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All right, well we are in a series that we are calling the Blueprint and it is

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basically a series talking about what is discipleship or how do we encourage

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people to be disciples. To be a disciple is to be someone that follows

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something. You can be a disciple of many things. In the concept of Christianity

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we're wanting to be a follower of Jesus, to be a disciple of Jesus. And so we've

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been going through this for a handful of weeks now. We talked about why we need a

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plan in the first place because people like me aren't a big fan of plans. But

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sometimes you need a plan guys. You need a plan for that crib

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to stay together the way that it's supposed to. For the faucet to run water

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the way that it should. Sometimes we need a plan and our relationship with

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God, sometimes we just need something saying that these are the first steps to

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take. Try these things. And we said the first thing was actually to not do any

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things at all. Was to rest. Was to go okay I'm gonna take a step back from this

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desire to control or to immediately be something better and I'm just gonna rest

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in God. I'm gonna come to Jesus. He said come to me all who are weak and weary and I will

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give you rest. And then week two or well week page two, week three of the series,

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Pastor Chris talked about living at the table in community. Putting all of

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ourselves on this table with God and saying okay I'm gonna be a part of this

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thing that he is creating. And then last week we learned about abiding in prayer.

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And last week I explained that that prayer comes before reading the

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scriptures in this plan because prayer is something that is always present. It's

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always available and we learned three prayer practices there at the end. One

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which was up turning your palms down, letting go of things, turning our hands

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up, receiving something from the Lord. And then we did a breathing prayer where we

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think one thing in and we pray something out. And then we ended that time with

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something called Lectio Divina which means divine reading which creates a

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great bridge into this week for reading the scriptures. But the more and more I

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thought about it I think that the word read is misleading. Show of hands. Who

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listens to audiobooks? Yeah, easily half of us listen to audiobooks. And when

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you're done with an audiobook how do you describe that? Right, so do you say I

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finished a book? You say I listened to a book? Or do you say I read an audiobook?

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I have a confession to make. Up until very recently I was an audiobook snob. I

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don't listen to them just because I'm the kind of guy I want to see, I

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want to read, I want to ingest it that way. But if you had told me that you'd

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read, actually this happened between me and Jen a couple months ago, if you had

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told me that you had read, I just finished reading an audiobook, I would

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have and I did say, I mean you didn't read it. I mean yeah yeah so I would say

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at that time I would have said, I mean you didn't read it, you mean you listened to

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it. I said maybe a better way because this is me I always have to be right.

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It's like maybe a better way of saying is that you finished an audiobook. Maybe

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that's the better way to say it. Because in my brain I know that the literal

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definition of read is to look at and comprehend the meaning of written or

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printed matter. That is the definition. So if someone said oh I read an

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audiobook, I would say well you didn't look at the words with your eyes. You

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listened to it so you didn't really read it, you finished it. But here's the

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thing, like what what do you say to blind people? What you want to finish the

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sermon for me? Come on up man. If you use your fingers to feel the

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braille on a page you didn't look at printed matter and so then you what do

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you say to them? Did they read it? What if you can see just fine but you have an

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intellectual disability of some kind. You have an inability to look at text and

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comprehend it fully. You know some of us in this room maybe we grew up

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with undiagnosed dyslexia and didn't understand why we couldn't read as

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easily as somebody else. Unless we think that all of what I'm talking about here

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is a small percentage of people, then what happens if you're a part of the

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21% of adults in America right now that are illiterate? It's true as of 2022 this

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year one out of every five adults in America are illiterate and cannot read.

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And of the people that are literate 54% of those more than two out of every four

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people that can read they only read at or below a sixth grade reading level.

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This makes my snobbery about reading problematic and at the risk of sounding

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controversial it makes reading the Bible even more problematic. Any guesses what

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version of the Bible is the most popular and most often read version of the Bible

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in America? King James. It's the King James version of the Bible and depending

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on which survey you believe somewhere between 33 and 55 percent of people that

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read the Bible say that they read the King James version of the Bible as their

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primary text. The King James Bible is the Bible but the King James Bible was

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published in the year anyone? 1611. Again you want to finish this sermon? Come on

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man. 1611. It was published in 1611, 411 years ago and it has a 12th grade reading

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level. What that means is that that in order to understand a text that you're

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reading it gives you the grade level of which you can easily comprehend this okay?

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The second most popular at 19% is the NIV. It was originally published in 1978

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and it has a seventh or eighth grade reading level and the third most popular

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at 7% is the NRSP the new revised standard version and that has an 11th

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grade reading level. Only 2% said that they read the NLT which is the new

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living translation and that actually has a sixth grade reading level. Altogether

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the top three versions account for as much as 81% of Bible readers reading

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outside the grade level that the majority of Americans can easily

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comprehend. It's problematic when the Bibles that most people are reading most

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people have difficulty understanding. That's without even getting into the

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theology of what they're reading. It's just the sentence structure that makes

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it difficult to understand the scriptures. America needs to improve its

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literacy rates. Yeah and and we need to improve our grade level comprehension.

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Yes but also maybe the most popular forms of the Bible should be the ones

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that most people can understand. This is part of the reason that I use the NIV

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when I preach molestof and it's usually what I'm reading from because it's right

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there on the cusp of what most people can understand but it's not so simplified

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that someone that thinks or reads at a different grade level would feel like

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yeah this is too frilly for me. Believe me if you're a Bible nerd you've heard

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that oh that's too frilly for me. That they people have said the NLT or the

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NIV that might as well be a paraphrase. In our discipleship we would be wise to

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remember that reading for comprehension is not as common as we might assume. It's

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not. And this again is why it continues to be important for us to understand just

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how recent of a phenomenon it is to have the Bible available to us

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individually the way that we always have it available. For a thousand years

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leading up to Jesus and his ministry and for 1600 plus years after that to have

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heard the scriptures was as good and equivalent as having read the scriptures

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because it was the only way you could have ingested the scriptures. In the

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first century synagogue in the early Christian Church you didn't bring your

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own scroll because you didn't have one. There was no moment where Paul in the

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local Church of Ephesus said okay now if you'd like to get out your Bibles and

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turn to that wasn't a thing. You heard the scriptures read aloud and hearing

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the scriptures counted. When Paul says in Romans 10 17 faith comes from hearing

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the message and the message is heard through the word about Christ Paul is

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elevating the power of hearing the word about Jesus whether a word of evangelism

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or it was a church reading one of his letters about Jesus out loud because

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culturally speaking he knew they didn't have copies of their own. When Paul

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writes to Timothy and says in 2nd Timothy 3 15 through 17 is one of most

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popular verses about scripture he says there's nothing like in Waman or

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read from the message but he says there's nothing like the written word of

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God for showing you the way to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every part

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of scripture is God breathed and useful one way or another. When he said that he

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said it knowing full well that no one in Timothy's local congregation had their

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own copy of this scroll. What he's saying to Timothy is when you read this out

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loud when you teach from this letter when you teach from these scriptures when

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they hear this they will see the way to salvation through Jesus and things will

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change it is beneficial for all of these things when you teach it they hear it

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and God is involved. It's even clearer about this subject in the first letter

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that he wrote Timothy 1st Timothy 4 13 he says until I come devote yourself

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Timothy saying to the public reading of Scripture to exhortation to teaching

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because to have heard was to have read to have heard was to have received Jesus

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in John 15 right right there in that segment that I've been saying that a lot

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of all of these ideas come from John 13 to John 17 he says when you obey my

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commandments you remain in my love just as I obey my father's commandments and

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remain in his love well the next question we ask is what commandments

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exactly because those of us that went to like Christian colleges I can pretty

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sure I'm just off the cuff now okay so forgive me if this goes off in a in a

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tangent but if you went to a Christian college almost surely at some point

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someone came and did a skit or a play describing like how maybe one of the

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disciples was standing there writing everything down that didn't happen none

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of the disciples were standing around writing everything down everything got

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written down much later and so when Jesus says obey my commands they're

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going what does he said what did he say yesterday what was that command oh and

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then if you keep reading oh he says oh and my command is that you should love

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each other no one's set there and like they didn't have a scroll they didn't

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have a piece of parchment that they wrote it down on they heard it and they

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decided to internalize it because the disciples didn't have little pocket

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versions of the New Testament in their genes actually if you read the the book

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of Luke when you get so in John this is just before he's handed over to be killed

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in Luke after he's resurrected it says that he's meeting with the disciples

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again and in Luke 24 verse 45 it says this and then Jesus opened their minds

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to understand the scriptures again these were not scriptures that they had on

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scrolls right in front of them they were the scriptures that he had taught them

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the ones that they had learned as children the ones they had heard read

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out loud when they would go to synagogue so back to the beginning if you listen

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to an audiobook did you read it I've changed my mind I say yes you read it

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hmm I was so convicted about this as I was preparing this message that actually

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I want to change something about the blueprint of how it was designed for the

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first seven plus years this part of the blueprint this day or this concept was

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called obey the word and before we decided to do this series again I had

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wanted this week to be more obviously to more obviously reflect what I actually

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mean by that and so I changed it to read the scriptures because I was like that's

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more obviously what we mean by that let's pray and let's read the scriptures

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next week we talk about listening to the spirit and as I got into thinking about

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read read read and and had all of these thoughts and these concepts and as I was

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studying the scriptures about reading just the words read just don't show up

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in the Bible so I felt like this is still missing the point so with the time

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that we have left I want us to actually consider how we can meditate on the

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scriptures today's page of the blueprint is to meditate on the scriptures if you

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have a physical copy of the Bible or digital copy and you'd like to open that

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with me you are welcome to do that or you can simply listen and hear as I read

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because I'm gonna read from three different places read one from Psalm 1

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from Psalm 19 and Joshua 1 Psalm 1 Psalm 119 and Joshua 1 we have a tradition

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around here the point of it is to give our full attention to the scriptures as

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they're being read so you can do that in a number of ways you can sit or you can

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stand with me in body or spirit as we read the scriptures okay so I'm gonna

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read Psalm 1 starting in verse 1 it says this how blessed is the man who does not

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walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners nor sit in

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the seat of scoffers but he delights his delight is in the law of the Lord and

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his law he meditates day and night he will be like a tree firmly planted by

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streams of water which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not

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wither and in whatever he does he prospers Psalm 119 verse 11 I have

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stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you verse 15 I

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will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways I shall delight in your

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statutes I shall not forget your word Joshua 1 8 this is just after the life

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of Moses has ended in Joshua has been asked now to lead all of the Israelites

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and this is what the Lord is saying to Joshua Joshua 1 verse 8 this book of the

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law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate on it day and night

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so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it

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for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have

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success let us pray God of every tribe every tongue every color and every

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nation every everyone I pray that the words that we read today would be

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meaningful we would meditate upon them whatever you have for us to internalize

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pray that it would become a part of the framework of our faith that our faith

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would become stronger that we would become more like your son Jesus amen

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amen thanks y'all have a seat all right if you do a survey of the entire Bible

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if you were to read it from beginning to end and if you are looking for a unified

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description of what to do with the scriptures sometimes you will see

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mention of reading sometimes you will see mention of it being read aloud to

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assemblies of God's people but almost always it seems the overall mandate the

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request to us the believer from the scriptures about the scriptures isn't

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only to read on our own or hear them when we're at church but it is to

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meditate on them it is to meditate on the scriptures day and night what do you

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think he's trying to get across here by saying day and night all the time the

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scriptures are something that we are meant to be meditating all the time and

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this is important because to read and to meditate on our two different things you

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know how many books are on my shelves in there that I have read that I don't

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remember much of what was in them there's a difference between reading

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something and meditating on it earlier I gave you the dictionary definition of

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reading reading gets boiled down to seeing and comprehending to consuming

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to finishing but to meditate meditation is the rumination of whatever we've

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received the word meditate in the Hebrew can be translated in a in a few ways but

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the most captivating translation to me along with meditate is to muse the word

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meditate means to muse to be absorbed in thought meditation on the scriptures

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some people think of what meditation becomes modern-day meditation on the

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scriptures is not the emptying of our minds meditation on the scriptures is

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the musing of our minds on God's story it is our minds being absorbed in

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thought about what scriptures are saying and so just like last week I said you

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know I don't know that I actually have to convince everybody to that praying is

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important I don't know that I have to convince everyone here that the reading

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the scriptures and meditating on them is important and so what actually I want us

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to walk away with tools on how to meditate on scripture how to think about

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scripture tools that will help you work through a blueprint of forming your

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faith and so with the time that we have left what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read

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a ten verse passage three different times from three different versions and

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each time we're going to muse meditate or think on or examine in three different

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ways with three different mindsets okay the first time as I read the passage we

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are going to meditate on the scriptures think on let our mind be absorbed with

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thought ready like you were a detective okay so as I read it these are the

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things that we can do as a detective to be absorbed with thought imagine the

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scene as I read this imagine the scene if you were a detective what facts do

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you observe about it if you have if you happen to have a pen you can write the

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things down that you notice you could type into a note or phone this is what

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I noticed this is what I observed what questions would you have think of the

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old dragnet just the facts ma'am just the facts what do you notice what

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questions would you want to ask about what is happening who's there who's

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there who's present if you are a detective you want to make sure you know

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who who all of the people are that were present because you're probably gonna

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have to ask all of them questions to get the deeper most accurate understanding

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of what it is that happened then in there what questions would you ask them

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would they be honest with you hmm ask the question what is happening and why

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why is this happening and then as the details come together if you were

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Sherlock Holmes what deductions would you come to what solution or problem

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solving does this provide for you in your life okay here we go I'm gonna read

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this passage aloud think like a detective and after I read it I'll

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remind you a couple things and you can keep thinking about it for a few more

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moments this is from the NIV Luke 19 1 through 10 Jesus entered Jericho and was

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passing through maybe you just you're in a film noir you see the the glass door

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of the detective and you hear that Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through

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sorry a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus he was a chief tax collector

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and was wealthy he wanted to see who Jesus was but because he was short he

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could not see over the crowd so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to

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see him since Jesus was coming that way when Jesus reached the spot he looked up

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and said to him Zacchaeus come down immediately I must stay at your house

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today so he came down at once and welcomed him gladly all the people saw

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this and began to mutter he has gone to be the guest of a sinner

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Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord look Lord here and now I give half of my

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possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody out of anything I will

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pay back four times the amount Jesus said to him today's salvation has come

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to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham for the son of man came

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to seek to save the lost now think imagine the scene what are you observing

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about it this one has multiple locations where did they start where did they go

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why does that matter why were people upset Jesus went there with this person

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at this time who are the people that are upset why does it matter at all

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think about the things that happened go back over in your mind the order of

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things that you remember where did it start what town were they in what was

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the name of the guy what was his profession is his profession connected

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to the story is that part of what matters was Jesus there to catch a crook

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why was he there

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what deductions can you start to come to about why this is important why it

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matters to your life that it is in the Bible why does it matter okay pin that

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one up and move on this time I want you to think about this passage like you

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are an apprentice of Jesus like you're one of his disciples but not not just I

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don't want to use the word disciple because I don't want us to get stuck in

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what we think that means think about an apprentice someone that is taking on a

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job the point is that they are going to become what they are taking on a job for

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now if you're the apprentice if you were there and this was your first day on the

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job following Jesus around what would you be feeling and thinking as this

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first-day apprentice you you answered an ad on Facebook marketplace or indeed

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calm Jesus said you've got the apprenticeship meet me on the edge of

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Jericho tomorrow we're gonna be passing through there you can meet me there okay

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it's your first day and as we read this again what do you think what do you feel

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what would you think Jesus is wanting you to learn by following him through

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this town and doing what he's doing what seems important to Jesus what is he

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simultaneously because he knows you're the apprentice what does he

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simultaneously teaching someone else but also teaching you because he knows your

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job is to watch and learn what does he do that you could be doing how do you

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see him meeting needs what does Jesus do when someone asks a question how does he

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respond and then if you came to work the next day and Jesus stayed home what is

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the most important thing this passage that Jesus is showing you wants you to

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practice so I'll read now from a version that's called the living Bible as Jesus

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was passing through Jericho a man named Zacchaeus one of the most influential

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Jews in the Roman tax collecting business and of course a very rich man he

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tried to get a look at Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowds so he

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ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree beside the road to watch from there

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when Jesus came by he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name

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Zacchaeus he said quick come down for I'm going to be a guest in your home

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today Zacchaeus hurriedly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great

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excitement and joy but the crowds were displeased he has gone to be the guest

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of a notorious sinner they grumbled meanwhile Zacchaeus stood before the

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Lord and said sir from now on I will give half my wealth to the poor if I

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find I have overcharged anyone on their taxes I will penalize myself by giving

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him back four times as much and Jesus told him this shows salvation has come

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to this home today this man was one of the lost sons of Abraham and I the

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Messiah have come to search for to save such souls as his it's your first day on

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the job you've known Jesus in person for 17 minutes he's already causing trouble

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the the crowd is already upset with him that he went to the wrong house she's

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are we allowed to go here just where I'm supposed to go what if you're is the

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apprentice what if your heart isn't yet ready to walk into the tax collector's

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house what are you seeing what are you feeling as an apprentice of Jesus this

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your first day following him around what is it that he wants you to be seeing so

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that you can do what needs do you see him meeting who is he most concerned

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with in other words like who's his clientele who's he trying to put first

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in this story

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and if next morning he said all right you go do it on your own today what does

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that mean what is he asking you to go do all right so we've been a detective and

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we've been an apprentice lastly let's meditate on this passage like we're an

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artist as I read meditate and use let your maybe understand that in the

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scriptures in the Hebrew scriptures this is gonna blow some of your minds they

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did not have a word for brain because they didn't know that that's where

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everything came from their word for soul is actually connected to our

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throats because they just knew oh he lose that you're done and so when we say

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let your mind be absorbed in thought especially now as we're thinking as an

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artist we're not saying just think with your brain connect to your emotions

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connect to your gut what do you feel as an artist what does this look like as we

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read it what kind of painting from what era do you feel like this is if you're

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well versed in artists do you feel like oh I'm gonna paint something that looks

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like that artist is it classic is it watercolors should it be digital art if

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you were the artist the first person to ever depict this story how would you

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depict it how large or small should the artwork be what colors should you use

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what characters in the story should be front and center how would you

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communicate everything that's happening is it a drawing is it a painting is it

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a photo where would you stand in the room to take the photo so that everyone

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was given the position in this story that is required maybe it's not any of

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those maybe it's a song what does it sound like if you had to hum it what

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would its melody be what instruments would you absolutely need in order to

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tell this story so that you could communicate how it moves you to others

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how do you hope your piece of art would move the people that experience it

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lastly what would you name this piece of art let's muse meditate on this as I

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read the same story from the message then Jesus entered and walked through

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Jericho there was a man there his name Zacchaeus the head tax man and quite

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rich he wanted desperately to see Jesus but the crowd was in his way he was a

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short man and couldn't see over the crowd so he ran on ahead and climbed up

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in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by when Jesus got to the

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tree he looked up and said Zacchaeus hurry down today is my day to be a guest

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in your home Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree hardly believing his good luck

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delighted to take Jesus home with him everyone who saw the incident was

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indignant and grumped what business does he have getting cozy with this crook

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Zacchaeus just stood there a little stunned he stammered apologetically

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master I give away half my income to the poor and if I'm caught cheating I pay

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four times the damages Jesus said today is salvation day in this home here is

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Zacchaeus son of Abraham for the son of man came to find and restore the lost

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just in a moment of silence you don't need my help

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you're the artist how do you tell this story and why is it important to tell it

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that way

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okay I have one free Krispy Kreme donut for anyone that's willing to share their

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description of this story anyone want anyone want to share how they would have

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turned this into a work of art come on take the mic I knew you were gonna end

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up here eventually everybody this is Andy everybody say hey Andy go on so the

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people online can see you too so for the paint I had a painting and of course

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it's you know Renaissance painting stuff all right because that's you know anyone

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else have Renaissance come to mind that's probably the majority of

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paintings about scriptures are from that area okay so in my picture I see in the

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center of the pictures the crowd and they're all looking to the right and

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Jesus is on the right that's how I saw him coming into town and I see Zacchaeus

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is in a tree to the left kind of over the people and some of the people are

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looking at Jesus and some of the people are like looking at Zacchaeus they have

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angry looks on their faces disbelief they're touching the person next to them

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like you know and so that's what I see so I see that the primary telling in the

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picture is the center of the reactions of the crowd and so you see Jesus

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smiling you know he's like glowing warm kind of you see Zacchaeus like surprise

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or excitement but then the crowd is where the story's told in my room that's

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awesome I had just a flash of of like some kind of artwork that is the family

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tree and about how someone like Zacchaeus someone had erased his name but then

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Jesus comes and every single version if you read multiple versions of stories

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especially if you include paraphrases and more thought for word thought

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for thought things not so like stuck to just word for word you'll see there's a

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reason every version has some of the same words every version they say it was

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that key is every version say that they were going through Jericho every version

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says he was a tax collector and every version said that I have come to seek

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and save the loss this is a son of Abraham they said it in some way so I

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see this image of someone taking Zacchaeus his name and scribing it back

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on the family tree

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what was what Andy's name oh what would your name of the painting be you know to

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be artistic you don't always have to be good at naming things it's all right

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it's all right yeah Adam the first maybe yeah Adam had to name all the animals

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according to Genesis that's an interesting concept anyhow I hope that

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we walk away from today going oh reading the Bible isn't what I thought it was

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that we have it available to us we can read it almost any time that we actually

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want to but let me encourage you that when you have time when you decide I'm

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gonna remember that thing that I heard or I'm gonna sit down and read in

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whatever format that you choose to read that it's not just about ingesting

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words it's not just so that at the end of the day you can click a box and go

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look Jesus I did that thing I'm supposed to do but that whatever your personality

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is whether you be an artist or detective an apprentice or any other number ways

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of you that you think of yourself come to the scriptures with your whole self

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and then not just with your brain but with your emotions and your personality

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ruminate muse meditate on the scriptures day and night because they have a way

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of lighting our path hmm that's it let's pray God we thank you for the

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scriptures every version oh and we pray that you would just help us to to give

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it in to them to meditate on them to meditate on the scriptures in a way that

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has deep meaning that directs our paths that keeps us from the things that push

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us away from you and through meditating on your scriptures we believe that we

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will become more like your son Jesus thank you thank you thank you amen