The Power to Change Your Future

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- Thank you for joining us this Memorial Day weekend

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as we honor those who've sacrificed

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and fallen in the line of duty.

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My name is Andy Reider. I lead Crossroads Anywhere

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and I get to be your pastor here.

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Now, Christianity is a faith

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that really deeply understands the power of sacrifice.

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The idea that one person, Jesus,

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laid down His life so that you and I could live,

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so that we could be free.

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Memorial Day taps into something similar,

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and it evokes a similar reaction in us:

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gratitude, thankfulness.

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And it's with that, not just on our minds,

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but on our hearts as well.

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I'd love for you to sing this next song with us.

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- Hey, guys. Thanks for having me.

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I want us to start off, anybody, like party music?

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Anybody, like a little energy, a little party music

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to get things kicked off?

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We're going to continue in that heart of gratitude,

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but we're thanking God for what He's given us.

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I don't know if you know this today,

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but we're breathing in His air.

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We're walking on His earth.

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We're experiencing His strength.

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And whether you know Him or not, I think,

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I want to pose that to you

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that He has given us something freely

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and the least that we can do is we can say thank you.

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I think He appreciates when we just thank Him

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for who He is and what He has done.

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So I want you to say these three words with me:

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Say, "I thank God." Go ahead, try it, I thank God.

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But I was grown -- when I was growing up,

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my parents always said,

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"You need to say it like you mean it,

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like, you really, are you really grateful?"

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Like, God, I'm thankful.

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So I want you to scream it out this time, I thank God.

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- Go ahead, say it. - I thank God.

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- Come on, man. Let's do this all together.

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I want you to clap. I want you to celebrate,

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God, what He's done for us. Come on.

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Come on, all over the room, clap with us right here.

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Up in the back. Join with us, sing these words.

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- God, we're asking when we say that,

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so we just want to see You more.

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We want to see You more clearly, God.

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You're working in our lives whether we see it or not.

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But we want revelation, more revelation today.

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Would you bring revelation to the hearts of your people,

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to the minds of your people, every person in this room,

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every person watching.

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God, I pray that we would see you in a fresh, new way,

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that would impact our lives

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and would make a new trajectory for our walk

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and the way we live our life.

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God, would you meet us today?

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God, would you reveal yourself, and the power that you hold

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and the strength that you hold, and the guidance that you hold

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and the peace that you hold,

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everything we could ever need, God,

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is found in you, Jesus. God.

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And I thank you for your Spirit.

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I thank you for your power.

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Thank you for Jesus.

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God, thank you for all that you do. In your name, Amen.

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- Hey, as I said, my name is Andy.

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I lead Crossroads Anywhere.

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And just a couple of weeks ago, I met a couple,

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met a couple actually living in Mexico City

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who are a part of our Crossroads Anywhere community.

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And they've been married for over a year

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and haven't lived in the United States

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for any part of that time.

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And they've been so grateful that they have a church,

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no matter where their work takes them.

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They're in the tech startup industry.

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And so every three months they are in

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a different country around the world.

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And I just want to give a shout out

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to Marcus and Carmina.

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We love you guys. We're so grateful.

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We'll see you next time.

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And it just reminds me how grateful I am

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that we have a church that doesn't know borders,

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that isn't bound by a specific place on the map

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or even a specific day of the week.

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And I'm thankful that we have a church

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that for folks like Marcus and Carmina

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that they can belong to no matter where life takes them.

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And it makes me grateful for the faithful people

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who make Crossroads happen, who give their time,

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their energy and their talents and even their resources

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to help make this stuff possible.

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If you've got questions about what we do with money

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or you want to join the team of faithful givers

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who makes this place happen, you can get more info

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at Crossroads.net/give.

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Now, in just a few minutes, we're going to hear

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from an awesome communicator

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and an even better guy, Joel Firebaugh.

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He leads all of our students around Crossroads.

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And I want to highlight some of the awesome stuff

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that God is doing in students

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and in the leaders of students here at Crossroads.

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Here's one story of how a leader signed up last minute

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and how her life was changed at student ministry camp.

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- I had no idea what I was doing.

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I did not want to lead by myself.

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I did not want to do it alone, and I was terrified.

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Last year, I felt like God was calling me

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to lead a group at camp

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and I was super excited, super nervous.

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But I got my best friend to also say yes

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and we were going to do it together.

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Unfortunately, a few days before

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we were supposed to leave, my friend got super sick

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and she couldn't lead camp with me.

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I was super worried. I was super nervous.

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I did not want to lead alone,

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just felt like I wasn't good enough.

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I haven't done camp before. I didn't know what I was doing.

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I felt lost, but ultimately I decided

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to stick with it and show up.

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And right before I met my girls at Mason,

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I said a quick prayer and I was like,

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"God, you need to help me.

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I need you to show up because I can't let them down."

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The first day was was chaos.

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There was this crazy thing at the end

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where it was like game night and it was glow in the dark

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and it was just madness,

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like middle schoolers running everywhere.

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And I got hit in the eye with a glow stick.

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I had, like, almost like

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a black eye situation the whole first day.

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Watch out for those,

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middle school boys throw them like torpedoes.

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I turned around, said a few curse words,

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and that they couldn't hear.

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And then I was like, "I got to go to the nurse."

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That night, I went back to my dorm

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and I said the same prayer I did that morning in Mason.

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I was like, "God, I need you to show up.

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I need you to get in this with me

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and help me because I can't do this alone.

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And I'm really nervous."

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And He got me through it.

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It was just the most surreal experience

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I have ever been through.

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There were times where my girls

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were just lifting their hands in worship and dancing

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and just being totally themselves

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and just totally carefree.

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I got to baptize some of my girls.

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They're just being -- they just feel so free

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and that's very contagious.

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And I was finding myself, I don't really lift my arms

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in worship when I sing, and I was finding myself,

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like, lifting my arms, dancing around.

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It's just a very contagious feeling,

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getting to experience my girls experience God

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in a way like that, like, that was life changing.

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It was so worth it.

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And I know that sounds crazy,

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but it's all the chaos and the mess.

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And if you get stuck with a glow stick,

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it's God is doing something powerful at camp.

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And it's I knew through all of that,

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like, I'm going to be back.

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This year, I'm coming prepared, I'm going to bring goggles.

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I'm going to stay out of the line of fire.

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Now, I tell everyone that you have to come to camp.

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It was the hardest week of my life, but also the best.

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And I just can't wait to go back next year.

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- Hey, Crossroads Camps, if you know, you know.

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Some of my friends most fun and meaningful experiences

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happened at a Crossroads Camp.

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That's true of friends that are 15

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and friends that are 75, and everywhere in between.

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There are also awesome ways to volunteer at camps.

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No matter where you live, if you want to help

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make Crossroads Student Camp happen,

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we would love your help.

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We're taking over 1200 fifth through 12th graders

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to Bowling Green State for two incredible weeks.

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So hey, jump in with us and lead while having fun

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and making a difference,

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from the Medical and Connections teams

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to rec group leaders, all kinds of stuff.

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There is a role for you.

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Register your student for camp or sign up

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to help make it happen at crossroads.net.

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For all the parents out here,

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we've got something really, really great coming up

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and I'll just say much needed.

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I've got three young kids, seven, five and four,

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and it's insane.

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So we've got something coming up that's really special,

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Mom and Dad's cohorts.

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Cohorts, if you're not familiar, it's a 21 day challenge

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that happens completely on an app

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so you can fit it into your own time

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and your own schedule.

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It's not a group you go to at a certain time.

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It's not a class you just watch.

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It's something way more experiential and custom built

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to fit around your busy schedule.

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And they're a powerful way to get real traction in real life.

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There's teaching, personal coaching,

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daily challenges and more.

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And let's just be honest for a moment,

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parenting is tough, and it's so worth it.

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We all want to be great parents, but we're not sure how.

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Moms, you often carry such a heavy load

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and we'd love for you to join Abby for 21 days

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to be a less stressed mom.

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And dads, I know it's easy to want to be a better dad,

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but you're just not sure how to get started.

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Join Paco for 21 days to be a better father.

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Parents carry one of the greatest honors

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anyone could ever have and you deserve someone

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in your corner building into you.

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Head to Crossroads.net/cohorts to register.

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Now we're going to jump into our weekly teaching

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as we hear from Joel

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teach about the power of the Holy Spirit.

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- The X Factor.

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We all know it when we see it,

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but it's hard to quantify.

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It's what sets somebody apart from everyone else

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and helps them succeed.

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Every good story has an X factor

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or else we wouldn't watch it, right?

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James Bond, Olivia Pope, John B,

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they all have the X Factor.

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It could be a special talent, a way with words,

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charisma, style, or the secret Krabby Patty recipe,

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and of course, the X factors themselves.

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But what's our secret sauce?

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When we receive Jesus, the Holy Spirit

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gives us an X factor that makes us different.

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And Acts is the key to understanding

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and unlocking our own X factor.

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Today we're in the Book of Acts,

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all about the early days of the church.

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It's a book about everyday people being changed

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by God's power and changing the world as a result.

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And we have access to the same life-changing,

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world-changing power.

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Today we're going to see how the Holy Spirit changes us.

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We tend to think we need more money, nicer cars,

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a higher status in life.

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But in Acts, it shows us that changing

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our heart, body and mind leads to a ripple effect

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that transforms us and the people around us.

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When we have the Holy Spirit,

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we unlock the X factor of change.

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- Well, clearly I am not lead Pastor Brian Tome.

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I am much, much younger.

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And you can tell them I said that. All right.

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Hey, my name is Joel Firebaugh

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and I oversee our student ministries around here.

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And I love speaking to adults. All right.

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You already laughed at a cheap joke. All right?

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And I can see to the back of this auditorium

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and just no one's making out back there, you know?

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And so, like, you all remember being in high school

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and you just wanted to kiss someone all the time.

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Anyway, if you're here with your significant other,

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shoot your shot. All right. I'm used to it. All right.

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Hey, today we are talking about

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that the Holy Spirit can change us.

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In fact, it can continue to change us.

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So let me just pray and invite the Holy Spirit here.

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God, today we do just that,

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we invite the Holy Spirit of God to come and change us.

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God, change every single one of us who's sitting here,

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people that came from far, from near, God,

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do exactly what you want to do today.

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Today is yours. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Well, speaking of change, in a few months,

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or actually, a few weeks, we'll take about

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2000 total people to summer camp with us.

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And I call this week, I do,

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I call it the week of Change.

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I've called it that multiple times, and here's why.

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We try, in general, to bring back

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the same amount of students that we bring. Okay?

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And we get close. Okay.

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And although the same bodies come back, right,

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same hairstyles, same whatever they rizz, I don't know.

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Whatever's happening, like, the same people come back

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and they talk the same, like, something's changed.

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Now, not with everybody, but many of these students

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at camp, they've had an encounter with God.

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And many of these students at camp,

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they've met Jesus and had a relationship

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and the Holy Spirit of God,

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we've been calling this The X Factor,

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has entered into their life in middle school

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and high school, and they're different.

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Same people, but they've changed.

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And I could get up here and I could just tell

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story after story of change.

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But I'll give you just one today.

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This last year we went to Cedarville, Ohio for camp.

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And if you've never been to Cedarville, Ohio,

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picture just a ton of cornfields,

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but like in the 1930s.

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Okay, and a Dollar Store. They've got a Dollar Store.

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Now we pre-thought out, like,

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they'll want to go to the Dollar Store so let's --

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it's the only thing there, literally.

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So what is up with rural areas

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just having Dollar Generals by the dozens?

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I don't -- It's got a Dollar Store,

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and so we put a police officer there,

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we put leaders there and we're like

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during free time they can get a Slurpee. Okay.

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And three junior guys day one, day one of camp,

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meander over to the Dollar Store. Okay?

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They go past the police officer,

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they go past the leaders and they go up to the counter

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and they say, "We will take a pack of condoms."

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Some of y'all just woke up.

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Hey, Good morning. Welcome to church. Yeah.

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Now, couple of things up front, couple of things up front.

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One, if you are in the market for this,

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don't get them from the Dollar Store. All right?

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There's certain things we don't skimp on, all right?

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That's just -- That's for free.

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Secondly, the kid assured us --

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everyone's there.

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The kid assured us, don't worry, they're not for camp.

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They're for afterwards.

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Oh, yeah. Get the bulk pack.

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No, like, give it, like, we confiscated these things.

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And the kid went on to say, like,

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he didn't want to be there.

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He would do anything he could to get kicked out of camp.

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And let me tell you, 90% of churches in the country,

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they would have sent this kid walking, right?

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Now, to be clear, there was consequences

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and their parents were called and all that stuff.

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However, we knew if this team of juniors,

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if they stayed, just maybe, just maybe

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they could have have an encounter with God.

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Like just maybe change could be for them.

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And let me tell you, by the last night of camp,

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I see one of these kids front row,

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both hands in the air,

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the same God he said he wanted nothing to do with,

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he's sitting up there worshiping that God

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because he's had an encounter with Him,

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The X Factor, The Holy Spirit, that's right,

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in this young man's life.

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Now, adults, adults, we we love this stories

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of the next generation about change. Right?

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That's why I told one up front.

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I mean, we eat that stuff up.

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We're, like, like, graduation, like,

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a senior in high school or someone graduating,

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like they can go change the world.

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But we hit a moment, I don't know when it is,

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in our life where we start saying,

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"But that's kind of for them, and it's not for me."

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Right? Like, "I'm pretty comfy here.

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Like, it's a lot easier for them to bet the farm

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when they don't have a farm to bet, like. Right?

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And I got a 401k and my family and, like,

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if I change too much, like, who's going to watch the dog?"

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And like, I've got college and it's a lot easier

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for us to get so excited about other people changing

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and not really looking internally about our change.

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And so I remind you, today's main idea,

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our topic is that the Holy Spirit changes us,

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all of us, and the Holy Spirit does not discriminate.

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It does not matter your age or race or gender.

00:31:07

I don't even think your height or weight matters.

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Holy Spirit changes us.

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In fact, today's story, as we continue in this series

00:31:15

about Acts is in Acts 3 about a man who's 40 years old.

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Now, I know what you're thinking,

00:31:21

"Joel, that's like the prime of life," right?

00:31:23

Like, that is not old.

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Now, in this day and age, a typical lifespan

00:31:27

of an individual would be around 48.

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And so this man really, truly in this day

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was towards the end of his life.

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Yet he experiences drastic, drastic change.

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Now, two other things I want you to know

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about this man as we pick up kind of in Acts 3.

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One is this man was born without the ability to walk.

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He didn't have use of his legs.

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Now, in today's day and age, I am so proud

00:31:52

of where we've come with technology and advances in this.

00:31:55

But but in this day, there was really nothing

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for this individual, a wheelchair, in fact,

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in many areas, this man was kind of ostracized

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because of just this disability he was born with.

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And the last thing I want you to know is,

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or know about this man, is every single day,

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every day the Bible says this man

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was carried by his friends up in front of the temple,

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and he was set in front of the temple

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in front of a gate known as beautiful.

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It was this gorgeous copper gate.

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And he would sit there and he would ask for change.

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Now, not the type of change we're talking about,

00:32:28

but literal spare change, right?

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This was called alms, silver and gold.

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And two individuals by the name of Peter and John

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walk past this man.

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Now we know Peter and John.

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Peter and John are, they're an unlikely duo. Okay?

00:32:42

I call them kind of the Kobe and Shaq of scripture.

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They're so different, but always together.

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They're fishing buddies.

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They run together to see Jesus empty tomb.

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They did ministry in Samaria and we see them here.

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And this individual asks them for change.

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And we pick up in verse six and Peter says this:

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Now, this is interesting for a few different reasons.

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This man, honestly, truly,

00:33:13

really wouldn't have had any silver or gold.

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Peter wouldn't have.

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A couple different reasons for this.

00:33:17

One, he was a pastor. Okay?

00:33:22

I don't got no silver and gold.

00:33:24

Greg, you got silver or gold? None. Yeah, none.

00:33:28

One, was a pastor.

00:33:29

Secondly, this was the rise of the early church.

00:33:32

If you've been following with us,

00:33:33

Acts 2-47, the church takes off, and it says

00:33:37

these individuals that were having encounters

00:33:39

with the Holy Spirit, they would sell everything they had

00:33:41

and give away anything they had in excess those in need.

00:33:44

And so Peter is like, "I've already sold

00:33:47

and given everything I have.

00:33:48

I don't have silver or gold."

00:33:49

Which would be enough for this man

00:33:51

to just write them off, right?

00:33:52

Like, well, that's what I'm asking for is spare change.

00:33:55

But Peter says, "But what I do have I give to you.

00:33:58

In fact, I don't give it in my name,

00:34:00

not Peter's name, not John's name.

00:34:07

This is bold.

00:34:08

This is now Peter, who has the Holy Spirit,

00:34:10

the X Factor.

00:34:11

Nothing's even happened yet.

00:34:12

He says, "Get up, stand up." He rises up and walks.

00:34:15

And then he reaches down with his right hand,

00:34:17

not on accident, a symbol of kind of equality,

00:34:20

and he raises him up immediately.

00:34:23

Somebody say immediately. Immediately.

00:34:26

His feet and ankles, like the biology changes

00:34:29

and the muscles grow and he's made strong.

00:34:32

And this man that for 40 years has walked and lied --

00:34:38

it says lied down in this exact same place

00:34:40

is now walking and jumping and grinning and dancing,

00:34:43

like he's moving.

00:34:45

A miracle has happened, change has happened

00:34:48

and this man's life is forever changed.

00:34:52

Now, let me ask you guys, do we like change?

00:34:56

We've got a mixed room. Okay.

00:34:58

I like change when it's good. Okay? Is that fair?

00:35:04

Yeah. I like change when it's good.

00:35:06

This is clearly good change.

00:35:08

But even within good change,

00:35:09

there's two types of change:

00:35:11

There is the change we want, right?

00:35:15

And the change we need.

00:35:17

Both can be good. I mean, watch this story.

00:35:19

This man, he wants spare change.

00:35:21

That's good change. Silver and gold.

00:35:23

That's good. That's what he wants.

00:35:24

What did he need?

00:35:26

Something that was going to

00:35:27

drastically change his life forever.

00:35:30

Change that we want is one thing,

00:35:32

but change that we need is completely different.

00:35:35

I'll give you some examples.

00:35:37

When I was a freshman in college.

00:35:39

Now, is this a safe room, a safe place?

00:35:44

Other locations it is? All right.

00:35:46

Freshman in college, I went my entire first semester,

00:35:50

I never change the sheets once.

00:35:53

I'm sorry.

00:35:54

My wife's going to kill me for saying that,

00:35:56

but it was $0.75 to do laundry.

00:35:59

I hadno silver and gold. I told you that.

00:36:01

I don't have none.

00:36:03

Never changed them once.

00:36:04

Now we agree, I didn't want to do that.

00:36:06

That wasn't change I wanted.

00:36:07

That would have been good change, right?

00:36:09

Maybe I needed to do that. All right.

00:36:11

I'll give you a different one. Third grade, third grade,

00:36:14

I got the coolest birthday gift in the world.

00:36:17

I got a waterbed. I got a waterbed.

00:36:22

We filled this thing up with a hose.

00:36:24

I had that thing for years and years and years.

00:36:28

Do you think I ever changed the water in that once?

00:36:32

I promise I'm cleaner now.

00:36:33

Like, I think I do. No, I didn't want to.

00:36:36

You had to do a whole thing. Now, here's what's interesting.

00:36:39

How many of you had a waterbed?

00:36:42

Wow. Very, very, like, a lot of you had waterbeds.

00:36:46

Now I'm going to confess something. All right?

00:36:49

You had, I hope that was past tense, a waterbed.

00:36:53

You come up to me right now and you tell me

00:36:55

even as a pastor, you tell me you have a waterbed,

00:36:57

I'm going to instantly judge you. Okay?

00:37:01

I just need you to know your take away

00:37:03

from this message is just get you a mattress.

00:37:05

I passed -- I passed three on the way here. Okay?

00:37:10

That could be your whole message.

00:37:11

You can go, all right.

00:37:12

Had a water, but never changed this once.

00:37:14

I don't want to.

00:37:15

Change I want is different than change you need.

00:37:17

Now, those are both surface level examples.

00:37:20

Let me explain why, even deeper one,

00:37:22

I was having to change the water or found this out.

00:37:25

Junior year of high school, years later when I'm moving,

00:37:29

my dad had just lost his job.

00:37:32

This was not change I wanted.

00:37:33

That's why we had to empty the water bed

00:37:35

and find all this nastiness in there, right? Right.

00:37:38

My dad lost his job, and I found out

00:37:40

that we were going to move from where I lived then,

00:37:42

which was Houston, Texas, to this place called Ohio.

00:37:49

That was not the change I wanted.

00:37:52

I was going to move to Ohio. Okay?

00:37:54

My Kentucky locations, y'all get this, All right?

00:37:56

And it wasn't.

00:37:58

Now, here's what's so cool and why I'm so thankful

00:38:01

that I'm not the only one in control of my life.

00:38:03

God knew, though, that that might just be

00:38:05

the change I needed.

00:38:07

In fact, at the time it pulled me out of

00:38:09

the exact friend group I needed to be pulled out of.

00:38:11

Wasn't what I wanted, but it was what I needed.

00:38:15

I think of so many more examples of, like,

00:38:17

I would have never moved to the Midwest

00:38:19

and been a part of a church

00:38:20

I now love called Crossroads Church.

00:38:23

But that was change I needed.

00:38:26

I think of this right here,

00:38:27

this is my wonderful wife right here.

00:38:29

Her name is Anna and we've made eight years.

00:38:31

And we we met at a school in the Midwest,

00:38:35

because I had moved to the Midwest,

00:38:36

not because of something I wanted,

00:38:38

but God knew it was something I needed. Right?

00:38:40

Like, it's incredible.

00:38:41

And there is a clear, clear, clear difference

00:38:43

of change we want and change we need.

00:38:47

And God is so much more concerned about this one.

00:38:49

The one we need.

00:38:50

This man right here, he reaches out.

00:38:52

He's asking for spare change, silver and gold.

00:38:54

This is good change. I want this.

00:38:56

And there was something so much more drastic

00:38:58

that this man needed.

00:39:00

Now, I want you to actually think about this,

00:39:03

because if we actually break this down,

00:39:04

this was kind of inconsiderate of Peter

00:39:08

to just change this man's life like this

00:39:10

without asking him.

00:39:11

Like it really was, like, this man it said

00:39:14

he was more than 40 years old.

00:39:15

That's all we know about him and his age.

00:39:17

And this man's job is to come here daily

00:39:20

and ask for spare change.

00:39:21

I mean, this man's life

00:39:23

is about to be drastically changed.

00:39:25

And with a few years left in a high trade society,

00:39:29

like, trade based roles, this man is going to have

00:39:31

to go learn some sort of trade to maybe get, like,

00:39:34

the lower end of payment for his few years on Earth.

00:39:37

I think of his relationships.

00:39:39

This man was carried by his friends every day.

00:39:41

I don't know how their relationship

00:39:43

is going to continue or differ on the other side of this.

00:39:46

I think of how probably dependent this man

00:39:49

would have been, and now has to,

00:39:50

just with years left, find dependence.

00:39:53

Like, if Peter was actually kind,

00:39:55

he would have went up to him and been like,

00:39:56

"Hey, here's the deal.

00:39:58

In 48 hours I'll come back

00:39:59

and I could do something miraculous. Okay?

00:40:01

Like you can start walking.

00:40:03

Your ankles would be made strong.

00:40:04

But really consider this, okay?

00:40:06

It's going to be a lot of change

00:40:08

and I know that you wanted a different change,

00:40:09

but I'm going to come back 48 hours

00:40:11

and you tell me yes or no."

00:40:12

He didn't do that, though,

00:40:13

because he knew this man needed this.

00:40:16

Now, two miracles,

00:40:19

two miracles actually took place as this happened.

00:40:21

One is the obvious one, this man's legs were healed,

00:40:25

he's jumping and he's dancing. It's incredible.

00:40:27

The second one, though, almost every scholar

00:40:30

would argue it also happened in this man

00:40:33

and it's even more incredible.

00:40:36

Many of us know the greatest change that can happen

00:40:38

in a human is the human heart, right?

00:40:41

And the second thing that happens is this man,

00:40:43

most scholars believe, this man would have

00:40:45

gotten the Holy Spirit of God right here.

00:40:47

This was done in the name of Jesus.

00:40:49

And the reason most people believe this

00:40:51

is the way this man responds.

00:40:53

He actually responds, like a few weeks ago,

00:40:55

like the people at Pentecost.

00:40:57

Pentecost is when Jesus ascended into Earth

00:40:59

and the Holy Spirit came

00:41:00

and the people were acting wild.

00:41:03

In fact, if you were here for BT's message,

00:41:05

they literally were like, "Are they drunk?"

00:41:07

Like, they didn't know what was happening

00:41:09

with these people because they were acting so wild.

00:41:11

And this is this man's response, verse eight:

00:41:14

And leaping up, he stood up, he began to walk.

00:41:17

It's like a movie scene.

00:41:18

He enters into the temple,

00:41:20

which he's probably never been in,

00:41:22

and he starts walking and leaping

00:41:24

and jumping and praising God.

00:41:28

Two miracles took place, the physical one,

00:41:30

but this man just got the Holy Spirit of God in his life.

00:41:33

And the miracle that took place before everyone's eyes

00:41:36

is this man went from spiritually dead

00:41:38

to spiritually alive, and people were noticing it.

00:41:43

Now, in our life, I do believe there's people in here

00:41:46

that will see physical miracles,

00:41:48

absolutely, as God's still doing that.

00:41:50

But I also know many, many, many of you

00:41:52

who have or will experience this spiritual miracle

00:41:55

we're talking about.

00:41:56

And it is a miracle.

00:41:58

It's a miracle of you literally being dead to sin

00:42:02

and becoming alive in Christ.

00:42:05

My question to those of you that have experienced this,

00:42:08

you have the Holy Spirit, the X factor,

00:42:10

is do you act like a miracle has happened in your life?

00:42:14

Does your response look anything like this individual

00:42:17

that we see in Acts Chapter three?

00:42:20

Now, if you've never really heard this message,

00:42:22

this concept that this is a miracle taking place,

00:42:25

not just a prayer parade, I want to break this down

00:42:28

to you as clear as I can today. All right.

00:42:30

So I've got some props behind me.

00:42:32

I'm a student guy, I'm definitely going to have props

00:42:34

that are going to help me do this. All right?

00:42:36

This box right here, if I can spin it,

00:42:40

this represents sin. All right?

00:42:43

Now, you and me, we are born in to sin

00:42:48

ever since Adam, all the way back in Genesis 1 sinned.

00:42:51

Sin entered this world, and we're now born in sin.

00:42:54

You may say that's not fair.

00:42:56

And I would say it's not.

00:42:57

It's not fair, but it's true.

00:42:58

So we better do something about it. Right?

00:43:00

So let me just make this crystal clear. All right.

00:43:02

I got some props here.

00:43:04

These little things right here,

00:43:06

these are going to represent you front rowers.

00:43:09

All right. I got a few of them here.

00:43:11

Now, which one do you want? You want the shark?

00:43:13

You can be the shark. Great.

00:43:15

This is on you guys.

00:43:16

Memorial Day weekend, student gut is teaching,

00:43:18

you're front row.

00:43:19

That's no one else's fault.

00:43:20

But you came,

00:43:23

surely there's a special place in heaven, right?

00:43:25

I mean, you guys, you're dressed, you're ready.

00:43:28

Yet even them, front rowers, in sin. All right.

00:43:34

We understand this. Let me keep going.

00:43:35

Who's someone like, really holy?

00:43:37

Like, I don't know, Mother Teresa or like,

00:43:40

Oh, I got one even holier.

00:43:41

This one is Chuck Mingo. Okay.

00:43:46

Yeah. Hey, Chuck.

00:43:48

Chuck Mingo even, are you ready for this, in sin.

00:43:53

All right? I mean, I could keep going. All right.

00:43:55

This one represents my wife.

00:43:57

And actually, I'm not --

00:43:58

I'm not. There's no need. I'll set her there.

00:44:02

Yeah. Thank you for having my back.

00:44:04

Oh, but this one will hit just as hard home to you guys.

00:44:08

This one represents your grandmother.

00:44:11

Yeah. I don't know what you call her, Granny, Mimi, Pee pee?

00:44:16

I don't know. Okay. This is her.

00:44:19

Even your grandmother, nasty, rotten sinner. Okay.

00:44:23

Are we understanding?

00:44:24

I -- I don't know your grandmother. Okay.

00:44:28

So all of us. All right? Even my wife.

00:44:31

All right. Love you, in sin. All right.

00:44:33

So let's see if this helps, this is my self even.

00:44:35

I'm not just going to throw other people in there,

00:44:37

all right? Physically, all right, inside of sin.

00:44:41

Now, this might actually be clarifying for some of you

00:44:43

because some of us think, like, I'm just next to sin

00:44:45

or like, when it's my birthday?

00:44:47

Or like, you know, but like, no, all of us.

00:44:50

This is why, like, we do what we don't want to do.

00:44:55

And it doesn't make sense.

00:44:56

Like, why did -- why did I do that? You know?

00:44:59

And what we want to do, like, we we just can't do it.

00:45:02

Like, it's because we're not near,

00:45:04

this entangles and we are in it.

00:45:08

And this is why this is a miracle,

00:45:11

because we were once this way in sin,

00:45:13

but Romans says but God demonstrated His love for us

00:45:19

that while we were still sinners in sin,

00:45:23

Christ came and died for us.

00:45:26

And this box represents just that.

00:45:29

This is my Christ box.

00:45:32

Now, again, if you're if you're new to church,

00:45:34

this is Jesus Christ, all right?

00:45:36

And Jesus represents God Himself,

00:45:39

the Creator of the world in human form.

00:45:41

Right. Human embodiment.

00:45:42

I call this God in a bod. All right.

00:45:47

That should have got a better laugh.

00:45:48

That is a good joke. Okay. That was a good one. It is.

00:45:53

So he walked this earth perfectly,

00:45:55

if you read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,

00:45:57

like, this man lived a perfect life.

00:46:00

He was tempted by Satan himself,

00:46:02

but yet literal perfection.

00:46:05

And so yet while we are over here in sin,

00:46:07

Christ is this embodiment, this clear picture

00:46:10

of purity and perfection.

00:46:12

And what happened is, after 33 years,

00:46:15

He went to a cross and while we were still sinners,

00:46:20

died for us in an exchange, a miracle happened

00:46:26

where our sin went on His back

00:46:28

to where God couldn't even look at Him,

00:46:30

He turned His face, and His perfection went on ours

00:46:35

so that we literally could become a different person.

00:46:38

We could go from in sin to a brand new creation,

00:46:41

purified and clean in Christ.

00:46:45

And in fact, yeah. [applause]

00:46:50

We know this and we read this,

00:46:52

but it's hard to visualize.

00:46:53

Like, we've ran through a football sign that says,

00:46:55

like, I can do all things through Him.

00:46:57

Colossians says, Hidden in Christ, who is my life?

00:47:01

We are a new person.

00:47:02

But what happens is we're so used to that

00:47:06

that even though we're no longer that

00:47:08

sometimes we like to., like, to just look over.

00:47:16

Sometimes we like to just like, "Well, let's just --

00:47:19

Is there like, can I do like a one leg in and like,

00:47:22

what do you think, like, one leg out, like,

00:47:25

you know, like the workdays.

00:47:26

Those are boring days, but, like, you know.

00:47:28

Okay, but the weekend, like?"

00:47:29

We don't understand that, that a literal exchange

00:47:33

has happened, that we were dead, we were slaves to this,

00:47:37

these things had authority over this.

00:47:38

Chains were broken, bonds were destroyed

00:47:41

and we're new in Christ, not in our name.

00:47:47

It's a miracle, yet many of us, many, many of us

00:47:52

aren't acting like it.

00:47:53

We've changed is what I say, but we're not changing.

00:47:58

Nothing looks different.

00:48:00

We're still going back to things that, simply put,

00:48:03

don't have authority over us anymore.

00:48:06

Now, this is kind of exactly what happens in the story.

00:48:11

This man right here, this is so interesting to me.

00:48:15

This man right here, he's been healed.

00:48:18

A physical healing has taken place.

00:48:21

I mean, this man is made strong,

00:48:23

yet when the crowds start getting around him,

00:48:25

he gets really close to Peter and John.

00:48:27

Verse 11 literally says this right here. It says:

00:48:30

While he clung to Peter and John.

00:48:36

So this man right here, I went up

00:48:38

and looked this word clung up to see

00:48:40

where else it was used in the New Testament.

00:48:42

Most places it's used it means to arrest.

00:48:45

This man is grabbing on to these individuals.

00:48:47

Now, why would a man whose ankles are made strong

00:48:50

and can walk and dance, why would he need to cling on

00:48:53

to these people next to him?

00:48:56

He wouldn't.

00:48:57

However, for 40 plus years of his life,

00:49:00

if he were to stand there, what would he have to do?

00:49:03

You'd have to cling.

00:49:05

So a man that doesn't need to cling,

00:49:07

we catch him back there, clinging to things

00:49:09

that he doesn't need to cling to

00:49:11

when he can stand on his own.

00:49:13

I'm preaching right now. All right.

00:49:15

This individual didn't need to do this,

00:49:19

yet he's doing it because he's used to it.

00:49:22

And so often we have been freed,

00:49:25

a miracle has taken place.

00:49:27

We have the X-Factor of God, and yet we turn around

00:49:31

as a new creation and we go back

00:49:33

and we grab onto things that we don't need to stand,

00:49:37

that we don't need to exist, yet we give authority.

00:49:40

It's like putting handcuffs on when we're freed

00:49:44

and we don't need to anymore.

00:49:46

I think of our Good Friday service here at Crossroads.

00:49:49

How many of y'all were at the Good Friday service?

00:49:52

In this room at least six went. So that's good.

00:49:56

Um, Good Friday service was unreal imagery.

00:49:58

It was phenomenal.

00:49:59

Pastor Brian,

00:50:01

I never called him Pastor Brian in my life.

00:50:02

I don't know why I called him that.

00:50:04

Brian, our lead pastor, had us write our sins

00:50:08

on a piece of paper and we went up.

00:50:10

It was neat.

00:50:11

We went up and physically nailed it to the cross

00:50:14

as a representation that we were once in sin,

00:50:17

but that's died, that's been nailed to

00:50:19

the same cross that that Jesus has been nailed to.

00:50:21

And it was awesome because I'm really nosy

00:50:25

and, like, they'd be like, "Write your darkest sins."

00:50:28

And then we had like ten 4K cameras, you know,

00:50:30

like, zooming in on everyone, right?

00:50:32

You tell me I'm not the only one, right?

00:50:34

I was sitting there in line and someone would be, like,

00:50:36

"I hit my neighbor's cat and I haven't told anyone."

00:50:38

I'm like, "Oh my, glad they're here. Like, I don't know."

00:50:43

Or like people eventually started writing in code

00:50:45

and they were writing code on stuff.

00:50:47

Yeah, I would just like look up

00:50:48

and they'd be writing truth and nailing it

00:50:50

and I'd be like, "You think?

00:50:51

You think they don't tell the truth? Like.

00:50:54

Like you think someone isn't telling the truth to them?

00:50:57

Like you think it's a Rhinegeist beer Truth?'

00:50:59

Like I -- I just.

00:51:01

Anyway, we would nail these to the cross

00:51:04

as this representation, and then we would go home

00:51:07

and all it took for the majority of us at least,

00:51:12

was one thing, it knocked, he knocked, she knocked,

00:51:15

and all of a sudden, something we'd just nailed

00:51:17

to the cross, we would go back and give authority to.

00:51:21

A favorite analogy for this is an international adoption.

00:51:23

Now, many families are part of this church

00:51:25

that have been a part of an international adoption

00:51:27

where they've just they've adopted

00:51:29

these beautiful young boys and girls.

00:51:31

And after all the paperwork is done

00:51:33

with that final signature, a final signature,

00:51:36

everything in the life of this child changes, right?

00:51:40

With that final signature, their name changes.

00:51:43

With that final signature, like, where they live changes.

00:51:46

With that final signature

00:51:47

they go from a country and many times of poverty

00:51:50

to a country in America, which is a country of wealth.

00:51:52

And everything changes with the signature.

00:51:55

And their parents could come

00:51:56

and they could knock on the door. Right?

00:51:58

They could say, "Give me back our child,"

00:52:00

the old parents, and the new parents would say, "Uh uh.

00:52:03

You don't have authority over my child anymore, right?"

00:52:06

But then we hear these stories

00:52:08

of these children or horror stories clinging,

00:52:12

hiding food or hoarding food when they don't need to.

00:52:15

They have plenty, but it's what they're used

00:52:17

to doing in these situations.

00:52:21

And spiritually so often we are told

00:52:24

we have this same spirit that started the early church

00:52:27

that that came on the day of Pentecost

00:52:29

that rose Christ from the grave living inside of us.

00:52:33

But we're clinging.

00:52:34

And can I tell you, church, clinging is the enemy of change.

00:52:38

It is really hard to change when you're clinging.

00:52:42

And yet so many of us are clinging

00:52:44

to something we are freed from.

00:52:46

So let me just ask you, you don't got to tell me

00:52:48

or raise a hand, but are you clinging

00:52:50

to something you're freed from?

00:52:51

Are you clinging to that that addiction that

00:52:53

you know chains have been broken for?

00:52:56

Are you clinging to the way you treat people

00:52:59

and talk to people?

00:53:00

Are you clinging to the way you spend your time

00:53:03

and isolate yourself, or are you changing?

00:53:06

You're clinging or you're changing.

00:53:08

Are you are you spending your time in ways

00:53:09

that don't serve me and now, but others and later?

00:53:12

Are you spending money on yourself?

00:53:14

You're clinging back to how you've always done it

00:53:17

or on other people, like, what's your life look like?

00:53:19

Are you clinging or are you changing?

00:53:21

Because it's really hard to do both.

00:53:24

It's really difficult to do both.

00:53:26

See, I think of even my own story at five years old.

00:53:30

Five years old, I truly believe, people don't believe me.

00:53:33

I truly believe I gave my life to Christ

00:53:36

and got the Holy Spirit in my life.

00:53:37

Five years, like, the gospel is like an ocean.

00:53:39

Like there's parts so deep you can never understand,

00:53:41

but so simple like the beach, like a five year old,

00:53:44

they can get it.

00:53:45

That's why I love our Kids' Club and our Student Ministry.

00:53:47

And at five years old, I give my life and I changed.

00:53:51

I didn't start changing for a while.

00:53:53

I didn't really even know how to or when to or why.

00:53:56

You know?

00:53:57

It truly was college until I started changing.

00:54:01

And my sin was so different.

00:54:02

Everyone's story is so different.

00:54:04

I call myself a recovering legalist.

00:54:07

Like, I just thought it was rules and regulations.

00:54:10

And it wasn't until college where truly I let

00:54:11

the Holy Spirit do some work on me to start changing.

00:54:15

And so I don't tell you this so you go home sad.

00:54:19

I tell you that you've been changed.

00:54:21

And today might be, this is hope, might be the day

00:54:24

that you start letting that change change you.

00:54:28

Because you've been changed, marked, the Holy Spirit,

00:54:31

the X Factor lives in you.

00:54:33

A miracle has happened, and so let's start acting like it.

00:54:37

[applause]

00:54:42

Now, I would say if this happens,

00:54:44

but let me just say, when this happens,

00:54:46

one of two things will happen. Okay.

00:54:48

One of two things will happen.

00:54:49

One is there will be a people group

00:54:51

that don't understand this. Okay.

00:54:54

They won't understand this change happening in your life.

00:54:57

Maybe they've already given up on change for them.

00:54:59

So they see it happen in you and they're threatened.

00:55:01

They don't understand it.

00:55:02

In fact, this is what we,

00:55:03

exactly what we see with this man in Acts 3.

00:55:06

This man, I haven't given him a name yet. Right.

00:55:09

He doesn't have. Should we give him a name?

00:55:11

What's his name? Zane. Sure. All right.

00:55:16

That was a millennial for sure. All right. [laughter]

00:55:18

Zane. There's no chance his name was Zane, right?

00:55:23

We can agree on that? In no world. That's fine.

00:55:26

Zane and Peter and John, they get thrown in prison. All right.

00:55:34

And literally, like, the people, they don't understand,

00:55:37

they're like, "This man was, why did we have to change him?

00:55:39

Like he's older in his life? He's got years left to live.

00:55:41

Like, what's the change happening?"

00:55:43

They don't understand what's going on.

00:55:44

I actually love the phrasing of verse,

00:55:47

let's see where we at here, verse,

00:55:48

actually chapter four now, right at the beginning.

00:55:50

It says this: And as they were speaking to the people,

00:55:53

the priest, who would have been at the temple often,

00:55:56

right, the captain of the temple

00:55:58

and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed.

00:56:02

I love that.

00:56:03

Like that's what's going to happen in our lives

00:56:05

when we change.

00:56:06

There's going to be people who don't get it.

00:56:08

In fact, they might use that phrasing,

00:56:10

like, you look different. Right?

00:56:13

Like, you're no fun anymore.

00:56:15

Or they might even say this, "You've changed."

00:56:19

To which your response will be, "That's the point.

00:56:22

Like, that's the point.

00:56:24

I've got the Holy Spirit of God in my life.

00:56:26

I've changed and I'm going to start changing."

00:56:29

Now, the second thing that may just happen

00:56:32

in your life, in fact, this one's way more exciting,

00:56:34

and so I'll say will happen, is your change

00:56:37

will actually spark others to change around you.

00:56:40

We've heard stories, we actually heard one

00:56:42

in a video last week of a marriage

00:56:44

where one person changes and it sparks the other change.

00:56:47

A friendship where it sparks a change in another friend.

00:56:50

And in this specific change sparked a lot of change.

00:56:53

It says this:

00:57:00

Okay, so this man's healed physically, spiritually.

00:57:03

And Peter decides to use this as a sermon illustration.

00:57:05

So he's talking about the Jesus,

00:57:07

I don't know if he had, like big, like,

00:57:09

the boxes like these, but he did something

00:57:10

and he's talking about this, and so many start changing.

00:57:14

They believe, in fact here's how many, it says this:

00:57:21

Now, right before this, in the early church,

00:57:24

there was 3000 men a part of it.

00:57:26

So I'm no mathematician, but help me out.

00:57:28

What's 5000 minus 3000? Okay. 2000, 2000 people changed.

00:57:33

This is actually the first ever recorded miracle

00:57:36

in the New Testament Church, maybe outside of Pentecost.

00:57:38

But for sure, the miracle of healing

00:57:40

and it changes so many people,

00:57:42

sparks this 2000 people that will go on from there.

00:57:45

Those 2000, they will start something known as The Way,

00:57:48

it was the movement of the early church that would

00:57:50

eventually go to Samaria and the ends of the earth,

00:57:52

and honestly, the reason you're sitting

00:57:54

in your seat right now is because of this man's change

00:57:57

that sparked change that sparked change.

00:58:00

Now, here's what's cool.

00:58:01

I had our data team go and give me some stats

00:58:04

on kind of the change we've seen here

00:58:06

in the last 12 months.

00:58:07

Now, they told me up front, like,

00:58:09

it's really hard to measure change.

00:58:10

We have no idea how much change,

00:58:12

you guys don't talk about the change that's happening

00:58:14

in coffee shops or talking about in CrossFit gyms.

00:58:16

Right. Like, well, it happened in a CrossFit gym,

00:58:19

you would talk about it, but you get what I'm saying.

00:58:22

But baptism is a really good data

00:58:25

for just just public change,

00:58:26

is dead to sin, alive in Christ.

00:58:28

And so, okay, I said, I'll take that number.

00:58:30

In the last 12 months as a church, 12 months,

00:58:33

we have seen 2181 people get baptized, 2181 people.

00:58:42

Now, here's where this got really interesting for me.

00:58:45

That's 181 more than the story in Acts 3 of the early church.

00:58:53

Yet have we seen anywhere near the change

00:58:57

that we saw there.

00:59:00

Or have we changed and we aren't changing?

00:59:04

We can't be a church that just talks about

00:59:06

having the Holy Spirit or raising a hand

00:59:08

or singing the songs

00:59:09

without it letting it impact our life.

00:59:13

Because, yes, we've changed,

00:59:15

but we have to continually let Him change us.

00:59:18

I think of the past ten years, like,

00:59:21

tens of thousands of people that have gone,

00:59:24

a miracle has happened from in sin to in Christ,

00:59:27

new creations changed.

00:59:29

And what if today was the day we started changing,

00:59:33

moving, letting this hit all the ends of the earth?

00:59:38

There's a quote by a pastor and theologian

00:59:41

that passed away about a week ago named Tim Keller,

00:59:43

and he talks about the gospel, this message

00:59:46

is this right here. He says this:

01:00:00

A miracle has taken place

01:00:02

because of the person of Jesus

01:00:03

and we now have the embodiment of the Holy Spirit

01:00:05

living in us to not just stay the same,

01:00:08

to not cling, but to change the people

01:00:13

in the world around us.

01:00:15

I want to close by talking on behalf

01:00:17

of the generation I oversee.

01:00:20

I oversee middle school and high school students,

01:00:22

but we'll just say the entire next generation.

01:00:25

Because they can't see a church that says

01:00:28

they've changed but are looking the exact same.

01:00:31

In fact, this generation, you know,

01:00:32

they don't care, like, what you do.

01:00:34

Like, we used to care.

01:00:35

Like if someone was like, "I'm a doctor," right?

01:00:37

Like we, like, what car do you drive?

01:00:38

Like we cared, right?

01:00:40

Now, like, do your kids even know what you do?

01:00:41

Like, they don't care. It's so strange.

01:00:44

They don't care what you do, right?

01:00:46

They care in what you're doing.

01:00:50

They want to see your actions.

01:00:51

And so if we're saying we've changed

01:00:53

but aren't changing, they're going to catch it.

01:00:56

And we can't afford to let that happen.

01:00:58

Now, let me just show you how fast time passes.

01:01:00

All right?

01:01:01

This generation, these graduating seniors this year,

01:01:03

they were born in the year 2005.

01:01:11

What were you doing in 2005? Right?

01:01:15

You either had a Livestrong bracelet on

01:01:17

or Juicy written on your butt. Okay?

01:01:19

It was one, you did one. I know you.

01:01:21

You had one of those two things.

01:01:24

They're graduating.

01:01:26

I'll make it go even faster.

01:01:28

The ones driving right now that you shared a road with

01:01:32

today, they were born in 2007. Right?

01:01:38

What's my point? There's no time to wait.

01:01:41

Time seems to just fade away.

01:01:42

Life is but a mist, right?

01:01:44

There's no time to say, "We'll get around to changing."

01:01:48

The time is today.

01:01:50

And the generation behind us, I can't wait for them

01:01:53

to see a church that hasn't just said they've changed,

01:01:56

but they're changing.

01:01:57

They're not just changing themselves. [claps]

01:01:59

That's right, they're changing the world around them

01:02:01

and the generations behind them. Catch it.

01:02:04

Now, maybe you're here today and you're saying,

01:02:06

"I've never made this decision.

01:02:07

I've never even really heard it this explicitly laid out?"

01:02:10

Well, today, just know it's that simple.

01:02:13

You've never understood why

01:02:14

you couldn't figure this out by yourself.

01:02:17

It's that simple.

01:02:18

Today, the miracle could happen in you,

01:02:20

to go from dead to sin to physically alive in Christ.

01:02:26

And for those of you that have made this decision,

01:02:29

this is hopeful. You've changed.

01:02:31

And years might go by, but today could be the day

01:02:34

that you start changing and generations and peoples

01:02:38

in our city are going to catch it

01:02:41

because a miracle has happened.

01:02:43

And so let us be a church that acts like it.

01:02:46

Let me pray for you guys.

01:02:48

God. I pray over anyone within earshot of me

01:02:51

at all locations, God.

01:02:53

I truly do pray for change.

01:02:56

God, we plead not just for the change we want,

01:02:58

the change we need, bring it, God.

01:02:59

Bring the change.

01:03:01

God, if anyone is in here that has never made

01:03:02

this decision to change their life, God, let them.

01:03:05

Let them just right now pray to you.

01:03:07

Pray to you that they give over their sin

01:03:09

and they believe in your death and resurrection

01:03:11

so that they can have a new life in Christ.

01:03:14

And for those of you, God, those of us really

01:03:17

that have been changed, that now have your Holy Spirit,

01:03:20

the X factor living inside us, let a movement start

01:03:23

that shows that, let something even greater

01:03:26

than the early days of the church

01:03:28

begin in our time frame

01:03:31

and for the generations behind us

01:03:33

to pick up and carry on.

01:03:34

We love you, God, let none of this be done in our name.

01:03:37

Let this all be done in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

01:03:42

- Thank you so much for watching today.

01:03:44

I hope that something, like, stuck with you

01:03:46

and resonated with you.

01:03:47

As always, you can go to Crossroads.net

01:03:49

and chat with us.

01:03:50

We'd love to pray for you, process with you.

01:03:52

You can even email me directly

01:03:54

at Andy.Reider@crossroads.net.

01:03:57

And a quick call out, don't forget to come back

01:04:00

next weekend for a really, really special time

01:04:03

that you don't want to miss.

01:04:04

We're going to be highlighting some of the amazing work

01:04:06

that your church is doing in Central America.

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