How To Deal With Crisis

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Today, we're talking about how to deal with this crisis.

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I'm right now inside of an empty auditorium,

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one of Crossroads church's many auditoriums we have.

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No one's here because we've shut down our physical gatherings this weekend.

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We're not sure how long it's gonna last,

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but it's going to happen this weekend.

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We did this out of safety reasons, out of love reasons.

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The Book of 2 Timothy 1:7, it says:

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God has not given us the spirit of fear,

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but of love, power, and self-discipline.

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Some people would say, "Isn't it fear

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if you're shutting down buildings and not having people gather?"

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No, no, it's not fear. It's actually love.

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We're loving our communities by not having the potential

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of a virus spreading and somebody getting hurt.

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It's also a form of power.

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We're making decisions and we're empowering people

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to take hold of their lives.

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And it's a self discipline issue.

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It's knowing that there's things that you can control

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and the things you control, you should do those.

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We're going to talk about those things

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and some others throughout today.

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We're excited you're with us,

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if you're a longtime Crossroader or it's your very first time,

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I'm hoping you're going to get things here with us

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you might not be getting in your other media outlets.

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And one of those things is going to be worship.

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We're gonna try to connect to transcendent being

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who is beyond us through music.

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And why don't I pray before we do that.

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God, You are good to have us here today and to be with us today.

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I'm thankful that all of us are able to participate.

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And I pray God that You would be pleased by what takes place,

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that You would be exalted

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and that You would comfort your people.

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May this please You, God,

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and these things according to character and identity of Jesus.

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Amen.

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Let's sing these words together.

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Psalm 91 says:

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Our God is powerful and He's with us.

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That song is actually called What a Beautiful Name It Is.

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That's the main refrain that happens in the song.

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And every time that happens in that song,

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I always think, you know, Jesus was a guy.

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How does He feel like "Your name is beautiful"?

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I wouldn't want someone's saying Brian's name is beautiful.

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There's nothing wrong with it, it's just a little odd.

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I like the song, I like it a lot.

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But here's the thing, that line is worth emphasizing:

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Powerful name.

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He has a powerful name because in times of crisis

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you don't need etherial ideas.

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You don't need like flower power, just be nice and loving.

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In times of crisis, you want actual real power.

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That's the power that God provides.

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That's the power we want to step into right now.

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Let's pray for that.

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God, I pray that You would pour your power on us,

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whatever coffee shop we're in, whatever living room we're in,

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wherever we are right now, God, notice your people.

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Notice Your people who want to be Your people.

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Give us something we wouldn't have had

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if we just stream Netflix.

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Give us a taste of You.

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Give us a perspective we can't get elsewhere.

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Give us a touch of Your Spirit beyond everything else

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that happens for the rest of our time.

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I pray these things according to the character

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and identity of Jesus, Amen.

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Well, now's normally the time the pastor would say,

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"You can take a seat right now."

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You might've been sitting all the time anyway.

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So, you know, I know we've got all different people

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of all different walks of life

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who are being affected in different ways by this crisis.

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And we're gonna hear just a little bit from people

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who you might be able to identify with,

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those of us who are in leadership positions

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or in government positions.

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You might be able to identify with my friend Chris,

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who's a Cincinnati City Council Member.

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Chris, what are you seeing and how you feeling?

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- You know, this is a serious situation.

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People need to take it serious, avoid public spaces,

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be a safe distance from each other,

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constantly wash your hands.

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But we're doing everything we can to ensure that life goes on,

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that you have clean water, that your trash is picked up.

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So feel good that government is working the way it should.

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- So, God, I pray a blessing on everybody

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who is making governmental decisions.

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Help them to make the right decisions.

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Help them to listen to the right people.

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Give them Your power as they do their jobs.

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Amen.

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And then we're going to also have Rico,

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who is a school teacher.

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Rico, tell us what you're dealing with and how you're feeling.

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- We're feeling anxious.

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We don't know what distance learning means,

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while at the same time continuing to provide services

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like meals for kids that need them.

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We just don't know what the future holds

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and what that looks like in terms of relationships

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and continuing this with our students.

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- God, I thank you for Rico and for every teacher.

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It's a thankless job normally.

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It's even more thankless right now

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because all the old metrics are gone.

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The consistency of the same classroom is gone.

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I ask that You pour Your grace on them

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and enable them to still be teachers for us,

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even though they're not in a traditional classroom.

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Help them to still form minds through distance,

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digital things, or other ways that You're going to use them.

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Thank You for them. Amen.

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We also have Monica, who is a mother, full time mother.

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Monica, what's going on? How are you feeling?

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- I have four kids to our home from school

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on an extended spring break or online learning.

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I'm feeling a little anxious about keeping them all healthy.

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I'm also feeling blessed that

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we get to spend some extra family time together.

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- God, I know that all parents have a hard job,

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especially now with kids around more.

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I pray for increased energy, increased opportunities

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to talk to their kids, to form their kids,

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raise their game, God, their most important thing they do

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is build into those kids.

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I pray they would still be built into

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and You would find them the resources to do so.

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In Your name I pray, Amen.

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And my friend, Leah, who is a pediatrician,

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represents many people who are in the medical industry.

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What are you feeling? What's going on?

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- So this week has brought a lot of counseling,

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educating, helping to manage fears and anxieties

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of patients and families,

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while also adapting office protocols

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and trying to deal with the real problem

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of limited supplies, masks, gowns, face shields.

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It's been a challenge, but we're ready to take it on

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and eager to continue helping people.

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- So, God, I thank You for everyone in the medical profession

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who takes care of our bodies,

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who takes care of what's going on inside of us.

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I know that they're stressed.

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I know that they're low on supplies.

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I know that they have unbelievable responsibilities on them.

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Elevate them, God, pour grace in them, give them more energy.

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Give them crazy wisdom to diagnose and to care and comfort.

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They are Your hands physically and your feet right now.

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God, thank You for them.

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I pray these things in your name.

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Amen.

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You might not be one of these folks here,

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but there's other things that you represent.

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I'm going to commission you right now.

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God, for all of the entertainers,

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all the people who make our life light,

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where people aren't buying tickets anymore.

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I pray that help them to -- please bring levity.

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For all the servers, all the restauranteurs,

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all the businesses that are down and are hurting

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and are laying off people and are not sure where to go from here.

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God, I pray that You would pour Your power there.

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Help us know how to direct those resources.

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For the people who've already been homeless,

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who've already been out of work,

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now more of us are like them.

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I ask that you would still give them yourself.

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Enable these people to be who You create them to be,

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whether they're at their normal job

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or their normal walk of life or not.

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For the flight attendants, for the pilots,

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for everybody, every sector of the economy

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across the globe that's affected.

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God, I ask you to bring your power and enable these people

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to still be who You have had them to be.

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They're still not those things,

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they just might not be doing those things as often.

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Bless them, I pray. Amen.

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Well, normal services we would normally say,

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"Hey, let's thank the band."

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So let's yeah, thank the band.

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Yeah, they were great.

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They didn't want to thank you, I'm up for thanking you.

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- Yeah, we have a small, small studio audience

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saying thanks to the band.

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Our studio audience, not all of you are six feet apart.

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Shame on you.

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Shame on you, you should be.

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All right. Here's deal, man.

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For those of us who call ourselves Christians,

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now's the time to find out if you actually are one.

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See we can call ourselves anything,

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but when a crisis hits, then we find out really who we are.

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We can have all kinds of beliefs and ideas

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and flowery sentiments, but man, when the --

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when the stuff hits the fan, how we react,

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our view of that thing, our interpretation of tha thing

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that will tell us really if we have faith

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or if we do not have faith,

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if we have an abiding presence with God

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or if we don't have an abiding presence with God.

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The history of Christianity, the history of the world

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is one suffering after another,

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one difficulty after another,

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one tragedy after another, over and over and over again.

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I've heard some people say, "Oh, man,

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I feel so disillusioned with this."

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That's good. Good. That's wonderful.

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Because your illusions should be dis-ed.

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That's what disillusionment is,

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when your illusions are dis-ed.

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If you have an illusion that everything in life

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is going to be comfortable and everything is going to be easy

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and the economy should just keep clicking along and

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everything I want should fall right inside of my Excel spreadsheet,

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you, my friend, have been deluded and disillusioned.

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We've had a wonderful run the last few years or decades,

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but what do you know, life happens to everybody,

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always does.

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That's the chart of human history.

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Followers of Christ are used to dealing with conflict.

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They're used to dealing --

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we're used to dealing with crisis.

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It happens again and again and again.

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Sociologist Rodney Stark from the University of Baylor

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tried to study the spread of Christianity in the first century.

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And he saw it was because believers

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were responding differently in crisis.

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Here's actually, what he says:

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It was how early followers responded to crisis

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that caused the spread of Christianity,

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because people saw power and they wanted that power to themselves.

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This crisis that we're in is not imagined.

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It is real.

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The Corona virus is 20 times more contagious than influenza.

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For every two people infected with the virus,

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there's 100 other people who will be infected

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if the germs are transmitted.

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The incubation period, many of us

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may have the coronavirus right now and we don't know it

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and we may be spreading it right now and we don't know.

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These aren't fearmonger things.

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This is data.

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This is basic science.

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And, you know, the CDC and everybody else I'm hearing

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is all going to be talking about your physical health

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and all the tips to to stay healthy

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and all the things we should do about washing our hands.

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Great, wonderful. It's all good.

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We're not here for that; you can get that elsewhere.

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I'm not concerned about your physical health.

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I've got to tell you,

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I'm concerned about your spiritual health.

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As we talk about flattening the curve, which is why

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we're not meeting physically at all Crossroads.

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We want to flatten the curve

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and spread out the contagion.

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as we're flattening.

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I just got to say, man, the way I hear

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some of us talking, your faith has been flattened.

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It's been flattened.

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And I'm just going like, "Really?

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We expected everything to be easy?

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We expected that if I did the right things

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and I thought the right thoughts

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and I just thought happy thoughts and I just --

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that everything would go easy for you?"

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Really?

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No, no. We had a faith in something that wasn't real,

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he had a faith in some some mythical reality that is not true.

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I'm not here to do dooms and gloom with us.

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I just want a shot -- fire a shot across the bow

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of many of us who just thought that life could be normal.

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Friends, crisis is normal; that's what history says.

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And now we get to be in one right now.

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And now we get to see what we're made of.

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Or we get to see if I want to make myself different,

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if I'm going to allow God to make me different.

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Jesus came to the earth in the midst of crisis.

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The the Jewish nation was under oppression of Rome,

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there was crisis there.

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I mean, most of His -- all of His miracles are coming

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because somebody was in the midst of crisis,

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again and again and again.

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So His words, His teaching are still relevant for us today.

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Let's take a look at some of them from

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the book of Matthew 6:25-34, here's here's what he says:

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Or what are we going to wipe ourselves with?

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Can we lighten things up a little bit right now?

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Can we just noticed, like there is some crazy,

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ridiculous things that are happening right now.

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We are so scared.

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We are scared poopless.

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This is still church, so I'll put it that way.

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If you were just with me, I would tell you

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what that word actually is.

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But we're still scared poopless.

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And I guess we're not too scared poopless,

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because we're buying ridiculous amounts of toilet paper.

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Folks, folks, this is crazy.

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Let's just step back, the reason why Jesus

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has this whole lawn thing about why we should not fear

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and why we should have anxiety is because we're weird, man.

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We're like America is not the land of the free;

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we're the land of the fear.

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We just, man, we can freak out.

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Maybe it's not Americans, maybe it's all people all times,

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which is why the Bible talks about fear and anxiety

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so many times, 365 times, one for every day.

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And here we're going to have a whole long teaching

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on Jesus all about fear.

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Many industries and businesses that

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they get profitable when fear comes.

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I know around the country there are some grocery stores

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that have been hurting financially because

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we've had a very wild, mild winter.

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I swear some grocery stores must have agreements

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with their local meteorologist and say,

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"Hey, hey, could you work in the words wintry mix?

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Whoa, that'll get 'em, because wintry mix happens,

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Oh, look out, batteries and milk.

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Look out. We're gonna sell,

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we're make up all of our monthly up on batteries and milk."

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Well, we haven't had a really significant winter,

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but boy, we have a crisis.

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But the problem was this crisis

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is not having people get batteries and milk.

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They're getting toilet paper What?

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The symptoms of the coronavirus is dry cough and fever.

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It is not blowing poop out of every orifice.

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It's not. It's not like poop is exploding through your eyeballs.

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"Oh, where's some toilet paper, Mildred?

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Get some toilet paper.

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Put it on."

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I don't understand this.

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The only reason we're -- let me put it this way:

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I know you might be concerned about toilet paper.

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God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

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If you don't have it, I'll cover you.

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I will.

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Go to me on my social media feed, seriously.

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I've got enough toilet paper.

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I'll send you a square in the mail if you really need it.

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Not a lot, because that's all about I use ever use normally.

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Maybe that's why I'm non-crisis.

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Some of you guys are like handfuls.

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I don't know what your deal is.

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I'll send you a square, seriously.

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If you're really in crisis, I'll send you a square.

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Just follow me on social me and message me

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and I'll have you coming around.

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I'm making fun of this because I'm trying to just help us see

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it's just a little ridiculous about how fearful we are.

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Now we actually have something that's a crisis,

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but some of us have been in perpetual crisis mode

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for so long that we don't know where to go for now.

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We were already maxed out.

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We're the culture that has ulcers.

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We're the only created things that have ulcers.

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No other created animal has an ulcer.

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No gazelle ever has an ulcer,

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because gazelles don't live in constant anxiety

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and fear all the time.

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They have anxiety and crisis moment

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when they see a lion coming and they take off and run.

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And when it's over, they're either dead

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or they're not stressed anymore because it's over.

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We live in it all the time.

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And so for some of us, our response is just showing

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we're living in crisis mode all the time

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because the power of God is foreign to us

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and we may actually be functioning atheists

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that have spiritual language,

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but the power for Christ isn't inside of us.

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Verse 27 says this, Jesus says:

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Jesus says those of us who have weak faith,

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who have been flattened, perpetually worry,

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perpetually think about what could go wrong,

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perpetually fixate on the negative.

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This is the time for us to go inward less

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and go outward more.

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Worrying is when you go inward with your thoughts,

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inward with your negative nightmare fantasies,

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inward with what all could be wrong.

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But Jesus wants us to go outward.

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Outward as when we go outward and we pray,

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we actually talk to God.

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We go out, we actually talk to people.

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We tell people how we're feeling.

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When we go inward and we worry

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and we think about these things,

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we don't get any closer to God.

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To get closer to God, we've got to go outward.

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We've got to actually talk not worry, talk.

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There's a person in our community

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who's come a long way in this area,

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and actually God has enabled her

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to be more powerful in the midst of this crisis.

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Her name is Ella. Let's check out her story.

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- I have had anxiety my entire life.

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At my absolute worst I have been hospitalized twice.

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It's led to panic attacks

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and it's led to the thought of suicide

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and feeling like there's a weight so big

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that I'll never get out of this fear.

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I'll never break out of it.

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The worry is not making the right decision

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and this decision is going to impact something greater in my life.

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Which I think is what a lot of people

00:32:06

are feeling right now with this virus.

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And it's a lot, it's heavy.

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I had some friends come around me

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and they begged me just every day.

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They would just say, "Just pray."

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And eventually, honestly, to kind of shut them up,

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I was like, "Okay, I'll do your prayer thing."

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And it was that time that I really sat down and prayed

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and tried to connect with God, saying,

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"Hey, I don't know."

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I honestly said, "I don't know if You're even there.

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I don't know what You can do for me,

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but I don't have much --

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I don't have many other options, so do what you want

00:32:48

if you're gonna do anything."

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And he did.

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So I would say that I had a deep encounter with God there.

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And there was this peace that on my worst day,

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I still had this like inside, in the deepest core,

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I had this like joy and this peace

00:33:09

that I would have traded some of my best days for.

00:33:13

That happened three years ago,

00:33:16

and I can still stand on that exact moment

00:33:20

because when you meet the Lord

00:33:21

and He meets you where you are and you invite him in,

00:33:25

it's indescribable.

00:33:27

During this time, during the coronavirus pandemic,

00:33:31

it's a time where I think we get to choose.

00:33:36

We get to slow down, be present.

00:33:40

Be present right now.

00:33:42

Don't get caught up in the what's going to happen when this peaks,

00:33:48

what's going to happen.

00:33:51

Some of the the outlets are telling us

00:33:55

to prepare for the future,

00:33:56

to prepare for what's coming next.

00:33:59

I try to keep myself grounded

00:34:00

in what's happening right now.

00:34:01

How is this affecting my life today?

00:34:03

And God's going to have tomorrow.

00:34:08

I can control my choice to rely on God.

00:34:12

I can control my choice to ask Him for peace.

00:34:15

I can't control what's going to go on at the grocery store.

00:34:17

Whether I'm going to be able to buy toilet paper.

00:34:20

I don't know. But I can control how I react.

00:34:26

I can control whether I lean on my Facebook feed

00:34:31

or whether I open my Bible or listen to worship music

00:34:35

or connect with God in that moment,

00:34:38

instead of connecting with the fear

00:34:40

and the emotions of everybody around me.

00:34:43

I would say I am free of anxiety

00:34:46

and it takes me every time that I get to say that

00:34:48

because there was a time

00:34:50

I didn't think I would ever get to say that.

00:34:53

That doesn't mean I don't have times that I'm anxious.

00:34:56

It does mean that there aren't things that make me anxious,

00:34:59

but I have come to a place

00:35:02

where it doesn't consume my life anymore.

00:35:05

The Bible even promises us that there's going to be

00:35:08

peace that surpasses all understanding,

00:35:10

and that is the best way that I could possibly phrase it.

00:35:15

- Man, I love -- I love what she says there.

00:35:19

She's not saying there that

00:35:21

all of the sudden I have no more fear ever.

00:35:23

She's not saying all of the sudden I have more anxiety.

00:35:26

She's saying that God came to her and did

00:35:29

something different in here and she's making choices.

00:35:31

That's what I'm trying to push everybody on today.

00:35:33

I'm trying to tell you, you can make a choice

00:35:36

on how stressed you're going to be.

00:35:38

You can make a choice on how anxious you're gonna be.

00:35:41

You can make a choice on whether or not

00:35:43

you're going to talk with God or you're going to go inward.

00:35:45

You can make a choice and you can have the power of God

00:35:48

and you can open yourself to His power

00:35:51

or you can do what everybody else does

00:35:53

and just go around going, (sound effects).

00:35:56

Hey, you've got to control your life.

00:35:57

You've got to control your mind.

00:35:59

That's what Jesus was saying, "You can control your mind.

00:36:02

You can control your life."

00:36:05

And there's a power that God gives us

00:36:06

that enables that to happen.

00:36:08

Now, at this point in time,

00:36:09

I'm some surprise some of you are not going,

00:36:12

"This is not what I expected today.

00:36:13

Not what I expected today. I expect some more positive stuff."

00:36:16

I'm hopeing to be positive.

00:36:17

What is more positive than, you know, having toilet paper talk?

00:36:19

That pretty positive. That's always good.

00:36:21

But I've got to tell you, things are going to get better.

00:36:26

The market is going to rebound.

00:36:29

It just is.

00:36:31

We're getting used to this now as human beings.

00:36:34

In my lifetime there have been three or four major,

00:36:36

major, not corrections, just major, major downturns.

00:36:40

Massive, massive.

00:36:41

And every one recovers quicker than the previous

00:36:43

because we're getting more used to it.

00:36:44

It's like active shooters.

00:36:46

I think the last active shooter incident was like four people

00:36:50

and was barely a headline because we're getting used to it.

00:36:52

We're pressurizing to it.

00:36:53

So the market and all of us investors are getting used to it.

00:36:56

The market will rebound.

00:36:57

It will.

00:36:58

We will resume some normalcy in our life.

00:37:01

We will.

00:37:02

I'm not "The sky is falling," guy.

00:37:05

I'm just taking the opportunity to say I know

00:37:09

there's people, preachers all over the place right now

00:37:13

just trying to convince you, "Life's going to be good.

00:37:15

It's gonna be all good.

00:37:16

God's got a special care for you

00:37:18

and nothing's going to happen to you.

00:37:19

Don't worry, because nothing's going to happen to you.

00:37:22

Right around the corner,

00:37:23

there's a blessing of God waiting for you."

00:37:25

All this stuff.

00:37:26

And I just want to say that Pollyanna speaking,

00:37:29

if ancient followers of Christ heard that Pollyanna speaking,

00:37:34

they would go, "What faith is this?

00:37:37

This is not the power of God I know,

00:37:39

The power to deny that anything bad is happening,

00:37:41

the power to deny that anything bad could happen."

00:37:44

Fortune nobody in Crossroads has been infected

00:37:47

with the coronavirus.

00:37:50

It doesn't mean no one will.

00:37:52

It doesn't mean we could not have loss of life

00:37:55

It doesn't mean that at all.

00:37:57

We're going to pray it doesn't happen,

00:37:58

and we love people who might be hurting

00:38:00

in our neighborhoods or in our church.

00:38:02

There's not some immunity bubble

00:38:04

that God puts over His followers

00:38:06

for suffering in the midst of crisis.

00:38:08

Part of how you deal with the crisis

00:38:10

is you get okay with the idea that life has difficulty

00:38:14

and I'm in one right now and I need

00:38:17

to change my attitudes and my perspectives right now.

00:38:20

Right now it's not about looking at

00:38:22

my retirement account and seeing, "Oh, it's down here."

00:38:24

Right now it's about going, "Hey, God, thank you

00:38:26

that I'm not hungry today.

00:38:29

Right now, it's not about grieving that, "Oh, no,

00:38:31

I can't go to work. They've been shut down."

00:38:33

It's about, "Hey, God.

00:38:35

I'm thankful that

00:38:36

You have people in my life that I'm thankful for.

00:38:38

I'm thankful for that."

00:38:39

Right now, we redirect our mind towards those things,

00:38:43

that's what we do when we're in the midst of crisis.

00:38:45

And every hero in the faith, in the scriptures,

00:38:49

they're a hero because of the crisis.

00:38:52

Every single one.

00:38:54

You know, I heard this guy, Daniel.

00:38:55

I just think of one's kind of off the top of my head.

00:38:57

Daniel gets thrown into the lion's den and God does save him.

00:39:01

Amazing. Well, well, don't forget, he had a crisis.

00:39:05

He was in a lion's den.

00:39:06

A lion was slobbering on him.

00:39:08

Right? It was serious, serious stuff.

00:39:11

Jonah, who may be a hero, he's a prophet in the Old Testament.

00:39:13

He gets thrown overboard of a ship

00:39:15

and gets swallowed by a giant fish or a giant whale.

00:39:19

Abraham, the founder of the Hebrew nation,

00:39:22

he has to leave his entire way of life

00:39:25

and go someplace different and wait to hear from God.

00:39:29

That's suffering, that's a crisis.

00:39:30

Moses, who leads the nation of Israel out of slavery.

00:39:34

Moses is banished by his adopted family.

00:39:38

Moses leaves all the comforts that he had

00:39:40

in his previous home serving with pharaoh

00:39:43

to be a marauder in the desert.

00:39:44

His previously comfortable way of life, it's gone

00:39:48

and it's gone forever.

00:39:50

And he's a hero of the faith because of it.

00:39:53

All the early apostles of Christ, all of them,

00:39:56

except for one, the Apostle John,

00:39:57

all of them died by the hands of their tormentors.

00:40:01

Jesus Himself tells us to pick up your cross

00:40:04

and follow me daily.

00:40:05

Get ready to lay your life down at a moment's notice.

00:40:09

Some people are really freaked out that I'm hugging people.

00:40:11

If you want me to hug you, I'll hug you.

00:40:15

If you don't want me to hug you, that's okay,

00:40:16

I won't hug you.

00:40:18

You can call, but if you're infected, I will hug you.

00:40:22

I will hug you. I will lay my --

00:40:24

if you need some human touch, I'll give you some human touch.

00:40:27

Because I picked up my cross and died.

00:40:29

I'm a walking dead man already.

00:40:32

When you take that attitude, not protecting your life

00:40:34

or keeping everything --

00:40:35

or your illusionment of what America should look like,

00:40:38

what your life looks like,

00:40:39

spiritual power comes your way and things change.

00:40:43

Jesus continues this, He says:

00:41:04

When Jesus says, "Seek God's Kingdom

00:41:06

and His righteousness, do that first,

00:41:07

and everything else will be given you as well."

00:41:09

Remember, what was the other else?

00:41:10

The other else was food, clothing, toilet paper.

00:41:15

It was all those things, that's what he talked about.

00:41:17

So He's not denying those aren't gonna happen.

00:41:19

And I'm saying as well, the best way for me

00:41:22

to make sure my needs are met is if I'm tracking with my God

00:41:25

and I'm seeking first His Kingdom

00:41:27

and I'm loving my neighbor as myself.

00:41:30

Yes, my neighbor, who I'm supposed to be six feet away from,

00:41:32

I'm going to love him as my --

00:41:34

Yes, the guy who's annoying normally,

00:41:36

bBut I'm going to love him as myself.

00:41:38

And when I step out and step into other people's lives,

00:41:42

there is a presence of God that brings things to me

00:41:46

I wouldn't have otherwise.

00:41:48

But I've got to seek first Him,

00:41:51

not seek first my comfortable American lifestyle

00:41:54

tat is the way it's supposed to be.

00:41:55

I love my life. I love my lifestyle.

00:41:57

But I'm not entitled to it.

00:41:59

The only thing I'm entitled to is whatever

00:42:01

God brings my way I'm going to put my eyes on Him.

00:42:04

And Jesus says here, don't worry about tomorrow.

00:42:07

So don't worry about tomorrow.

00:42:08

Why we don't worry about tomorrow?

00:42:11

Because we have time to put into our worries

00:42:13

and troubles today.

00:42:15

That's another thing Jesus said.

00:42:16

Jesus doesn't say, don't worry about tomorrow

00:42:18

He doesn't say that.

00:42:20

He says work on the troubles you have today.

00:42:24

Today if you don't have enough money for food,

00:42:28

work, work and worry about that today.

00:42:31

Today.

00:42:32

If you've got food in your pantry for a while,

00:42:34

don't think about food if your not going to run out of food.

00:42:36

If you can put a plan in place to get more food.

00:42:38

Hopefully this is all going to go away

00:42:40

and all of this stuff about about crisis is going to go away

00:42:43

because in three days made this won't be a crisis anymore.

00:42:46

That's why it's wasted energy to think further in the future.

00:42:49

Worry about it today.

00:42:52

If your kid is sick today, deal with today

00:42:56

because that's trouble today.

00:42:58

But don't think about what's could happen a week from now,

00:43:01

two weeks from now; that's wasted energy.

00:43:04

You control your life.

00:43:06

You control your faith.

00:43:08

You control your outlook.

00:43:10

We are not victims of this.

00:43:12

You're only a victim if you're just swept away

00:43:15

in the whole public outcry

00:43:16

and doing what everybody else is doing

00:43:18

and that is being flattened by fear and anxiety.

00:43:21

There is a God that's above you, He's beyond you,

00:43:25

and He's working in and through you.

00:43:27

Double down on your times of prayer.

00:43:29

Why not? You got nothing better to do.

00:43:31

You're quarantined and you're away.

00:43:32

What are you going to do, watch more Netflix?

00:43:34

We say all the time regularly, "You need to get with a group.

00:43:37

You need to get with a group."

00:43:38

That Rodney Stark quote said they were able

00:43:41

to get in the crisis because they were living

00:43:42

this way all the time anyway.

00:43:44

Now, you understand why we say you need to get in a group.

00:43:46

Youn need to find one.

00:43:47

Like we're gonna give you some tools a little bit.

00:43:48

You need to find some people

00:43:50

who are going to cover your backside

00:43:52

and you're going to cover their backside.

00:43:54

You need to find those people.

00:43:55

You need to figure out what your mode of thinking is,

00:43:58

because I'm telling you what,

00:43:59

if you're looking at CNN or FOX

00:44:01

and you're letting them put their thoughts in your mind,

00:44:04

you're not going live a spiritual power.

00:44:06

You need to figure out what your Bible rhythm is,

00:44:08

where to get something in your mind

00:44:10

that transcends the negativity

00:44:13

and the fear mongering that's going on.

00:44:15

We're way excessively being more fearful than we should

00:44:19

while we are in a legitimate crisis.

00:44:22

So I'm going to -- I'm going to invite the band to come out

00:44:27

and we're gonna do a song.

00:44:30

And we've got some other stuff that's happening right now.

00:44:32

So we're not done.

00:44:33

But this is this actually one of my favorite songs

00:44:36

and I think it's a song that's especially relevant right now.

00:44:39

So, God, as we sing this song together

00:44:41

before we get on with our next thing,

00:44:43

I look forward to bringing a calming influence on us,

00:44:47

a calm, a calm and a peace and also rising up,

00:44:52

a rising up of making this personal to our faith

00:44:55

that we will not be conquered, we will not be pushed down.

00:44:58

We will not live with an ulcer.

00:45:00

We'll be people of faith, people who are different.

00:45:05

Hear this, our song to You.

00:49:58

Let's do that, let's do Oh that power again

00:50:00

I want to pray some things in there.

00:50:37

All right, so I'm thinking of people right now

00:50:39

It's one thing to talk about things philosophical.

00:50:41

Right now people are needing power,

00:50:43

so we're praying, God, right now.

00:50:45

We're pray, God, right now for people

00:50:47

who don't have child care.

00:50:52

[ Oh, the power ]

00:50:53

- Oh, that's good. I like that.

00:50:54

[ Oh, the power ]

00:50:57

God, I'm thinking about businesses

00:50:58

who are having stress right now, bring Your power.

00:51:01

[ Oh, the power ]

00:51:04

God I pray for marriages that are in crisis

00:51:06

because there's more stress on top of the old stress,

00:51:09

Bring your power. [ Oh, the power ]

00:51:12

God I know we have a hard time having ends meet normally,

00:51:15

and now it's even worse. [ Oh, the power ]

00:51:19

God, I ask for governing authorities who are making calls

00:51:22

and decisions, give them the mindset they need.

00:51:24

[ Oh, the power ]

00:51:26

God, alleviate from us our worried nature.

00:51:29

[ Oh, the power ]

00:51:32

God, bring us relational connection. [ Oh, the power ]

00:51:38

God, meet our needs of food and clothing.

00:51:42

Do that, God. [ Oh, the power ]

00:51:46

God, bring a community around us

00:51:48

and us around our community. [ Oh, the power ]

00:51:56

Yeah, Guys, let's sing that one more time.

00:52:44

- Man, who said you can't have church digitally?

00:52:47

That was, come on now.

00:52:49

You know what just occurred to me?

00:52:51

Hey, some of things I just prayed,

00:52:53

if we can get somebody on the computer to put this in.

00:52:57

Let's -- if you want to text in

00:52:59

or you want to put on your Facebook page,

00:53:01

we would love to pray with you.

00:53:03

Some of those prayers, you might say, "That was for me."

00:53:05

Others of you are going, "I hope he prays for this."

00:53:08

We want to pray for you.

00:53:09

We've got people who can pray for you right now.

00:53:11

So in a little bit, you'll see how to do that.

00:53:13

Do that and we want to we want to be with you

00:53:16

because we want you to go to a new place.

00:53:18

All right. All right.

00:53:19

So next up, Chuck, come on in here.

00:53:22

Where do we go from here?

00:53:23

Chuck, come on in here and talk to us.

00:53:25

- Yeah. Yeah. So, hey, you know what?

00:53:27

This virus is definitely stopping us from going

00:53:29

to church in the traditional ways that we have,

00:53:32

but it doesn't have to stop us from being the church.

00:53:34

And so, man, if you're connected to Crossroads already

00:53:36

or maybe somebody shared this link with you,

00:53:38

we want you to know we want you to be a part of this church.

00:53:41

You know, for the first hundred years,

00:53:42

followers of Jesus didn't know anything

00:53:44

about physical buildings anyway.

00:53:45

That was not a thing that kept them

00:53:47

or enabled them to be the church.

00:53:49

And we want you to know there are ways you can connect.

00:53:50

There's two things we're really focused on in this time:

00:53:53

connecting you, being a spiritual support to you.

00:53:55

Like you said,

00:53:56

we don't want this to flatten you spiritually.

00:53:58

And also, how do we mobilize as a community?

00:54:00

How can we serve?

00:54:01

And there are two places where you're going to find

00:54:03

all of the ways that you can connect and serve.

00:54:06

And that is following us with social media.

00:54:08

On all the platforms follow CRDS Church, Crossroads Church:

00:54:11

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

00:54:13

That's gonna be the place where you're going to find

00:54:14

daily worship, ways that you can connect

00:54:17

and engage with other people.

00:54:18

And then also download the Crossroads App.

00:54:20

That's another opportunity you have to do things like

00:54:23

be reading the same scriptures together and sharing

00:54:26

and encouraging each other with each other

00:54:27

what we're hearing from that.

00:54:28

We want you to know there are ways for you

00:54:29

to be a part of the church.

00:54:31

And here's my hope.

00:54:32

My hope is that we will look back on this time

00:54:34

and actually we would say,

00:54:35

not that we wish this on anybody,

00:54:36

because real people are being impacted by this,

00:54:38

we're all impacted.

00:54:39

But that we would say, "This helped me grow closer to God."

00:54:42

- "And I am so glad that I was connected to God's church."

00:54:45

- We have so much to talk to you about.

00:54:47

And we've been working hard the last several days.

00:54:50

We've redeployed staff resources,

00:54:52

because it takes a lot of energy to pull off services

00:54:54

in all of our locations.

00:54:55

And we're running after problems.

00:54:57

- We're not about running services;

00:54:58

we're about running after people.

00:55:00

And we just can't tell you all about it right now.

00:55:02

We've got to get outside of our thing.

00:55:04

If all we do with all of our time off now

00:55:07

is binge more Netflix, watch more YouTube videos,

00:55:10

we're not going to be any better off.

00:55:13

We have part of the solution for you.

00:55:14

We're gonna give you things that will grow you spiritually,

00:55:17

enable you to get to your neighbors.

00:55:18

And we want to enlist you in an army

00:55:20

that's going to be blessing our communities.

00:55:22

So what Chuck said, that's all the way.

00:55:24

And you might just need to find some people

00:55:26

to be around and just don't touch.

00:55:28

Yes, you can touch me. It's all good.

00:55:32

- You know, I like that.

00:55:34

- We might have to self-quarantine later, but right now we're all good.

00:55:37

- But we need to be around folks

00:55:40

in whatever way you're comfortable with.

00:55:41

We can't be isolated and just be bingeing things digitally.

00:55:45

We need to be healthy right now.

00:55:46

And part of the way that we're healthy as a church

00:55:49

is that we give, we choose to be generous,

00:55:51

we choose to step into this opportunity and be generous.

00:55:53

- I guess I was supposed to talk about giving; wasn't I?

00:55:54

-Yeah.

00:55:57

- We've had people say, "Hey, maybe we should

00:55:59

take a special offering for victims."

00:56:01

We're not going to take up a special offering,

00:56:02

because the bread and butter of Crossroads's resources

00:56:05

goes to help people all the time.

00:56:08

The more resources we have, the more people we can help.

00:56:11

And so as we give, as we tithe, we're just --

00:56:15

the more resource we have,

00:56:16

the more we can deploy into our communities.

00:56:19

And so if you still have a job right now.

00:56:21

If you've still got a paycheck coming in,

00:56:22

you've got something to tithe off.

00:56:24

And if you don't, hey, man, sit back.

00:56:27

And if you're newer spiritually

00:56:29

and you're not sure why exactly to give.

00:56:30

Great.

00:56:31

We're not here to convince you of anything like that.

00:56:33

But for those of us who are in the faith

00:56:34

and are ground in our faith, we understand

00:56:36

this is important for times like this.

00:56:39

- So Crossroads God, that's last given.

00:56:41

I think that's it. Right.

00:56:42

One more thing, and that is I can't imagine a better series for us to be going into.

00:56:47

And even just the way that this is going to be delivered next week.

00:56:49

And we start a brand new series called Real Encounters with God.

00:56:52

This is actually a series we done before, immersive teachings in Israel.

00:56:56

This one is new because it's all about Jesus and the Jesus myth, separating truths from Jesus, from what is true, from from myths that we might believe in.

00:57:04

Man, it's going to be is going to be amazing.

00:57:06

It's a great in-room experience, but amazing digitally especially.

00:57:10

And we'll find out that some days how long we're gonna be ever gonna be off next weekend or how long we're taking a week by week.

00:57:16

But yeah, you're right, we couldn't ask for something better.

00:57:18

It's gonna be amazing.

00:57:19

So at minimum, we'll see you digitally next week.

00:57:29

Coming this March, the Jesus myth.

00:57:32

A pilgrimage to the most controversial places on earth.

00:57:36

Investigating ancient stories of Jesus, separating the myth from the truth and discovering what it means for you today.

00:57:46

The third season of Real Encounters with God.

00:57:49

All new on location in Israel.

00:57:53

New places, new people.

00:57:55

New encounters.

00:57:57

Real encounters with God.

00:57:58

The Jesus myth.

00:58:00

Premiering March 21st and 22nd at Crossroads.

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