Just finished preaching the second of two weeks at Crescent Lake Bible Camp (www.clbc.net) in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Easily my favorite camp…in fact in a tie with Bald Head Island, NC as my favorite spot on earth.
The Lord did some incredible stuff, and it was a joy to hang around and watch Him work.
How is YOUR summer going? Studying for the next season yet?
Even if you aren’t (which is fine, by the way; there are other things besides quizzing!); hope you are memorizing Scripture.
Found a great link for bunches of articles concerning Scripture memory. Perhaps you’ll find something to help.
Check it out!
Got a Dad? So many don’t. If you do, “to those who much has been given, much will be required.”
Yeah, today is Father’s Day (pickles get a week!). Celebrate.
But I urge you to pray for your Dad every morning; and to look for ways to thank him and love him day by day.
Leave a comment on the number one thing you appreciate about your Dad. On Wednesday I’ll randomly pick a “winner” from those who leave a comment and will send you a cool book…
If you don’t follow PETE WILSON I urge you to do so. He nails it (as he often does) in this writing. We often speak of people missing heaven by about 18 inches…a whole lot of Jesus in their heads, but no Jesus in their hearts.
Same thing applies to, well, application. We can store up Bible verses, theology, techniques and more in our heads and do no heavenly good for the King or His Kingdom. Or we can do the work…and invest the time…to move it to our 24/7 lives and, amazingly, be used by God to bring glory to the Son.
Here’s how Pete worded it:
I believe one of the most obvious challenges in contemporary Christianity is we mistakenly assume that information automatically translates into transformation. However, knowing something is true does not in and of itself ensure that the truth will make a significant difference in our lives.
James 1:22-25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
We have more access to great information than ever before.
Unbelievable Bible study tools available on the internet for stinkin’ free.
Phenomenal messages from the world’s best pastors one click away, thanks to podcasts.
In-depth and engaging bible studies adorning the shelves of bookstores all across America.
So what’s the problem?
We have to find a way to transfer all this incredible information that we know in our minds to our hearts so it can be lived out. We have to find a way to, as James puts it, “look intently into.” The word for “looks intently into” (parakypsas) literally means “to stoop down” in order to have a good close look.
Here’s my two cents. In order to “stoop down” you have to “slow down.” There’s not a crisis of information, but of transformation. And the greatest enemy of transformation, in a word, is hurry.
So slow down, stoop into God’s Word, actually do what it says, and see if the transformation doesn’t follow.
Watch this, hear this, (please) share this with anyone who will spend five minutes to find out that it is NOT about methods, bells-and-whistles, “relevance,” or any other “stuff,” it is about that which is of first importance:
Frances Chan has something to say regarding memorizing…and it is powerful, for some uncomfortable, and TRUE!
Francis Chan – Making Disciples from Verge Network on Vimeo.
Watched this brief video this morning…smiled..as the third guy (the Korean) served with me at the Korean Kamp at which I’ve spoken every summer for over 20 years for several years as a counselor. Anyway, the three guys offer some good, and maybe controversial, advice…since quizzers have a habit of graduating high school and most go on to college, perhaps of interest:
What You Need to Know About Faith in College from Fuller Youth Institute on Vimeo.
Some say, “You are what you eat.” God’s Word tells us that Jeremiah declared, “Thy words were found and I did eat them…”
Why do I…and so many others…pour a lot of time into promoting, running, and encouraging Bible quizzing?
For a program? Yuck.
For trophies and statistics? Nope.
We do it because “The Word of God does the work of God.” And because the venue of quizzing gets teenagers into the Word, and thus the Word into teens.
And, just like the ghost ants below; we eat the Word, we show the Word…we live and love the Word. “You are My friends, if you do what I command.”
A couple days ago I heard a caller on a local radio talk show bring up a Bible verse. As people intrigued, captured, and involved with Bible quizzing…we all (hopefully) recognize that the Word memorized isn’t worth much unless it is both applied (to my life) and shared (with others).
Before the caller quoted a verse, he said something like, “I hate to do this on the radio, but…”, with the implication being that he felt he shouldn’t bring the Bible into the conversation.
He did, regardless, so I’m not picking on him..I’m just sayin’ we need not apologize for bringing truth into any conversation.
At the same time, we don’t necessarily have to say it is the Bible we are quoting. The Word of God is quick and powerful regardless of whether it is cited.
I quoted lots of Bible verses in the hundreds of school assembly programs the Lord has allowed me to do over the years. Sometimes they were hagerized, and very seldom were they directly attributed to the Bible. But the Word was proclaimed, and the Word accomplishes much.
At any rate, when prompted to share the Bible…even if we feel our society frowns on it…do it anyway…you don’t want tingling teeth do you?
I know this is a blog concerned with Bible quizzing. I do love Bible quizzing…but I love Bible quizzers (and coaches and staff) more!
I love Bible quizzing because it gets us into the Word. But getting “into” the Word is only a step…a huge step…but only a step in the journey of discipleship. With reliance on Holy Spirit, we must think, meditate, and, so vital, apply the Word that we have committed to memory.
I deeply admire Frances Chan. His honesty, transparency, and straight-to-the-point style combine to make him one of my favorites.
What he has to say here is incredibly important.
I beg you to watch it attentively (and comment after you view)
(Note: Amber graduated this year, was captain of “By Faith” (St Louis TFC). She is a great friend of the “host” of this blog (Jack Hager) which does not mean I agree with everything she says or writes…we are brother-and-sister in Christ, but not identical twins. I read this on her facebook page and asked permission to publish here. If you would like to contribute an article to this blog, do so by emailing me – jack.hager@gmail.com.) Please leave your comments on anything Amber writes…the purpose of this blog is interaction among quizzers, coaches, staff.
I LOVE BIBLE QUIZZING!!!
by Amber Michaelis, Captain, “By Faith”
Bible Quizzing… Some people like it, but most people love it. If you know me, you know that I love it even more than most people. I love everything about it. It’s a lot of fun to me to spend hundreds of hours over months and months memorizing literally tons of verses and the thousands of questions that go with them. I take a ridiculous amount of pleasure in thinking of combos and totaling up stats. I wish I could talk strategy and be under the intense pressure of Nationals multiple times a year. Challenging for my team is like standing up for my family in battle. Team spirit is one of my favorite things. Pretty much everything I own I have in the color orange. All of these things make quizzing fantastic, but the best thing about it is how the Word changes me.
Some times I can’t see it. I don’t always realize how much the Spirit uses Scripture in my life after I’ve taken the time to memorize it. But looking back I see it clearly. I would be a completely different person without quizzing, and not just that my extra curricular activities would be different, but now my heart and mind have been made new. I’m not who I was. Not that words saved me, but by the Spirit, the living Word has and is still changing me.
Maybe you’ve had some people in your life who you’ve look up to. Though you didn’t know them very well at first, later, once you got to know them, you realized that they aren’t who you thought they were. It’s disappointing isn’t it?? Then when it happens multiple times, you start to catch on and realize, “Hmmm… I can’t really trust anyone because everyone is fake.” I don’t know if that’s happened to you, but it’s happened to me. However, this week at Nationals, in the middle of the crazy schedule, when we were lacking in sleep, our minds were exhausted from studying, and we were not doing as well as we had hoped, I saw the hearts of some people that I’ve come to highly respect.
I saw Siege on Saturday who, at the last moment of a quiz, took a 2nd instead of 1st, by ten points. Some from the team got together to pray immediately after the quiz and I went to join them, supposing they were trying to recover from the way it turned out. To my great surprise, they weren’t praying about themselves. They weren’t even thinking about the loss. They were praying for encouragement for Riven who lost (by a lot) and took 3rd. They prayed for God to bless them, lift them up, and allow them to do well in the next quiz so that they could move back up. Those are the types of things that change my life.
I saw another team on Saturday afternoon, (when a loss meant your team was done for the year) who was praying FOR the opposing teams everytime the other team would win a jump. And my coaches, man…. What awesome leaders to be under. When you are as competitive as By Faith is and you take a third to teams you never expected to lose to, it’s crazy awesome to see in the next quiz my coach start out by praying, “Father, we thank You for the third. We want Your will to be done. This is for Your glory, not ours. Keep us humble. Amen.” That’s the kind of person I want to be like. Wow.
I must admit though… Whether you choose to see it or shut your eyes to it, there are bias quizmasters. There are teams that cheat. Some people will lie if it means they can be on stage, beat a top team, or save themselves from an error. There are people who are jerks just because, for whatever reason, they don’t like By Faith. But through all these things I love quizzing even more!
Yes. I love quizzing even when quizzers lie, and when quizmasters are unfair. Because I know that my struggle is not against flesh and blood. When trials come, so does God’s grace and opportunity. Grace for God to change my heart and opportunity for me to show it. Just like we don’t fight fire with fire, we don’t fight sin with sin. Fire is put out with water, and “streams of living water” flow from within us. God judges the heart. One of my teammates said this in a prayer at Nationals and it really stuck with me… “God we would rather be humble and with You, than proud and against You, even if that means losing. Your will be done.”
I love quizzing. I love the competition, the team work, the struggles, the wins, the defeats, the perseverance it takes, and the sacrifice it requires. But most of all I love the Spirit who uses the Word and the people to change my life. Thank you God so much for Bible Quizzing!
