Born Wild: Sunday 9:00 AM

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[music]

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- [inaudible]

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Ah, wrong way. There we go.

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Well, good morning and welcome to Crossroads, everybody.

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How are we today? [cheers] Good.

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Thanks for coming.

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My name is Brian, if you haven't met.

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I'm what's known as a Senior Pastor around here.

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And this is, I don't know what --

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Her, his? Her? Her. Her name.

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I don't know what her name is,

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but this is the fourth out of four days

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or so that we've been doing on horse week.

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This horse has never had anybody on it.

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It's never had a saddle on it.

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It's never been ridden at all.

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And this horse is going to be a metaphor for all of us.

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This will now be the seventh horse

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I've seen happen this way over the last few days,

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and each time I have a different connection with a horse.

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The horse that was there yesterday

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at the second service yesterday on Saturday,

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Really? Hey, how are you?

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Really have me -- had my number.

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Hit me deeply emotionally. I identify with that horse.

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You may find that you identify with this horse.

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You might not.

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But what you're going to see is how a,

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I like to call him a horse whisperer,

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even though he doesn't like that phrase.

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Todd Pierce handles this horse out of love

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as the same way how God handles us out of love.

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I met Todd a couple years ago,

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a few years ago when he was on my podcast,

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And then he asked me if I wanted

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to go hunting with him in Idaho, and I said,

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"Yeah, I'll go hunting with you, of course."

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And we really connected deeply at that moment.

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And he told me what he did, and I said,

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"You do what? Okay.

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Well, we need to have your Crossroads then.

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He said, "Churches always say that,

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but no one ever does it because of the liability.

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What happens to a church --

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What happens if a horse jumps out?

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What happens if someone gets hurt?

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The insurance always shuts it down."

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I said, "Well, we will do it at Crossroads.

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I promise you, we won't tell insurance

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or something will happen. We will. We will have it."

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And we've been doing ever since.

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And it's really special.

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It's really profound, I think, for many of us.

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So, I want you to just get swept away in the moment

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and just maybe, you'll have your perspective

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of how God interacts with you

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or wants to interact with you tweaked a bit.

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The thing about being a large church as we are

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is people don't believe us.

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They always -- some people always think

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there's an agenda with a large church,

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always think that the real truth isn't being told.

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There's always some conspiracy.

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It's all set up. It's all fixed.

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So, you think that I'm not telling the truth,

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but I'm telling you the truth.

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Todd Pierce has never seen this horse before today.

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This horse has never had anything on it,

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nor a saddle.

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And a brand new fresh horse is going to come up

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this -- if we have a --

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Yeah, there is one more service today.

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I'm sorry. They're bleeding all together, folks.

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I've been going on and on and on and on.

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So, let's bring up my friend Todd Pierce.

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Come on up, Todd. [applause]

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You got your you got your Johnny Cash look.

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Right? All you need is a black hat.

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- Yeah. -You have made a recovery.

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Todd and I went out to eat

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when he first came to town,

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and he's been sick ever since.

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Not because of food poisoning, just got some kind of bug.

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And it looked like you're doing pretty well finally today.

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- Yeah, I woke up this morning and I feel like I'm healed.

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So this will be my first time

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at doing this feeling good, but

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-- My chiropractor is here this morning from Baker Chiropractic.

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- Dag-gummit, we're going to get adjusted.

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So, have you noticed -- you haven't noticed.

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Everybody laughs when you get up here

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and you think they're laughing at you,

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but the last three horses,

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as soon as you start talking

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they walk up here and take a dump.

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- Oh, are they're taking a dump?

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I didn't notice that. - Yeah. [laughs]

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- You have that effect on people. [laughs]

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- I do, I do.

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So I only mentioned the chiropractor

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because Todd may fall off today

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because you've got a got an interesting condition

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down your pelvic region, which adds extra drama here.

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Tell us about that.

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- Well, in order for me to be able to ride a horse,

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I've got to be able to squeeze with my knees.

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And I've got an injury, that old injury

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that's come back and I can't squeeze with my knees.

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And so if the horse moves fast, I just fall off,

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which makes me feel silly.

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And it doesn't hurt all that bad, but anyway.

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So, you've always referred to me as a cowboy,

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as a bareback rider, which I used to be.

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But when I just fall off, that's just what I do.

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And I'm good at it now.

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So everybody's got to be good at something.

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- Yeah. I mean, that's --

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You were a professional in a professional rodeo

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on tour, bareback rider.

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So it's got to be a little ding to the ego too.

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- Oh, it totally is. Yeah, I'm over it.

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I'm just like, I can't do it anymore.

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I just fall off and I've learned how to land usually.

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- What was the first time when you noticed

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you had a supernatural gift with horses?

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I would call it supernatural.

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You're going to -- Todd's going to do today

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what if you own this horse and you wanted

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to get this horse able to be ridden,

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it would take a week.

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And he's going to do it in an hour or less,

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at least you've got about a 95% hit rate on that

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in all the years I've seen.

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So when's the first time you noticed

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you had a spooky connection?

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It was about the same time that I got born again

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when I started realizing that there

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was something more than just training techniques

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that's happening between me and a horse.

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But in hindsight, I had it when I was a child

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and it was out of some brokenness

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and part of my own story that made it where

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horses were way safer than people.

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And so I just really found myself in them.

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And but once I received Holy Spirit,

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then I realized what was happening

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between me and an animal is actually very spiritual.

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- Yeah. That's cool.

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Well, we're going to pray

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and let you do your thing.

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Also, if you want to support this work

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and be generous, you can do that

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at Crossroads.net/give.

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We don't pass a bag at Crossroads,

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but if you want to be engaged financially

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and say thank you, that'd be great.

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Crossroads.net/give.

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So God, thank You for our morning

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and for Todd, my friend.

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I pray You'd help him understand

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what's going on with this horse

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and help us understand what may be going on with us.

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We trust You're going to do something

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in our hearts and minds that is not going

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to happen through just your standard sermon

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and standard music.

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So have Your way and we're asking You to do

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what You want in our lives and in our rooms

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at Crossroads this morning.

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And I pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen.

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- Amen. Thanks, Brian.

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Hey, he just blew past something.

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First time I came to this church

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I found out through a friend of mine that

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this was considered the most generous church in America.

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And I didn't know really what they meant by that.

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But I found out that stewards of resources,

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like stewards of the the money that you give them

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and what they do to help so many people

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and put on stuff like this, like, this ain't cheap.

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I don't know how much it cost

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to get all this crap in a building.

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But so, yeah, if you can invest in something,

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this is a really great place to invest.

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I feel super, super privileged.

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This morning I woke up early,

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like Brian was mentioned, I'd been sick

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and I just felt good and --

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But there was an urgency about me.

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And so I'm going to just try to settle down

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before I address you too much

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and introduce myself to this horse.

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We haven't met.

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We've got a man, Britton Collum,

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he works specifically to find horses

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that haven't been trained.

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And it's not really easy to find horses

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that haven't been trained, that are still

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to where it's going to be fair

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to bring them into a building like this.

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And so he picks the horses and I don't meet them

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until right now, which is makes it really good for me

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because I just put a really high value on me

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just getting to be me in front of people

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and letting Holy Spirit do what Holy Spirit

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wants to do in each of us.

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But the same way that it's going to require

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this horse to decide if she wants to engage with me,

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every one of you got to make a decision.

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And I think you might as well make it now,

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because I don't want you to miss anything.

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That you're just going to make a decision

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that you're going to give Holy Spirit

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full access to you and to address

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any point of your life that needs to be addressed

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and to speak whatever Holy Spirit wants to speak to you.

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And He's so kind and so gentle

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that He's not going to force it on you.

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So, if you will hold your hands out for a second.

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And that's just like getting a gift.

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We're not doing anything weird here.

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This is just if you want something

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and someone says, "I want to give you something,"

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you hold your hand out and they give it to you.

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So, Holy Spirit, we hold our hands out

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and we just want to say that we give You

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full permission to have full access to us,

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show us what it is that needs to be healed in us,

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and teach us what we need to know,

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for Your Kingdom's sake and for our sake.

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In Jesus' name, Amen.

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That's a really great way to start every day.

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[music]

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- So, when I first walked in here,

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she just wanted to walk up to me.

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[whinny]

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Hey! That's you.

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We've got a German Shepherd at home,

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and I'm not sure if he actually believes

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that it's another dog

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or if he just has fun with himself,

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but he loves to look in the mirror

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and play with himself and bark at himself.

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So, when I first came in,

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she was just going to walk up to me

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because she's got, for two years,

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she's had some familiarity with people

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and they've tried to get her to come to them

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and they've taken care of her.

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She's been taught how to lead,

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but she just wanted to walk right up to me.

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And I needed to establish something right off the bat.

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And that is that this is how it would happen

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if she was turned out with any other horses,

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is they would decide who's in charge.

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And it's an authority.

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And it wasn't an authority that I chose to have.

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It's an authority that God gave me.

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And I'm going to get to decide what I do with it.

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But I needed her to know that

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I've been given this authority

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so that she doesn't just walk up to me

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like I'm just another person,

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because she's waited this long to have

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something significant happen in her life

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where she's going to understand why it is

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that this matters so much.

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And so she went through a few phases there

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where you'd notice when she got to the gate,

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she wanted to get out of here.

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She's like, "This dude's not fun at all."

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But now she's going to discover

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wat do we do with the authority?

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And what do I want to do in this, in this place

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where we've just settled a couple questions.

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She's got lots more that she gets to ask.

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Sorry.

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But when I walked in and I was moving a rope,

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it would have been just a lot of a posture

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that a stud horse or anything else

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that would be in charge of the herd

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is their responsibility to take care of him.

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But the only way he can take care of him

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is if they can change the direction

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that they're going in.

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That a stud horse will run him around

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to where he's just showing them,

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"This is how I'm going to teach you

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to change directions."

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It's not just bullying something around,

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it's just establishing leadership.

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And they say that the fear of the Lord

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is the beginning of wisdom.

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And I'm not sure what that means to you,

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but there's a --

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There's a beautiful thing when you realize

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that you're being protected by something

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that's so much more powerful than you are.

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Many of you haven't had an experience

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with that with people, because people that

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have had authority over you have misused it,

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and they've used it to bully you

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or make you feel like you're less than them.

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Ones that are actually powerful, they're the ones

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that help you see how powerful you are with them.

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And so, we've just had to rewire a few things

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for her for a second so that we could start

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on the right, right page, that she's not here

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to be my pet and have another session with

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a person that makes it to where she gets

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taught how to be pet on and to be led around.

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But today is a day for her to be born

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because in her condition she might as well be dead.

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Not -- especially for you animal lovers, like me,

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that sounds a little bit harsh.

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But according to the Bible, apart from Jesus,

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we are dead in our sin. There is no hope.

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There is no forgiveness. There is no eternal life.

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That there's no connection between you

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and the One that created you.

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And because of that condition, the miracle,

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the transformation that gets to happen today

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will be something that you'll be able to see

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that this isn't going to become a horse

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that gets trained.

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It's going to be one creation that gets transformed

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into a different kind of creation.

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We had one last night, that big old dude.

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He wasn't like this. He scared me.

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But there's sometimes we think,

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we mistake something being gentle and kind

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for it's just good manners.

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And I have -- I love good manners.

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It's better than bad manners.

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But it hasn't helped her so far.

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The only thing that's going to help her is

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is this next step, and that is that she understands

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what it's like to become one with me.

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And because no one's ever been on her

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and they haven't put stuff on her,

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having something on her back

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is the most threatening thing for a horse,

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because it's they've got an instinct

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that's almost like a reflex.

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And that reflex is to get it off your back.

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And that's why horses buck.

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They don't buck because,

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well, they buck for lots of reasons.

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Sometimes they just do it for playing.

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But if she is the buck, it's going to be

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because that's that's how she keeps herself safe.

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And it's okay because she's needed that.

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And so many of you in this room, like.

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You've needed to do things to keep yourself safe.

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You've had to believe a certain way

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to keep yourself safe.

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I'll use some words that maybe some of you don't get,

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but you've had to build a narrative

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out of your life that makes sense to you.

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And what we're going to challenge today

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is that that narrative, the story

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that you've told yourself to get through your life

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and handle everything that's happened to you

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up until this point.

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Because even though she's only two,

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that doesn't sound that old, but she's fully adult.

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She's fully -- she's mature.

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She's mature enough to have had enough experiences

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that has formed who she is right now.

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[music]

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- She's like, whoa, no!

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So, just look at the posture.

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Because I've already seen a couple of you in here,

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even with the lights the way they are,

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you're like, "Oh, more Jesus stuff.

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Like, are you kidding me?

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Can you guys get over it already?"

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Nope. Ain't never gonna.

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For over 2000 years now

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we've been setting our calendars to this dude.

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He was -- He was God. He made Himself flesh.

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And then He chose to let us kill Him

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just so that we would never have to question again

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how far He would go to show His love to us.

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So, just because it changed how she saw me for a second,

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it doesn't mean that anything's wrong.

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I just understand that she's had

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to protect herself from things.

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And how is it that I'm going to trust

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a God that I can't see?

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How am I going to trust a power that I don't --

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I don't really know how to understand right now,

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because she's never had anybody

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interact with her this way.

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[music]

00:27:21

- Everything that we see in the gospel, I think --

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I know it was there on purpose.

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And we've got four different accounts

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from four different men describing

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the interactions they had with Jesus.

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After He demonstrated His power,

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He chose to humble Himself and wash their feet.

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It wasn't just to model

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how they should serve each other.

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It was a posture that made it to where

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how is it that the most powerful thing,

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person that we've ever encountered,

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one that's got all this supernatural power

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and can raise people from the dead,

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is He going to kneel at our feet?

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He wanted us to know what -- how to steward

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the authority that He wanted to give them,

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the authority He wants to give us,

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the permission that He gives us

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to carry His power and his presence.

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The way we become people that are like Him.

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She doesn't know what to do with me right now

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because those that are in charge of her,

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those that have authority over her,

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in her world they keep her

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under their authority by force.

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She didn't have a whole lot of say in it.

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And now she realizes that for

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the rest of her life that she's going to have

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a say in what she chooses to yield herself to.

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But the beauty in it is that

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I've encountered just enough of the goodness of God

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that makes it to where I just

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can't take any of it for granted anymore.

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I don't ever want to get in a place to where

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although I'll doubt,

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that I will just stiffen my neck to Him.

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I want to stay in a place of just being teachable.

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And it's because this is just how God has fathered me.

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He's given me this assurance that clearly,

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God, You're more powerful than me.

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Like, how did You do all of this?

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I'm just lost in the mystery of it all.

00:29:39

The first song that they were singing,

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it was like, can we become childlike again

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for just a moment? Not childish, just childlike

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to where we would be filled with this anticipation

00:29:53

of the goodness of God and what He's going

00:29:55

to show us in the land of the living,

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that we would be people that get to recognize

00:29:59

the gifts that He's pouring out on us.

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And the gift isn't just material things.

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It's something that lasts forever.

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And this oneness that she's now being invited into

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is the same oneness that Jesus presented to us

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and said that because of His sacrifice

00:30:20

and because of what He accomplished that there

00:30:24

is nothing that can stand between you and Him anymore.

00:30:38

It's just taking her some time to get used to this.

00:30:41

This is all really strange for her, but so teachable.

00:30:48

Both her ears very, very fixed on me

00:30:50

because it's all systems alert.

00:31:05

[music]

00:32:55

There was a time when Jesus was addressing

00:32:57

some people and they had --

00:32:59

They felt like they had so much figured out

00:33:01

because they knew what the Bible said.

00:33:04

And He said, "You search the scriptures

00:33:06

thinking that there's life in them

00:33:09

and that they've got this form of godliness,"

00:33:12

but they've denied the power that's in it.

00:33:15

That their knowledge has been the thing

00:33:16

that they've taken so much pride in.

00:33:21

There's some things that you just can't be taught

00:33:24

through just learning, just reading about it,

00:33:28

just watching other people do it.

00:33:32

Learning is only going to happen,

00:33:34

or transformation is only going to happen

00:33:36

from these encounters.

00:33:38

It's when what it is that we've read about

00:33:43

becomes real to us.

00:33:47

And so I suspect wherever she grew up,

00:33:50

she's seen other people ride horses.

00:33:54

She's got the knowledge.

00:33:57

But that couldn't do it for her.

00:33:59

She had -- this had to be very, very personal for her.

00:34:10

And so I'm not -- I don't have faith

00:34:12

for a tweak in your faith,

00:34:14

getting a little bit better. [whinny]

00:34:17

I have faith for, like, every one of us

00:34:18

leave this place like fire breathing believers.

00:34:22

We carry so much fire and so much power

00:34:25

and so much of the the conviction of the Holy Spirit

00:34:28

that we're not going to go out of here

00:34:29

just trying to figure out how to just do damage control.

00:34:33

But we're going to get some victories

00:34:35

while we're in this room to make it to where,

00:34:37

yeah, there's a lot of messes

00:34:38

I have left to clean up in my life,

00:34:40

and there's some things that I'm going

00:34:41

to have to figure out how to

00:34:43

reframe some of my own story

00:34:46

and what it is that's happened in me.

00:34:50

But Jesus was this miracle working God

00:34:54

that is still doing miracles.

00:34:57

And you get to look at somebody that,

00:35:01

although I'm down the road a bit in it,

00:35:04

I'm just a miracle.

00:35:05

I was dead. I was blind.

00:35:08

I couldn't see.

00:35:09

I was going through my life just figuring out

00:35:13

how to get whatever I felt like I wanted

00:35:16

at the expense of everybody around me.

00:35:18

And I didn't want to be that way.

00:35:20

It just -- I was blind to it.

00:35:25

And this Jesus that I speak of,

00:35:27

He didn't just come pat me on the back and say,

00:35:30

"It'll be all right, boy.

00:35:31

Let's just spend the rest of your life working on it."

00:35:35

He gave me His Spirit. He opened my eyes.

00:35:39

He brought me back to life.

00:35:41

Something radical happened in me.

00:35:44

I was alive for the first time.

00:35:48

And yes, it's been a journey,

00:35:50

a continual journey that I'm still on,

00:35:52

of just learning what it's like to carry

00:35:54

His nature and His power and be one of His sons

00:35:59

that is so confident in who He says I am

00:36:03

that I don't have to figure out a way

00:36:05

to get people to affirm me.

00:36:16

I want her to get some confidence

00:36:18

in just moving with me.

00:36:25

She's more happy just standing and thinking about it.

00:36:32

Let's not overthink it, hun.

00:36:35

You and I are one.

00:36:36

You've said yes and this is what it's going

00:36:39

to look like the rest of your life.

00:36:42

Together, we're going to move

00:36:43

and we're going to breathe,

00:36:45

and we're going to have our being because of this.

00:36:52

Good girl.

00:37:11

[music]

00:39:55

- It's exhilarating.

00:39:58

This exhilaration that she's feeling,

00:40:01

I want her to feel it.

00:40:03

This is not going to be boring.

00:40:06

And I don't know what your idea of following Jesus is.

00:40:10

If you're a thrill seeker or you're a bookworm,

00:40:15

you're going to find so much joy,

00:40:17

so much enthusiasm, so much energy,

00:40:20

so much vision, so much dreaming that

00:40:23

that you've you've stopped doing it.

00:40:25

And I don't know when you stopped doing it,

00:40:27

but it's going to come alive in you again.

00:40:34

Somebody's upset.

00:40:40

But it's okay, like when you're that age,

00:40:44

you don't know how to get your needs met.

00:40:46

So, if I get louder, somebody will meet my needs.

00:40:52

I still do that sometimes.

00:40:59

I got a kid from Peru that's been working with me

00:41:02

and he was adopted by a friend of mine [whinny]

00:41:09

at age 17.

00:41:14

It's so cool to see an orphan become a son.

00:41:18

Seeing someone that never knew

00:41:20

someone that would would love him

00:41:22

just the way he is, and take care of him

00:41:24

and provide for him and make it to where

00:41:26

he doesn't have to worry about

00:41:27

where his next meal is going to be,

00:41:29

or where he's going to sleep that night.

00:41:33

Doesn't have to worry about, like,

00:41:35

he can actually dream about a future

00:41:38

because some of his base needs are being met.

00:41:42

But he struggles with, "How much can I trust this guy?"

00:41:48

When you've been an orphan for a long time,

00:41:49

it's really hard to trust.

00:41:52

They've even put labels on it

00:41:54

of reactive attachment disorder.

00:41:58

I think all of us struggle at times with

00:42:00

that same attachment to God disorder

00:42:05

where I want to just declare over you today

00:42:07

that whatever it is that's standing in the way

00:42:11

of you allowing God to love you as a F

00:42:15

ather the way that only God can love you,

00:42:18

that we get those things out of the way.

00:42:21

There's been obstacles all the way along.

00:42:25

It's fun working with this kid because he --

00:42:27

I keep calling him a Mexican,

00:42:29

because he speaks Spanish, but --

00:42:33

Which is just a joke for him and I,

00:42:34

because he's not a Mexican and he's Peruvian.

00:42:40

But since he speaks Spanish

00:42:43

sometimes I speak with my Spanish accent

00:42:48

and I try to say it louder and more of an accent

00:42:51

to my English words.

00:42:54

It's so stupid.

00:42:59

Like, "Do you hear me?

00:43:01

I'm speaking as much as I know how to speak to you."

00:43:05

"I don't understand English."

00:43:09

There's these love languages,

00:43:10

this beauty of the intricate ways.

00:43:15

You know, I've got a very special way

00:43:17

that I'm having to communicate with her.

00:43:18

And because I could see how much she likes to have fun,

00:43:24

I don't want her to think that this is

00:43:26

just a boring deal.

00:43:31

I want her to know that

00:43:35

as she's conquering this fear

00:43:36

and she's getting over some things,

00:43:38

notice where her ears are.

00:43:43

She's looking around now.

00:43:45

She's like, "All right, let's go do something.

00:43:49

Maybe throw you in the dirt,

00:43:52

but let's do something."

00:43:57

That gate's shut. Did you notice that?

00:44:10

It's still shut.

00:44:17

She likes Britton more than me, I think.

00:44:19

She's like, "Help! Save me. This guy's--"

00:44:23

It's okay. [kissing sound]

00:44:39

Okay. Okay. Ten minutes.

00:44:47

[music]

00:47:33

Again, a brand new experience.

00:47:44

And Jesus tried to warn His boys.

00:47:47

He said, "When I leave, I'm going to send My Spirit,

00:47:50

and when My Spirit comes,

00:47:51

He's going to fill you with power, with fire."

00:47:54

And. I don't think they really believed Him

00:47:59

or knew what that meant, but it was pretty shocking

00:48:03

for Him when they did it.

00:48:04

Something happened so extraordinary in that room

00:48:07

that day when Holy Spirit fell upon Him.

00:48:19

Come on, sweetie.

00:48:36

[music]

00:49:52

Ah, wow.

00:49:57

So if you noticed, when I was trying

00:49:58

to get her to walk around in circles,

00:50:00

did you see where her head was?

00:50:02

She's like, "I don't want to go anywhere.

00:50:04

I just want to -- I want to keep my eyes on you."

00:50:07

What a beautiful, beautiful, child-like innocence.

00:50:11

And I just want to celebrate that in here

00:50:13

that you just fascinated with just

00:50:16

keeping your eyes on Jesus.

00:50:17

And what would it look like

00:50:18

to be just so fixated on Him?

00:50:23

But why it is that Jesus said that

00:50:24

"It's better that I go," He says,

00:50:26

"Because I'm going to fill you with My power.

00:50:29

And you're not going to just see Me.

00:50:32

You're going to learn to see what I see.

00:50:37

You're going to know what it's like to be loved

00:50:40

to where you're so free

00:50:45

that you've got more than enough

00:50:47

to pour out on the people around you.

00:51:01

And it's such a different experience for her

00:51:03

when I'm here asking her to move

00:51:07

than when I'm out in front of her asking her to move.

00:51:11

She finds her confidence in following me.

00:51:17

Is this what it is that's going to happen

00:51:19

for the body of Christ, for them to understand

00:51:23

that He led us through a valley,

00:51:29

there was a shadow of death,

00:51:31

to bring us to a place where He would set

00:51:36

a table before us in the presence of our enemies,

00:51:38

and that our cups would overflow.

00:51:46

So now we've got something to offer.

00:51:49

She didn't like that.

00:52:04

[music]

00:54:09

- Okay, when we --

00:54:15

We pray like we have a prayer team,

00:54:17

we diligently ask Holy Spirit to lead us

00:54:20

to the right horse, for the right time,

00:54:21

for the right people, for everybody

00:54:23

that's in this room, that they would find

00:54:25

a very intimate way in order to connect with this horse.

00:54:33

She's a brand new creation.

00:54:36

She's carrying all the potential

00:54:38

and all of the resource that that I have.

00:54:41

There's nowhere we can't go together.

00:54:44

There's nothing that she can't do that I ask her to do.

00:54:47

I'm not cruel to ask her

00:54:49

to do things that she can't do.

00:54:51

And by the way, this doesn't feel any more

00:54:54

than than her whipping herself with her tail.

00:54:56

So just in case you think I'm beating the horse,

00:54:59

I've been accused of that.

00:55:00

I'm like, well, I love animals, and I wouldn't do that.

00:55:08

And she's needing some encouragement.

00:55:14

Y'all are needing some encouragement.

00:55:16

I'm not sure why you're so stuck

00:55:19

and why it is that the fun, the joy

00:55:22

of being childlike and the expectations

00:55:25

nd the the hope that gets to come alive

00:55:27

in a world that's continually just

00:55:29

an onslaught of one bad news after another,

00:55:33

one horrible thing happens after another.

00:55:35

And no time in human history have we ever been

00:55:37

so aware of what's going wrong in the world

00:55:39

as we are right now.

00:55:41

It's not that more is going wrong in the world,

00:55:43

it's just that we're --

00:55:44

It's in our face all the time.

00:55:47

I personally don't have social media

00:55:49

and I protect myself from all that stuff

00:55:51

just because I get so undone by it.

00:55:55

And I have people,

00:55:57

I'm not just sticking my head in the sand.

00:56:00

I've got people that let me know,

00:56:01

what do I have a voice in?

00:56:03

What do I actually have something

00:56:05

that I can pray specifically for?

00:56:07

And it's an invitation for us to

00:56:15

become childlike again because

00:56:17

she's really struggling with it.

00:56:19

Like, she's not wanting to move

00:56:20

the way she moved before

00:56:22

because she feels restricted.

00:56:24

And get the point, this is just a parable.

00:56:30

Don't make it about the horse.

00:56:35

She's quickly going to learn.

00:56:37

And if we were to do this,

00:56:38

if I could have one more session with her,

00:56:41

we would be running around this place

00:56:43

up and down the aisles, turning

00:56:45

and coming and going and doing whatever we want.

00:56:48

Well, anything that Brian would let us do.

00:56:50

We could run all over this place

00:56:52

in one more session.

00:56:54

But she's lost a bit of her confidence

00:56:57

just with everything that's happened.

00:56:58

And so just out of compassion, it's fine.

00:57:01

But I don't want us to stay in this room

00:57:04

to where we're still hiding

00:57:05

and trying to get to our safe place,

00:57:08

instead of going after the things that

00:57:10

it is that God's ordained for you to be a part of.

00:57:16

- I would love you to run up and down the aisles.

00:57:19

It's fine with me. - We should do that.

00:57:21

- We should totally do that.

00:57:22

- Ride him down the steps.

00:57:23

- Just help the insurance company along

00:57:25

in their fear process. [laughter]

00:57:29

That'd be really good.

00:57:33

More things that -- two things

00:57:34

I wish I said earlier on to give us

00:57:36

a perspective for all this.

00:57:38

One is this horse really wasn't freaked out by this.

00:57:41

It's louder out there than it is in here.

00:57:43

The speakers are putting that way,

00:57:45

so don't be concerned about the horse.

00:57:47

Todd touched on it a little bit

00:57:48

when he talked about hitting the rear end,

00:57:50

or touching the rear end with that rope.

00:57:53

The other thing is, there's a bastardization

00:57:57

of the word "free" in our culture

00:57:59

that we don't understand the word free.

00:58:01

Free to modern Americans means

00:58:05

I get to do whatever I want to,

00:58:07

and no one can tell me not to do anything.

00:58:09

I get to choose everything and I do anything I want to.

00:58:13

That's what freedom is in America.

00:58:16

That's not what freedom is to God.

00:58:18

Freedom to God is, "You are free to do things

00:58:22

that you couldn't do if you didn't have Me."

00:58:27

And we think that those horses

00:58:29

that were up on that LED earlier on,

00:58:31

they're riding free.

00:58:32

Like, oh, how great would it be to be them?

00:58:34

She's probably missing them,

00:58:35

wishing she was out free without a corral around her.

00:58:40

The truth is, when a horse comes under

00:58:43

the authority of a trainer or an owner,

00:58:45

that horse is stronger than any horse in the wild.

00:58:50

Todd clued me in to one guy --

00:58:53

When Todd had another session with this horse,

00:58:56

him on this horse alone would round up

00:59:00

an entire herd of wild horses because

00:59:03

he unlocks the potential that's inside this horse,

00:59:06

and the capacity gets expanded of this horse.

00:59:09

It has a more full life.

00:59:10

Many of us, we think with God, "I don't -- I don't really want

00:59:14

to come into the authority of God.

00:59:16

I don't. I don't want to do that.

00:59:17

I don't want to do that.

00:59:18

I'm going to lose all my freedom.

00:59:20

I'm going to lose all my stuff.

00:59:21

And I mean, maybe there is a God

00:59:23

and maybe, maybe it's important.

00:59:25

So, like, when I'm dead, when I'm dying,

00:59:28

I'll look into Him.

00:59:29

I'll really give my life to Him then.

00:59:30

Or when I can't find another doctor

00:59:34

who can offer me hope, then I'll go to Him."

00:59:37

Because we feel like somehow

00:59:39

He's going to impinge on our life.

00:59:40

Well, He is going to impinge on your life.

00:59:42

He wants to be the authority.

00:59:43

He is the authority. He's better than you.

00:59:47

He knows more than you and I.

00:59:48

He's been through more situations than you and I.

00:59:52

But he also knows the best way

00:59:56

for us to live our lives as He designed it

00:59:58

is to be under His care.

01:00:01

Maybe that's the message for many of us.

01:00:03

Maybe you just ought to stop bucking

01:00:06

and trying to get Him off our life.

01:00:07

Instead, try to partner with Him

01:00:09

and come under His authority.

01:00:12

We going to stand and we're going to sing a --

01:00:14

Anything you want to add to that? Is that right?

01:00:16

I think I said that right, right?

01:00:18

You taught me everything I just said.

01:00:23

- Yeah, I got lots more to say,

01:00:25

but I probably shouldn't say it now.

01:00:30

Don't waste your life.

01:00:34

Yeah, don't waste your life.

01:00:36

There's an opportunity right here.

01:00:39

And whether you come forward for prayer,

01:00:40

which I would really encourage you to do,

01:00:42

because there's something about us activating,

01:00:44

getting off our butts and taking a step forward.

01:00:47

There's a reason why it's important that

01:00:49

we stand before witnesses when we get marriage

01:00:52

and we make a commitment to our wives.

01:00:55

There's just something about that.

01:00:57

And so whether you bring somebody that you came with

01:01:01

or however you want to do it,

01:01:02

the decisions that are being made right now,

01:01:04

you might be born again,

01:01:06

but you're not experiencing this.

01:01:08

You're not experiencing the tenderness

01:01:10

and the love and the the aggression

01:01:11

that our Papa wants us to have and enjoy.

01:01:15

You're not feeling like you're actually being fathered.

01:01:18

If that's the case, then let's just do business today

01:01:21

because we can't take anything for granted.

01:01:25

It took you this long to get here,

01:01:27

so let's not waste it.

01:01:31

- So we're going to have all of our sites,

01:01:33

we're going to have people who are really great at prayer.

01:01:36

They're good at it, they're like prayer ninjas.

01:01:39

They love talking to God.

01:01:40

God gives them a lot of yeses.

01:01:42

And we're going to give you

01:01:44

the opportunity to get prayed for.

01:01:45

Maybe you recognize that you've been pushing God off

01:01:48

and you want to receive Him in your life

01:01:50

and you want somebody else to be there

01:01:51

and pray with you for that.

01:01:53

Maybe you've got a pain on you.

01:01:55

Yesterday, one of the horses

01:01:57

had a big, massive tick on it

01:02:00

just sucking on on him or her for,

01:02:04

shoot, I don't know, a year or so.

01:02:05

Maybe you got something just sucking on you

01:02:08

that you can't shake.

01:02:09

And perhaps there's somebody who could help you in prayer.

01:02:12

And maybe, maybe that's the answer.

01:02:14

So, at all of our sites

01:02:15

they're going to come forward and you can come

01:02:17

and you can pray and I encourage you.

01:02:19

You're here. You did the thing, you did all --

01:02:20

You came, you did all the stuff.

01:02:22

Hey, why not get the full experience?

01:02:24

Maybe God will do something. All right?

01:02:26

Why don't we stand right now?

01:02:28

Let's all stand

01:02:29

and connect with God through singing.

01:02:31

This horse was kind of singing at times.

01:02:34

He was doing his neigh, or she was doing her neighing.

01:02:37

Let's connect with God as one

01:02:39

and let's sing a song to Him, okay?

01:02:48

- Sing this together. [music]

01:05:31

- Hey, let's thank Todd for building into us today.

01:05:35

[applause] Really good.

01:05:37

Looks like all the people who like prayer

01:05:39

are in this side of the auditorium.

01:05:42

We have people over here, too,

01:05:44

and they're going to be up here until everyone's done.

01:05:47

And I'm going to pray for you.

01:05:49

And then they'll be here if you want

01:05:50

to come forward at any moment, that's fine,

01:05:52

as everyone's leaving,

01:05:53

we get ready for our final experience.

01:05:55

So let me just pray for you and seal it.

01:05:57

Lord, I know there's people in here

01:05:59

that have been touched deeply.

01:06:01

We don't want to just be touched,

01:06:02

but we want to actually move.

01:06:03

We want to -- and we don't want to go in circles.

01:06:05

We want to go forward.

01:06:07

So we trust You that we'll go forward with a new life.

01:06:11

Thank you for Todd and how he's poured into us today.

01:06:14

We pray for a really great, great replication

01:06:19

of his ministry and his words.

01:06:21

And I pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

01:06:25

All right, have a great rest of your weekend.

01:06:27

Prayer folks will be here as long as necessary.

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