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Challenge to memorize Scripture issued by NAMB evangelism leader


KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)–“If I zapped you with the power to recite 100 verses of Scripture and also gave you a $100 bill, which would it upset you more to lose? The fact is, for far too many of you, the answer is the $100 bill.”
With deep conviction, Rollin DeLap, assistant director of the evangelism and church growth department of the North American Mission Board, challenged students at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to get serious about writing the Word of God on their hearts by memorizing Scripture when he spoke April 30 at the Kansas City, Mo., school. Students responded to DeLap’s challenge by buying him out of the Scripture memory packets he had brought with him.
DeLap’s chapel address was filled with Scriptures recited by memory, a habit he developed many years ago as a student at Midwestern Seminary. “I have been memorizing Scripture every day since then, and even if I live to be 100 years old, I can never exhaust the riches of the Word of God.
A central theme of DeLap’s message was the question, “How do you exalt the Word of God?” His answer, supported by an abundance of memorized Scriptures, was to exalt the Word of God by memorizing it. “If you don’t exalt it in your life, there is a great chance it will never be exalted in the people to whom you are called to minister. It won’t happen.”
Without the Word of God in our lives, DeLap said men will follow the philosophies of the world. “The devil is so deceptive. Without the Word of God, we follow the world because it is the easiest route.
“Take a stand in the Word of God,” he exhorted. “It is so dynamic, so relevant for every day of your life. It will bless your life, it will bless your family, it will bless your children. The Word of God gives them insight and instruction they need with all they face in the world today.”
Again repeating his question, “How do you exalt the Word of God?” DeLap said that if soldiers broke into the room and said students could leave only if they could recite 25 verses and where they are found, many students may not make it out of the room. “That means that if you have been a Christian for five years, you have not had enough desire, enough discipline or enough commitment to memorize five verses a year.
“Deuteronomy 6:6 says these words which I (God) command should be in your heart. It is not out of line that we should be challenging, exhorting and encouraging each other to learn the Word of God.”
DeLap encouraged students to pray that God would give them a hunger and thirst for the Word of God. “Pray that you might walk in faithfulness, in obedience, in love, sharing, witnessing, caring …that the Word of God might penetrate your life.”
Noting there is no verse that calls Christians to do anything in mediocrity, DeLap said students should serve with all their heart. “Walk in faithfulness and obedience to the Word of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us walk in faith upon the face of the earth until time is called on you and me and God says, `Well done, well done.'”
DeLap has prepared a lifetime plan for memorizing the word which is available from the North American Mission Board. “Many times we don’t put the Word of God into our lives because we don’t plan to or because we don’t have a plan,” he said. “Here is a plan.”
He closed by citing the many testimonies of students who have written him, asking for another set of cards to memorize. Often they include a testimony of how they have been blessed by learning Scripture. “The Word of God is blessing them. Seek the Lord with all your heart.”

    About the Author

  • John Gaskin