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All right, so yeah, again, 
picture of my family. 

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Yeah, awesome, awesome people. 
I'll tell them the in the first 

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service here, like so there's 
Hezekiah on the on the left. 

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He is our son and he is kind of 
surrounded by sisters. 

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He loves to eat and he loves to 
just explore different things. 

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He's the he's the person who's 
going to be so daring. 

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He's just all over the place. 
He's kind of a daddy's boy and a

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daddy's girl and a mama's boy at
the same time. 

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Like he loves daddy. 
He he kind of like starts to 

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talk, but he, he calls everybody
dad just which is really funny, 

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like dad and that are his 
favorite words. 

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And then there's there's Zion in
the middle on the bottom. 

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And she loves to learn. 
She loves art and things like 

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that. 
There's Shiloh on the bottom 

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right. 
And she is like this almost the 

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same personality as my wife. 
We could totally see her being 

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like a, like a lawyer. 
And when she grows up, she's a 

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fierce advocate. 
She'll like, very opinionated, 

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knows what she wants. 
And she will, she will tell you,

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which is which is really cool. 
She's the the enforcer. 

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She'll be like, if, if mom and 
daddy lay down a rule, she'll be

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like, no, mom and dad said no, 
it's really cool. 

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So yeah, just a little bit of 
and and I love my kids, right? 

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Our passage today comes into 
Deuteronomy 6, verses 5 through 

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9. 
So I'm going to read it for us. 

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Turn there if you'd like, says 
this. 

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Love the Lord your God with all 
your heart, with all your soul, 

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and with all your strength. 
These words that I'm giving you 

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today are to be in your heart. 
Repeat them to your children, 

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talk about them when you sit in 
your house and when you walk 

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along the road and when you lie 
down and when you get up, buying

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them as a sign on your hand and 
let them be a symbol on your 

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forehead. 
Write them on the doorposts of 

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your house and on your city 
gates. 

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This is the word of the Lord. 
So a little bit might be a 

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little different. 
The last church service of the 

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year, the first one before the 
New year, Christmas just passed.

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Why Deuteronomy 6? 
So before we get into 

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Deuteronomy 6, I want to break 
it down and see some context and

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history. 
What is happening leading up to 

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this time in Deuteronomy 6? 
So to do that, we kind of have 

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to back up a little bit into 
Numbers 14, further into the Old

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Testament. 
So Numbers 14 is where the 

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Israelites were initially freed 
from slavery in Egypt, right? 

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They were LED through the desert
by the pillar of cloud and by 

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fire. 
They arrived at the promised 

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land finally in Canaan and but 
only to find out it was already 

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inhabited. 
Some people were already living 

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there. 
The people that were living 

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there were giants, right? 
And, and the, the, the spies 

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that the Israelites has sent out
to kind of see what this 

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promised land was looking like. 
They saw these giants. 

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They brought the news back to 
the rest of the Israelites and 

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they're kind of consumed by 
fear, right? 

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They were thinking some of the 
things there might have been 

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thinking was for the giants, 
kill them. 

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They'd be taken as slaves again 
by these these giants. 

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Should they go back to Egypt, 
where at least they knew what it

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was like and they'd survived for
a certain amount of time? 

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Should they have just died in 
the wilderness so they didn't 

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have to confront this this 
potential danger? 

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They had a hard time trusting 
God, right? 

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And these are it's so 
interesting to think these are 

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like literal giants, right? 
I'm Chinese American and I used 

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to play basketball. 
I say used to have gotten older,

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have kids now as much time she's
use my time in other ways. 

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But when I was playing 
basketball right among other 

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Asian people, I'd be pretty 
tall. 

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So I kind of had to play power 
forward or center. 

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You kind of pushed into that 
position. 

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But then when I'm playing with 
other non Asian people, I'll be 

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a lot shorter than them. 
So I'd have to play like 

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shooting guard or small forward.
And so depending on who I was 

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playing with at the playground, 
you have to kind of look around,

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scan the room and see like, OK, 
who do I have to be today? 

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Do I have to like start posting 
up and get into the get into the

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key? 
Or do I have to, you know, start

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stretching a little bit more to 
do a little bit more movement 

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around the edges of the, of the 
court. 

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And, and I think like when I, 
yeah, I was always kind of not 

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the biggest person on the court.
So whenever I see somebody 

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taller than me weighing a lot 
more than me, I'll get a little,

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a little nervous, right? 
Like, OK, how am I going to box 

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this person out and things like 
that? 

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And I can only imagine the 
Israelites fear, right? 

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They're consumed by fear. 
And, and we know that that's not

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necessarily a good thing because
we see that that mistrust in God

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actually brought them some 
punishment, some consequences, 

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consequences like I say to my 
kids, that fact that they did 

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not trust God, God brought them 
and said, hey, you will not 

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enter the promised land. 
You actually this generation is 

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going to pass away in the 
wilderness and you will not 

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enter the promised land. 
They were simply just blinded by

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their circumstances, literally 
right in front of them. 

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Now, by the time we get to 
Deuteronomy 6, right, most of 

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this generation has died off. 
Moses, who's speaking in 

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Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 6, is 
talking to the children and 

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grandchildren of those who were 
initially freed from Egypt, 

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right? 
And he says, love Lord your God.

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These are these words that I'm 
giving you today are to be in 

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your heart, right? 
Repeat these words to your 

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children. 
Talk about them when you sit in 

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your house behind them as a sign
on your hand. 

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Let these words be a symbol on 
your forehead, and these words 

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that Moses gives them follows 
after this portion, and it fills

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21 chapters of Deuteronomy, 21 
chapters of Deuteronomy. 

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He says these things. 
Moses says these things. 

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These 21 chapters are to be in 
your heart. 

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These 21 chapters of content, of
words, I want you to repeat them

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to your children. 
These 21 chapters of content, I 

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want you to talk about them when
you sit down in your house, when

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you walk along the road. 
These 21 chapters, I want you to

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bind them as a sign in your 
forehead. 

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I want you to write these 21 
chapters of words on your 

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doorposts and in your city 
gates. 

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These 21 chapters, that's a lot.
That's a lot. 

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It's quite a lot. 
There's a lot of laws, a lot of 

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instructions, a lot of details 
that Moses gives, right? 

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And at this time, Moses is 
getting older, right? 

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He's walked with the generation 
that passed away and, and he 

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knows he himself is not going to
be going into the promised Land,

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right? 
He did something that he 

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shouldn't have done. 
And so he couldn't enter the 

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promised land. 
But he's giving the Israelites 

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some final words, right? 
He knows he's going to pass on. 

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He's like, before I pass away 
and before you go into the 

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promised Land, I have something 
I want to tell you. 

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And he gives them 21 chapters of
things right now. 

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Deuteronomy 65. 
Love the Lord your God with all 

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your heart, with all your soul, 
with all your strength. 

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It's kind of like the subject 
line of his, of his message, the

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title of his monologue, right? 
And he calls the Israelites to 

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do all these things. 21 chapters
full of rules and instructions 

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and and reminders, right? 
I imagine Moses is like, hey, 

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when I'm gone and you're in the 
promised land, don't forget 

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these things. 
Don't forget these things. 

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Keep doing these things, right? 
Kind of like his last words. 

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Now it's been over 3000 years. 
Fast forward to today, right, 

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that Moses said these words, but
I think that we need these exact

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same things. 
We need these that exact same 

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challenge, that exact same 
challenge for us with Scripture 

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today. 
So let's kind of take it verse 

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by verse. 
In verse 5, Moses says love the 

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Lord your God with all your 
heart, with all your soul and 

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with all your strength, right? 
And so how can we start to love 

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God with everything? 
How can we start to love God 

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with everything if we don't 
really know him? 

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I like how this is the positive 
side of the command, right? 

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He doesn't say like, don't be 
driven by stress and and don't 

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pay attention to what others 
think of you. 

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And, and don't be having your 
decisions made by perfection or 

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driven by what other people are 
thinking or expecting of you 

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'cause that list could just go 
on for 21 chapters or more, 

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right? 
Like don't do this, don't do 

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that, don't. 
But I love others like, hey, 

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just love God with all your 
heart, with all your soul, with 

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all your strength, right? 
And be driven. 

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He's essentially saying I, I 
would argue he's saying 

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essentially be driven to love 
God with every part of your 

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lives, even when no one's 
looking, even when you don't get

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the credit, even when you might 
be tempted in your hearts and no

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one sees, even when there might 
be lust, pride or anything else 

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that no one really sees. 
But are you going to love? 

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I want you to love God with all 
your heart, with all your soul, 

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with all your strength. 
Don't be driven and moved by 

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anything else but God. 
Don't be moved or driven by 

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anything else other than God. 
How can, how can we know what 

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God wants if we don't read his 
word right? 

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Let's how can we love him if we 
don't know Him? 

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Verse 6, These words I'm giving 
you today are to be in your 

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heart. 
I think I missed a couple of 

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slides here. 
That's how I imagined the 

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Israelites felt with the giants.
But he's saying don't be afraid.

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You should fear God. 
Follow him. 

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All right? 
Yeah, let's. 

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All right. 
So this is the thing, if we're 

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to be honest with ourselves, 
right? 

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These words I'm giving you today
are to be in your heart. 

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Let's ask ourselves what's 
really in our hearts. 

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I have young kids at home and so
it's kind of easy sometimes to 

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see what's in their hearts. 
This is not my kid. 

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This just for their privacy. 
But like I, I see this face so 

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many times in in our house, 
right. 

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Picky eaters like things that, 
that they, they don't want to 

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give up or they don't want to 
stop doing. 

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They're like fun country and 
play all day long. 

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They, they will stay up like 
it's, it's been Christmas 

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00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:24,680
weekend. 
So we kind of, you know, cut 

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them a little bit more slack, 
let them stay up a little bit 

190
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longer. 
We just got this like on 

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00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:32,560
OfferUp. 
We found like a free slide. 

192
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And so we set it up in the 
living room and like, literally 

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for like, it was up until like 
9:00 last night, like maybe even

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00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:42,920
10. 
They're just like going around 

195
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just taking turns, all three of 
them just going down this slide 

196
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over and over again. 
And then when it was time to go,

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I had to like, literally like, 
wait until they like, looked 

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away to like, drink some water, 
like Chuck it away and like, 

199
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hide it so they couldn't see it 
because otherwise it would just 

200
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be a whole episode. 
But I could see what is in their

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00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:04,680
hearts right now. 
What's really in our hearts? 

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Is it really truly to be with 
God and follow his word, right? 

203
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Or is it more so maybe to to 
look for comfortability, 

204
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stability, financially or 
predictability in terms of 

205
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career, right? 
What's really in our heart? 

206
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Those things aren't necessarily 
bad, but is our true desire in 

207
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our hearts to really be with 
God, whether or not we get that 

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00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,640
job, whether or not we have 
financial stability, whether or 

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00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:42,360
not our housing is is stable, Is
it still to truly be with God no

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matter what what's in your 
heart? 

211
00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,560
Verse 7 Moses says repeat them 
to your children. 

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00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:57,320
Talk about them when you sit in 
your house and when you walk 

213
00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,480
along the road, when you lie 
down and when you get up. 

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So guilty of not doing this. 
I release so much to Martha. 

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00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:09,440
Actually, it's like a modern day
Martha situation going on here. 

216
00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,120
I get so lost in all the things,
right? 

217
00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,880
Household chores, teaching the 
kids to talk to not just hum and

218
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:19,160
complain, but to use their 
words. 

219
00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:23,200
What do you want, right? 
To write, to count, do dishes, 

220
00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:24,920
laundry. 
It seems like it's never ending,

221
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:30,920
but this scripture here that 
Moses said 3000 years ago, 

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00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,440
repeat these things to your 
children. 

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00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:35,800
Repeat these 21 chapters to your
children. 

224
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Repeat God's word to your 
children. 

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I need to do that more. 
How much do we really do these 

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things, do this in our 
day-to-day life, whether we have

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kids or not? 
Is it do we do it with the 

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people around us? 
I work with University Christian

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Fellowship, right? 
And it's a, it's a Christian 

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organization. 
And I get to talk with people 

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who are considering missions and
we get to send people to, we 

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have over 120 different 
countries that we are able to 

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send people to, to serve 
students in all those different 

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countries. 
So there's a lot of opportunity 

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out there. 
And I get to talk with people, 

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help them discern through 
missions and potential 

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potentially serving overseas and
living overseas. 

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And I think, and I think about 
it, right, like how much do I 

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repeat God's Word? 
So much of my work can just be 

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the, the projects and the 
deadlines and the, the 

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communications and the emails 
and things like that. 

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But how much are we getting back
to God's word? 

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And if you work in a secular 
workplace, or you might not, it 

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might be kind of weird if you're
like, Hey, the Bible says after 

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holidays on Monday morning, it 
could be a lot easier, right? 

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To, to be like, Hey, how was 
your weekend? 

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What did you do over the holiday
and things like that. 

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And, and how much does like, you
know, engage in that 

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conversation and, and talk about
God's word without maybe 

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sometimes being so explicit 
about it, right? 

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Do we use, how often does 
Scripture come into our mind and

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into our words with in our homes
and in our workplaces? 

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Verse 8 says Moses says, bind 
them as a sign on your hand and 

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let them be a symbol on your 
forehead. 

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Now, just a quick little note is
that back in the day, sometimes 

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slaves would be branded on their
head or their hands to kind of 

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show who they belong to, right? 
And so this passage kind of 

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flips that right? 
And, and it says like, OK, who, 

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whose are we, right? 
Whose are we? 

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And, and Moses is this, this, 
this call for them to bind it as

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a sign on their hand and a 
symbol on their forehead is 

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like, hey, no, I, I follow God, 
I follow God's word. 

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This is this is what it is also 
a reminder throughout the day 

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visibly. 
Yeah, I have a watch here. 

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And some of us might too. 
Just look at it frequently. 

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And and you know, if there was 
Scripture 2121 chapters of 

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instructions that Moses was 
saying, hey, bind to your hand, 

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put them on your forehead. 
Like how much more we have more 

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than 21 chapters. 
We have the whole Bible 66 books

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right to to bind on our hand and
to put on our forehead. 

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How often are we looking at 
Scripture in verse 9 says write 

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them on the doorposts of your 
house and on your city gates. 

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Now, at times, at the time, and 
also even still today, some 

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people put like gargoyles or 
spells or things to kind of ward

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off evil at the, the front of 
their house, right? 

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But Moses, he was motioning for 
people to put God's word there 

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instead, right? 
To say, hey, to make a public 

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declaration of like, hey, no, 
this is we're not doing any of 

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the, the lowercase G God 
expelling evil and things like 

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that. 
We're, we're putting God's word 

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here. 
We worship God, We trust that 

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God will take care of us and he 
will provide for us, right? 

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And, and we're living according 
to that. 

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The city gates were a place, a 
public place for any foreign 

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00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,760
visitor to kind of see. 
And, and it's the first thing 

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00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:32,560
that they see as they come in. 
And, and it's a declaration of 

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00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:36,920
like, Hey, we worship God. 
We follow God's Word right? 

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00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:44,600
Now, some of these things might 
be you have to kind of take it 

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00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:47,920
all together, right? 
Because if you just take the 

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00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,520
actions, the practical actions, 
right? 

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00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:53,960
And you do these things, you 
have them in your heart, OK? 

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00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:55,760
You're thinking about God's 
Word. 

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00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:57,960
You're talking to people about 
God's Word. 

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00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:01,200
You have it written down, you 
have it for show, you have it as

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00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:07,440
a public declaration, all that. 
But if you don't live it out, 

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it's all for nothing. 
If you don't live it out, it's 

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all for nothing. 
We're just playing the Christian

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00:18:17,360 --> 00:18:20,000
game. 
You put on the Christian outfit,

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00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,360
you do the Christian thing. 
But if you don't do it when no 

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00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:28,120
one's watching, if you don't do 
it when you're really tempted, 

301
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:35,480
if you don't do it when no one's
looking, if you don't do it when

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00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,600
you don't get caught, does it 
really matter? 

303
00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:46,280
Do we really still follow God 
when it we don't get the credit 

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00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:54,250
for it when no one's watching? 
Now, I want us to get practical.

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00:18:56,010 --> 00:18:58,130
We could just follow all of 
these things, right? 

306
00:18:59,650 --> 00:19:04,490
But some of us just need to 
start with God's Word. 

307
00:19:04,490 --> 00:19:09,720
We just need to start. 
I grew up going to church. 

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00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:13,160
And so these things, you know, 
keeping God's word in our heart,

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00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,240
repeating it to our children, 
are the people around us talking

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00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,720
about it day and night, binding 
it on our hands and our 

311
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,040
foreheads, making it visible 
around where we go, writing it 

312
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:24,680
on doorposts, writing it down, 
and things like, I'm so used to 

313
00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:26,560
that, right? 
It's just second nature. 

314
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:27,720
It's just what we should be 
doing. 

315
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,520
It's what we do, right? 
But some of us, me included, I 

316
00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,400
think we just need to start and 
get back to God's Word. 

317
00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:39,200
Think about this. 
Moses instructed the Israelites 

318
00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,440
to do all of these things, not 
with a small little pamphlet or 

319
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:47,320
a nice little flyer, small 
handful of verses. 

320
00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:53,200
He gave them 21 chapters and 
said, hey, keep this in your 

321
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,680
heart, these 21 chapters. 
Repeat these 21 chapters to your

322
00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:02,160
children. 
Talk about these 21 chapters day

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00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:06,160
and night. 
Put these 21 chapters on your 

324
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:12,320
hands and on your foreheads. 
Put these right out, these 21 

325
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:17,680
chapters and put it on your 
doorposts and write them out and

326
00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:20,760
put them on your city gates, 
these 21 chapters. 

327
00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:25,960
I want you to do all of these 
things with these 21 chapters. 

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00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:32,440
But how many of us, me included,
have a small pamphlet or a flyer

329
00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,760
that we have instead of 21 
chapters? 

330
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,320
Right. 
How many of us have that small 

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00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:45,760
pamphlet instead of 21 chapters?
And, and frankly, like the 

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00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,040
Israelites at this time, they 
had 21 chapters. 

333
00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:52,200
Yeah, but we have no excuse. 
3000 years later, we have 66 

334
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:59,640
books. 
Do we have those 66 books in our

335
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:03,240
heart? 
Are we repeating those 66 books 

336
00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,920
to our children? 
Are we talking about those 66 

337
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:12,840
books day and night? 
Are we writing those 66 books 

338
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:16,160
out? 
I've never written them out. 

339
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,440
I tried to type it out when I 
was young, trying to practice 

340
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,640
typing and things. 
I only got through Genesis, like

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00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:23,640
10. 
It's a lot, a lot of writing. 

342
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:30,800
Can't imagine yet how many of us
have other things in our heart. 

343
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:37,760
How many of us have competing 
allegiances and idols in our 

344
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,240
heart? 
Things that we like and that 

345
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,920
we're chasing? 
How many of us repeat other 

346
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,400
things to our children in 
addition to scriptures? 

347
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:49,000
Those things might be good, but 
are we intentional about 

348
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,400
repeating the scripture? 
How many of us? 

349
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:54,840
Of course, we talk about other 
things besides Scripture, but 

350
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,840
how much Scripture do we talk 
about day and night? 

351
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,240
If we're to like just do a 
command F or control F and look 

352
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:05,280
for the transcript of like what 
we say in a day, how much 

353
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:10,040
Scripture is in that transcript?
And we look at our writing or 

354
00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:14,200
our typing, how much of that in 
proportion to everything else we

355
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:22,280
write or type is Scripture? 
I think some of us, many of us 

356
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,200
me included, need to start with 
God's Word. 

357
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:38,200
My encouragement, my challenge 
to us and to me today is this. 

358
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:45,160
Let's read more. 
Read more of God's Word. 

359
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:51,520
Let's read more of God's Word. 
Let's have God's Word in our 

360
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:54,840
heart. 
Less of the other stuff. 

361
00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,520
Let's share it with our kids. 
People around us talk about it 

362
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:05,080
day and night more more often 
than we do. 

363
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:12,520
Let's write it down. 
Let's let Scripture, let's let 

364
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:14,800
God's word be on our lips day 
and night. 

365
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,680
But first let's let's read more 
of God's word. 

366
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:26,480
I'm going to pray for us and 
then I'm going to just send you 

367
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:30,120
all to kind of just reflect and 
and meditate with God. 

368
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:41,640
Lord, I just want us to, I want 
this time to be a time of 

369
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:47,800
confession or what are the ways 
that we have traded your word 

370
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,840
for other things in our hearts, 
in our words, in the things that

371
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:59,600
we write and type in our lives. 
Even let's take this time to 

372
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:04,440
just be with you and God and 
just confess and, and let's, 

373
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,680
let's work on let's work towards
repentance of, of reading God's 

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00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:09,440
word more.