My wife and oldest son have an astounding memory when it comes to song lyrics. Both of them have significant musical aptitude. They play instruments and love to sing. They can remember lyrics after hearing a song one time. Their musical memory astounds me.

How do you remember things? I can’t remember song lyrics like my son and wife, but I can remember Scripture verses or, oddly enough, phone numbers. I think most people have an aptitude for remembering certain kinds of things. And it is certainly true that we can remember what we choose to remember. Some people can tick off sports stats or information from the Wall Street Journal. Others can remember names, people, and events.

But there are several ways we can absolutely remember and recall what is important to us. First, we remember stories. We remember stories that happen to us and stories people tell us. Second, we remember what we record and share. We are more likely to remember something if we take notes. This is why professors and educators have students take notes in class. This is also why we have notes in our worship guide for sermons each week. Notes reinforce memory.

But even good note-takers can forget a significant amount of what they’ve written down. The best way to reinforce memory is to review briefly your notes a day later, week later, or month later. This is where Journey Outcome #4 comes in.

Journey Outcome #4 – Record what God is speaking to share with group/community.

Recording can be done in a lot of different ways. The H.E.A.R acrostic that stands for Highlight, Explain, Apply, Respond is an important means of recording. (For more information, read last week’s post). By choosing one verse to focus on, readers can record something important from Scripture and reflect on it in prayer. Another method would be choosing a verse to memorize, meditate, and pray. The more we imbed a verse in our hearts and minds the more likely we are to remember and practice it.

In any case, recording Scripture is also for the purposes of sharing. Paul instructed Timothy to share what he had learned:

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:1-2

Notice the progression. What Timothy heard from Paul, he was to entrust to others so they would teach others also. God doesn’t just speak to us for our own benefit. He speaks to us so we can share with others who will share with others.

Our mission at Wilkesboro Baptist is to lead our neighbors and the nations to follow Jesus by worshiping, learning, serving, and replicating. Previous journey outcomes focused on worshiping. This journey outcome highlights the learning step.   

The most effective groups at our church invite conversation and interaction to accomplish the learning step in our mission. We have Sunday school classes facilitated with questions derived from the sermon text. We have curriculum based classes taught by a teacher who has studied a lesson. We have Bible studies where a leader guides the conversation. But in the best of these, the teacher will draw out insights, conversation, and questions from the group. Thus, the best learning environments are conversational and interactive where someone is sharing what they’ve learned or recorded from their study or devotional time. Our discipleship groups are intentionally built on this paradigm. In my group each week, the four or five guys that gather share something they’ve read that week from Scripture and how it relates to something going on in their lives. Often, the Scripture functions like a testimony or confession; other times like an instruction. I’ve been in some groups where every Scripture shared related to the same theme. Those are the days we all had to pay attention to what God was saying through the group to each of us.

One of the most important aspects of this journey outcome in the learning step is how recording or preparing to share imbeds the Scripture in our hearts and minds. The Bible is not merely to be learned, it is to be applied. The more we think on it, meditate about it, record it, and share it, the more likely it is we will not merely read the Scripture or even hear God speak through the Scripture, but we will be changed by the Scripture.

So, after you read this post, go back to the Bible. Look back through your devotions. Pick a verse where you know God spoke to you. Reflect on it. Record it. If you’re in a group where you share regularly, plan to share it. If you’re not, ask the Lord who you can share with? If you’d like to find a group, but don’t have one, reach out through the form below. If you’re not a part of Wilkesboro Baptist but want to learn more about discipleship groups, reach out through the form below. I’ll be happy to answer your questions or connect you with a discipleship group.