Said No One Ever

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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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I mean, like better like maximum hope,

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maximum joy, acceleration,

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like top of the top of the top.

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By the way, I'm Kyle, the pastor.

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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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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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bad at church and bad at God.

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That's what I kind of figured out.

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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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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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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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Somewhat over the top, but you know, OK.

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I was hanging in there to find out,

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like, what do you get to do?

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Surely it's not sit still, right?

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Like you're probably playing video games,

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Nerf wars, sports, maybe like some epic battles

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or something cool.

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No, no, they don't.

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Get this, they told me if I was really good

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someday I'd get to go to heaven.

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And when I got there,

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I get to sit still and sing songs.

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Other times I get to stand still and sing songs,

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but basically just lots of stillness

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and singing boring songs.

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So I wasn't really super into that.

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One morning at church I've been sitting still

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in the service for an hour and a half

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with my parents, trying very hard

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and doing very badly.

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Finally the service ends.

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We go to the lobby and my parents decide

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to start talking to people.

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So now sitting still to standing still next to them.

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And I just could not take it anymore.

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Then I saw it, my solution was over there on the wall,

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thins tiny red box about like this by this

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with one handle and one word on the handle

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in all white it said "pull".

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Did you ever see one of these red boxes

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mounted on the wall different places.

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Red boxes.

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There's other words about like fires and emergencies,

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whatever that was about, didn't read that,

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skipped that, because pull was shouting my name.

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It said, "Kyle, I'm here to save you."

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I had no idea what happened when I pulled it.

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I decided I have to pull this.

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So I stuck with my mom. She's not paying attention.

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Snuck over and I reached and I pulled.

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Now, if you've never pulled the fire alarm,

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let me tell you, it is amazing.

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Sirens start going off,

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everyone starts running around.

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Then these awesome, sweet fire trucks show up.

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It was incredible.

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Like I thought I'd solved the problem.

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No more stillness,

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now finally something exciting happening.

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But for some strange reason, all of the adults

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were like the opposite of thankful

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and they seemed to think I'd caused a problem.

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And they got very, very mad at me, like so mad at me.

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I'm certain then that I would never get into heaven.

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But that was OK, because, you know,

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that is not fun anyway.

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Now, to this day, some of us think

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that's what a godly life is about.

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It's about sitting still. Playing it safe.

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Just keep your arms and your legs

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inside the ride at all times, just like this.

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And we think that God walks around the quiet circle

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and just hands out the full life

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to the good boys and girls who can sit still.

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"That's right, you're doing so great.

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Here you go. Just sit.

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Oh, the full life is for you sitting still,

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not taking any risk.

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Oh, this is so great for you."

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That's what we think. No.

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I wish somebody told me this decades ago.

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The full life doesn't magically

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get dropped into your lap the second

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you get baptized or say yes to Jesus

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or decide to sit still and be really good at it.

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No, the only way to get the full life

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is to go up the mountain and risk

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facing all of the monsters on the way.

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The good boys and girls who Jesus leads a full life,

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they're the ones who don't sit still,

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who refuse to settle for where they are,

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who are willing to risk the monsters.

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If you right now in your life are in a spot

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where you're like, "I wish this was better.

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I could imagine better. I can see better.

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I just want how to get to better."

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Awesome. You're halfway there.

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Don't let the monsters stop you.

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Look, I get I've been scared of monsters too.

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I actually had a monster I was scared.

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It was called the monster of

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people are going to laugh at you and make fun of you

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because I was scared of public speaking.

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People now they see me doing stuff like this

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or speaking on stages.

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They're like, "Oh, man, that must be easy for you.

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I hate public speaking. I could never do that.

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You're just one of those people, you know,

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people who just, like,

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just don't have a problem with it."

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Like, "No, no, you don't understand,

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I used to turn red in high school

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when a teacher would call on me.

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"Kyle, do you have the answer?" It's beat red. I hated it.

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Anything that was public, there was attention,

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awful, hated it.

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So how am I here now?

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It's because the full life that God

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has called me to happens to include public speaking.

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I had to learn how to face down the monster

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called fear of looking stupid

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and let Jesus take me right through its teeth.

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For years I avoided it.

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What I'm hoping today is that I can help you

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skip that step, the avoiding part, for years.

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We can skip right through that.

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But the first thing you have to understand is this.

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The full life is the risk-full life.

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The full life is the risk-full life,

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they're the same thing and the risk

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is facing the monsters in the way.

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See, monsters live on every single mountain

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worth climbing, every one of them.

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If you want to get to the very top

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of the mountain called success in life,

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that's the full life for you, success,

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you'll have to risk facing the monster

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called potential to fail.

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If full life for you looks like marriage

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and that kind of relationship, you're going to

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have to face down the monster called

00:15:08

could possibly end in divorce,

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despite my best efforts.

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If the full life for you is seeing

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God's power flow through you,

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you want to see miracles happen through you.

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That is amazing. I'm just telling you, friend,

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you've got to face down the monster

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called praying out loud in front of other people.

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Be terrifying.

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If you want the full life of love

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you've got to risk the monster called loss.

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The mountaintop, a full life,

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it's different for all of us.

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Now, I don't even know what it looks like for you,

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but I do know that if you follow Jesus,

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He'll take you right to those monsters,

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right into their teeth.

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It's how God has always worked.

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The Bible has two basic parts to it,

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and they're kind of like parallels.

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They kind of mirror each other in lots

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of interesting and different ways.

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The Old Testament parallel to the full life

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is the promised land.

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The promised land was a rich land

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that God promised for His chosen people, Israel.

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Just like Jesus promised a full life to His followers.

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The story of their journey to the promised land

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is called the Exodus.

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Now, you've heard that word before, Exodus.

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The literal meaning of it is the road out.

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It's the road out of the empty life,

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the not full life to the full life.

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It's the journey to the promised land

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parallels our journey to the full life.

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The Israelites, they completely missed it,

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like totally missed it.

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See, they didn't know that

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the full life is the risk-full life.

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They didn't know that the promised land

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was the risk-full land.

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They thought that they would

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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.

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