Facing Trouble | Get Back To Better

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I'm tired.

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Are you tired? You're tired.

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What are we tired of? Trouble.

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Luckily, you came to the right place.

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My name isn't tired, it's actually Kyle

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and a friend named Chuck

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who's going to help us get out of trouble.

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He's not going to help things get back to normal

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per se, but he is going to help us get back to better.

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- Mike Tyson is famous for saying,

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"Everyone has a plan

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until they get punched in the mouth."

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Well over the next few minutes, I want to help you

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learn how to hear God's voice

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when you get punched in the mouth.

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If you've ever struggled with how to respond

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to things that don't go as planned,

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I've got something to say to you.

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But let me back up and ask a couple of questions.

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First, what do you think God's voice even sounds like?

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I mean, is it an old person's voice,

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maybe an agitated politician

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taking questions from the media?

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Do you even think hearing God's voice is possible?

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See, I'm not sure what your church background is,

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if you even have a church background,

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but on a normal Sunday, in a church

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you might hear some cliches from a guy in a suit,

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witness some angry person

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complaining about Gen Z on stage,

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or even some young guy in tight jeans

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stretching metaphors.

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Now, don't get me wrong,

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I'm all about tweetable phrases,

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I'm super confused about Gen Z,

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even though I'm parenting three of them,

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and I love a great metaphor as much as the next pastor.

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And after COVID, all my jeans are a bit tight fitting.

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But today is going to be different.

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Today we're going to try to hear God's voice

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and what it can mean for you and me

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when we face trouble.

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This series, in a nutshell, is about the fact

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that we all want to go back to normal,

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especially after what we've experienced

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over the last 20 months, 2020 and 2021,

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but back to normal is easy,

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and it's not necessarily growth.

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And what God wants is to help you and I

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get back to better.

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But if we want better, we have to give up

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the illusion of an easy path

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and embrace the certainty of trouble.

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Now, when I talk about trouble,

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I'm defining trouble this way: Trouble is tension.

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You got any places of tension in your life right now?

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Trouble is what happens when you face trauma.

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And I know that I'm talking to people,

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some of whom are experiencing trauma

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or have experienced trauma through loss

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or other things over this period of time.

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And trouble is what happens

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whenever you're in a transition.

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You know, I think about trouble

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and I think about turbulence on an airplane.

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Like everything with the pandemic, flying shut down.

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So it's only been recently that

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I have been getting back on planes.

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I don't know if the pilots are out of practice,

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but I'm just more afraid.

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But I feel like I've had more turbulence

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on the planes I've been on recently than ever before.

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And you know, the thing about turbulence is

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when you're shaking in the middle of the air

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in an object, all you think about is the fact

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that this is going to go down.

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This plane is going to go down.

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And so I don't know if you're like me,

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but I had to do the research.

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I had to like help myself with this.

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And I don't know if you know this but over

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the last four decades, there's only one plane crash

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that can be caused or pointed to turbulence as the cause.

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Oh, that might have been a little harsh.

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Hey, if you're a pilot, I'm sorry.

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I'm really thankful for what you do every day.

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So the truth is, turbulence is normal.

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Turbulence is what happens when you get on a plane.

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And see, we're going to talk about how

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the turbulence in our life, the trouble in our life

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is also normal.

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You know, I believe every promise in the Bible,

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I believe every word that Jesus said,

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including this one in John 16:33, where Jesus says:

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That's right, it's a promise from Jesus,

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trouble is coming.

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But what if trouble is actually the most certain sign

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that you're headed in the right direction

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or that you're going somewhere?

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See planes on the tarmac don't experience turbulence.

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They also don't get you anywhere.

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The big idea today is that the way back to better

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isn't escaping trouble, it's facing trouble.

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In the Bible every hero faces trouble.

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And today we're going to talk about a Bible hero

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named Elijah, who has what I would call

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a classic hero's journey.

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You might be familiar with this concept.

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Joseph Campbell kind of brought this to the fore.

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Every hero's journey, every great story,

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every great book, your favorite book,

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your favorite movie follows the same arc

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where the hero receives a call

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and they have to make a decision,

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"Will I stay in my normal or will I move toward better?"

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And what happens after they answer that call?

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Trouble happens.

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You know what the best storylines of every movie are?

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Tension, trauma, transition, repeat.

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Tension, trauma transition, repeat.

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That's exactly what we love about great stories,

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and we especially love it when the hero

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finally makes that triumphant return,

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when they come back better.

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We love that part.

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Who doesn't love a good ending to the story?

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If we're honest, we actually love the trouble

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in the story, too, it's what keeps us engaged.

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We love trouble in a story, just not in our story.

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And Elijah was no different than us.

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Elijah is what's called a prophet.

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His story shows up in the book of 1 Kings

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in the Old Testament of the Bible.

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His call is to stand alone as a true prophet of God

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in a time where most of the people around him

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are not following God, they're following other gods,

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other idols, false gods.

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And he's called to kind of stand in that place

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and be a voice for God to the people.

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And he has all of these incredible things

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that happen throughout his life.

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But his kind of culminating moment,

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his literal mountaintop experience happens

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on this mountain called Mount Carmel.

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Where it's a showdown between the 450 prophets

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who don't follow God and Elijah, who is standing alone.

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And basically, they said, "All right,

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whoever really has the through line to God,

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will be able to have God send down rain

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or send down fire to burn up this sacrifice."

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They'd set up competing altars.

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And the 450 prophets, no luck.

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They're cutting themselves.

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They're doing all kinds of crazy things,

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but nothing is happening.

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And then Elijah prays and God sends down fire

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and it burns up the altar.

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It burns up the sacrifice.

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Ah, fire.

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It is very clear, he is following the true God.

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You would think after that kind of victory

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that the people would take Elijah

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and they would put him on their shoulders

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and they'd be parading him around

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as the hero that he is, but no.

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His mountaintop experience is followed by trouble.

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When in 1 Kings 19:2, right after this,

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the Queen Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying:

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So this is a straight up death threat,

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and not a death threat from an average Joe.

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This is a death threat from the Queen,

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from the second most powerful person

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in the Kingdom of Israel.

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Elijah finds himself from what I would call

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a troubled trifecta.

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He's got tension.

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He's got the tension of a very real death threat,

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"Within 24 hours, she said, "you will be dead."

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And then he probably has the trauma of saying,

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"I just did this thing for God, for the true God.

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God, where are you now?"

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And that leads him to his transition

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when in 1 Kings 19:3-4 it says:

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Now, before we judge him too harshly,

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we've all been there.

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Think about it, everything he thought

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was constant in his life, just got upended.

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Everything he thought was steady is now unsteady.

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But what happens next is that God meets him

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in his trouble and he meets him there

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in a personal and a powerful way.

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And I believe that how God responds to Elijah

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when he faces trouble, is helpful for you and I

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when we face trouble,

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- We're going to get back to Chuck in just a minute,

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but first, the role of the church

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is not just content like this,

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it's actually to help people who are hurting.

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Now we do that in two ways at Crossroads.

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One, we respond when a need comes up,

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even if it's not in the budget.

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This week we're doing that by giving $25,000

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to help with Hurricane Ida relief in Louisiana.

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Second, we develop long-term partnerships

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with world changers all over the place.

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We're also giving $50,000 more to support

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our partners in Haiti

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who are working on the Restavek Foundation.

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How does this stuff happen?

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It happens because a normal regular people

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like you and like me who respond to God's call

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to be generous with what He's given us.

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If you want to join that team,

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you can go to Crossroads.net/give.

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And if you're one of our generous givers,

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here's more on our work in Haiti.

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- 838 miles off the coast of the U.S.

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is the beautiful and broken country of Haiti.

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Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere

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and it's home to a culturally accepted

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child slavery practice called restavec.

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Restavec is when a poorer family sends their child

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to live with another family in promise of

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caring clothing, feeding and educating the child.

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Heartbreakingly, this is not the reality.

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These children become household servants,

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denied basic care and education and affection.

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They live a life of forced labor and frequent beatings.

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- Restavec is a form of human trafficking.

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They believe that their child is going to go to school,

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they believe their child is going to be fed

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and taken care of, but typically the child

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ends up being a household slave.

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These children get up before anybody else in the morning

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and they start the coffee or they build the fire.

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They go get the firewood

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or whatever they need to build the fire.

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They wash the dishes.

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They might get the kids up for school.

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They could carry the kids to school.

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They come home, they make the beds,

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they clean the house, they sweep the floor,

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they sweep the yard, they do the laundry.

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And that's what they use is a child

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to go and get the water every day.

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- I sometimes go to bed like 11 or 10,

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and then I have to wake up at 4 because

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I have to clean the house before I go to school.

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Because I remember my happy place

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was only when I was at school.

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But when I got home, it was like,

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I'm exist, but I'm not living.

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Yeah, I want them to understand that people,

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the kids was in the restavec, they feel like they exist,

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but they are not living because that's not life.

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- We've been going to Crossroads

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since Crossroads was in Clark Montessori.

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So Crossroads is our family. It's our community.

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- The reality is that we're

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a reflection of what Crossroads teaches.

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Crossroads is about doing things.

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It's about reflecting what you're learning

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about a relationship with God and learning

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how to put that to action in the world.

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- So when I see the confidence that

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these children begin to have just because

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someone loves them, someone cares for them,

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it changes them.

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And seeing these women and the literacy programs,

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once they learn to read and write,

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it gives them dignity.

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- For us to think we do not have a role to play

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in helping Haiti improve itself

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and do better is just a mistake.

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- The Foundation, they are doing like a great job

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because those kids, they don't really, like,

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have somebody to listen to them.

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- And that's what we're hoping to change

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is that people begin thinking of these children

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as human, that they begin to see them as human.

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- Coming here, I have people that tell me

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I'm beautiful, I'm smart, I'm powerful,

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like, I can be everything.

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- Restavec Freedom is infusing change and hope

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in the lives of these children

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and in the communities of Haiti.

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Together, we can end child slavery in Haiti

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in our lifetime.

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- So this story of Elijah just kept popping up from me,

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starting around the end of June

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when I was reading my devotional, I see it there

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and it was just kind of taking me on this journey

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of understanding how God met Elijah

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at this point in his life where he's facing trouble.

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Little did I know a month later, trouble would visit me.

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Now to understand the trouble that I experienced

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this summer, you have to --

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I've got to take you back to 2018 to something

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that Crossroads did called The Journey to Phantom Lake.

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And I was a part of it.

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It was an off road motorcycle reality show experience.

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And after eight days of all this hard riding,

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we are right at the pinnacle of the final destination.

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This lake on a hilltop on the top of

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a place in Wyoming called Phantom Lake.

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And I am doing some of the best motorcycle riding

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I've ever done in my life, when my bike falls.

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And it falls on me and I break my foot.

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- Are you all right? Are you injured?

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- Yeah, I'm injured. - Okay.

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We need Matt, Mingo went down and hurt his foot.

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- Oh, man, I -- Can we just not show that again?

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It still kind of gives me the heebie jeebies to see that.

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That's important, though, for where we're going,

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because I was kind of thinking about that

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even when I was on that plane in Montana,

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kind of landing, experiencing a lot of turbulence,

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landing on the mountains.

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And I was like, man, you know,

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I'm a little bit afraid of that,

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but that's not going to happen again, right?

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So I'm there with my son and we're with

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an incredible group of men and it's the first day.

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And we're doing this leisurely casual hike.

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I mean, later that we were going to do

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some higher hikes,

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we were going to do some whitewater rafting.

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And so we're doing this leisurely hike.

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And you know, Nathan was -- when he got off the plane,

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his ears kind of like still clogged up.

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It's kind of giving him a little bit of pain.

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We're about an hour into the hike and I am,

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you know, just trying to be a good dad.

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So I remember that his ears are kind of hurting him.

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And I said, "Hey, Nathan."

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And as soon as I say, "Hey, Nathan,"

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the ground that I was standing on,

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I was about 12 to 15 feet, there was like

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a cliff down to this bare riverbed,

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let -- the ground just went from under me.

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And I am like rolling, tumbling down this cliff.

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I fell 12 to 15 feet down this cliff.

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I land on my back.

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And my first thought is like,

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"I'm going to be paralyzed. What just happened to me?

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I'm going to be paralyzed."

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So I literally I get up and I realize,

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OK, I must not be injured in my spine.

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My arm is starting to kind of feel something.

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And I am sitting down on that river

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and I can't even describe it,

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I was beside myself with anger.

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But it wasn't just anger, it was like shame.

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It was like, "Really, God, like really? Really?

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This is happening again to me."

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Yeah, Chuck Mingo gets angry.

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In fact, one of the things that I find to be helpful

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is just processing, like just being honest with God

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when I go through trouble about how I'm really feeling.

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And so not in that moment, but the next day

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I got a chance to journal about this experience

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because an hour later,

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after walking back through the woods,

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I found out that I had broken,

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fractured the radial head on my elbow.

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And here I am, first day of our trip to Montana

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now in a cast on my left arm.

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And I just want to share a little bit about

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what I journal the next day

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when I was processing this with you guys

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because I think it'll help you understand

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where I was at emotionally.

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I said, "God, one of my fears about this trip

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is me getting hurt.

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Perhaps my greatest fear in life is falling off a cliff.

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As I sat there right after the fall, I was so angry.

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And I felt abandoned, ashamed, hurt, and confused.

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Why do I keep getting injured? Why me?

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Why on day one of what is supposed to be an easy hike?

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Why on day one of what is supposed to be

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a father and son bonding experience?

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And I still have those questions this morning.

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That fall traumatized me.

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I am not OK.

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I feel forgotten, overlooked, not cared for.

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I feel alone, even among a great group of people."

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I said to God, "I need you to father me.

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And I need you badly."

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Because in that moment I was wrestling with

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what do I really believe about God

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in the midst of trouble?

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How can I relate to a God who at this moment

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I feel has abandoned me?

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And once again, I am in this situation of failure

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and pain and trouble and tension and trauma.

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I don't know what to do.

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I don't know where to go next.

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You know, it's at that point that I recognized

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this is -- this is beyond me.

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This is beyond me, I need God's help.

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So interestingly, God starts to bring back

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this story of Elijah.

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He starts to bring it back.

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Not in the moment, not immediately,

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but over the course of the next couple of days

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I recognize that what I've been reading about

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was actually maybe helpful

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for what I was about to go through.

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And I found some lessons, three lessons,

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from his troubled trifecta that as I think about

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what happened from the point of that fall until today

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have been a part of my journey of healing

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and actually making sense of what happened.

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Three things: first, when things are unsteady,

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God is steady with His provision.

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I love that the first thing God does is

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as Elijah as in this place in the desert,

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where he is ready to end his life

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or ready to have his life end.

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He is struggling in this moment.

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And I love what God does for him here.

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First thing God does is meets his basic needs.

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God allows him to sleep.

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An angel comes and after he's woken up from his sleep,

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the angel gives him bread and water.

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God meets his basic needs.

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And I feel like sometimes God does the same for us,

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that in the times when we want to scream out

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and feel like God isn't with us,

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there are some basic needs that God begins to meet.

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I love that God is just steady with His provisions.

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In the scripture it talks about, it says:

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But God also meets his needs

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that are a bit more complicated,

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his need for connection and know he's not alone,

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his need to experience God's presence.

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And this is as part of the story that

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if you've read this before in the Bible,

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you may be familiar with it that Elijah

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shows up in this cave.

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He finds a cave to kind of hunker down in

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and God is going to meet him there.

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And it says a big earthquake comes.

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And you would think that maybe God's powerful voice

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speaks and booms through the earthquake.

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But God is not in the earthquake.

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And then a fire comes, and in the midst of this fire,

00:18:56

it's a powerful thing, you would think

00:18:58

God is going to speak out of the fire.

00:19:00

He did on the mountaintop.

00:19:01

But no, God is not in the fire.

00:19:02

It says that after the earthquake and after the fire,

00:19:06

God shows up in the sound of a low whisper.

00:19:11

You might have heard it as a gentle, quiet breeze.

00:19:15

And I love this because what God is showing Elijah

00:19:18

is that when you are in a midst of trouble,

00:19:20

you might think that God is coming down on you.

00:19:23

But actually, God is getting close to you

00:19:25

when you're in trouble.

00:19:27

One author put it this way, he said,

00:19:29

"When someone speaks in a whisper,

00:19:30

you have to get very close to hear.

00:19:33

In fact, you have to put your ear

00:19:35

near the person's mouth."

00:19:37

We lean toward a whisper and that's what God wants.

00:19:42

The fact that God meets Elijah

00:19:44

in his place of trouble with the whisper

00:19:46

means that God is saying,

00:19:48

"Lean in, I am close to you now."

00:19:51

It means that when you're in trouble

00:19:53

God doesn't have it out for you,

00:19:54

God's not necessarily angry with you.

00:19:57

In fact, God loves you.

00:19:59

Not just loves you, God likes you.

00:20:01

You know, I'm reminded of what I used to read

00:20:04

every Sunday at the church I went to.

00:20:05

We were in a church that did not have air conditioning,

00:20:08

and so we used these fans

00:20:09

and the fans were usually provided by a funeral home.

00:20:11

Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

00:20:13

And so in the fan they would have like poems or quotes.

00:20:16

And one of the famous ones that would be

00:20:18

in some of these fans is Footprints in the Sand.

00:20:20

Have you ever read that poem?

00:20:22

The poem is about a man who's looking

00:20:23

at his life with God, and he realizes that

00:20:26

through most of his life, God has been right there

00:20:28

with him in ways that he wasn't even aware of.

00:20:30

There have been two footprints.

00:20:32

But the man kind of pushes back and he says,

00:20:34

"But God, I notice that every time

00:20:36

I went through something difficult or hard,

00:20:38

there's only one set of footprints there."

00:20:41

And the poem goes on to say, if you're familiar with it,

00:20:43

God responds to the man and says, "My son,

00:20:46

when you were in the toughest parts of your life,

00:20:48

when you were in trouble,

00:20:49

it was then that I carried you."

00:20:52

See, every situation in your life is an invitation

00:20:56

to relationship with Jesus.

00:20:58

It's an invitation to experience His trust.

00:21:00

And I love that Elijah's place of trouble,

00:21:02

when things feel unsteady,

00:21:04

God is steady with His provision.

00:21:07

The second thing is this: When things are unsteady,

00:21:09

God is steady with his patience.

00:21:13

You know, God meets Elijah

00:21:14

at the mouth of the cave in a low whisper,

00:21:17

and he leads with a question.

00:21:19

God starts the conversation, not with a bold statement,

00:21:21

but with a question.

00:21:23

1 Kings 19:9, it says:

00:21:24

There he came to a cave and lodged in it.

00:21:26

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him,

00:21:28

and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

00:21:32

I love it, God asks Elijah a question.

00:21:36

How do you hear God when He speaks to you?

00:21:38

You know, how you hear this question determines

00:21:40

the tone of how you might answer it.

00:21:43

And I love that God does

00:21:44

what every good parent does here,

00:21:46

He repeats himself to Elijah.

00:21:49

I have three kids, that means 90% of my time

00:21:52

with them is spent repeating myself, right?

00:21:54

You know what I'm talking about if you're a parent.

00:21:56

So 1 Kings 19:13, it says:

00:22:07

This is an interesting question:

00:22:09

what are you doing here?

00:22:10

It's a question that God asked people

00:22:12

all the time in the Bible.

00:22:13

He asked this question that Adam and Eve

00:22:15

after they eat of the forbidden fruit.

00:22:16

God is asking this question

00:22:18

not as an indicting question,

00:22:21

but actually is an inviting question.

00:22:22

He's inviting relationship.

00:22:24

God is asking you and I in the midst of trouble,

00:22:27

"What are you doing here?"

00:22:31

What are you doing here?

00:22:34

I think God is asking that question

00:22:35

often times when we're in trouble, not because

00:22:38

He wants us to feel like something's happened

00:22:40

that we are responsible for, maybe.

00:22:42

But I think He's asking it in terms of like,

00:22:44

"Hey, what are we doing here?

00:22:45

Where are you finding Me in this?

00:22:48

How am I present in the midst of your trouble?"

00:22:51

That's what he was asking Elijah in the cave.

00:22:54

You know, I think that God might be asking

00:22:56

some of us similar questions in the midst of our trouble.

00:22:59

Maybe God is asking you,

00:23:01

"What are you doing in transition?"

00:23:03

Not why are you in transition,

00:23:05

but what are you doing while in transition?

00:23:07

What are you doing in trauma?

00:23:10

Again, not judging you for being in a place

00:23:12

where traumatic events are impacting you emotionally,

00:23:15

relationally, but saying,

00:23:16

"Hey, what are we doing while in trauma?

00:23:18

How can I partner with you to heal

00:23:21

in this place in your life?

00:23:22

What are you doing in recovery?

00:23:25

What are you doing while in recovery?"

00:23:28

You know, when I was at the bottom

00:23:30

after just having fallen,

00:23:32

the guy who was leading the trip, his name is Chris,

00:23:35

he came to me and he asked me a question

00:23:37

that became a refrain that I really feel

00:23:39

was God speaking to me through Chris.

00:23:41

His question was, "Hey, Chuck, how's your heart?"

00:23:44

After he realized I wasn't, you know, terribly hurt,

00:23:48

"How's your heart?"

00:23:49

And it was the question that I needed.

00:23:51

It was the question that led to me being able

00:23:53

to process that next morning, "How is my heart?

00:23:55

What am I feeling?"

00:23:56

You know, what I realized is even in the middle

00:23:58

of that trouble God was providing for me.

00:24:01

He provided me with the right community of men

00:24:03

and young men to stand with me in the midst

00:24:06

of what was going to be a very different week.

00:24:08

Another thing He provided though is He provided my son.

00:24:11

My son, Nathan, we had a moment

00:24:14

about 30 minutes afterwards, I'm still in pain,

00:24:16

I'm realizing now my arm is really in pain.

00:24:19

And my son, though, when he realized

00:24:21

I was basically OK other than that came to me

00:24:23

and just between me and him, he said,

00:24:25

"Even the pastor isn't perfect."

00:24:28

It really struck me, because what I realized is

00:24:31

my son usually sees me in a position of power.

00:24:35

And every dad wants that, right?

00:24:36

I want my son to think I'm in control,

00:24:39

you know, not out of control,

00:24:41

that I'm not a victim of life.

00:24:42

And you know he sees that I'm kind of a public figure

00:24:44

and he knows and has been in situations

00:24:46

where I've interacted with people say,

00:24:48

"Hey, this is what your dad's work is meant to my life."

00:24:50

I mean, he's he sees that part of me.

00:24:52

But I think what Nathan needed that week,

00:24:54

and honestly, probably what I needed too,

00:24:56

is to need him.

00:24:58

He needed to see me not in a position of power,

00:25:00

but in a position of need.

00:25:01

Every morning on that trip, my son had to wrap my arm

00:25:06

in a plastic bag so that I could take a shower

00:25:08

and not have my cast get wet.

00:25:10

He needed to see that Dad need you sometimes too.

00:25:15

And I think I also was provided with an opportunity

00:25:18

to be fathered by God.

00:25:20

You know, God met me in that trouble.

00:25:23

He met my son and I in that trouble,

00:25:25

even as we debriefed and talked about

00:25:26

how he experienced that fall, I was able

00:25:28

to father him in that moment

00:25:30

with the wisdom that God gave me.

00:25:32

I'd never been through that before

00:25:34

and he felt like it was his fault.

00:25:36

And I was able to have the right words

00:25:38

to encourage him, "Hey, this is not your fault.

00:25:40

This is not about you as an accident."

00:25:43

And I'm just thankful that God provided

00:25:45

even in the midst of that trouble.

00:25:46

But that's how God is, God is steady with His provision

00:25:50

when things are unsteady.

00:25:52

He's also steady with His patience,

00:25:53

He will meet you where you are.

00:25:56

But here's the final thing, the powerful thing,

00:25:58

"God says when things are unsteady,

00:26:01

I am steady with my purposes."

00:26:02

When things are unsteady,

00:26:03

God is steady with His purposes.

00:26:05

Elijah is in that cave and he is just like,

00:26:09

"God, I don't know what to do.

00:26:10

I feel like my life is falling apart."

00:26:12

And God gives Elijah some much needed perspective,

00:26:15

and I hope this is helpful perspective

00:26:16

for you and I too.

00:26:18

Simply put, God says to Elijah,

00:26:20

"You are not alone and My plans will not be thwarted."

00:26:23

That's what God says to him.

00:26:24

And why does he say this?

00:26:26

Because he asked Elijah this question,

00:26:27

"What are you doing here?"

00:26:28

And you know what? Let me give you

00:26:30

just a very analytical word for word translation

00:26:34

of Elijah's response to God.

00:26:37

What Elijah says to God is,

00:26:39

"Hey, I've been jealous for you.

00:26:41

I've been doing all these things.

00:26:42

I've been the only prophet

00:26:44

and the entire nation is against me.

00:26:45

I'm the only one left."

00:26:46

Now I want to give you a translation

00:26:48

of what that would have sounded like in our language.

00:26:50

Basically with Elijah said to God is,

00:26:51

"Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me.

00:26:54

I'm going to eat some worms.

00:26:55

Big, fat, juicy ones; long, thin, slimy ones;

00:26:58

itsy bitsy fuzzy wuzzy worms."

00:27:00

Yeah, what a strange children's song, by the way.

00:27:03

I'm just going to say that, what a strange children's song.

00:27:06

But Elijah basically felt that way.

00:27:07

He was kind of having his own pity party.

00:27:09

But you know what God says to him in that moment?

00:27:11

God says, "My purposes are never thwarted."

00:27:13

He begins to tell Elijah about the plans

00:27:15

He's put in place to say,

00:27:17

"Jezebel, that queen that wanted to kill you,

00:27:19

her days are done. Her days are done.

00:27:21

I am going to have you usher in a new king,

00:27:24

a king that's going to have a different heart toward me."

00:27:26

He also says, "You're not alone."

00:27:28

God says, "You think you're alone,

00:27:29

but there are 7,000 people

00:27:32

who have not bowed down to these false gods."

00:27:35

And I feel like in some ways that's what

00:27:37

God did with my trouble this summer,

00:27:39

He gave me a different perspective.

00:27:41

You know what? Montana was an amazing trip.

00:27:43

Nathan and I connected and bonded in powerful ways.

00:27:47

My broken arm was not the highlight of the trip.

00:27:50

It was a restored and strengthened

00:27:52

relationship with my son.

00:27:54

It's different than what I expected,

00:27:57

but I got a new community of fathers,

00:27:59

I got a new connection with my son,

00:28:01

I got a new connection as a son of a God who loves me,

00:28:05

a God who meets me and will meet you

00:28:08

even in the midst of your trouble.

00:28:13

And God did something else too,

00:28:14

because right after the fall,

00:28:17

there was a point where fear was entering my heart

00:28:20

and I was thinking about what happened

00:28:22

when I was on the bike trip and I was thinking about

00:28:24

now what just happened and it was like,

00:28:25

"Never again, I will never come out west again."

00:28:28

That fear was settling in, and let me tell you what God did.

00:28:31

God rescued me from that fear.

00:28:34

Because you know what?

00:28:35

I have a younger son.

00:28:38

I have a son named Samuel, and I felt

00:28:40

that fear rising in me that says never go back.

00:28:43

And I feel like God took that place of fear and said,

00:28:46

"I will not let that have the final word.

00:28:48

I will not be defined as the person

00:28:50

who always gets injured out west.

00:28:52

I'll be defined as the person

00:28:53

who takes ground personally and relationally out west."

00:28:56

And in three years, I will take my son Sam

00:28:59

on this same trip and I will hike that same trail again.

00:29:04

Because when it comes to trouble,

00:29:06

the way to better is not escaping it, it's facing it.

00:29:10

It's interesting God tells Elijah the same thing.

00:29:12

He tells Elijah to go back.

00:29:16

He says go back.

00:29:18

He says, "Go back and be the prophet

00:29:20

that I've called you to be to my people.

00:29:22

Go back and face Jezebel and her threats

00:29:25

and know that I will protect you from her.

00:29:27

Go back and travel down the path

00:29:29

of your fearful escape and face your trouble."

00:29:32

And I believe that God might be saying that

00:29:33

to you and I right now.

00:29:35

Where is God asking you to go back?

00:29:38

Maybe right now God is calling some of you

00:29:40

to go back to seeking Him

00:29:42

and putting Him first in your life.

00:29:44

Maybe God is saying, go back to that community

00:29:46

that helped you live a healthy life.

00:29:48

Don't stay in isolation any longer.

00:29:50

Go back to the place where you've been afraid

00:29:53

and let me heal that fear in you.

00:29:55

Maybe God is saying go back to the place

00:29:56

of failure and shame so I can write

00:29:58

a story of redemption in the very place in your life

00:30:01

where you thought things would never change.

00:30:04

Go back and make things right by forgiving

00:30:06

or asking for forgiveness so I can revive

00:30:09

a relationship that you've counted as dead.

00:30:11

Go back and finish what you started

00:30:13

so that My good purposes and plans

00:30:15

for your life can be fulfilled.

00:30:17

God is telling some of you to go back,

00:30:20

because the way back to better

00:30:22

isn't escaping trouble, it's facing trouble.

00:30:25

Hey, let me tell you,

00:30:26

your better is not somewhere different,

00:30:28

it's seeing what God does in your trouble,

00:30:30

right in the midst of the journey He has you on.

00:30:32

Your better marriage isn't a different marriage,

00:30:34

it's the marriage you're in right now.

00:30:36

For some of you, your better job isn't a different one,

00:30:39

it's the job you're doing right now.

00:30:42

God's Word to you is to bloom where you're planted

00:30:47

and recognize the trouble is just turbulence

00:30:49

and God has you in His hands.

00:30:54

I love Isaiah 26:3, it says:

00:31:03

God wants to give you something that

00:31:05

you absolutely need in the midst of trouble,

00:31:07

He wants to give you a greater trust.

00:31:10

He wants you to be able to have the confidence in Him

00:31:13

that even when things are unsteady,

00:31:15

you trust His steady provision,

00:31:17

you trust His steady presence and patience,

00:31:19

you trust that His purposes will not fail for you.

00:31:22

So I want to give you a tool.

00:31:24

I want to give you a tool, because you know what?

00:31:26

When I'm on that plane, like I said,

00:31:27

I'm still getting used to the turbulence thing.

00:31:29

I like to be able to hold on to that armrest.

00:31:31

I'm just going to be honest.

00:31:32

I know it makes no difference at all

00:31:34

in the final outcome, but it makes me feel better

00:31:37

in that situation.

00:31:38

And I think God wants us to have spiritual tools

00:31:41

that operate like spiritual armrests,

00:31:42

things that we can lean on

00:31:44

when we're going through a difficult time.

00:31:46

One of them is a prayer, and I want you

00:31:47

to pray this prayer with me.

00:31:49

You know, maybe this message really resonates

00:31:52

with where you are and doing something physical

00:31:55

in this moment as a sign that, "Hey, God,

00:31:57

I'm going to trust You"

00:31:58

is a powerful way for you to respond.

00:32:00

If that's you, I what you hold your hands out like this.

00:32:03

Just the universal sign of surrender.

00:32:06

And I want you to actually say this prayer

00:32:08

out loud with me now.

00:32:10

Maybe you're in a place where you can do that,

00:32:12

maybe you're in a place where you can't do that.

00:32:14

Hey, if you're driving,

00:32:15

you do not have to have your hands up like this,

00:32:17

keep them at three and nine.

00:32:19

It's all good. It's all good.

00:32:21

Our heart can have a posture of surrender,

00:32:23

but if you can I want you to pray

00:32:25

this prayer with me out loud.

00:32:26

It's called A Prayer of Relinquishment.

00:32:28

It's by Richard Foster.

00:32:29

And this might be a tool you can use,

00:32:31

not just in this moment, but in several moments to come

00:32:33

when you're in a place of trouble.

00:32:35

Let's pray this together.

00:33:28

- Man, I hope that you found peace in knowing

00:33:30

that God is steady in His provisions, His patience,

00:33:33

and with His purposes.

00:33:34

And I actually have two clear ways for you

00:33:36

to put what we learned today into immediate action.

00:33:38

The first is through worship.

00:33:40

It's just responding to God with a song

00:33:42

called When You Move.

00:33:43

You can find the video right next to this one

00:33:45

on Crossroads.net and in the app.

00:33:47

Or if you're on YouTube, the link is in the description.

00:33:49

The second is The Journey.

00:33:51

It's coming September 25, and the three things

00:33:53

you need to do it are a book, this one,

00:33:56

a group, and the app.

00:33:58

Sign ups to join groups are now open.

00:34:00

If you want to host or join,

00:34:01

you can go to Crossroads.net/onlinejourney

00:34:04

to find your group right now.

00:34:07

The app is available wherever you get your apps.

00:34:09

It's completely free.

00:34:10

It's called the Crossroads Anywhere App,

00:34:12

and in addition to The Journey content,

00:34:14

it has amazing daily content,

00:34:15

Bible reading, community prayer,

00:34:17

and a bunch of other things.

00:34:19

You can download it again wherever you get your apps.

00:34:22

Thanks for joining us today on Crossroads.

00:34:23

We'll see you next time.

00:34:28

- The best way to watch Crossroads Church

00:34:30

is on your smart TV because

00:34:32

that's where your family hangs out

00:34:33

and plus taking a break from your phone

00:34:36

and tablet feels good.

00:34:37

Download the Crossroads TV App on your smart TV

00:34:41

and your TV becomes a place to hear from God,

00:34:44

a window into life change,

00:34:46

a spiritual rhythm,

00:34:47

your "I finally went to church this week."

00:34:51

Set a time to experience church on your TV.

00:34:54

See, you've already made your TV smarter.

00:34:57

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00:34:59

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00:35:01

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