What a Savior

Leslie Basham: Just over a month ago, on October 9, 2014, the True Woman Conference opened. And one big highlight from the conference was an extended time of following the story of Jesus throughout the Scripture.

Nancy: "Every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

Janet Parshall: Praise God for people like Nancy Leigh DeMoss who take us back to where we need to be every time—the Word, the Word, the Word.

Leslie: This is Janet Parshall. She was in the audience that night at True Woman '14.

Janet: Opening night—when Nancy did over 240 verses right through the Scripture of who Jesus was. I stood there. I read the Word; I know the Word, but I listened to her talk and I thought, It's all about Him.

Naghmeh Abedini: I don’t think there’s anything more powerful than the Word of God.

Leslie: This is Nagmeh Abidini, who also heard Nancy’s recitation.  

Naghmeh: I don’t know how she intertwined John . . .

Nancy: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Naghmeh: Then she told the story and came back and forth and then came to the end where Jesus is coming back.

Nancy: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing."

Naghmeh: It's the beautiful story—God's love story for us.

Janet: That’s all it’s ever been about. It's all about Jesus, from the first word to the last word, it's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Leslie: Trillia Newbell was in the audience that night. She was motivated by hearing this recitation to keep studying the Scripture and keep getting to know Jesus better.

Trillia Newbell: I couldn’t believe Nancy could memorize 200 scriptures. What went through my mind was, Nancy's in the Word, and it is amazing. So she has to be personally in the Word, studying, reflecting on God and HSermons are helpful, music is great, but sometimes you just need to let God’s Word wash over you in a powerful way.  On the next Revive Our Hearts, Nancy Leigh DeMoss takes you through the thread of redemption through the whole Bible.  She’ll quote verse after verse, all about Jesus.is character in order to stand up and recite all of those Scriptures. So for me to watch that was encouraging, inspiring, motivating. It spurred me on to want to do good works and learn about the Lord and worship Him because His Name is great. I was so moved by it. It was just a great time.

Nancy: "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.'"

Naghmeh: Someone said it would be the perfect time for Jesus to come back. It was so glorious. It was amazing. I don't think you can beat the Word of God.

Leslie: Today and tomorrow we’ll hear this moving recitation.

This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Thursday, November 13, 2014.

Prepare to be amazed by the wonder of who Jesus is, as we explore His story through all of Scripture. Here’s the recitation from Nancy Leigh DeMoss, at True Woman '14. By the way, there were some powerful pictures that went along with this presentation. So watch the video at ReviveOurHearts.com. Let’s listen.

Nancy:

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matt. 1:1)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1–5)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isa. 9:2)

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. 

And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:26–27, 30–33)

[And] behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matt. 1:20–23)  

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. . . . And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1, 3–7)

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. (Isa. 9:6–7)

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . .

For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. . . .

The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:9, 14, 16–18, 29)

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. (Mark 1:9–13)  

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. (Luke 4:16–20)

He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” (Matt. 12:9–24)

[And] coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?” . . . And they took offense at him. (Matt. 13:54–55, 57)

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:10–13)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. . . .”

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. . . .

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. (Matt. 16:13–17, 21, 24–27)

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. . . . and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. (Zech. 9:9–11)

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. (Matt. 21:12–15)

When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. (Matt. 26:1–4)

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. . . .

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. (John 13:1–5, 12–15)

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matt. 26:26–28) 

Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. (John 19:14–16)

Leslie: We’ve been focused on Jesus and following His story throughout the Bible. Nancy Leigh DeMoss recited these verses at True Woman '14, just over a month ago. We’ll hear part two of this powerful recitation tomorrow. And Nancy will be right back to give you tips on how you can memorize God’s Word.

First, let me tell you about a couple resources designed to keep you amazed at the wonder of Christ. First, you can get a copy of this recitation from Nancy on DVD. We’re airing this leading up to the Christmas season. But this would also be a powerful presentation to watch again leading up to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. To order the DVD, or watch the video online, visit ReviveOurHearts.com. 

Second, the piano player during this presentation was Jay Rouse. He arranged several of Nancy’s favorite Christmas songs. She plays those arrangements on a brand new CD called Come Adore. The point of this album isn’t just to have another Christmas CD. It’s not about Nancy’s piano playing or Jay’s arrangements. It’s all about Jesus. These songs were chosen to help you focus on Him and to continually be coming to Him and adoring Him this Christmas season.  

We’ll send you Come Adore when you support Revive Our Hearts with a gift of any amount. We’ll send one CD per household here in November. Visit ReviveOurHearts.com to take us up on this offer, or call 1–800–569–5959 and ask for Come Adore.

Like I said, tomorrow we’ll hear part two of this recitation, following the story of Jesus through the Gospels, the Epistles, and Revelation. Now, how did Nancy go about memorizing all that Scripture? And can you do the same thing? Nancy addressed those questions during a question and answer session with a group of women. She was asked for advice on memorizing large portions of Scripture. Nancy began by referring to an interview that has aired on Revive Our Hearts.

Nancy: An interview I did with Janet Pope who's written a book called His Word in My Heart. I believe that is Moody Publisher's book. It's a great book. You ought to get a hold of it. She believes in memorizing whole books of the Bible. She done it with, I think, eighteen of them. But she's done it over like eighteen years.

When I listened to her, I thought, Anybody could do this, because she breaks it down in a way that is really simple.

Now, I wish eighteen years ago I started to do what she recommended because my way has not been the best. But I have tried over the years to memorize large portions of Scripture. And I'll tell you what. There are no shortcuts.

I find that if I just stick at it. You just say it again and again and again and again. You just keep doing it. It takes time. There are no shortcuts. There are no easy ways to do it. I was able to memorize more easily thirty years ago than I can today. So for those of you who are younger women, do it now! It is harder now. I can't explain that. Maybe it is because you have more things in your head when you are fifty-one than twenty-one. Do it when you are younger.

Those of you who have children, if I were parenting today, I would get those children memorizing huge sections of Scripture. They memorize so many other things. It's amazing what those little kids have in their heads. Get them memorizing the Word of God. Get them memorizing the book of Proverbs. They can do it in a period of years. As they do it, do it with them.

We aired another series recently on Revive Our Hearts that you can get on our website, it's an interview with Nancy Epperson where she talked about Scripture memory. You can get the transcripts or the audio. Again, she talks about as a mother, when she had little kids, she would write a portion of Scripture for the week in some kind of marker that comes off, on her kitchen counter. She would say it again and again. As she was working through the week, the thing would wear off. At the end of the week, she'd scrub the counter clean and write another Scripture passage on it.

Then she said that she realized she was saying these as she would go through her week and her three-year-old son was memorizing them with her. He was picking them up.

Now, those are just individual verses, but with longer sections, break it down into shorter sections—just a verse at a time, a phrase at a time. Meditate on it. A huge key, and I have not done as much of over the years as I wish had, is reviewing those passages.

Most of what I have memorized in the past I cannot quote. And that's the difference between me and Janet Pope—she can still quote it all because she has been reviewing it constantly over all these years. If I were starting again today as a younger woman memorizing Scripture, that's the thing I would do differently. Maybe I'd memorize a little less, but be reviewing it so it stays with me.

Used with permission. English Standard Version. © Crossway Publishers.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.