Video Transcript: Academic Literacy in Ministry Training

Hi, I'm Henry Reyenga here with Steve Elzinga and welcome back. Welcome. So we're going  to talk about academic literacy today. And we're going to start off with a couple of verses,  Genesis 1:3, "and God said, Let there be light and there was light." John 1, "in the beginning  was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was with God in the  beginning, the Word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,  the glory of the One Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth." So, Henry, why  did we start with those verses? Well, academics, the word, the word, the word in the  beginning, God said, said, he said a word and things came into existence, right? And then  God's son is called the word word as word of love to us. The Word became flesh. And in some  ways, that's what studying is really all about is it words are not just words. They stand for real  things, right? I mean, I even think about this. I mean, there was language before the creation  of our Earth. Yeah. Right. And when Adam and Eve first spoke language to each other, it was a preexisting order of words that was already there before they were even created and put into  the garden. Right? So word, the word is, is an incredibly deep and rich thing. And we just want to share a little bit because your you'll be studying words, words are going to make a  difference, the word of God. And then the Word of God as it becomes real in our lives, it  becomes flesh. Right. It becomes something that makes the gospel, the gospel. I mean, in the end, the good news the word is personified. That's what the early church writers talk about.  Logos they even said, right? The word was personified in a person. So only God, fully man. So  academic studying is really about all it's about the word. Wow. That's interesting. All right,  moving on. Okay, so what is academic, we're talking about academic literacy. So what is  academic? Well, academic is used to describe work, or school, college, university, a place, in  fact places emphasis on studying and reasoning, rather than on practical or technical skills.  Now, that is a lot of words. I can just imagine some of you come in and say, I have not been in school for a long time. And I'm already want to turn my back and go the other way. To what  academic is, what does this have to do with the ministry training? Well, it's academic. And  that's what scares people. Because it is a study of things. It's not necessarily a hands on  thing. When you go to a trade school, for example, you're learning how to weld or you're  learning plumbing, right? Here, you might be learning plumbing, and you might be learning a  trade, but it's with words, but that doesn't feel if I'm at a trade school learning a skill, it  doesn't feel necessarily academic, but I know there are buzzwords and so forth. Yeah, but  never the feel that way. Right. You know, and at Christian Leaders Ministries here we at the  college here, we want to be practical, right? Doesn't mean we're not going to be practical. But as you begin your studies, you're going to be learning, you know, reasoning, there'll be  arguments, and you have to follow the logic of of a presentation. Right? Okay. All right. So  let's, what is literacy then? We're talking about academic literacy literacy, okay. So literacy is  the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, and compute using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts and Okay, so I'm gonna have some of  my coffee and my Christian Leadership and Christian Leaders Institute, coffee cup to go here  because I like having it is it you know, again, this is what scares people about coming back to  school. Maybe some of you, you went to grade school, you went to high school. Some of you  may have gone to college or university But many of you are just coming back after many  years. And all of a sudden, you have to start listening to lectures, there, there will be reading  material, and then you have to hold on to it, and you have to take a quiz or a test, and so.  This is all part of that process. And, and, and it may be in the beginning, it will be sort of a  difficult thing for you. But we guarantee that we we make these presentations in a way that  that people can understand, we tried to make it simple, logically follows one thing to another.  But there are some things that we want to share in this little lecture that may help you along  the way. So, there's basic genres of communication. Okay, genre. So what is this to do with  academic? Well, because you'll be hearing different kinds of lectures, you'll be reading  different things and to know what you're reading, for example, the Bible is filled with a lot of  genres. There's history books, there's Poetic Books, there's the letters of Paul. So when you're  leaving, reading a letter of Paul, for I or II Corinthians, For example, to understand that this is  a letter, right? It's not a history. It's not poetry. It's a letter. And now you know that you have  to understand something about who Paul is writing to, right? And what the context is. Or if 

you're reading the book of Proverbs, right? That's a whole different wisdom literature, right?  That's a whole different genre, or if you are reading the prophets, right? A lot of times people  struggle with the prophets, because they want it to read like history, right? Well, it's not  history. So what you're saying, in ministry training, it's important that we just don't open the  Bible up being we've seen people do that they open the Bible, they put their finger down a  word or one verse, they read it, and then they think, Oh, God is telling him to do something,  but they're not even understanding the genre, but rather seeing the context. And that can be  very dangerous. And when you are dealing with the souls of men and women, it is important,  as a minister, that you take that seriously and sincerely that you want to rightly divide the  Word of Truth, right? So that's the word of God. But in some ways, you're doing the same  thing with a lecture, or with what you're reading carefully listening and learning, right? Learn  if you can identify is this, you know, now the guy is telling a story, but why is he telling a  story? Okay, so we're going to look at some of the basic kinds of communication out there  that you can then identify. So what happens if someone is just starting academics, again,  studying training, this does feel a little overwhelming, is this gonna be hard to get through.  Just like anything, when you start out, like, I remember taking history as a kid, and it's dates,  and I could not keep it all straight. Remember, I had no sense of overwhelming, it was Yeah.  But over time, as you get into it, all of a sudden, the dates start clicking in and you start  getting a feel for this era, or that era. And it starts making sense. So it might feel a little hard  at first. But over time, you'll catch on. And you probably won't even have to think about all  the things that we're going to talk about all these genres becomes second nature, like it  becomes part of your language, your word, right? So we'll go over these things. And I think  even going over these things, hopefully, you will put your minds at ease, Okay, to start  making sense out of when you read the newspaper or on the Internet, you'll notice there's  different types of genres being talked about, right? Okay. All right. So one, genre is just  information information. So someone is just telling you about things, and they're not trying to  motivate you. They're not trying to persuade you about anything, right now, in some ways,  we're giving you information, right? We're not there's no argument that right, you know, this,  then this, then this and because of that, you should do this, right? We're just trying to inform  you of some things. That's the most basic kind of genre of communication. It's also the most,  probably the least interesting because, you know, either people are interested in the  information or they're not. Right. And so sometimes in the lectures, people will just be telling  you information about the Bible. They're not trying to motivate you towards anything, or  you're taking a genetic class, if you want to go to college program get through a college  program. Sometimes it's just information you need to learn, right? Or you can't get the  degree, right. Like, like how to use our site and how to click on it, say how to take a quiz, the  rules of right? So whether it's you using the website or taking certain classes, some  information says plain information. Right? Right. Okay. Then there's how to kinds of  communication. So now somebody is explaining how you do something. A lot of people use  YouTube like that. They need to fix something, right? So there's somebody that put a video on  YouTube that says, This is how you fix it. We include information like, like how to use the site,  but now we're giving you more clues and how to navigate. Guidance and Credential panel,  right? So now we're teaching me more, right? And generally, a how to thing is more  interesting than information, because you are motivated to do something and you don't know  how to do it. Right. So now you click on this thing that shows you this is how it works. So we  have like skills classes here at Christian Leaders College classes that just help you how to how to preach a sermon, right? So it within that that class on making a sermon, there's  information, here's the different kinds of sermons, exegetical, topical. Okay, there's doctrinal.  But then how does one do this sermon? How do you? What do you start? Right? What's the  goal? What are you trying to do? You need a life coach. Right? Not just the information about  a life coach how to do it. Okay. Number three, some communication is just to encourage,  right? In some ways, we're trying to do a little bit of that with you when we're talking about  how it might be difficult at first, but you can do it. If you keep at it. People will succeed. We've  had people all over the world, different countries, nations, people that have English as a  second language. And they all succeed, right? Right. So you will too. So that kind of 

communication and just trying to encourage you, I'm not trying to teach you anything notice  the difference now. It's like in the sense, we're talking to you, your soul, your wonder, you can do it. We're a coach, encouraging, we're not teaching you things, we're not giving you  information. There's no how to, but it's encouragement. So sometimes, for example, a sermon might be that it might have all this information. But the goal, at the end of the day, is to  encourage you to hang in there. Life is hard, but God is good. And you know, his purpose will  be carried out in your life. So that's encouragement. So the encouragement genre could also  be insights. So combining information with insight and example. So Jesus sends out the 72.  And then they go out there, and then they come back and report what happened, they report  how it went how to, and then Jesus encouraged them by saying, you know, don't, don't fall in  love with the results that demons submit to you. But you know, that your name is in the book  of life, it's your walk with God, it's your eternity that matters. So that's a genre of  encouragement, even taking one and two along with us, by the way as we're talking about  these basic kinds of genre and communication to help you with your studies. These these  exact same things are also helpful as you're trying to communicate the gospel I mean, your  images because you want to do ministry, and understanding these things. So what am I doing with this sermon? A lot, a lot of sermons are all over the place because the person preaching  doesn't know whether he's just giving information, how-to or encouragement or or whatever it might be, right and so then people walk away going it was an interesting sermon, but I don't  know what the goal was, right? When that's where again, you saw Jesus using information,  how to and encouragement with a powerful point of you know, take heart the reign is with  God. Okay, powerful encouragement. So sometimes the whole goal of the communication is is comfort. Like people are hurting and then you you communicate something that you know,  comfort the word comfort is comes from Latin with comfortare fortress, strength. So I'm trying to give you strength because you're feeling weak, right? And so a lot of different than  encouragement so encourage comfort, they seem similar to me, well, encouragement. A  person might not necessarily be struggling with anything. Just like more coaching type of  Yeah. You know, on a sports team, you might not be doing something poor. But come on, we  can do this right now, if in the first half, the other team was slaughtering you. Now we knew.  Right? So comfort is, is close. It's like encouragement, but it's encouragement when you're  down. Gotcha. Okay. All right. So number five challenge. Sometimes the goal of a sermon or a  lecture that you're listening to, is to challenge you towards something, right. So we're not just  giving you information. We're not just telling you how to do something, we might be  encouraging you a little bit, or maybe there's a little bit of comfort, but my goal is to  challenge you, you're you're, you're here, and I am challenging you to you go to here, and a  lot of ways in the Bible we see in the prophetic literature. And so they have prophets. And in  the New Testament, you'll see the Apostle Paul talking prophetic Jesus, you're talking  prophetic, you know, things like, you know, the Gospel must be preached to all the world  before I come back. Fundamental comes back. Well, there's, there's a prophetic challenge  goal make disciples by of all nations. Right? So the rich young ruler comes through Jesus. Yes.  And what he wanted was encouragement. He wanted a pat on the back. But what did Jesus  say to him? Go sell all that you have, right and follow me? It's very challenging. Yeah. Right.  He was looking for something else. But what Jesus wanted to do is give him a challenge.  Other times, Luke 15, the story of the prodigal son, there's a challenge and a comfort thing  going because Jesus was meeting with the tax collectors and the senators and the Pharisees  and the teachers of the law, we're all in the same crowd. And so he tells a story where he  encourages, lifts up, the down and outer the sinners, you know, every person is worth it. You  know, the father is waiting with open arms for everyone. But then the challenge to the older  son was the challenge the teachers of the law, are you going to come in? Are you going to let  go of your anger? Are you going to join the party? Or are you going to sit on the outside and  he was Jesus was challenging them you know to join the party. So in a lot of ways, as we're  talking about this, you can see how sermon, you enter on a news or encouragement or a  sharing your own testimony, right? And leading someone to the Lord, all of these genres,  studying the genres and understanding the difference is very important. Yes. Because  because, again, what's your goal with the talk that you want to give? What's the goal of your 

testimony? What's the goal of your sermon? What's the goal? That ministry discussion you  have with someone that you're trying to help? What do they need? Do they need  encouragement? Do they need comfort? Do they need challenge? Do they need information?  What do they need? That's pretty awesome. All right, number six, persuasion. Okay, now  we're talking into leadership, right? Because persuasion is you are here. And I'm trying to  persuade you to go here. Yeah. So anything to do with growth has to do with persuasion that  you have evangelism. What is evangelism? You're not a believer, and I'm trying to persuade  you to give your life to Christ. Right? What is discipleship? Discipleship is, you're here, and I'm trying to persuade you to grow as a disciple of Christ, whatever that might mean. It might be  your marriage might be your family life, it might be your witness, it might be your trust of  God. So persuasion is, is probably so when you're listening to a lecture, you have to  understand what What's this guy doing? Is he trying to persuade me about something? Is he  trying to challenge me? Is he trying to comfort me is he encouraging me? What is he trying to do? Because if you know what the author or the speaker or whatever you're reading, what  they're trying to do, then you can follow right? follow it through. If you're confused about what the author is trying to do, then you're sort of lost as to what's going on. I used to struggle  with, like, human persuasion, and then God works in someone's heart. And I used to think,  well, I don't really have to be that persuasive. persuasive. It's up to God. And then I realized  that the apostle Paul is very persuasive. And God is working in heart and then I reflected over  30, some 40 years now in ministry is that our goal is to understand these genres, be honestly  persuasive, not manipulative, and even with that, God uses that. So he wants us to  understand what it means to be persuasive but also understand that only he changes the  heart. So it's like a both and the situation, you can't force someone to do what they don't  want to do, right? But we still must be informative. We must understand how to do things we  must be encouraging, we must be comforting, challenging, and persuasive in his work. Work.  It's work. And the other reason why this is so important is because the devil and everyone  connected to the devil, they use the same things, too, right? They do, right? So someone is, is saying some encouraging words to you, and you think they're encouraging you. But really  what they're trying to do is persuade you, right? Discernment is also understand, you know,  so sometimes you're with a salesman, and he's being very flattering, getting ease and talking  about a lot of different things. He's informing you he's encouraging you, he might be  comforting you, but it's goal, it's to persuade you to do something. And so the devil uses that  too, right? So we have to be aware, well, that one passage where Jesus had usable, worldly  wealth to influence or make friends. And when they're gone, it's a heavy passage. But what  it's basically saying is, is be aware, yes, get involved, learn that your words matter. Yes. in  ministry, your words matter. Alright, so adding a little spice to communication, let's talk about that. You know, so there, there's informing, there's persuading, there's comforting, there's  encouraging, but then there's how you how you sort of do that, by the way, they, like the  vehicle of communication, is that way. So narrative narrative is stories, right? Telling a story,  Jesus, you in almost most of what he said, had to do with telling a story. You know, instead of  just saying God loves you, He told the story of a son, and a father, and the son runs off. And  then the Son has a problem, he comes back. And what Jesus does is he paints a picture  through the narrative. So in a lot of the work, I think, the example of King David, okay. So, you know, he has this affair with Bathsheba. And God could have come to David and said, Hey,  that's a sin. Yeah, you know, and then he has Uriah, Bathsheba's husband killed. But instead,  he sends the prophet Nathan. And Nathan tells the story about a sheep and rich guy that has  all kinds of things. And a poor guy that has one little lamb, and the rich guy has a visitor. And  instead of taking one of his lambs, he takes the one lamb of the poor guy and he kills the  lamb prepares the meal, and he gives it to the visitor. And then David gets all upset, what  kind of person could possibly do that? And then David looks at him and says, you, you're the  one who does that. Because you took something that was not yours. And then what does  David Do? He weeps? he's, he's convicted. Right? Why? Because he could live into the story,  not knowing that it was about him. Right. And that's what stories do. Stories sort of get under  the radar, of our defenses, a lot of times, we want to convince somebody of something. But a  story gets under the radar of all the defenses and all the justifications people have 

justifications for everything that they do, but a story connects to us connects into our heart in  many ways. Stories are often all of our default system. When we want when we communicate, we often communicate with stories constantly. You know, I went over the store guess who I  met today. So you talk him out of that guess who I met today we're going to do something on  Saturday night. So the story compelled I met Bob and Liz Oh, hey, how about doing something with them on Saturday night, but actually is a form of communication in daily life. But that is  in the Bible that is a mode a vehicle of communications in story is its own thing. Metaphor  what is a metaphor? A metaphor. Well, you and I love metaphors that oh, we do. We're like  metaphor masters. A metaphor is a picture a whole system within a picture or it's almost like  a story condensed in you know, something that you know if I say If we bought we have our  metaphors, you know, we'll say things like, you know, the first like our trip to California, you  know, early in our ministry we, you know, we would use like, John Belushi, remember that?  From the movie The movie right or using something? You know I wrote a book about the  Titanic. Yeah. And I use the Titanic as an illustration of the church, now the church could be  like a cruise ship, right? Or the church could be like a lifeboat, right. The metaphor of the  church being the lifeboats, saving people who are drowning in the icy cold waters is a picture.  It's a made up story in some ways, that illustrates something else. In fact, we you know, even  use the word is a church is a lifeboat. Yes. And then everything a lifeboat is the church's  somehow that right? So why do we use metaphors? We use metaphors because people get  used to, you know, like, I'm so hungry. I could eat a horse without it even making sense, I'm a  horse eater. Yeah. But, but I think originally, people were saying, you know, I'm really hungry. I eat my mode of transportation. And I'm really hungry. But soon we get used to that then  doesn't mean anything. But then someone comes along and makes a metaphor says I'm so  hungry, I can eat a horse. I don't make any sense. All of a sudden, it makes you pause and  think about the real thing in a different light. Right? So metaphors are metaphors in a way are like a narrative. You're telling a story that relates to something else, in some ways.  Communion? What is it? Jesus said, This he holds up a piece of bread. This is my body. It's a  piece of bread, right? But it's more it's more than a piece of bread. It's like tangible, right?  We're still story, we're still doing communion. 2000 years later, we don't have Jesus right  here. We don't have to have them physically here. But we do in this metaphor, right? Baptism  is water and the picture is water washes the dirt off of you. And we can see that we can touch it. And it stands for something we can't see. Right, that we can't touch. And then you see the  role the Holy Spirit is, like, we say communion is a metaphor for the presence of God right  there. Right. So it's a metaphor with the presence of God. Powerful, but we also add spice,  communication. Alright, simile, I just go. The difference between metaphor and simile is  definitely the word like, yes. simile is like, similar of similar, okay? So it's not similar to that.  So this is like that. Okay, so why do we do that? What it kind of helps us get to meaning  quicker if we know that the internet is sort of like the printing press in that it opens a lot of  communication, just like it did 500 years ago, the Internet open to them today. Right? Well,  very similar to the tangible thing. The movie Forrest Gump. Yeah, life is like a box of  chocolates. You just don't know what you're going to get. Right. So now is a metaphor, a box  of chocolate, it's like is like life is kinda like this same situation where you don't know what  you get Now he just, you could just say, life is this thing that you don't know what you're  gonna get, right. But instead, there's this picture of about a box of chocolates. And each one  is covered with chocolate. But inside, there's something different with each one of them.  Right? And we all can relate to the right, we get it, we see it. And so now all of a sudden, we  started thinking about how life is kind of like that. Right? And it helps me think about life.  Right? Even though life is not chocolates? Well, you know, we have our minister hat. You  know, a lot of the things we think of minister as a metaphor, but also we think of, you know,  all of our roles are like a minister. Okay. So, when we have his head doesn't just mean that  you are a minister, we also think of the role of our life like a minister we are bringing. We're  doing ministry. Yes. And so we are all like a minister. Right? Right, because what does the  minister do? He brings the gospel physically, with words, deeds, in a way that he can write  and that's what we all do. Right? Exactly. So So illustration, okay. Illustrate illustration, well,  sometimes we don't like understand something, and we're trying to get to a meaning. But if 

there's an illustration that goes along with it, then we can understand it. Right? In a way all of  these are quite similar illustration is like a metaphor. And it's like saying, like, we often need a  picture of something to understand. Okay? So a lot of times, like, like, the apostle Paul had a  lot of arguments. And he was very persuasive. He was way too lawyer. Yeah. But I think for a  lot of people as they read through Paul, they're like, I have no idea what he's talking about,  because it's hard. But once in a while, Paul would say, well, it's like a boxer. Yeah. Okay. I'm  not just boxing around. I'm not just shadow boxing, right, I am doing something really  important. Or he'll say, the world competes to get a crown. Right? That doesn't last right. So,  okay, I can see that. Yeah, we we work a lot of times for things that don't last. But I worked for something that will last right. So that picture of sports and people working hard, and then  they get a medal or they get a trophy. Okay, we can see that. Right? But then Paul takes that  and he goes, Okay, but you can see our temporary that is right in at the end of the day, you  have a medal. Right. But what if we use the same passion that we do to earn that little medal  that doesn't last right towards the things that last. Jesus has been this parable would often  use, you know, there was a rich man who died and a poor man. And they both rare Lazarus,  and the rich man. Illustration, but now it gives him the metaphor. It's almost like an illustrative metaphor, in terms of right, like, you know, things mixed together, but the right clearly an  illustration, he sees the sower sowing seeds, and he starts talking about the Word of God, like, like the seed, right? And so see, we can see the different, you know, one of the seeds falls on  the hard ground, one of the seeds falls, where are the the weeds that choke it out, and then  some falls on the goods. And we can picture all those things. And now that's easy to relate to.  And now we can relate it to people. There are people where the word of God comes to them  and then stuff happens, they're excited, and stuff happens and all of a sudden, they stopped  going to church, right? But the picture of the agricultural thing that we can readily see right,  helps us see something maybe a little more complex, and then we create a metaphor, you are the sower. Praise would communicate, we made our illustrations to show where you are a  sower, right? You are the lifeboat in a sea where people are drowning. Yes, you are a minister  right? Now. He number five compare and or contrast. This is a form of communication used all the time. So this is the bad way to go. And then in contrast, this might be the good way to go.  Right. Okay. So the story of Elijah, you could separate that story into the downward spiral. So  he runs, he's hungry. He's depressed. The angel comes and says, here's some food, eat the  food. He's running away. He's, I'm the only one. Everyone's trying to kill me. God, your  program is no good. Okay, so there's the one side yeah, okay. But as he's running away,  where does he go? He goes to where it all started. He goes to the mountain of God, where  God started the whole program 10 commandments purpose, we're going towards something  that's going to change the world. So God brings him back to that place. And then he speaks. A still a voice. And then he doesn't even say, he doesn't even answer any of Elijah's problems.  He just says, okay, you know what, I got things for you, to do. I want you to go back. You got  to do anoint this guy that I came, and then Oh, and by the way, there's 7000 prophets that  haven't bent the knee. So in that, that picture, there's the negative, the South, how we give  up, how we stop eating, how we're tired. We listen to what people say. And then on the other  side, there's what God does about it and, you know, holding on to God trusting God and just,  you know, working towards God's kingdom. It's often Communication is helpful to see those  two sides there is the sin. And then there's the salvation. The law, there's grace. Right? And to understand grace, you have to understand the law, right? Because if there's no law, there's no thing that I've got against that. I don't need grace. Right? So when people just preach grace,  it's all grace. Everything is grace. Everything is grace. Eventually people go, Well, what do I  need grace for? Right? Oh, there's law. There's hell, there's heaven? Yes. I mean, there's two  contrasting, there's a spiritual warfare, right. So as a minister, as you are learning in your  ministry training, you, you will become self aware, become self aware of these contrasts. And  in the presentations, often the the presenter of a class that you are looking at the look at the  downside of something, and then in contrast, the other side, or the worldly side of something. And now let's look and see what the Bible has to say about it. Because often these things are  against one another. And in some ways, we understand life, by contrasting things. For  example, you see us sitting here, and if we were sitting here with a red background, we would

disappear. Because we both have, we both have a red shirt, right? Because we have a red  shirt against a brown background, you go okay, I can see two different things. And that's the  way it is with everything that we see something against something. And then communication. I mean, you'll even notice when you're communicating with your spouse, just that  communication, any point, you know, my wife might chime in, would she she would see it this way, then you'd see it this way, then you're with another couple, they would see it this way.  And there would be all this comparing contrasting going on differently than if you're alone.  Yeah, in some ways. This is what makes growth happen. Without this, if you and I thought  exactly the same thing and everything we have no need to talk to each other. Well, what  happens if sometimes because of our sinful nature, compare and contrast becomes conflict.  It's not appreciated. So then the chaos is like, overwhelms everything because compare and  contrast is no longer respected. Right, right. So alright. So one more. Number six, problems  solving. Okay. Problem solving, I think is the most interesting communication. Why do you say that? Well, for example, you know, I have to come here to the studio today. And then, you  know, I get I get ready. I have my breakfast, and then oh, now I gotta find my car keys right.  Now. Okay, if I know where they are, I just pick them up. I don't think about a thing. Right?  Okay. But let's say I can't find them. Right? I, you know, I may have been sleeping. But all of a sudden, when you can't find your car keys, you're motivated. And now you're energized. And  you're looking here and you're looking there. You might be somewhat annoyed. But you're  like, I gotta solve this problem, right? You may have your whole day planned, and all of a  sudden, your plumbing is leaking all over the place. Guess what? All hands are on deck.  Because you have to solve this problem. Problem. When you have a problem. You become  incredibly motivated. And this is true with communication. If you just start talking, hey, you  know, today we're just gonna talk about some stuff. Well, people are they can decide, I don't  know, am I gonna listen? What's the point of my I have no idea where this is going. But if you  start out, Does God love everyone? Right? Is God's love conditional, right? Well, I don't know.  Let's listen to find out. Let's dig into the Word of the word or let's say, you know, I came and I  said, okay, in the sermon today, we're going to look at when there's something you're trying  to do in your life is a good goal. Or an addiction, right? How do you know that the thing that  you're working really hard on is something good, you know, God directed? Or when does it  become an addiction that I'm so addicted to this thing? I'm making that an idol, right? When is my thing, a goal? Or when is my thing an idol? And today as we look at this passage, we  might just find out Okay, so now, I got to listen, because you just made problem that I want  an answer to. And so now I'm willing to do the hard work of exegesis, listening and, and  whatever it takes so, right you know, and in ministry, when we identify these problems, and  then give insights as to how to solve the problem, I'll give you an example, you're going to  find out about what we call the seven connections, and I'm not going to talk too much about  them. But it's all about the habit of talking to God listening to God and do it repeatedly. And  you'll find out more. So one of the things, that is a problem, because we all want to have a  devotional life. So in this class, we'll find out about the connections, we have this connection  cross. And here's an issue where we know we have a problem. And we need to actually have  habits of walking with God. And often we fail, and we don't know we hit a wall. So then when  we do is we have to help ourselves to try to figure that out. So what helps us my wife and I is  remember to open the Word of God in the pray. Now, it seems like your your ministry should  do it. Yes, we should. But it was still a problem staying a focus that way. Right? So. So just  understanding that that's a problem. Yes. So we just brought it up to you. And you might have this problem. You love God, you want to learn about God, but you know, how often you  actually read the Bible and pray? Right, actually. So now that I bring this problem to you, and  by the way, we have a solution for you, we have a solution for you. Are you interested? Right? See you are interested, as a minister, you share solutions, right? So because you're interested in solving this problem, then you will listen, you'll go on to the next lecture, you're willing to  take the next class. But if you don't know that you have a problem, right? When you don't do  anything, right. And so that's why communication is so powerful. Yes. When you can identify a problem that most people have, and then offer to try to solve it. Exactly. Well, is there  anything else? I'm very curious. Oh, there is another one. Treasure Hunting. Aha, now we're 

getting into some fun here. Treasure Hunting. So what is the treasure hunting? I in a lot of  times, when I I think of my sermon, I love to take people on a treasure hunt. So for example,  Jesus said, I thirst write two words, I thirst now why. Right? How does that relate to us? So in a sermon, it'd be like, Okay, so let's, let's try to figure out what this means. What does it mean?  Let's look at the surrounding context. Well, you know, Jesus said, I thirst and then they raised  this wine vinegar. Is that related to Communion? Right? I don't know. Let's look at the verses  that talk about that. Is it related to thirst? You know, King David said is, as the deer thirst for  streams of water, so my soul thirst? Is that what's going on? Right? Or is it and you start  looking at all the different words all that it flips? Let's go on a journey. There's some gold here, right? But we don't know where it is. Right? So I take you down this trail, that wasn't that  good. I take it on this trip. I take you down this trip. And then we look at something in the  Psalms, and then we look at something in the prophets. And finally, finally, we get to Exodus  12. Okay, there's one word where Jesus says, I thirst they put a sponge of wine vinegar, and  they stuck it on what? A stick, right? But in the text, it tells us what kind of stick it says a stalk of hyssop. Okay, now why? I mean, who cares? Right? It can be on our pine stick an oak stick,  I mean, what difference does it make be why? Who cares? Right? When you're roasting hot  dogs you just put it on a stick. Here's what it is. But the text is very specific. A stalk of hyssop. So now if you look up the word hyssop, it's, it's in the Psalms and tears began speaking  broadly. Eventually, you get to Exodus 12, where the last plague, the Angel of Death is going  to go through the Egyptians camp and the Israelite camp, and the only way they can be saved is that a lamb must be slaughtered, and the blood of that lamb must be put on the  doorframes of the houses with a stalk of hyssop. Okay, so what is Jesus doing here? He's  referring, I am the Lamb of God. You see, now it is taking you in five minutes. I was doing a  sermon. I was stretch this out for 25 minutes and we're digging a hole for the goal here. No,  it's not there. Out here. Let's keep looking. Is it? Are we going to find gold are we not going to  find out people are on the edge of their seat? Are we gonna find gold? Aren't we? I don't know. But I got to keep listening, right? We got to keep digging. And then eventually when you hit  the goal, like, wow, there's the connection is that that's a powerful way to communicate,  right? To take people on a journey instead of just sitting in your study, figuring it all out, and  then coming and giving people the aim and the answer why not take them on your journey of  discovery. Okay, so Steve, we're going to wrap this up in this presentation. I know next time,  we're talking about the importance of words. But in a lot of ways, let's pull this all together. So I'm starting ministry training. I'm checking Christian Leaders, Institute College Alliance  outright now. I'm, like, I haven't been studying for a long time. I've been introduced to  different modes of communication, genre, style, and everything like that. So what does this  have to do with studying the Bible survey? What does this have to do with studying, you  know, ministry, theology, or if I'm a college program, you know, gen ed classes, in the end? Is  this essential? As we're starting this whole journey? Just understanding all these different  genres are going to help you as you're doing the Bible. Right? It's okay, this is you're gonna  go? This is history, right? Or when a prophet says something, was a challenge is a challenge.  Or it might be an illustration. All right, right. Your sins, though, they'd be like Scarlet, will be  white as snow. What is, right, it's like a simile, that that's like a metaphor. You're identifying  this picture. Now, why is this picture because it communicates in a more powerful, emotional  way. And you're more aware of what's going on, you're more aware of what you're reading,  and what you're hearing. And then ultimately, you become more aware of how to  communicate. These are like tools of powerful communication Gotcha. Okay. So the more you  know about these different tools, the more you're able to use the tool that's appropriate for  what you want to do. And you're more so in some ways, we're helping you start listening for  these things, right. But our ultimate goal is that you start using these different things to  become a more powerful communicator to be a minister. Yes. So until next time, we enjoyed  being with you. And you are, Minister, is that a metaphor? Yes, well, it could be literal and a  metaphor, okay. Till later, my friends