Streams of Living Water: Sermons by Rev. Dr. Craig S. Pesti-Strobel

Sermon Videos by Rev. Dr. Craig S. Pesti-Strobel

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Sermon Series: JP21 - The Spiritual Path of Jesus for the 21st Century

“Ransomed from Futility” - Scriptures: Acts 2:14, 36-41 and 1 Peter 1:17-23. Human beings were not created for futility or to lead futile lives. We were created to fulfill our many human potentials and possibilities. Jesus speaks about this specifically when he says “I came that they might have life and have it in abundance.” When he talks about being “perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect,” he means for us to achieve our purpose in life, as our Father in Heaven achieves His purpose in life.
“Don’t Listen to Thieves and Bandits” - Scriptures: 1 Peter 2:19-25 and John 10:1-10. Who and what are the thieves and bandits who lead people astray? You’ve heard that old expression about “wolves in sheep’s clothing?” Well, there are plenty of people who put on the act of being religious, perhaps even dressing up like preachers, who use religious phrases and might even impressively throw a lot of scripture at you, but are really more interested in lining their own pockets, or the pockets of other people whose pockets are already well-lined.
“Truth is the Foundation Stone” - Scriptures: 1 Peter 2:2-10 and John 14:1-7
First step of disentangling from systems of power and domination is to tell the truth, to establish truth as the foundation upon which you are building your life and your society. Jesus says he is the Truth, Way, Life. The Jesus Path for the 21st Century realizes that following Jesus on his Path, traveling on his Way and in his Way, means living a Life based in Truth, It means disentangling ourselves from the forces and systems that distort and debase truth – wherever they are found.
"Being-With" - Scriptures: Acts 17:22-31 and John 14:15-21. We are in a time of feeling Absence and unknowingness – where can we find Presence in the midst of Absence? Presence is the very thing that Jesus says will be with us.
"Redeemed from the System's Grip" - Scriptures: 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11and John 17:1-11. Sermon Series: Reboot JP21 Disentangling from Systems of Domination. Jesus says that Eternal life is knowing God and the Anointed One he sent to demonstrate that God, Jesus. Eternal life results in being changed and transformed by that knowledge. The process of moving into the Bigger Mind that Jesus taught is mediated by the Holy Spirit. This spiritual Presence promised by Jesus works to release us from the grip that the Systems of domination, oppression, and violence have over us. It is a long-term, perennial, on-going, never-ending process.
"Immersed in the Power" - Scriptures: Genesis 1:1-2:4 and Matthew 28:16-20. Trinity Sunday is all about how God empowers us to be the people God knows we can be and wants us to be, and to do those things that care for the well-being of all creatures and all our fellow human beings. It’s not about understanding a doctrine, but understanding how we are immersed in the power of the God-who-is-Love.
"Finding the Gift in These Times" - Scriptures: Romans 5:1-8 and Matthew 9:35-10:23. The greatest gift that can come out of times of hardship is the commitment to make the world better, to end the sources and causes of hardship and suffering. The Good News is that the Realm of heaven is at hand, is accessible to all persons. A wholly different way of living, thinking, acting, and responding to the world is possible for each of us.
"The Soil in which We Live" - Scripture: John 3:1-21
Sermon Series: JP21 - Disentangling from Racism
We are in just such a time when the deeds of evil are being exposed, and in order to live in the light, we have to do what is true – we have to stick to what is true, and to speak the truth. And the truth we need to speak at this time in human history is the truth about how entrenched racism is in our society. We need to understand that racism is in our national soil itself. It is like some noxious substance that has been worked into our soil that infiltrates every plant growing in it. Truth-telling that leads to spiritual transformation will be uncomfortable, and we will be tempted to seek to excuse ourselves, or find ways to ease our discomfort. But there is nothing wrong with admitting that we live in a society shaped by racism. The first step towards healing of any kind is to accept the diagnosis and then to take the steps to heal.
"The Earth is the Lord's" - Scriptures: Psalm 24:1-6 and Psalm 148 Sermon Series: Reboot! JP21, Humans are as much a part of the natural world as are other animals and plants, trees, rivers, mountains, sun and stars. We have developed over centuries and millennia in direct contact with the natural world, and human psychological health is dependent upon continuous engagement with the rest of creation. However, human civilizations have increasingly become separated and even alienated from the natural world. By losing contact with nature, humans can forget the fact that they are also creatures. We have a Creator, however you conceive of that Creator. The human hubris of thinking that we are the authors of our own existence and the final arbiters of our actions arise out of this creaturely amnesia.
Thus, the Path of Jesus for the 21st Century moves beyond simply caring for the earth into reintegrating ourselves into the natural life processes of the earth. This reintegration begins by spending time in the natural world, not as a consumer of experiences, but as a natural being participating in the processes of the ecosystem in which you find yourself. Spending time in natural places, and especially wild places can restore us to our place in creation.
"Light & Dark, Love & Hate" - Scripture: 1 John 2:1-17. John’s first letter to those who would follow Jesus explains very clearly why the issue of racism and the treatment of Black people in our society is a spiritual issue. There are strong forces in our world and society today that do not want us to look at the systems of domination, oppression, and violence in the world. This is the work of darkness and people embracing darkness rather than light. In order to move into the Bigger Mind of the Kingdom or Realm of God, the realm of Eternity, as John calls it, we have to escape from the clutches and entanglements of the systems of domination.
"Fortune, Blessing, or Privilege?" - Scripture: James 1:1-2:12. This letter of James is written for us. We are part of the Diaspora of the Followers of the Way. We are scattered farther afield than anyone in James’s time considered possible. And we still struggle to live according to the Way of Jesus. But all around us, voices are speaking up to help us see and understand the effects of inequality and oppression, and these voices are also showing us ways to overcome and end those inequalities and that oppression.
"Repairing the Breaches" - Scriptures: Isaiah 61 and James 4:1-10; 5:1-6. Sermon Series: Reboot JP21. Restoration and reparation is all about repairing and reweaving the social fabric that has been torn apart by greed and the lust for power over people. That is what these Biblical voices are saying to us today, just as they have been saying for at least 4000 years. But any such restoration and reparation must involve the active participation and leadership of those people so wronged in the past. It must involve their voices and their wisdom knowing the deep needs of their people in rebuilding their communities and cultures in ways that contribute to our national and global culture.
"Stripping off the Old" - Scriptures: 1 John 4:7-21 and Colossians 3:1-17. Sermon Series: Reboot! JP21. The idea behind JP21 is to cultivate what Paul calls the Mind of Christ within us, the metanoic bigger mind that Jesus and John the Baptist call us to. This mind doesn’t appear magically within us. It requires our cooperation with the Holy Spirit at work with us, what Paul calls the renewing of our minds. We engage in the work of disentangling from the dysfunctional and destructive systems of the world, such as racism, because the commandment and gift of love — divinely imparted and cultivated — requires it. Love is demonstrated and manifested in concrete acts, and in specific public policies being enacted as well. Our love is demonstrated not only for one another, but also love for those Jesus loved.
"Overcome Evil with Good" - Scripture: Romans 12
People are waiting for things to get back to normal, get back to the way they were. But the Christian faith is not like that. It is not about getting back to normal. It begins in death – Christ’s and ours – death to the old way of dominance, destruction, and dysfunction in the world. Just as Jesus was resurrected in a new and glorified form, so our lives in Christ (as Paul puts it) are changed and glorified. We can’t go back to the old. Jesus came and proclaimed that the Kingdom or Realm of God was at hand and was accessible here and now. He showed how this Realm of God existed in the Bigger Minds of those gave themselves to the Path and were transformed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. He showed how the Domination Systems of the world did not express God’s will, and how his Way overturned the ways of greed and class divisions and ethnic hostilities, just the way he overturned the tables in the Jerusalem temple.
"Having the Mind of Christ" - Scripture: Philippians 2:1-15. The mind of Christ is not achieved by merely wishing it into being or through the intellectual act of agreeing with theological or doctrinal statements. It is achieved by how we treat one another, and how we orient our lives for the welfare of others.
"How Big Is Your Heart?" - Scriptures: Psalm 145 and Matthew 9:35-38. The first step in exploring the Jesus Path for the 21st Century is to take stock of the worries, fears, and anxieties that have seized control of our lives. Jesus left behind a Way of living that is a way to the heart of Love itself. It is a Way of thinking, a Way of living fully and joyously, a Way of transforming human relationships, and a Way of spiritual and personal healing and expansion of consciousness.

Sermon Series: JP21 - The Way of Ways

Note: The following sermon series proceeds in the order indicated below, building upon preceding sermons:

"The Way's Way of Ways" - Scripture: Psalm 1
When Jesus proclaimed that he was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, he was urging all who followed him then and all who have followed since that time to listen to his teachings and learn from his actions. His Way leads to the Heart of God, which is Truth and Life. Faith and belief in Jesus are not simply intellectual exercises or matters of opinion. Jesus is not a fad to try or a bumper sticker sentiment. He is a spiritual presence and reality that accompanies us and leads us on this journey to the Heart of God.
"The Way of Prayer" - Scripture: Psalm 139. One of the most common of human spiritual practices is prayer. Prayer is found across the world in a variety of forms, and employs a wide variety of techniques and methods of articulation. At its heart, prayer is the formal or deliberate stating of an intention for oneself or for another person or groups of persons, or even for a situation. The power of prayer arises from the fact that it is first and foremost an activity of the will of God. Prayer changes the internal conversation, the interior “tapes” we play each day. To have an inner conversation with Jesus – to think on him and in him – is to change the inner conversation, and to begin to conform our mind after His mind. Prayer changes the internal conversation, the interior “tapes” we play each day. To have an inner conversation with Jesus – to think on him and in him – is to change the inner conversation, and to begin to conform our mind after His mind. Prayer is a way of attuning our wills to the greater Will that pervades the universe. The God who called all things into being and who upholds and sustains all things desires to be known by us, and prayer is that mechanism of knowing and being made known.
"The Way of Study of the Scriptures" - Scriptures: Psalm 119: 1-16 and Matthew 7:15-29
Jesus studied the scriptures of his time, and knew them deeply. On several occasions in the Bible he quotes them outright, or makes comments upon them. It is in the nature of Scripture that it bonds a group of people in a shared experience and understanding of God, and what it means to be the people of God, however that may defined by that group. The Scriptures become that common touchstone that helps to mediate differences, which provides a common language for morality and disciplined living, and describes the means by which we may gain access to mystery. Jesus studied the Scriptures of his time because they were the spiritual teachings and proclamations of his people, and they gave witness to the One he called Abba, “Father.” To follow Jesus Christ is to identify with him and his teaching and the life he demonstrated. The community of the followers of Jesus should be molded and formed by his life and his teachings. What the New Testament becomes, in this analysis, then, is a manual of spiritual formation. In addition, the New Testament is a manual of the Church’s identity. It contains the church’s story—where it came from, how and why it exists, where it is going, and where its place in the cosmos is. But pre-eminently it contains a “program” of spirituality that forms people according to the vision of human potentiality and community that Jesus described and demonstrated.
"The Way of Acts of Charity" - Scriptures: Matthew 6:1-4 and 1 John 4:7-12. Every human society has come into existence as a result of the cooperation of humans with one another. This has meant that people contribute their talents, abilities and even material substance towards the security and sustenance of the group or society as a whole. But every society has also had to reckon with the fact that not everybody is able to contribute equally, and that some members of its group are more vulnerable than others, whether because of their age, or because of disability, injury or disease. Jesus’ ministry was characterized by his compassion for all the people with whom he came in contact. He helped people in whatever way he could to find greater purpose or hope, to be physically made well, and to be restored to their family and friends.
"Way of Devotional Practice and Worship" - Scripture: Psalm 150 and Isaiah 6:1-7
It is obvious from the Gospels that Jesus observed the various Jewish festivals and religious rituals. There are numerous references in the New Testament to his participation in synagogue services. In addition, he spent much time alone in prayer and communion with God. All of these are acts of devotion and worship. “Worship” derives from the Old English word weorth, which meant what its modern form, “worth” denotes: that which renders something valuable and desirable. The worship of God recognizes that God is the source of all that is valuable and desirable, and that communion and fellowship with God is to be desired above all other things.
“The Way of Time Alone in Nature” - Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33
The disciples and others experienced faith and the spiritual journey as a struggle of the heart and soul against all sorts of forces and impulses. The flesh itself was something to be conquered and chastised. Jesus was different. He didn’t view the natural body, in its fleshliness, as something to be mortified or conquered. The natural world was not something to be tamed. Part of the abundant life that Jesus came to give involved returning people to their home and place in the blessings of Creation – the world of nature. Jesus spent time renewing his spirit in nature as a natural means of communing with its very Creator.
“The Way of Jesus and the Way of Nations” - Scriptures: Matthew 22:15-22 and Matthew 25: 31-46. What is it you that are going to leave as your legacy in the world? How will the world be different for your having been here? What kind of a world do we want to leave for future generations? Jesus didn’t leave behind a particular political plan for us to follow. He left those determinations up to us. But he did leave behind some teachings and ways of looking at the bigger picture to help us figure how we fit into that bigger picture.
“The Way of Fasting and Repentance” - Scripture: Isaiah 58:1-9 and Matthew 6:16-18
In the midst of a pandemic, we have been called upon to give up some things in order to achieve a greater good. This practice is called fasting. As Jesus began his ministry, he retreated to a place in the wilderness for a time of prayer and fasting. Fasting is a practice that has been linked with the pursuit of spiritual insight in cultures all around the world. In the Bible, it was used not only in conjunction with acts of repentance and confession of sins, but also as a means to purify oneself and prepare for a deeper encounter with God. Jesus embodied the spirit of Isaiah’s call to a fast of justice and righteousness. Isaiah calls upon the people of the nation to give up their oppression and domination of the poor and those who do not own land. They are to fast from such injustice, and from violence, and from all oppression of the powerless. The greater good is the well-being of all persons in the nation.
“The Way of Mercy, Justice, Love, and Compassion” - Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 10:12-21; Matthew 12:15-21 and 23:23-24. The Mediterranean world of Jesus’ time was built upon layers and layers of social and economic relationships, with each layer exerting some form of dominance over the layers below it. From emperor to slave, power was exerted over and upon those farther down the ladder. One of the most striking things about Jesus is how he did things that went against this system of power and domination. He also addressed the ways of thinking and belief systems that did not have the well-being of persons as their ultimate goal or guiding principle. His reaching out to social outcasts, the unclean, beggars, women and foreigners was not a series of quirks of behavior or accidents in life. They were conscious, deliberate acts that reflected the set of his mind. They were acts so significant that the early Christian community made sure to remember them and later to preserve them in the words of Scripture.
“The Way of Forgiveness and Reconciliation” - Scriptures: Matthew 6:9-15 and Matthew 18:21-35
In the course of any human relationship, someone is bound to hurt someone else. It is just the way of things. Sometimes that hurt is inflicted deliberately, other times it may be inadvertent or even done unawares. The practices of forgiveness and reconciliation seek to rebind the relationships that have become strained or unwound through injury or hurt. Forgiveness, as another mode of healing, was also at the center of the spirituality that Jesus exemplified. Forgiveness and reconciliation are forms of healing and restoration to wholeness that work at the psychological and emotional level of human relationships. But most importantly, the work of forgiveness springs from the very character and nature of God.
“The Way of Simplicity and Community” - Scripture: Matthew 6:24-34; 8:20 and Acts 3:1-10 Jesus lived a life of simplicity that was free of the craving after riches and material possessions. He urged this lifestyle upon his followers. The rapacious greed, rampant materialism and wanton exercise of power of his day and ours has always resulted in wide disparities in wealth, in the oppression of whole segments of society, and the need to use military force to protect the vested material interests of the rich and powerful. Jesus knew this and urged a different lifestyle and a new community of people. Jesus did not simply provide a critique about the failings of the social systems he found around himself – he showed people an alternative way to live and be. At its best, the Christian community is just such a community of love, justice, mercy and compassion in the world.

Sermon Series: JP21 Spiritual Practices

“Centered in Love” - Scriptures: Psalm 131 and Psalm 119:33-48. JP21: Centering in the Spirit Spiritual Practice #1, this sermon introduces the practice of Centering Prayer.
"Telling It Like It Is” - Scripture: : Psalm 51:1-17 and Romans 7:15-25
JP21 Spiritual Practice #2 : Confession
Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. But we are in era in which truth is being denied and destroyed, often by the very people who we would expect to be the upholders of truth. What this means for us is that telling the truth has become a radical act. And it just so happens that telling the truth is at the heart of the Way of Jesus. As we seek to follow the path of Jesus in the twenty-first century, we align our hearts with his by living and speaking truthfully. Living and speaking truthfully guides us into living lives of congruence and coherence, especially as we seek to be guided by the same Spirit that guided Jesus and infused his life and teaching.
"The Soul’s Mirror” - Scripture: Psalm 130
Sermon Series: JP21 Spiritual Disciplines - Centering in the Spirit Spiritual Practice #3: The Prayer of Examen. The Prayer of Examen is an inner examination of consciousness. It takes some of what was started in the Spiritual Practice of Confession and moves it deeper within our spiritual inner life. It is different from confession or anything that looks at our actions and behavior. Instead, the point of the Examen is to try and discern the movement of the Spirit of God in our lives, each day. This practices trains us up to become attentive to that movement.
“Taking It All In” - Scripture: Psalm 104 JP21: Centering in the Spirit Spiritual Practice #4: Attentive Awareness is a form of mindfulness and trained awareness of the world around us, and within us.
“Divine Reading” - Scripture: Psalm 119:97-112. Centering in the Spirit Spiritual Practice #5: One of the ways we are transformed is by how we read scripture, and how we let it speak to those deep places within us. Scripture is one of the media through which the Holy Spirit speaks to us at the deepest, inmost parts of our being in seeking to shape and form us into those persons God has given us the potential to become. But in order to allow Scripture to be that transformational bridge, we have to read it differently than we normally read things that are written. The approach to reading the Bible in this transformational manner is one that treats the Bible as if it were a person speaking with us. When reading the Bible dialogically, we assume that the text of the Bible comes to us as a person, and speaks to us. We approach the Scriptures as a person with whom we enter into dialogue.

Sermon Series: Parting Thoughts

“Thinking God’s Thoughts after Him” - Scriptures: Job 38:1-33 and Colossians 1:9-20
Are Science and Religion really at odds with one another? Historically not. Science was sponsored by the church and scientists throughout the centuries have been moved to study the cosmos from the smallest particles to the farthest-flung reaches of space because of religious faith. Science and Religion are mutually inter-instructive. They approach the phenomena of reality from different angles, employing distinct but related modes of inquiry, and each teaches the other about the ways in which the universe operates as well as the meaning and significance of the universe, and the complexities of living our lives in that universe as citizens and heirs of that universe.
“Why I Love and Support LGBTQ Persons” - Scripture: Psalm 139
Ideally, this should be the shortest sermon in the world. I should simply say: “Because Jesus loves them as much as Jesus loves me.” Or I could deliver the quickest and quietest sermon ever delivered entitled, “What Jesus said about Homosexuality,” which is this: {_______________________________} (Yes, nothing.) Seriously, Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself, and love one another as I have loved you.” I should just sit down now. But the reality is that there is much more to why I love and support LGBTQ persons, and it starts in my own family and in my own personal experience.
“Why I Wrote Detox!” - Scripture: Luke 1:46-55 and Matthew 20:20-28
This book grew out of that very personal search for a life more deeply planted in the word of Jesus Christ, for a life of devoted discipleship, a life where my heart’s home is the dwelling of God. It is a search for a life of deeper truth-telling about myself to myself and to God. It is, at its core, a search to live out the Path of Jesus in the midst of the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. In order to be a twenty-first century man who desired to pattern and shape his life after the example of Jesus, I realized that I needed to return first and foremost to his life and teachings and see if there was something he said that directly addressed what it means to follow him as a man. I started to read the Gospels more carefully, paying attention to when it was apparent he was talking to his male disciples, and when he was addressing larger groups of disciples, some of whom were women as well as men. What I discovered was not only a scathing indictment of the relationships between men and women in our homes and our society, but, more significantly, I uncovered what I believe to be a clear demonstration of a specifically male spirituality, based in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.
“You Are All Precious to God” - Scripture: Luke 12:22-34
God does not delight in the death or extinction of any of us, and has set up the universe so that every way possible is available to us to come to know and grow into our eternal destinies. Every way possible is made available to us to grow in love and service to others here in our lives on earth in order to experience the love of God in our personal lives. What’s more, we learn more about that love of God for us by expressing it to others in loving service. Jesus freely and ceaselessly gave out to everyone who would receive his message, the assurance of God’s love to everyone. We are already loved and accepted by God. We don’t have to do anything to earn that love and acceptance. It is the starting point of all reality.
“The Reality of Spirit” - Scripture: Acts 2:1-21
Jesus taught that God was Spirit, therefore the ultimate and really real was spiritual in nature (which is why true worship is in spirit and truth). Spiritual Reality is Ultimate Reality, and our progression as will-based creatures is from the shadows of this material reality into the light of the Spiritual Reality that is casting the shadows. Because Ultimate Reality is spirit in nature, the only thing that can make us aware of and have access to that Ultimate Reality has to be spirit in nature as well – which is why Jesus promised the coming of the Spirit. This Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.
“What Is Eternal Life?” - Scriptures: Ecclesiastes 3:9-15 and Luke 10:25-28
Let me suggest that we think of eternal life as being the life that is possible for us by sharing in the life of the One who is eternal. Eternal life is not something we inherit, but something we live into. We experience eternal life when we fix our minds, hearts, wills, and actions upon God and choose the way of love that Jesus demonstrated. Jesus showed us what loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves looks like. This is the life of eternity. It is called “eternal” because it breathes the essence of and is the design of the One who is Eternal. Jesus continually told people that the Realm of God was within them. Ecclesiastes says that God has put a sense of past and future within us, which tells us that we have come from someplace and we are going someplace. We have a destiny that is with the One who is eternal, and so our job here in this in-between place of the present is to do the things that are eternal in nature.

Miscellaneous Sermons

“Seeking What?” - Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12. One of the characteristics of a journey is the fact that it has the power to shape and form us for the rest of our lives. That is one reason the growth of the spiritual life is depicted over and over again as a journey. The journey of the magi is also our journey, our journey into what Jesus called “life in abundance.” It is a journey to the heart of God. Because, as Irenaeus understood, the glory of God is a fully alive human being, it is also a journey of becoming fully human, filled with the Divine Life within us.
“Rebinding What Is Broken” - Scriptures: Psalm 147:1-6 and Jeremiah 31:31-34. As Hub puts it in Secondhand Lions, Religion and Spirituality are all about how we live according to the things that are most important to us. These things are spiritual in that they form us at the deepest places in our lives, and they provide for us a way of life steeped in meaning and significance. Spirituality and Religion are about “the things worth believing in,” and then seeing how those beliefs play out in our lives.
“Holistic Religion” - Scripture: Mark 12:28-31. Part of what is unraveled in life is our own integrity as humans. Not only moral integrity, which is one of the great issues of our time, but also our wholeness as persons. We need to be rewoven ourselves. We need to be made whole again. The religion of Jesus is designed to restore us to wholeness. One way it does this is by being holistic.
“A Point of View and a Way of Looking” - Scripture: The Gospel of John, Chapter 9. The Path of Jesus is not only a particular perspective on life and reality, it provides a way of looking, thinking, and acting upon the world.
“Getting Heaven Into Us” - Scripture: Matthew 13:24-35, 44-52. A few years ago, I came across a quote by Rev. Frederick Ward Kates that seems to me to express clearly and concisely the mission of Jesus Christ. The quote goes like this: "The purpose of religion -- at any rate, the Christian religion -- is not to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you."
“Temples of Clay” - Scripture: Romans 12
We have a treasure within us – the presence of the Holy Spirit. But this Holy Spirit has to communicate with us utilizing the very physical processes associated with human thought and consciousness. Many if not all religious traditions include some form of mental and physical training, with the aim of correcting and/or directing behavior toward certain ends or in certain directions. This finds neurophysiological support in the fact that the brain itself is actually plastic - meaning that it remains malleable throughout life.
In order to be receptive to the leading and influence of the Holy Spirit, the brain must be trained to think and react according to the practical guidelines of spiritually-motivated, religious behavior and lifestyles. In this way, our earthen vessels are fashioned appropriately to contain, and be shaped by the treasure they contain: the very presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit.
“As It Is in Heaven” - Scripture: Deuteronomy 10:12-22; 11:26-32. In order to cultivate the mind of God and manifest that mind, you need to have a culture that strives to create conditions conducive to that pursuit.