Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Reading the Ingredients:...

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Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Reading the Ingredients:... · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: The Apostle Paul once wrote to the people of Philippi
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Speaker 1: words of a great significance to him in Philippiums, Chapter three,
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Speaker 1: verse ten, that I may know Him and the power
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Speaker 1: of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. In
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Speaker 1: the Amplified Bible, those words are amplified to say that
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Speaker 1: I may know him. That is, that I may progressively
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Speaker 1: become more deeply and intimately acquainted with him. What a
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Speaker 1: great goal in life. And you may hear the words
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Speaker 1: and think I'll never achieve that. I'll never know that.
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Speaker 1: On the contrary, the Lord has made it possible for
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Speaker 1: you to be even closer than near him. You can
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Speaker 1: be in him and he and you. The transaction is
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Speaker 1: really not mysterious or difficult. Doesn't require you to give
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Speaker 1: a thousand dollars a week or somehow pay penance for
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Speaker 1: your wrongdoing, or make him promises that will impress him
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Speaker 1: with your sincerity. He's given us his son, Jesus, who
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Speaker 1: paid the complete penalty for that distance between us and him.
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Speaker 1: And when we trust in his son, we get all
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Speaker 1: of him. The fact founder of the school where I studied,
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Speaker 1: Lewis Ferry Chaeffer, many years ago wrote great words that
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Speaker 1: answer to this song we heard nearer, still nearer, nearer
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Speaker 1: I cannot be, for in the person of his son,
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Speaker 1: I am as near as he. What a great statement.
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Speaker 1: In Christ, you are as near as you can possibly be,
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Speaker 1: for you are in Him, and when you have Him
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Speaker 1: within you, he goes with you everywhere you go. He's
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Speaker 1: a part of your every conscious and unconscious moments. He's there.
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Speaker 1: But of course there must be that relationship. Maybe during
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Speaker 1: some of the quiet moments, in a few moments when
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Speaker 1: we pray together, and as you're thinking about these things,
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Speaker 1: it would be a great moment for you to come
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Speaker 1: as near as you can possibly be as you trust Christ.
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Speaker 1: You're surrounded by those of us who have done that.
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Speaker 1: The change it makes is literally revolutionary, and I urge
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Speaker 1: you to do that well. In our time in the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: we are going through a process of learning how to
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Speaker 1: understand the Bible. And we thought about it last time
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Speaker 1: we were together and looked at length at Psalm one
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Speaker 1: nineteen and thought about what is involved in getting to
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Speaker 1: know God's word in a way that we can get
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Speaker 1: our arms around it. It really is not a mystery here.
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Speaker 1: We have it in our own language, whatever size print
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Speaker 1: you wish to get, You've got it available, whatever version.
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Speaker 1: But the secret is not that you listen to someone
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Speaker 1: else teach it. The secret in getting to know the
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Speaker 1: scriptures is that you, on your own learn how to
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Speaker 1: dig into it yourself as a child of God. I
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Speaker 1: want to read for you just a brief section from
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Speaker 1: Proverbs chapter two, verses one to five. So locate that
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Speaker 1: and put your finger there, and then let me locate
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Speaker 1: with you a single verse in Psalm one hundred and nineteen,
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Speaker 1: verse eighteen. Okay, So I'll read Psalm one nineteen eighteen,
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Speaker 1: and then we'll look together at the first five verses
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Speaker 1: of Proverbs two. I'm reading from the New Living Translation.
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Speaker 1: It may be a little different from the version that
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Speaker 1: you use, but it's the word of God. May we
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Speaker 1: stand together for the reading of the scriptures Verse eighteen
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Speaker 1: of Psalm one nineteen. Open my eyes to see the
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Speaker 1: wonderful truths in your instructions in the processed proverbs, too,
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Speaker 1: my son or my child, Listen to what I say
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Speaker 1: and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom and
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Speaker 1: concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight and ask for understanding.
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Speaker 1: Search for them as you would for silver. Seek them
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Speaker 1: like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means
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Speaker 1: to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.
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Speaker 1: May the Lord help us see the truth of that
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Speaker 1: in our time together around His word. Please be seated.
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Speaker 1: Now is your moment. I'm going to pray. But as
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Speaker 1: you listen, search your own heart. Consider the offer that
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Speaker 1: God has made to forgive all those things that plague you, past,
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Speaker 1: present and future, to come and live within you, that
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Speaker 1: you might know His presence for the rest of your
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Speaker 1: life and through death in the life beyond. About with me,
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Speaker 1: will you please to have you, Oh God, as our
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Speaker 1: own is far beyond having a wonderful friend. By having
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Speaker 1: you within us, we have a power that we would
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Speaker 1: not otherwise have. We have a peace, a peace no
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Speaker 1: one else can give, no matter how much they love us.
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Speaker 1: We have with you a hope that will take us
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Speaker 1: beyond this life into an eternity with You, which no
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Speaker 1: one else can provide. How gracious of you, Lord, What
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Speaker 1: wondrous love is that? Were you so love us that
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Speaker 1: you gave your one and only son, that if we
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Speaker 1: would simply trust him, we would have, we would possess,
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Speaker 1: we would be secure in the promise of eternal life.
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Speaker 1: Teach us today, our Father, to go beyond a fear
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Speaker 1: of you, so that we might know what you have
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Speaker 1: written to us in such a way that a relationship
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Speaker 1: with you is intimate and deep satisfying. I pray especially
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Speaker 1: for those whose nights are marked by sleeplessness, whose worry
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Speaker 1: list is longer than any other list in their lives.
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Speaker 1: I pray for those who struggle concern over something physical
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Speaker 1: or emotional, or something in the home that's troubling. I
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Speaker 1: pray that the truth of your love will sweep over
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Speaker 1: us and will come to realize that you can meet
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Speaker 1: whatever may be the need as we lay it before you.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, for the challenge of living in a
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Speaker 1: time like this. What a privilege it is to represent
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Speaker 1: you in the midst of a world that is a
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Speaker 1: wash lost in its own self, troubled by many of
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Speaker 1: the problems that we have created. And today we pray
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Speaker 1: that we might have relief and confidence that you are
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Speaker 1: working out your will and that you do all things well.
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Speaker 1: We count on you for that Our nation is in
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Speaker 1: great need, our country living under the threat of those
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Speaker 1: who would invade and bring harm and hurt to those,
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Speaker 1: especially those who name the name of Christ. Protect us.
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Speaker 1: We pray, watch over us, guide us, and guard us
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Speaker 1: as only you are able to do. Minister to us deeply.
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Speaker 1: I pray in the quiet moments of this offering and
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Speaker 1: accept our gifts, which we give with confidence that they
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Speaker 1: will be used wisely and well. May we as a
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Speaker 1: church treat them as a sacred trust. May they be
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Speaker 1: handled with integrity for your purposes. It is in the
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Speaker 1: name of Jesus we pray these things. And everyone said, Amen.
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Speaker 1: Don't you wonder some time how a person can stand
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Speaker 1: and pull something from the Bible that you have looked
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Speaker 1: at many times but weren't able to see what's being presented?
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Speaker 1: Isn't that? But sometimes it can be discouraging, other times
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Speaker 1: it makes you curious. My hope in this brief series
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Speaker 1: is to help you work your way through the process
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Speaker 1: of being able to do that on your own. Now
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Speaker 1: I realize most are not called to preach, or even
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Speaker 1: to stand and teach before an audience. But we are all,
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Speaker 1: as God's people, called to become acquainted with what He
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Speaker 1: has written for us, and that would be called the scriptures.
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Speaker 1: And the first step in getting to know your copy
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Speaker 1: of the Scriptures is observation. Through observation, we discover what
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Speaker 1: the Bible says, and that is foundational. To be frank
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Speaker 1: with you, that is the process I go through every
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Speaker 1: time I prepare what I want to present. I start
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Speaker 1: right here where we are today with observation. My goal
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Speaker 1: is to discover what is written in these verses that
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Speaker 1: we're looking at. Many people want to know the meaning
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Speaker 1: of the Bible so much that they rapidly pass beyond
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Speaker 1: observation and plunge into interpretation. And that is the formula
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Speaker 1: for error, because you can never have a better interpretation
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Speaker 1: of the scriptures than your observation of what the Bible
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Speaker 1: is saying. The interpretation is stewed if you have misread
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Speaker 1: the truth or if you have failed to see what
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Speaker 1: is there. Accuracy of our interpretation hinges on how careful
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Speaker 1: is observation. So let's think about observation for a few moments.
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Speaker 1: What do what mean when I refer to observation. A
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Speaker 1: definition would be a good place to begin. To observe
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Speaker 1: is to inspect or to take note of something, to
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Speaker 1: watch carefully with attention to details. Detective Sherlock Holmes from
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Speaker 1: Scotland Yards was quick to point out, Watson, you see,
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Speaker 1: but you do not observe. The renowned nineteenth century naturalists
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Speaker 1: from Harvard named Lewis Agassiz was asked, what has been
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Speaker 1: your greatest contribution scientifically? Without hesitation, Agassi's answered, I have
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Speaker 1: taught men and women to observe. Yogi berra it right.
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Speaker 1: You can observe a lot by watching. How we laugh
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Speaker 1: at that, But the truth is, when you failed to observe,
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Speaker 1: you sometimes regret. It came to mind when I came
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Speaker 1: across this true account of Sir William Ussler, who was
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Speaker 1: the distinguished Professor of Medicine at Oxford University back in
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Speaker 1: the early years of the previous century. He was a
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Speaker 1: stickler for detail, and he was concerned that his medical students,
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Speaker 1: from the very beginning of their training become keen observers.
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Speaker 1: On one occasion, sitting on Usler's desk with a classroom
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Speaker 1: full of young, wide eyed medical students, was a small
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Speaker 1: container containing human urine. He said, I want you to understand,
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Speaker 1: men and women, that this bottle contains a sample for analysis.
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Speaker 1: It's often possible by tasting it that you can determine
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Speaker 1: the disease from which your patient suffers suiting action to words.
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Speaker 1: He stuck his finger into the urine and then put
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Speaker 1: a finger into his mouth as he continued, Now, I'm
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Speaker 1: going to pass this bottle around, and I asked that
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Speaker 1: you do exactly as I did. Every student cringed. The
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Speaker 1: bottle made its way from road to row, from student
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Speaker 1: to student, who gingerly poked his finger into the urine
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Speaker 1: and then bravely sampled its content with a frown. The
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Speaker 1: container finally made it back to the professor's desk, and
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Speaker 1: he said, you will now understand what I mean when
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Speaker 1: I speak about details. Had you been observant, you would
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Speaker 1: have seen that I put my index finger into the bottle,
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Speaker 1: but I put my middle finger into my mouth. Most
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Speaker 1: of us think we're better at observing than we really are.
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Speaker 1: I'll give you a quick test and let you grade
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Speaker 1: your own paper. Let's check your observation skills. You spent
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Speaker 1: this past week with a good friend, maybe as recently
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Speaker 1: as last evening. If you're married, you certainly spent that
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Speaker 1: evening with your spouse. What exactly was he or she
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Speaker 1: wearing when you had time with them most recently? Here's
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Speaker 1: another which inscription does not appear on the back of
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Speaker 1: a one dollar bill. In God, we trust the Great
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Speaker 1: seal emploribus onum. Oh, Come on, now, you've handled dollar
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Speaker 1: bills all your life, surely you would know that here's
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Speaker 1: a third. What was the exact title of my sermon
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Speaker 1: the last time I preached? How many miles are on
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Speaker 1: your car's odometer? Today? I sometimes say to Cynthia, where
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Speaker 1: is the gas gage on the dashboard in our car?
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Speaker 1: But that's between her and me? Was your mother right
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Speaker 1: handed or left handed? How about your father? Was Moses
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Speaker 1: an only child or did he have siblings? He had siblings?
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Speaker 1: How many who traveled with Paul on his first missionary journey?
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Speaker 1: Do all the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John include
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Speaker 1: the record of Jesus birth? If not, which ones don't? Well,
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Speaker 1: maybe I'm getting too biblical. What's the brand name of
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Speaker 1: the stove you cook on every day? Some of you're
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Speaker 1: going cook? How many steps lead to the second floor
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Speaker 1: in your home you walked in every day? If not
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Speaker 1: your home, how about where you work? How many steps?
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Speaker 1: Thought about this? Just this last week and I was
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Speaker 1: driving through a school zone. Yes, at twenty miles an hour, Relax,
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Speaker 1: But I realized I did not know what time the
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Speaker 1: light starts to blink yellow and when it goes off.
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Speaker 1: Though I passed by there hundreds of times in a
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Speaker 1: given month and I see it, but I've never observed
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Speaker 1: the details. Interestingly, now I've begun to notice the times
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Speaker 1: change from one school zone area to another. I need
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Speaker 1: to make a clarification too, between observation and interpretation. Observing
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Speaker 1: is not the same as in Forte. I notice on
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Speaker 1: our kitchen cabinet we have a we have a small
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Speaker 1: prescription container and it says on it, take with food.
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Speaker 1: There's three words, take with food. What does that mean?
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Speaker 1: I thought when I looked at it yesterday. How about
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Speaker 1: a person from another culture interpret that? Should I take
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Speaker 1: the pill and break it up and my food and
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Speaker 1: swallow it when I'm eating my meal? That's exactly what
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Speaker 1: it says, take with food. You and I know because
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Speaker 1: experience that we were to take the medicine on a
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Speaker 1: full stomach, so the stomach won't be upset when the
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Speaker 1: chemical enters. That's what it means, but that's not what
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Speaker 1: it says. Determining what the text of scriptures says is
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Speaker 1: all together different than determining what it means. Turn for
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Speaker 1: example to the verse we looked at a little earlier
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Speaker 1: someone nineteen verse eighteen, just a single verse before we
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Speaker 1: land on another for our time together. Now, put your
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Speaker 1: thinking caps on. I'm not here to entertain you. I'm
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Speaker 1: not here to impress you. I'm here to help you learn.
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Speaker 1: Now let's learn together. Look at the verse one nineteen eighteen.
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Speaker 1: What is that verse? Open my eyes to see the
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Speaker 1: wonderful truth in your instructions. Well, the first thing I
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Speaker 1: would observe if I were to make a list on
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Speaker 1: a piece of paper. This is a prayer. He's not
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Speaker 1: writing to his brother or to a friend. He's writing
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Speaker 1: to the only one who can open his eyes to see.
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Speaker 1: So he's offering up a prayer to the Lord. Psalm
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Speaker 1: one nineteen is full of him except for the first
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Speaker 1: three verses and verse one point fifteen. Every other of
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Speaker 1: the one hundred and seventy six verses is a prayer.
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Speaker 1: It speaks to God as he's writing the psalm, a
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Speaker 1: great Psalm to become acquainted with. Here's another observation. The
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Speaker 1: prayer is focused on one request, only one request. The
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Speaker 1: request is in the opening words open my eyes. He's
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Speaker 1: really asking the Lord help me see what is here
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Speaker 1: in your word. The prayer is specific. He's not interested
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Speaker 1: in merely looking around and appreciating nature. He's not asking
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Speaker 1: that he might look up and see the stars, or
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Speaker 1: look around and see the people that are around him.
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Speaker 1: He's asking open my eyes to see truth. And his
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Speaker 1: prayer is also an acknowledgement. Look at the verse again,
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Speaker 1: let me see, however, look at it the wonderful truths
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Speaker 1: that are here. He's acknowledging the truths are wonderful. So
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Speaker 1: the request is specific. Lord, I come to you today
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Speaker 1: and I ask you to open my eyes as I
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Speaker 1: unrolled the scroll as he did in that day. And
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Speaker 1: I come across a section of the Torah, the Law,
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Speaker 1: and I read it. I want to know fully and
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Speaker 1: completely as best I can, what it is saying Step one.
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Speaker 1: There is no earlier step than this. We were to
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Speaker 1: take the time to look at the Proverbs two section,
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Speaker 1: we would notice that it takes work. You dig into
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Speaker 1: it like you would dig for treasure. Most of us
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Speaker 1: have never dug for treasure. Most of us have never
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Speaker 1: searched for silver or gold. I read about Ballard, who
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Speaker 1: made a fourteen year search for the sunken Titanic fourteen
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Speaker 1: years he searched for the ship, the work, the effort,
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Speaker 1: the costs, the time, and then that great day Eureka.
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Speaker 1: There it is on the base of the Atlantic, the
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Speaker 1: North Atlantic. No one had found it before, and he
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Speaker 1: found it. He had dug if you will, as if
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Speaker 1: for treasure. Now let's change from this verse to the one.
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Speaker 1: We'll spend most of our time with chapter one. So
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Speaker 1: turn the New Testament, the first chapter of the Book
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Speaker 1: of Acts. If you're not familiar with your Bible, there
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Speaker 1: are four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. At the
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Speaker 1: very end of John is the Book of Acts. This
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Speaker 1: is a study. This is a record, I should say,
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Speaker 1: of the actions of those who took the message of
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Speaker 1: Jesus and carried it to the people of their world.
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Speaker 1: These are the acts of the Apostles. Look at verse eight.
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Speaker 1: If there is a familiar verse in all of Acts
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Speaker 1: to most Christians, it's Acts one eight. If I were
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Speaker 1: to tap you on the shoulder, and you're a student
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Speaker 1: of scripture memory and ask you what does Acts one
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Speaker 1: eight say, you'd probably spit it out. But you shall
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Speaker 1: receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and
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Speaker 1: you should be my witnesses Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the
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Speaker 1: uttermost part of the world. You have stated the verse
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Speaker 1: reads that you have not observed carefully. What it says
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Speaker 1: takes time. You have to dig into it. So first
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Speaker 1: of all, we look for terms. Look at the first word.
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Speaker 1: When I start like this, some of you are going
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Speaker 1: this is going to be a long sermon. I can
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Speaker 1: tell by the way we're starting. We're down to one word.
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Speaker 1: We'll be on one word, and another word and yet
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Speaker 1: another word. Not concern with time, but concern with understanding.
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Speaker 1: The worst thing you can say to yourself is, oh,
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Speaker 1: I've read that verse all my life, or I'm familiar
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Speaker 1: with this. Let's go on to what's interesting. The first
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Speaker 1: word is what, But we know it's a term that
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Speaker 1: represents a contrast, a change of direction. You're moving in
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Speaker 1: wonder but occurs and you move in another direction. You're
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Speaker 1: changing from what has been going on to something that
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Speaker 1: will now take place our will in the future. But
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Speaker 1: what does that term force me to do? Well, I
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Speaker 1: have to look back. It's called checking the context. You
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Speaker 1: understand a text of scripture better when you understand the
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Speaker 1: context the surrounding verses. Every verse is within a context,
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Speaker 1: even the first verse of a book or the first
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Speaker 1: verse of a chapter surrounding this something is happening that
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Speaker 1: causes the writer, whose name is doctor Luke, to begin
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Speaker 1: this statement with but well, let's go back up there
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Speaker 1: where we're going. Jesus verse four is eating with them.
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Speaker 1: He commanded them, do not leave Jerusalem until the Father
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Speaker 1: sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before,
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Speaker 1: John baptized with water. But there's a word again. But
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Speaker 1: in just a few days you will be baptized with
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Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. So part of the context when the
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Speaker 1: apostles were with Jesus that kept asking him, Lord, has
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Speaker 1: the time come for you to free Israel and restore
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Speaker 1: the kingdom? He replied, The Father alone has the authority
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Speaker 1: to set those dates and times, and they're not for
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Speaker 1: you to know. But now you've got a context. You
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Speaker 1: know what we've done. When we read verse eight, we've
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Speaker 1: interrupted a conversation. There's a discussion going on. Jesus is speaking,
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Speaker 1: and then the apostles are responding, and he's giving a statement,
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Speaker 1: and they're asking a question and he's correcting their assumption.
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Speaker 1: It's a dialogue, and in the middle of the dialogue.
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Speaker 1: He says, but hold on, man, and if you are
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Speaker 1: a Greek reading students, as I know you're not, you
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Speaker 1: would understand this is a very emphatic contrast. But so
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Speaker 1: let's look again at verse seven. The father has the
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Speaker 1: authority to set those dates and times. That means when
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Speaker 1: I'm coming and when I'm establishing my kingdom. They're not
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Speaker 1: for you to know. But since you're not to know
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Speaker 1: that something is going to happen, that will play a
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Speaker 1: role in your knowing that. So we have a contrast here.
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Speaker 1: Let me remind you never isolate a verse, never go there.
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Speaker 1: Isolated versus lead to error, especially portions of verses. Years ago,
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Speaker 1: I had the privilege of leading one of my fellow
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Speaker 1: marines to christ. His family happened to live in the
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Speaker 1: Bay Area, and since I got off the island before
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Speaker 1: he did, was going to muster out their trace r island.
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Speaker 1: He said, when you're there, would you visit my folks?
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Speaker 1: I know they would love to meet you. I've told
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Speaker 1: him all about you. I said, sure, I'd love to.
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Speaker 1: It takes a while to be discharged and a Sunday
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Speaker 1: would pass, and I said, well, I'm there for Sunday.
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Speaker 1: I'll look him up. He gave me their number. I
29:30
Speaker 1: called him and they said, oh, we've heard about you.
29:33
Speaker 1: You're a religious man who's been influencing our son. Well
29:37
Speaker 1: that's a good start, isn't it. Right Away, I'm marked,
29:40
Speaker 1: I'm a religious man. They said, we want you to
29:43
Speaker 1: go to church with us. I said, I'd love to.
29:45
Speaker 1: They happened to go to a liberal church. And I
29:50
Speaker 1: realized that when we first walked in, got into the
29:52
Speaker 1: vestibule of the northex, and they said, is this in
29:55
Speaker 1: this place wonderful? Marblus beautiful? Look at the pictures And
30:00
Speaker 1: I looked at massive pictures that were They were beautifully done.
30:04
Speaker 1: A painting of Abraham Lincoln, another painting of Mahatma Gandhi,
30:11
Speaker 1: another painting of Abraham Lincoln and Jesus of Nazareth, and
30:18
Speaker 1: I think another president was in the group. And at
30:21
Speaker 1: the bottom in gold were the words you were all
30:25
Speaker 1: the children of God dot dot dot. That little dot
30:32
Speaker 1: dot dot is kind of important because it looks like
30:35
Speaker 1: everybody painted in the frames were children of God. But
30:41
Speaker 1: the verse goes on to say in Galatians, you're all
30:44
Speaker 1: the children of God by faith, which is in Christ
30:47
Speaker 1: Jesus suddenly, and I didn't correct them. I didn't go,
30:53
Speaker 1: how dom are you to think that all of these people,
30:57
Speaker 1: that's not the way these share Christ? But I said, yeah,
31:01
Speaker 1: these are beautiful pictures. This is a lovely building. And afterwards,
31:05
Speaker 1: when we went to lunch, I had a chance to
31:07
Speaker 1: say a few things about a relationship with Christ. They
31:11
Speaker 1: had never heard any of it before. When you take
31:17
Speaker 1: a portion of a verse, you're headed for trouble. So
31:21
Speaker 1: as I take this verse apart, understand you need to
31:25
Speaker 1: understand and value the context. Let's go to the next
31:29
Speaker 1: word you. Now in English, you can't tell if that's
31:34
Speaker 1: singular or plural. Jesus is speaking and he's talking to
31:42
Speaker 1: his apostles, so we know because of that that the
31:46
Speaker 1: you has to be plural. Who would it be we
31:51
Speaker 1: just read it would be the apostles verse six. How
31:55
Speaker 1: do I know that? I look back, I locate that
32:00
Speaker 1: you goes back to the apostles, So we could say
32:05
Speaker 1: you apostles, you men who were followers of mine. Again,
32:11
Speaker 1: it's a question answer time. Now we get to the
32:14
Speaker 1: main verb, you will receive. Look at it right there
32:19
Speaker 1: in your Bible. You will receive. You're not going to
32:25
Speaker 1: cause this to happen. You're going to receive something. Is
32:30
Speaker 1: it past or present or future? It's a verb. Every
32:36
Speaker 1: verb has a tense. Which one is this past, present,
32:42
Speaker 1: or future? I'm not going too fast, am I? What
32:47
Speaker 1: is it future? Of course you will receive meaning what
32:52
Speaker 1: they do not now? Have the power? Very simple. But
32:57
Speaker 1: if you read it hurriedly, you wouldn't get that. And
33:00
Speaker 1: how many people read their Bible hurriedly so they can
33:02
Speaker 1: get through the chapter in twenty minutes or ten minutes?
33:06
Speaker 1: Forget your speed reading course. When you come to a
33:09
Speaker 1: serious study of the Bible, there's no hurry. But you
33:16
Speaker 1: will receive. What are they going to receive? If it's
33:20
Speaker 1: important enough for him to say? But you will receive.
33:24
Speaker 1: It's important enough for us to notice he uses the
33:27
Speaker 1: word power. If we had time, we would get a dictionary.
33:33
Speaker 1: We'd look up the meaning, because that deserves investigation. We
33:37
Speaker 1: would go there. When you get to words like that,
33:40
Speaker 1: notice the cause and effect. You're going to receive power
33:45
Speaker 1: when look at it. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
33:52
Speaker 1: I stop. They're not praying for the Holy Spirit, they're
33:58
Speaker 1: not bargaining that somehow they give up this, then they'll
34:01
Speaker 1: get the Holy Spirit. They're not promising that they're going
34:05
Speaker 1: to be living good, clean lives, so that now the
34:08
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit always says, you will receive This is a promise.
34:12
Speaker 1: You can count on this man. You're going to receive
34:16
Speaker 1: power because it will come from the Holy Spirit. The
34:21
Speaker 1: Spirit of God is the cause and the effect is
34:25
Speaker 1: the presence of power in one's life. That's when it
34:30
Speaker 1: will occur. And that's not all he promises. Look at
34:34
Speaker 1: the next connective and look at it, and you will
34:42
Speaker 1: be my witnesses. If I were marking my Bible, I
34:46
Speaker 1: would mark both wills. You will receive power at the
34:52
Speaker 1: same time. You will tell the story, you will testify
34:59
Speaker 1: of me. You'll be my witnesses. There's more and more
35:07
Speaker 1: in my mind. I get this a pause, and imagine
35:10
Speaker 1: that how amazed they must have been. You know why,
35:14
Speaker 1: because the previous setting, when they were with Jesus, they're
35:17
Speaker 1: all running away because he's being arrested before going on
35:23
Speaker 1: trial and ultimately nailed. You across these are the same
35:26
Speaker 1: guys who run away, but they've not gathered back. They've
35:32
Speaker 1: seen him, they've heard his don't be afraid. They've received
35:36
Speaker 1: his assurance, and now of all things are being told.
35:39
Speaker 1: I'm not going to punish you for running away. As
35:42
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, something transforming is going to happen
35:46
Speaker 1: in your lives. You're going to receive power from the
35:51
Speaker 1: third member of the Trinity. You're going to have supernatural strength.
35:57
Speaker 1: You're going to have insight into the truth of my word.
36:01
Speaker 1: You're going to have courage. You won't be intimidated when
36:05
Speaker 1: those come along that stand against you. You see, my
36:08
Speaker 1: great tendency here is to begin to apply it. But
36:12
Speaker 1: we're going to just observe it. I enter into their world,
36:16
Speaker 1: and I think of what it must have been like
36:18
Speaker 1: to have heard Jesus say to me as one of
36:21
Speaker 1: the apostles, I'm going to receive power, and of all things,
36:25
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell people about him as his witness everywhere.
36:32
Speaker 1: But the verse does an end before he gets specific
36:35
Speaker 1: where will they go with that witness? Look look at
36:39
Speaker 1: the end of verse eight, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Somearia,
36:49
Speaker 1: and to the ends of the earth. Where are those places? Well,
36:54
Speaker 1: they're not inside the United States. If you're a Canadian,
36:58
Speaker 1: they're not in Canada. Obviously, you know they're in the
37:04
Speaker 1: land of Israel. So what do we need right now? Maps? Oh,
37:10
Speaker 1: I can't wait. Turn back to your maps. Find the
37:14
Speaker 1: map in your bible. Some of you are going, how
37:16
Speaker 1: long is this gonna last longer than you wish? So
37:19
Speaker 1: stay with me. I want you to get to the maps.
37:22
Speaker 1: And if your wife is carrying your bible, I told
37:25
Speaker 1: you last time, that's not going to work. So I'll
37:27
Speaker 1: let you look on one time. Next time you have
37:29
Speaker 1: your own. Each one of you find the map that
37:32
Speaker 1: says the Ministry of Jesus. Find that map that says
37:38
Speaker 1: Israel during the Ministry of Jesus, because there are other
37:41
Speaker 1: maps back there. Got it. You should see what I'm
37:49
Speaker 1: looking at right now, people staring at me, look at
37:53
Speaker 1: the map. At the top of the map is a
37:54
Speaker 1: body of water called the Sea of Galilee. At the
37:57
Speaker 1: bottom is another body of water that's larger, called the
38:00
Speaker 1: Dead Sea. Trickling in between it is a river called
38:04
Speaker 1: the Jordan River. The river flows out of the Sea
38:08
Speaker 1: of Galilee and down into the Dead Sea. When you
38:12
Speaker 1: get to the Dead Sea, go to the top of
38:14
Speaker 1: the Dead Sea and look to your left, which is west.
38:19
Speaker 1: Look to your left. Before long you will locate put
38:23
Speaker 1: your finger on it. The city of Jerusalem. That's home
38:29
Speaker 1: base for these apostles. You'll be my witnesses right there
38:34
Speaker 1: in Jerusalem. He also said in Judea, Okay, you're looking
38:40
Speaker 1: in the right direction, not at me, but look at
38:42
Speaker 1: your map. Look around it. You'll see large letters that
38:46
Speaker 1: will say Judea. What's that. That's the county called in
38:53
Speaker 1: those days, the province. Jerusalem is a city located in
38:58
Speaker 1: the province of Judea. Okay, Dallas is in the province
39:06
Speaker 1: of this Dallas County. Houston is in the province of
39:10
Speaker 1: Harris County. Jerusalem is in the province of the Judeon County.
39:16
Speaker 1: So you're gonna not only be a witness for me
39:18
Speaker 1: in the city, you're gonna take the message to cities
39:22
Speaker 1: around you. And you could pick out some of them
39:24
Speaker 1: right there on your own. How about Samaria. You thought
39:29
Speaker 1: Judea was tough to find, Look up North, same size
39:34
Speaker 1: print you will find Samarian. It's another province, see it,
39:40
Speaker 1: it's a county, it's a region. What you may not
39:44
Speaker 1: know is that is a place that Jews never wanted
39:47
Speaker 1: to go. Has a long history. I won't get into it,
39:51
Speaker 1: but most of them were so prejudiced they never wanted
39:54
Speaker 1: to be anywhere around it. And when they would come
39:56
Speaker 1: from Galilee down to Judea, they would go around Samaria.
40:00
Speaker 1: It wouldn't go through it. Stay out of Samaria. And
40:04
Speaker 1: Jesus of all things says to his apostles, when you
40:07
Speaker 1: receive power, you're going to be my witnesses where you live,
40:13
Speaker 1: and then outside where you live, and you'll even be
40:18
Speaker 1: taking my message to Samaria. And from there you're going
40:24
Speaker 1: to carry it to the remotest part of the earth.
40:28
Speaker 1: And that's so broad this map doesn't cover it. If
40:31
Speaker 1: you go a couple of maps further, you'll see the
40:34
Speaker 1: journeys of Paul, and you'll see a broader picture of
40:38
Speaker 1: the world. As the message began to spread, that carries
40:41
Speaker 1: us through the Book of Acts, and ultimately he takes
40:44
Speaker 1: it to the very end of the Book of Acts,
40:46
Speaker 1: where he's in Rome, Acts twenty eight, sixteen through eighteen.
40:51
Speaker 1: Now back to Acts one to eight. Let me tie
40:53
Speaker 1: this together in a way that may surprise you. What
40:57
Speaker 1: we have in the eighth verse of Acts one is
41:01
Speaker 1: an inspired outline of the Book of Acts. Do you
41:04
Speaker 1: know that for the first seven chapters they're in Jerusalem,
41:10
Speaker 1: and they're witnessing, and they're suffering, and they're going through persecution,
41:14
Speaker 1: and they're being misunderstood. Some of them are taken under arrest,
41:17
Speaker 1: they're going through difficult times. Others of them are watching
41:20
Speaker 1: God bless and the numbers are increasing as their witnesses
41:24
Speaker 1: for him. That witnessing begins in chapter two, and it
41:28
Speaker 1: carries on through seven, and then there's such a persecution
41:31
Speaker 1: they begin to be scattered and they move into Judea
41:34
Speaker 1: in chapter eight of this book of Acts. In chapter nine,
41:39
Speaker 1: Paul is born again. He's converted on his way to
41:43
Speaker 1: Damascus to put it in to Christians, and after he's
41:48
Speaker 1: changed and transformed, he takes the message far beyond. So
41:53
Speaker 1: between act chapter eight and the end of the book,
41:58
Speaker 1: we are going into Samaria and the remotest part of
42:04
Speaker 1: the world. If you were to ask people in that day,
42:06
Speaker 1: the most remote would be Rome, where the emperor sat.
42:11
Speaker 1: And would you believe before Paul had finished his life,
42:16
Speaker 1: he had an audience with the Emperor, just exactly as
42:21
Speaker 1: they were promised in verse eight. The look at the
42:25
Speaker 1: verse again, it begins to take on a new light.
42:30
Speaker 1: But since I'm not able to give you the time
42:33
Speaker 1: regarding my return, to this earth. Let me tell you
42:36
Speaker 1: what will happen in between. You're going to be the
42:38
Speaker 1: recipients of an incredible power. It'll be power that will
42:43
Speaker 1: come from the Holy Spirit, and he will fill you
42:46
Speaker 1: with that power, and you will become changed men. You
42:49
Speaker 1: will no longer operate in fear and intimidation. You will
42:53
Speaker 1: in fact carry my message into the province around your city.
42:57
Speaker 1: You will carry it up into Samaria places in some
43:00
Speaker 1: area you've never been. You will become one of my spokespersons.
43:04
Speaker 1: And then from there you will take it on to
43:07
Speaker 1: the end of the year. Now right about now, you're
43:10
Speaker 1: starting to feel little smug man, I know this verse
43:17
Speaker 1: look at these observations. I remember the feeling when I
43:20
Speaker 1: took a course from doctor Howard Hendricks called Bible study
43:23
Speaker 1: methods back when I was in seminary, when the Earth's
43:27
Speaker 1: crust was cooling. Nineteen fifty nine nineteen sixty. How Hendrix
43:32
Speaker 1: taught this course and we were all on the edge
43:33
Speaker 1: of our scenes. No teacher like that man when he
43:36
Speaker 1: taught you how to study the Bible. And he said,
43:39
Speaker 1: all right man. That time we were only man in
43:42
Speaker 1: the seminary said all right, man, when you go home,
43:44
Speaker 1: go back to your dorm or your residences. Tonight. I
43:47
Speaker 1: want you to write down on a sheet of paper
43:50
Speaker 1: fifty observations from Acts one eight. My first thought was,
43:55
Speaker 1: you have got to be kidding fifty I'm doing good
44:00
Speaker 1: up ten or twelve. But I sat down in our
44:03
Speaker 1: little apartment and I wrote down fifty observations. Oh so please,
44:08
Speaker 1: I brought it back. We all laid our fifty observations
44:12
Speaker 1: in front of him. Good work. Now go home tonight
44:15
Speaker 1: and find fifty more from the Samer. You know what
44:21
Speaker 1: we did, and we could have even found fifty more.
44:27
Speaker 1: How could we, ladies and gentlemen. We have an infinite text.
44:36
Speaker 1: It is unfathomable. It's truths or bottomless Plemn one hundred
44:43
Speaker 1: and nineteen, Verse eighteen opened my eyes that I may
44:50
Speaker 1: observe what is there. You could take a verse of scripture.
44:57
Speaker 1: You could take a section of scripture and keep yourself
45:01
Speaker 1: busy for the longest time, just digging into the words
45:07
Speaker 1: and seeing how they relieve. Now let's learn how to read.
45:11
Speaker 1: You thought I was basic before. Now I'm going to
45:13
Speaker 1: teach you students how to read. Here we go, think
45:18
Speaker 1: of you, Think of your head. Okay, your eyes, and
45:24
Speaker 1: then we'll think of your ears, and then we'll think
45:27
Speaker 1: of your nose, and then we'll think of your mouth.
45:30
Speaker 1: All right, let's start with the eyes. We need to
45:33
Speaker 1: read as if for the very first time. The worst
45:39
Speaker 1: thing you can say when you start to study your
45:41
Speaker 1: Bible is oh, I've read this before, or I know
45:46
Speaker 1: what this is, I know what this means. No you don't. No,
45:50
Speaker 1: you don't. Or you may know the obvious, but you
45:54
Speaker 1: don't really know in depth what it is saying. You
45:58
Speaker 1: need fresh eyes. I realized that when for years I
46:03
Speaker 1: had looked at the fed X logo on the side
46:07
Speaker 1: of every FedEx truck you've seen it. I was riding
46:12
Speaker 1: along with my son several years ago. We were in
46:14
Speaker 1: his pickup. We were following a FedEx truck and we
46:19
Speaker 1: were talking and we were talking about the truck. But
46:22
Speaker 1: suddenly he said, see the arrow, I go. Arrow. Yeah,
46:29
Speaker 1: in the FedEx truck. You see the arrow? I go?
46:33
Speaker 1: Or we looking at the same truck. He said, yeah, Dad,
46:35
Speaker 1: Look what's he saying. Observe between the E and the
46:41
Speaker 1: X is an arrow. Some of you go, I didn't
46:45
Speaker 1: know that you did know it, maybe, but maybe there's
46:48
Speaker 1: someone around you that I didn't know it. All these years,
46:52
Speaker 1: I've looked at FedEx and never seen an arrow. Now
46:55
Speaker 1: every time I look at FedEx, all I can see
46:57
Speaker 1: is an arrow. It's funny once you discover something like that.
47:01
Speaker 1: As you get acquainted with the scriptures, you will see
47:03
Speaker 1: things as if for the first time, because they will be.
47:09
Speaker 1: One of the things that will help you will be
47:11
Speaker 1: a version that's not the version you use. For example,
47:15
Speaker 1: I've pulled up from the Message Acts one eight. Eugene
47:19
Speaker 1: Peterson handles it this way. He told them, you don't
47:24
Speaker 1: get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business.
47:28
Speaker 1: What you will get is the Holy Spirit, and when
47:31
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit comes on you, you'll be able to be
47:35
Speaker 1: my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even
47:39
Speaker 1: to the ends of the world. Sounds similar, but there
47:43
Speaker 1: is some amplification there. It's helpful when you get to
47:47
Speaker 1: know your Bible and you begin to get serious about it,
47:51
Speaker 1: that you use other versions. Never a message prepared in
47:55
Speaker 1: my study without my reading other versions. It helps me
47:59
Speaker 1: see the words as it for the first time. Here's
48:02
Speaker 1: the second way you read it. Now we come to
48:05
Speaker 1: the ears. Read it as if you were reading a
48:09
Speaker 1: love letter, read it as if it were a love letter.
48:20
Speaker 1: I remember when I was overseas and I was away
48:22
Speaker 1: from my wife of sixteen months, and i'd get a
48:25
Speaker 1: love letter from her. I would say, Oh, let them Cynthia,
48:30
Speaker 1: that's nice, and i'd go about my word. No, you
48:33
Speaker 1: know better than that, I'd go, whoa. First of all, oh, man,
48:40
Speaker 1: smells just like her fragrance. Now that's her. That's fabulous. Wow, man,
48:49
Speaker 1: look at this, and she begins, dear Charles. She used
48:53
Speaker 1: to call me Charles, dear Charles. Now her previous letter
48:57
Speaker 1: she began, my dearest darling Charles. Now she writes, dear Charles.
49:05
Speaker 1: What's she trying to say? What's happened? Are things different? Hey,
49:14
Speaker 1: I'm reading a love letter. There is no such thing
49:17
Speaker 1: as insignificance. The words she uses, you know what? I
49:24
Speaker 1: got alone, and I read them aloud, so my ears
49:27
Speaker 1: could hear what my mouth was saying, and I could
49:30
Speaker 1: hear her voice through the lines I was reading. And
49:37
Speaker 1: I read them repeatedly, some letters I read eight, ten,
49:42
Speaker 1: twelve times. That's all I had from her. It was
49:47
Speaker 1: her love letter to me, and it told me more
49:52
Speaker 1: than just facts and events. It included words of affection.
50:00
Speaker 1: That's something important to me because I was in a
50:02
Speaker 1: lonely place, surrounded by all these fellow marines who couldn't
50:08
Speaker 1: have cared less about this love letter until they got
50:12
Speaker 1: their love letter. And for some of them it was
50:17
Speaker 1: a dear John letter where the wife doesn't even begin
50:21
Speaker 1: with deer. Maybe an attorney was writing altogether different. When
50:29
Speaker 1: you read a love letter, like when you read the Bible,
50:32
Speaker 1: you read words repeatedly, you read them aloud. If you
50:35
Speaker 1: could be in my study, you would hear me having
50:38
Speaker 1: conversations with God about what he's written. I talked to him,
50:43
Speaker 1: I read the words over, I interact with it. That's
50:47
Speaker 1: the way it is when I get to know the scriptures.
50:49
Speaker 1: That's why when I stand to teach the passage of Scripture,
50:53
Speaker 1: it's as if I've been there, because I have, and
50:57
Speaker 1: it takes time. Maybe you only have thirty minute observe
51:02
Speaker 1: what you're reading for thirty minutes a day. Here's a third.
51:06
Speaker 1: We've come down now to the nose. You have to
51:09
Speaker 1: have a nose of a detective, so you read it
51:11
Speaker 1: as if you were a detective. Remember watching one of
51:14
Speaker 1: the detective shows that you wouldn't miss every hair, every thread,
51:20
Speaker 1: every hint, every phone conversation that's been recorded in the record,
51:26
Speaker 1: every email message, what the computer has said, every handprint,
51:31
Speaker 1: every fingerprint. Everything. The detective, as he looks for these clues,
51:38
Speaker 1: is saying something important. You notice verbs and nouns, and
51:43
Speaker 1: prepositions and adjectives and add verbs and even pronouns. You
51:48
Speaker 1: think pronouns, what's the big deal? Well, because you ask,
51:52
Speaker 1: let's turn to Acts sixteen. Trust me, I'll be through
51:56
Speaker 1: in thirty forty minutes. Don't be nervous. I know what
51:59
Speaker 1: time it is. Look at Acts sixteen. Let me sure
52:02
Speaker 1: the difference in pronouns. Act sixteen is right in the
52:07
Speaker 1: middle of a journey of Paul. Verse nine. He has
52:11
Speaker 1: waited for the Lord to guide them, and nothing has
52:14
Speaker 1: opened up. He's tried different places, and all the doors
52:17
Speaker 1: have been slammed shut. So verse nine. Act sixteen says
52:21
Speaker 1: that night Paul had a vision. A man from Macedonia
52:25
Speaker 1: in northern Greece was standing there pleading with him. Notice
52:30
Speaker 1: the pronoun. Come over to Macedonia and help us. Notice
52:35
Speaker 1: the pronoun. The hymn is Paul. The us as people
52:41
Speaker 1: of Macedonia look at the next pronoun, So we huh,
52:49
Speaker 1: first time in Acts. First time the one who writes
52:54
Speaker 1: it enters into the narrative. Look at that. At this
53:00
Speaker 1: point Luke joins the travelers. So we decided to leave
53:06
Speaker 1: from Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling
53:09
Speaker 1: us look at the pronoun, calling us to preach the
53:12
Speaker 1: good news there, not just Paul, not just Silas, not
53:17
Speaker 1: just the other companions. So we boarded a boat at
53:20
Speaker 1: Troaz and we sailed straight across to the island of
53:23
Speaker 1: samath Race. On the next day we landed in Minneapolis,
53:28
Speaker 1: and from there we reached Philippi, and on and on
53:30
Speaker 1: the journey goes. And by the way, when you've got
53:32
Speaker 1: a map, you can trace each one of those places
53:34
Speaker 1: along the way back to Acts one. When you've got
53:38
Speaker 1: the nose of a detective, those little details are all significant,
53:42
Speaker 1: and when you point them out to those you're teaching,
53:45
Speaker 1: they will love it. Not until today did some of
53:49
Speaker 1: you realize that the man who wrote the Book of
53:52
Speaker 1: Acts has not been engaged in the activities until chapter sixteen,
53:56
Speaker 1: and from then on he plays a very significant role
53:58
Speaker 1: as Paul's personal and private physician. There's one more we've
54:04
Speaker 1: come to the mouth. We need to taste it. Read
54:06
Speaker 1: the text as if you were in it. Read the verse.
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Speaker 1: Read the text as if you are there. That's why
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Speaker 1: I say I identify with the apostles. I try to
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Speaker 1: imagine what it must have been like when Jesus heals
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Speaker 1: the sick. I put myself in the crowd and I
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Speaker 1: watch him healing the sick. I put myself on the
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Speaker 1: sick bed and try to imagine what it must have
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Speaker 1: been like, not having been able to walk, and now
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Speaker 1: suddenly I have the ability to stand up and move about.
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Speaker 1: The remarkable feeling that comes over me as a result
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Speaker 1: of entering into it. If you're going to teach Corinthians,
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Speaker 1: join the church in corinth imagine what it's like to
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Speaker 1: be a church that's so filled with sism. If you're
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Speaker 1: going to read and study the Resurrection, walk in the tomb,
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Speaker 1: stand alongside Peter and John. Feel that eerie moment when
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Speaker 1: you're looking at rappings that are still in the shape
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Speaker 1: of a body, but they're flattened. There's nobody. What does
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Speaker 1: this mean? When you're with Isaiah chapter six, where he
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Speaker 1: sees the Lord High and Holy lifted up and here's
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Speaker 1: the Angel saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord, God
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Speaker 1: of Host. Stand alongside Isaiah. Listen to the angels as
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Speaker 1: they say that. When I taught that, I had the
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Speaker 1: congregation answer holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy Holy. The only
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Speaker 1: reason I thought of doing that is when I'm in
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Speaker 1: my study, I'm saying the words, and I'm thinking, how
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Speaker 1: can I get this across. I'll have everybody enter into it,
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Speaker 1: and you become an angel in the text of scripture.
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Speaker 1: You see, because of this approach, the Bible comes alive.
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Speaker 1: That's what I want for you so much. Now I
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Speaker 1: got one more important thing to add to all of this.
55:57
Speaker 1: But this one part has several parts. Okay, so students,
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Speaker 1: turn your outline over and trace your hand. Some of
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Speaker 1: you have not moved for thirty minutes, so move. Turn
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Speaker 1: your outline over and trace your thumb, your fingers. There
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Speaker 1: you go right down to the wrist on each side.
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Speaker 1: Remember when you did that in kindergarten. I love doing
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Speaker 1: stuff like this. All right. Now we're going to remember
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Speaker 1: five things to look for and I'm through. Here we go.
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Speaker 1: You say, wait, Chuck, haven't found a pin, So I
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Speaker 1: gotta get a pen going here? You ready, We're gonna
56:39
Speaker 1: write something on every one of those flangees. First, the
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Speaker 1: thumb right emphasized. When you look at your Bible, look
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Speaker 1: at what is emphasized. How do I know what that is?
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Speaker 1: Amount of space provided? Genesis is about creation, it's about
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Speaker 1: the fall, and then it's about the beginning of nations,
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Speaker 1: and then it's all about Abraham. That's an emphasis of
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Speaker 1: Genesis chapters twelve to twenty seven. You're studying about Abraham.
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Speaker 1: Look at the space given to it. When you study David,
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Speaker 1: you study books in the Old Testament, that's a life
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Speaker 1: lived in emphasis. The amount of space tells you it's
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Speaker 1: emphasized when a name is mentioned twice, Abraham, Abraham, don't
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Speaker 1: slay your son or Saul, Saul? Why are you persecuting me?
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Speaker 1: Why are you standing against what I'm trying to do?
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Speaker 1: A double evocative like that says it's in emphasis. Look
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Speaker 1: for climax, the climax that you find in a section
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Speaker 1: of scripture where David lives a great life and is
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Speaker 1: a warrior and becomes the king, and then he works
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Speaker 1: his way all the way to Bethsheba, and his whole
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Speaker 1: life looks like a rooftop up until Bathsheba, everything goes
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Speaker 1: up from Bathsheba, everything comes down. It's built to a climax. Emphasize.
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Speaker 1: That's the thumb. On your index finger, write the word repeated.
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Speaker 1: Repeated words that are used back to back. I've made
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Speaker 1: a whole list of them. I won't go into it.
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Speaker 1: There's a whole section of the Book of Proverbs that
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Speaker 1: is addressed to my son, my son, my son. Chapter three,
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Speaker 1: verse one, verse twenty one, Chapter four, verse one, Chapter five,
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Speaker 1: verse one, verse seven, Chapter six, verse one, verse twenty,
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Speaker 1: chapter seven, verse one, verse twenty four. My son, my
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Speaker 1: son must say, you know what you know what he's doing.
58:49
Speaker 1: He's he's repeating that because this is counsel for your son,
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Speaker 1: So repeated words need to be noticed. Third is the
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Speaker 1: middle finger. Write the word read related. Look for things
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Speaker 1: that are related. There are lots of them. Here's how
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Speaker 1: they will appear. Questions followed by answers. We've seen one
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Speaker 1: of those in Acts one seven through nine. God's part
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Speaker 1: related to my part. Trust in the Lord with all
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Speaker 1: your heart, lean not to your own understanding in all
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Speaker 1: your ways. Acknowledge him. That's my part, and he will
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Speaker 1: direct your paths. That's his part. Proverbs three, five and
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Speaker 1: six promises followed by rewards warnings, followed by failure or obedience.
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Speaker 1: These are things related to each other. Sin is followed
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Speaker 1: by consequences, and then the last two. Your ring, finger
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Speaker 1: and your pinky write The words alike and unlike emphasize
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Speaker 1: repeated related words that are alike. They're often in introduced.
1:00:00
Speaker 1: The thought is introduced with as and followed by soul.
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Speaker 1: As the deer pants for the water brook so pants
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Speaker 1: my soul for you. Well, God, what a great word picture.
1:00:11
Speaker 1: These are things that are alike. These are analogies. I
1:00:16
Speaker 1: am the vine, you are the branches. These are alike.
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Speaker 1: I'm the potter, you are the clay. These things are related.
1:00:24
Speaker 1: These things are alike, And then are other things that unlike,
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Speaker 1: like the work of the spirit as opposed to the
1:00:32
Speaker 1: energy of the flesh, the acts of the flesh. In
1:00:35
Speaker 1: Galatians five, Okay, you've done very well. I'm proud of you.
1:00:42
Speaker 1: You have endured nicely. We started in Proverbs. I close
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Speaker 1: with Proverbs chapter twenty, so go back to one verse
1:00:51
Speaker 1: and you're on your way to coming up with fifty
1:00:54
Speaker 1: observations on acts one eight. No, not really, I'll give
1:00:59
Speaker 1: you another look at Proverbs twenty verse twelve. Ears to hear,
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Speaker 1: ears to hear, eyes to see. Both are gifts from
1:01:12
Speaker 1: the Lord. You have been given the gift of sight,
1:01:17
Speaker 1: but you've not been given the gift of observation. Until
1:01:21
Speaker 1: the Lord steps in and you, through prayer and time
1:01:26
Speaker 1: and discipline, begin to give yourself to the text. You
1:01:30
Speaker 1: begin to hear things you never heard, and you begin
1:01:33
Speaker 1: to see things you never saw, and it will all
1:01:37
Speaker 1: come to life. There's a key to unlocking all of it.
1:01:45
Speaker 1: The lady who wrote the words of this hymn had
1:01:47
Speaker 1: that in mind. Open my eyes that I may see
1:01:52
Speaker 1: visions of truth you have for me, open my ears
1:01:58
Speaker 1: that I may hear. She talks about, and then she says, uh,
1:02:02
Speaker 1: and then give me the key that will unlock all
1:02:06
Speaker 1: of this and set me free. The key is observation.
1:02:12
Speaker 1: I want you to choose a verse of scripture between
1:02:14
Speaker 1: now and when we're together again. How about John three p. Sixteen.
1:02:18
Speaker 1: Let's take one we all would know. Come up with
1:02:22
Speaker 1: your own list of, well, let's say fifty observations of
1:02:27
Speaker 1: the verse John three sixteen, and I will tell you,
1:02:31
Speaker 1: as a result, you will have found things you've never
1:02:34
Speaker 1: seen before. Even though you can quote the verse from memory. Okay,
1:02:41
Speaker 1: next time, bring your Bible. We'll go into interpretation. Let's pray.
1:02:48
Speaker 1: Thank you Father for giving us truth to live by,
1:02:52
Speaker 1: truth to discover, truths, to see, to hear, to enter into.
1:03:00
Speaker 1: May they begin the process of changing our whole frame
1:03:04
Speaker 1: of reference, maybe for the first time in so many
1:03:08
Speaker 1: of our lives. See what you have written, Open our
1:03:14
Speaker 1: eyes that we may see, and then open our understanding
1:03:20
Speaker 1: that we may learn what they mean. In the name
1:03:24
Speaker 1: of Christ, we ask these things. Everyone said Amen. The
1:03:32
Speaker 1: preceding message, reading the Ingredients observing the text was copyrighted
1:03:38
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, and the sound recording was copyrighted in
1:03:42
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindell, Inc. All rights are
1:03:46
Speaker 1: reserved worldwide.