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Jesus went on: "Does anyone bring a lamp home and put it under a washtub or beneath the bed? Don't you put it up on a table or on the mantel?
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We're not keeping secrets, we're telling them; we're not hiding things, we're bringing them out into the open.
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"Are you listening to this? Really listening?
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"Listen carefully to what I am saying - and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own. Giving, not getting, is the way.
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Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes."
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Then Jesus said, "God's kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man
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who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows - he has no idea how it happens.
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The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain.
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When the grain is fully formed, he reaps - harvest time!
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"How can we picture God's kingdom? What kind of story can we use?
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It's like a pine nut. When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go,
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yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine tree with thick branches. Eagles nest in it."
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With many stories like these, he presented his message to them, fitting the stories to their experience and maturity.