The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - The Value of Memorizing Scripture

Episode Date: February 17, 2023

Is it important to memorize Scripture? Many of us are aware of how important it is to read and pray with Scripture. However, is it also important to memorize it? Today, Jeff shares the reasons for why he thinks it is important and beneficial to memorize the Word of God. Snippet from the Show Let the Word of God dwell richly within you. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 310, the value of memorizing scripture. And again, we come together to talk about all things Bible, all things discipleship, what it means to be. a follower of Jesus, not just a fan, but a follower. Deep into the Word of God, deep into the sacraments, and deep into his mission. That's what we're all about. Cannot stop talking about it. Week in, week out. It's the center of the world. Jesus, someday everyone's going to get it. Everybody's going to get it someday. And that is that Jesus is Lord. Every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. Forever and ever.

I'm Jeff Kavens, and today we're going to talk about something really, really important. We're going to talk about memorizing scripture, the one thing you said you could never do. That's the one thing right there. You can go to the top of Everest. You can swim across the English Channel. You can bicycle across America. You can do a marathon of friends. But you cannot memorize anything.

I don't believe it. I don't believe it for a minute. You know why? Because you are created in the image and likeness of God. My friend, you are amazing. You are amazing. And your potential is amazing. No kudos to us. It's all God. We're his creation. Let's put it to work. Let's get serious. And let's memorize the most important thing in our life, which is the Word of God. It is the Word of God. You know that we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, If you are Catholic, you believe, you should believe, at least, that the Bible is the inspired word of God, meaning that God is the principal author. Sure, there's an instrumental author, Peter, Paul, Matthew, Luke, John, Mark, and we've got David and Moses, all these different people writing. But God is the main author, and every word is inspired.

That means Theo Nustos, God, breathed. It's alive. The word of God is alive. And there's nothing like it. Nothing. If you can name something on earth that is more valuable than the Bible or the Eucharist, then I promise you, I will give myself to it 100%, because I'm not dumb. And it's more valuable than a painting, a rare painting.

It's more valuable that a Mickey Mantle wrote. rookie card. It's more valuable than all the queen's jewelry. It is. And so we're going to talk about that today. Hey, I do have some scriptures. If you want the scriptures from the show, all you got to do is text my name, one word, Jeff Kaven's, J-E-F-F-C-A-V, as in Victor, INS. And you can text that to the number 3-33777. I'll say it again. Text it to the number 3377. And then you will be on the list. get all the show notes in perpetuity. You say what is in perpetuity? It's forever. We're going to get them. You'll get them as long as I'm here. Okay. Listen to this. Psalm 19 says, the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye. The fear of the

Lord is pure, enduring forever. The statutes of the Lord. Word of God is true. All of them just. More desirable than gold than a hoard of purest silver, sweeter also than honey or drippings from the comb. That's the word of God. And I love what the psalmist said in 11911. He said, I have laid up thy word in my heart. Why? That I might not sin against thee. That's the value of the word of God. Do you know what I'm going to be doing here on the show today? I'm going to give you a number of reasons. Let me look here. I'm going to give you four major reasons why we should be memorizing scripture as disciples of the Lord. And then I'm going to give you kind of a strategy, I guess, to do it. One thing that I do. And when it comes to memorizing

the Bible, one of the first things, before we get into that, one of the first things we have to deal with is this. And that is that just because you're getting older doesn't mean that you can't memorize. Who in the world said that anyway, and why should we believe that? You are capable of doing extraordinary things. Your brain is kind of like a muscle, you know, and you need to work it. You need to work that brain so it stays healthy, eat healthy, so that your brain, your brain is, I think, ultimately created to contain the words of God. That's where you're home. That's where you're living. You have the word of God in your heart and in your brain and you confess it with your mouth. Joshua, who is getting ready to go take the promised land after Moses died on Mount

Nebo, Joshua said, this book of the law, it's the one I have in my hand right here. It's the great adventure. Bible. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it for then you shall make your way prosperous and then you shall have good success you interested in that then we need to do what joshua said we shall not allow this word to depart out of our mouth we shall meditate on it day and night so what are some reasons why i think it's a good idea to memorize scripture. And we'll talk about a plan in just a little bit there. But number one, I think as disciples of the Lord, we are called to imitate Jesus. We are called to do what the

master said to do, to live the way the master lived, to think like he thinks. And every single aspect of his life and ministry is something that we need to take note of and incorporate into our own lives. As husbands, wives, generous single people, mothers, fathers, employers, employees, religious, we need to live as Jesus lived. And listen to this. Jesus quoted in his teaching,

he quoted the Old Testament nearly 80 times. Nearly 80 times, he quoted the Old Testament 26 times just in the Pentateuch, the first five books of Moses. Now, I've heard people say before. They say, New Testament, yes, Old Testament, if I got time. No, it's the whole thing. It's the whole thing.

Why? I just sort of demonstrated it there, and that is Jesus quotes from the Old Testament nearly 80 times. In other words, he's fulfilling all of it. You want to know what he's fulfilling? Do you want to know how he taught? Then become acquainted with the old, Testament. The best way I know to be acquainted with the Old Testament for the purpose of memorizing

scripture, honestly, is the great adventure Bible study. It really is. The Bible timeline chart will bring that story to the page so you can see it as a complete narrative. You see the story, and it's Jesus who dips into that story nearly 80 times to tell his story and the completion of salvation history. Now, if Jesus saw fit to go back into the Old Testament, the Tanakh, as the Jewish community calls it, Tanakh is an acronym for Torah, Tanah, Neviim, prophets, Tanakh, Ketuvim, the writings, Tanakh.

If he saw fit to go back nearly 80 times to make his case, well what about us in making our case today and living today don't you think we should be drawing from the word of god obviously had it committed he is the word the living word the word made flesh so romans chapter 10 paul said thus faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes through the word of christ there's other translations that say faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god and so There is a dynamic here that really is true, and that is that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. When we hear the Word of God, faith grows in our life. We make mental assent, yes, I agree, and we entrust ourselves to the Word of God in our lives. That's what brings us to a

new level, my friend. That's what separates us. That's what it means to follow Jesus. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Number two, you might remember this. I taught this in the Great Adventure Bible study, both in the Great Adventure and in Matthew. In both of them, I taught this. Do you remember in Matthew chapter 3, Jesus goes down to the Jordan River, John the Baptist meets him there, Jesus is going to be baptized. John says, no, I ought to be baptized by you.

And Jesus says, no, this is fitting. I must complete all righteousness here. I must complete the story. And so then Jesus comes up out of the waters of baptism, goes into the wilderness for 40 days, empowered by the spirit. And what happens there? Well, the devil comes and he tempts him three times, doesn't he? He tries to trip up Jesus three times.

He says, make this rock bread, throw yourself down from the temple, and bow down and worship me. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Three times Jesus is tempted. Now, you're tempted, and I'm tempted. Almost every day, I would think in some way. There's, you know, at least in America here, there's temptation every corner you turn around.

Everywhere you go, you're faced with it. Well, Jesus was tempted, but without sin. And how did he answer the enemy? He quoted the Bible. In all three instances, he didn't stand up there and argue and say, I don't know, I don't think this is a good idea. Or, no, I'm going to pass on that. He didn't do, he didn't get any kind of argument or conversation with the enemy that way.

What did he do? He said, it's written. It's written. And so Jesus wields this sword. And he fights the devil and the devil leaves. And so if Jesus went into the wilderness and was tempted three times and he answered the devil with the word of God. Don't you think that we should be doing that ourselves? Don't you think that our answer to temptation, our answer to a thought life that is not healthy, that the answer to us being

pulled aside and taken with all the silver gadgets in the world today, don't you think that we should answer these temptations with something that is stronger than the temptations, which is the Word of God? You know, God says, that's my word. It goes forth from me. It won't return void. It'll accomplish that which I purpose, God says. And so Jesus was tempted. He quoted the Bible. He quotes the Bible nearly 80 times, the Old Testament. Number three, it's the way that you can bury or hide God's word in your heart, so it can speak later. It can feed you. It can direct you. It can correct you. It can comfort you. When you hide God's word by memorizing scripture in your heart, my friend, you've got something that's going to rise up in the right time,

at the right time, and it's going to speak to you, comfort you, direct you, console you. That's the Word of God. It's alive. It's alive, sharper than any two-edged sword. I love that quote, by the way. It's Hebrews 413. The Word of the Lord is living and active, sharper than any two-ed sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It's alive. It's alive. And when you hide God's word in your heart, it's like spiritual money in the bank. It will come back. It could save you from the biggest hardship of your life, the word of God. It can keep you from trouble. It can comfort you in the midst of incredible battles in your life. But the time to hide it in your heart

is now. I love what Isaiah said. Isaiah says in Isaiah 263, Lord, you keep him in perfect peace. whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. And Colossians 316, one of those 316 verses, it's so good. Paul was writing to the Colossians, and he said to them, he said, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Isn't that beautiful? Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Let me ask you, is God's word dwelling in you richly today? If not, you need to turn this around. you really do it's not a it's not really a should i you know must i no you get to you have the opportunity to let the word of christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to god isn't that a beautiful thought to think that today the word of god can dwell in you You richly, richly saturate your soul with the words of God, fortify you with his plan, his heart, his power.

That is amazing to me. And number four, we have number one, Jesus quoted it many, many times. Number two, he used the word of God when he was tempted. Number three, you can hide it in your heart. it will speak to you just at the right time. And I love that one scripture says, as apples of gold and the setting of silver, so are the right words and the right circumstance.

You're in the right circumstance. You need the right words now. And that's the word of God. Nothing like being in a difficult circumstance and you have nothing to say, nothing to fall back on. What do I do? Oh, do what everybody else does. Go to Amazon, buy a book.

Yeah, as Dr. Phil says, How's that working for you? So number four, the scriptures give you the heart and the plan of God. That's what the Word of God does. From Genesis to Revelation, the scriptures give you the heart of God, the theology, and the plan of God, oikonamia, the economy of God. When you hold the Bible in your hands, as I'm doing right now, this is, that's my Bible right here, as I hold this Bible, in my hands right now. I have, at my disposal, the heart of my Heavenly Father, I have the plan of my Heavenly Father, and I need a plan. I need to know his heart. I've said it over and

over two things people are looking for, a brighter future, and someone to trust. Open up that book. Open up that library of God's words and let it dwell in you richly. richly, I want you to become spiritually a millionaire in the Word of God, rich in the Word of God. So the scriptures, they give you the heart of God, the plan of God. And I know if you're like me, you need a plan. Can't just get up in the day and say, I'm just going to survive, you know, I'm just going to live. No, you need a plan to thrive and to live and to accompany you. That's what we need.

okay so we're going to take a break when I come back I'm going to talk to you about a strategy for doing this because right away you might be thinking oh my gosh Jeff you want me to probably memorize all of John I don't just the first chapter kidding but I did that one time I did it at a pizza parlor I went to this pizza parlor in Pella Iowa's called Happy's Pizza and I over a number of days going back there I memorized the first chapter of John and I made it my goal. My original goal was to memorize all of John, and I fell short. But I still remember that first chapter. I buried it in my heart. It's dwelling in me richly right now. Next time you see me, I just want you to come up and say, man, you look rich. I'll say, you got it, brother. You got it, sister. I have been reading God's word. I have been dwelling on God's word. I have been memorizing God's word. We'll talk about a strategy right after this. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show.

Hi there, I'm Mark Hart, and I'm going to share with you an exciting new series called Venture, the Bible timeline for high school. Now, let's be honest, the Bible is easily the most confusing, most misunderstood book of all time. How do these random time periods, these random people, these random stories all fit together? And what do they mean for me and for my life? In this study, we're going to take a journey through the basic story of Scripture from Genesis through Revelation so that by the end of it, teenagers will understand the big picture of salvation history. Because when we come to know the story, we come to know our place in the story. To find out more and get a free preview of this engaging new study, visit ascensionpress.com

Backslash Venture. Okay, are you ready for a strategy now? We're talking about memorizing God's word. You know, I got to thinking about that over the break, and I thought to myself, you know what? Maybe me asking you to memorize the Word of God is just, it's just too much. You know, I know that you're probably old now. You're going on 30, and this is not the kind of thing you expect from 30-year-olds, you know, to memorize.

So I got to think about that. I am not going to ask you to memorize the Bible. I'm going to ask you to just remember it. Remembering it is easier than memorizing it. Something about memorizing that really sets us back a little bit. So I'm joking with you, but, okay, I'm going to change my mind again. Yes, you are to memorize it and you are to remember it. Memorize it and remember it.

Okay, here's the strategy. Now, this is flexible and everybody's about a little bit different. But what if I told you that there was a way in one year where you could have memorized in your heart, 52 verses. You know that the books like Colossians, Colossians 1, chapter 1, 1, 1, 2, verse 3, and so forth. You know how it's divided up that way. Well, what if you memorized one verse a week,

just one a week? And you memorized it, not just the words, but it's address as well. we as Catholics oftentimes we know the story we know the house we just don't know the address we don't know that it's john 316 or galatians 220 or john 1 1 we don't know exactly where it is i would suggest if you're going to memorize scripture know it's good for you to know it's good to share with other people you can find it fast now if you don't know the exact address this is okay it's okay for the most part after all Peter said one time he said somewhere it is written when he was writing his epistle somewhere it is written and sometimes I do that too you don't think well you know the word of God says and I'm thinking hmm where was that but I think that for the top scripture verses that you really want to memorize I think one a week is doable that's 52 a year if you want to do two a week

then do it that's 104 104 a year but 52 if you did this now in a year from now you had 52 versus memorized. Can you imagine how rich you'd be? Can you imagine how that word could dwell in your heart and feed you and rise up and warn you just at the right time? It's like walking around with God speaking to you all the time. That's discipleship. That's discipleship. So that's a good strategy to take. Now here's another strategy that I thought of just the other day. you know that the Bible timeline has we take the Bible and divide it up into 12 periods color-coded periods the early world and patriarchs Egypt you know Israel's in Egypt and the Exodus desert wanderings so forth you so there's 12 of these periods color-coded

what about this what if you chose a verse in each of the 12 periods so that you have a sense of something of God in each of the periods. And then go back and do it again. You would have 24. And you do it again, you have 36. And then 48. If you did it four times, you'd have 48. That's almost like the year with 52.

But that's a strategy that you could use. I'd like to know if you have another strategy, too. You can write me at The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Send it on into me. I really would like to know. You can put it in the show comments. over on Apple or Google Play or wherever, and go ahead and just write down exactly what your strategy is. Those are a couple right there.

Now, here's something that I have found to be very helpful, and I still have a lot of these cards laying around my office in different places, and that's a three-by-five index card. That is typically how I would memorize a verses. I would write it down on an index card, and I'd put it in my back pocket, or I'd put it in my shirt pocket, and I would take it out quite a few times a day, and I would just read it, and I'd start to memorize the first line, the second line, and if it's long enough, the third line. But using those index cards can be a real good strategy, and you can keep those in a pile on your desk. And I do encourage you to memorize the location. Like, if you know that for God

so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, you know where that's from, right? John, right, John 316, it's good to know that. And here's another tip for you. Have you heard me talk about the shmah? The shmah, the shemma, the shmah, the shmah, the shmah, in Hebrew means to hear. Shma.

And it comes from Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4, Shma, Israel, Adon, Elohino, adenai Echad. Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And God said, you shall take this word. And you shall apply it to your forehead. You shall, your brain, your thinking.

You should apply it to your heart, hands. And you should also put it on the doorposts of your home and talk of it on the way to the store with your kids. So just Deuteronomy 6. first six or seven verses of that chapter gives you all kinds of ideas on where to plant the word of God. You know, the Jewish community has this, what they call a mazouza. I think Catholics

should have mazuzas personally. I do. I really do. I have one. A mazouza is this little piece of furnishing. It could be plastic, wood, porcelain, metal, and it's about, I don't know, some of them are like three inches long and maybe an inch wide or something. Inside of there, they'll have the Shma, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 6, and they will literally bind it to the doorposts of their house. That's what Mazuzza actually means. It means doorpost. And when they go into the house, you know what they do? They will kiss their hand and then put it on the Mazuzza for the Word of God. They will do that. Their home is blessed with the Word of God. God. Now, we have holy water and we have all kinds of sacramentals. Why not a Mazuzza?

Maybe, you know what? Maybe someone's listening right now and you're thinking, I think I could do that. I'm going to make Catholic mazuses. Well, if you want to do that, get in touch with me. I've got all kinds of ideas on how we can keep the Word of God number one in our lives. And I love it. Let me share this with you. I'm going to grab my now, well-worn, new Bible. I guess you could say my great Adventure Bible. There's a scripture that I love. It's Jeremiah, chapter 31. And if you're familiar with Jeremiah, you know that chapter 31, Jeremiah is talking about a new covenant that is going to be made. And he says in chapter 31 of Jeremiah, and starting in verse 31, says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. If I memorized that, I wouldn't have had to turn to that right now. Now, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of

Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant, which they broke. And I showed myself their master, says the Lord, but this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, get this now. I will put my law within them and I will write it upon their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people and no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest says the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more gone

so there's my challenge for this week what do you think now i know you've you've written me before and i've challenged you before and and you wrote and said i'm going to do it i'm going to do it you know just the other day i was talking about spending some time with uh with the lord and recalibrating in a holy hour i had so many people say i'm doing it and i did it how about this how about how about start with next week starting today we'll go this whole next seven day period memorize one Bible verse just do it just if you don't know which one to start with start with one of my favorites start with Galatians 220 I have been crucified with Christ it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God

who loved me and delivered himself for me. That's fresh off the heart memorized. The Word of God is dwelling richly in me. And I want it to dwell in me even more. And I know you do too. Let's do it. Let's do it. Give up one hour of cable news in the evening and dedicate it to one verse.

Love to hear from you. I really would. you know if you want to get the great adventure bible i'll put in the show notes for you they have now the giant print is it beautiful i actually like it i think a little bit better it's a hard back version it's it's sturdy and when you lay it out it's just it just stays open and it's large print giant print i think we call it now i love that you can also get the great adventure bible but either way and if you have a bible already yay start dwelling in it let it dwell in you you dwell in it it will dwell in you richly.

It will. I can't wait to hear from you. I really can't. I'm excited. I'm so excited. I don't want to go. I just want to sit here and wait until you do it. And we'll just keep talking.

And then all of a sudden I'll start getting these emails in saying, hey, I did it. You know, I'll be three days from now. I did it. Four days from, hey, I did it. Oh, good. Instead of that, though, I think I will go right now. And then I'll just check back.

All right. I want you to know that I love you. And that's why I'm all revved up about the word of God this week, and let me pray for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord, I take my friend right now, I lift them up to you. Lord, they are hungry, they are needy, they're looking for direction, they're looking for peace. Lord, I pray. My prayer is that your word would dwell in them richly this week. I really pray that, Lord, and that they would take the time to dwell in your word. You will richly reward them, Lord, with your word. Your word is a comfort.

Lord, we read Psalm 119 this week, which talks all about the benefits of your word. Largest chapter, all about the benefits of your word. So, Lord, be with us as we go into the week and as we carry out your mission as disciples. In Jesus' name, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, I love you, and I am looking forward to talking to you more next week. Thank you.