WEBVTT 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:03.200 Well, good morning. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:17.359 I'm Nate, and I'm glad to be with you today as we were uh worshiping in sort of an intentionally slower manner, different sort of way, because we're going to talk about this idea of meditating on God's word. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:30.960 I was thinking about my years growing up in Bartlesville, Oklahoma at First Wesleyan Church, and my grandfather and his family and my family were part of the church, and my nuclear family, like my dad and all of us sat over here, my grandpa sat clear in the back. 00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:36.079 It was a pretty big sanctuary, about twice as big as this space. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:43.280 But I could always hear my grandfather singing because he had a very distinct voice. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:50.000 And in fact, if uh he's with Jesus now, and I think he would smile down upon this comment that I'm about to make. 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:57.439 But my brothers and cousins and I will still occasionally lovingly imitate his voice when he sings. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:00.399 I'm not going to do it for you now, although I'm pretty good at it. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:01.600 Very distinct. 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:08.480 And the most distinctive part of my grandfather's voice when he sang was he was half a beat slow. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:10.959 And he was loud. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:15.599 And we would be singing, and we would look at each other and say, Grandpa's here today. 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:21.519 We didn't have to look back there, but he had that distinct half a beat slow voice, and we recognized it. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:27.040 And we've been talking in this series about the idea that we could recognize God's voice. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:32.640 And scripture not only says we can, it encourages us to listen and hear God speaking. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:41.200 In fact, it kind of uh uh creates this idea that it's normal for God to speak to his people. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:52.159 In fact, on 15 separate occasions, Jesus said to his listeners have ears to hear, inviting them to hear. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:02:04.079 Now, in John chapter 10, he doesn't use that exact language, but it's sort of the key verse for this whole series when Jesus uses a metaphor of sheep and shepherd, and he says, My sheep listen to my voice. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:07.120 And I know them and they follow me. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:08.960 Now we we love to know God. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:10.240 We want to know God, right? 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:11.680 And we want to follow God. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:12.960 That's why we gather here. 00:02:13.120 --> 00:02:19.439 Part of what we do when we gather here is to say God is knowable and God is followable, but it starts with listening. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:22.719 My sheep listen to my voice. 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:30.159 And if we don't hear from God in some manner, we're kind of left to figure it out ourselves. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:34.000 Because we all need some frame of reference for how to do life. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:40.960 And so if we don't have God speaking to us, we look inside and say, Well, let me frame my own journey. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:43.039 Let me be the captain of my faith. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:44.080 Let me figure it out. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:48.960 Don't, don't let anybody, or maybe we look around and say, how's everybody else doing? 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:50.319 I'll do what they're doing. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:03:07.280 I'll try to figure out the newest trend, the cultural voice that I should be listening to right now, the greatest psychology or philosophy that's out there, and I'll model my life after that, and maybe we'll pursue it in a tribal sort of way towards a group of people here or an ideology there. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:10.319 But what if there was a voice that wanted to guide us? 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:13.439 What if there was a voice of our shepherd that wanted to lead us? 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:18.319 And we've been making that assumption that that's what scripture teaches. 00:03:18.479 --> 00:03:30.960 And in our effort to hear that voice in scripture, we've been introducing, or maybe reintroducing for many of you and talking about this ancient devotional pattern of Lectio Divina. 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:34.639 And it's, I want to be clear, we've we're trying to be clear in this series. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:37.199 It's not the only way to like engage in scriptures. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:39.840 That's not the only way to hear God's voice by by far. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.159 We're gonna talk about some of those other ways today. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:54.400 But we're wondering if we would collectively uh at least create the opportunity for you to enter into this practice of holy reading, lectio divino, uh, holy reading of scripture. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:04:02.639 This approach to scripture emphasizes reading the scriptures prayerfully, slowly, and with imagination. 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:16.959 And we were reminded last week, and I believe John mentioned that he heard this after his sermon in first service, that somebody somebody reminded him that the Celestio divina is not about overcoming God's reluctance to speak to us. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:20.000 Like we've already established God wants to speak to us. 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:28.560 It's not about us figuring out how to unlock the mysterious voice of God, but rather it's us laying a hold of his willingness to do so. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:40.800 It's us finding space and finding a way and changing perhaps some patterns in our life so that we can hear the voice of our shepherd who's calling to us and says, have ears to hear. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:42.879 So we've given you some bookmarks. 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:44.800 I think they were on the chairs last week. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.360 I wasn't here, but I believe you had them on the chairs. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:50.319 And if you don't have them on the chairs, uh they're not there today. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:57.680 If you didn't pick one up, there's some more in the lobby, the vestibule right outside before you go out into the lobby, and there's some also at the Welcome Center that you can pick up. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:59.040 And so we've been looking at that. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:02.560 And last week, John led us through that first step of the Lectio Divina. 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:05.519 And you do these together, like they do all four of these in one sitting. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:13.759 But we looked at the lectio part, the reading, reading the passage out louder to yourself, just a few verses, 15 to 20 at the most. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:16.959 Read it slowly and prayerfully and reverently. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:28.639 And one of the things that John emphasized, and was also emphasized by Pete Gray, that I want to stay and establish and never forget throughout this series, is that we have to have a rigorous commitment to the text. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:29.519 All right? 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:37.680 We can't just, this is not a journey to say, what does this text mean to me, regardless of what this text meant originally? 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:46.160 When you're studying scripture, the first question is not what does the text mean to me, but the first question is, what does the text mean? 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:48.959 What did it mean in its historical context? 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.360 How do we interpret it in its literary context? 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:52.399 Those things matter. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:59.600 So we're not leaving those behind, but we're building on this idea if there, if we have a rigorous commitment to the text, how do we move on from that? 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:01.360 So let me just say it again. 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:11.680 We we avoid heresy, we avoid getting out of bounds with God's word by staying committed to that logic of the text, the commitment to the logic of the text. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:15.839 I encourage you to listen to the last two sermons to sort of set the stage for that. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:19.279 So that was a lectio, reading the text slowly and carefully. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:25.920 Today we're gonna talk about the second step in the Lectio Divina, the medigato, meditatio, excuse me. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:30.240 Uh John uh I asked John how to pronounce these words and say, Well, how Latin do you want to be? 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:36.720 And I said, Well, I'm from Oklahoma, so there's not a there's not a lot I can do with it, but that's meditatio, all right? 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:37.519 We're gonna meditate. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:38.160 How's that? 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:39.360 We're gonna meditate. 00:06:39.920 --> 00:06:52.800 And so this time when you're reading passage, uh the passage, you read it the second time, you read it slowly, and you identify as you're reading it the second time something to meditate on, a phrase or a word that jumps out to you. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:59.519 You embrace interruptions and you follow tangents, and you don't worry about maybe even getting back through the whole text again. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:01.759 You you're asking God to meditate. 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.040 You're wanting to meditate on something in that text. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:08.000 And some Christians have concerns about the word meditate. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:18.879 And when I say meditate, maybe many of our minds go to perhaps Eastern mysticism or new age practices, and we're concerned that we'll get off, as Pete Gregg said, into some weird arena. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:24.000 And let's be honest, that can happen, but that's not at all what this meditation means. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:26.879 This is not about emptying our minds. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.759 This is about filling them with biblical truth. 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:31.120 I want you to catch that. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:34.000 Christian meditation is not about emptying our minds. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:45.279 That's a dangerous place in my way of thinking to be, but it's about creating space and maybe emptying our minds of the things that are distracting us so that God can pour his truth into our lives. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:51.199 So it's that slowing down, engaging with biblical truth in that deep and abiding way. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:55.199 I had a friend named Brinda, not the Brenda that sometimes preaches here. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:58.959 This was a long time ago in our first building over on Madeline Street. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:05.600 And Brenda uh uh is now with Jesus, but she was a lady who struggled with life, to be honest. 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:08.879 And she would talk to me a lot and come into my office and share. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:13.279 And one of the words I'll never forget that she would use with me was ruminating. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:16.160 She says, Pastor Nate, I've been ruminating on this. 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:18.800 And so I would say, Well, stop ruminating on that. 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:24.000 And then she would also flip the script on me and says, Pastor Nata, it seems like you're ruminating on this. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:29.279 I'm like, okay, that feels different when you tell me I'm ruminating on it, right? 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:31.519 But I but she was right. 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:36.159 It depends on what we ruminate on, what we think about, what we turn over in our head. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:38.799 There's a lot to what are you ruminating on? 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:39.919 What are you thinking about? 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:42.720 Meditation is this idea of ruminating on God's word. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:46.720 Maybe another sort of metaphor would be a cow chewing its cud. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.559 I did a little research on that and decided not to share those details with you. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:52.960 But you have you, we're from Kansas, right? 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:54.960 We know what cows chewing on their cud. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:05.039 You know, they they swallow it and they bring it back up for uh, you know, for debate again, and then they talk up, and then they swallow it and chew it and swallow it in the four chambers and all of that, and saliva's involved, and but that's what it takes. 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:12.720 It takes that constant ruminating on the food until it becomes a part of their system to give them nourishment. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.679 So we want you to ruminate on God's word. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:17.600 Meditate on God's word. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:18.960 That's what this is about. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:30.000 So let me let me just take you through some scriptures in Old Testament and New, where the scriptures not only say, hey, it's okay, they invite you to some level of eating or ruminating or meditating. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:30.960 Just listen to these words. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.639 Psalm 19, 14. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:40.480 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:47.279 I thought of that words of my mouth, like I want my words to honor Jesus, but that meditation of my heart, that ruminating of my heart. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:52.240 Ezekiel 3, the voice said to me, Son of man, eat what I'm giving you. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:53.840 Eat this scroll. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:57.759 Then go and give its message to the people of Israel. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.200 So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:03.519 Fill your stomach with this, he said. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:07.440 And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:08.720 You get the picture? 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:10.799 Of ruminating, taking it in. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:16.320 Now, Ezekiel was asked by God to do some really hard things and to say some really hard things. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:20.399 And he said, Before you say that, I want the word of God to be a part of you. 00:10:20.799 --> 00:10:26.480 As it were, I want you to chew the cud of the word of God until it becomes something inside of you. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:28.080 Jeremiah 15, 16. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.039 When I discovered your words, I devoured them. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:36.799 They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of heaven's armies. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:39.039 And Jeremiah talk about a tough life. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:48.559 And God said, Before you go tell everybody this stuff, as you're telling them these hard things, I'm asking you to tell them about judgment coming and about the hope that's beyond the judgment. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.799 I want these words to be a part of you. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:55.200 Joshua 1.8, you know, Joshua was given the command of Israel from Moses. 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:57.840 And in Joshua 1, there's these calls to courage. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:04.720 But listen to verse 1 8, chapter 1, verse 8, study this book of instruction continually, meditate on it day and night. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.840 So you will be sure to obey everything written in it. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:11.120 Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:16.639 So, so God's call to Joshua was be courageous, be courageous, be courageous, be courageous. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:18.480 But here's how you do it, Joshua. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:21.039 Let my word get deeply into you. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.600 And we've been looking at Luke chapter 24. 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:25.120 It's been the text for this whole series. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:27.200 We're going to come back to it again today. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:35.679 And you remember that Jesus encountered on the road to Emmaus these two journeys who had been in Jerusalem and had heard all the events. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:39.600 I won't rehash everything we've talked about because it's been already well described. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:48.639 But as Jesus was walking with these two people, unbeknownst to them, they didn't know it was Jesus until he revealed himself at the meal when they got to his house. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:12:01.519 And when he revealed himself to his meal, but before that, you remember that it was this long Bible study as they went along where Jesus began to explain who he was from the Old Testament perspective, the old Hebrew stories perspective. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:04.000 They eat and Jesus leaves. 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:18.799 And verse 32 says, They said to each other, Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us? 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:25.360 And then within the hour they were back on their way to Jerusalem where they found the disciples and said, Jesus is risen. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:26.320 And that was confirmed. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:27.759 Yeah, we know we've seen him. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:30.720 But I'm thinking now about the trip back to Jerusalem. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:35.759 John mentioned this in his first sermon, but I just thinking, I think they were ruminating. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:38.879 I think they were it it burned on their hearts. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:42.240 I think as they were walking back, they were like, Oh yeah, remember what he said about Isaiah? 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:43.440 Oh yes. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:45.600 Oh, that makes sense now. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:47.279 Remember what he said about Joel? 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:48.159 Like, I don't know. 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:51.120 It's a three-hour, three-hour Bible study lesson. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:51.840 Jesus went through. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:53.200 I think they were ruminating. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:57.440 I think it was getting deep into their hearts as they walked back on the road to Emmaus. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:03.919 This idea of the burning heart seems to me that there was significant engagement with the text. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:06.559 It was not just a logic a history lesson. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.200 It was on the way out, a history lesson on the way back. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:10.799 It was a meditation. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:12.720 And it never left them. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:15.039 This is how the New Testament was written, by the way. 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:21.120 A lot of people ruminating on what Jesus had said, tying the connections back to the Old Testament. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:28.720 Many of the Bible, many of the authors, in fact, I think all of the authors at some point quote something from the Hebrew scriptures because they're pulling the story together. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:30.000 They've meditated on it. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:32.480 God's spoken to them these truths. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:35.679 I love what Pete Gregg said. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:58.399 Umara there on the on the video, said, you know, some people, when they talk about this idea of using your imagination to engage scripture, are going to feel excited and they're just going to be like permission given, and it's affirmation of how they are already wired, and some people are going to be, how did he say, This is going to be difficult for them? 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:05.279 And when I watched it the first time, I didn't literally raise my hand, but I should have in my office, right? 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.000 For some of us, this sounds scary. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:13.360 For some of us, we wonder where this might take us. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.799 But I loved how she reminded us, Dr. 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:28.879 Klymitch reminded us of this idea of the limbic system, this emotional part of our brain where we have our emotional memories, where we get empathy, and where our imagination operates. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:33.840 And the part of our brain that engages with things like metaphor and symbolism. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:44.639 Part of our gay mind that when we go to a movie, Gibbs fully engaged in the plot line, and we think when we read a novel, we go deeper into it because our brain is engaging in that imagination piece. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:46.879 And then there's a logical part of our brain. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:49.039 The part I'm more comfortable with. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.519 The part that says, tell me the facts. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:52.960 Let me line it up. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:54.960 Let me put it in a Google Doc. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.759 We're gonna go on vacation, some of you are having a good time. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.120 I'm planning. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:00.080 Right? 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:02.080 It's that logical piece. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:04.399 And I love how they go hand in hand. 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:07.279 Dr. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:14.480 Klimich said, our mind, will, emotions, and our body can also be ways of communicating with God to us in those as well. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:18.960 Logic and emotions are not mutually exclusively, they live together. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:20.639 I love that. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.399 This draws back a little bit if you were here when we did the renewed mind series. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:35.759 So this idea that when Jesus, uh when Paul talks about renewing our minds, he's not just talking about renewing the logical part of our brain, but all the parts of our brain that work consciously and subconsciously. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.679 And again, this can feel a little bit scary and weird to some of us. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:47.840 But I'm I I contend that not only does scripture say that we can do this, but scripture warns against not doing this. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:51.600 Now bear with me for a moment because I'm gonna take you to Isaiah 6.9. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:59.840 Isaiah 6.9 is not quoted often by most of us, but it was by Jesus, John, and Paul. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:03.679 And Isaiah 6.9 says this. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:13.279 He said, Go and tell this people, be ever hearing but never understanding, be ever seeing, but not perceiving. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:18.240 Make the hearts of this people callous, make their ears dull and close their eyes. 00:16:18.480 --> 00:16:25.360 Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:31.679 So it seems like Isaiah is to go to the people of his day and say, Some of you aren't getting this. 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:34.159 Judgment's coming, pay attention. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.240 And that was the message for then. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:43.279 But Jesus picked this very passage up after he told the parable of the seed and the sower. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:44.399 Remember that parable? 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:49.679 You'll cast seeds, some of the seeds will grow, most of it won't. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:54.240 The birds will take it away, the rocks will not allow it to grow, weeds will grow up. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:55.759 You know what Jesus could have said? 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:01.360 He said, Some of you, when I tell you the truth, it's not gonna go very deep and you're gonna walk away. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:05.279 Some of you, when I tell you the truth, Satan's gonna come attack your mind. 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:08.319 Some of you, when I tell you the truth, are gonna get preoccupied with money. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:10.000 He could have said that, but he didn't. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:14.799 He told a story about seeds and plants. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:16.000 Why? 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.839 So their imagination would be triggered. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:23.039 So they would think deeper than just the logic. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:25.119 The logic is still there, right? 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:29.039 But the imagination, the limbic side of the brain is engaged. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:36.319 Jesus picks up Isaiah's words and says, I want you to engage with my word this way. 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:41.839 I want you to think about seed, I want you to think about it going down into the ground and how for a while it might. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:46.559 I won't try to imagine this with you, but doesn't that isn't that what all the parables do? 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:48.880 We're drawn into them in a different way. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:54.400 This is meditating on God's word, the limbic side of our brain, being engaged. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:58.319 That same passage, Isaiah 6.9, is picked up in John 12. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:02.640 In John 12, just after the triumphal entry. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.400 When everybody's cheering for him, but Jesus knows they're not getting it. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:09.039 And he quotes the same thing again. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.400 He could have said, You're not getting it, I'm gonna die on the cross. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:17.119 Well, he actually did say that a few times, so he engaged logically, but here he shows this parable again. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:22.079 You're not getting it, it's not you're not perceiving it, you're not seeing it, you're hearing it, but you're not seeing it. 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:30.559 And then Acts 28, Paul Paul, at the end of his life when he's in Rome, he gathers a few people around him, right? 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:33.680 And some of them get it and some of them don't. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:37.359 And instead of saying some of them get it and some of them don't, Paul quotes this passage. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:43.039 Some of you are seeing and hearing, and some of you are not are not listening or perceiving. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:50.240 So this idea of engaging our brains is not only encouraged by scripture, not only allowed by scripture, but I think it's encouraged. 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:54.160 It also fits, it also fits theologically in a way to interpret scripture. 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:58.960 So the Connect Church is a part of the Wesleyan Church, and so I'm going to show you a little Wesleyan theology. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.119 If you ever come to Wesleyan 101, you've seen this. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.039 If you haven't, I would love to have you join us someday. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:05.680 Though we have three or four of them a year, just watch the calendar. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.839 But I want you to notice this is John Wesley's way of thinking about how to engage with scripture. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:14.319 Now, Wesley never created the Wesleyan quadrilateral, he never drew a chart like this. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.359 This is something that Albert Outler put together and other theologians. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:22.000 They've tried to say, ask the question they were asking is how did John Wesley interpret Scripture? 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:25.119 How did he help him and his followers interpret scripture? 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:31.279 And you can see here that there's four things, but you can also see scripture is in bold capital print, right? 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:34.559 I prefer to put this as a baseball diamond. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:39.119 And it's really hard to talk about baseball after Thursday's game if you're a Royals fan. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:40.000 But anyway. 00:19:41.279 --> 00:19:43.920 Yeah, we're not even paying attention anymore, Royals fans, are you? 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.440 You just are giving up on them completely. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:49.680 But in a baseball diamond, you start at home base and you end at home base. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:52.079 You don't get you don't get points for being left on base. 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:54.640 You don't start with experience, tradition, or reason. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:56.640 You start at home base and you end at home base. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:00.160 Scripture, the logic of scripture, matters the most. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:04.079 It is the thing that we're trying to find the truth in. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:07.519 But your experience matters. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:10.240 How you engage in the story matters. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:13.279 Where you are in life in that moment matters. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:16.400 Scripture comes alive because you're going through stuff, right? 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:19.759 You've seen it work, you've seen God's word teach you something. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:23.200 And so your experience and reason, uh, tradition matters. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:27.519 It's not all about tradition, but there are people who have learned some stuff before, right? 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:41.440 It doesn't make sense for us to just ignore all the great theologians and historians and pastors and teachers and Sunday school class neighbors and people that have in the past have learned things about scripture that we can begin to build our own theology around. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:42.480 Tradition matters. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:43.359 It's not everything. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:46.640 And reason doesn't make sense, is it logical? 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:49.920 But today we're focusing on that experience peace. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:58.880 So so this way of Wesley's interpreting scripture lines up with what Jesus said when he picked and quoted Acts or Isaiah 6, 9. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:14.079 It picks up what John was saying when he quoted it, and when and and when Paul quoted it, this idea that engaging Scripture in a way that is experiential is not only okay, but it's encouraged. 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:17.839 So Peter Gregg offers three keys to biblical meditation. 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:18.240 All right. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:19.920 He alluded to them in the video. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:32.240 Let me just draw them out for you, and we're going to look at these and remember, remember, a rigorous commitment to the logic of Scripture will keep us out of heresy. 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:33.200 Right? 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:38.880 That fence is set, but let's talk about interruption. 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:56.400 Let's talk about as we engage in this meditatio, this meditating on God's word, what would happen if we would slow down our intellectual metabolism a little bit when we're reading scripture and stop looking for quick and easy answers. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:12.880 So going back to the quadrilateral, like it is perfectly fine and wonderful and good to read devotionals or to engage, like our men's and women's Bible studies are going to be engaging with texts that have been written by others to learn from. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:13.680 Absolutely fine. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:25.599 But what would happen if we would engage in scriptures ourselves and ask not for an easy answer for today, but to just let scriptures take us where they take us. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:28.079 So be patient, to slow down. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:30.720 And again, in this method, again, lots of ways to do this. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:41.839 In this Leccio Divina, it's taking 15 to 20 verses or so or fewer, and just reading that that second time and saying, I'm willing to be interrupted. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:45.680 I have a method of listening to the Bible. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:50.319 I I've been doing this now for I think four, maybe three or four years, I don't know, maybe longer. 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:56.400 I just, whenever I'm in the car, instead of listening to Bob Fesco and sports radio, I listen to Scripture. 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:00.960 And I found, now I've traveled a lot for the district when I went all over visiting churches. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:08.319 I found in that context I could leave, I could listen to the whole Bible five times a year, the New Testament 16 times a year. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:09.680 But you know what? 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:11.599 And I'm going to keep doing that, by the way. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:14.400 But there are many times I'm doing that. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:18.319 I'm just driving along, I'm thinking about something else, I'm not even engaging in it, right? 00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:20.400 That can't be all I do. 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:30.640 And I would rather you spend a little bit of time in a little bit of scripture than checking off a box saying, I read it today, let's move on. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:35.759 That's what this is calling us to, and a willingness to be interrupted. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:44.559 So I've been, and by the way, over the last four or five years, that's not been my only engagement with scripture. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:58.480 And I'm learning more and more as I get older, because I I have so so the way I'm wired is I I I've not been clinically uh diagnosed, but I'm pretty sure based on what everybody tells me, I I don't quite see it. 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:02.480 But what everybody tells me, I have OCD-ish tendencies. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:10.880 And when you have OCD and OLD, you want to stand in your porch and yell at people to get off your lawn. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:16.640 That's what I'm kind of that's the stage of life I'm at, so I have to be very careful that I engage in ways that slow me down. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:19.839 Let's see a little humor in the middle because it felt like it was getting heavy, right? 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:28.799 But engage in scriptures in a way that just allow me to be interrupted and allow me to say, I don't have to finish this whole passage if this is where I'm parking right now, right? 00:24:28.880 --> 00:24:30.000 Does that make sense? 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:32.000 Second one is intuition. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:36.640 Explore the meaning of the text subjectively by exercising intuition. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:42.000 We can do this by exploring a single word or a phrase that captures our attention. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:45.759 Maybe ask questions like, why did this jump out to me? 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:48.960 Why did this jump out to me right now? 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.440 Why did this matter to me today? 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:54.559 How might this thought transform me? 00:24:54.720 --> 00:25:01.279 How might me implementing what I'm seeing and hearing and learning here change my circumstances today? 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:05.279 Where have I seen this in my life or in others' lives? 00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:14.240 This is the kind of thing we do in growth groups, not these exact questions, but we just try to engage the scriptures collectively, asking, what is this saying to me? 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:17.519 Again, we already have a rigorous commitment to the text. 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:20.400 So this is, we're not starting with what does this mean to me? 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:21.519 We're asking, what does it mean? 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:27.440 But now, now that we have some sense of what it means, what does this mean in my context? 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:30.640 Intuitively, what is God saying to me? 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:32.319 And then imagination. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:37.759 We've alluded to this, but just this idea of someone has called it mental playfulness. 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:42.720 We we do this when you read novels, we do this when we watch movies or television shows. 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:48.799 A good show will draw you in and not just tell you a bunch of facts, it'll draw you into a story. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:57.279 So, what would it feel like if we got drawn into some of the stories and ask ourselves the question what would it be like to be in Thessalonica under persecution? 00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:59.599 And Paul sends this letter to you to encourage you. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:04.480 What would it be like to be walking with Jesus on the Jericho Road? 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:11.759 And then he tells you a story about, you know, the Good Samaritan or whatever it is, just putting ourselves in this story. 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:18.960 I've long been enamored by the idea of a scratch and sniff Bible, right? 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:23.119 So, but what if we just sort of had that approach? 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:24.480 What did it smell like? 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:25.599 What did it feel like? 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:27.440 How, what was the temperature like? 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:28.559 Just whatever. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:31.680 Like some of you are like, okay, this is a list of what I do. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:32.880 No, no, you're missing the point. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:35.680 Like, just engaging attacks imaginatively. 00:26:35.839 --> 00:26:45.039 Because if God spoke through a burning bush, a talking donkey and magical graffiti, then he can certainly speak to us in our own imaginations. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:58.079 I think to really find the truth in Scripture in all its fullness, we may need to engage in scripture more than just logically and linguistically. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:05.680 We may need to engage our limbic system that's responsible for memory and imagination. 00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:11.200 So we talk sometimes, John alluded to it a couple times, about the Damascus Road experience. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:17.680 Remember when Paul was knocked off his donkey by God and this great bolt of light came and spoke to him unexpectedly out of the blue? 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.680 I've had that happen to me. 00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:21.599 Not that dramatically. 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:26.160 I would not anywhere call it a conversion experience, but in my life there's been five times. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.839 I've been thinking a lot about this because I have OLD syndrome right now. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:35.920 And to reflect on your life, you begin to think five times when God, like out of the blue, just spoke to me. 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:42.160 The first was my call to ministry in about 1979 in Saloon Springs, Arkansas. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:49.119 The second was on 9th in Madeline when God gave me a vision for our church at that time in its life. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:51.920 I can tell you right where I was standing when it happened. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:55.119 Another one was when I was running. 00:27:55.279 --> 00:28:04.960 I can take you right to the cul-de-sac near my house where I landed, stepped off the cul-de-sac onto the concrete, and God told me, your daughter is going to meet her husband this year. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:06.079 And he did. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:09.119 And there's another one that's too personal to share. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:18.640 And then when God told me to quit being district superintendent of Kansas and laid out for me clearly my call for retirement, that was at a beach. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:19.839 That's my favorite. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:22.799 I'm 64 years old. 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:27.680 That means about once every 12.8 years, God spoke to me that way. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:34.240 How would you like to be in a relationship with someone that only speaks to you once every 12.8 years? 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:37.440 It maybe has never happened to you. 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.640 Maybe your list is longer or shorter. 00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:41.920 That's not the point. 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:44.079 I set that up to make a better point. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:53.599 The better point is God may or may not give you a Damascus road experience, but he invites you to an Emmaus road experience every day. 00:28:55.039 --> 00:29:06.240 Or he walks with you through scripture and he speaks to you and he helps you imagine what it's like to hear his voice. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:07.200 Does that make sense? 00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:09.839 That's available to all of us. 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:13.039 And that's what we've been talking about. 00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:22.880 Meditation is a part of this one method of engaging in scripture. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.200 So that's what we're gonna do. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:29.200 We're gonna jump right to that part. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:36.160 We're just gonna, like we did last week, I'm gonna read John 1, some passages there. 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:38.799 John led us through this last week. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:40.240 Last week we read it slowly. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:43.279 Today we're gonna read it meditatively. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.559 We're gonna we're gonna meditate on. 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.920 We're gonna allow God to interrupt us. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:55.039 We're gonna we're gonna invite God to help us intuitively find what is there. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:57.440 We're gonna imagine ourselves in the text. 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:01.039 All I'm going to do next is read this text and invite you into this. 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:12.240 Now, we know that in this sort of moment, in this reading of the text in these few moments, this is more of a sample of how to do it, but we also believe God can speak to you right now. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:18.000 So we're gonna practice the meditatio part of the Leccio Divina, all right? 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:20.720 So meditate on these words as I read them. 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:27.039 In the beginning was the word that had already existed. 00:30:27.359 --> 00:30:30.400 The word was with God, and the word was God. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:33.680 He existed in the beginning with God. 00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:39.680 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:48.160 The word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:53.519 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. 00:30:54.240 --> 00:31:02.559 God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:08.799 John himself was not the light, he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:15.920 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:22.240 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:26.799