The Bible Challenge | Faithful in a Faithless World Week 1

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Hey, happy New Year. I'm Kyle. This is Crossroads.

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You know, we exist to guide and equip you

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for the adventurous life that God made you for.

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And that's not our idea,

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that's actually a promise of Jesus.

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In John 14:6, Jesus said,

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"I am the way, the truth and the life.

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Another place He described that life as the full life

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or the abundant life.

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But chances are there's a gap between

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the life that Jesus promised you

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and the life that you're experiencing. Why is that?

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It's because of that verse.

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You don't get the life of Jesus

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without rooting yourself in His truth

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and practicing His ways.

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One of the most important ways of Jesus

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is time spent with God.

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It was actually His game changing life habit,

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and it's the one that we're going to root ourselves in

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as a community this year.

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And our full belief is that as we do,

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as we practice this way, our full belief,

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our full prayer is that

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we'll get the full life together.

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- There is a way that leads to life.

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It's not the paved path, well lit, well-traveled, known.

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It's the ancient path, narrow, forgotten, wild.

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Few are willing to walk it,

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but those who do find what they've been searching for.

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Be one of them.

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Walk the way that leads to life

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and find faith in a faithless world

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this January at Crossroads.

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- We're calling it the Bible challenge.

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Really simply, it's reading the Bible

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four or more times a week.

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I'm going to tell you more about the how later on.

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But first, let's start with the why.

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Here's Brian.

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- Hey, my name is Brian. Welcome to Crossroads.

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Happy New Year.

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You know, I think a lot of us probably have

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some sort of physical goal,

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physical challenge we're trying to do this year.

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I have some of those as well.

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Just a little interesting thing that happened to me

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at the end of 2021, one of the things I do

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for a workout is I do Peloton.

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I never thought I'd like it, but it's actually not bad.

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And if you're a Peloton user, you know the key thing

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is the thing that's called output.

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What is your average output,

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the big number in the middle?

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Basically over a span of a 30 minute class

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I've not been able to get into

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an average output of the 190s.

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I thought that I was just stuck.

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And then one day someone gave me some new ideas

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and some new pushes, who was an instructor,

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and I utterly blew away where I was before,

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22% increased.

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I went up to like, I think it was 224

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or something like that average over 45 minutes.

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Crazy, crazy, crazy.

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That's what can happen when something new comes to you

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and someone pushes you.

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I want to be that person today.

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I want to do something that is new for you,

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and it's all around a challenge I want to give for you,

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All of 2022, it is the Bible Challenge,

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getting into the Word of God.

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Now, why would I do that, you might ask?

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Well, you might do it because everything

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in your life will change if you do do it.

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I'm pretty thankful for things God is doing in my life

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and where I am right now.

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I'm gosh, I'm 56 years old.

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I've had the the same job for 26 years

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and I've still have as much passion and energy

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and good attitude as I ever have,

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while other people I know have burned out

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or fried out or rusted out.

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And you don't want to know why?

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I don't know what their situation was,

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but I know my situation, I'm still cooking

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and feeling good because I spend time with God every day

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or as many days as I can get in.

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I've got kids who never really went through

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huge teenage rebellion.

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My kids have been a joy to me

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and we've had our issues for sure.

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We definitely have had our issues, our moments.

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My kids have been a joy to me.

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My kids are adults right now.

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And guess what? They actually like me.

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They actually want to spend time with me.

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They actually still as adults sleep over

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at my house over Christmas, we vacation together.

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You know why they do?

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Because I think it's because their dad

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is still having a fresh experience with God

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and they want to be around their dad.

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My relationships are rich.

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I get a lot from my relationships

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and I think people who are in friendships with me,

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they get a lot for me.

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Do you know why?

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Because every day I try to hear from God,

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and if I have something I can give to them, I give to them.

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My marriage is still going.

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We've had some very, very tough times,

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and right now we are in our best times.

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You know why we're in our best times right now?

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My wife and I spend time with God

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and we read His Word and I'm telling you,

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this isn't a religious obligation you have to do,

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this is a thing you want to do

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if you want your life to get to a new place,

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If you want to break through barriers

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you thought you couldn't get through before.

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Americans are not understanding the Bible.

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Wwe don't read the Bible, we're frustrated with it.

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I understand it, I get it.

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Let me tell you what, what studies show right now.

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If we take a look at three different groups of people,

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some who just have zero interest in the Bible,

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are never going to get there,

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others who read it regularly,

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and others they want to.

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I'll refer to them as a movable middle,

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but they're just not sure how to get there.

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A high percentage of people

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just don't know where to start.

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Other people say the layout is difficult to navigate

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or the stories are confusing,

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or I can't find what I'm looking for,

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or the language is difficult to relate to.

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Some of us have a hard time to understand

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the background of what I'm reading.

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And basically what this means is

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we're not excited at all about using the Bible,

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and we say we don't have enough time.

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Liar, liar pants on fire. Don't have enough time.

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Oh, my gosh, don't have enough time.

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How many of us have rotted teeth and go,

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"Oh, you know, I just have enough time

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to brush my teeth. I just -- I just don't do it."

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We make time for something we believe in.

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And I want today to help you believe

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that taking up a Bible Challenge in 2022

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is going to bless your life and be a great thing.

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As I've looked into this and I've seen the studies,

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if you get exposed to the Bible one time a week,

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which you are right now, if this is your one time

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you're getting the Bible all week,

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you can expect nothing to change in your life.

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You can have a good experience with me

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or with Crossroads, maybe get something

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that might give you a different perspective on the week,

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but there's no holistic change that happens.

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If you have to experience in the Bible,

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maybe one here, maybe you listen to an audio tape

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with the Bible is on it.

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Maybe you actually open up the Bible, and read it yourself.

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You do two or three, the results,

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meh, not that big of a deal.

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But surveys show that if you get into four times a week,

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that's where dramatic results are experienced.

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Feeling lonely drops 30%.

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Your anger issues drop 32%.

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Bitterness in relationships drops 40%.

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Alcoholism drops 57%.

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Sex outside of marriage drops 68%.

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Feeling spiritually stagnant dropped 60%.

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Viewing pornography dropped 61%.

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Sharing your faith jumps 200%.

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Disciplining others, which is

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building spiritually into others, jumps 230%.

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All of these things happen.

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I think all of us would want these things.

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All of them happen when we spend

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a minimum of four times a week inside of the Bible.

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That's what I want for you.

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I don't want anything from you.

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Crossroads isn't going to benefit

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by you getting into the Bible more.

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You're going to benefit. You are.

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I don't read the Bible

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because it's part of my job description.

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If I left Crossroads and went to work

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in corporate America, I could tell you

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I would read the Bible just as often.

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I wouldn't be studying for messages to give,

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but my mornings would look the same

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if I'm in this job or if I was in corporate America

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or started my own business or whatever it was

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or whenever I retire, it will look the same

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because it's inside of the scriptures

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where I get life and my life makes sense

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and things go to another level.

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I want to give you example of that.

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Recently, I was in the Book of Revelation.

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I've got to tell you, whenever Revelation comes up

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in my Bible reading plan,

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I always have bad attitude about it.

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I'm like, Oh, really Revelation? Ugh.

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It's the place where just crazy things happen,

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freaky things happen.

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It's the place where you know, there's monsters

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and lamp stands and stars and antichrist

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and Mark of the Beast.

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All these things that are really ominous and wild.

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Which is why when you're a new, young believer,

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new young follower of Christ, as I was when I was 16,

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it's why you're drawn to Revelation,

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all the freaky stuff.

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It's why I was around people who were in Bible studies,

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invited me to Bible studies on Revelation.

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I went deep, deep into it and then I just ended up

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just not liking it at all because

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there's so much stuff we don't understand

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inside of Revelation.

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It's this apocalyptic prophecy of the future,

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and there's so much fear factors

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that people bring into it who are into Revelation,

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like mark of the beast.

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You know the mark of the beast?

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Well, today I've heard people say

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the mark of the beast today is vaccines.

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If you have a vaccine, then you're not --

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If you don't have a vaccine and have a vaccine card,

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they're not going to be able to travel

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or you're not going be able to participate in the economy.

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And so therefore, we shouldn't be a part of that

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and you're going to have to have this mark,

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all this kind of stuff.

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I don't believe vaccines are the mark of the beast.

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Maybe I'm just a little hardened because

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I've heard about a few dozen of marks the beast

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over the last several decades.

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First one was barcodes.

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Barcodes are the mark of the beast.

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We're going to have to get a barcode on us

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and it's going to go on our wrist.

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And then you're not able to participate

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in the world economy if you don't have a barcode.

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And some people, you know, some people

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don't have an arm, don't even have wrists,

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so they're going to put theirs on the forehead

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because you might not have a wrist,

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but everyone's got a forehead or they're dead.

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And so this whole thing about the barcode.

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And we would choose, I know people

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who would choose to go to grocery stores

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back when you would go to a grocery store,

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you could find grocery stores and in 1981

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that had price tags on them on every item,

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and there was like an 87 and a cent sign.

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It's a sign that goes like a C

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and a thing through the middle of it, not a barcode.

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And people would choose grocery stores

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that had that method of accounting versus barcodes.

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They thought it was participation

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in the market place.

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Anyway, I regress.

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All that to say I don't have a great, great attitude

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when it comes to the Book of Revelation.

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I should, I should, but I don't.

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And that's what I get something out of it.

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I get, whew, God just speaks to me.

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So let me just read to you something I got recently

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where God just rung my bell

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and I'm feeling the positive benefits of it.

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It comes the Book of Revelation 2.

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There's seven different churches

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that Jesus gives unique messages to.

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One of them is the church at Ephesus,

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and here's what he says. Here's what it says:

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These are the words of him who holds

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the seven stars in his right hand

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and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

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Starting to glaze over.

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No idea what stars and lampstands are,

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but let's keep going.

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I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.

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I start to perk up, hard work and perseverance.

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I think I've exhibited that.

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Maybe God is speaking to me here.

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I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people,

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that you have tested those who claim

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to be apostles but are not,

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and I have found them false.

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You have persevered and have endured hardship

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for my name, and have not grown weary.

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I think all of us have endured a level of hardship

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in 2022 or, excuse me, in 2021 and 2020.

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Are we growing weary?

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And God is saying, "Hey, you haven't grown weary.

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You're still doing the things that you should be doing?

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And He continues:

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Yet I have this against you:

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You have forsaken the love that you had at first.

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Ah, what does that mean: the love you had at first?

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What was it like when you had your first love?

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Maybe the first person you were intimate.

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Maybe the earliest days, if you're married,

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of your marriage.

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There's something special about that season

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and that person.

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Jesus is saying in terms of first loves,

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I'm your ultimate first love.

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Remember when your heart was just ablaze

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with passion for Me, Jesus might have said.

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Remember when it didn't matter

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what you might have read in the Bible

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or someone told you was in the Bible,

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you're going to do it no matter what,

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you were going to storm the gates of hell

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with a water pistol.

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You heard about things that sounded difficult

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to other people, but not you, because you were in.

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That's the beautiful first love days.

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And Jesus saying to some of us, "You've lost that,

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you've lost that first love."

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I've had people accuse me of losing my first love

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many times over the last, you know, many decades.

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And normally it's just a fear and bullying tactic.

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I haven't lost my first love

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in the last couple of years, but yet

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there has been a waning of passion because

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of all of the conflicts and all of the changes

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and all of the animosity and all the things

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

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All the things that I don't want to do that I have to do

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and all of the redundancy and all that

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and all of the negativity swirling around.

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Yes, there has been a bit of a cloaking of the fire

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in my heart for Christ, so I kept reading.

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Consider how far you have fallen!

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Repent and do the things you did at first.

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When I read this I didn't feel like

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I needed to repent like I was in sin.

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But the thing that jumped out to me was:

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do the things you did at first.

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So I think about when I had a simpler faith

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and when there was more fire in my bones,

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what were some of the things that I did?

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You see I'm reading right now out of

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a Bible and devotional.

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I, for the last many, many years,

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many, many, many years, I've done my Bible reading

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right here on this or in my, in my phone.

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I'm in the Bible app or the Crossroads app

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just about every day and I read the scripture,

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the chapter that's in there.

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And four or five days out of seven,

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I'll post a devotional thought

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and I read other people's devotional thought.

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I have Bible software that's on this device

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that I do reading and studying for message prep,

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and I can go into original language here on this device.

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I spend -- I consume the word of God

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basically from here, and that's fine. That's great.

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There's nothing less than here.

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But this is not what I did at first,

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it wasn't the first thing I do.

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When I first came to know Christ I read out of paper,

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actual fuddy duddy paper.

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And so when I read out of paper,

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it takes me back to my roots.

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The earliest followers of Christ

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when they heard the Word of God,

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it was by people talking it in a public assembly.

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That was the first thing that they would do.

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And maybe for some when they had the printing press

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and they were reading it, they had to go back

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to hearing it spoken more often.

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Some of us, maybe it's the very earliest thing

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you're doing in your walk with Christ.

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You've never read the Bible in the paper.

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You've only ever read it

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and this is how you know it from now.

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Maybe, maybe in 20 years, holograms

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or some kind of downloading in the metaverse

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inside of our brain or something is going to happen

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that'll be new revolution and very helpful

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and people will want to do that.

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But there may be something special

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about the earliest days when we connected with God.

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There's something special for me

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in the earliest days of this.

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I started thinking, I need to go back

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and start reading the paper more, not only, but more.

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I also realized in the earliest days

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what I did is I actually had old paper

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and a journal that I would write things in.

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And so I've begun to do that more often,

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and it's gotten things have gotten fresh for me

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as I've done that.

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It's like, these aren't things, by the way,

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that are the thing that everyone has to do.

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It's something that's actually worked for me.

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And as I give you another example,

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before I give you another example,

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let me make sure you understand what I'm not saying.

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I'm not saying that there are certain things

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that you have to do or you cannot get to God.

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In fact, if we look the next verse here

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that makes it very, very clear.

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It says this:

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If you do not repent, I will come to you

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and remove your lampstand from its place.

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But you have this in your favor:

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You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans,

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which I also hate.

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The Nicolaitans were this hyper religious group

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that had a lot of rules that said

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you had to do this, you have to do this.

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If you don't do that thing, if you don't do that,

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then you can't be close to God.

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And the church at Ephisis was like,

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"No, that's not how you get to God."

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So God's saying, "Good, good.

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Glad you're not falling into works."

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I'm not saying right now the this is

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the work you have to do, that using paper

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is the work you have to do.

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It's not the law that gets us there

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or the practices, but there are certain practices

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that when we do them, we get to another place.

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- Hey, super quick interruption.

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How quick, let's try 30 seconds.

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I've got 30 seconds to tell you about giving starting now.

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You know, this year, as Brian's been talking about,

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we're making a clear push towards learning God's truth

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and practicing God's way that leads to life.

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And one of those ways is actively practicing generosity.

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Generosity actively pushes back against a world

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that tells us to be selfish and hold on to what's ours.

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You know, whether you have a resolution, a new goal,

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or you're open to trying something different

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this new year, you can get started

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by going to crossroads.net/give for more.

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2022, best year ever.

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How? Let's all do the Bible Challenge?

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- Hello? - What is it, you might ask.

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- I didn't even -- I didn't --

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- It's this challenge to read the Bible

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every week in 2022.

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- That's a lot of pages, right?

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- Here's how. Okay, first, you experience the weekend,

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either in-person or online.

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Every series will teach from a book in the Bible.

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It's good news, it's inspiring and all that.

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You'll love it. - I love -- I love good news.

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- And then the Bible challenge really happens

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in the Crossroads app.

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Every day in the app, read from the Bible

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and write a journal entry on what you learned.

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The research says if you do it

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at least four times a week,

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you'll really start to see a difference in your life.

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If you have a group, you'll find a weekly study

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in the app based on the same scripture

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for your group to discuss.

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When you opt in, you also get a field guide

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to help you understand the book even more.

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- Oh, like I notebook, like a journal, like a GPS.

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- And if you engage with the Bible in the app

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at least once a week during a series,

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we'll mail you a sticker to commemorate the milestone.

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A little encouragement to keep it up.

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- I love stickers.

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- For real, the Bible Challenge will help you

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find the best way through 2022. Get started today.

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- Some of you've heard this from me,

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you're doing this because I talked about it

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a long time ago.

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It's called the practice of a paste list.

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It's when you take a little piece of paper

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and you put it above your bathroom mirror.

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And you put names on there, people you know

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who you want to see come to know Christ,

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and you want God to give you the opportunity

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to share your faith with them.

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It's called a paste list and you brush your teeth

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and you pray for Lord, I pray for this person [garbled].

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You're praying for them.

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And then when you see someone come to know faith,

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you cross them off the list because they've been pasted

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and you put somebody new on there.

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You keep a relationship with them,

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but you keep praying for them.

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I haven't had a paste list since I came into

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the house that Lib and I moved into about 4 years ago.

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We moved into a new house and I just haven't done it.

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I haven't gotten around to it.

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Gosh, I haven't done that.

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I'm hearing people talk about their paste list

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that they learned from me,

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and I haven't had a paste list for several years.

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So I put that up on my mirror and I've been doing that.

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Crazy thing, crazy thing, two of my people

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who are up on that in the last four days,

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both of them, independent of each other,

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both of them found themselves on my front porch

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to ask me about something, to say something to me.

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They've never been on my front porch before.

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I didn't invite them over. I didn't strong arm them.

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They just showed up.

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Why? Because the spirit of God is moving,

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because they're on my paste list,

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because I'm praying for them in a fresh way,

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in a way that was original.

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See, here's the thing, friends,

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if you want to get closer to God,

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you've got to get closer to God.

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And the Bible is known as the Word of God.

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It's the way to hear from Him.

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It's the way to do and know the things you have to do,

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so you can feel His presence.

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The first four books to the New Testament

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are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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They're known as the four authorized

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biographies of Jesus, His core teachings,

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His miracles are in there.

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And as I go, when I read through those,

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I counted up 41 different accounts of healing,

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41 different times.

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Actually not 41 different times, 41 times it's recorded.

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Some of those times are recorded multiple times

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throughout those four books.

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Of the 41, 34 of them have the healing

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instigated by the person who needed healing.

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In other words, if Jesus were to come to your town

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and heal some people, He wouldn't just go

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to the local hospital and just start healing people.

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If He was going to actually feed people,

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He wouldn't just show up at the local homeless shelter

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and start feeding people.

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He didn't do that.

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He would heal who sought Him out and who asked Him.

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He would feed the person who was around Him

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and exhibited a need.

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34 out of 41 times, all those things happen

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when someone instigates.

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Of the remaining 7, there is often still something

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the person has to do.

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Like one time Jesus tells a person, step forward.

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Step forward.

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Another time He tells somebody to to go down

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and bathe down at a certain pool.

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They've got to do something physical.

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Sometimes it's not even the person,

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sometimes it's their friends,

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as was the case in Mark 2, when friends

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brought a paralyzed guy to come to see Jesus.

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Or it's a centurion who's giving petition

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for somebody in his household.

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All I'm saying is this: For you to get to a new place,

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you have to go to a new place, you have to act,

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you have to put something in motion.

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You're not going to get closer to God

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and feel more of His power just passively waiting

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and hoping He comes around.

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You're going to have to repent.

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You have to do the things you used to do

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or do things that you haven't done

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to be pushed to get a higher number.

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We're trying to respond to you and your needs in 2022.

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I want the best for you in 2022.

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Crossroads doesn't get any advantage

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of you reading her Bible more.

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There's no way that benefits us

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other than benefiting us by having more people

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who are trending closer and closer to Christ.

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So the Bible challenge is what we're calling 2022.

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We're going to do a lot of creative things all year,

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but we want to get you four plus times in your Bible

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however you're going to explore the Bible

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every single week.

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The Bible is not just for religious scholars.

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It's a huge thing for normal people, normal people.

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The Bible is not an ancient textbook, it's not.

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It's not a place where you have to go

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and you have to read it because

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you have to come up with the right answers

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or else God's not going to like you.

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No, it's not a textbook.

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It's a collection of writings that all point

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to the same thing that God wants:

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a relationship with you.

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And He wants you to walk closer and closer with Him

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and have a more profound and powerful life.

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The last verse I'll share with us,

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the book of Hebrews 4:11-12. It says this:

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Let us therefore strive to enter that rest,

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so that no one may fall

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by the same sort of disobedience.

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For the Word of God is living and active,

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sharper than any two-edged sword,

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piercing to the division of soul and spirit,

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of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts

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and intentions of the heart.

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Who wants to enter the rest of God?

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I do. I want to enter the rest of God.

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I do that by allowing this sharp object,

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the Word of God that's sharper any double-edged sword

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to fillet me open and lay me bare before God,

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to cut certain things inside of me that I can see

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that I couldn't have seen before,

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to open me up to a fresh feeling of His Spirit.

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That is what getting with the Word of God does,

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it changes us and we want to push you

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and enable you to change for your own benefit

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and for the glory of God in 2022. Join us.

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- The Bible challenge starts now.

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There's actually two things you need to get started.

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One is the Crossroads app.

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It's free wherever you get your apps.

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Inside is where you're going to read the Bible, and journal.

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Just click right here in the scripture will open up

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and you can journal on what you read.

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Now, the best part about this app is

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it lets us do this together.

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In fact, four days a week or more,

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you'll find me in here, Brian in here,

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if you're part of a site, your community pastor in here,

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all reading the same scripture together.

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The second thing you need is this:

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We're going to start in the Bible in the Book of Daniel,

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and this is a commentary that we put together

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about the book.

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It's going to give you context in history

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and really help you understand what you're reading,

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when it was written, who is was written to,

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all of that stuff.

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The best part is it's also completely free.

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And whether you're watching this in January

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or you may be watching this in May,

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it doesn't really matter when you watch it,

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we'll send you a book for free.

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Mail it to your house.

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Just go to Crossroads.net/Biblechallenge.

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By the way, when you do, that we'll have your name.

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And what our team's going to be doing

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is praying for you this year.

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Now you wouldn't just adopt

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a new, monotonous routine into your life,

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but that you'd actually experience God this year.

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Maybe last year was a year wracked with anxiety

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and you never found the peace you wanted.

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We're going to pray for you that this year,

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as you engage with God and the Bible Challenge,

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you'd find that peace.

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Maybe last year you never found the hope

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that you were after.

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We're going to pray that this year you find it,

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that you'd meet God

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as we engage in the Bible Challenge together.

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See you inside of the app

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and we'll see you right here next week on Crossroads.

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