verse. I urge you to compile all the verses you know (use paper, half-3x5 cards, or computer). It may take you several months. As I said, above, include the verses that you only know in part. Look them up and finish writing the verse.
YOU WILL DO BETTER ON HALF-3x5 CARDS with lines on one side (opinion). Staples Office Supply (or similar store) will sell you the cards and cut them in half for you at a reasonable price. If you don’t have an office supply in your town, cut a template: 3 ½ x 2 ½ from a cereal box and lay it on top of a 3x5 card and cut with scissors, one at a time. Depending on the scissors you’re are using, you may need to trim the 2 ½” template down slightly to make room for the bevel on the scissors when you are cutting the cards. You may not need to trim it.
IF ALL OF THIS IS TOO MUCH, LET ME KNOW and I’ll cut some for you. I have a commercial paper cutter that will cut it right. I would need to cut them a pack at a time (100 3x5 cards). Suggested colors: bright/neon green, bright/neon pink, canary yellow, white.
I USE THE BRIGHT-GREEN (NEON) COLOR.The colored cards are easier to find if I lay them down somewhere in the house. Pink? Canary yellow? White? Use a color you like. You can also get cards at Amazon.com. Go to the link below and scroll down. Amazon’s Choice or Oxford, 100 or 1,000 cards.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=3x5+index+card&crid=2PPL4EXU9KPBH&sprefix=3x5%2Cprime-instant-video%2C158&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_3
AVOID BLUE BECAUSE THE COLOR CONTRAST between card and ink is weaker and a little harder to read. Use medium black ball-point pen or Sharpie extra-fine point.
LATER, I MAY TYPE THE CARDS ON WHITE Half-3x5 CARDS. I still have the typewriter I started typing on when I was five (1935 Royal). It’s fun and is good finger exercise.
NONE OF THE ABOVE VERSES WERE EVER READ IN MY HOME or in any of the several churches I attended. I was almost 20 years old before I “stumbled” over the verses that commends us and commands us to take in the Word of God. I found them as I read through the Old Testament.
I RECKON NOBODY, INCLUDING MY SEVERAL PASTOR/PREACHERS, had ever gotten this far in their Bible reading. Or, maybe some read the verses and thought everyone else knew about them. We didn’t! I didn’t! I had never heard or read these verses. You’ve caught me. I was not a Bible reader. If I had been reading my Bible through, I would have found these verses sooner. You think?
PREACHERS AND BIBLE READERS TEND TO FOCUS on the New Testament and avoid the Old Testament altogether. BIG MISTAKE! “The New Testament is in the Old contained; and the Old Testament is in the New, explained.”
FINDING THESE OLD TESTAMENT VERSES SHOOK ME UP! “But, that’s in the OLD TESTAMENT!” Uh huh. But Colossians 3:1i6, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:10, Ephesians 6:17, 1Peter 2:1,2, 2Timothy 3:15, 2Timothy 2:15, 2Peter 3:15, Romans 15:4, are in the New Testament and they are ignored as well as the Old Testament. Few preachers use these verses. That puzzles me. I’ve wondered if it’s because they do not practice it themselves.
PAUL FERGUSON TOLD ME that when he was corresponding with Dr. John R. Rice about Paul’s preparation for preaching, Dr. Rice said: “Be sure and memorize a lot of Scripture. Preachers tend to be lazy about memorizing Scripture and that makes their preaching weak.”
SO, PAUL FERGUSON TOOK IT TO HEART AND BEGAN MEMORIZING Scripture. Over time, he memorized over 8,000 verses. His sermons were mostly Scripture, fastened together with an outline. He had been beat up so many times on his head in the boxing ring that he couldn’t memorize. One night he was on his knees in a dark room, praying for God to help him with memorizing. After a while, a light shone from the ceiling (there was no light there) and God spoke to him in his spirit: “There now, I have fixed you so you can memorize.” From that day forward, he could memorize normally.
DR.LEE ROBERSON, WHO WROTE THE FOREWORD TO THE BOOK: “Paul Ferguson the Fighter” did not have a problem with Paul’s claim. There are 31,173 verses and 1,189 chapters in the King James Bible. PaulFerguson memorized a fourth of the Bible. Jack Van Impe (who died recently at 88) memorized 11,000.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND (1940-45 and 1951-55) is famous for saying: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth. But most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as though nothing had happened.”
IN BIBLE COLLEGE THEY TOLD US TO BUY A PACK OF 3X5 CARDS and cut them in half and write our verses on the cards and put a rubber band around them. Ok. Got it! Cards, rubber band, write the verses, go over the verses, say them out loud, say them to anybody who will listen to you. I still didn’t have the big picture of what learning was all about. We studied to pass the upcoming tests: weekly, six weeks, semester. But with the Word of God, you want to keep it for life.
IT FINALLY DAWNED ON ME THAT IT TAKES 60 DAYS of daily review to learn a Bible verse. And then, you review it monthly for a year. And then you review it every year for the rest of your life. Reviewing enables you to spot the weak verses and throw them back into daily review for a while. I DID NOT learn that in college. I learned it from another teaching group, the NAVIGATORS.
IN SCHOOL, I BECAME AWARE OF A GROUP OF NAVY VETERANS on campus who had gone through the NAVIGATORS TOPICAL MEMORY COURSE in California or in a war zone. I began asking them questions and they invited me to their next meeting, and I joined them. Through the NAVIGATORS, I began a diligent study of 108 verses printed on little cards in a carrying case. We met for an hour, once a month on Thursday. There were 36 topics and three verses on each topic. From them, I learned: HOW TO LEARN AND RETAIN WHAT I HAD LEARNED. Here is their website:
https://www.navigators.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_Le6ud_h5wIVBJSzCh3EfwyvEAAYASAAEgJwj_D_BwE
Inside, scroll down to the dark section that contains a white circle with a triangle inside it. Click on the circle and watch the short video.
TRUTH IS, FOR $2.00, (STUDENT RATE IN 1953) I had learned how to turn short-term learning into life-time learning. I will be coming back to this encounter many times as we study God’s method of learning His Word. Other good writers are: Oscar Lowry, Norm Lewis, Ron Hood, Lorne Sanny. Jack Van Impe memorized 11,000 verses. I led singing for him in a meeting. But, as far as I know, he did not write anything on memorizing. I picked his brain for a week and learned some good things to add to what others have practiced. More on him at a later time.
FOLLOWING THIS AMAZING ENCOUNTER WITH “How to do It,” I continued to search for and read every book, booklet, and pamphlet I could find. After 40+ years of searching, reading and experimenting, I concluded that I had found the best there is. The NAVIGATORS is the best entry level of memorizing and studying the Word of God. I urge you to search out their website (link above).
THIS ARTICLE IS A ROUGH SUMMARY of the best I learned in 40 years of searching. There remains the IRA thing that I will explore in a following article.
DAWSON TROTMAN, WHO FOUNDED THE NAVIGATORS, came to Tennessee Temple to speak in chapel. It so happened that I was scheduled to sing in chapel that day. Dawson Trotman died in a boating accident at a Bible camp. He was trying to rescue a camper who had fallen overboard into the lake.
•THESE WORDS: Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, (1Peter 2:1)
•COME BEFORE: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1Peter 2:2)
Read Through the Bible in a Year
FEBRUARY 21, 2020 - FRIDAY
A.M. Numbers 5-6 P.M. Mark 4:1-20
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Good Verses to Memorize:
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Song for Today:
Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart
The Claremont Kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UuMu1tzzN4&list=RD8UuMu1tzzN4&start_radio=1
You may have to adjust the volume and/or delete an ad.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; Deuteronomy 4:9
IT’S TIME FOR ME TO REVIEW ALL MY BIBLE VERSES, Genesis-Revelation, and to select a few new verses to add to them. I haven’t done this in a while and I’m ashamed of myself. There are at least 100 verses on prayer that I need to focus on this year. I’m 85 but I still need to review and learn. I hope you will join me in reviewing all the verses you know and add a few new verses. Have you ever done this? Please do it.
YOU PROBABLY KNOW MORE VERSES THAN YOU THINK. At least, you know significant phrases from verses. If you know some Bible phrases, look them up and copy the complete verse. I urge you to compile all the verses you know (use paper, half-3x5 cards, or computer). It may take you several months. As I said, above, include the verses that you only know in part. Look them up and finish writing the verse.
YOU WILL DO BETTER ON HALF-3x5 CARDS with lines on one side (opinion). Staples Office Supply (or similar store) will sell you the cards and cut them in half for you at a reasonable price. If you don’t have an office supply in your town, cut a template: 3 ½ x 2 ½ from a cereal box and lay it on top of a 3x5 card and cut with scissors, one at a time. Depending on the scissors you’re are using, you may need to trim the 2 ½” template down slightly to make room for the bevel on the scissors when you are cutting the cards. You may not need to trim it.
IF ALL OF THIS IS TOO MUCH, LET ME KNOW and I’ll cut some for you. I have a commercial paper cutter that will cut it right. I would need to cut them a pack at a time (100 3x5 cards). Suggested colors: bright/neon green, bright/neon pink, canary yellow, white.
I USE THE BRIGHT-GREEN (NEON) COLOR.The colored cards are easier to find if I lay them down somewhere in the house. Pink? Canary yellow? White? Use a color you like. You can also get cards at Amazon.com. Go to the link below and scroll down. Amazon’s Choice or Oxford, 100 or 1,000 cards.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=3x5+index+card&crid=2PPL4EXU9KPBH&sprefix=3x5%2Cprime-instant-video%2C158&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_3
AVOID BLUE BECAUSE THE COLOR CONTRAST between card and ink is weaker and a little harder to read. Use medium black ball-point pen or Sharpie extra-fine point.
LATER, I MAY TYPE THE CARDS ON WHITE Half-3x5 CARDS. I still have the typewriter I started typing on when I was five (1935 Royal). It’s fun and is good finger exercise.
NONE OF THE ABOVE VERSES WERE EVER READ IN MY HOME or in any of the several churches I attended. I was almost 20 years old before I “stumbled” over the verses that commends us and commands us to take in the Word of God. I found them as I read through the Old Testament.
I RECKON NOBODY, INCLUDING MY SEVERAL PASTOR/PREACHERS, had ever gotten this far in their Bible reading. Or, maybe some read the verses and thought everyone else knew about them. We didn’t! I didn’t! I had never heard or read these verses. You’ve caught me. I was not a Bible reader. If I had been reading my Bible through, I would have found these verses sooner. You think?
PREACHERS AND BIBLE READERS TEND TO FOCUS on the New Testament and avoid the Old Testament altogether. BIG MISTAKE! “The New Testament is in the Old contained; and the Old Testament is in the New, explained.”
FINDING THESE OLD TESTAMENT VERSES SHOOK ME UP! “But, that’s in the OLD TESTAMENT!” Uh huh. But Colossians 3:1i6, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 4:10, Ephesians 6:17, 1Peter 2:1,2, 2Timothy 3:15, 2Timothy 2:15, 2Peter 3:15, Romans 15:4, are in the New Testament and they are ignored as well as the Old Testament. Few preachers use these verses. That puzzles me. I’ve wondered if it’s because they do not practice it themselves.
PAUL FERGUSON TOLD ME that when he was corresponding with Dr. John R. Rice about Paul’s preparation for preaching, Dr. Rice said: “Be sure and memorize a lot of Scripture. Preachers tend to be lazy about memorizing Scripture and that makes their preaching weak.”
SO, PAUL FERGUSON TOOK IT TO HEART AND BEGAN MEMORIZING Scripture. Over time, he memorized over 8,000 verses. His sermons were mostly Scripture, fastened together with an outline. He had been beat up so many times on his head in the boxing ring that he couldn’t memorize. One night he was on his knees in a dark room, praying for God to help him with memorizing. After a while, a light shone from the ceiling (there was no light there) and God spoke to him in his spirit: “There now, I have fixed you so you can memorize.” From that day forward, he could memorize normally.
DR.LEE ROBERSON, WHO WROTE THE FOREWORD TO THE BOOK: “Paul Ferguson the Fighter” did not have a problem with Paul’s claim. There are 31,173 verses and 1,189 chapters in the King James Bible. PaulFerguson memorized a fourth of the Bible. Jack Van Impe (who died recently at 88) memorized 11,000.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL, PRIME MINISTER OF ENGLAND (1940-45 and 1951-55) is famous for saying: “Men occasionally stumble over the truth. But most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as though nothing had happened.”
IN BIBLE COLLEGE THEY TOLD US TO BUY A PACK OF 3X5 CARDS and cut them in half and write our verses on the cards and put a rubber band around them. Ok. Got it! Cards, rubber band, write the verses, go over the verses, say them out loud, say them to anybody who will listen to you. I still didn’t have the big picture of what learning was all about. We studied to pass the upcoming tests: weekly, six weeks, semester. But with the Word of God, you want to keep it for life.
IT FINALLY DAWNED ON ME THAT IT TAKES 60 DAYS of daily review to learn a Bible verse. And then, you review it monthly for a year. And then you review it every year for the rest of your life. Reviewing enables you to spot the weak verses and throw them back into daily review for a while. I DID NOT learn that in college. I learned it from another teaching group, the NAVIGATORS.
IN SCHOOL, I BECAME AWARE OF A GROUP OF NAVY VETERANS on campus who had gone through the NAVIGATORS TOPICAL MEMORY COURSE in California or in a war zone. I began asking them questions and they invited me to their next meeting, and I joined them. Through the NAVIGATORS, I began a diligent study of 108 verses printed on little cards in a carrying case. We met for an hour, once a month on Thursday. There were 36 topics and three verses on each topic. From them, I learned: HOW TO LEARN AND RETAIN WHAT I HAD LEARNED. Here is their website:
https://www.navigators.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_Le6ud_h5wIVBJSzCh3EfwyvEAAYASAAEgJwj_D_BwE
Inside, scroll down to the dark section that contains a white circle with a triangle inside it. Click on the circle and watch the short video.
TRUTH IS, FOR $2.00, (STUDENT RATE IN 1953) I had learned how to turn short-term learning into life-time learning. I will be coming back to this encounter many times as we study God’s method of learning His Word. Other good writers are: Oscar Lowry, Norm Lewis, Ron Hood, Lorne Sanny. Jack Van Impe memorized 11,000 verses. I led singing for him in a meeting. But, as far as I know, he did not write anything on memorizing. I picked his brain for a week and learned some good things to add to what others have practiced. More on him at a later time.
FOLLOWING THIS AMAZING ENCOUNTER WITH “How to do It,” I continued to search for and read every book, booklet, and pamphlet I could find. After 40+ years of searching, reading and experimenting, I concluded that I had found the best there is. The NAVIGATORS is the best entry level of memorizing and studying the Word of God. I urge you to search out their website (link above).
THIS ARTICLE IS A ROUGH SUMMARY of the best I learned in 40 years of searching. There remains the IRA thing that I will explore in a following article.
DAWSON TROTMAN, WHO FOUNDED THE NAVIGATORS, came to Tennessee Temple to speak in chapel. It so happened that I was scheduled to sing in chapel that day. Dawson Trotman died in a boating accident at a Bible camp. He was trying to rescue a camper who had fallen overboard into the lake.
•THESE WORDS: Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, (1Peter 2:1)
•COME BEFORE: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: (1Peter 2:2)
Read Through the Bible in a Year
FEBRUARY 21, 2020 - FRIDAY
A.M. Numbers 5-6 P.M. Mark 4:1-20
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)
Good Verses to Memorize:
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:6-7
Song for Today:
Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart
The Claremont Kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UuMu1tzzN4&list=RD8UuMu1tzzN4&start_radio=1
You may have to adjust the volume and/or delete an ad.
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