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{\b\fs48 Episode 1544: The Tree of Life\b0}

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{\b\cf1 Scott Maderer:\b0}

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{ Thanks for joining me on episode 1,544 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. }

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{\b\cf3 Rob Krecak:\b0}

{ Hi everyone. I'm Rob Krecak. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to find a way to not lose sight of the importance of people is key.}

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{And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this. The Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer,}

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{ again, on the earth as a whole, as well as on us as people, becomes clear in this symbology as well. And it's calling us to be peaceful together, not just with each other as people, but also. In }

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{ community with each other and with the world, and clearly with God. And with Christ as well. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.}

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{If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling. In the inspired Stewardship podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself. Invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.}

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{In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about Revelations chapter 21, verse 10, and then chapter 21, verse 22 through chapter 22, verse five, and John chapter 14. Verses 23 through 29. I share how the call to }

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{ healing is an important call, but not always literal. And I also share how healing can come from trees both literally and figuratively.}

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{Revelation chapter 21, verse 10 says, and in the Spirit, he carried me away to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Starting now with verse 22. I saw no temple in the city. For its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the lamb, and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it.}

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{For the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the lamb. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there. There people will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the }

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{ Lamb's book of life.}

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{Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb. Through the middle of the street of the city, on either side of the river is the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.}

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{Nothing, a curse will be found there anymore, but the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it. And his servants will worship him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads, and there will be no more night. They need no light of lamp or sun for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever.}

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{John chapter 14 verses 23 through 29 says. Jesus answered Him. For those who love me will keep my word and my father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and }

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{ the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.}

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{I have said these things to you while I am still with you, but the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.}

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{You heard me say to you, I'm going away and I'm coming to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice that I'm going to the Father because the father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs so that when it does occur, you may believe. This week, picking up from last week, invites us to now go into that holy city of Jerusalem that John had seen coming down from heaven and becoming here on Earth.}

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{And this }

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{ again fits into this idea of peace being something bigger than what we just normally see. John's passage from John Chapter 14 reflects this, where Jesus invites his disciples into breathing a peace that he shares with them. They talk about not being afraid, and what those things are cast out from this because peace flows like a river and connects everyone together into this kingdom of God.}

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{Notice in Revelation, John sees a tree growing in the heart of the city flowing from the seed of power of the river of power that is flowing from God and Christ, and this tree produces 12 types of fruit, and the leaves are for the healing of the nations. That resonates with the passage from Ezekiel of trees growing along the sides of the river with fruit }

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{ ripening each month, and their leaves are there for healing.}

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{With Ezekiel life giving water flows as a river from the temple. But in John's vision, now that the temple has been destroyed, the whole city reveals that God is there, that God has become all in that city. There's a fruitful and hopeful future that is being pointed to here and back in Isaiah. There's a prophecy of God's invitation for the nations to come drink clear water flowing freely from the Temple Mount.}

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{And this seems to echo that this welcome is that the new creation is not a return to Eden, but rather a, a new kind of community and connection in the city of God. You seem to see and hear that John is dreaming of. A }

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{ multiplicity of nations, but nations not like we see them today, but finally at peace.}

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{Not because they are all the same, but because they're at peace with their differences. They are united, but not uniform. You hear me talk about that over and over, that there's things unclean outside of the city, but inside there's the glory and the nations and the kings of the earth, plural. Not one thing that has now become completely alike, but rather they are joined and stronger and connected more because of their differences.}

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{This prophetic message of John is meant to be taken seriously, but it's not necessarily meant to be a literal picture. It taps into archetypes and cultures and symbols from throughout }

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{ history. The idea of the Tree of Life shows up in all sorts of religions and traditions. Both that came before Christianity and that exists now alongside Christianity.}

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{This idea of the tree being a symbol of wisdom and kinship and nourishment and abundance, and of water being that is clearly something that is important to us as humans. Trees can mark. Places of importance, places of commitment, they're a place of peace. I don't know about you, but have you ever had the experience of walking underneath trees and feeling that sense of calm and pre peace that they can give you, that the very air that they're putting out cools and calms you?}

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{And that's both figurative, but it's also literal. They produce the very oxygen that we believe and breathe in. }

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{ All of these things are connected to this idea of the life giving nature of leaves and fruits and trees, both again, in a figurative and as a literal way as well. The, these ideas of using food and natural things to connect us to nature in a more whole way is also real, and both literal and figurative.}

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{That is part of what we're seeing here, that the very truth that we begin to reveal through science about how trees work and how they fit into the ecology and the ecosystem and the climate, and all of these other effects that they have, both again, on the earth as a whole, as well as on us as people, becomes clear in this symbology as well.}

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{And it's calling us to be peaceful together, }

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{ not just with each other as people, but also in community with each other, and with the world, and clearly with God. And with Christ as well. Thanks for listening.}

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{Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market.}

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{That you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips }

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{ there. Until next time, invest your time, your talent, and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.}

}