How to Push Through Difficulty to Achieve Your Vision

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- Well, hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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We are so glad that you're here.

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Now Crossroads is one church with multiple sites

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around the country, but we also know that

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churches are people, not buildings.

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We also have our Crossroads Anywhere community

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of people meeting online in homes, coffee shops,

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bars, dorm rooms, all over the place,

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running after Jesus together across the globe.

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It actually reminds me of people like Joan,

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who first found Crossroads through music

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that our band recorded and posted online.

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But then she experienced not just content to watch

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or to listen to, but a growing community.

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And she since then has traveled the world with us,

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going on Go Trips, made great friends,

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and even started volunteering,

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helping other people get connected and find community.

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I just love that picture of a church

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that can't fit into a single place on the map

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or slot on the calendar.

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Now we start off our time together each week

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by singing songs that are directly rooted in Scripture.

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Now, this might be your favorite part,

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or it might feel a little awkward

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singing to your computer screen or your TV or whatever.

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But hey, whatever you're feeling,

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I just encourage you to stay tuned in

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to make the most of this time to connect with God.

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So turn up the volume, go full screen,

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and let's get started.

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- God, those aren't easy words to say.

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It's not an easy prayer, but I pray them honestly.

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I believe those words.

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You're a good Father, you're a good friend,

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and you're a good King.

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We pray this all in Your Son's name. Amen.

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- You need more fun in your life.

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Don't worry, we've got you covered.

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The 22nd annual Super Bowl of Preaching

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is right around the corner.

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Don't let the word preaching fool you.

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This isn't for your grandparents,

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unless your grandparents are into pyrotechnics.

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No idea what the Super Bowl of preaching is,

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no problem.

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This is the most fun you'll ever have in a church.

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Join us for the Super Bowl of Preaching.

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Service times and locations at crossroads.net.

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- Man, I love the Super Bowl of Preaching.

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It's one of my favorite weekends of the year

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and it is just around the corner.

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Now at Crossroads it basically

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has nothing to do with football,

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but the Super Bowl of Preaching is all about

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throwing a party for what has historically been

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one of the least attended church weekends of the entire year.

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Now, if you live near one of our physical sites,

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Columbus, Lexington, Dayton, or Cincinnati,

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we'd love your help to make this a great experience.

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You can sign up to volunteer at Crossroads.net/SuperBowl.

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If you are not near one of our physical locations

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and consider yourself part of our Anywhere community,

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hey, there's going to be a great experience for you

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beyond just watching this crazy thing online.

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You can actually sign up to receive a free kit from us

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that will help you host your own experience at home.

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So whether you want to host a watch party

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for the Super Bowl of Preaching,

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or get together with your friends

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and throw a party for the real football thing,

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we'd love to help make it happen.

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Head to Crossroads.net/anywhere to sign up

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for a Super Bowl kit, and we'll mail it to you

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wherever you are.

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Now, Crossroads is a movement of people

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meeting in person and digitally, all over the country

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and all over the world.

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This is people who have experienced life change

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through Jesus and His teachings and His way of life.

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I want you to hear a story from a real person

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in our community who's experienced that life change,

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specifically from the practice of giving.

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- I walked across the country in my early 30s

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seeking God in Spain.

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I ended up finding Him probably in

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the most unlikeliest of places that I would have ever thought,

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which was was here at Crossroads.

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My name is Erica.

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Four days after leaving an abusive

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and dishonorable marriage,

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I heard His voice very clearly on July 31st, 2019,

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saying that I needed to follow Him

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or that would be -- That would be it for me.

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And I was, I was dying at that point.

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I actually looked up and I knew that

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He had been calling me for a long time.

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I happened to have to go to Kroger for some reason,

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and I had seen service was starting.

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I looked up, I told Him, I said, "Just so you know,

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I'm going to need you to show me every step of the way here.

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I don't know what I'm doing.

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I don't know how to do any of this."

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I had been struggling with alcohol

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and substance for a while,

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but that day He said,

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"Alcohol will not be part of this equation.

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You will follow Me."

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I had already seen such great growth

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in the few short months that I had been here.

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We were challenged to give 10% of our income

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back to God, which is a biblical principle,

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and it's not something that I was super familiar with.

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I had always considered myself a generous person,

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but I always had my own generosity agenda.

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I mean, it was -- it was what I wanted to give

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when I wanted to give,

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but I had no disciplined record of giving.

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I had never looked at what I was bringing in

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or what God was giving me through my work.

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I had never looked at that and looked at

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the portion that He was due back.

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I work in the beauty industry,

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so I did have a lot of tip income.

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I then started setting aside a cash envelope too.

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Throughout that time God really covered me

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through the divorce process and moving,

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you know, moving away from my marriage.

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He covered me. He covered my children.

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And it was scary for me. I was a single mom.

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I mean, at that point, really trying to figure out

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what is all of this going to look like.

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But I had a sense of peace knowing that I was really --

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I was orienting my life to Him.

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I was putting my money where my mouth and my heart was,

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for all intents and purposes.

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I was giving Him everything of me because

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this was one of the rockiest times of my life.

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And I was basically saying, "You can have it.

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The pandemic happened, and so I was --

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Basically a work stoppage for me,

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again in the middle of a divorce,

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two young children, work stoppage.

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I knew that God would take care of me.

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I was continuing to pray throughout this whole time,

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"God, what's my next direction?

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What do You want me to do?"

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Throughout my generosity journey,

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I have just noticed that when I pray,

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my answers from God seem to come very clear

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and very quick, which is important for me

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because I'm not great at waiting.

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And through that prayer, very quickly the answer came

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that, you know, I was going to go out on my own,

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which seemed crazy to me. I didn't have a plan.

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However, I knew I had to obey Him.

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I gave notice at my job.

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I decided I'm going to go out on my own

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on the heels of a pandemic.

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I was able to build my clientele

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and I am busier now than ever.

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Also, throughout that time, I started immersing myself

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in the Crossroads community

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and to various healing groups

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and serving opportunities.

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I was then introduced to my now husband, Russell,

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and we then started an amazing journey together.

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I've also remained alcohol free

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going on over four and a half years now.

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My husband Russell and I laugh all the time

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on how many -- how many nevers I'm now doing.

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I mean all the never, I'll never do this, and I'm now doing.

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The Erica five years ago wouldn't recognize this Erica.

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- At Crossroads we give because God asks us to.

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We believe that God owns everything,

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that He created the earth and everything in it,

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including you and me.

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So we use what God gives us in ways that honor Him.

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In doing so, we just operate more in line

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with how we were created, and we experience

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rewards in our lives that reflect that.

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Now, this isn't like a prosperity gospel thing,

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but it's just operating how we were created.

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Scripture is really clear, and it says that

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every good and perfect gift is from above.

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That's James 1:17.

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Now Crossroads is a tithing church, which just means

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that we give the first 10% of our income

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to our local church, and you might just immediately

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have all kinds of red flags and you just need to hear,

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we are not about your money, we are about people

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and the money that I give every paycheck

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and that lots of other people give, man,

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goes to helping people around the country,

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around the world,

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and directly to this church and its ministries.

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Whether it's investing in technology like this

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so that people can access content about Jesus

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in a language they can understand,

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or how we partner with on the ground organizations

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across the globe and provide support

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and manpower to lift up our mission of being

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a community of growing Christ followers

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who are changing the world.

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Those things, or 100 other that

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I just don't have time to tell you about.

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Man, I believe in what we're doing as a church,

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and I joyfully, gladly give 10% every, every paycheck

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because I know God can do more with 10%

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than I can do with 100.

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We believe that God recognizes and blesses people

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who are good stewards, people who are faithful.

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And if you've heard anything I've said,

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and maybe you're like, "I have questions."

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Okay, that's good, that's a good place to be.

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Head to Crossroads.net/give for information

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on what kind of decisions or practices we have around money.

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Or maybe you're like, you know what?

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I think I need to take a step in the direction

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of trusting God with my finances.

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We actually have a thing called The Tithe Test.

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It's a 90 day experiment where, risk free,

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we just say, "Hey, try it for 90 days and see,

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see how God shows up over that time.

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And if He doesn't, hey, we'll make it right.

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We'll give it all back."

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And if you've maybe been on this journey

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for a long time, you just need to know

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we have a thing around here called the Blue Team.

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This is for self-proclaimed people who are tithing,

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who are in that spiritual discipline and practice.

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Man, we'd love for you to sign up

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at crossroads.net/give for The Tithe Test,

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for more information on giving or to join the Blue Team.

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Man, I just know from personal experience

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interacting with tons of people in our community

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that anyone who willingly gives up 10% of their income

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wants to build something, build something that lasts.

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Over the last three weeks,

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we've been looking at the book of Nehemiah

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and how we can build something that lasts,

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how we can make a vision a reality.

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This week, we're specifically diving into

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how we can push back when there's pushback.

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- This is week number four of Nehemiah is what

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we're looking at week by week, by week by week.

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Uh, here's a little recap,

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and then we'll pray and we'll get going.

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First, we noticed in the very first week

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that the walls were down in Jerusalem.

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The walls were the sign of national identity

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for the nation of Israel.

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But they had been attacked and they were defeated.

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And they were separated in exile

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all over the place under Persian rule.

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Nehemiah is at the top of his game

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in the Persian household of Artaxerxes.

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He's a Jew, and he hears about the walls being down,

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and he grips his heart and he weeps

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and he's broken about it.

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That's what happens with a vision.

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When you feel something that's the sign of vision

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or a resolution or a goal needs to be made.

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I'm using those three things interchangeably,

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though there are definitely are differences in those,

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but I'm using them synonymously

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in the midst of this whole Nehemiah thing.

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Then he plans about it, right?

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And then they work about it and he uses it

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because it's about people.

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It's not about just the tactical thing of the wall.

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It as we looked at last week,

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it's the wall is for the people.

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God cares vision about people.

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Now, the thing about people, the thing

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about people is that people are annoying.

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That's the problem.

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The thing about people is that people hurt you.

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People hurt you more than the weather patterns

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are going to hurt you,

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more than the government's going to hurt you,

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more than anybody can. People suck sometimes, right?

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Because we say hurtful words to each other,

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we criticize one another, we devalue one another,

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we are negative.

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And this is what will happen whenever you decide

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you're going to do something, do something different,

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a vision, a resolution, a goal.

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Get ready for the critics.

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That's what Nehemiah dealt with.

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And we're going to look at that today.

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So let's pray about that right now.

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God, I'm thankful for our time together.

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And I'm asking that You would help us to see You,

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understand You, embrace You and, God,

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to see a vision that You may have for us,

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a goal that we need to hold on to,

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a resolution we need to make.

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I just want to be helpful for your people, God.

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And I'm asking You help me be clear, clear,

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and most importantly, in alignment with Your truth.

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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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Man, I don't know if you've ever had anything happen

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in your life that you never thought would happen.

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We saw with Erica just a little bit ago, yeah,

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never saw a bunch of those things happening.

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When that happens, it's probably a sign

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of two things have happened.

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One, God is at work in your life,

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and you may have a vision to do something different.

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And when someone does something different, it, um,

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it always erupts with sparks because

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different things bring different feelings.

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When my friend I mentioned before

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said he was going to go on an eating plan,

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I was a bit threatened by that.

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Like, oh, I'm not going on an eating plan.

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I was tempted to discourage him.

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If you're going to go on an eating plan,

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if you're going to say, set a goal

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to be whatever it is, under 200 pounds,

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under 300, under whatever it is, you're going to find

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people around you who weigh about your weight right now

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are not going to like it.

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They're going to want you to keep keep eating.

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It's a vision that's going to bring some sparks.

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If you come from a family that actually

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has not been married, divorce is a normal thing.

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When you choose to get married,

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if you choose to get married,

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there's going to be a lot of eye rolls,

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because that's going to be a vision, a goal

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that a lot of people and some families

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just don't understand.

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When you start having an idea and doing something

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like a menu and a food truck, other people are going to,

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"You're going to -- You're going to do what?"

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And they'll do all they can to try to be encouraging,

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but it's going to be really hard.

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When the walls are down, no one is discouraging anybody.

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But as the walls start to go up,

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as things start to get built, the crazies come out

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and they are not happy.

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Let's let's read about it right now.

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Nehemiah 4:1, here's where we go as they're making progress.

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Here's what it says:

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Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said,

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"Yeah, yeah, yeah, what they're building --

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If the fox goes on it he will break it down their stone wall."

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He-he-he! It's like Myron and Spike

00:35:23

or Skut Farkus, Grover Dill. You know?

00:35:27

That's a Christmas Story. I know it's past Christmas.

00:35:29

Come on, Scut Farcus. How can you not know him?

00:35:32

Oh, yeah. Yeah, him.

00:35:33

There's always, like, a big protagonist

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and then a little guy is like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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It's always -- that's the way it is on that,

00:35:40

a guy is taking charge on criticism.

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And the next guy says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

00:35:45

You you can't do this."

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Look how discouraging he is to them

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saying "You're building the wall?'

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What he says things like, "What, are you going to sacrifice?

00:35:55

You're not going to sacrifice.

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You're not going to be able to push yourself out.

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That's going to be a lot of work.

00:36:01

You think you have that?

00:36:02

You're not going to be able to do that."

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He also says, "You're going to finish up in a day?

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What, because you don't have the stick-to-itiveness

00:36:08

to go past a day, you're going to do it in a day?"

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That's what your critics will say to you,

00:36:14

"Oh, maybe start it real fast, but what,

00:36:17

you really think you're going to do that?

00:36:19

You really think you're going to follow through?"

00:36:21

Here's another one, "Will they restored for themselves?"

00:36:24

Inferring motive.

00:36:25

You're not doing this for the good of anybody.

00:36:28

This isn't honorable. You're getting something weird

00:36:30

and sick out of it for yourself.

00:36:32

Man, anybody who doesn't like something you're doing

00:36:36

is going to find some good reason

00:36:38

why you should be discouraged.

00:36:40

It's the human way.

00:36:43

As I mentioned with my friend who is going on an eating plan,

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I had to check myself. Stop, stop.

00:36:48

I got to encourage him because I was actually

00:36:50

starting to discourage him because I thought,

00:36:52

"Well, I'm not going on an eating plan.

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Am I a loser? I'm not going on an eating plan."

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We're threatened when people have visions that we don't have.

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We're threatened when people

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make resolutions we don't want to make.

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We're threatened when people are doing things

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that we don't want to do, we shouldn't be.

00:37:07

It's what they're doing. Doesn't mean you have to do it.

00:37:10

But we don't have to be negative about it.

00:37:12

Some of us don't understand someone

00:37:15

who decides not to drink all of January,

00:37:17

or have sober October or stop drinking altogether.

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Like there's some of us like, "You'll stop drinking. What?"

00:37:25

Like, [explosion FX]

00:37:27

"Whoa, how would you possibly have fun?

00:37:30

You're going to go to a sporting event and not drink. What?"

00:37:35

A lot of people discourage people

00:37:38

who make drinking elimination goals

00:37:41

because they themselves are threatened,

00:37:43

and they can't imagine that vision for themselves.

00:37:46

Well, fine, you don't have to do that.

00:37:47

But why do we have to be so negative on people

00:37:50

doing something that we don't do?

00:37:52

Many people in the corporate environment look at

00:37:55

somebody who's going to start their own business

00:37:57

and they're like, "What are you talking --"

00:37:59

Can't imagine, like, needing the structure of everything.

00:38:01

What? And inversely, many people who come from

00:38:05

a family where you're eat what you kill,

00:38:07

start your own business when you maybe see

00:38:09

a family member has a vision to go into corporate America.

00:38:11

Like, "What? What are you doing? Why?"

00:38:13

We're all threatened by something we don't know.

00:38:16

We're all threatened by something we don't like.

00:38:19

We're all threatened by somebody else's decision.

00:38:21

And I don't know why that is. Well, I do know why it is.

00:38:23

It's called sin. That's why it is.

00:38:25

But it's really sinister when it gets in the way

00:38:28

of somebody doing something that would be good for people,

00:38:32

that is themselves and that is other people.

00:38:36

There's these things in the Bible

00:38:38

called spiritual Gifts, and there's a bunch of them

00:38:40

that are freaky, really freaky, like gifts of tongues,

00:38:43

gift of interpreting tongues, prophecy,

00:38:46

these kind of things.

00:38:47

And I went to a cemetery, or I mean, seminary

00:38:49

when I was in -- when I was in seminary,

00:38:52

I was taught and I believed in seminary

00:38:54

that all those crazy, freaky things,

00:38:56

when the apostles died, all those things went away.

00:39:00

And they had their reasons for that,

00:39:02

and I did way back when.

00:39:03

But I realized the reason why many people

00:39:05

don't believe that those things exist is because

00:39:08

we're threatened by something we don't understand.

00:39:10

We're freaked out that you can do something

00:39:12

that I can't. Well, there's things that everyone does

00:39:15

that somebody else doesn't do.

00:39:16

It's not that different gifts are more important than others.

00:39:19

But when we see somebody that has something

00:39:22

or is doing something that we're not doing,

00:39:24

all of us are threatened and we discourage

00:39:27

or we create a whole theology that comes down on it.

00:39:29

Here's the thing.

00:39:31

It's easier to crack on someone who has a vision

00:39:34

than it is to actually have a vision yourself.

00:39:37

It's easier to crack on somebody who has a vision

00:39:40

than to have a vision yourself.

00:39:44

I got some burn here on this.

00:39:46

I've made a lot of mistakes.

00:39:47

I've deserved a lot of criticism, a lot.

00:39:51

I deserve a lot of criticism, I have in my history.

00:39:54

But I've also been blessed by God to be very faithful

00:39:58

in going after a number of visions He's had for me.

00:40:00

And I want to share with you some of them today,

00:40:02

not because I'm trying to pump myself up,

00:40:04

just to go, because I want to say,

00:40:05

if you're feeling this, I get it,

00:40:07

I get it, I've been there.

00:40:08

When we first started Crossroads 1996 or so,

00:40:13

about '98, '99, 1999, something like that,

00:40:17

I went to a wedding, and at that wedding there was some --

00:40:21

A bunch of people I didn't know at that wedding.

00:40:23

And Crossroads in Cincinnati at that point

00:40:26

was this like bright light, it was just taking off.

00:40:29

It was everyone's talking about.

00:40:31

We're getting front, literally front page headlines

00:40:33

or news stories, all this stuff.

00:40:35

Because it was like, this church is doing

00:40:36

so many weird things, unusual things,

00:40:38

there's a bunch of young people coming.

00:40:40

Really, really crazy.

00:40:41

And so I went to this wedding and someone I knew was there

00:40:47

and knew someone else who I didn't know and said,

00:40:49

"Oh, hey. So and so is at Brian who started Crossroads."

00:40:52

And this guy went to another church.

00:40:54

He didn't think very highly of our church.

00:40:56

And he said, he just said this, I'll never forget.

00:40:59

He said he said, he said it just like this too.

00:41:01

He said, "I hope God's in it," is what he said.

00:41:06

And me and my very godly manner,

00:41:09

the way I always operate, [laughter] I said --

00:41:13

I said, "You know, He's not. He's not.

00:41:17

We're just really hard workers and it's all by our own might."

00:41:23

End of conversation. [laughter]

00:41:26

I didn't even know what to say.

00:41:27

It was just, like, he was discouraging. He was.

00:41:30

I don't know why he was discouraged, I don't know,

00:41:32

did he think we were a threat to whatever his church?

00:41:34

Do he think we were a threat? I don't know.

00:41:36

But that's the way we all are

00:41:38

when someone's doing something we don't understand,

00:41:40

we're negative and critical,

00:41:42

and we get them off their game.

00:41:43

And woe to us, woe to us who get somebody off their game

00:41:47

when God's giving them a vision or a goal

00:41:49

or a resolution.

00:41:51

At any point, you can say Amen to that,

00:41:53

at any point you can. Yeah, good.

00:41:56

We've all been on both sides of this.

00:41:58

Now, let's go down to Nehemiah 4:11

00:42:01

to see how this continues to unfold.

00:42:04

Let's do 14, verse 14.

00:42:18

He says, "Don't be afraid of them. Don't do it.

00:42:22

When someone's coming down on you,

00:42:23

there's no reason to be afraid of them.

00:42:28

They are not understanding what God is asking you to do.

00:42:32

That's between you and God.

00:42:33

It's not between them and God.

00:42:35

And don't allow them to get between you and God."

00:42:38

D.L. Moody, who's one of the most respected preachers

00:42:41

in Christian history from a century or so ago, he said this:

00:42:52

There will be bitter enemies.

00:42:56

And this is why Nehemiah actually has to divide up

00:42:59

his forces with spears and arrows and swords

00:43:02

just to protect them, because these guys

00:43:05

aren't just giving physical taunts or verbal taunts,

00:43:08

they're actually threatening physical harm.

00:43:11

Now, Sanballat, Sanballat is a Samaritan official,

00:43:15

and he's negative because he's got

00:43:17

a certain piece of authority pie, and he's afraid

00:43:21

that Nehemiah is doing all of this because

00:43:25

Nehemiah is trying to worm in on his authority,

00:43:28

worm in on his action, take maybe taxes away from him,

00:43:32

take glory away from him.

00:43:33

He's not -- He's not liking it at all, not at all.

00:43:37

So let's see what it says in 6:2.

00:43:47

Which is where Yoko was born. [laughter]

00:44:04

They're trying to get him to come

00:44:06

and they're sending messages and he's not having it.

00:44:10

They're sending messages.

00:44:11

They want to get him off his game.

00:44:12

They want to take his life.

00:44:14

They want to stop this whole thing.

00:44:15

I love what Nehemiah says, "Why should I get off the wall?

00:44:19

I'm on the wall. I'm on vision here.

00:44:22

I've got a plan. I'm working.

00:44:24

You're not going to get me to get off my wall."

00:44:26

Hey, friends, let me tell you something.

00:44:28

There are people in here, you're on a wall right now,

00:44:30

and there's a bunch of people in a cultural rift

00:44:32

in society that wants to get you off your wall,

00:44:35

wants to get you off your game.

00:44:37

And your game, your wall is anything that you're feeling.

00:44:42

It's anything that you think causes God to smile.

00:44:46

It's anything that you think needs to get done

00:44:48

and you see it in your mind and others don't just see it,

00:44:52

but when they see you, they're threatened.

00:44:54

Don't get off your wall. Don't get off your wall.

00:44:58

Stay your points.

00:45:00

There's very few people who are faithful

00:45:04

who can stay at the task until it's done

00:45:06

when nobody likes what they believe

00:45:09

and nobody likes what they say, let alone do.

00:45:13

But you, if you want to walk close with God

00:45:15

and you want to have a full heart towards people

00:45:17

and life that's unusually powerful in 2024,

00:45:21

you have to learn to stay on the wall.

00:45:25

Stay where you are, keep pushing, keep going.

00:45:33

The reason why there is so much criticism

00:45:36

around visions is because they mean

00:45:40

there's a new move, something's moving,

00:45:42

someone is doing something new,

00:45:44

and new moves create chaos

00:45:47

because they haven't been experienced before.

00:45:51

It's a vision in your mind,

00:45:53

but it hasn't been experienced before.

00:45:57

It's a first of a kind thing, maybe for you and your circle.

00:46:00

And whenever something is a first of a kind thing,

00:46:03

this is friction.

00:46:05

You know that automobile right now, no big deal.

00:46:08

We whiz around with automobiles 90 miles an hour,

00:46:10

going opposite ways, passing each other.

00:46:12

No stress at all, right?

00:46:14

Well, that's because we're used to it.

00:46:15

When the car first came out, it was utter chaos.

00:46:17

Everybody with horses and carriages like, "What are you?"

00:46:20

This is stress, like wars. It was -- It was horrible.

00:46:22

It was awful. How do we get this whole thing?"

00:46:24

It was chaos.

00:46:25

It was a vision that people didn't understand.

00:46:28

Now we understand it and it's really simple.

00:46:29

There's things that you will be shocked that

00:46:32

at some point you're going to become very proficient

00:46:35

and there will be no stress.

00:46:36

But right now it's chaos because

00:46:38

you're doing something you've never done before.

00:46:40

And to make it worse, you're doing something

00:46:42

maybe your inner circle has never seen you do before

00:46:45

and they're threatened

00:46:47

and they're not going to support you.

00:46:50

Don't take it personally.

00:46:52

It's part of the human condition.

00:46:55

It's part of just who we are and what we do.

00:46:58

I think part of it is because it's something

00:47:01

that we haven't experienced

00:47:03

and things that we haven't experienced freak us out.

00:47:08

Like snakes. How many of us love snakes?

00:47:13

Raise your hand. How many? How many love snakes?

00:47:15

A few sickos in here. Just a few sickos. [laughter]

00:47:20

Most of us are freaked about snakes.

00:47:22

We don't like snakes.

00:47:24

I've got two theories for that.

00:47:25

One reason is because it was a curse

00:47:29

that we're all living under,

00:47:31

so says the Bible in the book of Genesis,

00:47:32

that when God takes the evil one

00:47:34

who comes in the form of a serpent,

00:47:36

and he causes or enables Adam and Eve to sin,

00:47:39

He knocks his legs out from under him

00:47:41

and has him squirm on the ground.

00:47:42

There's this natural animosity with most of us and snakes.

00:47:46

We don't process it this way,

00:47:48

but it's actually happening on a spiritual level.

00:47:50

That's one theory,

00:47:51

and that's definitely part of what's happening.

00:47:53

The second thing is, and I've thought a lot about this,

00:47:55

I don't have a great, great love for snakes.

00:47:57

The second is when you're seeing a snake,

00:48:00

you haven't experienced it before

00:48:02

so it creates chaos in your emotions.

00:48:04

Like, it's the only thing that moves that way.

00:48:07

It's just weird, right?

00:48:09

I mean, worms don't, they have --

00:48:10

They don't have any legs either,

00:48:12

but worms don't move in such a way that's strange.

00:48:14

It's it's odd. It's it's really, really.

00:48:16

And so that's why I think a lot of us just freak out,

00:48:19

like, "I don't, I don't understand, I don't know."

00:48:21

And so we don't understand it

00:48:22

and it creates chaos and it freaks us out.

00:48:25

This is the way it is with any vision,

00:48:27

anything that God is doing, anything He wants you to do.

00:48:31

And when this happens, there's always going to be

00:48:33

some room for misunderstanding.

00:48:36

In Nehemiah 6:6 it says:

00:48:51

This is the chaos and the criticism.

00:48:53

They think the criticism is justified.

00:48:55

"Oh, I know what happened. No. Yeah.

00:48:56

You don't really care about rebuilding the wall.

00:48:59

You're worried about getting your own kingdom.

00:49:01

It's really all about you.

00:49:03

You don't -- you're not altruistic in the goal here.

00:49:06

You're just trying to exalt yourself."

00:49:11

This is why on week one of this I talked about

00:49:15

when you have a vision, you have to crockpot it.

00:49:18

You have to keep it inside for a while, because

00:49:21

you need to allow a right amount of time

00:49:24

to think about it, pray about it, plan about it,

00:49:28

and you need to be really solidified because

00:49:30

as soon as you bring it out in the light of day,

00:49:33

get ready, the freaks will come out.

00:49:36

And if you're not settled in your spirit

00:49:38

what it is you're supposed to do,

00:49:40

you will crumble immediately.

00:49:42

It needs time to crockpot.

00:49:45

One of the things we'll talk about at some point,

00:49:48

not ready yet because it's still crockpotting.

00:49:49

I'll give you a little, little hint on this

00:49:51

or a little, little snippet on this is

00:49:53

we're going to make

00:49:55

a major, massive, massive, massive investment in tech.

00:50:00

We are going to elevate our game and our sites

00:50:02

and especially our online community with a --

00:50:05

With -- I don't even want --

00:50:07

I was going to show you pictures of renderings.

00:50:09

It wouldn't make sense. It's not worth it.

00:50:11

It's the only thing like it in the world.

00:50:13

The only thing close is the sphere in Vegas.

00:50:17

The same computing power, actually,

00:50:19

as the sphere in Vegas has.

00:50:20

And it's a lot of money, a lot, a lot, a lot.

00:50:23

I'll tell you eventually, as soon as we figure it all out.

00:50:26

But I'll tell you right now it's creating massive chaos

00:50:28

because there's only like six people

00:50:30

in the world who understand it.

00:50:31

And we've gone through about three of them

00:50:33

who can't figure out to do what we want to do,

00:50:35

or two of them, rather.

00:50:36

And it's chaos and staff and everybody.

00:50:38

It's really hard. It's really, really --

00:50:40

And I'm not going to tell you anything more

00:50:42

because I can't afford any more blowback.

00:50:44

Just trust me, we've prayed a lot about this,

00:50:47

and this is the direction that we're going.

00:50:48

But as I was wrestling with this, I thought,

00:50:50

"Well, I don't know, maybe this is -- maybe.

00:50:53

Maybe there's a sign here from God.

00:50:54

Maybe that is because we prayed a lot about it before,

00:50:56

and these are some of the things we were concerned.

00:50:58

Is it too complicated?

00:50:59

Do we have the right infrastructure?" All this stuff.

00:51:02

And now we're seeing after we pulled the trigger,

00:51:06

maybe that's true.

00:51:08

And I love what Kyle said.

00:51:11

Kyle said, who's our new Lead Pastor, by the way,

00:51:13

who reports to me as Senior Pastor.

00:51:20

We have the best story, it demands the best tools.

00:51:22

The story of Jesus's love for you,

00:51:26

God has a purpose for you.

00:51:28

The story of redemption, the story of forgiveness,

00:51:31

the story of a vision and how God uses you and I.

00:51:35

And all the stories that move us in Hollywood,

00:51:37

they're all, whether they tried to or not,

00:51:39

they're all based on the story that's in the Bible.

00:51:42

It is the story. It's the quintessential story.

00:51:44

It's the best story, and that's who we are.

00:51:47

We get people into the story of God.

00:51:49

We need the best tools for that.

00:51:52

You guys have been very supportive, by the way,

00:51:54

since we announced that Kyle is going to be Lead Pastor,

00:51:57

doing a lot of things I was doing before reporting to me.

00:51:59

For most people, it's going to look the same,

00:52:01

but you've been very, very supportive.

00:52:06

Also not quite right about some things, like,

00:52:09

some of you have congratulated me because I'm semi-retired.

00:52:12

I am not semi-retired, not semi-retired.

00:52:14

I am not slowing down.

00:52:16

Believe it or not, I'm speeding up. Okay.

00:52:20

But it's understandable that, you know,

00:52:23

there would be misperceptions because

00:52:24

it's not something that's ever been seen before.

00:52:26

I know people who've become founding pastor

00:52:29

and have really cranked down their workload,

00:52:31

have someone else be senior pastor.

00:52:32

Other people have done co-senior pastors.

00:52:34

I've never known anybody to have a senior pastor

00:52:37

and lead pastor in the same thing.

00:52:38

It's a new thing we're trying. It's a vision that we have.

00:52:41

I haven't seen it happen before.

00:52:42

I've researched, I've been looking at years.

00:52:44

And so it's understandable that it wouldn't be understandable.

00:52:48

And to understandable there could be some criticism,

00:52:51

though there's not.

00:52:52

And so well done church, thank you so much

00:52:53

for being so encouraging for us as we try new things

00:52:55

to keep ourselves sharp and on the edge.

00:52:57

It's really good.

00:52:59

Nehemiah 6:15:

00:53:17

You see that? They fell in their own esteem.

00:53:20

That's what criticism is about,

00:53:22

it's about me and my own self esteem

00:53:23

and I'm going to be threatened

00:53:24

if you do something I can't do. And what do you know?

00:53:27

They fell on their own self esteem because

00:53:29

they realized that it wasn't just that Nehemiah

00:53:31

was a gifted and just voracious leader

00:53:36

who just was like a dog with a bone

00:53:37

with vision and wouldn't let it drop.

00:53:39

But they realized the God was on their side.

00:53:42

There was the X factor of the presence of God.

00:53:46

The vision that God cares about isn't the vision

00:53:48

that makes you feel like, "Yeah, see,

00:53:50

when I say something, I get it done."

00:53:52

He doesn't care about that vision.

00:53:53

The vision He cares about is not the one

00:53:55

where you get to add to your accolades and you think about,

00:53:58

"Oh, they'll be able to say this at my eulogy."

00:54:00

The vision God cares about is the one

00:54:02

that He approves of that's about people,

00:54:05

that's about His Kingdom.

00:54:06

And you are a person and you are about His Kingdom,

00:54:08

so something that blesses you personally, that's okay,

00:54:12

but it's under the direction of God, under the grace of God.

00:54:17

Pushback is normal.

00:54:19

I'm going to give you some clues in just a moment

00:54:22

about when you're getting criticized,

00:54:23

when someone isn't supporting you, how to deal with it.

00:54:26

Just recognize it's normal.

00:54:29

Nehemiah dealt with it.

00:54:30

You and I are going to deal with it.

00:54:33

Sometimes, by the way, sometimes by the way

00:54:35

you get pushback because it's warranted and you're wrong.

00:54:39

Sometimes I've gotten pushback

00:54:40

because it's warranted and I was wrong.

00:54:42

None of us are God. None of us are inerrant.

00:54:44

None of us are the Bible.

00:54:45

So we just have to have that on our mind

00:54:48

while simultaneously saying,

00:54:49

"No, I'm going to stay on the wall."

00:54:51

We've also got to have a level of humility

00:54:54

to receive criticism in the right way

00:54:56

and at the right time.

00:54:59

Here's some of the criticism that I've experienced

00:55:02

in my life and how I've seen it and lived through it.

00:55:05

When Lib and I left Pittsburgh to come to Cincinnati,

00:55:10

when we left a football team

00:55:12

that was in deep in the playoffs every single year

00:55:14

to come to Cincinnati, and thankful to do so.

00:55:19

We are Bengals fans above and beyond the Steelers, for sure.

00:55:22

Friends of mine, lifelong friends said,

00:55:23

"You're -- wait, you got 11 people

00:55:25

are going to pay your salary for a year.

00:55:26

No denominational support, no mother church support.

00:55:28

They're going to tap into their home equity credit lines,

00:55:31

their savings or whatever and they're like all 30 year olds?"

00:55:33

I said, yeah, and they said, "That's a bad idea.

00:55:36

That's really a bad idea."

00:55:38

And I know it was a bad idea, but it was God's idea.

00:55:41

But I had people close to me

00:55:42

who were very, very discouraging.

00:55:44

When we in Cincinnati wanted to start the Citylink Center,

00:55:47

which was to bring the working poor out of poverty,

00:55:49

to not just give a handout, but give a hand up

00:55:51

and have services with linked communication

00:55:55

under the same roof, a lot of people thought

00:55:57

it was a good idea until they saw where it was.

00:56:00

And then they got really upset.

00:56:01

And people couldn't understand it because it was a vision

00:56:03

that had literally never been seen before.

00:56:06

Just like 11 people funding a pastor

00:56:09

of their own thing and scraping, draining all their savings.

00:56:13

That's just not done very often.

00:56:14

And people were upset and livid.

00:56:16

Massive protests outside of our church.

00:56:19

We had city council members voting against it

00:56:22

when it wasn't even supposed to be part of the agenda.

00:56:24

One of the city council members got together

00:56:26

with Tim Seneff, who was running it on our end.

00:56:28

He's now the Mason Community Pastor.

00:56:29

And the city council member said, let me tell you,

00:56:31

doing everything they can to get it to stop.

00:56:33

He said, "This is separation of church

00:56:35

and let me tell you something,

00:56:36

if I hear so much as a Bible open there,

00:56:39

we will be after you with all the way of the law."

00:56:42

Exact quote: So much as a Bible being opened.

00:56:46

So happy to tell you he got --

00:56:47

He lost election the next time. It was wonderful.

00:56:51

In fact, every council member that voted against it,

00:56:53

they all lost the next election.

00:56:55

Interesting how those things happen sometimes.

00:56:57

The first motorcycle that I had,

00:56:59

the first motorcycle I had that I wanted to rebuild

00:57:02

and I wanted to customize,

00:57:03

I had ripped all the wiring out.

00:57:05

I had it in pieces.

00:57:06

And a friend of mine comes over and goes, "Ha!"

00:57:08

He said, he laughs, "Ha!

00:57:10

You're never going to get that started again."

00:57:13

And then I won a bike competition with it

00:57:15

about a half a year later.

00:57:17

But it was admirable what he said.

00:57:19

I'd never done anything like that before,

00:57:21

but it was a goal. It was a goal that I had.

00:57:24

The idea of we're going to have land

00:57:27

and people from all over the country and world

00:57:29

are actually going to come, they'll poop in the woods

00:57:32

and we're not going to build bathrooms and showers.

00:57:34

We want to get people primitive off the grid.

00:57:37

And tens of thousands of people have come

00:57:39

and had their lives changed and, people,

00:57:41

it was a vision, it had never been seen.

00:57:42

It still hasn't been seen before.

00:57:45

And it's no glory to us, it's glory to God

00:57:47

for giving us the vision and us just being on the wall.

00:57:50

So here's the thing, pushback never surprises God.

00:57:54

When we put it up, because we push back on God all the time.

00:57:58

God tells us to do something,

00:58:00

"Oh, I don't know, I don't want to do that."

00:58:03

It says something in the Bible,

00:58:04

"Oh, no, that was Old Testament.

00:58:05

That's not today. No, no no, no."

00:58:07

You know, we push back on God all the time.

00:58:10

It's just everything we don't want to do,

00:58:12

whatever we don't want to do, we push back

00:58:14

either aggressively or passive aggressive,

00:58:17

which we just don't do it.

00:58:18

He can take it. He can, He can take it. And that's okay.

00:58:22

Nehemiah 4:15 says:

00:58:31

And there were armed guards that were there.

00:58:33

God knows you're going to need help

00:58:35

because pain and difficulty is coming. Jesus told us that.

00:58:38

In John 16:33 says, "I said these things to you,

00:58:41

that in Me you may have peace.

00:58:43

In the world you will have tribulation."

00:58:45

That's a promise from Jesus:

00:58:54

I've gotten, I've taken grief and I've overcome the world.

00:58:57

Now, when you're getting all this problem,

00:59:00

how do you handle this chaos?

00:59:02

Let me give you three really easy bank shots.

00:59:04

Three things to think about if you're getting it right now.

00:59:07

How do you get through the criticism and the chaos?

00:59:09

One, walk in higher joy than other people's negativity.

00:59:14

Nehemiah 8:10 says:

00:59:17

Getting ready for this talk, I was playing

00:59:19

an old school song from decades ago

00:59:21

by a woman named Twila Paris.

00:59:23

It was [singing] the joy of the Lord

00:59:26

will be my strength, I will --

00:59:29

It's wonderful. It's a fantastic song.

00:59:31

And it's this verse and it says, joy is not happiness.

00:59:35

Happiness is when everything is happening is good.

00:59:37

And I love happiness, and I love having things that are good.

00:59:39

But joy is when you make a decision

00:59:41

that you're good with God no matter what.

00:59:44

Joy is when you choose your attitude.

00:59:46

When Lib and I got married and the banner

00:59:47

behind our altar and everything was "Choose Joy"

00:59:49

because we knew there was going to be

00:59:51

a lot of days that we were unhappy in our marriage.

00:59:53

And there has been a lot, thanks to me. [laughter]

00:59:56

But we were going to choose joy.

00:59:58

So you have to resolve that you're going to have

01:00:01

more joy than others negativity, that's the strength.

01:00:05

No, I know I'm doing what God wants me to do,

01:00:07

I know it, I can sense it.

01:00:09

I'm going to keep erring on the side of aggression.

01:00:11

I'm sensing He wants me to do this.

01:00:13

I'm going to assume He wants me to do this

01:00:15

because I saw this, since I saw it, I'm the one.

01:00:17

You've got to keep your joy high, really, really high.

01:00:21

Number two, process your anger and fear with God.

01:00:27

Tell Him about it.

01:00:29

This is really interesting when Nehemiah

01:00:31

talks with God in Nehemiah 4:4 and following.

01:00:37

Here's what he says:

01:00:57

He's like, "Get them! Give them hell, God!

01:00:59

Come on, go get them!" So he's praying.

01:01:03

God's good with that.

01:01:04

There's a lot of things I pray that are wrong,

01:01:06

but some things I pray, I pray just because

01:01:09

I need to get off my chest, and God's a safe place.

01:01:11

The Book of Psalms talks about this,

01:01:13

has a verse about let their babies heads

01:01:16

be smashed against the rocks.

01:01:18

That's a horrible prayer. It's a horrible prayer.

01:01:22

It's a prayer God will always say no to.

01:01:25

But it's a beautiful prayer in that that was a person

01:01:27

who said, "This is what I feel. I just got to get this out, God,

01:01:30

in a safe place between You and me."

01:01:31

And this is what Nehemiah is doing.

01:01:33

He's hurt. Criticism affects us.

01:01:36

Whenever someone says, "Ah, criticism doesn't affect me,"

01:01:38

that's a bad thing. One, either you're lying,

01:01:41

or number two, you got a really hard heart.

01:01:44

It hurts. It always hurts.

01:01:47

And when it does, we process our anger with God.

01:01:49

And then number three,

01:01:50

keep working while you're being criticized.

01:01:55

Keep working on it. Keep working on it.

01:01:57

Keep going while you're being criticized.

01:01:59

You got to get on your wall.

01:02:01

You got to get on your wall.

01:02:03

And while you're being criticized,

01:02:04

while people are hurling insults, you go,

01:02:06

"I'm on my wall, baby. I'm not going anywhere.

01:02:09

I'm on my wall. I've got a vision to get a degree.

01:02:13

I got a vision to get a degree,

01:02:15

and I am going to get a degree.

01:02:17

No matter how much you don't understand that.

01:02:19

I'm not getting off the wall."

01:02:21

Stay on the wall.

01:02:23

You decide to have kids.

01:02:25

You decide to parent kids differently because

01:02:27

you're going to have to parent kids

01:02:28

the way everybody else does. Guess what?

01:02:30

It doesn't work. It's not working.

01:02:33

Societal indicators show that.

01:02:34

So if you're going to be someone who operates

01:02:36

high in love and high in discipline,

01:02:38

get ready for people not to understand.

01:02:39

You got to stay on your wall, if that's your vision.

01:02:42

You got to stay there.

01:02:43

It used to be that if you were just a good --

01:02:45

If you were a Christian, you were just

01:02:48

a basic, average moral American and everyone like that.

01:02:50

Not anymore. Not anymore.

01:02:52

Because if you're a Christian,

01:02:54

you actually are in Christ, you're following Him.

01:02:56

You're doing things in the Bible, which people

01:02:58

in our culture increasingly think are crazy

01:03:00

and stupid and only haters do.

01:03:03

You got to choose am I going to stand on my wall,

01:03:06

sit on my wall? I'm not coming down. I'm not.

01:03:09

What is it you're on your wall about?

01:03:11

What is it you're going to God for?

01:03:12

What is it that you're needing your joy to propel you?

01:03:16

Let the joy of the Lord keep you at your post.

01:03:18

God needs you on that wall.

01:03:20

He gave you a vision because He wants that done,

01:03:23

and you may be the answer to it and you need it.

01:03:27

Nehemiah needed this task as much as anybody else did.

01:03:30

He needed to stay fresh with God.

01:03:32

And God's looking to see who is fresh,

01:03:35

who wants to be fresh with Me, who wants to be,

01:03:37

who wants to stand out from the crowd,

01:03:39

who wants to create a little chaos accidentally,

01:03:43

and who wants to cast a vision that people don't get?

01:03:47

But God says, "But I get it.

01:03:49

I get it because I'm in it."

01:03:52

Lord, I thank you for being patient

01:03:55

and the example of Nehemiah.

01:03:57

May may we be more like him today.

01:04:01

Empower us, fill us in a powerful and profound way

01:04:05

to go about the things You want us to do.

01:04:06

And we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

01:04:11

- Hey, thanks for joining us today, and as always,

01:04:13

your experience doesn't have to stop here.

01:04:15

After every weekend there are actually

01:04:17

follow up questions in the Crossroads app.

01:04:19

They're designed to help you dive deeper

01:04:21

into the message and learn how to apply it in your life.

01:04:23

Now, you can process the service by yourself

01:04:25

or with other people, and take something into your week

01:04:29

that will help you and push you in the right direction.

01:04:32

And as always, if you've missed any week in the series,

01:04:34

you can catch up at crossroads.net.

01:04:37

Thanks for watching. We'll see you back next week.

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