Memorizing the Book of John

In this video, Larry and Josh Summers demonstrate how to memorize a keyword or verse from the 21 chapters of the book of John. You can also download the visual outline here.

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Bible Outline Memory

Here is an interview Larry gave on the Bible Memory YouTube channel. It highlights the 1189 chapter outline that Larry memorized over a 6 month period.

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Buddhist Creed? (OMF Thailand Facebook)

One of the first things our supervisor instructed us to do as church planters in Central Thailand was to glue a card with the Apostles’ Creed into the cover of every hymnal. Every Sunday we would have our small congregation of mainly leprosy believers memorize the creed and recite it in unison. They did not understand the historic development of this ancient creed, but as oral learners they enjoyed reciting it out-loud while gaining a major dose of scriptural truth. Here is a definition, “A Creed is a concise, formal, and authorized statement of important points of Christian doctrine.” Creeds begin with “I believe …” and stress doctrine along with supporting verses. The New Testament has a number of sections in creedal form (1 Cor. 15:3-4; Phil 2:5-11; 1 Tim. 3:16).

The closest to a creedal statement within Buddhism would be the affirmation, “I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha.” The three refuges is the formal point of entry for the lay devotee of Buddhism and is repeated in worship and in various ceremonies.

A pioneer OMF missionary to Thailand, John Davis saw the instructional and liturgical value of creeds and set about to develop a creed, which would resonate with Thai people from a Buddhist background. His desire was to reaffirm core biblical beliefs but at the same time address religious and cultural issues within the Thai context. Recognizing the Thai as preferred oral learners, he designed the creed to be easily recited out loud by the congregation.

Davis’ Thai creed is broken into ten “I believe” statements:

I believe in God who is almighty and all-knowing, and who having created the universe, saw that everything he had made was good. All things did not come into being on their own, nor did ‘Ignorance’ create them.

I believe that all mankind has evil desires, is not righteous in thought word and deed, and consequently is both disqualified from, and incapable of, entering paradise, because it is a holy place.

I believe that mankind has no hope in self-dependence. Man is incapable of attaining sufficient merit to liberate himself and therefore, sowing what he reaps according to karma he must perish.

I believe that God, who is full of compassion and mercy, initiated and prepared the way of solving man’s problem by sending his Representative, Jesus Christ, into the world so that man may be delivered from hell.

I believe that Jesus Christ volunteered to come from heaven to be born of the Virgin Mary according to history, in order to be man’s ‘scapegoat’ by dying on the cross to receive the penalty due to man because of his sin.

I believe Jesus Christ, who is truth and mercy, is ready to offer his own abundant merit to whoever will confess and forsake their sin with sincerity.

I believe that Jesus Christ has power over all people and all spirits in all ages and has demonstrated his power over them openly by the cross.

I believe that only Jesus Christ has had victory over death through his resurrection that he is now alive and is therefore able and ready to deliver mankind from the results of sin forever.

I believe Jesus Christ is the One who is to come according to prophecy to liberate all mankind. He will come a second time to establish his everlasting kingdom on earth, which will be filled with justice and righteousness.

I believe whoever puts their trust in Christ becomes a member of His Church and is therefore responsible to be obedient to His teachings which are written in the Christian Scriptures, and that by so doing he will not despise or destroy those beautiful parts of Thai culture which accord with Scripture.

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Riding on the Edge: Safety and Prayer (OMF Thailand Facebook)

If you ride a motorcycle often, you get used to this question: “Have you ever had to ‘lay it down’”? Invariably the seasoned biker has had at least one occasion where he or she has had to jettison the bike in a crash with resulting road rash to prove it. Once in Central Thailand I failed to negotiate a turn properly and went head-first down the asphalt. There were some construction workers on scaffolding nearby and when they saw I wasn’t badly hurt said in Thai, “Look guys, there’s a farang (white foreigner) taking ROAD MEASUREMENTS!”

In OMF prayer meetings, our requests often revolve around someone who has been on the wrong end of an altercation on the roadway. Last week a motorcyclist had a rear tire blow out in front of me with both the bike and rider going head over heels. I got there first and observed the typical contusions, burns and possible breaks that accompany such a spill. Then at our monthly prayer meeting a co-worker related how she was still shook-up from getting hit on the driver’s side by a speeding motorbike.

Thailand has more than 22 million registered motorcycles on their roads and “ … on average, over 6000 motorcyclists die annually, that is on average 16 deaths daily. Thailand ranks ninth out of 175 WHO member countries for road traffic deaths. In 2021, WHO estimates indicated 18,218 road traffic deaths, an average of 50 per day. The most affected were those aged between 15 and 29; and motorcyclists who accounted for 83.8% of all traffic deaths.

Many OMF missionaries get travel on motorbikes within Thailand. Do pray that God’s hand of protection will be over all of OMF workers and the all who are travelling in this country.

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Floods and Crickets (OMF Thailand Facebook)

During the recent abnormally high floods that hit North Thailand last month there were many encouraging stories of local Thai churches helping out their neighbors. A Thai pastor revealed another side effect of the floods that I would not have expected. During the floods this pastor was helping two church families, both of which had been long term members and had been baptised. However, when the floods rose their possessions were soaked and had to be brought out into the open to dry. The pastor noticed that there were a number of occult objects and idols that were revealed. When asked about these items the families tried to explain that they were heirlooms or belonged to other family members. He shared with them how he as a boy in Isaan would search for crickets in the fields and had a unique way of catching them. The first step was to find a tell-tale hole where a cricket might be hiding and then dig around it. Then pour water into the hole. The cricket fleeing the flood of water would then escape his hole and be caught. This pastor shared with them the cricket illustration as an opening to explain to them the scriptural principles of Hebrews 4:13: “And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” He shared with them that “These floods revealed much more than just our vulnerability to disaster but also the state of our hearts.”

Do pray that Thai professing believers will make a clear break with their past lives and be like those in Ephesus: “…those who were now believers came, confessing and disclosing their occult practices” (Acts 19:18).

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Book of Hebrews Outline in 10 Minutes

In this video, Larry and Josh Summers teaches how to memorize the outline of the book of Hebrews in 10 minutes. You can also get a free PDF of the outline here.

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More About Larry

In this interview Larry shares how he came to Christ, what led him to serving in Thailand, the loss of his wife to cancer and how stories and Bible memorization have impacted his ministry.

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Chapel Message on Drawing Close to God [Thai]

In this CTS chapel message, Larry speaks about drawing close to God.

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Preaching to Oral Audiences

Larry recently posted an article in OMF’s Mission Round Table Journal.  It is titled Preaching to Oral Audiences. You can read the article here.

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Oral Bible School 296 Stories

A list of 296 Bible stories for STS Oral Bible Schools.

Download Here

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Psalm 51 [Thai]

In this video, Larry Dinkins preaches in Thai from Psalm 51.

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105 Old & New Testament Stories

Here are Larry’s 105 Bible Stories from the Old and New Testaments.  You can download the list here.

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