I just can't memorize scripture... so I stopped trying

I don't know if our brains get slower or if they get fuller, but the older I get the harder and harder it is to memorize Scripture. I realized this to be true recently by observing my children and their ability to memorize Scripture.  Every week Laurie prints off a new verse and puts it on the fridge. The boys read it before meals and see it when they get a snack.  By about day three they have it memorized. It is amazing and wonderful! And they aren't short verses, either. They are usually multiple verses.  And my boys memorize them, word for word--even the twins, and they can't even read, yet! 

Scripture memory is important:

Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified” (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).

Scripture memory is beneficial toward

• Living Like Jesus
• Daily Choosing Obedience over Sin
• Giving Comfort and Counsel for People You Love
• Communicating the Gospel to Others
• Understanding and Enjoying God 

Scripture memory is hard 

My mind wanders. I get words mixed up. Good luck if I can ever remember the chapter and verse numbers. Many verses sound like other verses, so I get them confused in my mind...  so I stopped trying.

There's this weird phenomenon where the things we want to memorize, we can't, but the things we don't try to memorize we can.  

I stopped trying to memorize it. I stopped trying to be able to recite it perfectly. I stopped getting frustrated, and I started learning Scripture. I started absorbing Scripture. I started just reading the same passage over and over to become familiar with it. I read it over and over to squeeze every last drop of understanding out of it. I focused on understanding Scripture, letting go of the pressure to memorize it.  And guess what happened?  I began memorizing it.  I'm not sure if it is a trick that I'm playing on my brain, or if it is linked to what some people have called "test taking anxiety", but this seems to work.  I have also found that when I "memorize" this way, I tend to remember it longer (Sort of like the difference between learning and simply cramming for the test.)

If you have a system of memorizing Scripture that works for you, keep at it!  There is great benefit in it. Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

But for others who have become frustrated with trying to memorize Scripture, try this approach. Joshua 1:8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  

Scripture memory resources:
www.fighterverses.com
www.navpress.com/Topical-Memory-System

What’s in a name?

At 10:30 AM on Sunday, April 13, 2014 Solid Rock Baptist Church voted on the recommendation of the Pastor and Deacons to officially change their name to Solid Rock Community Church.  The vote was unanimous. I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you the reasons we decided to change our name.

To better reflect who we are

This decision to change the name of the church was NOT so we could do some things differently and somehow the term “Baptist” was holding us back. No. This decision was because Solid Rock is not like a “typical Baptist church” (if there is such a thing, I’ll get to that in a moment). Or at least it is not like what most people have in their minds and past experiences of Baptist churches.

Baptist is not a good identifier.

What does it mean to be a Baptist?  Baptists are not the only group that baptize by immersion. All Baptists do not hold to one common doctrine, in fact, there is quite a long list of difference in beliefs among Baptists (eternal security, gifts of the Holy Spirit, interpretation of Scripture, role of women, homosexuality, etc). [1] In researching this, I found that there are over 80 different Baptist groups in the United States, and some of them differ greatly in belief and practice. [2] For example there are Full Gospel Baptists, Fundamental Baptists, General Baptists, Regular Baptist, Free Will Baptists, Progressive Baptists, and the list goes on and on.   There is not a uniform, typical Baptist church. A person’s view of Baptist is largely left up to what they've experienced or heard. 

In today’s day and age, we don’t need a label to identify who or what we are

Even if “Baptist” was a good identifier, with the ease of access to information via our website, Facebook page, twitter, etc.  we don’t have to rely on people’s assumptions of who they think we are, they can go to our website find out for sure. Furthermore, “Community Church” is a non-descriptive title with little to no uniformed preconception. This will drive people to investigate who we are, not who they assume we are. 

Over half of Americans have a negative view of the Baptist faith  [3]

Let that sink in a moment… Over half of Americans have a negative view of the Baptist faith.

I don’t think that this is the fault of our doctrine.  The gospel is good news in the wake of bad news.  We stand guilty before God our Creator, yet in His love for us He entered our humanity as the person Jesus. He lived the life we could not live, died the death we deserved to die and offers us the gift (forgiveness and new life) that we could not earn. We can have a right standing before God our Creator because of what Jesus has done for us. 

I don’t think it is the message that more than half of Americans have a negative view of. The Gospel is Good News and at Solid Rock we will never stop declaring it. I think people have a negative view of their experiences with and in Baptist churches. Perhaps they experienced judgment, legalism, or unkindness at one Baptist church. If you have a bad experience at a national chain restaurant, because the food was awful. How likely are you to visit that same restaurant in a different location? Not likely, I would imagine. We know that not all Baptist churches are like Westboro Baptist Church, who protest at the funerals of soldiers, and cheer at tragic disasters, yet we carry the same label.  At Solid Rock we don’t want to be doing those things or be associated with it, whether real or perceived.

In all we, as a church, don’t exist to lift high the Baptist name, and not even the name Solid Rock. We want to lift high the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, whatever we call ourselves.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptists#Beliefs_that_vary_among_Baptists

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baptist_denominations#United_States

[3] Stetzer, Ed: "Planting Churches in a Post-Modern Age", page 235. Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2003.

Where's Number 10?

You may have noticed on the previous blog post that only 9 out of 10 were listed.  To be honest it was a mistake, a simple oversight.  But now that I look at what Thom Rainer lists as number 10, I think God may have had a purpose behind it...

In my previous post I listed 9 traits of church members that make a church inward focused. I praised God that Solid Rock does not resemble those nine traits. Then it was brought to my attention that I had forgotten number 10. So I quickly went to the book "I am a Church Member" by Thom Rainer and found the 10th.

Tenth Dominant Behavior Pattern of Church Members that Cause Inwardly Focused Churches

10. Evangelistic Apathy Very few members share the gospel on a regular basis. More are concerned about their own needs rather than the greatest eternal needs of the world and their community.

The reason I think God had a purpose in my oversight, in my forgetting to include this one, is because I think this is one that Solid Rock struggles with. 

I often joke that we cannot depend on our sign or the location of our building to attract visitors. Yet more than not people visit Solid Rock because they drive by.  Now, don't get me wrong I appreciate visitors who come in because of the sign, or people who are leaving their church and looking for a new one. But what about the people who don't know Jesus? What about the co-worker, classmate, neighbor who needs to hear from someone they know about the Good News?  

We spent the better part of 2013 saturating ourselves with the Gospel message in all of its implications. It's time! It's time to take that hope to the hurting. It's time to take the message of love to the lost. It's time to take the Gospel to people. We can't wait for them to come to us.

Dallas Gatlin, Executive Director of Carriage Town Ministries in Flint, said it well, "It's not enough to simply get ourselves to church on Sunday and cheer for Jesus, we must do more than that."

I hope that you will join with me in taking the Gospel beyond the walls of Solid Rock.

Ten Dominant Behavior Patterns of Church Members that Cause Inwardly Focused Churches

It saddens me that some churches (the body of Christ, Christ's ambassadors, God's called-out people) operate this way. At the same time I am so very grateful that our church does not. I am not writing this in a prideful sense neither of myself nor the people of Solid Rock, rather I praise God for his grace. I pray that by His grace we will continue to honor Him as His Church.

Ten Dominant Behavior Patterns of Church Members that Cause Inwardly Focused Churches

Taken from “I am a Church Member” by Thom Rainer

1. Worship Wars – One or more factions in the church want music just the way they like it. Any deviation is met with anger and demands for change. Certain instrumentation is required while others are prohibited.

2. Prolonged Minutia Meetings – the church spends an inordinate amount of time in different meetings. Most of the meetings deal with the most inconsequential items, while Great Commission and Great Commandment are rarely the topics of discussion.

3. Facility Focus – The church facilities develop iconic status. One of the highest priorities in the church is the protection and preservation of rooms, furniture, and other visible parts of the church’s building and grounds.

4. Program Driven – Every church has programs even if they don’t admit it. When we start doing a ministry a certain way, it takes on programmatic status. The problem is not with programs. The problem develops when they become an end instead of a means to a greater ministry.

5. Inwardly Focused Budget – A disproportionate share of the budget is used to meet the needs and comforts of the members instead of reaching beyond the walls of the church.

6. Inordinate Demands for Pastoral Care – All church members deserve care and concern, especially in times of need and crisis. Problems develop, however, when church members have unreasonable expectations for even minor matters. Some members expect the pastoral staff to visit them regularly simply because they have membership status.

7. Attitudes of Entitlement – This issue could be a catch-all for many of the points named here. The overarching attitude is one of demanding and having a sense of deserving special treatment.

8. Greater Concern over Change than the Gospel – Almost any noticeable changes in the church evoke the ire of many; but those same passions are not evident about participating in the work of the gospel to change lives.

9. Anger and Hostility – Members are consistently angry. They regularly express hostility toward the church staff and other members.

Creation/Evolution Debate Wrap Up

I watched the debate between Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis and Bill Nye the Science Guy. There has been much talk from both camps about how each debater did, what one should have said and another shouldn't have said.  I don't want to get into all that... I want to take a step back and consider from a wider angle why this debate was so unique and why perhaps it left so many people unsatisfied.

1.  THE DEBATERS

First let me admit that both of these men are smart and I respect them both for their contribution to their respective fields.  However, they are not experts.  Ken Ham is a missionary evangelist who uses the Genesis account of creation to tell people about Jesus.  That's why he came to America (that's what he did in this debate and regardless of any other performance, that was the highlight of this entire event!).   He has a bachelors degree in applied science and a teaching certificate.  Bill Nye is most known for his children's TV shows about science. He has a bachelors in mechanical engineering.  Neither have done many, if any formal debates. And both came into the debate with preconceived agendas. Nye's: The rejection of evolution is ruining America’s global competitiveness by weakening science education. Ham's: The Bible is completely true, period.  They both view their audience to be "young people".  Because of this they both lost sight of the topic of the debate, but I'll address that later.

2. THE AUDIENCE

I'm not talking about the audience at the Creation Museum packed with supporters for Ken Ham and 3 fans of Bill Nye. I'm talking about the viewing audience. To date the video has been viewed or partially viewed 830,293 times in 3 days. This is huge for a debate video. The uniqueness about this is that people who don't normally watch debates, were watching this one.  For example the debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox about the existence of God has around 500,000 views in 2 YEARS. (I would highly recommend watching this!)  My point is this, the expectations of the viewing audience was as varied as the topics that were covered.  Some think that point of a debate is to change the mind of the other side. Some think it is to point out the fallacies of the other side. Some think it is to prove your own position is true. And some just can't understand why we all just can't get along and stop arguing! 

3. THE TOPIC

The published topic of the debate was "Is creation a viable model of origins in today's modern scientific era?" Here's where things really got off the rails...  The "creation model" was not formally defined.  In the first five minutes of each presenter's speeches, they were talking about text books, different definitions of science, Noah's ark, C.S.I. (TV show), MRI machines, and bow ties.  They never landed on what they were debating.  The whole night they danced around from ice cores to kinds vs. species, and light-years to fossils.  I walked away with a lot of facts, evidences and arguments, but I didn't feel like they really addressed the question.

4. THE REAL ISSUE

The real issue isn't one of science, it is about foundation.  Both gave loads of evidence--compelling evidence, but both were still left with gaps--unanswered questions.  Herein lies the fundamental difference between their view points--the foundational issue:  How each one goes about investigating the unanswered questions. For the evolutionist there are some assumed truths: billions of years, natural processes, and no God (no supernatural). For the creationist there are some assumed truths: the Bible is true, and God is creator and sustainer of the universe.

For example when Bill Nye was asked what caused the "Big Bang", he said, "I don't know!"  Evolutionists are convinced of the process that it used (billions of years, natural process, and no supernatural involvement), but have no answer for the cause. Creationist are just the opposite.  Ask a creationist, "What caused the 'Big Bang'", and they will tell you confidently of the cause, GOD. But what they won't be able to explain the process (other than God spoke it).

Another example could be the age of the earth.  For the creationist the assumption is the conclusion: young earth. This will lead to a specific interpretation of evidences and processes. For the evolutionist, the assumption is the process: no God and natural process. This will lead to a specific interpretation of the evidence: billions of years.

Both require a belief in something.  Bill Nye believes that the universe created itself, therefore matter and energy are either timeless or supernatural themselves.  While Ham (and I) believe that matter and energy are finite and a Supernatural Being (God) created everything.

The ultimate good of this debate was that the Gospel was shared to a huge viewing audience, but in addition to that, I hope this debate caused people to be aware of their assumptions.  We all have them--choose yours wisely.