7. Practitioner's Podcast: The Hand Illustration

Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Practitioner's podcast where we're applying Jesus style, disciple making to every day in life. This episode in all of our episodes are powered by Navigators, church Ministries, which wants to help churches and leaders make disciples who can make disciples. For more information or to get connected, go to navigators church ministries.org.

Man, I'm excited for today's episode, mostly because in today's episode, Justin's gonna do most of the talking . But before we get to that, before we get to that, this episode is perfect for anyone. Who wants to get a firm grasp on the word of. Anyone who wants to get a firm grasp on the word of God. And you'll remember a couple episodes ago, if you're a faithful listener, if you've hit that subscribe button where every Listen to podcast.

You'll remember a couple of episodes ago we talked about instituting more tools in season three. So tools are an important part of the Disciple maker's journey. They give us the ability to be in relationships with each other and to be intentional in those relationships as we help people move towards Christ.

Today we're gonna talk about one of my favorite tools called The Hand. Now, in just a moment, Justin's gonna talk in detail about the hand, but what the Hand is really designed to do is to help us get a firm grasp on the word of God. Why is that important? I'm glad you asked. Matthew 1319 says it like, When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one come and snatches it away.

That was what was sewn in their heart. This is seed sewn along the path. Check that out. One more time. Matthew 13 verse 19. When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sewn in their heart. Friends, this is why this is so important because there is an enemy in this world that wants desperately to take the word of God out of your heart, and so we want to give you a tool today that's about sowing the seed deep in your heart so that you can get a firm grasp on it and understand it.

That's absolutely right, Tony. So this tool, like you said, is so helpful for anyone who wants to get that firm grasp on the word of God. Or if you're a disciple maker and you're trying to pass that on to the person that you're discipling, how do you help them get a firm grasp on the word of God? Okay.

It's called the hand illustration for a reason. So, , you can just hold up your hand. We also have a link in the show notes that if you go to it, you'll be able to see the. , that we're working off of that will help you not only learn it, but follow along, , for this episode. And so if we're trying to get a firm grasp on the word of God, and if I was sharing this with Tony, I would just ask, I would say, Tony, how do you think we can get a firm, firm grasp on the word of God?

And Tony would say, by reading the Bible, reading the Bible, I'd say that's right, but there's something that we can do before. Can you, can you think of what it could be? And now at this point, you know, you're just trying to be interac. It's okay if he knows. Okay, if he doesn't know. But the first finger, it's the pinky finger, , is hearing so we can hear the word of God.

And studies show that after about two weeks, we remember only 10 to 15% of what we hear. And so if we're only hearing, , that's not gonna be su. Okay. Now the Bible does talk about hearing and how important hearing is in Romans 10 17. It says, consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Okay, so explaining this to, to Tony, the person I'm sharing it with. And I would say that hearing is an important part of getting a grasp on the word of God. But if we're only hearing, and I'll hold up my Bible and I will try to balance my Bible as good as I can to hold it just with the pinky, it's really hard to do.

And I would say to Tony, Tony, can you take this outta my hand? And he would say, absolutely I can. Of course. It's so easy. , and so he would do that, I would say. So there's more that we need to do if we're gonna get a firm grasp. On the word of God. What else do you think that we could do, Tony, besides hearing, , that, that would help us get a firm grasp on the word of God?

I would probably say the same thing I said the first time, which is reading. Reading. That's right. So that's the next finger. So to read the word of God is really important, and Revelation one, three says, bless it is the one who reads the words of this prophe. And blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it because the time is near.

So this is a really cool verse because it says both reading and hearing in the same verse and in the illustration. So far that's what we've covered. But did you know that it's been estimated that we only remember 25 to 35% of what we read after two weeks? And so that's really not that much. But even though it's, it's more than the 10 to 15% of just hearing.

And actually, I forgot to mention that in hearing, hearing makes us hungry by wetting our app appetite. So hearing makes us hungry. Reading though reading makes us healthy by establishing roots of regularity. And so just like I did with hearing, I'm gonna take my Bible and I'm gonna hold it between two fingers, the the pinky finger and the ring finger.

And I'm gonna say to Tony, so if I'm only hearing and reading the word of God, this is the grasp that I have on it. Do you think you can take this outta my hand? Yes. Yes. And if we're together, I'm actually asking him. Try take it out. Go ahead. , and he'll do it and it's easy. And so, okay. Again, we need more.

We need to do more if we're gonna have a firm grasp. So what do you think, Tony, we could do besides hearing and reading? , well, I guess I could study it. You could study it now. I think Tony's looking ahead because if Tony had never seen this, , studying is one of them that is really hard for people to get to.

Because they, they just don't think of it, most of 'em. So they normally say other things, but, okay. So study is absolutely right. So our middle finger we use for studying. Okay. So studying makes us strong by developing convictions. So we're looking a little bit more in depth. At, , what the word is saying now, it's estimated that after two weeks we remember 60 to 70% of what we study.

Now for all of you out there that, that cram and have a pattern of cramming, , for tests and things like that, Yours might not be quite to 60 to 70% if you're just memorizing it right before the test going in, spitting it out, and then coming out, and you're not trying to remember it, but something that you've studied that you're actually trying to remember.

After two weeks, 60 to 70%. The Bible talks about the importance of this in Act 1711. Which says now the bes were more noble character than the Thessalonians for. They receive the message with great eagerness and examine the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. And so it's just that, that examination of the word, you know, what does it say?

What does it mean? , and getting that clear in detail. And so there's importance in not only reading, not only hearing, not only reading. But also studying the word of God. And you probably know what happens next. I'm gonna take those three fingers and I'm gonna hold my Bible and I'm gonna say, okay, so if I do these three things, Tony, can you take this outta my hand?

Yes. But getting harder. He wasn't sure it took him a second. Yes, it is getting harder. And so that's what we're hoping to show that as we do more of these. It's getting harder and harder, , for the enemy to take the word out of our hearts and out of our life. Okay, so now we're to the point pointer finger, the index finger.

, what do you think that stands for? Well, if I had to guess, and also because I know it, I would say memorize. Memorize. All right. , so this is one of those things that a lot of people are like, memorize. I can't memorize things. It's something kids do. , but memorizing is such a powerful part of getting a firm grasp on the word of God.

, while studying makes us strong by developing convictions, memorizing makes us skillful. And it makes us skillful because we can use the word in any situation at any time if we have it in us and if it's a part of us. And so memorizing is so, so important. The verse that we use for this says Psalm 1 19, 9 through 11, which says, how can a young man keep his way pure by living according to your word?

I seek you with all my heart. Do not let me stray from your command. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. You know, when I teach about memorizing scripture, one of the things that I tell people is there is no aspect of your Christian life, no aspect of following Jesus, that memorizing scripture will not help you.

It will not enhance it. It enhances every part, every aspect. And so after two weeks, how much do you think we remember of what we've memorized? Not a true question. , the answer to that is a hundred percent right. If we've truly memorized it, we're gonna remember a hundred percent of what we memorize. So again, memorizing makes us skillful.

So, so far we have hearing, reading, studying, memorizing. I'm gonna take my four fingers. I'm gonna hold my Bible with those four fingers and I'm gonna ask Tony to try take it outta my hand. It's gonna get significantly harder with the index finger there, but Tony, you're still gonna be able to do that, man.

I know. You go to the gym, you, you can do it. Okay, so, but there's one more finger, , that we still need to get to. And that finger is the thumb and it stands for meditation. Meditation. Okay, now meditation makes us insightful towards action. Makes us insightful towards action. The other thing I wanna show with the thumb is that it goes with all the other fingers.

Okay? So even though meditation, the other fingers haven't really interacted together cause it's not as convenient or easy to do that. The opposable, opposable thumb is. To help the other fingers hold things, and so meditation while we meditate. It makes all the other fingers stronger. So when we're hearing something after we hear it, we should meditate on it.

Now, I'm not talking about meditation the way Eastern religions talk about meditation, where we're emptying our minds and just trying to see what comes in. That's not the meditation we're talking about. , the meditation I'm talking about here, , verse four is Psalm. Psalm chapter one, verses two and three, which says this, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his loll, he meditates day and night.

He's like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose, whose leaf does not wither? Whatever he does prosperous. So meditate on his all day and night. So the meditation is more a thinking, a consideration, a turning over. When the person who taught the the hand to me talked to me about it, he talked to me about how cows chew the cu.

And so cows will swallow and they got something like six stomachs, if I remember right, and they swallow their food and then they regurgitate to their mouth and they chew on it Some. Swallow it again, bring it back up, chew on some more, and every time they bring it back up, they're getting more nourishment out of that food that they ate.

So how, how much do we remember after two weeks of something we've meditated on 120%, or at least more than a hundred percent? Because we are learning things that we never would've learned. We're seeing things, we're gaining insights right towards action. That we never would have if we didn't take that time to meditate.

So it's super important to have meditation with all these fingers because it enhances all of them. Now, in the classic, , tool of the hand, the hand illustration would end here. So I would get my five fingers and I would say, okay, Tony, now it's time. I got all my fingers on here. Try to. And he'll try and he won't be able to do it, or it'll be super hard and it'll just be because he's stronger than me.

, but whatever it is, that's as many fingers as we can get on it. And like I said, this is where the illustration typically ends. What I've done in my ministry is I added one more piece, and the piece that I added is the palm, right? So the palm of our hand is where the muscle is, it's where the strength.

, and if we really want firm grip, if I get that Bible down into my palm and now I'm using not only my fingers, but my hand muscles as well, it's a lot stronger. But the other thing that I think is missing from the hand illustration is application. And so I say the palm is application, and James 1 22 says, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive your.

Do what it says. And I would add for this illustration, don't merely listen or read or study or memorize or meditate. We have to move towards action and application. If we want to be changed by it, right? Transformation doesn't come from education. It comes from education. Plus application is gonna equal that transformation.

And so application is what's gonna make us fruitful in our lives. And so, , those five things, right? So if we're starting from the pinky finger going over, it's here, read, study. Memorize, meditate, and the palm or the muscles of the hand is application. So that's the hand illustration. I've used it a ton. I know Tony has as well.

, Tony, what are you, what are your thoughts? What do you got for us? Well, I wanna take us back to Matthew 13 for just a moment, as a reminder, right? The enemy wants to take the word out of you, and so the hand illustration is kind of a comprehensive way to make sure that we can hold onto the word, so that we can remain fruitful in God's promises, in his truth, oftentimes in disciple making, we get into trouble because we stray away from what Jesus did to make disciples, but Jesus was really.

, he, he was really clear that he wanted us to be in the scriptures. He wanted his disciples to be in the scriptures, right? I, Paul said similar things when he wrote his letter to Timothy, right? Second Timothy three 16. All scripture is useful for teaching rebuking correcting in Christ Jesus. So I, I think, you know, as a disciple maker, you have to decide when you wanna introduce that.

This tool to someone, but at some point everybody needs it because the word is, is definitely, , an important part of the disciple making process. Justin, when do you normally introduce it? Yeah, so this is one that I will use fairly early on in the process. So as I'm helping someone with their disciplines and the word, , introduce this tool, it's an easy one to, to memorize, an easy one for them to get ahold of Conceptu.

And so it's one of the earlier ones that I will have them learn and then I'll start talking to them about their own practices, , of devotional life or how they're intaking of the word. , and then I ask them, as soon as I share it with them, I ask them, okay, next week I want next meeting next week, I want you to share this with me.

I say, you don't have to have all the verses memorized or even the references, but the concepts I want you to have, and I want you to share with me. , when they do that, then the next time I say to them, okay, who else can you share this with? Right? Who are you gonna share this with between now and next time?

Cause I want them to get in that habit again of. What they learn and what they get from me, they're moving it out to others. And so we're just getting that flow, , of disciple making going. That really makes it a lot easier, , for them to start turning it around and, and discipling somebody else as we move forward together.

And one of the things that I think's important is that you can use the hand as a way to help, , set a path forward in your disciple making meetings so you can take each finger on the hand and actually practice those in between meetings. So, so just follow this kind of conceptually for a moment. Maybe we start with the wheel.

We realize that they don't know anything about the word. They've never engaged in the word, so then I might use the hand and use. Six. Really, if I use application six parts of the hand for the next six months to go through their engagement in the word as I'm trying to train a disciple. So people always tell us, I don't know what to do with the person I'm discipling.

Just start with the wheel or start with the hand and just work through it until they understand and know how to do each part. Yeah, that's a great word. Right. So understanding, knowing, but also that doing piece, right? So if we think about the great commission, it's learning, teaching them everything I've taught you, , butchering that, but the obey part, right?

, you want them to obey. A disciple making is obedience training. It's not just knowledge, not just understanding. Teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. Jesus says there, I got it right. , so that's what we're looking for as we're discipling people. So just cuz they've seen it, just cuz they understand it.

Even if they can share it as perfectly as it could possibly be shared, that's all well and good. But if they're not practicing it in their life, we still aren't ready to move on from it. Right? Doesn't mean we have to talk about each and every time, but we in our minds as disciple makers, we have to think.

Okay. They know it, but they don't have it. Okay, guys, takeaway for today's episode is get a firm grasp on the word of God. Get a firm grasp on the word of God, the action steps. Hey, memorize the hand and teach it to two other people. Memorize, teach it to other people. , we're thankful for you guys thankful to be able to share this tool with you.

, if you, Want the tool itself. We have one a link in the show notes. Be sure to click that. There's also a ton of tools on navigators church ministries.org, so you can check out that website. We're thankful to be on this journey with each and every one of you. Remember, hit that subscribe button. We ever listen to podcasts, leave a rating or review.

It goes a long way to help people find us. And now, hey, maybe share this episode with somebody who you need to share the hand with. Thankful for you guys, and we'll see you real soon.