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As you come to the end of the year.

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A lot of things tend to transpire when, in our culture at least.

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People start thinking about planning for next year.

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Because of realities of life, people who are getting older start thinking about what
happens when there isn't a next year.

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They start thinking about what have they planned for?

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What have they set aside?

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What have they done to secure their legacy and help their family when they're gone?

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He gets towards the end of the year, some people start thinking about the tax bill that's
going to be due on April 15th or 18th or whatever day it's due these years.

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and they start thinking, you know what, I got a few more months.

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If I do things the right way, I can save some money.

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People start thinking about where they invest their time and their energy.

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They start wondering, you know what, do I still want this job or that job?

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Do I still want to continue in this activity?

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Am I going to eat next year like I ate this year?

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Am I gonna have to exercise more?

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all of the things that we think about as we come to the end of year.

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This morning, I want to encourage you as you're thinking about the end of this year and
planning for the next one.

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I want you to be encouraged to invest in your spiritual education.

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As we think about life, as we have all gotten older, especially those of us in the room
who are beyond the years of schooling, we probably think about education a little

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differently than those who are still in the period of schooling, because we see what it
gave to us down the long road and not necessarily how we looked at it when we were in it.

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But as we think about education, we're talking about growing in knowledge.

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We're talking about building a foundation upon which we can grow in wisdom and
understanding and development for the future.

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Some may say, Aaron, my runway is pretty short.

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I don't know how long I'm going to be using that whole future stuff.

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Maybe I shouldn't invest too hard.

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And yet, when we consider.

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that the things which we know, the things which we have learned, the things which we have
gained by way of understanding, concerning spiritual matters and the Word of God will be

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carried into eternity.

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then it really doesn't matter how long the runway is.

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Because when we taxi down that runway and have liftoff, we carry that analogy into
eternity.

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Whatever's on the plane, when we take off, we get to take with us.

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So if we're investing in our knowledge, in our spiritual education, when we reach
eternity, we don't have to reinvest.

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We have the knowledge and the wisdom and the understanding that we gained while we were
here.

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So no matter what age you are, if you're young, I encourage you to invest in your
spiritual education.

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If you're middle age and you've got a lot of things going on in life and you've got a lot
of bills to pay and a lot of things that are happening that you've got to be worried about

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keeping the ball rolling, you need to be investing in your spiritual education.

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And if you're looking in the mirror and you're wondering where was that 17-year-old that
you used to know because staring back at you is a lot of white hair and a lot of wrinkles.

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I encourage you to invest in your spiritual education.

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but I want you to invest the right way.

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And that begins by first investing in the right teacher.

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If you invest in the wrong teacher in education, you're going to get an outcome that is
less than ideal.

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Piece of wisdom that was once given to a student getting ready to go to college.

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And they said years later that this was the best piece of advice that they ever got from
anyone about going to college.

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As they were looking at their major, they had the courses that they had to take.

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With the teachers, they had to take.

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They didn't really have a choice.

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But then in college, they had those electives, those other things that they could take in
addition to the things that were required for their diploma.

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And as they were asking someone, how do I decide what classes to take?

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Do I take the classes that sound interesting that I think I'd like to learn that?

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Or do I figure some other way to figure out what class to take?

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They said the best piece of advice they ever got was take the classes that your favorite
teachers teach, no matter what the subject is.

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And they said they followed that advice.

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Of course, when they first started school, they didn't know any of the teachers, so they
just had to guess.

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But when it came time for the next semester, they said, I really enjoyed that class with
that teacher.

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I got a lot from that teacher.

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I didn't learn a thing from that person.

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So if that person was teaching the subject that they wanted to learn about more than any
other subject in the world, they didn't take the class.

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Because they couldn't learn anything from that person.

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They took the class with the teacher that they got the most out of.

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If you're going to invest in spiritual education, I encourage you to invest in the right
teacher.

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Because the teacher makes all the difference in the world.

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Turn to Matthew chapter 11.

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Matthew chapter 11, Jesus has questioned the Jews.

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What did they go out to see when they went out to hear John in the wilderness?

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He wants to know from them why did they go out to hear John.

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What is it they were interested in that caused them, because some of them, as we know from
the text, traveled long distances to go out into the middle of a barren wilderness to hear

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John.

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for those who have grown up and lived in places like Memphis.

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If you've grown up, especially in the church, in the area around Memphis, you've had a
different experience than some people have in other parts of the country.

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When we lived in eastern North Carolina, the closest congregation that wasn't in our town
was 30 minutes away.

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When it came time during the spring and the fall that congregations would have gospel
meetings or events like that, we would go to what we called the area congregations at

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least one night of their meeting.

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And some of those trips were an hour and a half to two hours one way.

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That was an area congregation.

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Because once you hit the road, you weren't passing another church and another church and
another church on your way there.

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Here in this area, we're blessed.

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Sometimes we consider it may be blessed and cursed at the same time, but your strengths
are often your weaknesses.

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But you could leave this building and in six miles be at another sound congregation
without any problem that's not even in this town.

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You could go another direction, six or seven miles in another town and find another strong
congregation.

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You could travel around the greater Memphis metro and you could go to congregation after
congregation after congregation that will all teach you sound biblical doctrine.

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That's a blessing.

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A lot of places, that's not your scenario.

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And in Israel, in those days, when John began to teach, it really wasn't.

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As a matter of fact, there was one teacher that the entire nation went out to hear, and it
was John.

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John's no longer in the picture.

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You get to chapter 11 and verse 28, and Jesus has spoken to them about their failure as
entire cities to repent at the preaching that they've heard.

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And verse 28, Jesus says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest.

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Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will
find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

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Jesus tells those who are around Him, those who are willing to hear,

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those who are willing to listen and grow in understanding that He is willing to teach
them.

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but he also lets them know that it's going to cost them to be taught by him.

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He doesn't say, come to me, I'll teach you, it won't cost you a thing.

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No, rather, Jesus says, if you come and hear my words, if you learn from me, there is now
a burden to be borne.

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Oh yes, my yoke is easy, my burden is light, but there is a burden to be borne, there is
an investment to be made.

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Jesus isn't dealing with the financial matters of life when He tells them about this
burden.

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He's dealing with the burden of the truth.

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and they have to be ready to bear it.

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They have to be ready to accept it.

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They have to be ready to carry the burden of the truth.

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And yet, as evidenced by earlier on in the chapter as he's discussed these cities that had
witnessed great miracles, that had seen the things done, that Jesus said had the same

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deeds been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes,
and yet these cities didn't repent.

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They were unwilling to invest in the truth.

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In Matthew chapter 7,

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Jesus says, verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

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Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out
demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?

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And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

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Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

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Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise
man who built his house on a rock.

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And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on the house,
and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

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But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them.

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will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

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And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and
it fell and great was its fall.

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Jesus will tell those who are hearing, you have a choice.

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You can hear the words that I'm speaking to you.

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You can understand them, you can apply them, you can instill them into your life, and you
can become strong.

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or you can hear the sayings that I give you, you can hear the teaching that I declare to
you, and you can ignore it.

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Now in an education system, especially a higher education system, you don't have to spend
much time with professors or teachers or instructors to realize there are some people who

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come to learn and there are some people who come to be there.

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They are there because someone has said they must be there.

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That may be someone who requires a diploma for them to get that job they want, or it may
be parents who said you are going to get an education.

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But they're not there because they want to be.

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They're not there because they're intending to learn.

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They're not there to be educated.

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They are there because they are there.

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Sadly, in too many churches there are a lot of people who are there because they are
there.

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They're not investing in anything.

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They're not spending any of their time or any of their energy and they're not going to
remember what was said when they walk out the door.

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Their next thought is, what's lunch?

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But that's okay because all the previous thoughts they had during the time where they were
listening was, what's lunch?

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We're going to invest in our spiritual education.

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We're going to have to find the right teacher.

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and Jesus is the right teacher if we're going to invest successfully.

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But Jesus warns us.

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My teaching comes at a cost.

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My teaching requires a burden to be borne.

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And by the way, he never mentions when you get to let the burden be set down.

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He says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light, but he doesn't say it's short term.

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He doesn't say, you'll only have to carry it for a little while.

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You know, as we consider our lives, some of the times that we make choices in life, we
look at a scenario when we think, you know what, I can suffer through that for a time.

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around this time of year and not far into the future, that's what people start thinking
about diets.

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You know, I can suffer through that diet for a time.

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If I can suffer long enough, I'll get the result that I want.

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I'll lose the pounds I want.

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You know what?

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I can suffer long enough to go to the gym and the gyms are very much hoping that you
decide that you can suffer long enough because they know better and they're going to make

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about

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80 % of their money in the first month of the year.

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Because three months later, the gym's empty for the rest of the year.

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Why?

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Because you couldn't suffer long enough.

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Jesus says, I'm not telling you it's temporary.

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I'm telling you, you can bear it.

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But then consider as well, not only do need to invest in the right teacher, but you need
to invest in the right textbook.

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One of the interesting things people often ask about homeschooling is someone who was
homeschooled all the way through high school and now homeschools are children.

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Is they say, how do you teach every subject?

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How in the world are you supposed to educate a child from the earliest ages all the way up
through high school?

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I don't remember half of what I learned in high school.

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How am supposed to teach it?

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The answer is the right textbook.

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One of the things that I have always loved about watching children go through
homeschooling is you find out kids are able to self-educate.

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People would ask us, what's your life like?

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What's your day like in homeschooling?

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When we were younger, we'd the assignments that we have for the day or the week or the
month or however far it's scheduled out, and we're handed them and we go do them.

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We read the book and answer questions.

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And if you didn't do well enough on the test or on the quiz, you get to go over it again
until you figure it out.

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because you self-educate with the right textbook.

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And when you realize there are some textbooks written by people who can't communicate, you
realize the value of a good textbook.

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There were number of subjects in life growing up in education where we started in one
textbook at the beginning of the year and we ended the year in a different textbook

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because we figured out that the teacher who wrote that textbook couldn't communicate.

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And so even adults would sit down with the lesson and then sit down with the quiz and go,
I can't understand what the question is or where the answer is.

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You learn the value of a good textbook because it's the difference between learning and
failing to learn.

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In John, chapter 5.

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Jesus says in John chapter 5 and in verse 39 to the Jews who are arguing with him about
spiritual matters, he says to them, search the scriptures for in them you think you have

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eternal life, but these are they which testify of me.

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They wanted the Scriptures and they wanted to argue that the Scriptures denied that He was
the Messiah.

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But the problem was they were arguing from the textbook that said he was the Messiah.

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Jesus says, you go back to your scriptures.

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You go back to the textbook.

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You go search the scriptures because they testify concerning me.

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Over in the book of Acts.

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As we're introduced to Paul's missionary journeys, we're told about Jews that are in the
synagogues in different cities.

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In Acts chapter 17,

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uh Paul left Thessalonica and he left Thessalonica because there were those who came in
and started a riot and refused to hear the message and refused to hear what was said and

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Paul got run out of Thessalonica.

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Verse 8, and they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these
things.

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So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest of them, they let them go.

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Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.

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When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

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These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica." Sometimes you read this passage
and you hear preachers preaching and think, he's talking about the Christians in Berea.

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No, he's not.

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He's talking about the Jews in Berea.

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He's talking about the people who went to the synagogue in Berea.

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He says, were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word
with all readiness and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were

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so.

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They'd come to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

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They'd sit down and they'd listen to the things that were taught.

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and then they'd forget it when they walked out the door till the next...

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no!

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That's not what these Berean Jews did.

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These Berean Jews were ones who heard what was taught on the Sabbath day, then they went
home and they opened the Scriptures every day to see whether or not the things that they

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taught were actually so.

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if you walk into my library.

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you will find some books that I have spent money on in my life that have never managed to
do anything other than keep the shelf from flying up out of the room.

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Because I've never read them.

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I've never studied them.

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That's just how life goes sometimes.

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You think, that's probably going to be an interesting book.

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Let me get that.

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And then you never read it.

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if you fail to invest in the right textbook.

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Not only in choosing the right textbook, but in using the textbook.

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then you'll fail in your spiritual education.

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we are to be reminded that God did not give us a book so that we might own it.

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He gave us a book so that we might learn from it.

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And while many a student has desired to be able to stick the textbook under their pillow,
lay their head down on top of it, and wake up the next morning having learned what they

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needed for the test, that's not how education works.

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You've got to open it.

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You've got to read it.

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You've got to study from it if you're going to be prepared for the final exam.

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If we're going to invest in our spiritual education, we need the right teacher, we need
the right textbook, we also need the right model.

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Raise your hand if you're here this morning and you learn incredibly well by just reading.

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You don't need a visual example.

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You don't need any pictures.

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You don't need somebody to explain it to you.

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You just read it and you got it.

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That's not most people.

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Truly, it's not how most humans learn.

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um Dictionaries are nice, and you probably know like I do, people who sat down and read
the encyclopedia and the dictionary growing up, because that's just how they learn.

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And then they could tell you detail after detail after detail from it.

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And you're going, I don't know who you are.

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You're weird.

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That's not how I learn.

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I need to see it.

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I need to see an example of it.

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I need to be witness to how it actually works because conceptual learning is not easy for
me.

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but that's okay Luke chapter nine

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Jesus does not tell His disciples how to be what God would have them to be.

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He teaches them, yes.

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He explains it to them, yes, but He doesn't leave it to just teaching.

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He doesn't leave it to just explanation and expect them to figure it out.

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Rather, Luke chapter 9 verse 23, Jesus said to them all, if anyone desires to come after
Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

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Jesus tells us you have a teacher, yes.

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You have a textbook, yes.

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But you also have a model.

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You have an example to follow.

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You have someone who walked in front of you, showed you how to do it, and then led you in
the example.

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We're going to invest in our spiritual education.

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We're going to have to find the right model.

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And yet Paul writes over in 1 Corinthians chapter 11,

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1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 1, Paul writes to the church at Corinth, and he says to
them, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ.

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You say, Aaron, I didn't have the opportunity to live with Jesus on the earth.

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I didn't have the opportunity to be His disciple in person.

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I'm not a Jew and I didn't grow up in Galilee and I never met Him.

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How?

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His model.

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And the answer is because he taught someone who taught someone who taught someone who
taught someone how to follow the model.

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Paul would write to Timothy as he is exhorting Timothy in his work as a minister.

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to be constant in one particular thing.

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2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1, Paul writes to Timothy and says, you therefore, my son,
be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard from me

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among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

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Paul tells Timothy that part of Timothy's job is to do what Paul taught him.

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But not just to do what Paul taught him, to take what Paul taught him and instill it in
somebody else so that that person could do what Timothy taught him.

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And then that person could teach someone else who could do what that person taught him.

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And Paul goes all the way back and says, Christ is the example.

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Where there's ever a point where the model that you're following doesn't look like Christ
anymore because he's not following Christ anymore, you stop following the model.

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you go back to the original you go back to the original plans and the original model and
the original example and you reset off of the correct model

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We are to invest in the right model, and that's Christ.

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But then consider we are to invest in the right surroundings.

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There's a lot of discussion going on nowadays about the value of education.

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And it's even going on amongst those who are big proponents of education.

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There those who are in very advanced scenarios in technology and very advanced degrees who
are graduates of some of the most astute colleges and universities that have ever existed

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on the planet, let alone in our country.

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And they're saying...

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that with the speed of knowledge and AI and technology happening that somebody who spends
four years in a school is four years behind the curve by the time they graduate.

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That the information they're being taught in the classroom is out of date before they get
taught it in technology.

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And so here are these proponents of education going, I'm not sure that education's worth
anything because it takes too long.

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but all of them seem to agree as they're discussing that going to the university is still
good because of the value you get out of the surroundings of the education.

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The connections, the influences, the people that the university's value in their mind is
not what you learn in the classroom.

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it's the people that you're surrounded with that may, in their world, make you millions
and billions of dollars because you got connected to the right people.

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Now that's a worldly mindset.

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But if you think about Jesus' model and you think about what Jesus taught, Jesus did not
just come with teachings.

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Jesus did not just come with writings.

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Jesus did not just come with teachings, writings, and an example.

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Jesus

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placed a surrounding of all of those things in its physical existence in the form of the
church.

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In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus would say to those disciples after he's asked them, who do
men say that I am?

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And some said, well, some say you're John the Baptist.

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Some say you're Elias.

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Some say you're

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Jeremiah or one of the prophets, who do you say that I am?

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Jesus asked them.

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Peter says you are the Christ, the Son of God.

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And Jesus responds, and blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood is not
revealed as to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

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And upon this rock, not the rock of Peter, not the Petra, not the pebble, but upon this
rock the testimony of Jesus Christ and who he was that originated with God the Father.

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Jesus said, I will build my assembly.

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I will build my called out ones ecclesia.

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I will build my church.

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And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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Jesus is asked many times and Jesus answers in the form many times as he's teaching why he
came.

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And Jesus says in one passage, yes, I came to seek and to save that which was lost.

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In another passage, Jesus says that he came to be a physician to those who were sick.

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But Jesus in this passage says, came to build my church.

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and it is the surrounding of my people that is undefeatable.

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that is impenetrable by my enemies, that will never be destroyed.

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If we try to accept and carry with us and be educated by Jesus and we ignore the
surroundings whereby He said we can be undefeated, we can pretty well assure ourselves of

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defeat.

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because we're not following the right example.

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Jesus came to build His church.

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And if we're going to educate ourselves and if we're going to invest in our own spiritual
education, we must invest in the surroundings where we find our spiritual education.

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We must invest in the people whereby we find the education that we need in order to be
successful, but also the defense we need to be faithful.

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in my years in preaching.

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and my years growing up as the son of a preacher.

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I never found someone in the body of Christ who was actively, passionately, faithfully
investing in the body of Christ in a body and a congregation where others were actively,

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faithfully, passionately doing the same thing.

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whoever thought that their time investment wasn't worth it.

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while they were active and passionate about it.

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The only people who I ever found who decided the time and the investment wasn't worth it
were those who had quit investing.

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At some point along the way, they stopped being passionate about the truth.

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They stopped being passionate about the people.

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They stopped investing in the truth.

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And they stopped investing in themselves.

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And when they did, they looked back and said, not worth it.

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And they left.

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When you consider your life, and when you consider your actions, when you consider your
circumstance in life, you should ask, what is the value of my surroundings?

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A lot of times in life and in business you might think to yourself, what's the value of a
room?

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You walk into a really nice room and it's empty.

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It's not worth nearly as much as if it's full.

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Doesn't matter how nice the room is.

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It's not worth as much if it's not full.

330
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If it's not filled with the right people, but you walk into a room that's shabby, broken
down, in disarray, and it's filled with the right people.

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and it may be worth all the money you've got.

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because of who it's got in it.

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The value of a room is based upon the investment of the people who are in it.

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If you want a stronger church, you need a stronger investment from the people who are in
it.

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But then consider, if you're going to invest in your own spiritual education, you must
invest in the right actions.

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All the learning, all the knowledge, all the examples, and all the surroundings,

337
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are worthless to those who won't use what they have in front of them.

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If they don't apply it, they get no value from it.

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In Matthew chapter 4,

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Jesus will make this very idea incredibly clear.

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Matthew chapter 4 and in verse 19, Jesus will say to the disciples, Peter and Andrew, He
will say, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

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Jesus is going to tell these disciples that will become part of His twelve apostles, can
no longer continue as fishermen if you're going to do what I need you to do.

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I need you to invest in the right actions.

344
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As Peter and Andrew walk away as an example from the largest catch of their life, we know
it's the largest catch of their life because they couldn't get it into their boat.

345
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They had to get another boat to come over and bring it in with them and it nearly sunk
both boats.

346
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As they get to shore with the biggest catch of their life, Jesus says, follow me.

347
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And they walk away.

348
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from the only windfall investment they probably ever made in their lives in a physical
sense to follow Christ.

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And Jesus says, will make you fishers of men.

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In Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18, Jesus says, all power has been given unto me in heaven
and on earth.

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Go ye therefore and teach all nations.

352
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We need to be those who understand that our task as the church, as the body of Christ, is
not one that is done by an individual.

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It's not one done by someone who has the employee status of a preacher or a minister or a
missionary or an evangelist or an elder, but rather it is that which is done by a

354
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collective group of people who are obedient to Christ.

355
00:41:09,154 --> 00:41:25,028
who are investing in the right actions in their lives, who are investing in faithfulness
every day, who are investing in opportunities in the lives of others every day, who are

356
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willing to take the time to go out and put a net in the water of the world and catch a
soul that is lost.

357
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and bring it to salvation.

358
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If we're going to be what God wants us to be, then we're going to have to invest in our
own spiritual education, because ultimately we have to invest in our own actions.

359
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And the lives and the souls and the eternity of others will be determined based upon our
investment.

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You get up one morning.

361
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And you're not feeling good.

362
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And the day goes on, you're feeling worse.

363
00:42:22,999 --> 00:42:29,009
And there's some tightness in your chest and some pain.

364
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I better go see a doctor.

365
00:42:33,826 --> 00:42:37,180
And you get to the doctor and they say, let's run some tests.

366
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Let's look at some pictures.

367
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Let's see what's going on.

368
00:42:42,444 --> 00:42:44,787
The doctor comes back and says, it's not good.

369
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You need surgery and you need it now or you're going to die.

370
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And you say, Doc, how soon can we get started?

371
00:43:00,799 --> 00:43:05,294
And he says, well, now I need to let you know.

372
00:43:06,075 --> 00:43:08,938
I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention in medical school.

373
00:43:12,822 --> 00:43:14,911
And I didn't read any of the textbooks.

374
00:43:17,300 --> 00:43:23,083
As a matter of fact, I bought my degree from a guy who did.

375
00:43:26,678 --> 00:43:30,058
pretty much have just kind of sat here and been paid for a while.

376
00:43:30,058 --> 00:43:34,484
I didn't really spend a whole lot of time thinking about this whole saving lives thing.

377
00:43:37,922 --> 00:43:41,971
You think you're gonna find a new doctor before you get that surgery done?

378
00:43:45,432 --> 00:43:53,174
Imagine a person faced with the conviction that they're lost eternally.

379
00:43:54,786 --> 00:44:02,314
and the only person they know who has a solution is an ordinary Christian.

380
00:44:04,108 --> 00:44:11,558
and they go to that ordinary Christian and that Christian says, sorry, I've never really
quite paid enough attention to be able to tell you how to fix the problem.

381
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What a shame.

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00:44:21,986 --> 00:44:25,886
we need to be investing in our spiritual education.

383
00:44:28,206 --> 00:44:32,866
because one day someone's going to come to us with a problem.

384
00:44:35,028 --> 00:44:49,182
and need a solution and need someone who's educated and trained and ready to provide the
life-saving solution.

385
00:44:52,236 --> 00:44:55,894
and it won't be enough for us to say, know a guy.

386
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We need to be the one ready.

387
00:45:01,998 --> 00:45:05,699
to apply the life-saving solution.

388
00:45:06,599 --> 00:45:23,824
Because we've known the right teacher, and we studied the right textbook, and we followed
the right model, and we've been surrounded by the right influences, and we've practiced

389
00:45:23,924 --> 00:45:26,665
taking the right actions.

390
00:45:27,465 --> 00:45:31,598
If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, we encourage you to
make your life

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00:45:31,598 --> 00:45:33,298
right with God.

392
00:45:34,178 --> 00:45:42,378
To be immersed in water for the remission of your sins if you're outside the body of
Christ because Jesus not only said go into all the world and teach all nations, he also

393
00:45:42,378 --> 00:45:48,398
followed that up with baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit.

394
00:45:49,138 --> 00:45:55,658
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you and lo, I am with you
always even to the end of the age.

395
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Jesus told us how to get started and Jesus told us

396
00:46:00,620 --> 00:46:02,011
how to be faithful.

397
00:46:02,371 --> 00:46:12,177
And Jesus told us where we are to spend our time investing in others who will both be
those who get started and remain faithful.

398
00:46:13,298 --> 00:46:20,282
And then Jesus instructed us to carry out a mission to teach the lost to be faithful.

399
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If you have need of the invitation, why not come forward now as we stand and as