 Good morning everyone. Before we begin, can someone open us in order to pray please? Let's pray. Lord we thank you for this beautiful day. As once again we have gathered here to study about you and about you more. Lord, each and every time you lead us with your spirit so where we are unable to understand your spirit will help us to understand and each and everything will get properly and that will be very helpful for us in our future for we are studying here. Lord, guide everyone and let your presence be here to help everyone. I'm submitting this class and after the class everything in your hand. Jesus, mighty, I may pray. Amen. Thank you. Everyone is able to hear me okay? Yeah? Okay and all of you online as well? Okay good. Okay, so we will just begin with, we'll continue from where we stopped last week. We'll do a quick overview of what we did last week and then go into what we're going to cover today. Were you all able to attend the Christian Leaders Conference? I'm sure everyone in person did. Online students were able to attend some of it, the conference last week. Okay, that's great. So I had mentioned last week that I would see you on Thursday not realizing that we wouldn't have class because of the conference. So yeah, I'm glad some of you were able to attend and I'm sure you'll were blessed. So let's just go into interpreting scripture. So in our last class we looked a little more into this book on God's Word, The Miracle Seed. And we were talking about why we can trust in God's Word, right? And one of the reasons we looked at is that God's Word is based on his character as someone who will never or cannot ever lie and someone whose Word is as good as his promise. So once he has said something, we can be sure that he will do it because he cannot lie, right? And then the covenant that he makes, we looked at Genesis 22 where he makes a covenant with Abraham and there that covenant he swears by his own self to say that there is nobody greater upon whom I can swear. And so we trust the words that God has spoken because of who he is as someone who cannot lie but also because he places his own reputation at stake saying if I don't fulfill this then my own reputation is at stake. And so we can trust that he will fulfill it to prove himself as a God who can be trusted, God who we can count on. And then we looked at God's Words are pure, they are trusted, they are dependable, they endure and they are words that have been tested. So we can see even in Old Testament history how God fulfilled the things that he had promised he would do and so we can trust him for the promises that he has made to us as well. God's Word is a carrier of God's power. So we see that in creation and we see that in the way all of creation continues to be sustained by God's Word. And so we can believe that God will sustain us and God will bring things to pass that may not exist in our lives at present. He can bring things to pass through his Word. And so that's where we can speak the Word over our lives and believe that even if something doesn't exist at present in our lives it can come to pass, it can be created just by us speaking that Word of God over our lives and over our circumstances. And then we started to look at the parable of the sower. Does anyone want to just tell us a little bit from the parable that you remember what are some things from the parable that we are looking at here? Why did we pick the parable of the sower? Because the parable that we look at to understand how God's Word works in our lives. Anyone online or in person? Okay, so the parable of the sower talks about God's Word, right? It's talking about a farmer who plants God's Word and who plants seeds, sorry. And then when Jesus explains it later he says that the seed is the Word of God. And so he is taking from that parable lessons that we can learn about how we can take God's Word, how we can allow it to take root in our lives and how it can bear fruit in our lives. So that is why we took that parable as the base upon which we are going to look at how we allow God's Word to have an impact. Also, when the disciples ask Jesus about what does this parable mean? Jesus says, do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? So he himself places this parable as one that is very basic to understanding how we can interpret parables and how we can use God's Word. Because Jesus placed that importance on this parable we are also using that as the foundation for how we receive God's Word. So we looked at some of the key thoughts and we'll be going more into detail into all of these seven points that we looked at. We looked at the seed being the Word of God. So when Jesus starts to interpret the parable for the disciples, he begins with the seed is the Word of God. And so the farmer who is scattering that seed is like the Word of God being sowed among different groups of people. And whether that seed bears fruit or not is based on the hearts of the people who receive that Word. What kind of heart do they receive it with? Are they receptive to it? Do they understand it? Do they get the spiritual truth of the Word? Or are they too concerned with other things? Or are they people who give up when they face hardship or when they face persecution? So those are the things that we haven't yet gone into. But we look at the seed being the Word of God. And then we looked specifically at what qualities do we know of a seed? When we plant a seed, what happens? When we plant a seed, we get a plant. So there is some evidence of something happening to that seed where it is giving birth to something else. It's giving birth to a plant. It's creating something new. It's creating life. And so when we look at the Word of God, we say that the Word of God has similar abilities in our lives. So when we plant the Word of God in our lives that the Word can birth things in our lives that didn't exist before. And the Word can bring life to us where there is no life, where there is death even. Where there is darkness, the Word can bring life into those places. So I think we also did we cover this? God's Word has been designed to produce. Yeah, we did. So we looked at Isaiah 55, 10 and 11 that God's Word has been designed to accomplish God's purposes and God's pleasure. So what pleases God and what God wants to do in the world around us? He does through His Word. And so we can believe that His Word will accomplish that in our lives. So a few examples of what God wants to do. He wants to bless his people. He wants to heal. He wants to give direction to people. There are multiple things that God desires to do and they're always for our good. And these were just a few examples of what we see in the Word. Okay, so I think this is where we stopped at the Word working in our lives. So one of the questions last week was about Bible study resources. So page 15 of your textbook has a list of these resources, but I just put it here just because the question was asked. So these are resources that pastor had recommended. Eastward.net is what he uses a lot. And within Eastward there are a few commentaries. So David Guzik is one that is recommended. There are others like Matthew Henry and Albert Barnes, but when you're using these commentaries, you also need to be discerning of the theology in it, whether it is really strongly, biblically based or if there is some things that are not. And so these are some of those commentaries. And then you can get, if you want to pay to get some additional resources, there's Vines Dictionary and then there's Finis-Dix Bible. Other resources that are available, there's U-Versions, Blue Letter Bible, Logos Bible software, Bible study tools, and one that I had mentioned, which I use a lot is BibleHub.com, which for me has been very useful. So BibleHub has the original Hebrew and the Greek. It has multiple translations of the English Bible. So you can compare the translations if you're reading a specific verse. And then it also has some commentaries. I mostly use it for the Hebrew Greek and the parallel versions of the Bible, but they have other features as well. Okay, so last week we did start in this chapter. We began here about the seed must be sown into the heart. So the first key point from the parable is that the seed is the word of God, right? So the second key point is that the seed must be sown into the heart. So the heart is the soil in which the seed will either take root and grow and bear fruit, or the seed will die or the seed will be taken away immediately depending on the state of our hearts and how we are receiving God's word. And we looked at all three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, and all three Gospels talk about the soil being the heart. So we also looked at what does the heart represent? So in our modern usage, often when we talk about the heart, we are only talking about our emotions. But in the Old Testament, the heart talked about a lot more. It talked about a person's intentions, a person's imagination, a person's will, a person's desires, how they make decisions, their moral thinking, so discerning between right and wrong. All of those things were included in the person's heart, including your understanding, your reasoning, all of that. In the New Testament, the heart also began to represent the spirit and the soul, so to talk about the whole inner person, the inner being. So when we're talking about the word being sown in our heart, we're talking about it being sown in this inner person, in our spirit and in our soul, and it impacting that part of who we are. So where we are transformed in our spirit and in our soul, that then starts to bear fruit in the way we live physically, in the way we do our daily lives. So we want to see the word transform our faith the way we believe in God. We want to see it transform our desires, our affections, our imagination, our ways of thinking. We want it to affect our own will, right? When we say, your will be done, we want that word to become our will. So what God says about what he desires, what God reveals about who he is and what he wants to accomplish in the world around us, should become our own heart's desire. So that's how we want to see the word impact us and change us from the inside to impact the way we live. So this is some of the new things we didn't cover last week, so we are continuing from where we stopped last week. We'll talk about the implanted word. If someone can read James 1.21 for us, please. James 1.21, therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with weakness the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. Thank you. So there is one side of this passage, James 1.21, which is talking about putting aside all sin, right? First, we cleanse our hearts and then we allow the word to take a hold of us. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives. So we have to be in a place of surrendering our sinful behavior, our sinful desires to God and then receiving God's word to take root in our hearts. So if we are continuing in sin, we talked about this last week, that to see God's word bear fruit in our lives, we have to be walking in obedience to the whole Council of Scripture. It will not bear fruit if we are walking in disobedience, if we are walking in defiance of God's will. So if we're walking in submission to God's will and we are receiving His word with that kind of desire to submit to it, then it will take root in our lives. So the implanted word is used to depict that picture of the seed starting to take root in the soil, right? So when the seed is in the soil, it starts to germinate, it starts to deepen its roots in the soil to strengthen its grounding in the soil and only then does the plant start to come up. And so that's what the implanted word is a picture of that seed starting to take root in the soil. And that's what we want the word to do in our own hearts, for it to start to get strong in our hearts so that from that will come the fruit as it takes hold of our hearts. Can someone read Proverbs 4, 20 to 23 please. Proverbs 4, 20 to 23, my son give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings, do not let them depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart, for they are lived through those who find them and held to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence for out of its spring the issues of life. Thank you. So this is from verse 20 onwards, right? So it's saying pay attention to what I say, listen carefully to my words. So that means when we are going to God's word, when we are spending time in God's word, we are paying attention to his words. That means we remove all other distractions, right? So we put aside our phones, we step aside from other things that may be happening around us. We find a place where we can really focus on God's word and then we listen, right? So pay attention is focus, remove distractions. That's what Proverbs 4, 20 is saying. And then incline your ear to my sayings. So to say lean away from all other voices, lean away from all other things that will bring what they will say that they are speaking truth. But you listen to what I'm saying because truth is really in God's word. So incline your ears to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes. Let them be the way you are looking at the world. So let it always be before you. So when they're saying let them not depart from your eyes, let the word of God be the thing that defines how you view the world around you. How you are reacting, how you're responding to the world around you, how you are interpreting what is happening in front of you. Let the word guide every aspect of how you live. Let the way your eyes look at the world be influenced by the word of God that is so in your heart. And then keep them in your heart. So keep them whenever we see the word keep in scripture, it means to guard or to protect, right? So how can we, what are some ways we can guard or protect God's word? To keep it in our hearts, to keep it from being lost. Anyways, y'all can think of to guard what it means to walk in obedience. Yes, thank you. That's very important. Unless we are walking in obedience, if we're not walking in obedience, then we're not giving the word that importance. So it's very easy for us to lose for the word to lose its place in our lives and in our hearts. Any other ways to guard what we see in scripture to make sure that it remains in our hearts? By memorizing the words of the scriptures. Yes, very, very important. So have it in our hearts is to know the word so well that when we come across a situation that is difficult, immediately we are reminded of God's word. But if we don't know God's word, if we don't have constant practice of memorizing God's word, then in challenging situations, our response will be of the flesh. It will not be something that is in line with God's word. Sister Lucy has also shared meditating on God's word, which is what we look at more today. But yes, meditating is always remaining in God's word, allowing God's word to inform the way we live and we look more at what we mean by meditation. So can someone read Deutronomy 30, 11 to 14, please. Can I read, Sister? Yes, please. Thank you. Deutronomy 30, 11. But this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven that you should say you will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it. Beyond the sea that you should say who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it. But the word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it. Thank you. So we look at our hearts as a storehouse for God's word. So we can fill our hearts with God's word and then what comes out of our lives, what comes out of our mouths, what we say will flow out of what is stored up in our hearts. Okay, so Romans 10, 6 to 8, if someone can just read that for us. Romans 10, 6 to 8. But righteousness based on his faith says, do not say in your heart who will descend into heaven, who will descend into the heaven. But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confess and is saved. Thank you. So we see a Paul quoting the same passage we read from Deuteronomy and how does he interpret it? He says the word must be believed in our hearts and confessed with our mouths. So in believing in our hearts is where we receive salvation and when we confess with our mouths is where we see that salvation impact our lives, see it bear fruit in our lives. So that's what we want to see when we are depositing God's word in our hearts. We are doing it with the intention that what comes out of our mouth and what comes out of our lives is in line with God's word. Whatever is stored up in our hearts is going to come out in the way we live, in the way we speak. And so if we are sowing God's word in our lives then that's what is going to come out in the way we live and in the things we are saying. So we have to plant not only plant God's word in our hearts but we have to nurture God's word. So when we sow seed in soil what do we do to see that crop grow or to see that seed become a plant? Yeah, so we water it, we protect it so that no other animals, no other pests come and eat the plant. We make sure it's getting sunlight. We provide nutrients in the soil for it to grow well. So we are doing all kinds of things in the natural when we are taking care of a seed to see that plant grow. So likewise when we are planting God's word in our hearts we need to nurture it in order for it to bear fruit. And we do that through the process of meditation. So we will look at what is meditating on God's word. So any thoughts on meditation that you all want to share? What is your understanding of meditation? It's about my schedule actually like meditation. So I took a proper chapter and I used to spend time on it. And like I'm just trying to figure it out what the scripture want to say to me. Okay, yeah. So when we talk about meditation it is this process of dwelling on God's word, right? So we often hear about meditation as a practice that is done in a lot of especially in Eastern religions, right? And in that context meditation is usually going away to some place that's far away from most civilization, going to a deserted place, emptying your mind, coming to a place of complete openness to receive anything that comes in. That's the sort of meditation that's normally talked about. But when we look at scripture meditation is talked about very differently. So we look at what does God's word say about meditation and how are we to practice it? How should we take advantage of this? Because this is something that often is not addressed or not really given importance in our circles, right? We don't talk about meditation a lot. So let's just look at God's word and see what it says about it. So we looked at already why we are meditating on God's word, right? This is some things that we covered that the word of God is the source and foundation of our faith. It's pure and powerful. It can release God's power in our lives. And it's a seed that we need to sow and nurture. And so because God's word has so much potential, we want to correctly or we want to give it that value and we want to treasure it and nourish it the way it should be nourished so that it bears fruit in our lives. So let's look at Genesis 24, 63, if someone can read that for us first. Genesis chapter 24 was 63 and Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening. Thank you. So we see here that there was something that was being done already, right? Isaac was meditating on God's word. We see that right in scripture. But in this, we don't know exactly how was he meditating? What was he doing when he was meditating? The only thing we know is that he went away by himself. So there was this thing of being alone or being by himself and removing of all other distractions while he was meditating. Can someone read Joshua 1.8 for us please? Joshua chapter 1 was 8. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that it is written in it. For then you will make your way prosper and then you will have good success. Thank you. So if we read back in this chapter, these are actually instructions that God himself is giving to Joshua. So Moses was leading the people of Israel and after he has finished and it's time for a new leader to take over, Joshua is the one who takes over from Moses. And so God is giving Joshua certain instructions as he's taking over as the leader. And one of these instructions that God gives and one that is really, really emphasized throughout these passages is the instructions that God had given his people. It was those instructions that were going to set them apart from the rest of the people, the rest of the nations around them. Because in those instructions was a revelation of who God was and it was a way to live life the way God wants us to live. So in them knowing those instructions and following those instructions, they would reveal to the rest of the world who the true God is. So it was very, very important for them to preserve that word and to continue to follow it. So in Deuteronomy 4, 5 to 8, if somebody can just read that for us. Deuteronomy 4 was 5. Surely I have taught you statute and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us. For whatever reason, we may call upon him. And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are all in all this law which I said before you this day. Yes, so this is Moses giving his farewell speech to the people. So before he hands over leadership to Joshua and before his passing away, he's giving them these instructions and so he's calling them to return to God's law and telling them that this is what is going to set them apart as a people and that they have a great privilege of having this law which reveals God's wisdom and reveals God's righteousness right reveals the right way that we are called to live. And so he tells them keep these words don't forget them and don't forget to live by them. If someone can read Deuteronomy 6.6 and Deuteronomy 11.18. Deuteronomy 6.6 and these words which I command you today shall be in your heart and Deuteronomy 11. How this full of all good things which you did not fill you now to wells which you did not dig vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant when you have eaten and are full. Deuteronomy 11.18. Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be frontlets between your eyes. Thank you. So here again we see both Deuteronomy 6.6 Deuteronomy 11.18 talking about wholeheartedly committing ourselves to the Lord. So receiving his word with a whole heart and allowing that word to fully be in authority over our lives so that we are walking in obedience to it. So Joshua 1.8 we also see that this is God himself telling Joshua meditate on my word. So meditation is something that God himself had told his people to do. And we see that here especially in Joshua 1.8 where he is telling Joshua meditate on my word. And what is the result of meditating on God's word that we see in Joshua 1.8? Yeah only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. So that meditation allows you to become obedient to God's word. So meditate on a day and night so it is a continuous process. Whether you are doing your work, whether you are studying, whether you are helping other people whatever you are doing. In doing all of that continue to meditate on God's word so that you will be sure to obey everything. So why we are meditating on God's word is we want to be sure that we are walking in obedience to it. And when we are walking in obedience to it we will see God prosper us and give us success in every aspect of our lives. So meditation here is the key. Meditation leads to obedience, leads to prosperity, leads to success. And so it is important for us to understand then what is meditation? Are we doing it? Should we be doing it? And how should we do it? So we will look at these passages. I think we have time before our break so we will look at all of these passages. So meditation, one of the ways we meditate is we meditate on God's word itself. Someone can read Psalm 1, 2 and 3, Psalm chapter 1 verses 2 and 3. But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord and on his law he habitually meditates by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water ready to bring forth its fruit in its season. Its leaf also shall not fade or wither and everything he does shall prosper. Thank you. So here we see in Psalm verse chapter 1 verse 2 there is a call to meditate on God's word itself. So we are meditating on God's word. Can someone read Psalm 636 for us? Psalm 636, when I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. Thank you. So here we see not the meditation on God's word, rather meditation on God himself. So that is another way we can meditate where we are thinking about who God is. We're thinking about how wonderful he is, we're thinking about how just he is, how we can trust in him. We think about all of his characteristics. So we are basically in this place of worship and we're reflecting on all that God is who he is, his character, who he has revealed himself to be. Can someone read Psalm 143.5? Psalm 143.5, I remember the days of old, I meditate on all your works, I am used on the works of your hands. So this is where we are not meditating on the word or on God himself, but on what God has done. We are remembering what God has done, whether it's in scripture or in our own lives, the ways in which God has worked. And we're giving him praise, we are remembering his faithfulness, we're remembering his promises, we're remembering how he has fulfilled that for us. Just as a way to give him thanks, to praise him, to worship him for what he has done. Okay, and then Psalm 49.3. Psalm 49.3, my mouth shall speak wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall give understanding. So we meditate on things that will, things that are from God, things of wisdom, things of understanding. So things that give us wisdom, things that give us understanding. We meditate on those truths and through that is where we grow in our wisdom and understanding. So in this book and in this, in our class, we are focusing on meditating on God's word and what that looks like, how we do it. But there are other ways also to meditate. So these are just a few examples from scripture of other things we can meditate on. So maybe we can just start with this. How does one meditate? Okay, so we see in the Old Testament, two words that are used to talk about meditation. One is Haga and the other is Siak. Haga is to reflect, imagine, ponder, moan, growl, mutter, murmur, make a quiet sound such as a sign to contemplate something as one repeats the words. Okay, so it's using a lot of language of speaking, right? So there's the mind which is to reflect or imagine or ponder. And then the rest of it is the use of our lips, the use of our mouth, to moan, to growl, to mutter, to murmur, to sigh, to repeat words and contemplate them. So that is the picture of meditation. We are using our minds but we are also speaking words. We are speaking God's word specifically because we are meditating on God's word. And the other word is Siak which is used a lot in Psalm 119. And this talks about to ponder or to talk to oneself, to utter, to commune, to complain, declare, muse, pray, speak, talk. So again, there's the use of the mind is to ponder and then the other is to actually say something with our lips, with our mouths. So to utter something or to pray something, to declare something. So let's just stop there. We'll come back and look at this definition of Haga and we'll continue from there after the break. Thank you.