It’s All About The Heart | The Blessed Life: Week 1

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Well, welcome to church.

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We're so glad to have you at Crossroads today.

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That's right. You might be thinking at Crossroads?

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This doesn't look like a normal Crossroads.

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Or I'm sitting in my living room or my car.

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The great thing is Crossroads can go with you anywhere you might be.

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And today I'm in my very own kitchen.

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I'm in my home with actually my group

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who you're gonna meet a little bit later.

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We're in a brand new series called The Blessed Life.

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I'm really excited for what's to come in this series.

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But before we get into that,

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we're going to spend some time worshipping together.

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And worship is one of the ways that we actually get to declare to God

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that we're thankful for all that He's done in our lives.

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We're thankful for what He's doing right now.

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We're thankful for what we hope that He does later.

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And so if you believe these words,

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we want you to sing them wholeheartedly.

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If you don't believe these words totally, that's OK.

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But maybe you ask God to help you believe these words a little bit deeper as we go into worship.

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.

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We believe those words.

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We do not sing songs around here that we don't believe.

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And you may be in here and you may read those words

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and go, I don't believe that.

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Man, I'm glad you're here.

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But the reason you see people around you singing

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and you see hands in the air is because

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we believe that it's all about Him,

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that He has life in His hands.

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We believe in the powerful person of Jesus.

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We believe it's Him that overcomes.

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It's all by His power.

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It's not about me.

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It's all about Him, His power and His grace.

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So we wrote a song a little bit ago

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as a way for us as a community of people

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to remind us to never forget that it is about Him and His power.

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So I'm going to teach it to you.

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.

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That's who You are, God.

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We're not saying anything new to You.

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You know that You have life in Your hands.

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You know, more than anybody, more than I could ever speak

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how much more You want for us,

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how much freedom You want for us,

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how much you hold in your hands

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because You are life, the author, creator of life.

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So I sing to You because I've experienced You,

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because I know and I've seen You overcome in my life.

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Thank you, Lord. All gratitude and praise belong to You.

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I pray all this because of who I've seen You to be in Jesus.

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Amen.

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Thanks for singing with us today.

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One of the things we deeply care about around here

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is relationship, connection to one another,

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so turn around, greet somebody around here,

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give them a handshake and a smile today.

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Well, we do care about connection around here,

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and so we've created a great tool that helps

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you and I connect to one another and connect to God.

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And it's called the Crossroads Anywhere App.

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- This is the Crossroads Anywhere App.

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It's not just any other app.

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It's the weekend experience wherever you go.

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It's relevant articles to you

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so you can be the smart guy at the party for once.

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It's asking for prayer because life can get a little tough sometimes.

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It's spiritual growth without a bunch of hoops to jump through.

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The Crossroads Anywhere App:.

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It's you connecting with people and with God.

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Download it now.

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- Well, hey, I'm Lena and I were in my house right now.

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I'm actually in my last journey group meeting.

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My son Louie playing with my ear.

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He's a little sleepy by the time we meet as a group.

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But we've had a really, really good experience with the Play & Purpose Journey.

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It's been fun.

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It's been challenging.

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And it's always good to have a regular rhythm

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of getting together with some of my friends.

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So I would love for you to meet some of my friends

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who've been in my group for the Play & Purpose Journey

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and hear a little bit about their experience.

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So what have you guys thought about the journey thus far?

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- It's been really interesting, a very unique take on small groups as a whole.

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- Yeah, different than you thought it might be?

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- Much different than what I thought it would be.

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- In a good way?

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- Yeah, really good way, actually.

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Yeah. Very unique.

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I liked the different take in the approach to it.

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- That's great. Megan, how was it for you?

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So we just got married back in July,

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so it's been our first group together as a married couple

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with a group of other young married people, which I really enjoy.

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We're all kind of in the same life stage

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and I'm learning from all the little babes that are around.

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And so it's been a really fun experience for sure.

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- That's great. Anything -- What's your big thing coming out of the Journey?

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- So I really needed to work on play.

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And I have decided I'm going to start learning how to drum.

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So I just got my first drum set.

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I'm really excited.

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[laughter]

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- Wades, how about you guys?

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How is being in a group been impactful for you?

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- Being in a group has been impactful for us because

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we have been in our critical moments

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or moments where we've needed community the most.

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You guys have supported us.

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You guys have laughed with us when we need it.

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And being a new mom, it's just been good to partner with somebody.

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- Well, hey, you know, if you had a great group experience

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or maybe you've got some friends that you want to experience the church with,

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you can continue to meet as a group.

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You can start a new group.

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And we've got a new feature in the Crossroads Anywhere App

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where you can subscribe to weekend prompts in the chat feature.

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Just like we had for the Play & Purpose Journey,

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there's actually going to be prompts after every single weekend experience

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to give you some conversation starters.

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So get a group of friends together.

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Keep meeting with your Journey group.

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Have dinner or lunch or breakfast once a week

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and just talk through what you experienced over the week

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and through this weekend message.

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And I think it's gonna be really, really good for us

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to have some good intentional conversations

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and also just continue to have fun together.

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So you don't wanna miss that. Right, Louie?

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(Louie mumbles) Yes, exactly.

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And so right now we're actually going to get an opportunity to be generous.

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If you want to give, you can head to Crossroads.net/give.

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And I actually want my friend Josh to tell you about why he gives.

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- I give because it's what God calls us to do.

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Not only does He call us to do it,

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it's the one thing in the Bible He says,

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"Put me to the test on it.

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Put me in the test and trust Me

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with what I've already given you and give it back to Me."

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And for me, I give because I believe that.

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And I've actually experienced that this week.

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We've had some car trouble and we had a big repair we have to do on our car.

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And I was worried about how much was going to cost to get that done.

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A literally yesterday someone heard me talking about it

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and Venmo-ed me a bunch of money to get my car repaired.

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That just happened yesterday for us.

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And God says put it to the test, and He's true in that.

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So I trust Him with my money and I give because of that.

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So you can head to Crossroads.net/give

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and give right now and put God to the test.

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So it's been fun to be with my group in the midst of the Play & Purpose Journey.

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Let's see a little recap of what went on in the midst of this Journey.

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Man, that is good stuff.

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I am excited for how Play & Purpose went.

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How many of us are excited for how Play & Purpose went?

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Yes.

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And I am just excited for what's going to happen the next six weeks.

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We're starting a new series called The Blessed Life.

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We're going to talk.

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We're going to talk about generosity.

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Now I know whenever the words generosity come up in church,

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we have things that we're afraid of,

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things that were paranoid about,

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things that we clench things around.

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So I just want to be real clear on this: This is not a campaign.

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Never in this series ever will you be asked and encouraged to fill out a commitment card.

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Fact: I'm never going to have my own personal plane.

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I am giving this information and I am not working on commission.

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So just relax your sphincter.

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Not release your sphincter.

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[laughter]

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Relax your sphincter.

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Just want to calm us and sooth us because I know when the topic of generosity comes up,

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we have things that upset us.

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And this is a whole different thing we're doing today, it really is.

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And I couldn't be more excited, honestly,

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about the next six weeks. I'm excited for you.

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I'm excited for you.

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And why don't we pray right now before we go any further.

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God, I know that everyone who's at a Crossroads Anywhere

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we're meeting right now is somebody who wants to know You

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and wants more of You,

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wants to experience You to a greater degree.

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I pray that happens today and throughout this entire series.

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I'm excited, God.

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You've finally given me the right timing

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to give something that is the right word at the right place.

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So help me to be clear.

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Help me to be helpful.

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And help your children come to a place of fulfillment and joy and peace.

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I pray these things according to the character and identity of Jesus, Amen.

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Well, you know, I read a lot of stuff.

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I'm exposed to a lot of stimulating material.

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Is there piano music still going?

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No, good. I hope it's not.

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I read and I'm exposed to a lot of material that's very, very stimulating.

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I'm sure you are as well.

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Some stuff like, wow, I never knew that.

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One of the more recent books I read that was very, very stimulating

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was called The Arsenal of Democracy.

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It's all about how during World War II,

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the way we won World War II was all the titans of industry

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shifted on a dime and we took all of our production capacity

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and we turned it into bullets, into machine guns, into airplanes.

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Hitler was utterly stupefied that we were able to do

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what we did in such a short amount of time.

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And the focus of the book really is the Ford Motor Company,

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where they shifted all of their Know-How on the assembly line

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and they brought it to the airplane.

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The very, very first plane ever made the history of the world

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on an assembly line, which, of course, was started by Henry Ford.

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They made long range bombers, B-24s.

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They had a plant that was 5 million square feet, Willow Run.

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And they got up to capacity and they worked out the kinks.

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Brass and leather and metal would come in one side of the plant

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and out the other side would come a B-24 bomber every hour.

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Every hour, a new B-24, every hour a new one.

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And Hitler just couldn't believe how much, how they were cranking.

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.

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But as excited as I am about that book I just finished a couple months ago,

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nothing like the one I finished several years ago

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that has stuck with me

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and has been in my mind like a wormhole

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affecting me positively for several, several years.

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The book is called The Blessed Life.

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The inspiration of this book is where we get our series today.

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Last week we had an amazing time, right, with Michael Junior.

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Man, he was awesome, man.

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[applause]

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Michael Junior, he --

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I thought we were just getting a change of pace.

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That's what that's what I signed off on the expense of

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it was just getting a change of pace,

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something different at church.

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I had no idea, like, oh, my gosh.

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Hundreds of people are going to come to know Christ through it.

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People raised their hand. Amazing.

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I had no idea like on a dime 2200 people

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would show up for his concert on Sunday night.

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And here's the awesome part,

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he gave Crossroads 30% of his proceeds,

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whatever they were on Sunday night.

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And all of the stuff we paid him and airfare, it all got paid off.

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It was all done, it was awesome, it was great.

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And here's the thing that's really crazy.

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But here's the thing is really crazy about it.

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What's really cool was I didn't know

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when he talked about the church that impacted him,

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when he talked about that last week,

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that church is a church that birthed the content of this book.

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The pastor he talks about is the pastor of the book called The Blessed Life.

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No idea, happened right before this time.

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I was talking with another friend of mine

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who has gone through this content in his church in California.

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And he said, "Man, this is really -- our people love this series.".

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Okay, I'm going to bring it.

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Let me tell you why I haven't brought this series to you before.

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You're gonna hear stuff that you've heard me say before,

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but not with the clarity and conviction

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and the number of angles I'm going to come at it.

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Here's a reason why I haven't brought it.

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And I want to apologize to you for it.

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Because there's aspects of this content that will enable you

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to accuse me of being a prosperity preacher, which I am not.

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Anybody who knows me, anyone who's been around Crossroads any length,

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I do not believe that you have a right to be healthy

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and you have a right to be wealthy.

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And if you're not healthy and wealthy,

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then God's not happy with you because you're not giving.

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Do not believe that.

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Never preached anything like that at all.

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I've been so afraid to be in the camp of that whole thing,

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though, that there's certain things in the Bible

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I haven't preached with real clarity and forcefulness

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because I'm afraid of --

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And there's things in this book that the cynic would read or pick up and go, "OH, heh."

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I tell you, what I'm experiencing what we're going to talk about

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I've personally experienced in my life walking with Christ for thirty--

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I can't do math on stage, whatever 30 some years.

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And since I read this book several years ago,

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it's like, oh yeah, yeah, and it's been on my mind.

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So I'm real excited to bring this to you.

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It's going to be good stuff.

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Acts 20:35.

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And by the way, over the next few weeks I'm gonna give you a lot of Bible, a lot of Bible.

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I know we have different ideas of the Bible in here.

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We have different amounts that we each maybe digest with the Bible.

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But I'm gonna let the Bible speak for itself.

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And whatever you believe about it or don't believe about it,

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but I think you're gonna be helped and be prodded a little bit.

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Because the Bible speaks on how to be blessed again and again and again.

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Acts 20:35 says.

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Now, I like receiving.

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Anyone else like receiving?

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I do. I like it.

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And there's a great series to have on receiving.

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But the Bible says blessed are those who give.

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It's more blessed to give and receive.

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What does that mean? More blessed to give?

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Why is that? What does it mean to be blessed?

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When you came into your Crossroads site today,

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you might have gotten wet.

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Maybe you didn't notice, but I requested for misters

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to be over the doors when you walked into a Crossroads site.

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And what I was trying to replicate was my very first

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and only experience with a rain forest.

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When I was in New Zealand several months ago,

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it was the trip of a lifetime, because for most my lifetime

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I've been planning it and I finally went with some friends.

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We camped. We went through all the whole thing.

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New Zealand is a fascinating small landmass

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and all kinds of topographical and climate zones.

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It's really wild how many different variances there are

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in climate and terrain all over this small landmass.

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And so I went to our very first rainforest.

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And that's where that picture is from.

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And it isn't what I thought it would be.

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Like I thought being in a rainforest would be what it's like

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when I'm sitting in a tree stand trying to hunt a deer

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and it's raining and lightning showers.

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I thought that's what it would, because you're in the woods and it's raining.

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It's not like that at all, at least not this one was.

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This one, it was a fine mist like your Disney World.

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Just a fine mist that's on you all the time.

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And you keep thinking your clothes are going to get dripping wet.

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But there's enough light out to the -- enough must be getting evaporated.

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But yet there it's always kind of moist.

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It's kind of crazy.

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It's just it's very, very damp.

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And they told us, the locals told us

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at this kilometer marker that's when the rainforest starts.

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Like what? And bam, rainforest, poof come in rainforest.

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Oh, my goodness.

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And then this mile marker, boom, rainforest ends.

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And that's the way it is all the time.

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It was crazy.

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Rainforests are what it is like to live the blessed life.

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The blessed life is understanding

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where it is that the most moisture from God is.

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The blessed life is about understanding,

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understanding is where do I go to sense God more?

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What do I do to get from Him whatever He might give me?

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What is it that I need to be having on my mind to get around the moisture?

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And when we have dry hearts, parched souls,

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it might be because we all go through desert periods.

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We do. We all go through desert periods, difficult periods.

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It might also be because we're not inside of

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the kilometer marker for where the blessed life is.

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We're not in the place, in the zone where God's moisture is.

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It's more blessed to give than receive.

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So when I am a giver, there is moisture,

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there is a presence of God.

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It's the way His economy works.

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The Book of Luke 6:37, Jesus says:.

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(whoot) Yeah. Someone's excited be that verse.

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Now, here's the thing.

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Here's the crazy thing.

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This verse doesn't mention money at all.

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Fact: I haven't mentioned money at all, so far, doesn't at all.

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This verse is just staying a way that God's economy works.

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An economy exists about much more than simply finances.

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Who is it that gets judged by other people a lot?

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Those who judge other people a lot.

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Who is it that feels condemned by other people?

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Those who condemn other people.

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Who is it that receives grace from other people?

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People who give them second chances.

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You know who it is?

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Those who give other people second chances and give other people forgiveness.

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Why is it we are in such a politically divisive country right now?

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The right and the left, whichever you are, not everyone on the right and everyone left.

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The generalizing is like this, because the right and the left are just --

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It's only going to get worse, by the way, over the next several months.

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It's going to get even worse, way, way worse.

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And what's happening?

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Everyone on the left is feeling judged by people on the right.

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So they're judging people on the right.

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Everybody on the right is feeling condemned by people on the left,

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so they're condemning people on the left.

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I mean, it's going both ways.

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It's like, hey, let's just to have a condemnation fest.

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Let's have a judgment fest.

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And as we do things, we invite things back to us.

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The blessed life is understanding how God operates

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and getting to where God is and being like God.

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I want to get into the blessed zone because that's where God is.

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I want to get into the blessed zone

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because that's where His powerful attributes exist.

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And one of those attributes, a core,

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I mean a core part of His identity is He is a giver.

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John 3:16 says:.

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What did He do with Jesus?

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He gave Him.

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He allowed you and I to receive Him.

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He put Jesus on a cross to die a brutal death

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so that you and I wouldn't have to die a brutal death for all of eternity.

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That is the Gospel. That is the Good News, that God's a giver.

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He didn't make us work it off on our own.

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He actually gave us something.

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So when we look at giving, there's four aspects of what giving is.

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The overarching idea today is this:.

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This is not an economic issue.

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This is a spiritual issue.

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It is about my heart.

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Matthew 6:21, Jesus says:.

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So the thing that we value,

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the thing that we throw ourselves behind,

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that is our treasure and that is going to have our heart.

00:32:19

God wants not your money.

00:32:22

God wants your heart.

00:32:23

I'm going to say that again.

00:32:24

God does not want your money.

00:32:26

He wants your heart.

00:32:27

God's not having a resource problem up in heaven.

00:32:31

He's not going, "Oh, my goodness.

00:32:33

How am I going to keep the lights on up here?

00:32:34

Whew.

00:32:35

Geeze, just -- I can't -- all the things I want to do on planet Earth.

00:32:40

Oh, man, I would do them, but I just -- I'm just strapped.

00:32:43

There's too much eternity at the end of my resources.

00:32:46

I'm sorry. I just -- I just can't make ends meet."

00:32:49

No, he's not, He's not strapped on resources,

00:32:53

but He leads us in this area because He wants us to be like Him.

00:33:00

The way that we're blessed is when I'm like God.

00:33:02

The more I'm like God, the more blessed I am,

00:33:04

because that's the way the cosmos operates.

00:33:06

That's the way he's designed my life to operate.

00:33:09

He is a giver and so I have to be a giver.

00:33:12

And we know what has our heart based on what we're giving ourselves to,

00:33:17

based on what's on our calendar

00:33:18

and based on our credit card statement or our bank statement.

00:33:21

It doesn't matter what we say we value,

00:33:24

what's on our credit card statement, our bank statement says what we value.

00:33:30

It's like God's putting a stethoscope on our wallet.

00:33:34

He goes, let me see.

00:33:37

And what He's concerned about and wanting to do is develop our heart.

00:33:39

That's what I want for all of us: I want our hearts to be developed.

00:33:43

Crossroads is not having some big new initiative that we have to fund.

00:33:47

We're not. This is not a campaign.

00:33:50

We're doing just fine around here,

00:33:53

bills are getting paid, and we're doing just fine.

00:33:55

Things are going just fine.

00:33:57

There's not some new --

00:33:58

This is I want more people who look to me as pastor

00:34:03

who I feel a spiritual responsibility over,.

00:34:07

whether I know you personally or not.

00:34:09

I want more people to be in the zone of being blessed

00:34:12

and sensing the presence of God and being more like Him.

00:34:16

To do this there's four areas we're going to come to again and again.

00:34:20

Four things we've got to deal with in our heart.

00:34:23

The first thing we have to deal with is we have to deal with a greedy heart.

00:34:26

We have to deal with a greedy heart.

00:34:30

All kids have the very first thing,

00:34:33

the first word that they clearly put into a sentence

00:34:36

and they're trying to exert their will.

00:34:38

That word is not mommy and daddy.

00:34:42

You think your kids said mommy and daddy.

00:34:45

Your kids maybe only said mommy and daddy

00:34:47

because you brainwashed them to say mommy and daddy.

00:34:50

I've seen this happening under my roof with my daughter and son in law.

00:34:53

They're like jiving to see who my grandson says first: mama or dada.

00:34:57

And they're so arrogant.

00:34:58

They want to hear mama or dada first.

00:35:00

They're they're just brainwashing him.

00:35:02

That's fine. I did the same thing with Lib.

00:35:03

I did. I understand it.

00:35:05

But my grandson, if he's like any other kid, anyone you know,

00:35:10

the first word is going to be "mine."

00:35:13

Mine. Mine.

00:35:16

You and I are not born with a generous heart.

00:35:19

I don't know anybody who doesn't think they're generous.

00:35:22

Everybody I meet says they're generous.

00:35:25

We all think we're generous.

00:35:27

We're not generous.

00:35:28

We have -- if we are generous, it has to be because

00:35:31

of an intensive spiritual routine we go against to become generous.

00:35:37

Because every last human being is born greedy.

00:35:42

We want what we want.

00:35:43

It's all about me.

00:35:44

I want.

00:35:45

Mine. I want what's coming to me.

00:35:49

In Deuteronomy 15:7, God says:

00:36:06

God is giving again and again instructions to His people how to deal with His people.

00:36:13

He says, I don't want you clinging to your stuff.

00:36:16

I want you blessing's people that you see in need.

00:36:22

The reason why I can't stand the prosperity thing, prosperity preacher thing

00:36:26

and why I'm sorry I haven't talked about

00:36:28

some of the things I'm going to talk about until this series.

00:36:31

I've been a weenie boy. Sorry for that.

00:36:33

But the reason why I get so upset about the prosperity thing

00:36:36

is the prosperity thing just plays on our greediness.

00:36:40

Like you want to get more from God?

00:36:42

Good, then give.

00:36:46

Greed is never a good motivator for giving.

00:36:50

If you just give, then you're gonna get more.

00:36:54

Yeah. That's never a -- that's never a motivator for our heart.

00:36:59

Greed never pulls our heart along.

00:37:01

So having some theology where if I get you to give

00:37:05

then God's gonna give you more

00:37:08

entirely defeats the point of coming to be like God and have His character.

00:37:15

Robert Morris, who wrote this book, said:.

00:37:27

In the Middle East, where I've been to a number of times

00:37:29

is the lowest spot on all of planet Earth.

00:37:32

It's called the Dead Sea.

00:37:34

The Dead Sea is beautiful when you look at it.

00:37:37

Water's coming from all over the place and just kind of trickling into it.

00:37:40

It's beautiful when you look at it, until you get in it.

00:37:44

It is awful, it's called the Dead Sea for a reason

00:37:47

because nothing living is inside the Dead Sea.

00:37:50

Nothing.

00:37:51

It has this really high alkaline content, mineral content.

00:37:54

You feel like you could walk on water.

00:37:56

You can just stand like this and you will float like up to your belly button.

00:38:00

In fact, if you ever go there, just word to the wise,

00:38:03

do not shave the day before you go there,

00:38:07

or if you're scratching any place your body,

00:38:09

don't go in there either.

00:38:11

I learned that very, very difficult the first time I went in.

00:38:14

It is eew. It is nasty.

00:38:16

Why is it so nasty?

00:38:17

It's so nasty. It's dead because there's no outflow out of the Dead Sea.

00:38:23

The Dead Sea receives, but it doesn't give.

00:38:27

Any body of water that does not give

00:38:30

is going to be a dead disgusting body of water.

00:38:33

This is how God's operated, our spirits should operate.

00:38:35

We receive and we give, receive, there's in-flow and there's outflow.

00:38:40

And a greedy heart only wants to receive

00:38:43

and a greedy heart will eventually have a life that is stanky.

00:38:48

We need not only deal with a grieving or --

00:38:51

Stanky, it's not a bad word in case you didn't know.

00:38:53

I do really well not to do some of the words that I use around here,

00:38:56

but that's not a bad word, stanky.

00:38:58

You can use that one. Your mom won't get mad at you.

00:39:00

The second thing that we don't only have to deal with a grieving heart, we have to --

00:39:05

Excuse me, we not only have to deal with a greedy heart,

00:39:08

we have to deal with a grieving heart.

00:39:10

So a greedy heart is on the front end.

00:39:12

I'm not sure that I want to give to help somebody.

00:39:15

A grieving heart is after I do, I'm like "(sound effect).

00:39:18

Gosh, why did I do that?

00:39:20

Oh, ugh."

00:39:24

Now, we as human beings are very, very smart people,

00:39:28

so we figure out ways to get around how we operate.

00:39:32

So one of the ways we get around having a greedy heart

00:39:36

and having a grieving heart,

00:39:37

if we're trying to get people to give money,

00:39:40

it's the system of fair share.

00:39:42

Fair share is all about, "Look, none of us really want to give.

00:39:46

Okay? We all know that, right?

00:39:47

Right. Right.

00:39:48

So we're all gonna hurt equally.

00:39:51

And we're all going to grieve equally, whatever your fair share is."

00:39:56

No concept at all that it actually might be a blessing to give,

00:40:00

that I might actually like to give,

00:40:01

that I might actually receive something that I give.

00:40:04

That's what a grieving heart is, "I don't want to.

00:40:08

I do. Why did I do that?".

00:40:10

Book of Deuteronomy 15:10, God says:.

00:40:13

You shall give to him freely.

00:40:27

He'll bless you.

00:40:29

Don't be grieving after you give.

00:40:31

Have a trust in God that He has noticed

00:40:34

and He's not going to leave you high and dry.

00:40:42

You know, sometimes I talk, I just have to stop my mind

00:40:44

and like, oh, I wish I would --

00:40:45

I can't be thinking about that right now,

00:40:47

but I am thing about right now, I shouldn't.

00:40:48

It's just like shiny object, shiny object,

00:40:51

squirrel, squirrel.

00:40:52

I just realized I have a -- I've just gotta get off my --

00:40:56

get it done so I can focus on the rest of our time.

00:40:57

I've got this thing, I've got to be with some folks after this.

00:41:01

We're gonna go out to eat and I just realized,

00:41:03

I didn't bring any cash and I want to be able to throw in on the meal

00:41:06

because I know this guy is gonna take and I want to throw in.

00:41:08

Does anybody have a hundred dollars you could give me?

00:41:12

Because it's kind of an expensive place and -- Aww.

00:41:16

[applause]

00:41:21

You have $100 there?

00:41:23

Wow. Thank you very much.

00:41:27

[applause]

00:41:29

Now, I set that up, that whole thing I just set up.

00:41:35

I talked to him before the service and I said,

00:41:38

when I talk about $100, just come bring it up.

00:41:41

Do you think that was hard for him?

00:41:43

No.

00:41:45

Because he knew that money wasn't his.

00:41:47

[laughter]

00:41:49

It was my money.

00:41:52

It was my money, that's why he was so willing to do it.

00:41:55

We grieve and we have grief because with all of our stuff we're saying mine, mine.

00:42:02

And we don't really believe it's God's.

00:42:03

We don't believe that God has blessed us.

00:42:05

We don't believe that God is active in our life.

00:42:07

We're just clutching it. It's mine.

00:42:08

It's only mine. And my, my, my, my, my.

00:42:12

And when we think this way,

00:42:14

we're not going to operate with a sense of zest and joy that we possibly can

00:42:20

because we're just skimping on everything.

00:42:22

Psalm 24:1 says:.

00:42:32

Everything.

00:42:34

Now, ladies, I've got to tell you, if there's things about your guy

00:42:37

that you're dating or marrying that are annoying you,

00:42:39

I can tell you what one of them probably is.

00:42:41

I just want to plead guilty to it.

00:42:42

Let me just tell you what, this is male confessional.

00:42:45

Let me tell you what bothers us.

00:42:47

What bothers us greatly is when we go out to order something

00:42:51

and you say to us, "I'm just going to have some of his.".

00:42:57

[laughter] Oh, no, you won't.

00:43:00

Because why? Because it's mine.

00:43:04

It's mine.

00:43:05

You will not be having any of my fries as we go through the drive through.

00:43:10

And in fact, the fries at the bottom of the bag, they're mine, too.

00:43:12

Mine, mine.

00:43:14

We just deal --

00:43:15

We're very happy to give to you, but we don't want you to take from us.

00:43:20

Now, I've finally gotten over this.

00:43:22

I know what to do now. Lib will say, "Oh, I'll just --"

00:43:25

I just ordered two things now, two things that I would like.

00:43:28

And I know she's probably going to take half of the one.

00:43:31

And while I'm doing that I'm just confessing that our "mine" things, I have to fight that.

00:43:36

I still had to fight. It's natural.

00:43:38

It's deep in.

00:43:39

I've got to exert effort to go against the other grain.

00:43:44

I've got to fight a greedy heart.

00:43:45

I've got to fight a grieving heart if I want to have a heart that's set apart.

00:43:49

And I've got to develop a generous heart.

00:43:52

I've got to develop -- I have to develop a generous heart,

00:43:56

not pray for a generous heart.

00:43:58

I've got to actually develop a generous heart,

00:44:01

which is what we're going to work on in here over the next few weeks.

00:44:04

Deuteronomy 15:14.

00:44:06

I'm reading a lot of Deuteronomy.

00:44:08

The Book of Deuteronomy has a lot of God establishing rules

00:44:12

for His people, the nation of Israel,

00:44:14

rules for how to have a society, a culture and the life that works.

00:44:19

And so this is actually going to be very important for us to understand in weeks ahead.

00:44:22

But that's why I'm looking at a number of versus from Deuteronomy today.

00:44:25

Here's what this one says:.

00:44:38

You shall bless him, you shall give to him.

00:44:41

And so what God is doing with His people here is He's helping them to develop a generous heart.

00:44:46

He's giving these instructions because anybody who does become blessed

00:44:51

and who does operate in generosity is only there once we develop it.

00:44:56

God's people would never do this naturally in and of our own accord.

00:45:00

This is a part of spiritual formation, it's a part of spiritual growth.

00:45:04

When I was in college, my parents were very generous with me,

00:45:07

they just they took care of all my bills, they paid tuition,

00:45:10

they paid for my books, they paid for room,

00:45:14

they gave me a small stipend to live on, buy food and stuff.

00:45:17

I lived off campus.

00:45:19

And they weren't -- either they weren't that generous with that stipend

00:45:25

or I really misspent that stipend, which is probably what it really was.

00:45:29

But the matter was I would get down to the end of week two, end of week three,

00:45:35

and I just had no money, no nothing.

00:45:38

And I just went hungry.

00:45:39

My college was four years of going hungry.

00:45:41

People would see me from high school and where I used to be a bit of a beefcake,

00:45:46

they'd go, "Man. You've lost weight.".

00:45:47

I'm like, "Yeah, I'm not freaking eating, that's why."

00:45:48

[laughter]

00:45:49

Seriously, like for a guy back then, the worst thing was someone say, "Are you losing weight?"

00:45:58

I was building into this one family, the Rogers family.

00:46:01

I was volunteering at this church, building into

00:46:03

some these kids and their family, a high school and junior high kid.

00:46:07

And one day, Jim Rogers, not to be confused with Mr.

00:46:11

Jim Rogers, he -- I was at this restaurant

00:46:15

and he came up behind me and he put his hand in my pocket.

00:46:21

And then he took his hand out of my pocket.

00:46:23

I'm like, hmm, I think I know what happened there, but --

00:46:26

Then he drove me to where I was -- where I where I lived.

00:46:29

And when I got out of the car, he said, "Hey, Brian."

00:46:31

Because I didn't acknowledge. It was very awkward.

00:46:33

He said, "Hey, Brian, before you throw the pants

00:46:36

in the washing machine, just check your pockets."

00:46:39

I said, okay. Okay.

00:46:41

I went in and checked it and there was a $20 bill in there.

00:46:44

And I was like, oh, man.

00:46:46

Wow. That is a game changer.

00:46:48

A total game changer.

00:46:51

I didn't say much, anything to him about it.

00:46:54

I had never had anyone just give me money before

00:46:56

or do an act of generosity at all.

00:46:58

Up to that point my life all generosity was,

00:47:02

"OK. And here is your birthday. So I have to give you something.

00:47:04

Here is Christmas and I have to give you something.

00:47:06

Or you've earned this working at fast food."

00:47:09

It was like a gift.

00:47:11

It was just out of left field, like, really, really crazy.

00:47:17

Sometime later than that same restaurant, same spot,

00:47:21

he comes up again checking out, I think after church on Sunday morning.

00:47:25

And he puts his -- goes to put his hand in my pocket again.

00:47:27

I just put my hand on his and I say, "Hey, Jim.

00:47:31

You don't need to do that."

00:47:33

He said. "I know.

00:47:36

I know, but it's all God's money.

00:47:39

I'm just redistributing it."

00:47:42

That guy taught me something about the character of God

00:47:49

and was God to me in a way that transformed my heart, transformed my life.

00:47:57

Some time ago and I were going out on a date night.

00:48:00

And we saw this woman broken down on the side of the road.

00:48:03

We're going to an area of town where there's some nice restaurants

00:48:06

and this was a car that I could tell was passing through this part of town,

00:48:11

couldn't be living in this part of town.

00:48:13

The car was different than what it would look like if you lived there

00:48:15

and she looked different than what you would probably look like if you lived there.

00:48:18

And she was on the side of the road and her gas --

00:48:20

Her gas tank was open or twist top open.

00:48:23

And we pulled over and asked, what's going on?

00:48:24

I'm out of gas. I don't know what to do

00:48:26

So we went we got her gas, brought it back.

00:48:29

And she was in the car.

00:48:31

And I filled up the gas with all the --

00:48:33

I don't know if we had two gallons or three gallon tank, whatever it was, we filled it up.

00:48:36

And then I took a 20 and I stuck in her gas cap and I shut it.

00:48:42

And I told her, OK, it's all good.

00:48:44

And before I left and went away,

00:48:46

I said, "Hey, I'm not sure if I closed your gas cap all the way,

00:48:51

you might want to go back and just make sure that's closed."

00:48:54

She said OK.

00:48:55

So I'm going off, I'm looking in my rearview mirror.

00:48:57

And I see her like, "Oh!"

00:49:00

Like that 20 bucks did to her what it did for me,

00:49:03

what it did for me way back when.

00:49:05

And I'll tell what, Lib and I, that was probably like the greatest date night we ever had.

00:49:09

Seriously, because we got -- kind of got into the blessed zone.

00:49:13

We were in the zone of where God is.

00:49:16

Now contrast that with something that happened a few months ago.

00:49:20

I'm getting new tires and there's a woman that's in the tire shop

00:49:24

and she's talking with the guy who's giving her prices.

00:49:26

I could tell that she's just like dripping off sweat.

00:49:29

She's stressed.

00:49:30

I can tell whatever's going on, she's not liking this conversation.

00:49:34

And I get my car and I start going off.

00:49:37

And it hits me, and I go, Oh, my gosh.

00:49:40

That was a woman who's got to buy a new tire

00:49:42

or a whole new set of tires

00:49:43

and she has zero ability to do that.

00:49:47

And I'm just thanking God that, God, thank you,

00:49:49

that you blessed me that I could buy her a tire right now.

00:49:52

And God, I'm sorry that I didn't.

00:49:56

I am sorry. I am sorry.

00:49:58

I am so blessed that I could buy four tires for somebody.

00:50:04

It feels like a million dollars to them

00:50:06

and you bless me enough that I could buy four tires.

00:50:08

And I just made a commitment before God, I said, God, I'm not --

00:50:10

Next time -- next time I'm going to get tires,

00:50:13

someone's getting free tires."

00:50:14

Sorry, I'm going to make it--

00:50:15

Now, you guys are going to start tracking me.

00:50:17

Like you're gonna be checking out my tread pattern right on my --

00:50:21

Oh, he's going to be pretty soon.

00:50:22

I've got to time it right.

00:50:24

No, seriously.

00:50:25

It's just something that I feel like I let God down on.

00:50:30

I didn't get blessed in.

00:50:32

I didn't feel the blessing.

00:50:34

I felt like I let something go.

00:50:36

And my hair, God was tapping on me and I didn't go the right way.

00:50:42

Luke 6:30, Jesus says:

00:51:02

We are born selfish, we are born sinners,

00:51:06

people who missed the mark,

00:51:07

people who do not have the heart of God.

00:51:10

And God wants to develop us,

00:51:13

because in developing us we become more like Him.

00:51:16

In developing us,

00:51:17

our heart gets to be the place that it should be.

00:51:21

And fourth and final, we need to develop a generous heart.

00:51:26

A generous --

00:51:27

excuse me, a grateful heart.

00:51:28

We need to develop a grateful heart.

00:51:31

And the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 15 again.

00:51:34

This is kind of the constitution, The Book of Deuteronomy

00:51:36

that God is giving His people who have come out of slavery.

00:51:40

They were in bondage to Pharaoh and God has brought them out of slavery.

00:51:44

Now He's establishing a new nation, a new culture, a new way of life.

00:51:48

So there's all these rules, all these rules that are happening here

00:51:50

and people like, "I don't know the Old Testement.".

00:51:53

Well, these are unique rules for a culture that God was birthing.

00:51:56

And many of these rules, many of these principles translate even to modern America

00:52:01

because we're still God's people if we're in a relationship with Him through Jesus.

00:52:05

And so we can look back there and see

00:52:06

the kind of culture God kept putting into their hearts

00:52:09

and seeing whether or not we want that culture in our hearts.

00:52:13

In Deuteronomy 15:15, God says:

00:52:25

And then he has commands.

00:52:27

But the basis of every instruction God has for us,

00:52:31

all of His commands, the basis is the awareness of, "I was once a slave,"

00:52:37

awareness of, "I have a lot to be grateful.".

00:52:40

The awareness of, "I can't believe what God has done for me.

00:52:43

I can't believe the blessings God has poured on me.".

00:52:46

All of us have them.

00:52:47

Let me jus tell you some of mine.

00:52:48

I can't believe the woman I'm married to.

00:52:50

It's amazing.

00:52:51

I got married -- when I got married it was kind of like,

00:52:53

"OK, I think now's the time to get married

00:52:55

and you're who I'm dating so I'll take you."

00:52:59

And Lib was a fine choice.

00:53:00

She was a fine choice, it worked out amazingly.

00:53:02

And I had no one -- no one ever told me,

00:53:05

and I'm telling you right now, those of you who are dating somebody.

00:53:07

I wish someone told me what I'm telling you right now though

00:53:10

I didn't even have to know it, God just blessed me with the right person.

00:53:14

The person you marry will double your impact or will cut it in half.

00:53:20

The person you marry will double your life or they will cut it in half.

00:53:25

And I married someone without even knowing that principle who doubled my life,

00:53:29

who doubled my impact, because the teammate we have.

00:53:32

And I think she would say the same thing about me to her.

00:53:35

I'm so grateful that, God, I didn't know what the heck I was doing.

00:53:38

I was in slavery to my impulses and God delivered me

00:53:42

and gave me the right person at the right time.

00:53:45

I'm grateful for the incredible DNA and immune system that he has given me.

00:53:50

Like, I rarely get sick, ever get sick.

00:53:52

If I get -- if I call in sick,

00:53:53

the staff starts to think that Armageddon is happening tomorrow,

00:53:56

because end of the world because Brian never gets sick.

00:53:58

It's not because I take care of myself.

00:54:01

God's blessed me with an amazing immune system.

00:54:05

God has blessed me with this church to be able to work here.

00:54:08

I'm amazed you guys would put up with me.

00:54:10

It's wonderful.

00:54:11

Thank you.

00:54:12

You allow Brian Tome to be Brian Tome.

00:54:14

You do. [applause]

00:54:18

God save me, friends.

00:54:19

You gotta hear me really clearly, the idea of saved,

00:54:21

I used to not like that term because people use it,

00:54:24

used to freak me out, "Did get saved?

00:54:25

Did you get saved, brother? You need to get saved."

00:54:27

And some weird people really like that term, but I want to be really, really clear:

00:54:31

I got saved. And I'm telling you, I got saved.

00:54:34

[applause].

00:54:35

I was on a greased pole to hell.

00:54:38

I had no redeemable qualities inside of me.

00:54:41

I was -- I'm telling you, this not at you.

00:54:45

I'm telling you, non-humorous, absolutely true.

00:54:49

I would not want to think where my life would be right now

00:54:51

if it weren't for Jesus.

00:54:53

I would not. And I hope you feel the same way.

00:54:56

I encourage you take an inventory of what God has blessed you with.

00:55:01

What has God done in you?

00:55:02

Because I promise you, you might not have all that you want to have,

00:55:06

but I promise you, you have more than you could have on your own

00:55:10

because God is a giver and He makes -- allows us to be grateful.

00:55:16

Last verse, Psalm 103:2:

00:55:26

We have to remember the benefits.

00:55:28

The fact that he is a giver.

00:55:31

That's His core, core identity.

00:55:34

He is a giver of forgiveness, of grace, of blessings,

00:55:38

of second chances, of truth, of principles.

00:55:42

He's a giver, friends, we can't forget that.

00:55:46

When we forget that we get outside the blessed zone.

00:55:50

Here's what I see right now at Crossroads the next few weeks.

00:55:54

Just as Willow Run, the plant that churned out B-24s,

00:56:00

took raw material and something different came out the other end,

00:56:04

I believe God is going to form you on His assembly line.

00:56:06

I believe He has been forming you.

00:56:08

I believe you have been in a construction process

00:56:11

where God has been working on you and doing something for you

00:56:13

for a long, long time and in you for a long, long time.

00:56:16

Long before you ever came to Crossroads or heard anything I said or anything else,

00:56:20

He's been developing you and processing you.

00:56:22

And I'm real excited because I believe this is now the step

00:56:25

in the developmental process where He wants to develop you in this way.

00:56:30

He wants to mold your heart.

00:56:32

He wants to develop your hearts for the purposes that He has for you.

00:56:40

Now we're gonna have a little reflection exercise.

00:56:42

So right now at all of our sites we're going to go ahead and do that right now.

00:56:48

What we're gonna do is we're going to spend the last few minutes

00:56:54

just in reflection of the goodness of God.

00:57:00

And as we sit in silence and reflect on His goodness,

00:57:04

maybe He might say something to us.

00:57:06

I don't know. I've no idea.

00:57:08

Maybe there's a thought that may come through our mind

00:57:10

that we think is a strange out there thought,

00:57:13

but maybe it's actually God speaking to us.

00:57:17

Maybe He just wants to develop us to just allow us

00:57:19

to sit uninterrupted for a couple of minutes.

00:57:25

And so that's what we're going to do right now to close out our time today.

00:57:28

God, I thank You for being a blesser.

00:57:32

You are a blesser of people, of unworthy people, including myself.

00:57:38

God, would You bless us by speaking to us?

00:57:40

Would You allow us to bless You by just giving You our thoughts,

00:57:46

giving You our mutterings of the things that we're thankful for.

00:57:48

God, hear us as we try to hear You.

00:58:25

Amen. Amen.

00:58:28

There, that wasn't so bad, was it?

00:58:33

I'm having fun.

00:58:34

I'm going to have a lot of fun in the weeks ahead.

00:58:36

I've been gearing up for this one for a while.

00:58:39

I don't think -- God doesn't want anything from you,

00:58:42

He wants something for you.

00:58:44

He wants something for you and I'll see you next week.

00:58:49

- How good is that?

00:58:52

I am already getting something great out of this series.

00:58:56

And I know that there's so much more to come.

00:58:58

And so you're not going to want to miss the rest of this series.

00:59:02

Make it a point to get to a location near you

00:59:04

or join us on Crossroads Anywhere.

00:59:07

And don't forget, keep meeting with your group

00:59:09

or maybe get into a group with some friends and do those weekend prompts,

00:59:13

subscribe to that chat in the Crossroads Anywhere App.

00:59:17

And we'll see you next week for week two of The Blessed Life.

	Worship	1:01
	Community Life	13:11
	Message	18:00

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