Stop Trying to Control God | Revival Featuring Jon Tyson

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- The history of a Bible is very clear,

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God goes where He's wanted.

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You're where you are right now because of where you've been.

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And so the fact that we opted into revival

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means that something is dead,

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or we need something refreshed.

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And that means something new has to come in

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and we've got to open ourselves up.

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- Hey, everybody, I'm Hannah. - And I'm Andy.

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- And welcome to Revival.

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We could not be more excited to be here.

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I mean, the energy is electric.

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The campfire is in the air,

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the s'mores are out, the candy is out.

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You're not thinking about any calories because it's camping.

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- It's camping. They don't count.

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- You're here. They don't count.

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You're peeing in the woods. It doesn't matter.

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We're here. We're doing it. Families are here.

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And I got to tell you, Andy, the energy is electric

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because people are here with their hands open,

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wanting something different.

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And perhaps you're watching

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because you want something different, too.

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And so Revival as a concept is really,

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that's all it is, it's people who say,

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"Stuff has kind of been the same for a while.

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I needed an awakening.

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I need to be brought back to life."

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And that's all Revival is.

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And throughout history, throughout church history,

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we've seen God have these moments where He

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will just reawaken something in His church.

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And so that's what we're here, we're asking for a Revival,

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maybe something personally, maybe relationally,

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maybe in our families.

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But we need God to break through

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and bring something back to life.

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- Yeah. That's right.

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And history would show that we're actually overdue for this.

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I think we don't need history, like we can just feel it, right?

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People are more stressed, more anxious,

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more tired, more isolated, and all kinds of things

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than it feels like ever.

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But God is at work. God's doing something special.

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And we're already seeing this begin to bubble up

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where God is reviving marriages, families, lives, cities.

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And that's what we're here for.

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So we want to see God do something special.

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There's the concept of revival,

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and there's the event that we're calling Revival.

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We're saying, "God, we want You to revive

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all kinds of things in our cities,

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and here start with us, God.

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And that's what you just joined into.

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So wherever you are, wherever you're watching this from

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and you're a part of this thing.

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We've got people from all over our different sites,

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from all different churches that are a part of this thing,

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and from all over the globe,

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from our Crossroads Anywhere Community.

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We're so glad that you're here with us.

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But you watching online are a part of this as well,

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and we've got some incredible experiences for you

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to ask God and hopefully experience

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God reviving something. - That's right.

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Everything from teaching to solitude experience

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to worship is a simple invitation to lean in,

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hands open, maybe even hands up and saying,

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"God, I need something different,

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so I'm doing something different.

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I want something more, and so I'm coming to You,

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maybe in a weird space.

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Maybe I'm at the coffee shop

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and I feel like I'm supposed to stand up."

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I don't know, but whatever it is,

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I know God wants to meet you here, wherever you are.

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- So whoever you are, wherever you are,

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believe God has something special for you

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to revive that thing.

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Be specific. What is it that you want to see God revive?

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And over the next few minutes,

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ask God to speak to that thing

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and to bring fresh life in that place for you.

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- I don't know about you, but I feel

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like to sing those words I need to say I'm sorry first.

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Like singing those words, maybe not first,

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but because I would sing those words,

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there's a check, maybe from the Holy Spirit right now

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to say, "I'm sorry that I put other things in front of You.

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I'm sorry that I put money as my comfort and not You.

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I'm sorry that I put accolades in front of You,

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in front of You, and not You completely in my heart.

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I'm sorry I put man's praise before I considered Yours."

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If you need to repent right now, here's our moment.

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Talk to the God who loves you, exactly how He loves Jesus

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and say, "I'm sorry I put anything before You.

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I want nothing before You."

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- Jesus, I want my yes to be to You, only You.

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- Can the church say Amen? - Amen.

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- Can the church say amen? - Amen.

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- Now say it like you mean it.

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Can the church say amen? - Amen!

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- Come on, give the Lord a praise out in this place.

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[cheering] I don't know about you.

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Praise the Lord, everybody.

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For the Bible said, let everything that has breath

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praise ye the Lord.

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Is anybody breathing out here?

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Then I need you to give God some praise like never before.

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I need you to lift up holy hands and give God a praise.

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I need you to shout hallelujah.

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I need you to give Him honor.

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I need you to give Him praise,

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for He is the all mighty God.

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Yes He is, yes He is, yes He is, yes He is.

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We serve a God that is not a [indiscernible] person,

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for He loves us all the same.

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He sees you where you are.

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He sees you in what's going on.

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He sees you in what's happening in your life.

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I'm here to pray. I'm not going to preach.

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But I want to prepare my heart.

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I need to prepare our hearts

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to reach into an almighty God.

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When you're in a revival, revival saying

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God is saying to you, "I'm still here.

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I'm still powerful. I'm not done with you yet."

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How many believe the best is still yet to come?

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It's not about the hype. It's not about the emotions.

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It's about being transformed into

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who God called you to really be.

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It's about life being breathed into you.

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It's about God helping you in the hard times.

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Some of us walked out here, I know I walked,

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I came from parking lot six. Lord Jesus.

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I thought that would be closer, but I came from six.

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But I walked out here, but some of us walked out here

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tired, spiritually dry, emotionally worn out,

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or maybe even a little numb.

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But I stopped by to tell somebody

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God specializes in bringing dead things back to life.

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Can I get a witness? [cheers]

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I got proof, I got proof. Ezekiel 37:1-3:

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The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He set me down

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in the middle of a valley full of dry bones.

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And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

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And the prophet said, "Lord, only you know."

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And God replied, prophesied to the bones, and He spoke

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and the breath of God entered them,

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and they stood up like a mighty army.

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That's what revival is like.

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God is ready to stand you up.

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God is ready to help you up.

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God is ready to perk you up.

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God is ready to send you out.

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So today I'm not going to pray for the Revival.

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I'm not praying for the Revival.

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I'm going to pray that the Lord God Almighty

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will remove anything that is keeping you from being revived.

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Oh, can I say that again? I need to say it again.

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Somebody missed it, somebody missed it, somebody missed it.

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I'm not going to pray for the Revival.

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I'm going to pray to the Lord God Almighty

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that He will remove anything from you, from you,

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from you, from you, from me,

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anything that is hindering us from being revived.

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Scripture I got from Brian Tome said this:

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Will you not revive us again

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that your people may rejoice in You?

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That's a question and a plea.

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It's a cry from a people who know that only God can do it.

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How many know of you know only God can do it? [cheers]

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Repeat after me, say, create in me a clean heart, O God,

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and renew a right spirit within me.

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Revival is about to happen.

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It's coming this way.

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It's going to come in your heart today.

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But if we want God to move, we gotta make some room.

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Look at somebody and say, "Make some room."

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Making room sometimes we begin by cleaning out your house,

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moving out the distractions, forgiving somebody.

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Sometimes it means stepping out in faith again,

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even after you've been disappointed.

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So maybe you're saying, "Lord, it's me.

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I stand in the need of a revival.

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Lord, maybe it's me that you're calling me to greater heights.

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Lord, maybe my life has gone cold."

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But God said I can breathe into that.

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He's not done with your calling.

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He's not finished with your family.

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He hasn't given up on your dreams.

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He's waiting for you to invite Him into your life.

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So this weekend, this is your invitation for a transformation.

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Not just to feel something, but to be changed by somebody,

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by God Almighty.

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So let us come with open hearts and open hands,

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touching and agreeing.

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So before I pray,

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I need everybody to take your right hand

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and put it on the shoulder of the person next to you.

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Let's make a connection.

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Make a connection as a symbol of the hand of God in this place.

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That hand on your shoulder is the hand of God.

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And so, as we pray, you open up your heart and you pray.

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Father God, we come with open hearts and hands,

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touching and agreeing.

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We've tried to do things on our own strength,

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but we confess that we need You.

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We're tired of routines.

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We're tired of religion without relationship.

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We're hungry for your presence, Lord.

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Not just a touch, but a transformation.

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Breathe on us again, Holy Spirit.

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Breathe fresh wind into my soul.

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Blow away the dust of doubt,

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the weight of worry and the heaviness of sin.

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Remove anything, and I mean anything, God,

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that is keeping us from being fully revived by You.

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Tear down my pride, my distractions and unbelief.

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Break every chain that binds us

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and every barrier that separates us from Your glory.

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Revive our worship until it's more than a song,

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but true surrender unto you.

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Revive our witness, God,

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until our lives preach louder than our words.

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Revive our wonder until we stand in awe again

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of You just being a mighty God by Yourself.

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You are God, and besides thee there is none other.

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So break up the hard grounds of our hearts

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and plant something new, something holy,

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something living, something lasting.

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And so we come before you, God, asking You

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to revive our homes, protect and let peace replace tension.

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Let forgiveness heal old wounds.

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Let love reign where division once stood.

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Revive all our children, Lord.

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Protect their hearts. Shape their dreams.

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Ignite night their purpose.

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Let this next generation rise up

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with boldness, faith and fire just for You.

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Revive our marriages, Lord.

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Restore what has been strained.

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Heal what has been broken.

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Teach us again how to love like You.

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Then revive our ministries.

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Breathe creativity, compassion and conviction

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into every area of our service.

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Father God, continue to let Crossroads shine

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like a city on a hill, a place where Your glory still dwells.

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Let your presence fill this place until

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chains are broken, hearts are healed, sinners are saved,

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until joy overflows, until we never be the same again.

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Let this weekend, God, be a turning point,

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a spark that sets this church ablaze,

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a spiritual awakening that spreads beyond these tents

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into our families and our neighborhood and city.

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Let this place be known as the place

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where heaven touched earth,

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where people encountered Your power,

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where revival doesn't end when the service is over,

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but it continues into our lives, into our homes,

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and into our hearts.

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Father God, let this day be our day of Pentecost.

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Let the Holy Spirit fall fresh on us,

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and we declare on this day dead things will live again.

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Dry bones will stand again.

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Dreams will be breathed on again.

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Hearts will burn again.

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Passion for Jesus will rise.

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Lord, do what only You can do.

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Pour out Your Spirit like never before.

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Stir up our faith, release healing, renew strength

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and awaken our purpose in You.

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So revive us again, O Lord, that your people may rejoice,

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not for a moment, but for a movement,

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not for a weekend, but for a lifetime.

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And so right now, God, we give You glory,

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we give You praise, we give You honor.

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We give you all that You deserve today.

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And we ask all these prayers in the mighty,

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matchless, miracle working name of Jesus the Christ.

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And all God's people said Amen. - Amen.

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- Come on and give God the glory.

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Come on and give Him the praise. Shout hallelujah.

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When the praises go up, the Blesser comes down.

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He will indwell the happiness of His people.

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Give him a praise.

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- Lord, thank You that our sins are forgiven.

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Thank You that we have eternal life.

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Thank You that we are going to see You face to face.

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Thank You that You will renew all things,

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and we will rule and reign in a new heaven and a new earth.

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Thank You, Lord, that

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nothing that is formed against us will prosper.

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Thank You that if You are for us, who can be against us?

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That if You who did deliver up Your own Son

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and gave Him freely, will You not freely give us all things?

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Thank You for the confidence we have in You.

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Thank You for the access we have to You.

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And Father, thank You that Your presence is with us.

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Lord, we are here for You, to know You,

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to enjoy You, to worship You.

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And we just pray that You would receive with joy

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the sacrifice of praise that we have offered to You.

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Lord, all over this state today people will be gathering

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to offer a sacrifice of praise to sports,

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to entertainment, to people they love.

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And Father, we just want to say,

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"May our sacrifice be the loudest,

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most joyful sacrifice to Your presence."

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Lord, we give you the highest praise above anything else

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or anyone else that has lifted here today.

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So we thank You that we can gather here

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and we thank You for this time.

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And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

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You may be seated.

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When your pastor called me and said,

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"You want to come preach at a revival in the woods?"

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I live in the middle of Manhattan, New York.

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He's like, "Have you camped much?"

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And I was like, no.

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But I came partly because what is happening here

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has a rich history in this nation.

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I'm from Australia, if you can't tell.

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Has a rich history in this nation.

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The idea of holidays, like taking a holiday,

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you get it from the word contains the word holy day.

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And on the American frontier

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during the Second Great Awakening,

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one of the things that people would do

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is they would stop everything.

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They would gather together.

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They would set up tents just like this,

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and they would come together with a vision

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of worshiping and encountering God.

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And vacations as we have them in America today

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have their root in the fact that Christians

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wanted to break out of their regular schedules,

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call on the name of the Lord,

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encounter His blessing and His presence,

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and then go back to the rest of their lives

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with favor for what God had called them to.

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That process got secularized,

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where they cut God out of the break

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and instead offered people to get into nature

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to get refreshed and revived.

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They just did it without God.

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So I just want you to know, the fact that

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you are here for God is in itself a sense of revival.

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It's one thing for people to come out here

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to go to a music concert.

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It's another thing to go to a massive festival.

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It's another thing for people like you

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to carve out time for three services a day,

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plus singing in the woods,

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plus all night worship tonight, plus solitary time,

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all to encounter the living God.

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So I just want you to know God likes this

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and you should anticipate His power showing up

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because you have consecrated time for Him to come here.

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[applause] This room is ready.

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And I missed the name of the pastor that prayed earlier,

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but I wanted to just yield my time and say,

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"Sir, you can preach. Keep going."

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That was something, that was beautiful.

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So it is a joy to be here.

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I want to continue on sort of what Brian started

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a little bit earlier by talking about

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learning to really trust that God loves us.

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Did you know in every area of society, trust,

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where you can measure people's level of trust is going down?

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How many of you trust politicians?

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You just like, "These people, man, I trust them.

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They're not doing it for themselves.

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They just want to serve the people."

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How many of you trust politicians?

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Trust in politicians has gone way down.

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How many of you trust the news to be fair

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and honest in what it reports?

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No bias, no angle, no perspective, just the facts.

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How many of you lock your doors at night? Anybody?

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Yeah. Why? Don't you trust your neighbors?

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Trust in our neighbors is going down.

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Trust in religious leaders is going down.

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Trust in parents is going down.

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Trust in spouses is going down.

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Every measurable category in society

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of trust is decreasing.

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Trust in God is going down in our culture.

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And you know what's replaced that sense of trust?

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People have turned into control freaks.

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Are there any control freaks in the house today?

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Is anybody sitting next to a control freak

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who's not letting you put your arm up right now?

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I'm not trying to start any marital fights here,

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but I'm seeing some stuff.

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I'm a control freak.

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I am certainly a recovering control freak.

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But here's what I've learned.

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You cannot be a control freak

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and enjoy God's love at the same time.

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The more you are a control freak, the less aware you are

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of the love of God working in your life.

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And so what I want to do in this time together here

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is I want to talk to you about

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how you can slowly lose your grip

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on having to control everything in your life,

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and you can surrender to God's love for you.

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Now, that may sound nice, that may sound easy,

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but I want to tell you it is hard to surrender to love.

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So in the first part of this talk, I want to talk about

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the danger of what being a control freak actually does.

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And in the second half, I want to tell you

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how you can learn to open up your heart

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and surrender to the love of God.

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I think there's three great temptations

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we see in the scriptures for people to try

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and be control freaks. Here's the first one.

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People try and control the timing of their lives.

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And what I mean by that is they want

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the things they want to happen

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at the time they want it to happen when they want it.

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We want God to run on our time frame.

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Anybody here experiencing something in your life

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right now you feel like God's late?

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Anybody feeling like God's late in my life?

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Maybe you thought you'd be married by no and you're single.

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Maybe you thought you'd have kids by now,

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but it's not working like you thought.

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Maybe you thought the business would be doing better.

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Maybe you thought the relationship would be repaired,

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but it just seems like the timing

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of what you want to happen,

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and the timing of what God is allowing are not lined up.

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And if we're not careful,

00:36:14

if we don't trust God with the timing of our lives,

00:36:18

we will try and play God and make what we want to happen

00:36:22

happen in our own time.

00:36:24

And that is a brewing disaster for your life.

00:36:28

This is part of what happened with King Saul in 1 Samuel 13.

00:36:32

Because there's actually this really remarkable account

00:36:36

where the Jewish people's like arch nemesis,

00:36:40

the Philistines, are coming against them,

00:36:42

and they're lined up ready to have a battle.

00:36:44

And this is not the account of David and Goliath.

00:36:47

This is an account where King Saul is getting ready

00:36:49

to fight the Philistines. They assemble.

00:36:52

But Samuel has told them you cannot go to war

00:36:56

until I show up and offer the sacrifice before the battle.

00:37:01

And one day goes by, and Samuel's not showing up.

00:37:06

Two days go by, the people start to get a little jittery.

00:37:10

Day three, day four, "Where is Samuel?"

00:37:14

Day five, day six.

00:37:15

It says that the people begin to scatter

00:37:19

under fear of the Philistines.

00:37:22

Day seven, no Samuel.

00:37:25

And so here's what Saul says:

00:37:27

Bring me the offering. I'll have to do it myself.

00:37:30

I don't know where Samuel is.

00:37:33

And this is almost like a Shakespeare play,

00:37:36

right as he makes the sacrifice

00:37:38

which God has not ordained him or authorized him to offer,

00:37:42

Samuel shows up.

00:37:44

And in 1 Samuel 13, this is what it says:

00:37:46

Samuel says to Saul, "You have done foolishly.

00:37:49

You've not kept the commandment of the Lord your God,

00:37:52

which He commanded you.

00:37:53

For now the Lord would have established

00:37:55

your kingdom over Israel forever.

00:37:57

But now your kingdom shall not continue.

00:38:00

The Lord has sought for Himself a man after his own heart,

00:38:03

and the Lord has commanded him

00:38:05

to be a commander over His people

00:38:07

because you have not kept

00:38:09

what the Lord your God commanded of you.

00:38:13

Taking things into your own hands,

00:38:15

because God's not moving in your time frame,

00:38:18

doesn't make the will of God happen faster in your life.

00:38:22

It sabotages the will of God happening in your life.

00:38:26

And Saul did this.

00:38:28

He tried to control the timing of his life

00:38:30

because people began to scatter,

00:38:33

and it ended up costing him his leadership.

00:38:35

Another area where tempted to be control freaks,

00:38:38

in defining how we obey God.

00:38:43

A lot of times we do what's called partial obedience.

00:38:47

Partial obedience is such a temptation.

00:38:50

It's where you do almost everything God says,

00:38:53

except a little bit.

00:38:55

You keep a little bit back.

00:38:57

And how many of you know if you're in a relationship,

00:39:00

you're worried about the little bit.

00:39:02

No woman has ever dated a man, and accepted this excuse.

00:39:08

"I'm, like, 83% faithful to you.

00:39:11

I'm, like, mainly faithful.

00:39:13

Like, every now there's, like a 17%

00:39:16

where I'm just sorting some stuff out.

00:39:19

But will you accept the 83% faithfulness

00:39:23

in our relationship?"

00:39:24

And the truth is, I think the woman's probably like,

00:39:27

"The 17% is the only part that matters to me.

00:39:32

It's the part you're holding back."

00:39:33

The same thing happens now with obedience.

00:39:35

We see this again with King Saul in 1 Samuel 15,

00:39:39

2 chapters later, God says to Saul,

00:39:41

"I want you to destroy the Amalekites."

00:39:44

Now the Amalekites, if you were to go back in time,

00:39:46

would sort of be like the SS in World War II.

00:39:50

These were nasty people, wicked, evil,

00:39:53

offering their babies in the fire,

00:39:56

burning them alive as sacrifices to pagan gods.

00:39:59

Nasty people.

00:40:00

And God says, "I want you to wipe them out.

00:40:02

You cannot let them carry this practice on."

00:40:05

And so Saul goes in and he mainly destroys them,

00:40:10

but he keeps the king alive,

00:40:11

and he keeps all of the animals.

00:40:14

And then when Samuel shows up,

00:40:16

expecting there to be a total obedience by King Saul,

00:40:19

he walks up and he's like, "What's --

00:40:22

What's the sound of cattle I'm hearing?

00:40:25

I'm hearing some cows off in the distance, some sheep."

00:40:27

And Saul was like, "Oh yeah,

00:40:29

I think you're going to love this one, Samuel.

00:40:32

I didn't want to waste the animals

00:40:33

because I thought I could give them to God.

00:40:36

So I kept them alive, and I kept the king alive, too,

00:40:38

because he seemed like a pretty nice bloke.

00:40:40

And, uh, so here's the king,

00:40:42

and I think I'm going to give this stuff to God."

00:40:44

And God gives this phrase that has haunted Christians

00:40:48

throughout history: to obey is better than sacrifice.

00:40:54

God doesn't care all the religious stuff you do for Him,

00:40:58

go to church, come to Revival, you tithe,

00:41:00

you go to a Bible study or whatever.

00:41:02

If in your heart there's an area of rebellion

00:41:05

that you refuse to give to Him.

00:41:09

Just like every woman wants 100% commitment from a man,

00:41:14

and God wants 100% obedience from our lives.

00:41:18

And ultimately, if we're not careful,

00:41:20

we don't just control the timing of our lives,

00:41:21

we don't just become control freaks

00:41:23

and try and redefine what obedience is.

00:41:25

If we're not careful, we end up trying to control other people.

00:41:30

And this always works out as a disaster.

00:41:32

David Bennett said this:

00:41:34

The fearful person may appear deeply loving,

00:41:38

but fear always interferes with the impulse towards love.

00:41:43

What he's saying is you can't control

00:41:44

and love at the same time,

00:41:46

energy invested in maintaining safety and comfort

00:41:49

always depletes energy available for the love of others.

00:41:54

Now, before I got married, I dated this girl.

00:41:56

It was like my first real Christian relationship.

00:41:59

I'm 17 years old and I date this girl.

00:42:02

I don't understand things like red flags. Okay?

00:42:04

I'm too new.

00:42:05

I don't have enough data to understand what's going on.

00:42:09

I start dating this girl, really sincere girl.

00:42:12

She's dated a guy that was older than her

00:42:15

before she dated me who cheated on her.

00:42:18

I don't know this.

00:42:19

I'm just thinking, "I'm not gonna cheat on you.

00:42:21

I think you're great."

00:42:24

But that wounded her heart,

00:42:27

and she just had this suspicion in our relationship.

00:42:31

Every time I would go somewhere,

00:42:32

she's like, "Who are you with?"

00:42:34

I was like, "Nobody. I was at work."

00:42:35

She's like, "Yeah, but who were you with at work?"

00:42:37

I was like, "The people I work with, they're all men.

00:42:39

I work in a butcher shop."

00:42:40

She's like, "Oh, just checking, just checking."

00:42:43

And she just had a suspicion everywhere she went,

00:42:47

because she was perpetually worried

00:42:50

that I was going to cheat on her.

00:42:51

And at one point, I had to sit her down and be like,

00:42:53

"Yo, homegirl, let me tell you,

00:42:55

I'm in this because I like you.

00:42:57

I'm not trying to cheat on you.

00:42:59

I'm not your old, this old guy or whatever."

00:43:02

And for whatever reason, that wound was so deep in her

00:43:07

that she ended up pushing me away and trying to control me

00:43:12

because she just could not believe that

00:43:14

ultimately I would not cheat on her.

00:43:17

And I think in many ways that ends up being

00:43:19

part of the problem we have in our relationship.

00:43:21

We get so wounded, we get so hurt,

00:43:23

we can't trust anybody else, and we end up

00:43:26

trying to control and manage them.

00:43:27

Parents try and manage and control their kids.

00:43:29

Kids try and manage and control other people.

00:43:32

Spouses try and control one another.

00:43:34

Adult parents try and control adult kids

00:43:36

or control grandkids.

00:43:38

And instead of facilitating love, all it does

00:43:41

is drive people away

00:43:42

because people don't want to be controlled.

00:43:45

People want to be loved.

00:43:48

This, if we're not careful, though, gets even worse.

00:43:51

Some people use religion to try and control God.

00:43:58

And sometimes the church doesn't help with this.

00:44:00

Sometimes church says the worst stuff ever.

00:44:04

It says stuff like this:

00:44:05

if you tithe 10%, you'll never have financial problems

00:44:09

and God will bless you.

00:44:11

And you know what? It's not that simple.

00:44:14

And so sometimes people are like, "God,

00:44:15

I need you to bless my business, so I'm going to tithe.

00:44:19

Therefore, I've sort of got power over you, God,

00:44:23

because I'm using one of your laws

00:44:25

and because your law says, 'If I give, You'll bless me,

00:44:29

you have to bless my business.'"

00:44:31

And it doesn't work that simply.

00:44:33

Sometimes we say this, particularly to younger folks,

00:44:36

"Hey, if you wait until you get married before you have sex,

00:44:40

when you get married, you will have

00:44:42

super spiritual, amazing Christian sex."

00:44:46

Now listen, God's word says that you should wait

00:44:48

until you get married to have sex,

00:44:50

because sex is a whole --

00:44:52

It's a part of a whole life covenant union.

00:44:54

It is designed as a part of a whole life commitment.

00:44:58

So that's God's design for it.

00:45:00

But sometimes we say these terrible things to young people,

00:45:03

making all of these promises that just don't hold up.

00:45:06

And so when they get married

00:45:07

and it's not quite this mystical spiritual sex

00:45:10

that they were promised in youth group,

00:45:12

all of a sudden they get angry at God like,

00:45:14

"God, you owe me a great marriage because of my purity."

00:45:18

But God's not a formula.

00:45:20

The Bible's not a set of rules.

00:45:22

And if we're not careful, we end up making these deals

00:45:25

that God has to bless us, and then it doesn't happen.

00:45:28

Sometimes we pray, it used to be the prayer of Jabez

00:45:31

when I was a new Christian.

00:45:32

Everyone is just praying that prayer of Jabez.

00:45:35

And then they're praying the Lord's Prayer.

00:45:37

And we sort of use prayers like formulas to control God.

00:45:41

But it doesn't work like that.

00:45:42

God is not a controllable asset that,

00:45:45

through our religious performance,

00:45:47

gets Him to do what we want.

00:45:49

We're not the prophets of Baal

00:45:51

screaming louder to get God to act.

00:45:55

And so if we try and control God,

00:45:58

it ends up being a disaster.

00:46:00

Because God doesn't love you

00:46:02

for what you do or your religious performance,

00:46:05

and He is not going to bless you

00:46:07

if your heart is far from you.

00:46:10

God doesn't want your behavior or your religious effort.

00:46:14

God wants your free response.

00:46:17

So I want to say this to you.

00:46:18

Many of you put your hands up to be control freaks.

00:46:21

I struggle as a control freak too.

00:46:24

Well, what do we do?

00:46:27

Instead of driving people away, what do we do

00:46:29

instead of trying to manage the time of our lives

00:46:31

and get God to act when we want?

00:46:33

What do we do instead of redefining obedience?

00:46:35

Here's the key, this is big,

00:46:37

we've got to shift from control to surrender.

00:46:42

You've got to learn to surrender.

00:46:44

Listen, this is big.

00:46:46

A lot of times, Christians talk about obedience.

00:46:49

How many of you heard obedience, like got to obey,

00:46:51

trust and obey. Got to obey. You got to obey.

00:46:53

But here's the problem,

00:46:55

obedience is often calculated in a moment.

00:46:58

Obedience says, let me evaluate this decision.

00:47:02

Will I rebel or will I obey?

00:47:05

And if it looks good to me, I'll obey this one.

00:47:08

But that means every time you have a major decision

00:47:12

you're going to have this war

00:47:14

of obedience versus disobedience,

00:47:16

and that will exhaust you.

00:47:19

What we need instead is a posture of the heart

00:47:21

that just says, "God, my yes is a permanent, open yes to You

00:47:27

and whatever You want from me, You've got it."

00:47:31

Obedience is a momentary decision.

00:47:34

Surrender is a lifelong posture of the heart.

00:47:40

Now, the person, I think, who best models

00:47:43

surrender on earth is the person of Jesus.

00:47:47

But I want to ask I want to answer this question.

00:47:49

How did Jesus learn to surrender?

00:47:53

How did He learn to do it?

00:47:54

How did He forgive His enemies?

00:47:56

How when He was pressed on the Cross

00:47:59

did love come out instead of hate?

00:48:01

Well, Jesus did this because He was connected to His Father.

00:48:05

That's why what Pastor Brian said earlier is so important.

00:48:09

If you don't believe and trust that God loves you

00:48:13

like He loved Jesus, why will you ever trust Him

00:48:17

like Jesus trusted Him?

00:48:19

You've got the most important thing

00:48:21

is learning to surrender to the Father's love.

00:48:24

It is the source of all surrender.

00:48:26

I want you to note

00:48:27

the first thing Jesus said in His ministry.

00:48:29

You know what it was?

00:48:30

As a teenager, teenager, here's what Jesus says,

00:48:33

"Got to be about My Father's business."

00:48:35

That's how the gospel is opened.

00:48:37

The last thing Jesus says, "Father, into Your hands

00:48:39

I commit My Spirit."

00:48:41

Jesus opening words and Jesus closing words

00:48:44

were defined by the Father.

00:48:45

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus

00:48:47

references the Father 17 times.

00:48:50

In His upper room discourse, which is the thing

00:48:53

he said to His disciples when He was serving communion.

00:48:56

He mentions the Father 45 times.

00:48:59

In John 17, the high priestly prayer

00:49:01

that was read earlier today, Jesus references the Father

00:49:04

another six times.

00:49:06

It was Jesus's connection to the Father's love

00:49:10

that enabled Him to trust the Father's timing,

00:49:13

to be fully obedient,

00:49:15

to love people instead of trying to control them,

00:49:17

and then not to use His Father as a divine commodity,

00:49:20

but to surrender to His will on the Cross.

00:49:23

You got to get connected to the Father's love

00:49:25

if you're going to stop being a control freak.

00:49:29

And I want you to note that when Jesus does this,

00:49:32

it's not like a passive surrender.

00:49:36

He's not kind of like, "Okay, well,

00:49:38

Your plan is better than Mine, so I'm in."

00:49:42

Look at what it says in Luke 23.

00:49:45

It says: with a loud voice, Jesus cried out,

00:49:53

"Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit."

00:49:58

And then He breathed His last.

00:50:01

Now scholars tell us that when you're being crucified,

00:50:04

the number one issue of crucifixion

00:50:06

is you lose your capacity to breathe.

00:50:08

So you're sitting there on the cross.

00:50:10

You can't breathe, and you have to press up on the nails

00:50:13

in order to gather a breath in your lungs.

00:50:16

And it becomes exhausting and almost impossible.

00:50:20

So most people on the cross die from asphyxiation,

00:50:23

rather than just the physical wounds they've received.

00:50:26

And scholars tell us, in order for Jesus

00:50:28

to be able to push up and instead of just breathe,

00:50:31

raise his voice and let it out,

00:50:35

Jesus was making a definitive statement

00:50:38

to the principalities, to His followers,

00:50:41

and even for us in this tent.

00:50:43

And He yells out, "Father, into Your hands

00:50:45

I commit My Spirit."

00:50:46

That that commitment of surrender

00:50:49

has to have some defiance to it

00:50:53

when you're in the middle of experiencing temptation.

00:50:56

So here's what I want you to see.

00:50:58

You're going to have to learn, then,

00:51:00

based on your connection to the Father,

00:51:03

to surrender and make that same declaration with your own life.

00:51:07

You are going to have to say, "Father, I trust You,

00:51:10

and I'm willing to commit these things to You."

00:51:13

So what do you need to learn to trust

00:51:15

in order to really live this surrendered life?

00:51:17

Okay, here's what you have to surrender.

00:51:19

Number one, you've got to learn to trust God with your future.

00:51:23

Gotta learn to trust God with your future.

00:51:25

Sounds easy,

00:51:26

until you get the future you didn't want, doesn't it?

00:51:29

It look great on paper, trust God with your future.

00:51:32

Nice. What else? Hit me with number two.

00:51:34

It's hard, man. It's hard to trust God

00:51:37

when it doesn't look like it's going to go your way.

00:51:39

It's hard to trust God when you can't see the other side.

00:51:42

It's hard to trust God in the middle of the drama,

00:51:45

but we can learn from the scriptures.

00:51:48

We can learn from the saints of history.

00:51:49

We can learn from the life of Jesus

00:51:51

that if He puts you on the cross, He will resurrect you.

00:51:54

He will not leave you hanging there.

00:51:56

We've gotta learn to trust Him with our future.

00:51:58

The hardest thing for me when I was young

00:52:01

was to trust God with my future.

00:52:02

I was just like, "Man, I don't know

00:52:04

if he's going to give me a wife or a good wife.

00:52:07

I don't know. I don't know if I'm going to get to serve God."

00:52:10

It was such a wrestle with me, one day I just had

00:52:13

to come to terms with it and just say,

00:52:14

"God, whatever You want for my future. It's yours."

00:52:20

Now, I was actually -- It's weird being at this tent

00:52:22

because I went to this Pentecostal youth retreat.

00:52:27

It was really a festival called Wonder Fest,

00:52:30

and it was in Sydney, Australia.

00:52:33

And they had two bands playing.

00:52:35

One was called White Hart

00:52:38

and the other one was called DC Talk.

00:52:40

That's how old I am. [cheers]

00:52:43

And they're having this massive concert.

00:52:47

And I was like, "I am not into this concert."

00:52:49

So I walk out into the fields and I get this,

00:52:52

I just start praying.

00:52:54

I had a youth pastor that was like,

00:52:55

"Ask God for vision for your future.

00:52:57

Ask God for vision for your future."

00:52:59

And so I was like, "You know what?

00:53:00

I'm not into the music and this feels like

00:53:02

a good time to ask God for a vision for my future."

00:53:04

So I say to God, "God, give me vision for my future."

00:53:07

And I have this vision, really hard to explain.

00:53:09

Almost like Google Maps, Google Earth

00:53:12

before Google Earth exists.

00:53:14

And I'm sort of like up in the air

00:53:16

hovering over these cities in America.

00:53:21

And I'm like, "What is even happening?

00:53:23

I am hovering over cities in America."

00:53:26

I'd never thought about moving to America.

00:53:29

This was not in my life plan.

00:53:31

Point one: move to America.

00:53:33

This was not in my sort of my vision for life.

00:53:36

So I go back to my youth pastor and I say to him,

00:53:39

"Hey, you said to ask God

00:53:40

to give us a vision for our future.

00:53:43

I got a vision for my future.

00:53:44

I'm moving to America."

00:53:45

And he's like, "Look, I appreciate your heart,

00:53:48

but America's full of Christians, mate.

00:53:51

You need to stay here in Australia

00:53:52

where all the pagans are."

00:53:54

And I was like, "You could be right, but I do believe

00:53:57

that I am going over to America."

00:53:59

So you guys, I think you heard my story.

00:54:02

I live in New York City.

00:54:03

For the last 20 years, I've been a pastor in New York City.

00:54:06

A few years ago three families bought a building

00:54:12

that we all lived in in community together

00:54:14

so that we could pray and sort of try

00:54:16

and live the book of Acts in the middle of the city.

00:54:18

So I'm living in the middle of Manhattan.

00:54:20

It's incredible.

00:54:21

But before I know I'm going to come to America

00:54:24

and it actually works, when I'm still in Australia,

00:54:26

I go to the local poster shop.

00:54:29

They just sell frames and posters.

00:54:31

And I say to the guy, "Do you have any pictures of America?"

00:54:35

And he's like, "Do you want to be more specific?"

00:54:37

And I'm like, "I don't know a lot more about America,

00:54:40

so just whatever you've got."

00:54:42

And he gives me this, like, framed print of America.

00:54:46

So I come back to my house

00:54:48

and I put this print on the wall.

00:54:51

And every night before I go to bed, I'm like,

00:54:53

"God, open the door for me to go to America.

00:54:56

Open the door for me to go to America."

00:54:58

And I'm like, it's amazing.

00:55:00

A couple years later, my dad calls me at work one day

00:55:02

and says, "John, I've got a scholarship for you

00:55:06

to go study the Bible." I'm like, "It's incredible."

00:55:08

He goes, "There's only one problem. It's in America."

00:55:10

And I was like, "Problem? Problem? This is my destiny!"

00:55:16

So I end up moving over to America,

00:55:18

and we moved to New York City,

00:55:19

and we start this church.

00:55:20

And we, you know, buy this building,

00:55:23

it's on 45th Street in New York City,

00:55:25

right in Hell's Kitchen. It's incredible.

00:55:27

Now, when I was a teenager,

00:55:29

I was like super, super obsessed with capturing memories.

00:55:34

Okay? This is not like pull your phone out

00:55:36

and get a snap or whatever. Okay?

00:55:38

This was work, and so I had to have a handycam.

00:55:41

And everywhere I went I was, like,

00:55:42

"I feel like I'm going to have an amazing life,

00:55:44

so let me document this."

00:55:45

And everybody would mock me like,

00:55:47

"What's that weird dude with a camera?"

00:55:48

I'm like, "Shut up. You'll see one day."

00:55:51

And I still don't see what that was about.

00:55:52

But anyway, I did it.

00:55:54

And when I moved to the US, I thought

00:55:56

I lost all of the videotapes that I had.

00:56:00

And then one day, my mom was staying with us

00:56:01

in New York City, and she says, "Johnny,

00:56:03

you're never going to believe it." I said, "What?"

00:56:05

She said, "I found all of your old VHS tapes

00:56:08

when you were a teenager."

00:56:10

I'm like, "Are you kidding?"

00:56:11

I run down and get them all digitized

00:56:14

and dropped into a Dropbox folder.

00:56:16

And I'm walking through New York City.

00:56:18

I'm on 45th Street in Times Square,

00:56:21

about to turn to where we live,

00:56:23

and I pull up this Dropbox folder

00:56:25

and there's a video of me filming my house.

00:56:30

And I turned the corner,

00:56:32

and I almost fall over on the street because

00:56:35

I filmed that random picture of America

00:56:38

that I bought from the mall when I said to the guy,

00:56:40

"Hey, is there a photo of America?"

00:56:42

And I kid you not, the thing I could not believe

00:56:45

is the house we just bought in New York City,

00:56:48

the picture on the wall in my house in Australia

00:56:51

was a photo of 45th Street, exactly where that house is.

00:56:58

I'm a teenager in Australia going, "God, get me to America."

00:57:03

Praying over some random photo of 45th Street in New York.

00:57:07

I didn't even remember it.

00:57:09

And then when I actually buy a place in New York,

00:57:12

it's on the very street I prayed for 20 years earlier,

00:57:15

but I couldn't even remember.

00:57:17

Folks, I simply say this to you

00:57:19

that God has a future for you

00:57:21

better than you are aware of

00:57:23

if you learn to trust Him.

00:57:26

And you can hustle, you can scramble,

00:57:28

you can try and pull it off yourself.

00:57:30

You can partially obey.

00:57:31

But I just want to remind you that if God put you here,

00:57:35

He has a plan and purpose for you.

00:57:38

Trust Him with your future.

00:57:41

Trust Him with your timing.

00:57:43

He will bring your purpose to pass,

00:57:47

if you don't give in and sin and you walk in faith.

00:57:49

You've got to learn to surrender your future,

00:57:51

because God's future is better

00:57:53

than the one you can make up for yourself.

00:57:54

Second thing you need to trust God with, this is hard.

00:57:58

You've got to trust God with your shame.

00:58:01

Now this is hard. You know how this works.

00:58:03

Guilt says I've done something wrong.

00:58:05

Shame says there's something wrong with me.

00:58:08

Guilt is an external reality based on a decision you make.

00:58:11

Shame is an internal state based on how you view yourself.

00:58:15

One scholar said this:

00:58:16

shame is an internalized critical gaze.

00:58:23

And what that means is, when you think of yourself,

00:58:26

all you think is criticizing what's wrong with you.

00:58:31

And part of the challenge is many of us have done things

00:58:33

that are shameful things. We've done things.

00:58:36

If we had to have a lineup, if we said like,

00:58:38

"Hey, how many of you guys just want to confess

00:58:40

your secret sin and your worst secrets right now?"

00:58:42

Very -- People would be like, "I think I'm good."

00:58:44

We would actually be terrified,

00:58:47

even in a loving environment like this,

00:58:49

that we'd be rejected.

00:58:51

And we think, "Well, yeah, listen, if --

00:58:53

I know God can forgive sins, but He can't forgive me of this."

00:58:57

And if we're not careful, we spend a lot of time

00:59:00

trying to pay God back for the Cross,

00:59:02

hoping if we're sorry enough or if we do enough,

00:59:05

finally we can get rid of the shame.

00:59:08

But you can't get rid of your own shame.

00:59:12

God has to take your shame from you.

00:59:14

And the best way that you can get that shame off your life

00:59:17

is to just give it to Him.

00:59:19

Surrender your shame to the Lord.

00:59:22

When my daughter was little, she was like --

00:59:26

My kids were were I had a little boy named Nathan

00:59:30

and a little girl named Hailey.

00:59:31

And I'll never forget this one moment.

00:59:33

My son walks through the living room and says to me,

00:59:36

unprompted, "Boys have a penis and poop comes out their bums."

00:59:41

I'm like, "Great, man."

00:59:43

And then my daughter walks by

00:59:45

with makeup all over her face, in a diaper

00:59:48

with high heels and a handbag on and blows me a kiss.

00:59:52

And I'm just like, this is like boys and girls

00:59:56

in embryonic form, right?

00:59:57

It was the wildest moment.

00:59:59

My son always dirty, always bleeding,

01:00:03

always jumping off things and breaking body parts.

01:00:06

Just like full send little kid. Like, "Watch this."

01:00:09

Just go there, we're in the hospital again.

01:00:11

My daughter, delicate, delicate, feminine,

01:00:16

not enough pink on planet Earth.

01:00:19

There was a season as a dad, I banned glitter from my home.

01:00:23

Everywhere I went, my Pentecostal friends were like,

01:00:25

"I see glory dust on you."

01:00:26

It's like, "I hugged my daughter.

01:00:28

That's just glitter, man." I banned glitter.

01:00:30

I still to this day I'm at war with glitter on the earth.

01:00:34

One day I'm looking after my daughter,

01:00:36

my wife had gone out. I'm looking after my daughter.

01:00:39

I go to put her down for a nap.

01:00:42

And I'm sitting there on my couch.

01:00:43

She's upstairs in a room, and all of a sudden I --

01:00:48

I smell something that doesn't smell Christian.

01:00:53

"What is that?" It's like, "Can't be my daughter.

01:00:57

She's too cute."

01:00:59

And I go upstairs, I go into my daughter's room

01:01:03

and I'm like, "What the what?"

01:01:07

There's poo everywhere.

01:01:10

My daughter is not in the room, like she's done a runner.

01:01:14

I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this is like."

01:01:17

So I go down the hall following the smell,

01:01:21

go into a spare room. I walk in the spare room.

01:01:24

There's little like, not Winnie the Pooh,

01:01:25

but like actual poo footprints into the middle of the room.

01:01:31

In the middle of the room is

01:01:32

a discarded diarrhea diaper in the middle of the floor.

01:01:36

No daughter. Just like gone.

01:01:39

I'm just literally the smell is so I'm like,

01:01:41

"What is even happening?"

01:01:43

I look at the wall and there was like

01:01:45

a Jackson Pollock hand painting all over the wall

01:01:50

of these tiny little fingers.

01:01:58

Trying to think how I'm going to explain this to my wife.

01:02:02

And then I see these little tiny poo prints.

01:02:05

The door is closed, and I see they lead behind the door.

01:02:10

And I walk over, I open, I pull the door back

01:02:13

and there's my daughter, covered in poo

01:02:17

with little hands over her face.

01:02:20

And I just said, "Hey, Hailey. What's happened?"

01:02:25

And she just looks up to me, puts her hands up

01:02:28

and says, "Poo." Poo has happened to me.

01:02:35

So I'm, like, I grab her by one leg,

01:02:39

try to turn it into a game, get her in the bath.

01:02:42

Can't find soap. I wash her with dishwashing soap.

01:02:46

Like my dad game is so low,

01:02:47

"I'm like, don't get this stuff in your eyes, sweet girl.

01:02:50

But I think this will do."

01:02:51

I clean and she's just the whole time sobbing,

01:02:54

sobbing, sobbing.

01:02:56

She's so just like adorable little princess

01:02:59

in a poo bath in a poo. It's just a disaster.

01:03:04

I eventually get her all cleaned,

01:03:06

get her back down on the couch,

01:03:08

put her in this massive white fluffy towel.

01:03:10

I'm just sitting there going, "All clean. All clean.

01:03:14

Sweet baby Hailey's all clean.

01:03:16

Smells so good. Smells like dove, but so clean."

01:03:21

And eventually her little, like her little,

01:03:23

her little whimper just gives out.

01:03:26

I was sitting there with this adorable tiny little girl

01:03:30

that I'm not angry at. I'm not upset at her.

01:03:33

I'm not mad at her.

01:03:35

She's just eaten something wrong, probably that I fed her.

01:03:39

Something's happened. She can't control it.

01:03:42

She's embarrassed.

01:03:43

She tries to get rid of it.

01:03:45

As she tries to get rid of it, it gets all over her.

01:03:47

As it gets all over her, it's on her hands.

01:03:49

She's trying to get it off her hands.

01:03:51

It's all over the wall.

01:03:52

And she just yields to the poo and hides in the corner.

01:03:54

And I was just thinking the whole time,

01:03:56

if Hailey had just yelled out, "Daddy, poo,"

01:03:59

at the beginning, I would have just come up

01:04:03

and said, "Hey, no worries, no worries.

01:04:06

This is an accident. Everything's good.

01:04:08

Let's get you cleaned up."

01:04:09

And the thing I felt the most sorry for

01:04:13

is the level of shame my daughter had

01:04:15

sitting behind the door, covered in filth, hiding.

01:04:20

Listen, this is not just a cute story.

01:04:23

I pastor a church.

01:04:25

I meet so many people that have

01:04:27

an adult version of that story who thought they were not --

01:04:31

That would never commit a sin like fill in the blank

01:04:33

and they commit that sin, and then they do it.

01:04:35

And before, you know, they can't get it off them

01:04:37

and they try and get it off them, and then they run away.

01:04:40

And their whole life is just sitting there

01:04:42

hiding, covered in shame.

01:04:45

No freedom, no joy. Hiding at church,

01:04:48

never willing to open up,

01:04:50

always worried people are going to find out

01:04:52

about this shameful thing.

01:04:54

And I just want you to know that God's heart

01:04:56

is infinitely greater than mine,

01:04:58

and that if I'm willing to do that for my daughter,

01:05:00

I'm telling you, God would just say,

01:05:02

"I wish you would just bring Me your sin and your shame.

01:05:06

You don't have to carry this any longer.

01:05:08

Let Me wash you. Let Me cleanse you."

01:05:10

Listen, maybe some of you are here because

01:05:13

this is the weekend you surrender your shame.

01:05:15

Why would you drive all the way up here with shame?

01:05:19

Get it off you while we worship

01:05:21

and then leave this weekend,

01:05:23

put all that shame and guilt on top of you

01:05:25

and go home to a life of hiding and fear?

01:05:30

This could be the time you surrender that to Jesus.

01:05:34

But then lastly, I think the ultimate thing is

01:05:37

you've got to learn to surrender your will to God.

01:05:39

You've got to give Him that permanent yes.

01:05:41

Listen to this quote. This is Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

01:05:43

He says this: sin is an unwillingness to trust

01:05:48

that what God wants is our deepest happiness.

01:05:54

Sin, we sin because at the core of our being

01:05:58

we don't believe that what God wants for us

01:06:02

is our deepest happiness.

01:06:04

And so we try and do things that we think

01:06:06

are going to be more fulfilling than what God has for us,

01:06:10

but they always result in misery.

01:06:13

And so it's learning to trust,

01:06:15

Lord, I'm willing to surrender.

01:06:17

I'm willing to hang myself out there

01:06:18

and just believe that I can trust you.

01:06:23

I don't know if you've ever read any of Henri Nouwen's book.

01:06:25

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch psychologist

01:06:29

who became a priest.

01:06:31

His most famous for his book on the Prodigal Son

01:06:33

talking about Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son.

01:06:36

He talked about grace a lot.

01:06:37

But what people didn't know during the course of his life

01:06:40

is he wrestled with same sex attraction his whole life.

01:06:43

Didn't talk about it openly, but his close friends knew

01:06:47

he just struggled with his sexuality.

01:06:49

And right before he retired, I mean, he taught

01:06:51

at the most prestigious divinity schools in the US.

01:06:55

Right before he retired, he wanted to to do something

01:06:59

that would embody his faith.

01:07:01

And so in his 70s, he joined.

01:07:04

And it's appropriate that we're in a tent like this,

01:07:06

looks a bit like a circus tent.

01:07:08

He joined a flying trapeze troupe.

01:07:13

Now, anyone ever been to the circus or seen the circus?

01:07:15

You know what the trapeze is.

01:07:16

The trapeze is where you're on a swing way up in the sky

01:07:21

and you swing and swing and swing.

01:07:24

And then you jump out and you're hanging in mid-air

01:07:27

and someone catches you.

01:07:29

And he felt like by doing this,

01:07:33

learning to swing out and hang in the air,

01:07:36

that this was going to bring him closer to God.

01:07:38

I was like, "It'll bring you closer to something."

01:07:41

And as he's getting into it, he learns this,

01:07:44

that the key when you're in the air,

01:07:47

when you climb up and you swing out,

01:07:49

the key when you're in the middle of the air

01:07:52

is to be as still as possible.

01:07:55

Because if you sort of wriggle

01:07:58

and you try and help someone catch you,

01:08:01

you actually make it harder for the person who is swinging out.

01:08:05

So the key is swing out, be as still as you can in the air,

01:08:11

and then let the person who's going to catch you

01:08:13

grab your still body.

01:08:16

And he ends up talking about this beautiful image

01:08:18

about surrender is learning to climb up in faith,

01:08:22

swing out and just be still and trust

01:08:26

that God is going to catch you.

01:08:28

He says that's the essence of surrender.

01:08:31

Now you hear that analogy and you think,

01:08:34

"That's a pretty good analogy, isn't it?

01:08:36

You've got to learn to trust God.

01:08:37

You've got to swing out in faith

01:08:38

and just believe that He's going to catch you

01:08:40

when you put yourself out there."

01:08:42

So I use this story at my church.

01:08:43

And I'm like, "So everybody, you should all surrender."

01:08:46

Everyone's like, "That's great, Pastor John."

01:08:49

Except this one couple come up to me after

01:08:51

and they're like, "Hey, Pastor John,

01:08:52

we take trapeze lessons

01:08:56

and you've missed a very important part of the analogy.

01:08:59

And we'd like to pay for your trapeze lessons

01:09:01

with your wife so you can embody this analogy

01:09:04

and learn the truth for yourself."

01:09:06

And I'm like, "Yeah, great.

01:09:07

Just, you know, tell my assistant, she'll schedule it."

01:09:09

"Literally do not schedule it," to my assistant.

01:09:12

"Do not schedule." That was a polite screen.

01:09:14

Sure enough, she doesn't polite screen.

01:09:16

The day comes and I have this shocking revelation.

01:09:20

Trapeze school takes place in a circus tent in Brooklyn,

01:09:26

and it's way higher than this.

01:09:29

And you know what your boy hates? Heights.

01:09:33

Guess what floor I live on

01:09:34

in my apartment building in New York?

01:09:37

First floor, that's right, friends.

01:09:39

First floor right here.

01:09:40

Every time I fly, I become Pentecostal

01:09:43

and pray in tongues quietly under my breath.

01:09:46

Just need divine help.

01:09:48

So we go out to this trapeze school,

01:09:51

and then I have this realization.

01:09:53

You know what it is?

01:09:55

I'm too fat to be a trapeze artist.

01:09:58

I'm like this out of shape rugby player

01:10:00

does not fly through the air with the greatest of ease.

01:10:02

So I go over to the weight limit and I'm like,

01:10:04

"Hey, hey, sorry guys, I'm not going to be able

01:10:07

to do the trapeze because I'm over the weight limit.

01:10:09

But I'll support you as you, as you do your thing."

01:10:13

And the guy running the school was like,

01:10:14

"Yo, dude, we've had dudes way fatter than you up there."

01:10:18

I'm like, "Great. Appreciate that."

01:10:21

So next thing you know, I find myself,

01:10:24

and I've got a photo of this. It's very embarrassing.

01:10:27

I find myself climbing to the top of a circus tent

01:10:31

with a guy who just gets, like, a sadistic sense of joy.

01:10:36

And he's like, "Okay, man."

01:10:37

It's like you're holding, like, a chin up bar,

01:10:40

but on these giant pieces of wire.

01:10:42

And he's like, "All right, man. Jump and go."

01:10:45

And I'm like, "How about I cut you, then push you off?

01:10:48

How about that?" He's like, "No, man."

01:10:50

There's so much pressure. Everyone's around me.

01:10:53

So I swing out and every physical instinct I have

01:10:57

kicks in, and I am, like, trying to do a permanent chin up.

01:11:00

I'm trying to do a chin up like it's going to help me.

01:11:03

So just think this out of shape rugby player

01:11:06

swinging up in the air trying to do a chin up.

01:11:09

And I do it until the rope stops

01:11:11

and everyone's yelling let go.

01:11:12

And I'm like, "I'm not letting go."

01:11:14

And I do it until I get T-Rex arms that cramp up.

01:11:18

And slowly they give out.

01:11:19

And then I fall in this giant net.

01:11:21

And everyone's just kind of like, "What? What was that?"

01:11:27

I was like, "That was courage." [laughter]

01:11:32

My friends come over to me and they say, "Hey, man,

01:11:36

we want to tell you the missing part of your analogy.

01:11:40

Here's a missing part of your analogy.

01:11:42

When you're learning to let go,

01:11:45

there's someone on the ground

01:11:47

who is the master of the trapeze.

01:11:50

And he can see when you're swinging out,

01:11:53

and he can see when the person who is going to swing out

01:11:55

is ready to catch you, and you're up there

01:11:58

trying to do some sort of permanent chin up,

01:12:01

and you're screwing the whole thing up.

01:12:04

You've got to listen for the word, and the word is hep.

01:12:08

You've got to listen for the word hep.

01:12:11

And when you hear the word hep, leap out and be still,

01:12:16

because the person who's going to catch you

01:12:18

is right there to grab you."

01:12:20

And he says, "Your problem is you think

01:12:22

you can figure out your own timing.

01:12:24

You think you can be still in the air,

01:12:26

but until you know there's somebody

01:12:28

who can see the whole picture,

01:12:29

you're never going to get caught

01:12:31

and you'll never be still."

01:12:33

So a few times later, I get back up, I swing out,

01:12:37

my arms are so sore, but I swing out

01:12:40

with my eyes closed and my ear is tuned.

01:12:44

And I'm waiting for one word, and the word is hep.

01:12:47

And I'm swinging and I'm swinging.

01:12:50

And as soon as I hear the word hep, I let myself go

01:12:54

and I just hang there in midair.

01:12:58

Now, John Ortberg says this.

01:13:00

The word trapeze, the little bar between the ropes,

01:13:03

that is a trapeze artist has to let go of

01:13:06

comes from the ancient Greek word trapeza, meaning table.

01:13:10

About the only time it's used in the New Testament

01:13:13

is when the writers claim that

01:13:14

Jesus gathers His friends around the table,

01:13:17

the trapeza, what we now call the communion table,

01:13:19

and teaches them that He will have to let go

01:13:22

of His life for them.

01:13:24

And the only way to let go, to hang on to your life

01:13:27

is to lose it.

01:13:28

Then he climbs the tree, the Cross, and He lets go.

01:13:32

He hangs above the earth for three hours

01:13:35

with his hands stretched out, not moving a muscle,

01:13:37

and He declares, "Father,

01:13:39

into Your hands I commit My Spirit."

01:13:41

And when He did that, He breathed his last,

01:13:43

and he was saving us, and He was also teaching us about trust.

01:13:48

Here's the leap. God comes and He said, "Let go.

01:13:52

Will you let go? My Son, let go for you,

01:13:56

trust Me with your life."

01:13:58

And I think that that's part of what it is

01:14:00

that God wants to do for you today.

01:14:02

God wants you to launch out in faith

01:14:05

and to let go of being a control freak

01:14:07

and learn to surrender to the Father's love

01:14:10

and to give yourself to Him,

01:14:11

trusting that if Christ died for you,

01:14:14

the Father will catch you

01:14:16

no matter what you are going through.

01:14:18

Jesus yelled out, "Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit."

01:14:22

But let me ask you today,

01:14:24

what do you need to commit to the Lord?

01:14:27

What's your thing you need to let go of?

01:14:29

What do you need to declare over your life.

01:14:31

Father, into your hands I commit what?

01:14:35

See, for some of you,

01:14:36

this weekend may be a weekend of freedom,

01:14:38

but it's going to come on the other side of Gethsemane.

01:14:41

And for some of you this weekend,

01:14:42

you're going to have to wrestle with the Father

01:14:45

to trust His love and to trust His will.

01:14:49

Listen, can you imagine in the Garden of Gethsemane

01:14:52

if Jesus, as He's sweating blood, said,

01:14:55

"You know what, Father? I can't do it.

01:14:57

I can't do it. I can't do it.

01:15:00

I know that people are worthy of dying for.

01:15:02

I know You've got a plan. I just don't have it.

01:15:05

I can't trust You."

01:15:06

And what if Jesus shrunk back and the Cross never happened?

01:15:10

What if Jesus's surrender never happened?

01:15:13

We wouldn't be here today.

01:15:15

And I want to say all of the blessings of the Cross

01:15:19

come to us on the other side of Jesus's surrender.

01:15:22

And the blessings that God has for you

01:15:25

may come on the other side of your surrender.

01:15:28

So if you've got something you need to surrender to Jesus,

01:15:30

could you just bow your head right now?

01:15:32

I want us just to be able to respond

01:15:34

to what God's saying to us.

01:15:38

Maybe you're here, maybe it's about a relationship

01:15:43

and there's an area of disobedience

01:15:45

and you're trying to play God.

01:15:48

And God's saying to you, "Will you surrender that to Me?

01:15:51

Will you trust Me in that?"

01:15:53

Maybe it's in your finances.

01:15:55

Maybe you're not obeying God's will in your finances.

01:15:57

You've got partial obedience and you're like,

01:16:00

"I'll sort of obey You, but I'm going to do this my way."

01:16:02

And God's just saying, "I want you to surrender that."

01:16:05

Maybe it's your future plans.

01:16:07

Maybe you're just a control freak and you just,

01:16:11

you just can't trust God with your future.

01:16:15

And here is God saying, "I have a future

01:16:17

better than the one you can make up yourself.

01:16:20

Surrender this to me."

01:16:23

Maybe it's your shame.

01:16:25

And maybe 10, 15 years ago, you did something

01:16:28

or something happened, and it's just buried in your life,

01:16:32

but it is controlling you.

01:16:35

And maybe today the Lord's like, "Bring it to My love.

01:16:39

Bring it to the Cross. Bring it into the light."

01:16:42

If there's something you need to surrender,

01:16:44

would you just put your hands out in front of you

01:16:46

just to the Lord and just put them face down.

01:16:48

Just face down.

01:16:53

And whatever that thing is, you sense the Lord saying to you,

01:16:55

"Come on, this is a little Gethsemane moment.

01:16:57

I want you to surrender that."

01:16:59

Just name that before the Lord.

01:17:02

Control, your future, relationships, money,

01:17:06

sexuality, bitterness, anger, family,

01:17:08

whatever it is, whatever it is,

01:17:10

and just say to the Lord, "Lord, you see this.

01:17:14

And I just, I want to hand this over to You,"

01:17:16

almost like you're pushing it to the Cross.

01:17:18

"Lord, I'm just -- I'm giving this to You.

01:17:20

I just -- take this out of my life and I give it to you."

01:17:26

And then, just in a sign of surrender,

01:17:29

just turn your hands up towards the Lord.

01:17:31

Turn them over and just say, "It's Yours, Lord.

01:17:34

It's Yours. I receive Your grace.

01:17:39

I receive Your forgiveness. I receive Your mercy.

01:17:44

I receive Your love.

01:17:46

I receive all that You have for me.

01:17:49

And more than anything, Lord, receive my will

01:17:51

and my life as an act of service to you."

01:17:56

Father, I thank You for these

01:17:58

thousands of acts of surrender

01:18:01

that have happened from Your people.

01:18:03

Lord, thank You for the Cross

01:18:05

and Your blood that makes us clean and free.

01:18:09

And Father, as we surrender these things to You,

01:18:12

we know that it makes space for Your presence,

01:18:16

Your power, Your friendship, and Your blessing.

01:18:20

So we exchange control, guilt, shame, whatever it is,

01:18:27

and we receive Your blessing in its place.

01:18:30

And we pray this in the name of Jesus.

01:18:33

And everybody said Amen. [applause]

01:18:40

- What a time we have had here.

01:18:42

I mean, just from the worship to all the prayer

01:18:45

to all the teaching, there was something in it

01:18:47

for everybody and definitely something in it for me.

01:18:49

I hope you got something from it

01:18:50

because He can feel that we're hungry.

01:18:52

We're asking God for more.

01:18:54

We're asking Him to wake us up again.

01:18:56

And that is just permeating through every moment

01:18:59

in what we've had so far at Revival. It's amazing.

01:19:01

- That's right. Yeah. There are these moments that

01:19:03

aren't perfectly choreographed or planned out.

01:19:06

It's just like, "God, what do You have for me next?"

01:19:09

And I think if there's something we're asking God, it's that.

01:19:11

So I know for me, it's like, man,

01:19:13

what are the things that I need to, like, let go of?

01:19:16

What are the things that I need to set down

01:19:18

that I need to just release my grip on a little bit

01:19:21

to experience more freedom? - Yeah.

01:19:23

- And actually, we've got a couple different ways

01:19:25

that you might be able to lean into that.

01:19:27

One is, we'd love to pray for you.

01:19:29

You can hit the chat button on the website

01:19:31

or just email us at anywhere@crossroads.net.

01:19:33

Or there's actually incredible solitude experience

01:19:36

that Hannah created with the team that's wonderful

01:19:39

that will help you experience more of that freedom

01:19:42

to get alone and connect and hear from God directly.

01:19:45

- Well, I'll tell you what,

01:19:46

we've got more here at Revival, and it's hard to believe

01:19:49

this is just the beginning of what's going on.

01:19:50

We've got more worship, more teaching,

01:19:52

more moments for you to have a space where you go,

01:19:55

"Lord, wake me up."

01:19:57

And so I know I'm excited.

01:19:58

I know that God is not done with us yet.

01:20:00

And I love what you said there, Andy.

01:20:02

As we continue to surrender,

01:20:04

as we continue to not strongarm God,

01:20:06

not try to control Him.

01:20:08

As we just say, "I surrender and my yes is yes,

01:20:10

we want more of You."

01:20:11

And so let's just lean in.

01:20:13

Let's keep leaning in to the more that He has for us

01:20:15

through every single moment of Revival this weekend.

01:29:55

- Hey, why don't you tell somebody right next to you,

01:29:57

sing it to 'em, tell 'em right now.

01:30:38

- Well, revival has been absolutely incredible.

01:30:42

I just -- the worship, the music, the people,

01:30:45

not even just always times of music, but times of silence

01:30:48

has been so powerful where we're just saying,

01:30:50

"God, we're listening for You and wanting You."

01:30:53

And you've said this already,

01:30:55

we're getting the best of the best Revival experience

01:30:57

here right now.

01:30:59

We are so glad that you're joining us

01:31:00

for this amazing time. And it is an amazing time.

01:31:03

- That's right. And it's not the end of the time.

01:31:05

- That's right.

01:31:07

- This is this might be the end of, you know,

01:31:09

the Revival thing that you watch,

01:31:11

but it's the start of what God wants to revive in you

01:31:15

and what God wants to do through the revival

01:31:17

that He begins in you.

01:31:18

So we've got lots of different ways for you

01:31:20

to continue asking God to move in your life

01:31:23

and your family and your community and your city,

01:31:26

wherever you are.

01:31:27

So a couple ways we want to just encourage you

01:31:30

and come around you in that is just to pray for you.

01:31:33

You can email us at anywhere@crossroads.net.

01:31:36

Myself or somebody on my team will reach out,

01:31:38

connect with you, or you can just hit the chat button

01:31:41

and connect with us there.

01:31:42

Now also, we have an incredible solitude experience.

01:31:46

Like, seriously, if you haven't done this yet,

01:31:47

I cannot highly recommend it enough.

01:31:50

It's just for you guys.

01:31:52

Shep and the team actually created this

01:31:54

to help you guys have some time, like,

01:31:56

bracketed out of the chaos and the grind and whatever

01:31:59

to be with God, like, just to to connect with Him

01:32:03

and hear what's on H is heart for you and your life right now.

01:32:07

-Yeah, I would say, just don't leave anything on the table.

01:32:09

In this time of revival, we're not trying to do stuff

01:32:12

to get God's attention.

01:32:13

We are just trying to show Him we surrender.

01:32:16

And so we surrender our time.

01:32:17

We surrender our space to say, "God, You matter more

01:32:20

and we want to just be with You."

01:32:21

Which is a concept that sounds really simple

01:32:24

but takes a lot of effort.

01:32:26

And you've already done it by just even being here today.

01:32:28

And you know what? Like Andy said,

01:32:30

this is just the beginning.

01:32:31

Next week we head into our Terrain Series,

01:32:33

and as always, we'll meet you right back here

01:32:36

with our Anywhere Community.

01:32:37

And we're excited for what's happening next week

01:32:39

and excited about what's taking place at Revival.

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