Unlock the Power of Celebration

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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I'm so glad that you joined us today.

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My name is Andy. I'm the pastor of this thing

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we call Crossroads Anywhere, which is

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a community of people all over the world

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who don't just watch the same thing,

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but are a part of something together.

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This community is made up of people who

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meet together physically and digitally,

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people who pray for each other,

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people who are growing together.

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Right now you're joining us for

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our weekly online experience where

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our entire church, whether in a building

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or online, is united together.

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Today, three things are going to happen.

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One, we're going to use music to help connect us to God.

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Two, we're going to hear teaching

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from Chuck Mingo designed to help us grow.

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And third, we're going to be taking communion together.

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So if that's for you, grab some bread, crackers,

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juice or wine, whatever you have on hand.

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And let's start by worshiping together right now.

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- Our songs turn into prayers asking for God

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to meet us where we are in the good and in the tough.

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Coming with a heart of worship.

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- I know these are some some big things

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that we're asking for.

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I know these are big things, like,

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come like a flood, like a fire.

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And this is something we were talking about

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at our family dinner.

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There are certain trees

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that don't start to reproduce until the fire comes,

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their cones open up under pressure

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and that's when they grow, that's when they reproduce.

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And so I don't know if I'm the only one

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that feels pressure right now.

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I'm sure that's just me. Anybody else?

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You don't have to raise your hand.

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But maybe right where you are,

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you're feeling the fire and you're like,

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"God, what gives? What gives?"

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And maybe, just maybe, your steps into this place,

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you watching online right now is

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the best you can do to say, "God, I need

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something more than what I have right now."

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Would you be so bold to simply just put

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your palms out towards heaven and say,

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"God, I need You"?

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And we're going to sing this chorus once again.

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And maybe this is the first time you mean it.

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And that's okay, that's okay.

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We're just going to sing. Come like a flood,

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like a fire, Holy spirit, come.

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Sing that with me. Sing come.

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- Hey, we're going to do communion

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a little bit differently tonight.

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We're going to be led in communion via song,

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via media that we've put together

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to help deepen these elements.

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But we get this question a lot around Crossroads,

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usually from people like me who grew up in church,

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you know, "You know, the church that I was

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a part of, we did this every single weekend.

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Why don't you guys do it all the time?"

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And there's an easy answer for it.

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It may not be a right answer.

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There's an easy one for it and that's because

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this place, unlike the church I grew up in,

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that was a gathering of people who said,

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"We all have trusted Jesus with our life,

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and we're going to get together

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and we're going to sort of charge one another up."

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This place is actually the opposite of that.

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It's where people who follow Jesus go,

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"What if we created a place that was safe

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for people who have not yet met Jesus?

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They're not sure yet what they believe.

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They come in and maybe they're going,

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"I don't know if I even believe there is a God.

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I might want to." This place is for them.

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And I say to them, if that's you, this place is for you.

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You don't have to know a secret handshake.

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You don't have to know exactly

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what this wine and bread represent,

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or juice and wafer.

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You just need to know there's a God who is for you

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and there are hundreds of people in this room

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who are about to remember that His blood was spilled

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and His body was broken in pursuit of you.

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And so if you've made the decision to follow Jesus,

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this is for you.

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And if you haven't, I hope that in observing

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this next few moments, you see

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what so many people have been saved by.

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- The book of Acts records that the early church

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Holy communion has been practiced

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for thousands of years by the followers of Jesus.

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Jesus told his earliest disciples

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to celebrate this ritual in remembrance of Him

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and what He was about to do.

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As we move through this song,

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there will be specific moments to pause

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and take part in communion.

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This song is about the Kingdom of God,

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reminding us that it is so vastly different

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than our earthly kingdom.

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- The night before his crucifixion,

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Jesus and his disciples gathered together

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to celebrate Passover.

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The Gospel of Luke records:

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Take the wafer from your kit and break it with your fingers.

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As you eat it, take a moment and reflect

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on how Jesus's body was broken on the Cross.

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This was the ultimate sacrifice,

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an expression of love to ensure the connection

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between us and God could be restored.

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- Luke continues:

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Now drink the juice that is in your cup.

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When you are finished, pause and give thanks

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to Jesus for His love, His forgiveness,

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and His covering allowing each of His followers

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to enter into His Kingdom.

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- We take this meal together

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with believers all over the world to honor

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Jesus's sacrifice and celebrate His resurrection.

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- Sing oh, precious.

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- Let's not be shy.

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- God, we bring you ourselves as it says in Romans

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as living sacrifices.

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And we choose to crawl up on the altar

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and offer ourselves and say thank you. Amen.

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Y'all, it's so good to sing with you. So good.

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Actually, it's more than singing, it's worship.

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It's worship and we worship by singing here.

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We worship by serving here.

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We serve the heck out of stuff.

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We serve by going places and being God's hands and feet.

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And we also serve by giving.

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And it's one of the ways that my family

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and lots of our families around here say,

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"God, I trust You to be our provider.

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I know it's I know I work hard,

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but I know that's not what sustains me.

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It's you, God."

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And so if you are a giver, well done.

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If you're interested in being a giver,

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you can go to Crossroads.net/give

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and be a part of experiencing

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the faithfulness of God and being a part of

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this community in a powerful way.

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That's all I have to say about that.

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3, 2, 1. Ignition sequence start.

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[engines firing]

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[typing]

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[Music: Let the New Begin by We are CHPTRS]

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Won’t give up

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Won’t give in

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Take everything we have

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and let the new begin

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- That's one small step for man;

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one giant leap for mankind.

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- We're about to push for 10X,

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10X spiritual growth in your life,

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10x spiritual growth in our community of Crossroads,

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and 10X in the Kingdom of God

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for what God is asking us to do.

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I believe this is going to be

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the most important six weeks of my life.

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I believe it's going to be the most important

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six weeks for our church's life.

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And I think, if you let it, it'll be

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the most important six weeks for your life.

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I think you can 10X your ability to sense God,

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to be on His page and to have His spiritual power.

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We're going to have a multifaceted process,

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a bunch of different angles and experiences

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to get you deeper with God

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and have Him come alive in you.

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And as we personally get revived,

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our church is going to get revived

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and we could impact 10X

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what God wants us to do in the Kingdom.

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That's what I'm asking for you.

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That's what God's asking for us.

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He's been pushing on us,

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and I'm pushing on you a little bit right now,

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just like God's been pushing on me

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for quite some time about making this happen.

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This is going to be great,

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it's going to be hard,

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and it's going to be important.

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I'm asking you to clear your calendar for six weeks.

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Make it a priority to get to church.

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For six weeks try the things we're giving you as tools:

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a guide, a prayer experience, discussions.

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Do the thing and see how God may use it.

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It's going to end with us being able to make

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a financial commitment above and beyond

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what we regularly give for three years.

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That's just a part of it, because the whole thing

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is about our personal spiritual growth

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and the potency of our church.

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This is going to change the way

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you and I interact with God.

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This is going to change the way

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you and I are used by God.

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We believe this.

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He's called us to this.

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Let's lean into the push

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and let's do

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what God's asking us to do.

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Let's go.

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- Yes. Who's ready for 10X?

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Yes. Who wants 10X impact in your life?

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Who wants 10X impact for the Kingdom of God?

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I know I do, and I'm excited about The Push.

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So that's what this push is about.

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It's about us as a community pushing into

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and getting started with what God is calling us

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to do over the next ten years.

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And that looks like 10X the impact of everything

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that God is doing in and through Crossroads.

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We want to see 10X more people

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coming into a vibrant relationship with Jesus.

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We want to see 10X more people being impacted

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by some of our reach out efforts across the world.

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We want to see 10X impact in every city

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where God has called Crossroads to be.

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And we want to see all of us experience

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10X impact of God in our own lives.

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What would it look like for you to have

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10X of the joy that you experience today?

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10x of the freedom that you experience?

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10x of the hope?

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10X of the Holy Spirit working in your life?

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That's what we're going after as a church community

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and I for one am excited about it.

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Are you excited about it? I'm excited about it.

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So how are we going to do that?

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We're going to do that by engaging in

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a six week spiritual journey that ends

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with a three year financial commitment.

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That's what it looks like for us

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to go on this 10X journey with God.

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Now, I want to say this: why a spiritual journey?

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Because Jesus said, where your treasure is,

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that's where your heart will be.

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And so we want to put our hearts in a position

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over those six weeks, over the journey

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of being on the page that God is on,

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and then naturally, it will follow that

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God is going to call us.

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He's going to call all of us to step into this.

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We've done four financial journeys

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in the life of Crossroads, financial campaigns,

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I should say, and my wife and I have been

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a part of three of them.

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And every time we have done this,

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God has done something in our heart.

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We have experienced this personal awakening,

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if you will.

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And I believe that's what God wants for all of us,

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He wants us to experience a personal awakening.

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And that's why before The Push, and by the way,

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don't freak out about the money thing.

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We said this last week. And I get it.

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I got bills, I got kids, and I know

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there's people in here who have the same.

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And so don't freak out about that, though.

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Allow yourself to go on the journey.

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And because this is a spiritual journey

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we're starting The Push, The Push is kicking off

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with a revival. What is a revival?

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A revival has been this thing in the history of the church.

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We've seen it in all kinds of places

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where the people of God come together,

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typically at a place,

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and typically it's been outside.

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And so we're going to be doing this

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at our base camp property about 45 minutes

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east of where I am right now in Oakley.

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And it's just a place for us to come together

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as a whole church, kids, teenagers, adults,

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and say, "God, we want what You want.

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We want You to start the spark

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of personal revival in us."

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And that is happening October 12-13.

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So we got this calendar here.

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I want you to take a picture of this.

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And if you're online or if you're at a site

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where it's popping up on the side screens,

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take out your phone and take a picture of this calendar.

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I'm just going to walk us through it.

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So we are at today.

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Like I said, this thing kicks off October 11-13

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with The Revival on Friday and Saturday.

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And then that same weekend we do week one of The Push,

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the six weeks where Brian said, "Make it a point

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to be at church every week."

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That's where we're starting this journey.

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Guides will get passed out that Sunday.

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You'll want to be here for all of that.

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If you can do both of those things,

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do both of those things.

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And by the way, while it's at Base Camp

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and you can camp, camping is optional.

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So this isn't a thing where

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you have to go outside and camp.

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If you want to come for the day and be a part of the experience

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and then head home, you can also do that.

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Then we go through the six weeks of the journey.

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There's these things called mission briefings,

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where you can understand more about the things

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that God is uniquely calling our community to.

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And if you look at November 17th

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as we move down the timeline,

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that's the commit weekend.

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That's when, having gone on the journey,

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having allowed God to create

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a personal awakening in our lives,

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being in relationship with other people

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on this journey, collectively as a community,

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we're going to make a three year commitment,

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a three year financial commitment individually

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of what we're going to give above and beyond

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what we currently give.

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I believe God is going to use this

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in a powerful way. Here's what I know.

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I know we serve a 10X God.

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In fact, not a 10X God, we serve 100X God.

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God said that He will bless things 30, 60, and 100 fold.

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What would it look like for us to experience

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a 100X God working in and through our lives

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and in and through our community?

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You may not know God that way,

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but I believe you will if you avail yourself

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to what He's doing in and through this push.

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I'm excited about it. I hope you are.

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You can go to Crossroads.net

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and get all these details, but hopefully

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you take a picture of that

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and we're going to go on this journey together.

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So with that we're going to transition.

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And today we're continuing the conversation

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about how to hear from God.

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- Get ready for an epic journey to discover

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how we can connect with the living God

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that created the universe, and you and me.

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From the dawn of time to present day,

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each week, we'll look in the library of books

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that make up the Bible to learn

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how we've been able to connect to God

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since the dawn of time,

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through the epic stories of history,

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the soul stirring beauty of poetry,

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the depths of prophecy,

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the revolutionary life and teachings of Jesus,

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and letters of the early church.

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This isn't just a study;

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it's an adventure of discovery

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and where faith comes alive.

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- So I want to start us in kind of

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a grounded place today, in a place of

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really sitting in some sacred words.

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And so we don't do this often around here,

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but I'm actually going to ask you,

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if you're able, wherever you are, to stand.

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I want you to stand and we're just going to

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kind of reverence these words

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as I read them to you together.

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I just want you to take this in, it says:

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And as you remain standing, some more words

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that I want us to just sit in the gravity of.

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There's a party going on right here;

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a celebration to last throughout the years.

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So bring your good times and your laughter --

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You guys ready? You guys ready with this?

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And your laughter too, because

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we're going to celebrate now and party with you.

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Come on now. So, band, you got this?

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Let's do this. Come on, come on.

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Put your hands together. [music: Celebration, Kool & the Gang]

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Come on, come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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You're feeling it. Do a little side to side.

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Just a side to side dance.

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Don't get outside your lane.

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Just a little side to side.

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Now you're really feeling it.

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Who wants to do the Electric slide with me?

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Come on up here. There's room.

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Who wants to do the Electric Slide?

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Come on. Here we go. We're starting this way.

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Come on. All right, all right.

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Hard to do in your aisles.

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All right, here we go. Here we go.

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All right, all right, come on.

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Come on, come on, come on. [Celebrate good times, come on]

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All right. Who's having fun? Who's having fun?

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Keep going, keep it going. Woo!

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All right, all right. Oh, yes.

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Yes, yes and yes.

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I knew you guys wouldn't let me down on that one.

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So you can have a seat. You can have a seat.

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So we're in this series where we're talking about

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how to hear from God, and we've been leaning

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into this verse because this verse

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kind of has two parts to it.

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It's Romans 12:15 and it says:

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Rejoice with those who rejoice

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and weep with those who weep.

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And last week, if you were here,

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we talked about lament.

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We talked about what does it look like

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to deal honestly with life's pain.

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And that was last week.

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This week we're leaning into celebration.

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Because what if I told you, what if I told you

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that actually, this is one of the key things

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that God wants us to unlock in terms of

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how to hear from Him is to be able to meet Him in celebration.

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I had a chance on Monday to hang out with my mom,

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who's 88 years old, and my family in Philadelphia.

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And I'm telling you, it was a celebration.

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It was so fun to be with them.

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And you know how it is when you're with your family.

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You're reminiscing, you're telling the old stories.

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It was an absolute blast.

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And I had this feeling while I was there that,

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"Man, my soul really needed this."

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Like, it just filled me up and it did

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something for me that nothing else could.

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I had joy coming out of that.

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I felt energized coming out of that.

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And I was thinking about this weekend

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as I was experiencing my family, and I was like,

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"You know what? This is what God is like.

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This is what it's like when you experience

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the presence of God.

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It feels like a celebration."

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Because I don't know about you, but I wonder

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when you think about God, what do you think God is like?

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What expression do you imagine that God

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would have on His face if He were to encounter you?

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I think some of us think about the God

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who wants to smack us down.

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Some of us see a face of a God

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who is deeply disappointed in us.

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But I love this idea that the God we serve

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is always in a good mood. Think about that.

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He created everything. He owns everything.

00:36:30

He can change anything.

00:36:32

What does God have to be sad about?

00:36:34

And He has made a way through His Son, Jesus,

00:36:37

for you and I to come into relationship with Him.

00:36:40

Friends, I'm here to tell you

00:36:41

God is always in a good mood

00:36:45

because God knows the end from the beginning,

00:36:47

He knows where this story is going

00:36:49

and it is going someplace good.

00:36:50

So today, the big idea is this,

00:36:52

I want to help you connect with the happy heart of God.

00:36:56

Connect with the happy heart of God. Let's pray.

00:37:00

God, I pray that today would be fun.

00:37:03

I pray that we would understand this aspect

00:37:06

of your character that calls us to be

00:37:09

people who lean into celebration.

00:37:11

Now, God, we don't forget that life is hard.

00:37:13

We don't forget that things are challenging.

00:37:16

We don't forget that there may be people

00:37:18

in here who are really struggling

00:37:19

to celebrate anything right now.

00:37:21

We don't forget that, God,

00:37:22

but we also want to grow.

00:37:24

And one of the ways that we want to grow,

00:37:26

one of the ways we want to hear from You

00:37:28

more clearly, is we want to be

00:37:29

people who celebrate well.

00:37:30

So I pray that You would guide us in this

00:37:32

and that we would see Your heart in this today.

00:37:35

In Jesus's name, Amen.

00:37:38

So this is something we need to talk about.

00:37:41

This is something that we need to be

00:37:42

spiritually formed in because truth is,

00:37:45

and the data is clear,

00:37:47

many of us aren't good at celebrating.

00:37:49

Many of us aren't good at that.

00:37:50

One of the things I read said this:

00:38:03

Think about that.

00:38:04

One of the most resourced countries in the world,

00:38:06

and yet many Americans are twice as likely

00:38:08

than those around the world to go a whole year

00:38:11

without taking vacation.

00:38:12

The average number of vacation days

00:38:13

the American worker takes is 11. Think about that.

00:38:17

Most jobs you get 14 days, you get two weeks.

00:38:20

And yet we don't even use all of our vacation days.

00:38:24

We also struggle with the whole idea of rest.

00:38:27

Here's what one author said. She said:

00:38:50

Anybody else struggle with that,

00:38:52

to not define yourself by what you do,

00:38:55

to not define yourself by your latest success?

00:38:58

And yet, if we look around the world

00:39:00

in human history, we see that every culture

00:39:03

has aspects of celebration.

00:39:06

It is a part of cultures all around the world.

00:39:08

Let me give you a couple of examples.

00:39:09

One we just experienced in our city.

00:39:11

Did anybody go to Oktoberfest? [music: Chicken Dance]

00:39:15

Yes. Any chicken dancers in here, right? Yes.

00:39:19

But think about it, Oktoberfest

00:39:21

is such a fun celebration, right?

00:39:23

I mean, there's a dance, there's people coming together.

00:39:25

There's the food, there's the drinks.

00:39:27

Like, it's an experience of celebration.

00:39:30

And there are celebrations like that all around the world.

00:39:34

There's one in the UK called Glastonbury.

00:39:37

Glastonbury is when 200,000 people

00:39:41

literally take over a town

00:39:43

where the actual population is 9000

00:39:46

for this huge outdoor festival.

00:39:48

And so there's just a lot of fun, music

00:39:50

and it's kind of become this thing.

00:39:53

Then in Brazil you have carnival.

00:39:55

This is one of the things that I would love

00:39:57

to experience in person, carnival,

00:39:59

where the entire country explodes

00:40:01

in color and music and dancing.

00:40:03

This is a thing that people all around the world

00:40:06

actually make it a point to go to Brazil

00:40:08

to experience Carnival at some point in their lifetime.

00:40:11

Here's another one, Spain has something

00:40:13

called the La Tomatina Festival.

00:40:14

I don't know if you've heard of this.

00:40:16

This is when for no good reason,

00:40:18

other than the fun of it, this whole town

00:40:20

gathers and they throw tomatoes at each other.

00:40:24

Think about who you might want

00:40:25

to take with you to La Tomatina, right?

00:40:28

And it's just all in fun where people

00:40:30

are having a really, really good time.

00:40:33

And then you've got Comic-Con, Comic-Con,

00:40:36

don't judge, don't judge, don't hate Comic-Con.

00:40:38

And here's what I love.

00:40:40

I love what someone said about Comic-Con.

00:40:41

They said this:

00:40:46

Yes, that's right, we got some Comic-Con folks in here.

00:40:58

You know what I thought about when I read that?

00:41:01

That's what it should feel like to be around church people.

00:41:04

That's what it should feel like when

00:41:06

we come together as people who have been rescued.

00:41:08

This should be a place where your anxiety is lessened.

00:41:11

This should be a place where you can be yourself.

00:41:13

This should be a place that's marked by many things,

00:41:16

but among them is celebration.

00:41:18

Friends, we need this.

00:41:19

We need to grow our celebration muscle,

00:41:22

and we need to see it as a spiritual practice

00:41:25

that can help us hear from God.

00:41:28

Celebration is a necessity, it's not a luxury.

00:41:31

Celebration is a spiritual discipline

00:41:34

that we are called to live into

00:41:36

because celebration and the things we celebrate

00:41:39

are gifts from God.

00:41:40

I have a pop quiz for you.

00:41:42

We're in church so I can give you a Sunday school quiz.

00:41:44

What is the most frequent command God gives in the Bible?

00:41:50

Would you believe me if I told you it's to be happy?

00:41:53

Would you believe me that over and over in the Bible

00:41:56

God calls us to rejoice.

00:41:58

Over and over in the Bible we're called to be glad.

00:42:01

Let me just give you a couple examples.

00:42:02

In the New Testament, Paul is writing to

00:42:04

a small church in a town called Philippi. He says:

00:42:09

Unless you didn't hear me the first time.

00:42:13

Psalm 150 is the psalm book of the church,

00:42:16

it's part of the psalm book of the church,

00:42:18

the 150 Psalms, in Psalm 150:6 it says:

00:42:24

Are you breathing right now?

00:42:26

If you're not, we'll know. I think you are.

00:42:30

And if you are, the Bible says

00:42:31

you are in a spot to praise the Lord,

00:42:34

to have celebration, because the life

00:42:36

that is literally flowing through you right now.

00:42:38

Psalm 136:1 says:

00:42:46

In the Bible, the Bible is full of celebrations,

00:42:49

like the celebration of a father in the story

00:42:52

that Jesus tells that lost a son,

00:42:54

but when that son comes home,

00:42:55

he throws the biggest party you could ever imagine.

00:42:58

Or like one of David, the celebration of David,

00:43:01

who was one of the kings of Israel.

00:43:03

There was this thing called the Ark of the Covenant,

00:43:05

and it was a sign that God's presence was with His people.

00:43:07

And for a long time the ark was not in Jerusalem.

00:43:10

It was not in the place where God's temple dwelt,

00:43:12

where the tabernacle was.

00:43:13

And when David brought the Ark back to Jerusalem,

00:43:16

it says, he danced so wildly

00:43:17

that he literally danced out of his clothes.

00:43:20

Such a celebration he had that he was willing

00:43:23

to almost make a fool of himself

00:43:26

to dance before the Lord, because he was so joyful.

00:43:29

I was thinking about this.

00:43:31

What are some of the best celebrations

00:43:33

you've been a part of?

00:43:35

Some of the moments where you've been

00:43:37

a part of a celebration.

00:43:38

Maybe it was a celebration of you.

00:43:40

Maybe it was a wedding,

00:43:41

maybe it was a great reception,

00:43:42

or maybe it was some other kind of celebration.

00:43:44

But those moments when you're like, "Man,

00:43:46

I will never forget this. This was great.

00:43:48

This was fun." A couple for me.

00:43:51

One actually happened here at Crossroads.

00:43:53

We're crazy church sometimes. You know that, right?

00:43:56

We do some crazy things around here.

00:43:57

Like the Electric Slide

00:43:58

and confetti cannons in the beginning of the service.

00:44:01

We do some crazy things around here.

00:44:02

Well, I remember one Easter

00:44:04

we were doing our Easter service planning,

00:44:07

and it was like, "Hey, you know, we often

00:44:09

do communion on Easter to remember kind of

00:44:11

the sacrifice of Jesus. That's been a part of it.

00:44:13

And sometimes we do that on Good Friday service."

00:44:15

And I remember somebody had the idea, "You know,

00:44:17

Easter is a celebration.

00:44:19

Like we're not celebrating death on Easter.

00:44:21

We're celebrating life.

00:44:22

What would you do if you were celebrating life?"

00:44:25

And so we decided to do a flip on communion.

00:44:27

And if you were here, you remember this.

00:44:29

We had cake and champagne. Real champagne on Easter.

00:44:32

Who was here for that and remembers that?

00:44:34

We had literal cake and champagne

00:44:36

because it was a celebration.

00:44:37

I will never, ever forget that.

00:44:39

It was one of those moments when it's like,

00:44:41

"Yes, this is what it looks like

00:44:43

to celebrate the goodness of God."

00:44:45

There's another celebration that I was a part of,

00:44:47

and I brought this up here because

00:44:49

I need to kind of live into this part a little bit.

00:44:51

So we got a UC Bearcats in the house?

00:44:53

We got a UC Bearcats alum in the house?

00:44:56

All right. Well, well, some of you might have

00:44:58

heard of this thing that I got to be a part of.

00:45:01

So I was invited to be a part of

00:45:03

one of the graduation ceremonies that happens

00:45:06

at the University of Cincinnati.

00:45:07

Now, we've all been to graduations, right?

00:45:09

We've all been to one, probably,

00:45:11

or we've seen one in a movie or on TV.

00:45:13

And, you know, usually, let me get in spot,

00:45:16

like, you know, they call your name

00:45:17

and you're coming up and this is,

00:45:19

this is usually what it sounds like and looks like, right?

00:45:21

[Music: Pomp and Circumstance] So you know Charles Mingo.

00:45:28

Everybody's walking up.

00:45:31

They don't know which hand.

00:45:32

They always, like, get the wrong hand with the diploma,

00:45:35

but they kind of walk. So, you know.

00:45:36

So I got invited to be a part of

00:45:40

a graduation ceremony that happens

00:45:43

every year at UC called Tyehimba.

00:45:45

Has anybody ever heard of that, Tyehimba?

00:45:46

So Tyehimba means we stand together as a nation.

00:45:50

And it is a celebration of all the graduates

00:45:53

of African descent who are graduating

00:45:55

from the University of Cincinnati.

00:45:56

So, you know, I got invited to be a speaker.

00:45:58

So I'm on the stage, you know, I'm on the dais

00:46:00

or whatever you call it.

00:46:01

And, you know, I'm prepared to kind of

00:46:02

give my remarks and give some encouraging words

00:46:04

to the students.

00:46:05

And so I'm expecting for Pomp and Circumstance

00:46:08

to play and all these people to come down.

00:46:10

And I was like, "Oh, this will be nice."

00:46:11

Well, as I'm sitting in the chair,

00:46:13

I realize very quickly

00:46:16

this was not a Pomp and Circumstance crowd,

00:46:18

because this is what happened.

00:46:20

This is what happened, they start playing this song.

00:46:22

[music: Before I Let Go, Frankie Beverly]

00:46:24

And then, like, this whole mob of students

00:46:26

started coming out, walking down the aisles like this.

00:46:30

Everybody's dancing, high fiving,

00:46:32

people doing their thing.

00:46:33

They got their slide going.

00:46:35

I mean, it was so fun.

00:46:36

You saw people party walking, if you know what that is.

00:46:38

It's like the fraternities were doing their party walk.

00:46:40

And I was like, "Yo,

00:46:41

I want to be a part of that celebration.

00:46:43

Why didn't they play that song at my graduation?"

00:46:45

Right? It was so, so good.

00:46:47

And I remember in that moment saying, "Man,

00:46:49

this is what it looks like to celebrate."

00:46:52

And so I just think we all have had

00:46:54

these experiences, these moments

00:46:56

where we've had a taste of celebration.

00:46:59

And what I'm saying is this:

00:47:01

what if the best celebration

00:47:03

you've ever experienced is just a foretaste

00:47:06

of what God wants to bring to your life

00:47:08

in terms of celebration and joy?

00:47:10

What if it's just a taste of it?

00:47:12

What would it look like for us

00:47:13

to up our celebration game?

00:47:15

We'll give you three things today,

00:47:17

ways that you can up your celebration game

00:47:20

as a spiritual practice.

00:47:21

And the first is this: make it sensual.

00:47:23

[music: Careless Whisper, George Michaels]

00:47:28

I know that's where your mind goes

00:47:30

when you hear sensual, I know, I know.

00:47:32

That's not what I'm talking about.

00:47:34

I don't know if you know this,

00:47:36

that's like a big song with Gen Z now. Like, yeah.

00:47:38

Yeah. Somebody's like, oh, really? It is.

00:47:40

Like, they -- because Careless Whisper is used

00:47:42

on all these TikTok things.

00:47:43

So I'm sitting with my son and he's like,

00:47:45

"Yeah, Careless Whisper."

00:47:46

I'm like, "What do you know about Careless Whisper?

00:47:48

You're 16. Like, oh my gosh.

00:47:51

What do you know about that?"

00:47:52

But this is a thing. It's a thing.

00:47:54

But when I talk about make it sensual,

00:47:56

what I'm talking about is this:

00:47:58

God has given you the gift of your five senses,

00:48:01

and God actually wants us to use

00:48:04

our five senses to celebrate.

00:48:07

No celebration is complete, I think

00:48:09

if you think about that best celebration you had,

00:48:11

you probably had some food.

00:48:13

There probably was a drink in your hand at some point.

00:48:15

And you just know, like, that's a part of the feel.

00:48:17

There was sensuality to the celebration.

00:48:20

I don't mean sexuality,

00:48:21

but I mean sensuality to the celebration.

00:48:24

Here's what's interesting, when you read

00:48:26

through the New Testament, Jesus was a party animal.

00:48:30

I don't know if you know that or not.

00:48:31

He was a party animal. One writer put it this way.

00:48:33

They said in Luke's gospel,

00:48:35

which is one of the biographies of Jesus's life,

00:48:37

Jesus is either going to a meal,

00:48:39

at a meal, or coming from a meal.

00:48:44

Jesus hung out with people at tables.

00:48:45

He hung out with people at celebrations.

00:48:47

Like, that was who He was.

00:48:49

His first miracle, His first recorded miracle

00:48:51

was turning water into wine at a wedding.

00:48:54

This is a part of who Jesus is.

00:48:57

John Mark Comer is a great author on spiritual formation.

00:49:00

He wrote a recent book called Practicing the Way.

00:49:03

And he says this, he says,

00:49:16

I want you to stop and think about the fact

00:49:18

that God is a sensual being.

00:49:23

Think about that. God is sensual.

00:49:26

God has the ability to enjoy what He has created.

00:49:30

God has the ability to feel what He's created.

00:49:34

He has the ability to hear and respond

00:49:37

to what He's created through hearing.

00:49:39

He has the ability to see what He's created

00:49:41

and call it good.

00:49:43

God himself is a sensual being

00:49:46

and He has made us in His image

00:49:48

that way we are also sensual beings.

00:49:52

One of my favorite verses in Psalms

00:49:54

is Psalm 16:11, which says:

00:50:01

And listen to this.

00:50:06

If you think that the God who created ice cream

00:50:09

isn't into pleasure, think again.

00:50:12

If you think that the God who created sunsets

00:50:15


00:50:17

If you think the God who created sex

00:50:20


00:50:22

God has brought all of these things into the world

00:50:25

and in the right context wants us to enjoy them.

00:50:29

It's who God is.

00:50:30

God gave you sight to see beauty and color

00:50:34

and the textures of this earth.

00:50:36

God gave you hearing to enjoy great music

00:50:40

and to have the impact of someone's laughter

00:50:43

impact your day and bless you in a powerful way.

00:50:45

He gave you the sense of smell.

00:50:47

I don't know what it is for you,

00:50:49

but when I smell my mother's bread pudding,

00:50:51

it does something for me.

00:50:52

It's a rejoicing moment for me.

00:50:55

I don't know what it is for you.

00:50:56

It could be the smell of a flower.

00:50:57

It could be the smell of the salt water at the ocean.

00:51:00

But God has given you the ability of smell

00:51:02

to enjoy and take pleasure in what He has made.

00:51:05

He gave you the sense of taste to actually

00:51:08

be able to taste the salty and the sweet,

00:51:10

to have this ability to taste the flavors of this world.

00:51:14

He has given you the sense of touch

00:51:17

to be able to feel the sand between your feet.

00:51:19

I love that one.

00:51:21

To be able to have the warmth of the sun on your back,

00:51:24

to be able to experience the the drift of snow

00:51:27

as you're skiing kind of blowing against your face.

00:51:29

This is a God who is sensual

00:51:31

and who made us sensual.

00:51:33

And I think the way to kind of

00:51:34

up your celebration game,

00:51:36

whatever it is that you're celebrating,

00:51:37

is to think how can I leverage the five senses

00:51:40

that God has given me to celebrate well?

00:51:43

So make it sensual.

00:51:45

But the second thing is this: make it communal.

00:51:49

Celebration at its best is done in the context of community.

00:51:54

Again, think about all the example I gave:

00:51:56

Glastonbury, Carnival.

00:51:58

All of those things happen in the context

00:52:00

of community and we need this.

00:52:03

We need this because we live in a world

00:52:05

where there is a crisis of loneliness

00:52:07

and isolation. So a couple of things.

00:52:09

One, the percentage of people who say

00:52:11

they don't have close friends

00:52:12

has increased fourfold since 1990.

00:52:16

Just stop and think about that.

00:52:18

More than half of all Americans say

00:52:20

no one knows them well. More than half.

00:52:24

The percentage of high school students

00:52:26

who report persistent feelings of sadness

00:52:28

or hopelessness shot up from 26% in 2009

00:52:31

to 44% in 2001?

00:52:34

Friends, that is a symptom of our isolation.

00:52:36

That is a symptom of our aloneness.

00:52:38

That is a symptom of the ways in which

00:52:40

we live our lives, that reinforce the lie

00:52:42

that we all struggle with, that you are alone.

00:52:46

And yet God says you're not alone,

00:52:48

and God wants you to not only know you're not alone

00:52:51

because you're in community with Him,

00:52:53

but He wants you to experience and celebrate

00:52:55

the joy of being in community with others as well.

00:52:59

One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 133.

00:53:03

And Psalm 133 in its entirety says:

00:53:29

I love this Psalm because it takes me back

00:53:32

to the church I grew up in, Shekinah Revival Temple,

00:53:34

6706 North Broad Street in Philadelphia.

00:53:36

And we would do, like, we would have

00:53:39

lots of services where there was

00:53:41

a guest church coming to visit us.

00:53:43

And like that, pastor would preach,

00:53:45

we typically would share a meal with them

00:53:47

before all of that happened.

00:53:48

So there was a lot of like relational connection

00:53:50

that was a part of my church.

00:53:51

And every time, every time we had one of

00:53:54

these people visiting, these churches visiting,

00:53:56

my Uncle Barry would stand up and he would say,

00:53:59

"How good and pleasant it is

00:54:01

for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity."

00:54:05

And so recently I took a deep dive into this psalm,

00:54:08

Psalm 133, words that I have heard all my life,

00:54:11

or certainly as a little kid, all the way up till now.

00:54:14

And I think it's so interesting

00:54:15

what is being communicated in this psalm

00:54:18

about the power of community.

00:54:20

It says two things. It says it's so good.

00:54:22

It is so good when we're together.

00:54:24

It is so good when we're unified.

00:54:26

It is so good when there's relationships

00:54:29

flowing between us that it is like the oil

00:54:32

that was poured on the head and the beard

00:54:35

and the robe of Aaron. Now, who is Aaron?

00:54:37

Aaron was the brother of Moses, and Aaron

00:54:40

was the first High priest.

00:54:41

And the high priest in the way that

00:54:44

the spiritual practices worked

00:54:45

in the nation of Israel was meant to be

00:54:47

God's representative to the people

00:54:49

and the people's representative to God.

00:54:51

So this was a special position,

00:54:54

and God wanted to make it abundantly clear

00:54:57

that this person has His blessing.

00:54:59

And so what God had Moses do

00:55:01

was anoint his brother with oil,

00:55:04

probably some kind of scented oil.

00:55:06

Maybe it was olive oil scented with other flavors.

00:55:09

And the image of oil was representative

00:55:11

of the Spirit of God.

00:55:13

So wherever something had been blessed with oil,

00:55:15

it was a signal and a symbol that

00:55:17

this is where the Spirit of God dwells.

00:55:20

And God wanted to make it so clear

00:55:22

that Aaron was blessed, and through this Psalm

00:55:25

wanted to make it so clear

00:55:27

that community is blessed,

00:55:29

that God did not tell Moses to just take

00:55:31

a little dab of the oil and put it on your brother.

00:55:34

He said, "No, I want you to pour the oil

00:55:37

all over his head." Can you imagine that?

00:55:39

Can you imagine olive oil being poured on your head?

00:55:42

He had this thick beard,

00:55:43

and it's going all through his beard.

00:55:45

The scent and the smell and the feel,

00:55:47

again, a very sensual experience.

00:55:49

And then it would get into the fold of his robes.

00:55:51

And you can imagine that was going

00:55:53

to stay there for a while, right?

00:55:54

And it would get all the way down to his feet.

00:55:56

And God wanted to make it so clear that

00:55:58

when you have the presence of God,

00:56:00

you are so blessed. It's a saturated blessing.

00:56:03

It's not just a dab. You get the whole thing.

00:56:06

And David in this psalm is saying,

00:56:08

"When we celebrate in community

00:56:10

and when we're together,

00:56:11

we don't get a little bit of God.

00:56:13

We get God poured over us."

00:56:14

Can you imagine God being poured over this place

00:56:17

and the Spirit of God flowing in and through us,

00:56:19

such to the point that if we had beards,

00:56:21

it's getting in our beard and it's getting

00:56:23

in the folds of our clothes,

00:56:24

and it's impactin g the way we live our lives.

00:56:26

It is that good when we celebrate in community and --

00:56:32

[applause] Amen.

00:56:34

And he says it's like the dew of Mount Hermon.

00:56:39

Israel is in an arid place,

00:56:42

but one of the reasons that they have agriculture

00:56:45

that can actually produce fruit in Israel

00:56:47

is because of Mount Hermon.

00:56:49

Mount Hermon is actually tall enough to have a snow cap,

00:56:51

even though it's a mountain in the desert.

00:56:53

And because of that Mount Hermon's moisture,

00:56:56

the snow capped runoff and the water

00:56:59

that it creates actually travels

00:57:01

to the grounds of Israel

00:57:03

and is able to moisturize the ground,

00:57:06

the otherwise dry ground, to the point

00:57:08

where healthy things can grow.

00:57:10

And so David is also saying,

00:57:11

"When we're in community, when we celebrate

00:57:13

in community, when we're connected this way,

00:57:15

healthy things can grow."

00:57:17

Friends, the way forward is together.

00:57:20

The way to celebrate is together.

00:57:22

And when we celebrate this way, healthy things can grow.

00:57:27

So if you're going to up your celebration game,

00:57:29

make it sensual, but also make it communal.

00:57:33

But finally, and probably most importantly,

00:57:36

grounded in God.

00:57:38

I'm not talking about celebrations today

00:57:40

that exploit people.

00:57:42

I'm not talking about celebrations

00:57:44

that harm our own bodies.

00:57:45

I'm not talking about anything in excess

00:57:47

that would do that.

00:57:48

I'm talking about healthy celebrations

00:57:50

that reflect the goodness of God in our lives,

00:57:53

and thus we need to ground these celebrations

00:57:56

in God if we want to hear from Him through this way.

00:58:00

I heard a story just today and I said,

00:58:03

"Man, I want to share that today."

00:58:05

And the story was this.

00:58:06

Dallas Willard is

00:58:08

a well-known spiritual philosopher pastor.

00:58:11

He's passed away now, but just has had

00:58:13

a huge impact on so many followers of Jesus.

00:58:16

I love his books and I've been impacted

00:58:18

by his life and ministry as well.

00:58:20

And I heard a story today about a man

00:58:23

who met Dallas Willard, and how that interaction

00:58:25

with Dallas Willard changed his life.

00:58:27

This was a man who was really struggling,

00:58:28

lots was going wrong in his life,

00:58:30

lots of pain, lots of disappointment.

00:58:32

And he was honestly struggling with God.

00:58:34

He was struggling to trust God.

00:58:36

He was struggling to believe that God is good.

00:58:38

And his friends felt so concerned about him

00:58:40

that they arranged for him to meet with this,

00:58:43

like, spiritual guru Dallas Willard.

00:58:45

And Dallas Willard met with him and he talked about,

00:58:48

this man, talked about how impactful that visit was.

00:58:50

And he said he started out by just complaining,

00:58:52

telling Dallas Willard about the things

00:58:54

in his life that weren't going well,

00:58:56

about the hard things.

00:58:57

How is it that God can ignore pain

00:58:58

and how can there be a good God

00:59:00

if I'm going through such difficult things?

00:59:02

And he was really, really wrestling.

00:59:03

He talked about how Dallas Willard was just

00:59:05

so gracious to him throughout the conversation

00:59:07

and said some things to encourage his heart

00:59:09

and just how meaningful that was.

00:59:10

He said but at the end of the time,

00:59:12

Dallas Willard asked him a question

00:59:14

that really changed his life.

00:59:17

And I want to ask you the same question.

00:59:19

This was the question. Dallas said:

00:59:21

Are you willing to see everything that is good

00:59:24

as being a gift from God

00:59:26

and everything that is not good

00:59:29

as not being from God?

00:59:32

And I love that he asked are you willing?

00:59:36

Because I think sometimes it's hard for us

00:59:37

to do this on our own,

00:59:38

especially when life is difficult.

00:59:41

But I love the question, not do you believe,

00:59:44

but are you willing to believe.

00:59:46

Because here's what the Bible says in James 1:17 says:

00:59:57

What this verse is saying is that everything

00:59:59

that is good in your life comes from God,

01:00:02

and that everything that is not good

01:00:04

in your life is not from God.

01:00:05

Now, that doesn't mean, that doesn't mean that

01:00:07

God doesn't allow us to be impacted

01:00:09

by the brokenness and the sadness and the evil

01:00:11

and the hardships of this world.

01:00:12

Of course, we are impacted by that,

01:00:14

but that doesn't mean it's from God.

01:00:17

And so that's the question today is:

01:00:18

are you willing to see by the act of celebration,

01:00:21

that it is a way for you to say,

01:00:23

no matter what I'm going through, God is good.

01:00:26

God is good, my situation might not be good,

01:00:28

but God is good.

01:00:29

Because if you can't believe that,

01:00:31

then it's going to be really hard

01:00:32

to have a relationship with God,

01:00:34

let alone to hear from Him.

01:00:35

And so again, it's not about do you or don't you,

01:00:38

but are you willing? Are you willing?

01:00:41

And I think one of the ways we grow

01:00:43

in our willingness to see God in that way

01:00:45

is we practice. We practice our way there.

01:00:49

And one of the practices, again,

01:00:51

we see over and over in the Bible

01:00:52

is the practice of remembering.

01:00:54

I think remembering is a way for us

01:00:56

to flex the spiritual muscle of celebration.

01:00:59

It's a way for us to be able to be more willing

01:01:02

to know that the good things in our life

01:01:04

are all from God.

01:01:06

Let me tell you a story about

01:01:08

a powerful moment of remembering in the Bible.

01:01:10

There's a prophet named Samuel in the Old Testament.

01:01:13

And Samuel at the time was both

01:01:16

the spiritual leader of Israel, but he was also

01:01:19

the de facto governmental leader as well,

01:01:21

because this was before the time of the kings.

01:01:23

So Samuel was the leader of the country, the nation.

01:01:26

And at the time when Samuel was leading the nation

01:01:29

for much of that time, they were under duress

01:01:31

and under attack by a group of people called the Philistines.

01:01:34

And these were kind of like their neighbors

01:01:36

that they didn't get along with.

01:01:38

And there were wars and violence,

01:01:40

and the Philistines had actually encroached

01:01:42

and taken over a lot of the territory

01:01:43

that God had said belonged to His people.

01:01:46

So they were in a really hard spot.

01:01:48

And the people asked, Samuel,

01:01:49

"Samuel, we are struggling with this,

01:01:52

and we would love for you to pray

01:01:54

that God would show up,

01:01:55

that God would rescue us from the Philistines."

01:01:57

And so Samuel said, "Man, I'm I'm happy to pray."

01:01:59

And so he called for a national gathering.

01:02:02

And there was a national gathering

01:02:03

of the people of Israel,

01:02:04

and I don't know how many were there.

01:02:06

I don't know the percentage of people there,

01:02:07

but it was a significant portion of people who were there.

01:02:10

And the Philistines got word that Israel

01:02:12

was gathering in one place.

01:02:14

And the Philistines said, "Why don't we

01:02:16

surround them there and attack them?"

01:02:19

Can you imagine? They're coming together

01:02:21

to pray for God's goodness and blessing,

01:02:23

and they wind up being surrounded by their enemies.

01:02:26

And so what do they do?

01:02:27

They look at Samuel and they're like,

01:02:29

"Can you pray harder, please?

01:02:30

Can you please pray harder?"

01:02:32

And Samuel's like, "Yes, I will pray harder."

01:02:34

So Samuel starts praying harder.

01:02:36

He winds up sacrificing a lamb because that was

01:02:38

a way that in that time they communicated to God,

01:02:41

"We know we don't deserve this, but we need your grace."

01:02:43

And so Samuel's praying harder

01:02:45

and the people are praying harder.

01:02:46

And it says in the verses that follow that

01:02:49

the thunder -- that God thundered mightily that day.

01:02:52

That's all it says, God thundered mightily.

01:02:54

It says He threw the Philistines into confusion,

01:02:57

and they begin to attack themselves

01:02:59

or whatever happened, they begin to lose a battle

01:03:02

that the Israelites didn't even need to fight.

01:03:04

And in fact, the Israelites, it says,

01:03:05

then started to root them out of not just

01:03:08

that place where they had surrounded them,

01:03:10

but out of some of the territories that they had taken.

01:03:12

God used that moment when the country was gathered

01:03:16

to do something miraculous against their enemies.

01:03:19

Unbelievable. But what I love is what Samuel does next.

01:03:23

In 1 Samuel 7:12 it says:

01:03:30

because that's where this happened.

01:03:39

Samuel said, "Listen, I don't know

01:03:41

what tomorrow is going to bring.

01:03:42

I don't know what's going to happen five years from now,

01:03:45

but we need to remember that today God protected us.

01:03:50

We need to remember that today God delivered us.

01:03:53

We need to remember that today

01:03:54

God did something miraculous in our sight."

01:03:58

And so he built an Ebenezer.

01:04:01

And I wonder what it would look like

01:04:02

for you to build an Ebenezer.

01:04:04

I wonder what it would look like for you

01:04:06

to maybe literally take stones and maybe

01:04:09

you write on those stones the ways in which

01:04:11

God has been faithful to you.

01:04:13

You write on those stones the way

01:04:14

that God has brought you out of difficulty,

01:04:17

the things that you thought

01:04:18

would end your life that didn't,

01:04:19

the people that you thought

01:04:21

would destroy your life, that didn't.

01:04:23

The ways that God has healed you,

01:04:25

the ways that He strengthened you,

01:04:26

the opportunities He's given you,

01:04:28

the joy that you get to celebrate.

01:04:30

I wonder what it would look like for you

01:04:33

to build an Ebenezer.

01:04:34

I was thinking about this for myself,

01:04:36

and I tell you a couple of the stones

01:04:37

that would be on my Ebenezer.

01:04:39

For sure my three kids would be stones in my Ebenezer,

01:04:42

because with all of my kids,

01:04:44

there's a story of God's faithfulness.

01:04:45

We couldn't conceive. We struggled to conceive.

01:04:48

We didn't know we had conceived.

01:04:50

I mean, we've got stories of God's faithfulness

01:04:53

in our family through my kids.

01:04:55

Part of my Ebenezer would be a group of guys,

01:04:58

a picture of a group of guys who walked with me

01:05:00

through recovery, who are helping me even today

01:05:03

to find more fully who I am.

01:05:05

That would be a part of my Ebenezer.

01:05:07

There are lots of things that would be a part of my Ebenezer.

01:05:09

I would think about the time when I got

01:05:12

a chance to baptize someone

01:05:13

for the first time here at Crossroads,

01:05:15

and how that was an Ebenezer for me.

01:05:17

I would think about all the ways in which

01:05:19

God has been faithful. What would be yours?

01:05:21

What would be your Ebenezer?

01:05:23

What would be your reminders that God is good

01:05:25

and that at this point,

01:05:26

who knows what tomorrow will brin,

01:05:28

but at this point God has helped you.

01:05:31

I want to challenge you to do that.

01:05:33

I want to challenge you to make this practical

01:05:36

and build an Ebenezer. You can do it digitally.

01:05:38

Maybe it's just a group of pictures

01:05:40

that you put into an album on your iPhone,

01:05:42

and when you need it, you just flip

01:05:44

through those pictures because those are

01:05:45

the things that remind you of the ways

01:05:47

in which God has been faithful.

01:05:49

What would it look like for you

01:05:51

to raise an Ebenezer for yourself

01:05:55

and to celebrate in a way that leverages

01:05:58

your five senses, to celebrate.

01:06:00

Who you can bring in and say, "Hey,

01:06:02

you need to remember this with me,

01:06:03

or I want to celebrate you because

01:06:05

of what you've meant to my life.

01:06:06

And to ground it in the goodness of God.

01:06:09

Because, friends, I don't want you to miss the party.

01:06:12

Like I said, the greatest celebration we can have

01:06:15

this side of heaven is just a dress rehearsal for heaven.

01:06:18

Jesus told many stories to help people

01:06:20

understand what heaven was like.

01:06:22

And I'll finish with this.

01:06:24

One of those stories Jesus told

01:06:26

was about a great banquet.

01:06:28

And He said that this father and this bridegroom,

01:06:32

this groom wanted to throw a great banquet of celebration.

01:06:35

But they invited people and everybody had

01:06:38

an excuse of why they couldn't make it.

01:06:40

All the VIP people that he invited couldn't make it.

01:06:42

All the people that were close to him couldn't make it.

01:06:44

Nobody wanted to come to the great banquet.

01:06:47

And he said the host of the banquet

01:06:49

said to his servants, "You know what?

01:06:50

If they're not going to come to my banquet,

01:06:52

that's fine.

01:06:53

I want you to go to those

01:06:54

who feel like they would never get invited.

01:06:56

I want you to go to those that are disenfranchised.

01:06:58

I want you to go to those that feel like they're less than.

01:07:00

I want you to go to those that feel like

01:07:02

they're on the outside looking in.

01:07:03

And I want you to invite them to my banquet."

01:07:06

And he says all these people came

01:07:08

at his banquet table and got to celebrate.

01:07:10

Jesus told that parable because He wanted

01:07:12

us to understand we are the outsiders.

01:07:15

We're the people who don't belong at the table of God,

01:07:18

and yet we're invited.

01:07:19

We're the people who are disenfranchized from God.

01:07:22

But through the grace of what Jesus did,

01:07:24

we get to be at the celebration.

01:07:26

He wanted us to be there.

01:07:27

And I'm telling you, that's just a foretaste

01:07:29

of what heaven is going to be like.

01:07:31

I'll tell you one last celebration story.

01:07:33

One of the other fun celebrations

01:07:34

I got to be a part of happened in New Orleans.

01:07:36

Anybody ever been to New Orleans?

01:07:38

Happened in New Orleans.

01:07:39

I have a dear friend from college. He got married.

01:07:42

We were down in New Orleans.

01:07:43

And after his wedding, they did this thing

01:07:46

called the second line. The second line.

01:07:48

I don't know, you probably have seen this.

01:07:50

The second line in New Orleans is something

01:07:52

that oftentimes we'll see it at funerals,

01:07:54

but they also do it at weddings.

01:07:56

And what it is is there's like a brass band,

01:07:58

and that brass band is playing on the streets

01:08:01

as the couple or the hearse or whatever it is

01:08:04

is walking through the streets.

01:08:05

But in this case, it was my friend and his wife.

01:08:08

And they're they're walking behind the brass band,

01:08:10

and the band is playing the music

01:08:12

When the Saints Come Marching in. Right?

01:08:14

And it was so fun to see this.

01:08:16

But the thing that's so rich about a second line

01:08:18

is there's the bride and the groom,

01:08:20

and you know they're supposed to be at the party.

01:08:22

But the way a second line works is

01:08:25

the whole neighborhood is invited.

01:08:26

If you see a second line going down

01:08:28

the streets of New Orleans, you can join in.

01:08:31

And I'm telling you, there's something there

01:08:33

for us spiritually to connect with, which is this,

01:08:35

friends, we were invited to God's second line.

01:08:38

We weren't in the first line.

01:08:40

We didn't deserve God's love.

01:08:42

We didn't deserve his forgiveness.

01:08:44

But God, because of the grace of Jesus, says,

01:08:46

"I want everybody everywhere to know

01:08:48

they're invited into the second line.

01:08:50

I want everybody everywhere to know

01:08:52

they can be a part of the celebration

01:08:53

that's going to live on forever."

01:08:55

The Bible ends in a wedding feast.

01:08:57

The Bible ends with the best reception you've ever imagined.

01:09:00

We're going to be Electric Sliding in heaven,

01:09:03

and we're invited to be a part of it.

01:09:06

And if that's the case, let's build

01:09:09

those celebration muscles right now.

01:09:11

Let's begin to understand right now

01:09:13

what it looks like and what it feels like

01:09:15

to be invited into the greatest party

01:09:17

the universe will ever see, which is ultimately

01:09:20

the end of God's story, which is good.

01:09:23

In New Orleans, they talk about joie de vivre.

01:09:27

And what that means is there's an exuberance of life.

01:09:29

And the second line is a part of that.

01:09:31

And all the things we think about with New Orleans,

01:09:33

the food and the music, that's all a part

01:09:34

of this vibe of joie de vivre.

01:09:36

And I want you to know this: Jesus came

01:09:38

so you and I could have joie de vivre.

01:09:41

He says this in John 10:10. He says:

01:09:43

The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

01:09:45

But Jesus says, "I came that they may have life,"

01:09:48

joie de vivre, "that they may have life

01:09:50

and have it to the full."

01:09:53

So I just want to encourage you to be a celebrator,

01:09:57

because God has a happy heart,

01:09:59

and He wants you to connect to His happy heart.

01:10:01

Let's pray. God, I pray that You would help us

01:10:04

to tap into more of that joie de vivre

01:10:06

that you have for us.

01:10:08

Maybe for some of us, we've never seen You this way.

01:10:12

We've seen you as the exact opposite,

01:10:14

and it's one of the reasons we've been hesitant

01:10:16

to come closer to you.

01:10:18

God, I pray that you would show someone in here

01:10:21

who needs to know, just just needs to know

01:10:24

that You are always in a good mood,

01:10:26

that You love them, You're pursuing them,

01:10:29

and what You want for them is abundant, joyful life.

01:10:33

God help us to remember that.

01:10:35

Maybe some of us have gotten embittered

01:10:37

because of disappointments, and it's hard for us

01:10:39

to see You this way.

01:10:40

I pray that you would revive our vision of You.

01:10:43

Help us not to be stuck in a vision of You

01:10:45

as dour or not for us, when you are joyful and for us.

01:10:48

God, would you help us to receive and live

01:10:52

the abundant life that Jesus purchased for us?

01:10:55

And I pray this in Jesus's name. Amen.

01:10:59

- Hey, thanks so much for joining us today.

01:11:01

Now, I know I say this a lot,

01:11:02

but I'm going to keep saying it.

01:11:04

We mean it when we say that we are so much more

01:11:06

than just content to watch.

01:11:08

Crossroads is a movement of people

01:11:10

trying to grow closer to God.

01:11:11

We've got lots of tools to help you grow,

01:11:13

and one of the best of these tools

01:11:15

is actually the Crossroads Anywhere app.

01:11:17

People throughout our whole church,

01:11:19

all over the globe, in Cincinnati, Orlando,

01:11:21

the Philippines, and lots of places in between

01:11:23

are praying for each other

01:11:25

and reading scripture together daily.

01:11:28

Just this year, over a million prayers

01:11:30

have been prayed for in the app.

01:11:32

That is amazing.

01:11:33

I literally saw a review left

01:11:35

on the Google version of the app that says,

01:11:37

"I love this app.

01:11:38

It brought me so much closer to God

01:11:40

and has gotten me to read the Bible

01:11:41

more in two months than I have in four years."

01:11:44

So whether it's through Scripture or prayer,

01:11:47

podcasts, articles, whatever, we truly want

01:11:50

to help you experience growth

01:11:51

in your relationship with God.

01:11:53

So use the app as a tool for your growth.

01:11:56

That's all we've got for you today.

01:11:58

We'll see you back here next week.

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