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– I have a question for you,
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if a better life were available,
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would you want it?
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00:00:05
I mean, like better
like maximum hope,
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00:00:07
maximum joy, acceleration,
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like top of the top of the top.
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00:00:10
By the way, I'm
Kyle, the pastor.
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00:00:11
This is Crossroads Church.
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I know a lot of
people are confused
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about what a pastor is,
and what a church is all about.
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00:00:16
It's really simple.
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We're here to
help people like you
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have that kind of better life.
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As a pastor I've heard thousands
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of people's stories
and this today
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is all about the one thing that,
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in my experience, is most likely
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holding you back
from that kind of life.
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I also happen to know, because
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it's been the one
thing holding me back
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from that life again and again.
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And I've had to learn
what to do about it.
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Now, before I
tell you what it is,
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I'm going to make an
assumption about you,
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about how you
answered that question
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from just a second
ago that you said,
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yes, you would
want that kind of life.
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That if it were possible,
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you'd want the full life,
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the transcendent life,
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to know it's like live
on top of the mountain.
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Good news, that's
exactly the life
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that Jesus wants you to have.
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He said this in John
10:10. Jesus said:
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I have come that
they, that's you,
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may have life, and
have it to the full.
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The full life. It's amazing.
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But there's this one
somewhat troubling fact.
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I know very few people,
Christians included,
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who would say that they
honestly have a full life.
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See everyone I
talk to can usually
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imagine like a fuller life.
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"I could imagine my bank account
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could be a little bit more full.
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I could have a little
better of a house,
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a little better job,
a little better relationships.
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I could always have something
fuller, something bigger."
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So my question is, if you and me
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having life to the full
is the mission of Jesus,
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how come so few
of us actually have it?
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Like is He is bad
at His mission?
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You know, like, does
Jesus suck at His job
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or is there something
that we're missing?
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Today I'm going to
give you a big part
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of what I think is the
answer to that question.
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You've got to hang with me.
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Actually to start this,
I wrote a little book.
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It's a short little
story just for you.
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It's a little book
that -- There it is.
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OK, it's a little book
called Said No one Ever.
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Now, do you know
how kids stories
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always have like a moral
buried deep in there?
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Like some deep
hidden message inside
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you're supposed to
uncover what not?
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I never understood any of those.
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So this one's going to
be super easy to find.
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Let's read the story.
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It starts like this: one day,
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Timmy and his
little sister Susie,
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playing out in their yard,
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Timmy noticed something
over the mountains
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beyond their yard.
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Yeah, that's right,
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there were mountains
beyond their yard.
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"Look at that," said
Timmy, "That's amazing."
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"What?" said Susie.
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Timmy lifted his arm
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and pointed at the
distant mountains.
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There was a
bright flash of light
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and sparks and fireworks
bursting behind it.
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"That is amazing,"
said Timmy, "Let's go."
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"We can't go over
there," said Susie.
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"We can't do that."
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"Well, why not? asked
Timmy, confused.
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"Because," said Susie, "it
could be scary over there.
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Just why do I have to
explain everything to you,
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Timmy, I'm only five years old."
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Just then a butterfly flew by.
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Timmy looked at the mountain
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and looked back at his sister.
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"Susie," he said, "I
don't need to speak
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in hyperbolic terms, but I think
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what's on the other
side of the mountain
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might be more amazing
than the butterfly
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that just flew by.
That's how amazing it could be.
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I actually believe that
and we should go."
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"No," said Susie.
"No way. We can't go."
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"Why not?" asked Timmy,
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who was starting
to get frustrated.
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"Because," said Susie,
"Timmy, use your head."
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Hello. There could be
monsters on those mountains."
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"Monsters?" said Timmy.
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"Susie, I'm six years old.
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OK, I'm your big brother.
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I don't believe in
monsters anymore.
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But come on, first
you're trying to fool me
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talking about Bigfoot
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and the Abominable
Snowman," said Timmy.
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He wasn't quite
sure how to spell,
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abominable has lots of letters.
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He's only six years old, so
you know, cut him a break.
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"I'm not scared of
those kind of monsters."
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"I'm not talking about
those monsters," said Susie.
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"I'm talking about the really
scary monsters, Timmy."
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"What scary
monsters?" said Timmy.
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"The one that Mommy and Daddy
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don't want us to know
about," said Susie.
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"The one that
they're scared about."
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"That's ridiculous," said Timmy.
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"Mommy and Daddy are
scared of any monsters.
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They're the toughest people
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in the whole wide world,
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never scared of any monsters.
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That's ridiculous."
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"Yes, they are," said Susie.
"Yes, they are, I can tell you
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what their names are,
scary names, Timmy.
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They're really scary names.
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Names like
disappointment and loss
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and regret and failure.
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And there's even one called
everyone laughs at you.
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Scary monsters,
very scary, Timmy."
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"Wow," said Timmy.
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I didn't realize there were
scary monsters like that,
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maybe they should
stay where we are."
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"Yes," said Susie, "That's
what I was thinking, too.
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I was thinking that we
should stay right here.
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You know? Let's just stay
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exactly where we already are
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and not go see the
thing that could be better,
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the amazing thing
over the mountain.
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Let's just stay here."
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Years later, Timmy and
Susie were super old.
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They're in a nursing home,
that's how old they were.
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They're so old. They're eating.
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Actually they just
kind of sat around
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and they mostly
ate pudding together
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without their teeth
in in the cafeteria.
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And Timmy leaned over to Susie.
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"Hey, Susie?" said Timmy?
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"Yeah," said Susie,
"You're my best friend.
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My bestest friend
ever," said Timmy.
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"I know," said Susie.
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"Obviously, we're super old
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in the nursing home
together eating pudding.
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My best friend,
Timmy, get to the point."
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"Sorry," said
Timmy, "I apologize.
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Hey, Susie, do you
remember that one day
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we saw fireworks
over the mountain?
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They were so
amazing. So incredible.
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Do you remember that day?
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And then we decided
not to go over there
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because of the monsters?
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Do you remember that
day where we decided
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the best idea was to
stay right where we were?
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Do you remember that one time
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we chose to stay instead of go?
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We chose to do
nothing different?"
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"Of course, I do," said Susie.
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"Timmy, that was
an amazing day."
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That concludes our story
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called Said No One Ever.
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Of course not.
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Of course, no
one's ever said that.
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No one's ever gotten
to the end of their life
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and said, "Man, I'll
never forget that time
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I didn't take a risk.
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I'll always remember
that time where I was
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exactly on that one
day where I said,
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"You know what? Good
enough is good enough."
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I'll never forget that
day I decided to stay
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instead of go to the
new place, to the better.
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No one's ever said that,
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it's never happened,
ever happened.
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This doesn't quite
fit the bookshelf.
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I'll just put it
right, right there.
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But listen, it's the life
most of us live anyway.
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Why?
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It's because we're scared
-- scared of monsters.
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We are.
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Now, you might
remember being scared
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of monsters as a kid.
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I remember this,
it's actually a phase
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that every kid goes through.
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My oldest son, Ben,
is in this right now.
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He's ten and he wasn't
scared of the dark before.
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It just started for him.
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One of the things we found out
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that's actually been
comforting to tell him
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is that it's normal.
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It turns out that
nearly every kid
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right before they hit
puberty has this moment
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where they figure
out there's pain
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and there's danger in the world,
and it's beyond their control.
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It manifests as being
scared of the dark
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because there's
monsters in the dark.
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Things I can't see,
things I can't control.
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They get freaked out at night.
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"You know, what
could be out there?"
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It didn't feel that way
before and now they are,
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just hadn't pieced
it together yet.
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The world is full
of scary monsters.
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Now, you and I
tend to think because
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we now sleep with the lights off
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and we don't believe in
the boogeyman or whatever,
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that we're not
scared of monsters.
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But see, that's
not entirely true.
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Yeah, we're not
scared of monsters
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under our bed or in a closet.
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But see, the fear
doesn't disappear usually,
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it just shifts to
other monsters.
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Like, "Oh, yeah, Kyle,
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you want to tell
me about monsters.
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It's those Democrats,
am I right?
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It's those Republicans.
It's those immigrants.
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All them, right?
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I meant the monsters
are your problem."
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Let me be really clear up front.
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Monsters in your path
are never people. Never.
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Ephesians 6 says
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we don't wrestle
against flesh and blood.
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I mean, if it's a person,
it's not your enemy.
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It's not the monster
in your way.
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It never has been.
Never will be.
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The real monsters are
things like potential failure
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or the monster of rejection
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or the monster of what
if it doesn't work out
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or the monster of loss.
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And I'm telling you,
it's our fear of those monsters,
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sometimes even at
a subconscious level,
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that tend to be the biggest
thing holding us back
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from the full life
on the mountain top
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that Jesus offers.
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When you follow Jesus,
He doesn't actually
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offer to take you
around the monsters.
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"We're going to go
round the monsters." No.
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He says, "I'm gonna take
you right into their teeth."
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And I hate saying this.
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Listen, churches haven't always
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been helpful fixing the problem.
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I know because I want
every flavor of church as a kid,
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every single one of
them: Catholic churches,
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charismatic
churches, Pentecostal,
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Methodist, Presbyterian,
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interdenominational,
non-denominational,
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extra denominational,
probably Christian missionary,
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Calvary chapels, the hippie one.
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Every one I've
gone to, Vineyards,
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every single kind, all of them.
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There's always differences
with them and whatnot.
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But the message
was always the same,
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pretty easy to pick up on:
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good boys and good girls
are the ones who sit still.
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When the song's going,
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you know those
super boring songs.
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You just sit still or
sometimes you stand still
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or sometimes you kneel still.
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But the point is you're still.
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Did anybody else pick
up on that as a kid?
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To be good, meant to stay still.
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The problem for me, I
was really bad at sitting still.
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I'm still very
bad at sitting still,
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which led me to
conclude that I must be
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00:09:43
bad at church and bad at God.
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00:09:45
That's what I
kind of figured out.
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00:09:47
Then one day they started
talking about heaven,
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which gave me like a kind
of renewed sense of hope
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00:09:51
because I thought, "OK, well,
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I won't have to stay
in church forever.
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I can go to this cool
place called Heaven.
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What happens there?"
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00:09:56
Well, they started
by telling us about
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what it looks like, it's
got white puffy clouds.
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Cool. Streets paved with gold.
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00:10:03
Somewhat over the
top, but you know, OK.
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00:10:06
I was hanging in
there to find out,
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like, what do you get to do?
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00:10:09
Surely it's not
sit still, right?
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00:10:10
Like you're probably
playing video games,
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00:10:12
Nerf wars, sports, maybe
like some epic battles
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00:10:16
or something cool.
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00:10:18
No, no, they don't.
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00:10:20
Get this, they told
me if I was really good
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00:10:23
someday I'd get to go to heaven.
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00:10:26
And when I got there,
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00:10:27
I get to sit still
and sing songs.
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00:10:31
Other times I get to
stand still and sing songs,
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00:10:33
but basically just
lots of stillness
-
00:10:35
and singing boring songs.
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00:10:36
So I wasn't really
super into that.
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00:10:39
One morning at church
I've been sitting still
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00:10:42
in the service for
an hour and a half
-
00:10:43
with my parents,
trying very hard
-
00:10:44
and doing very badly.
-
00:10:46
Finally the service ends.
-
00:10:47
We go to the lobby
and my parents decide
-
00:10:50
to start talking to people.
-
00:10:51
So now sitting still to
standing still next to them.
-
00:10:54
And I just could
not take it anymore.
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00:10:58
Then I saw it, my solution
was over there on the wall,
-
00:11:03
thins tiny red box
about like this by this
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00:11:08
with one handle and
one word on the handle
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00:11:12
in all white it said "pull".
-
00:11:14
Did you ever see
one of these red boxes
-
00:11:16
mounted on the
wall different places.
-
00:11:17
Red boxes.
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00:11:18
There's other words about
like fires and emergencies,
-
00:11:22
whatever that was
about, didn't read that,
-
00:11:24
skipped that, because
pull was shouting my name.
-
00:11:27
It said, "Kyle, I'm
here to save you."
-
00:11:29
I had no idea what
happened when I pulled it.
-
00:11:31
I decided I have to pull this.
-
00:11:33
So I stuck with my mom.
She's not paying attention.
-
00:11:35
Snuck over and I
reached and I pulled.
-
00:11:38
Now, if you've never
pulled the fire alarm,
-
00:11:41
let me tell you, it is amazing.
-
00:11:45
Sirens start going off,
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00:11:46
everyone starts running around.
-
00:11:48
Then these awesome,
sweet fire trucks show up.
-
00:11:51
It was incredible.
-
00:11:52
Like I thought I'd
solved the problem.
-
00:11:54
No more stillness,
-
00:11:55
now finally something
exciting happening.
-
00:11:57
But for some strange
reason, all of the adults
-
00:12:00
were like the
opposite of thankful
-
00:12:02
and they seemed to
think I'd caused a problem.
-
00:12:04
And they got very, very
mad at me, like so mad at me.
-
00:12:08
I'm certain then that I
would never get into heaven.
-
00:12:10
But that was OK,
because, you know,
-
00:12:12
that is not fun anyway.
-
00:12:13
Now, to this day,
some of us think
-
00:12:16
that's what a
godly life is about.
-
00:12:18
It's about sitting
still. Playing it safe.
-
00:12:22
Just keep your
arms and your legs
-
00:12:23
inside the ride at all
times, just like this.
-
00:12:26
And we think that God
walks around the quiet circle
-
00:12:29
and just hands out the full life
-
00:12:31
to the good boys and
girls who can sit still.
-
00:12:34
"That's right, you're
doing so great.
-
00:12:35
Here you go. Just sit.
-
00:12:37
Oh, the full life is
for you sitting still,
-
00:12:39
not taking any risk.
-
00:12:40
Oh, this is so great for you."
-
00:12:42
That's what we think. No.
-
00:12:45
I wish somebody told
me this decades ago.
-
00:12:47
The full life doesn't magically
-
00:12:49
get dropped into
your lap the second
-
00:12:52
you get baptized
or say yes to Jesus
-
00:12:54
or decide to sit still
and be really good at it.
-
00:12:56
No, the only way
to get the full life
-
00:13:00
is to go up the
mountain and risk
-
00:13:03
facing all of the
monsters on the way.
-
00:13:06
The good boys and girls
who Jesus leads a full life,
-
00:13:09
they're the ones
who don't sit still,
-
00:13:11
who refuse to settle
for where they are,
-
00:13:13
who are willing to
risk the monsters.
-
00:13:15
If you right now in
your life are in a spot
-
00:13:17
where you're like, "I
wish this was better.
-
00:13:19
I could imagine
better. I can see better.
-
00:13:21
I just want how
to get to better."
-
00:13:22
Awesome. You're halfway there.
-
00:13:25
Don't let the monsters stop you.
-
00:13:27
Look, I get I've been
scared of monsters too.
-
00:13:29
I actually had a
monster I was scared.
-
00:13:32
It was called the monster of
-
00:13:34
people are going to laugh
at you and make fun of you
-
00:13:38
because I was scared
of public speaking.
-
00:13:39
People now they see
me doing stuff like this
-
00:13:41
or speaking on stages.
-
00:13:43
They're like, "Oh, man,
that must be easy for you.
-
00:13:45
I hate public speaking.
I could never do that.
-
00:13:47
You're just one of
those people, you know,
-
00:13:49
people who just, like,
-
00:13:50
just don't have a
problem with it."
-
00:13:52
Like, "No, no, you
don't understand,
-
00:13:54
I used to turn
red in high school
-
00:13:56
when a teacher would call on me.
-
00:13:58
"Kyle, do you have the answer?"
It's beat red. I hated it.
-
00:14:01
Anything that was
public, there was attention,
-
00:14:03
awful, hated it.
-
00:14:05
So how am I here now?
-
00:14:07
It's because the
full life that God
-
00:14:10
has called me to happens
to include public speaking.
-
00:14:14
I had to learn how to
face down the monster
-
00:14:16
called fear of looking stupid
-
00:14:18
and let Jesus take me
right through its teeth.
-
00:14:23
For years I avoided it.
-
00:14:24
What I'm hoping today
is that I can help you
-
00:14:26
skip that step, the
avoiding part, for years.
-
00:14:28
We can skip right through that.
-
00:14:30
But the first thing you
have to understand is this.
-
00:14:32
The full life is
the risk-full life.
-
00:14:37
The full life is
the risk-full life,
-
00:14:40
they're the same
thing and the risk
-
00:14:44
is facing the
monsters in the way.
-
00:14:46
See, monsters live on
every single mountain
-
00:14:50
worth climbing,
every one of them.
-
00:14:52
If you want to
get to the very top
-
00:14:53
of the mountain
called success in life,
-
00:14:55
that's the full life
for you, success,
-
00:14:57
you'll have to risk
facing the monster
-
00:14:59
called potential to fail.
-
00:15:02
If full life for you
looks like marriage
-
00:15:04
and that kind of
relationship, you're going to
-
00:15:06
have to face down
the monster called
-
00:15:08
could possibly end in divorce,
-
00:15:10
despite my best efforts.
-
00:15:12
If the full life
for you is seeing
-
00:15:13
God's power flow through you,
-
00:15:15
you want to see miracles
happen through you.
-
00:15:16
That is amazing. I'm
just telling you, friend,
-
00:15:18
you've got to face
down the monster
-
00:15:20
called praying out loud
in front of other people.
-
00:15:23
Be terrifying.
-
00:15:25
If you want the
full life of love
-
00:15:26
you've got to risk the
monster called loss.
-
00:15:29
The mountaintop, a full life,
-
00:15:32
it's different for all of us.
-
00:15:33
Now, I don't even know
what it looks like for you,
-
00:15:35
but I do know that
if you follow Jesus,
-
00:15:37
He'll take you right
to those monsters,
-
00:15:39
right into their teeth.
-
00:15:41
It's how God has always worked.
-
00:15:43
The Bible has two
basic parts to it,
-
00:15:46
and they're kind
of like parallels.
-
00:15:48
They kind of mirror
each other in lots
-
00:15:49
of interesting
and different ways.
-
00:15:51
The Old Testament
parallel to the full life
-
00:15:54
is the promised land.
-
00:15:56
The promised
land was a rich land
-
00:15:57
that God promised for
His chosen people, Israel.
-
00:16:00
Just like Jesus promised
a full life to His followers.
-
00:16:04
The story of their journey
to the promised land
-
00:16:06
is called the Exodus.
-
00:16:07
Now, you've heard that
word before, Exodus.
-
00:16:09
The literal meaning
of it is the road out.
-
00:16:13
It's the road out
of the empty life,
-
00:16:15
the not full life
to the full life.
-
00:16:18
It's the journey to
the promised land
-
00:16:20
parallels our
journey to the full life.
-
00:16:23
The Israelites, they
completely missed it,
-
00:16:25
like totally missed it.
-
00:16:27
See, they didn't know that
-
00:16:28
the full life is
the risk-full life.
-
00:16:31
They didn't know
that the promised land
-
00:16:33
was the risk-full land.
-
00:16:35
They thought that they would
-
00:16:36
just kind of walk right into it.
-
00:16:39
Beautiful, empty
land, just kind of still,
-
00:16:42
quiet, no risk, no work.
-
00:16:44
I always imagined
what it would be like
-
00:16:46
to buy a new house.
-
00:16:47
I've always about
the old ones with
-
00:16:48
the plumbing that's broken
and leaking or whatever.
-
00:16:50
I always imagined if
you buy a new house
-
00:16:52
they put like a ribbon
across the door,
-
00:16:53
cut the ribbon, walk
right into your new house.
-
00:16:56
Just me and my house,
nice and quiet and still.
-
00:16:59
Perfect, right?
-
00:17:01
Nothing could be
further from the truth
-
00:17:03
when comes the full
life or the promised land.
-
00:17:06
We're going to pick
up the story at the point
-
00:17:08
where God actually
told Moses, their leader,
-
00:17:10
to send spies into
the Promised Land
-
00:17:12
to go kind of spy it
out before they go over
-
00:17:14
so they kind of knew
what they were getting into.
-
00:17:16
Number 13 says this:
-
00:17:54
Moses's instructions
are very specific:
-
00:17:57
Go up to the mountains,
go look at the life
-
00:18:01
we have up here, check it out
-
00:18:03
and let's make a pro/con list.
-
00:18:05
People: are they
weak, are they few?
-
00:18:08
Camp, strongholds, you know?
-
00:18:10
Weak/strongholds,
what's going on?
-
00:18:11
And the land, is a
good, is it rich, forested.
-
00:18:13
Is it desert? How is it?
-
00:18:16
And hey, listen, no
matter what you see,
-
00:18:19
be of good courage. Don't worry.
-
00:18:21
Bring back some of the fruit.
-
00:18:23
Which is an odd request. Right?
-
00:18:24
Like bring back -- why
would you bring back fruit?
-
00:18:27
It's because God wants
them to see the land is better,
-
00:18:31
it's sweeter than
where they are.
-
00:18:33
It really, really is.
Here's the proof.
-
00:18:34
It's like dangling a carrot.
-
00:18:36
Do you want this?
Awesome. Come this way.
-
00:18:38
It's right over here.
-
00:18:40
So the spies go out.
There's twelve of them.
-
00:18:42
They spy and pretty
quickly they go up south,
-
00:18:45
just like he said, up
into the mountains.
-
00:18:46
And then they see
something, something terrifying.
-
00:18:50
Numbers 13 says this:
-
00:19:00
Now, I know this
doesn't seem like it,
-
00:19:03
this is a fascinating scripture
-
00:19:04
and it's actually what
happens to you and to me.
-
00:19:07
Now that the spies go out,
-
00:19:09
there the land is full of fruit
-
00:19:10
and there's a
better life waiting.
-
00:19:12
But before they can
see it, they see monsters,
-
00:19:16
the descendants of Anak.
-
00:19:18
Now, this means
nothing to you and me,
-
00:19:20
but to them they
were terrifying.
-
00:19:22
These were giants, the
descendants of giants
-
00:19:24
is what these men were known as,
-
00:19:26
which mattered at
the time back then
-
00:19:27
because warfare was all
about sword and spears.
-
00:19:29
You know, like, how
far can you reach?
-
00:19:31
And if you can reach further,
-
00:19:32
that's pretty super helpful.
-
00:19:35
From that moment on, the spies,
-
00:19:37
these monsters are
all I can think about.
-
00:19:40
So they come back
and they start talking,
-
00:19:44
"You know, the land is awesome.
-
00:19:46
But we've got some issues."
-
00:19:48
Here's a fact,
they were surprised
-
00:19:52
when they saw the
monsters in their way.
-
00:19:55
I don't want you
to be surprised.
-
00:19:58
See your promised
land, your full life,
-
00:20:00
while I don't know what it is,
-
00:20:02
I know this: it is
already occupied
-
00:20:05
and not just occupied,
it's already occupied
-
00:20:07
by strong and many who live in
-
00:20:10
what look like
impenetrable fortresses.
-
00:20:14
Spies come back
to give their report,
-
00:20:15
the Israelis didn't know this,
-
00:20:17
they weren't prepared
for that. They did know it.
-
00:20:19
And 10 of the 12 spies
say this is a bad idea.
-
00:20:22
There are monsters
over those mountains
-
00:20:25
and we should we should not go.
-
00:20:27
This is their report in
numbers 13. They say:
-
00:20:58
They said, "There's
monsters over there,
-
00:21:00
guys, we can't
possibly do this."
-
00:21:02
Now, did you notice they
didn't just give the report,
-
00:21:07
they kind of
inflated it a little bit.
-
00:21:09
See the verse we read earlier
-
00:21:11
said there was three
guys, three giants,
-
00:21:13
three big guys
they were scared of.
-
00:21:15
Oh, my gosh, we might lose.
-
00:21:16
That's the monster
behind those men.
-
00:21:19
What if we don't win?
What if we lose? It's risky.
-
00:21:21
But they inflate it.
-
00:21:22
They say, no, actually,
it's all the people.
-
00:21:24
All the people are huge.
-
00:21:25
The people, the Israelites,
-
00:21:27
they refused to go
in the promised land.
-
00:21:28
They said we're not going to go.
-
00:21:30
God, we're not going to
go, we're going to stay.
-
00:21:33
God's response to Israel?
-
00:21:35
He punished them with 40 years
-
00:21:38
of wandering in
the desert, 40 years.
-
00:21:42
In fact, He said every person
-
00:21:44
who's over 20 years
old, you're not going
-
00:21:46
to ever enter the promised land,
-
00:21:47
except for the two spies
-
00:21:49
who didn't agree with the rest.
-
00:21:50
I'll talk about them
more in just a little bit.
-
00:21:52
I don't want you to miss this.
-
00:21:54
What was God punishing
the Israelites for?
-
00:21:57
Maybe you've heard
the story a hundred times
-
00:21:59
and never ask the question.
-
00:22:00
What was he punishing them for?
-
00:22:03
It was fear of the monsters
-
00:22:06
directing their
steps instead of Him.
-
00:22:09
It's fearing the
monsters more than
-
00:22:11
they wanted to follow
Him to the full life.
-
00:22:14
It is said simply
staying instead of going.
-
00:22:19
Throughout scripture,
the hers of the faith
-
00:22:22
are commended
for going, not saying.
-
00:22:24
The exact opposite, all
the heroes of the faith,
-
00:22:27
even the original guy, Abraham,
-
00:22:28
he's like the father
of this entire nation.
-
00:22:31
Here's what Hebrews
11:8 says. It says
-
00:22:41
This is a mark of
all heroes of faith.
-
00:22:44
You go before you know.
-
00:22:49
You and me, we like
to know and then go.
-
00:22:51
Step one, know, be
sure, be confident.
-
00:22:54
Clarity, certainty, then go.
-
00:22:56
God says, "No. I want
you to go before you know.
-
00:22:59
Go before you know.
-
00:23:01
It's what all faithful
people have always done,
-
00:23:03
go before they know.
-
00:23:04
Jesus isn't saying,
"Do you want the full life,
-
00:23:08
the abundant life? I
promise you can have it.
-
00:23:10
Just stay until you
know everything.
-
00:23:13
Just stay where
you are until you can
-
00:23:15
figure out the way
there on your own."
-
00:23:17
It's not what He's
saying, He's saying go.
-
00:23:19
You know go is one
of His favorite words.
-
00:23:21
You can do this
search for yourself.
-
00:23:23
You can go to Google and
just type in Jesus and go.
-
00:23:26
You can find all the
places in the Bible
-
00:23:28
where Jesus says the word go.
-
00:23:30
You'll find over
a hundred results.
-
00:23:33
Here's a few of them.
-
00:23:34
Matthew 11:4 He says
-
00:23:35
go and tell John what
you hear and see.
-
00:23:38
Luke 10:37, You
go and do likewise.
-
00:23:42
John 4:50, go,
your son will live.
-
00:23:45
Matthew 8:13, Go,
let it be done for you
-
00:23:49
as you have believed.
-
00:23:50
Then Matthew 28:10,
Do not be afraid.
-
00:23:54
Go and tell my
brothers to go to Galilee
-
00:23:56
where they see me.
-
00:23:58
And finally Luke
9:60, but as for you,
-
00:24:00
go and proclaim the
Kingdom of God. Go.
-
00:24:05
Now if you do a search
for Jesus and stay,
-
00:24:09
you'll find four results, four
-
00:24:12
and they're kind
of like this one.
-
00:24:14
Luke 12:35, Jesus said:
-
00:24:21
Stay dressed for action.
-
00:24:23
His stay is like why stay?
So you're ready to go.
-
00:24:27
So why is it that
you and I think
-
00:24:28
that God's pleased
with our caution?
-
00:24:31
Why do we think this?
-
00:24:33
If you want the kind of
life that only God can offer,
-
00:24:36
if you want the maxed out hope,
-
00:24:37
the maxed out joy, the
maxed out satisfaction,
-
00:24:39
you have to go to the lands
where the monsters live.
-
00:24:42
You have to.
-
00:24:44
As a church, we've been
going for more than 25 years.
-
00:24:47
It's actually the
thing that brought me
-
00:24:49
to Crossroads
more than anything.
-
00:24:51
I saw a church who wasn't
scared of the monsters,
-
00:24:53
who wasn't afraid
to go, and get this,
-
00:24:55
told me that I could go too.
-
00:24:57
And for 25 years
we've been going
-
00:25:00
wherever God said to go.
-
00:25:01
You want us to tackle
poverty in our city, God?
-
00:25:03
Yeah, we'll do that.
-
00:25:05
You want us to tackle
problems over seas?
-
00:25:06
Yes, God, we'll do that.
-
00:25:08
We recently had
our 25th anniversary.
-
00:25:10
We decided there was
no better way to do it
-
00:25:12
than to take a risky
step and to give away
-
00:25:15
$2.5 million to amazing
places like the CityLink Center.
-
00:25:23
– For our 25th
anniversary, we wanted
-
00:25:25
to bless a number of
our reach our partners
-
00:25:27
by giving away $2.5
million over 25 weeks.
-
00:25:32
We want to bless, as
we've been blessed.
-
00:25:35
– I seen a lot of
my family members
-
00:25:37
or my friends are either dead
-
00:25:40
or in prison still to this day.
-
00:25:45
I was born into it.
-
00:25:47
– And my mom
struggled with addiction
-
00:25:49
and whatnot, so she
wasn't always there.
-
00:25:52
I grew up without
a father figure.
-
00:25:54
– I've been on my
own since I was 12.
-
00:25:57
My mother was alcoholic.
-
00:25:59
My father was self absorbed.
-
00:26:02
And with the need for
child care and the money,
-
00:26:06
I didn't I didn't have it.
-
00:26:10
– Poverty is a very
vicious demon,
-
00:26:14
and it really robs
people of their humanity.
-
00:26:18
– That's it. I mean, I
want somebody to care.
-
00:26:21
I needed somebody to care.
-
00:26:24
– And so Crossroads
joined a group
-
00:26:26
of churches and social services
-
00:26:28
who are imagining
what could it look like
-
00:26:30
for us to approach
this massive issue
-
00:26:32
of poverty in our
community in a different way.
-
00:26:35
That idea took shape and formed
-
00:26:38
and it became known
as CityLink Center.
-
00:26:40
– And I look up
and see that sign,
-
00:26:43
it brings tears to
my eyes because
-
00:26:46
I remember when we
wrote it on a piece of paper.
-
00:26:48
– And then I had a
friend, a role model.
-
00:26:50
He goes a Crossroads,
he you know,
-
00:26:51
he would show up and
take us all to church.
-
00:26:54
And he was like, "Man, you
should check out CityLink
-
00:26:56
– CityLink Center
in the West End,
-
00:26:57
a one stop location
for social services,
-
00:26:59
academic and training classes,
-
00:27:01
counseling, clothing,
optical and dental
-
00:27:04
and family programs
all under one roof.
-
00:27:07
– When I came to CityLink,
everything changed.
-
00:27:12
You know, they
gave me an outlook,
-
00:27:14
like, you can do this.
-
00:27:15
– CEO is a Center for
Employment Opportunity.
-
00:27:18
They help people
that has been in prison
-
00:27:21
or in and out of
prison get jobs,
-
00:27:23
better their life, start
a new journey, I guess.
-
00:27:27
– But it's good to have somebody
-
00:27:29
there to guide you, you know,
-
00:27:31
when you don't know what to do
-
00:27:33
or when you're unsure.
-
00:27:35
– Findlay Culinarians
have a 16 week program,
-
00:27:37
you do four weeks
basic knife skills
-
00:27:40
and just the basic
skills in general.
-
00:27:42
– She knew that she
wanted to own a home.
-
00:27:44
She knew that she
wasn't the best budgeter,
-
00:27:47
but she was willing to learn.
-
00:27:49
– Basically they just
reach out to people like me,
-
00:27:52
like basically like
people that got lost souls,
-
00:27:55
lost souls, they don't
know where to start,
-
00:27:57
don't know what to do.
-
00:27:58
– After I graduated
Findlay Culinary Training,
-
00:28:00
Chef Anthony came
up and approached me
-
00:28:02
and he was like, "Hey,
I want you to go here.
-
00:28:06
Like, I think this is
a perfect fit for you."
-
00:28:08
And was talking about Fausto.
-
00:28:10
– But they change
your whole mindset.
-
00:28:14
They change they way
you think down there.
-
00:28:17
– I'm stronger, I'm
wiser. I'm more aware.
-
00:28:21
I'm debt free. I'm
in a better place,
-
00:28:25
– You know, waking
up, going to work,
-
00:28:28
progress on myself and life.
-
00:28:30
I feel like somebody.
-
00:28:35
Yeah, I feel like somebody.
-
00:28:46
– That's incredible.
Absolutely incredible.
-
00:28:48
My wife and I got to
be part of the community
-
00:28:51
who was rallying around CityLink
-
00:28:53
from the very beginning.
-
00:28:54
It's just a mind blowing
to see where it went.
-
00:28:56
By the way, if you're one of
-
00:28:58
the faithful givers
at Crossroads,
-
00:29:00
I just want to say well done.
-
00:29:01
That happens
because of your faith,
-
00:29:03
because the risk
you're willing to take
-
00:29:05
in saying, "God,
I'm going to take you
-
00:29:07
and trust you with my finances."
-
00:29:09
It's terrifying. It's a risk.
-
00:29:12
There's reward on
the other side of it.
-
00:29:13
By the way, if you want to join
-
00:29:15
the community of
faithful people who give,
-
00:29:17
you can do that.
-
00:29:18
We've actually made
a way for that to kind of
-
00:29:20
take some of the
risk out of it for you.
-
00:29:22
And we know it can be
kind of awkward for us
-
00:29:24
to say, "Hey, do you
want to give us money?"
-
00:29:26
So we design something for you
-
00:29:27
to really experience
the fullness
-
00:29:29
of what God has
for you financially.
-
00:29:30
We call it The Tithe Test.
-
00:29:32
It's really simple.
-
00:29:33
Let's say if you try
giving for 90 days,
-
00:29:35
if at the end of those 90 days,
-
00:29:37
if you don't feel and experience
-
00:29:39
God showing up in your life,
-
00:29:40
we will give you all
of your money back
-
00:29:42
No questions asked.
-
00:29:43
We've had thousands
of people take it.
-
00:29:45
You can be one if
you want to as well.
-
00:29:47
Just go to Crossroads.net/give
-
00:29:49
or Crossroads.net/tithetest.
-
00:29:52
Here's the point, to be
faithful is to be risk-full.
-
00:30:00
Risk is actually at
the very core of faith.
-
00:30:03
We preachers, we're
always telling you
-
00:30:05
to have more faith, you know?
-
00:30:06
"Just have more faith.
Put your faith in God.
-
00:30:08
Have more faith. Ask
God for more faith."
-
00:30:11
Do you know that's
the same as telling you
-
00:30:14
to live with more risk?
-
00:30:15
It's saying put your
risk in God, bet on God.
-
00:30:20
See, some people
will lead you to believe
-
00:30:22
that faith is the
same as certainty,
-
00:30:24
that the more faith you have,
-
00:30:26
the more certain you are.
-
00:30:27
That those two
things are analogous.
-
00:30:29
That people of great
faith are the people
-
00:30:31
who are very, very certain.
-
00:30:33
But it's not true.
-
00:30:35
Faith is not certainty,
-
00:30:36
certainty is
certainty, faith is faith.
-
00:30:39
In fact, the more certain
I am about something,
-
00:30:41
the less faith I need.
-
00:30:42
I don't need faith that I'm
wearing pants right now.
-
00:30:45
I can see that, I'm
very certain about it.
-
00:30:47
I don't need faith.
-
00:30:49
There's a reason we have the
two words, they're not the same.
-
00:30:52
See, faith is moving
in the direction
-
00:30:54
that you think God has,
despite not being certain.
-
00:30:59
Hebrews 11:1 says:
-
00:31:08
And you'll see that word
substance translated
-
00:31:10
different ways in the
English translations.
-
00:31:12
Sometimes you'll
see it as assurance,
-
00:31:14
sometimes
confidence, but I think
-
00:31:16
substance is much
closer to the intent.
-
00:31:18
And the reason is because
the original Greek word
-
00:31:21
here that's being
translated into English
-
00:31:23
is "hupostasis."
-
00:31:24
It only shows up
five times in Scripture
-
00:31:26
and only once in
this particular form.
-
00:31:29
It's literal meaning is a
setting or placing under,
-
00:31:34
things put under
substructure, foundation.
-
00:31:39
Faith is the hupostasis
of the things hoped for.
-
00:31:43
It means faith is the
substructure of hope.
-
00:31:47
In other words, it's
what hope rests on.
-
00:31:49
Make no mistake
here, faith and hope
-
00:31:52
are all about the
stuff you can't see,
-
00:31:55
the places where you don't know
-
00:31:58
what's going to happen.
-
00:31:59
Long time ago, I was
on a different career path,
-
00:32:01
I thought I'd do something
-
00:32:02
completely
different with my life
-
00:32:04
and I was going
after it like hard.
-
00:32:05
Like I was all in on it.
-
00:32:07
And then I felt like God
might want me to quit
-
00:32:09
and to pursue a job
in ministry as a pastor.
-
00:32:13
Was I certain?
-
00:32:15
No.
-
00:32:16
A few years later, I met
this girl named Sarah,
-
00:32:19
and I felt like God, was saying,
-
00:32:20
"I know you've only known her,
for a couple of months,
-
00:32:22
but it looks like marriage.
-
00:32:24
I want you to take this step."
-
00:32:26
Was I certain? No.
-
00:32:29
I didn't hear an
audible voice from God,
-
00:32:30
"Kyle, write this
down with certainty."
-
00:32:35
No, that was a risk.
-
00:32:37
That's putting my
faith, "God, I think
-
00:32:39
this is where you want me to go
-
00:32:40
and I'm going to
step out here in risk
-
00:32:42
and I'm going to
trust you're going
-
00:32:43
to go with me as I climb
this mountain called marriage.
-
00:32:46
And I am scared of
this monster called
-
00:32:48
it might end badly
despite my best intentions.
-
00:32:50
And God, I'm just
trusting You to go with me,
-
00:32:53
trusting You to walk
up the mountain with me
-
00:32:55
and face those monsters."
-
00:32:56
I sold a house of
few different times,
-
00:32:57
bought new ones,
like I mentioned.
-
00:32:59
Never the brand new ones,
-
00:33:00
that's probably a
mistake. I don't know.
-
00:33:03
Was I ever certain
that God wanted me
-
00:33:05
to sell my house,
move my family?
-
00:33:07
No, not a single --
I moved four times,
-
00:33:09
not a single time.
-
00:33:10
Recently, within the past year,
-
00:33:13
I changed my jobs at Crossroads.
-
00:33:15
I had been in the same
sort of role for 15 years.
-
00:33:18
I led our creative
teams. I loved it.
-
00:33:20
I was amazing, loved doing it.
-
00:33:22
But I felt like
maybe the next thing
-
00:33:25
God might have for
me might possibly
-
00:33:28
be leading online church.
-
00:33:30
Was I certain? No, not at all.
-
00:33:34
There's monsters
on this mountain
-
00:33:36
called might not work.
-
00:33:37
Called could be wrong,
might wish someday
-
00:33:40
you would just stay
where you were.
-
00:33:43
It's risky. Risky.
-
00:33:46
But do you know what
my life would be like
-
00:33:48
if I waited for certainty
on any of those?
-
00:33:52
I'll tell you the word that
I think God would use.
-
00:33:55
I think He would
say I was unfaithful.
-
00:33:59
I think He'd say I was
faithless, I was as empty.
-
00:34:04
Faith is the risk of believing
-
00:34:06
in God's goodness,
betting on it. The risk.
-
00:34:09
Psalm 27:13 says:
-
00:34:21
I would've lost
hope, unless I thought
-
00:34:22
when I started to
go up that mountain,
-
00:34:24
whatever that
mountain is for me,
-
00:34:25
unless I thought
that when I get there,
-
00:34:27
when I face the monsters,
God's goodness would show up
-
00:34:29
and through Him, I'd
have victory over them.
-
00:34:32
That's what that means.
-
00:34:34
It's a risk, it's faith.
-
00:34:35
There with the story of Exodus,
-
00:34:37
we were just talking about
the spies all come back.
-
00:34:40
Ten of them are like,
"No way, can't do this.
-
00:34:42
Monsters are too scary,
too risky. Don't do it."
-
00:34:45
I told you the two of them
-
00:34:46
didn't agree with the 10.
-
00:34:47
Those two were Caleb and Joshua.
-
00:34:50
See, they actually wanted to go.
-
00:34:52
And they made a
plea to all the people.
-
00:34:54
They're like, "Please don't
be afraid of the monsters.
-
00:34:56
Believe that God is with us.
-
00:34:58
We'll see His goodness
in the land living.
-
00:35:00
We will."
-
00:35:01
This is what they
said in Numbers 14:
-
00:35:28
Now the people,
they didn't listen.
-
00:35:30
Caleb and Joshua, they
never stopped believing.
-
00:35:33
God says, "You
two, you're going to
-
00:35:36
take these people
into the promised land."
-
00:35:37
And 40 years later, that's
exactly what they did.
-
00:35:43
Now you've got to
understand, the monsters,
-
00:35:45
they were still there.
-
00:35:47
They were still many.
They were still strong.
-
00:35:50
They were still
fortresses, big scary cities,
-
00:35:53
walled cities, the whole thing.
-
00:35:54
That part hadn't changed.
-
00:35:55
What had for the people of God
-
00:35:58
is that they were
willing to believe God
-
00:36:02
and take the risk,
they're willing to.
-
00:36:05
God gives Joshua this pep talk.
-
00:36:07
There's an entire book,
by the way, on Joshua.
-
00:36:09
It's a great book called Joshua,
-
00:36:12
no Shocker, in the Bible.
-
00:36:13
It's great, it describes
Joshua's journey
-
00:36:15
with God leading
the nation of Israel.
-
00:36:17
And right off the
bat, in Joshua 1,
-
00:36:19
right before he's about to take
-
00:36:20
the Israelites into
the promised land,
-
00:36:22
God gives him
this like locker room
-
00:36:23
pep talk kind of
thing, like firing him up.
-
00:36:26
God says this to Joshua:
-
00:36:42
Notice it's not
wherever you stay.
-
00:36:44
Wherever you go.
-
00:36:46
You know what they do next?
-
00:36:47
They cross the Jordan
River, step across
-
00:36:50
and they win battle
after miraculous battle
-
00:36:53
against the monsters
again and again.
-
00:36:55
They defeat cities with walls
-
00:36:57
that should never be
shaken, and they were,
-
00:36:59
fell right down again and again.
-
00:37:01
And here's my question for you:
-
00:37:03
Do you want the full
life? Do you want it?
-
00:37:08
It's simple, put your
faith, put your trust
-
00:37:12
in God's ability to
defeat the monsters
-
00:37:15
in your way and go,
move, take the risk.
-
00:37:19
I don't know what it
is, maybe it's marriage.
-
00:37:21
Ask her to marry you.
-
00:37:22
Go face that monster
called rejection.
-
00:37:24
Ask her to marry you.
-
00:37:26
Maybe it's apply for school,
restarting the job hunt.
-
00:37:29
Go face the
monster called failure,
-
00:37:32
go stare him in the
face and say, "Jesus,
-
00:37:34
I need You to walk with
me right into his teeth.
-
00:37:36
This is the life You call me to,
and I'm heading there.
-
00:37:39
I will not be scared
of the monsters."
-
00:37:41
To say yes to Jesus,
maybe you've got to
-
00:37:43
face the monster called
not certain, you know?
-
00:37:46
Maybe this whole
thing for you is really
-
00:37:48
about belief in Him.
-
00:37:50
Am I going to say,
"Jesus, I believe
-
00:37:52
you are who you say you are?"
-
00:37:54
Have you been
waiting for certainty?
-
00:37:55
Friends, stop. Stop.
-
00:37:59
People of faith are people
of faith, not certainty.
-
00:38:03
Not certain? Awesome,
-
00:38:04
you can be a person
of faith like me.
-
00:38:07
You can do that
today and just say,
-
00:38:10
"God, I believe that
Jesus is who you say He is
-
00:38:14
and Jesus, I want to follow you.
-
00:38:16
I'm putting my
faith in you today."
-
00:38:20
Simple as that, simple as that.
-
00:38:23
You know, Jesus says
the same thing to you,
-
00:38:26
if you're one of the people
who puts your faith in Him.
-
00:38:29
Same thing to you
that God said to Joshua.
-
00:38:33
It's another parallel.
-
00:38:34
He says, "Go and I'm
with you wherever you go."
-
00:38:37
Wherever you go.
-
00:38:39
It's the last thing He said
-
00:38:40
before he left planet Earth.
-
00:38:43
He said this to His
disciples. This is Matthew 28:
-
00:39:02
Jesus said go, therefore go
-
00:39:05
and I'll be with you
always, wherever you go.
-
00:39:08
Just go towards the
abundant life, go towards it.
-
00:39:11
I don't know if you're somebody
-
00:39:13
who's never, ever tapped
into the power of Jesus.
-
00:39:17
Maybe you're somebody
thought that God was
-
00:39:19
for people who had it
all together, you know,
-
00:39:21
really awesome at sitting still,
-
00:39:22
following all the rules.
-
00:39:24
You never thought
that God would be after
-
00:39:25
somebody like you, people
who pulled fire alarms.
-
00:39:30
I'm here to tell
you, God is for you.
-
00:39:32
He is for you.
-
00:39:33
He's got a better life for you.
-
00:39:35
He's got a better life than
you can possibly imagine.
-
00:39:39
I know there's
monsters in the way.
-
00:39:41
He'll go with you. He will.
-
00:39:45
Now, we are not a TV show here.
-
00:39:47
This is Crossroads,
we're not a TV show.
-
00:39:49
I told you that at
the very beginning.
-
00:39:51
I also do this, I
believe God made you
-
00:39:53
for the full life, and I'm
here to help you find it.
-
00:39:56
And if I can do that in any way,
-
00:39:58
maybe you said that
prayer to God today.
-
00:40:00
Jesus, I want to follow you.
I'm putting my faith in you.
-
00:40:02
Maybe something else
going on in your life.
-
00:40:04
If I can help you in any way,
man, I would love to.
-
00:40:06
You can just email
me. Actually, me.
-
00:40:09
This is my actual email address,
-
00:40:10
kyle.ranson@crossroads.net.
-
00:40:12
I'll do my very best
to respond to you
-
00:40:14
in a timely manner.
-
00:40:15
I would love to
connect with you.
-
00:40:17
It would be amazing.
-
00:40:18
And hey, I know
that God would love
-
00:40:19
to connect with you
right now too, He would.
-
00:40:22
I encourage you
right now instead of
-
00:40:24
clicking away, instead of
jumping on to your next thing.
-
00:40:26
Just take a minute.
-
00:40:27
You made it this far to
sit in prayer with God.
-
00:40:30
We're gonna make
it easy for you.
-
00:40:32
We're going to give you a song
-
00:40:33
that can act as a
prayer, simply telling
-
00:40:36
God that you'll trust
Him and you'll go.
-
00:40:40
Let's sing this
together right now.
-
00:44:29
– So what about you,
what will your story be?
-
00:44:32
Are you going to
have a book written
-
00:44:33
about your life that
has no chapters
-
00:44:35
about any adventure,
about how you avoided risk?
-
00:44:38
Are you going
to live the full life?
-
00:44:40
The life that was
about trusting God,
-
00:44:42
going up the mountain
-
00:44:44
to the very top no matter what?
-
00:44:46
I'm praying that's
the life you start
-
00:44:48
to experience with
more power this week.
-
00:44:51
Thanks for being with us.
-
00:44:52
We will see you next
time with Crossroads.
-
00:44:56
– Church should be a place
where nothing is off limits.
-
00:45:00
This summer at
Crossroads you'll hear
-
00:45:02
from special guests
about God moving
-
00:45:04
in these powerful stories
of uncensored truth.
-
00:45:09
Don't miss it.