Overcoming a Toxic World | The Cure Week 1

This world is toxic. The poison of sin pulses through our minds, infects our relationships, and keeps us in despair. The good news is that there is a cure. Join us today as Brian talks about how God wants to free us from sin’s toxic grasp.

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    I am touching a snake
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    and I am not afraid.
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    Our world is toxic
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    and we're experiencing the side effects:
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    fake news, social media, influencers,
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    conspiracy theories, cancel culture.
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    There is a cure that leads to freedom,
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    and that's what we're going to explore today.
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    - Hey, I'm Kyle. - I'm Hannah.
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    -Welcome to Crossroads.
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    You're joining us for the first week
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    of a brand new series called The Cure.
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    - Yes, and this is an important series,
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    because it's no secret that our world is overwhelming,
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    tiring, sometimes exhausting, and borderline toxic.
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    - It is, and in just a minute you're gonna hear
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    from our senior pastor, Brian Todd, who is going
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    to talk about how we can address those toxins,
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    what to do about them.
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    - Yeah, and how to move forward.
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    But first, honestly, he's on a journey for the cure.
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    Where on the journey to find the cure for those toxins.
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    That's what Kyle and I are here for,
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    that's why we're dressed like this,
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    it's why we're ready to go.
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    - And we're going to look in the typical places
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    where everybody else looks.
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    We're going to look at the places
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    that no one's looking at all to find the answers.
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    - Got to go above and beyond.
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    We might even win some prizes, some award.
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    This is how serious this is.
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    So, Kyle, where do we start today?
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    - We're going to start in a place that I think
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    is one of the most overlooked places
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    for the cure in the world.
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    - Okay. - Birdwatching. So just get --
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    - Okay, birdwatching. - I've got binoculars.
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    I packed some in the bag there for you.
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    - Nice, thanks, dude.
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    - Get these things out and you're going
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    to look up in the trees and anything --
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    - Kyle, there's none in here.
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    - Is there a hole in the bottom? I don't know.
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    - Whatever, it's fine.
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    - So you've got great eyesight though,
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    just looking in trees, we're going to find the birds.
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    If it looks like the cure, tell me first,
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    - Okay. - Just look up in there.
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    - Do you know what it looks like?
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    - Something. - There.
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    - Okay. You stay there, I'll get it first
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    just because I just want to get it first. Okay, right.
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    But actually I'm going to need --
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    I'm going to need a boost from you.
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    - No.
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    - If you could just -- I'm almost there.
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    I'm almost there. I was almost there.
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    Okay, you got it. - That's fine.
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    - What have you got?
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    - I don't know. What are we looking at?
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    Oh, self help books. Yeah.
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    The answer, this is where everybody looks.
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    - So is this the cure, like we found it? Is this it?
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    - Yeah, definitely.
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    The birds probably left the for us up there.
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    - This feels like not right, like maybe there's more.
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    If it was this easy and self help-y,
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    wouldn't everybody do it and wouldn't it work
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    and we would not be on this journey?
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    - Right. We probably wouldn't need all these books,
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    there'd probably be like one book.
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    - One book. Okay. - Right.
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    - So maybe Brian Tome knows the answer
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    Yeah, so check in with him.
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    - Yeah.
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    - Deep in the South African wild, the black mamba snake
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    is one of the deadliest in the world.
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    The snake's fangs act like a hypodermic needle,
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    injecting venom quickly and efficiently.
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    It only takes two drops of venom
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    to spread toxic poison throughout the bloodstream.
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    Luckily, if you act quickly, there is a cure
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    and you can survive.
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    First, a tourniquet is used to stop
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    the spread of the poison through the body.
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    Next, oxygen and respiratory support is given
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    because the heart and lungs are weakened
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    from the spread of toxins.
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    Finally, the antidote to the venom
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    is injected directly into the bloodstream
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    to neutralize and eventually overcome the poison
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    that is being spread.
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    Now, while few of us will actually
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    ever encounter a black mamba,
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    maybe even more dangerous are the toxins
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    we encounter every day.
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    Navigating our current reality can feel like
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    a dangerous and terrifying jungle
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    full of snakes ready to bite.
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    And just like a snake's venom
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    travels through our bodies and attacks our organs,
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    the poisons of racial injustice and polarizing politics
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    that assault us in our news feeds
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    and social media accounts can quickly spread
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    through our minds and hearts to damage
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    and shut down our healthy thoughts, beliefs,
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    emotions and actions.
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    The good news is that while deadly,
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    there is actually a cure to everything toxic in our lives,
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    an antidote within our reach that will restore
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    health and vibrancy to our minds and hearts.
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    Just like treating a deadly mamba bite,
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    we can cut off the poisonous polarization
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    that is penetrating our souls by turning away from sin
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    and towards the cure of forgiveness.
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    When our bodies and souls are shutting down
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    under the stress of daily life, we can fill our lungs
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    with life sustaining support from the Bible,
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    the Word of God.
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    And when it feels like our broken hearts
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    will never heal and there is no hope,
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    we can inject ourselves with the truth of God,
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    the antidote that will neutralize the poison
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    affecting our entire world.
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    - Have you noticed how toxic our culture is?
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    I mean, we are so unhealthy and the problems
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    just keep magnifying and multiplying.
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    We're going to help you understand that today.
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    And when you understand it,
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    you can actually get to a better place.
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    I'm here inside of a zoo slash nature center
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    slash green house, and it's indicative of
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    the thing we're talking about,
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    which are the toxins that are in our culture
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    and sometimes the physical actually mirrors
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    and can tell us something about the spiritual.
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    One of the toxins I've had in my body
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    or the problems I've had with my body is a bad back.
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    For most of my life, about once or twice a year,
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    I'm going through my life doing my thing,
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    all my back muscles, my lower back muscles
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    just go (sound effect) they tense up
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    and they go (sound effect) and I go bam,
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    I fall down face first on the ground.
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    I've been known to be curled up in a fetal position,
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    one time naked on the floor
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    of an athletic gymnasium locker room.
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    It was very humiliating, awful.
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    You've never lived until you've had to have
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    a grown man help you put on your own underwear.
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    Difficult, tough stuff.
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    And I would live in fear of this problem,
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    this toxicity in my back
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    because I didn't know what was going on.
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    Then finally, I started learning what was going on.
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    I learned that my muscles of my core were undeveloped.
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    I learned that I had a vertebrae
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    that was out of alignment.
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    I heard about what chiropractors
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    like to know as subluxation and through
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    a friend of mine who is a chiropractor, Paul Baker,
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    I got on a completely different path.
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    It's now been years since I've had a massive back issue.
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    It used to be once or twice a year
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    I'd be down and out and I'd be in bed
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    and I couldn't even roll over in bed.
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    I started to understand the problem.
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    When I understood the problem, I could fix it.
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    And even if I couldn't fix it,
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    just knowing what the problem was helped me.
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    We have toxins in our culture that we are exposed to
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    that are creating massive problems,
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    not just for our culture, but for us personally.
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    How do you get exposed to toxins?
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    Well, there's a number of different ways.
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    You can ingest it, you could swallow it,
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    food, drink, some other substance.
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    You just take it into your body.
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    Another way this happens is by contact.
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    We touch something and we get those toxins.
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    Or inhalation, we just (sniffs),
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    we get it through the air, which is why
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    so many of us are using these lovely, beautiful things.
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    All of these contaminants, these mites, these germs,
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    these organisms get into us
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    and then we become toxic ourselves.
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    There's a toxin that's in our culture, it's in our lives.
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    And that toxin, we don't want to talk about it.
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    We don't like to say the word.
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    We don't understand the word.
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    It's such a misused or unused word in our society
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    that we have the hair on the back of our necks
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    stand up when we hear it because it sets us off.
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    I'm going to use it anyway.
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    I'm going to use it anyway, because I want to help you.
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    I want to help us to see it.
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    And when you understand this thing,
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    your life will change, honestly, it will.
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    Your perspective will change.
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    You will be able to get to be healthy.
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    It's until you understand COVID
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    that you can understand how to be healthy.
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    And it's not until you understand, here it is: Sin.
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    Sin, not a four letter word, a three letter word, sin.
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    It's not until you understand the toxin of sin
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    that's in the air, that's on the things that we do,
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    that we ingest, that you can ever have an understanding
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    of what our problem is and how to get to another side.
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    That's what we're talking about for the rest of our time.
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    - Here at Crossroads, we believe the church
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    is about making a difference in the world.
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    - Yes. And you can get in the game
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    to support health care workers
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    by hand writing notes of encouragement,
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    as well as participating in a supply drive.
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    That can happen via drive through drop off
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    or an Amazon wish list order.
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    And we're doing this kind of stuff all the time.
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    So we don't want you to miss out on an opportunity.
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    - At Crossroads we GO.
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    In every community right now,
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    health care workers are feeling tired and forgotten,
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    which is not okay. - Yeah.
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    - So we're launching Fuel for the Fight,
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    a way to refuel and refresh our health care professionals.
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    And we need you.
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    - To participate, you can visit Crossroads.net/GO
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    to get in the game.
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    - Another way to get in the game is to give.
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    Have you ever heard the phrase
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    "put your money where your mouth is"?
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    That's because our money really shows
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    what we actually care about.
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    Like a lot of mine goes to my kids,
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    like a whole lot of it.
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    That's because I really love them
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    and it's worth it, or so I'm told.
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    - And you know what? In the same way,
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    my relationship with God, it's a priority.
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    And by giving, specifically tithing,
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    which is the first 10% of my income to the church,
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    God puts my money to work
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    and does things that I could not imagine on my own.
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    - Explore why we do this, where the money goes,
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    and how to give it Crossroads.net/give.
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    - Now we're going to keep looking for the cure.
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    So let's pick back up with Brian.
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    - I want you to find a cure for the toxic problems
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    that you and I find ourselves in.
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    To do that, we're going to have to go all the way back
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    to patient zero, who had it first.
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    We've got to go all the way back
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    to the Bible's first book, The Book of Genesis.
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    We're in the book of Genesis 3, here's what says:
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    God creates this beautiful paradise, if you will,
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    for them to live in and eat
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    all the beautiful fruits and vegetations
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    and have all kinds of freedom.
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    He says, "There's one thing,
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    I don't want you eating from
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    the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."
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    Why is that?
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    What's going on there?
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    It's hard to say what in Genesis is actual literal
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    and what is metaphorical,
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    and I don't want to get into all that right now.
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    But why knowledge of good and evil?
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    I think it's because you don't have to have
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    any knowledge of evil, because there is no sin.
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    There's no evil at all.
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    But as soon as you rebel
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    and as soon as you're about yourself,
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    you're going to open up a whole Pandora's box of problems.
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    And the way this box gets opened up
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    is there is a person with the personality
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    who's known as the evil one or the devil or Satan.
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    Woo, booglie words.
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    And he starts talking to Eve
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    and he comes in the form of right here, a serpent.
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    Yes.
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    Look, I am a man.
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    I am touching a snake and I am not afraid.
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    Actually, I am kind of afraid.
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    I don't like snakes.
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    I believe the only good snake's a dead snake.
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    I'm sorry. It's just a metaphor.
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    I've never actually even killed a snake.
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    I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you.
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    I know you're a wonderful snake.
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    I know you've never sinned all.
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    I know you're beautiful.
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    Everything at the Cincinnati Zoo is beautiful,
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    but snakes just kind of, they just oogi me out.
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    There's probably a lot of people like me, right?
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    - Oh, yeah.
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    - You go along and you go eat some field mice
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    or something like that. Thank you very much.
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    - Thank you.
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    - He's a sweetie, he is. (cringes)
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    Trying to put my man face on here, but it's tough.
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    It's nonetheless very, very tough.
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    But that serpent gave Adam and Eve the options
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    that they hadn't considered, which is:
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    rebel against God, do what you want to do.
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    And this opens up toxins that's unleashed in our culture.
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    Back in the days when people were homesteaders
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    or out in the prairies, when you had a problem
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    in your life, you had the problem.
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    You had to find the cure.
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    You had to look inside.
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    You couldn't blame the government
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    that the water wasn't coming in right.
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    You couldn't blame community council.
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    You couldn't blame people on the right or on the left
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    because you're there in the middle of nowhere,
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    homesteading, farming, whatever was,
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    and your problems were yours.
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    Well, now today, with social media and media blown up,
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    we have all kinds of people we can blame on.
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    "Well, it's the right. It's the left.
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    It's this person, that person. It's these."
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    And everyone is a victim.
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    No one ever actually looks internal
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    when bad stuff happens.
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    And yet bad stuff is happening
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    and actually it has to happen.
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    I'm a big movie guy. I like watching movies.
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    But the hardest part of any movie for me
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    is the very beginning, because at the beginning
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    is when the bad stuff happens,
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    it's when the tension takes place.
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    It's when the murder takes place.
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    It's when the divorce happens.
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    It's when the sexual assault happens.
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    And you almost want to turn away sometimes.
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    You go, "Oh, I don't want to -- I don't want to watch that."
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    But you realize, this is where the tension is.
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    All the story hangs on that tension.
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    The beginning of the Bible,
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    we have the tension that's coming out of sin.
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    Sin is the default.
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    Sin is the default mode within which we operate,
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    which causes us to blame people on this side,
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    blame people on that side,
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    and not see that I have a sin problem.
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    Where I live is a sin problem.
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    And until you understand this, until you get this,
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    you can't get forward in your life
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    because you are clueless.
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    I'm a bit of a history buff,
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    IN World War II,
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    which was an unbelievable moment in world history,
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    two characters that I think are relevant for us today,
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    there's one, Neville Chamberlain.
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    He was the ambassador of Germany for England.
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    And he just refused to see the sin in Germany.
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    He refused to see the sin in Hitler.
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    He just kept thinking that things will get okay.
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    "We're misinterpreting. We're misunderstanding.
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    Things can't be that bad.
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    We don't have to actually fight here.
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    We don't actually have to exert ourselves.
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    It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay."
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    And of course, it wasn't okay
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    and he's a historical laughing stock
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    because he was dumb, he was deluded.
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    He didn't understand that sin is present.
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    Another key figure was FDR.
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    Obviously on the other side of the prospect,
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    the a hero in World War II.
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    But in the beginning, he struggled to understand it.
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    This comes out in his memoirs
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    and some of the other things that he's written
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    and people have written about him.
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    That at the beginning of World War II,
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    when the atrocities were coming out,
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    long before he spearheaded America getting in,
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    he didn't understand this.
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    How in the world does this happen?
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    He was a liberal humanitarian, meaning he believed
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    that human beings were endlessly evolve
  • 00:15:30
    and be better and nicer,
  • 00:15:31
    and everything was going to take care of itself.
  • 00:15:33
    And yet all that he saw in Germany was blowing that up.
  • 00:15:38
    He couldn't get it.
  • 00:15:40
    Finally, somebody turned him on to
  • 00:15:42
    the works of Soren Kierkegaard, a famous Lutheran pastor,
  • 00:15:46
    who helped him understand the presence
  • 00:15:50
    and pervading influence of sin,
  • 00:15:52
    that helped him to get in touch with reality,
  • 00:15:54
    that helped him to spear his leadership
  • 00:15:56
    to get America going to a different place.
  • 00:15:58
    You and I have fallen in a pit and we cannot get up.
  • 00:16:02
    And it is our default mode.
  • 00:16:04
    We are broken.
  • 00:16:05
    I've got a lot of collar bone right here that floats.
  • 00:16:08
    If I had this jacket off, you could see it.
  • 00:16:09
    It floats here because I had a motorcycle accident
  • 00:16:13
    and just it just pops up. So it floats.
  • 00:16:15
    It also affects why I can't do many pushups.
  • 00:16:19
    Chuck Mingo recently beat me in a push up contest.
  • 00:16:21
    It's only because of this thing right here.
  • 00:16:23
    I would beat him into applesauce if I didn't have this.
  • 00:16:27
    Anyway, this thing.
  • 00:16:29
    And it's helpful when I take a look at the --
  • 00:16:34
    What's the word I'm looking for?
  • 00:16:35
    The X-rays and I see the thing floating,
  • 00:16:37
    I go, "Oh, that's right, I'm broken."
  • 00:16:39
    And knowing that my default condition is brokenness
  • 00:16:42
    actually helps me.
  • 00:16:44
    Your default condition, when you understand
  • 00:16:45
    your default condition is sinfulness,
  • 00:16:47
    it actually will help you.
  • 00:16:49
    Facts are your friends, embrace them, they're real.
  • 00:16:52
    I bought a hunting backpack recently,
  • 00:16:54
    which is a bit of a different thing.
  • 00:16:56
    You put all of your stuff in normal backpacks,
  • 00:16:58
    but then the whole backpack itself unclips
  • 00:17:00
    and falls away from the frame
  • 00:17:01
    and the frame you can pack all the meat
  • 00:17:04
    of the animal that you've just killed.
  • 00:17:06
    And I had this backpack and I went on --
  • 00:17:09
    I'm doing these training hikes.
  • 00:17:10
    I'm going to Idaho to hunt an elk again.
  • 00:17:14
    Hopefully I can see one
  • 00:17:15
    and have some meat in the freezer.
  • 00:17:17
    But I was noticing as I was hiking,
  • 00:17:19
    this shoulder was really bothering me
  • 00:17:21
    because with all the weight was on this.
  • 00:17:23
    And I realized, "Oh, I understand the problem.
  • 00:17:25
    I know the problem that helps me solve it."
  • 00:17:28
    So I adjust my straps. I made -- I can't remember
  • 00:17:31
    if I made this one low or higher, or this one lower,
  • 00:17:33
    but but I adjusted them and evened out my weight.
  • 00:17:36
    When you know that you have a problem, and that is sin,
  • 00:17:40
    it helps you to get your life going
  • 00:17:43
    back in the right direction.
  • 00:17:45
    Cornelius Plantinga in a book entitled
  • 00:17:48
    The Way Things Ought to Be
  • 00:17:50
    or Not The Way Things Should Be, something like That.
  • 00:17:52
    He says this. He says:
  • 00:18:12
    And we do this because it is our default mode.
  • 00:18:16
    But the problem is, sin has infected our minds,
  • 00:18:20
    our hearts, our attitudes, our actions,
  • 00:18:23
    our filtering mechanism to the point where it's deceptive.
  • 00:18:26
    Sin is deceptive.
  • 00:18:28
    We don't even see it in ourselves.
  • 00:18:30
    We maybe see it in other people,
  • 00:18:33
    but we can't see it in ourselves,
  • 00:18:35
    refuse to see that we are toxic,
  • 00:18:38
    that we are part of the problem,
  • 00:18:40
    that we are infected and affected by it.
  • 00:18:44
    And James 3:16 it says that:
  • 00:18:55
    Why do we have such disorder in our culture,
  • 00:18:57
    in our lives?
  • 00:18:58
    Because we have selfishness and we can't even see it.
  • 00:19:03
    We have selfish ambition.
  • 00:19:05
    We're driven to do things
  • 00:19:06
    that we shouldn't be wanting to do
  • 00:19:07
    and have things that we shouldn't be wanting to have.
  • 00:19:10
    And it causes us to not honor God.
  • 00:19:12
    And we can't even see it because we're deluding ourselves
  • 00:19:15
    that somebody else is the problem.
  • 00:19:17
    No, I'm the problem.
  • 00:19:19
    The sin in me is the problem.
  • 00:19:22
    I'm trying not to define all the isolated mistakes,
  • 00:19:25
    and I'm really not willing to make this
  • 00:19:27
    an individual thou shalt not talk.
  • 00:19:29
    I'm not trying to run through things and say,
  • 00:19:31
    "Feel really bad that you do this."
  • 00:19:33
    I'm not trying to say, "And here's the sin
  • 00:19:35
    that preachers love preaching against."
  • 00:19:37
    I'm not into that today.
  • 00:19:38
    I'm just trying to help us understand
  • 00:19:40
    the cosmic goop of sin that we've been born into
  • 00:19:44
    and that courses through our veins.
  • 00:19:47
    And some of us, even that we get bothered by it, because
  • 00:19:49
    we think, "Oh, but that's why I don't like the Bible.
  • 00:19:52
    What? Why? Why would I have to be held accountable
  • 00:19:56
    for Adam and Eve and what they did?
  • 00:19:58
    If I've inherited this, why does it still affect me?"
  • 00:20:02
    Sometimes it's just not about you.
  • 00:20:03
    I know you think it's all about you.
  • 00:20:05
    It's not all about you.
  • 00:20:07
    Sometimes there's just spiritual realities
  • 00:20:08
    we have to wrestle with and embrace.
  • 00:20:13
    Adam and Eve did things that
  • 00:20:16
    you and I would have done anyway.
  • 00:20:18
    If we were in their place, we would have done it anyway.
  • 00:20:20
    And those things are in the atmosphere,
  • 00:20:24
    they're in the ecosystem.
  • 00:20:25
    I'm in a physical ecosystem right now,
  • 00:20:27
    but they're in the spiritual ecosystem that we live in.
  • 00:20:31
    And in that ecosystem, unlike this ecosystem
  • 00:20:34
    that's very, very healthy
  • 00:20:35
    and it's dripping with condensation
  • 00:20:37
    because it's really beautiful.
  • 00:20:39
    We live in a spiritual ecosystem that is destructive
  • 00:20:42
    because sin is destructive.
  • 00:20:46
    It destroys us and it is destroying us.
  • 00:20:50
    That's why we're doing this series
  • 00:20:51
    and that's why we need to see the spiritual truth.
  • 00:20:54
    It's not by accident that everything is coming apart.
  • 00:20:57
    It's because that's the way things function
  • 00:21:00
    when we keep listening to the serpent.
  • 00:21:03
    God gives words to the serpent,
  • 00:21:06
    He gives words to the serpent, He gives words to the woman,
  • 00:21:09
    He gives words to the man
  • 00:21:10
    after this sin is unleashed
  • 00:21:12
    inside of the environment of the Earth.
  • 00:21:15
    And I want us to see what He says to them.
  • 00:21:17
    First, He says to the serpent, who was Satan,
  • 00:21:19
    he says this:
  • 00:21:30
    God seems to indicate here,
  • 00:21:31
    the Bible seems to indicate that the reason
  • 00:21:33
    why some of us are freaked out by snakes
  • 00:21:35
    is that there is a natural enmity
  • 00:21:37
    we have towards us and that creature.
  • 00:21:41
    And that creature or that evil, if you will,
  • 00:21:44
    keeps trying to come up and snap at us and bruise us
  • 00:21:48
    and bruise us, but eventually there is going to be
  • 00:21:51
    a person who comes out of Eve's DNA,
  • 00:21:54
    and his name is Jesus, who's going to actually
  • 00:21:57
    crush the head of evil and to crush it.
  • 00:22:00
    And He declares this, is what God does.
  • 00:22:03
    And in these things, He's explaining to us
  • 00:22:06
    how sin has affected our world
  • 00:22:08
    and then how God is going to sort of, He steps back.
  • 00:22:11
    He steps back some of his protections
  • 00:22:13
    in the world that are there, and He allows sin
  • 00:22:16
    to have more reign that's in the world.
  • 00:22:18
    So He says to the woman, he says:
  • 00:22:31
    So the reason why we have pain in our world
  • 00:22:33
    is because of sin has brought pain,
  • 00:22:35
    and specifically pain wasn't always
  • 00:22:37
    supposed to be present in childbirth.
  • 00:22:40
    And we have painful childbirth now because
  • 00:22:43
    it reminds us of the effect of sin.
  • 00:22:45
    And we have male female like relationships
  • 00:22:48
    all the time that are a tension with one another.
  • 00:22:51
    And God says this is part of the curse
  • 00:22:53
    of the sin that's come into the world.
  • 00:22:54
    And then to Adam, he says:
  • 00:23:17
    We have funerals where we say
  • 00:23:20
    ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
  • 00:23:22
    It comes from this part of the Bible
  • 00:23:25
    reminding us that we will all eventually die,
  • 00:23:28
    but we weren't created to die.
  • 00:23:31
    We were created to live forever,
  • 00:23:33
    but death is a curse as a result of sin
  • 00:23:36
    that's here in this ecosystem right now.
  • 00:23:40
    And there's also a curse of fruitless labor.
  • 00:23:43
    When we labor in the field,
  • 00:23:45
    we have thorns and thistles and weeds
  • 00:23:47
    that pop up in our beds,
  • 00:23:48
    in our gardening beds that we're trying to do.
  • 00:23:50
    We have little bacteria that come
  • 00:23:52
    and eat at our tomatoes, causing fruitless labor.
  • 00:23:56
    If we call on somebody in sales,
  • 00:23:59
    we don't get the sale when we should have
  • 00:24:01
    gotten the sale because something weird happened,
  • 00:24:03
    because some thorn in the corporate system
  • 00:24:05
    popped up and kept us from having the sale.
  • 00:24:07
    This is called fruitless labor.
  • 00:24:09
    Labor isn't the curse.
  • 00:24:11
    Fruitless labor is the curse.
  • 00:24:13
    And we see all hell literally breaks --
  • 00:24:16
    All hell literally breaks loose on earth
  • 00:24:19
    and in culture, and is still breaking fourth right now.
  • 00:24:22
    Adam and Eve go from having
  • 00:24:24
    wonderful communication, wonderful intimacy
  • 00:24:27
    to broken communication and broken community
  • 00:24:30
    and lack of intimacy.
  • 00:24:31
    They start covering themselves up with leaves
  • 00:24:34
    because they have a sense of shame over one another.
  • 00:24:37
    Their next generation, their offspring,
  • 00:24:38
    one offspring kills another.
  • 00:24:42
    We're still living in the stew
  • 00:24:45
    that was created for us way back when,
  • 00:24:47
    and we're actually adding to it,
  • 00:24:49
    we're actually putting more sin in
  • 00:24:52
    the longer we refuse to see this
  • 00:24:55
    and respond accordingly.
  • 00:24:58
    We don't even know what we want.
  • 00:25:00
    We don't understand spiritual reality.
  • 00:25:02
    Consumers don't always know what they want.
  • 00:25:04
    If you want to make a lot of money,
  • 00:25:06
    here's how you do it in business.
  • 00:25:07
    You don't give somebody what they want,
  • 00:25:09
    you give somebody what you know that they need,
  • 00:25:12
    but they don't even know that they want.
  • 00:25:16
    That's what history tells us as far as
  • 00:25:18
    invention and making a lot of money.
  • 00:25:20
    Nobody wanted a smartphone.
  • 00:25:24
    If you go back, and I'm old enough to remember this,
  • 00:25:26
    when the whole smartphone thing started coming up,
  • 00:25:28
    people said, "We've learned this lesson,
  • 00:25:30
    when it comes to technology,
  • 00:25:32
    there needs to be single use devices.
  • 00:25:34
    The more you try to have a device do,
  • 00:25:36
    the less effective it's going to be."
  • 00:25:38
    And what you know, Steve Jobs and Apple figured out,
  • 00:25:41
    we realize, "Oh, of course I want that.
  • 00:25:43
    Of course, I want to know instantaneously
  • 00:25:44
    what the weather is in Hong Kong. Of course I do.
  • 00:25:47
    Of course, I want a calculator and my newspapers
  • 00:25:50
    and to be able to text and emails and phone calls
  • 00:25:53
    and of course, of course I do."
  • 00:25:55
    No one thought they did, but we do.
  • 00:26:00
    And the iPad came out, which I'm using right now,
  • 00:26:04
    you see, my sin makes me not want
  • 00:26:06
    to tell you this little secret.
  • 00:26:08
    But there's this really funky little prompter monitor
  • 00:26:12
    that has an iPad that's throwing up a mirror image
  • 00:26:14
    that I can actually read my script
  • 00:26:17
    and actually look directly at you,
  • 00:26:18
    and you don't think I'm even doing it.
  • 00:26:20
    You think I'm really smart and really that well thought out.
  • 00:26:23
    No, I'm not really.
  • 00:26:24
    I just took a lot of notes
  • 00:26:25
    and you can't tell I'm looking at the notes or not
  • 00:26:27
    because I'm looking at the iPad
  • 00:26:29
    that's right in front of the camera lens.
  • 00:26:30
    But I remember when the when the iPad came out,
  • 00:26:34
    people were going, "Oh, my gosh, that's ridiculous."
  • 00:26:36
    People called it the iFad.
  • 00:26:39
    "What do we need some bigger version of this for?
  • 00:26:43
    The iFad?"
  • 00:26:45
    Until many of us start using it, we're like,
  • 00:26:47
    "Oh, this thing is freaking awesome. It's awesome."
  • 00:26:49
    Steve Jobs knew what we wanted and needed
  • 00:26:53
    before we knew what we wanted and needed.
  • 00:26:56
    Somebody in authority, somebody envisioned had to see it.
  • 00:26:59
    God, as the ultimate authority,
  • 00:27:01
    God with the vision has seen what we need,
  • 00:27:04
    He's seen our sin problem,
  • 00:27:06
    even if we're not willing to see it.
  • 00:27:09
    That's what His vision is
  • 00:27:12
    and we're trying to get that vision inside of all of us.
  • 00:27:15
    The Book of Romans 1:29 and following, it says that:
  • 00:27:42
    those who practice such things deserve to die,
  • 00:27:45
    they not only do them,
  • 00:27:48
    but they give approval to those who practice them.
  • 00:27:52
    Man, if you want to be approved
  • 00:27:54
    in our culture of toxicity,
  • 00:27:57
    just be sinful and watch how people approve of you.
  • 00:28:00
    Just say the most libelous things on Twitter
  • 00:28:04
    you possibly can see how many people applaud you.
  • 00:28:07
    Just be as indignant as possible
  • 00:28:09
    and just see how open minded you are
  • 00:28:13
    in not allowing your kids to have any rules
  • 00:28:15
    and boundaries and never disciplining your kids
  • 00:28:17
    and actually chuckling when your kids are disobedient,
  • 00:28:20
    and just watch your people approve of you.
  • 00:28:22
    Just watch how it is the people who are greedy
  • 00:28:25
    and consume only about themselves
  • 00:28:27
    and think only about themselves,
  • 00:28:29
    how they're constantly defending, "Oh, you deserve it.
  • 00:28:31
    Oh, yeah, you should. Good for you.
  • 00:28:33
    You should buy another car on more credit
  • 00:28:36
    even though you're in deep debt right now.
  • 00:28:37
    Good for you,"
  • 00:28:39
    because that's what our culture does.
  • 00:28:41
    We applaud sin, we applaud it
  • 00:28:44
    and we applaud people who applaud sin and encourage it.
  • 00:28:50
    Now, despite all I've said, there's good news here
  • 00:28:53
    because even though while I've tried to set the stage
  • 00:28:56
    for all the stuff being wrong,
  • 00:28:57
    all this stuff actually killing us,
  • 00:28:59
    and it is killing us, it is.
  • 00:29:02
    You can deny this.
  • 00:29:03
    You can't deny that it is killing us.
  • 00:29:05
    It's killing our culture.
  • 00:29:06
    It's killing you.
  • 00:29:07
    It's killing your relationships.
  • 00:29:09
    It's killing your levity, your lightness, your joy
  • 00:29:13
    when we refuse to be forgiving and we're bitter,
  • 00:29:17
    when we refuse to understand and we're judgmental,
  • 00:29:20
    when we're refusing to put any guardrails around ourselves
  • 00:29:24
    and say no to ourselves ever.
  • 00:29:26
    When we refuse to do that, we get hurt.
  • 00:29:30
    The good news is is there is a cure.
  • 00:29:33
    And over the coming weeks, we're going to speak
  • 00:29:36
    directly to some of the most damaging results
  • 00:29:39
    of the fall, the toxic things that are around us.
  • 00:29:43
    Things like shame.
  • 00:29:46
    Things like fear.
  • 00:29:49
    And we're going to see that the umbrella cure
  • 00:29:51
    for all of this is another word we don't like.
  • 00:29:53
    We don't like the word sin.
  • 00:29:55
    I don't care if you like COVID or not,
  • 00:29:57
    you've got to wrestle with it.
  • 00:29:58
    It is here and it is real.
  • 00:30:00
    And we don't like sin. We've got to wrestle with it.
  • 00:30:02
    It is here. It is real.
  • 00:30:03
    And in other word we don't like at all
  • 00:30:05
    is the word that is the cure, it's the word repentance.
  • 00:30:11
    It's a word that means I'm going this way,
  • 00:30:14
    I'm going the way that everyone else is going,
  • 00:30:17
    I'm going the way of sin.
  • 00:30:19
    I'm going the way of approving
  • 00:30:21
    of those who practice such things.
  • 00:30:23
    I'm going the way of me being the center of my universe.
  • 00:30:26
    I'm going the way of getting mine
  • 00:30:28
    and judging people who are not.
  • 00:30:30
    I'm going and what we do is repent,
  • 00:30:32
    we go (brakes sound effect) it's a turn.
  • 00:30:34
    It's a turn. It's a change of direction.
  • 00:30:37
    I change. I change my mindset
  • 00:30:41
    and I change my body
  • 00:30:44
    and I go in a different direction.
  • 00:30:49
    The cure includes turning from the toxicity
  • 00:30:53
    and going a different direction
  • 00:30:57
    while God sends me a Savior,
  • 00:31:01
    something I didn't know that I needed,
  • 00:31:03
    something I didn't know that I wanted,
  • 00:31:05
    who isn't a fad. He's a Savior.
  • 00:31:09
    Out of Mary's DNA and Eve's DNA, who crushes,
  • 00:31:15
    who crushes the head of the evil one,
  • 00:31:18
    who crushes him in an astonishing way
  • 00:31:22
    that no one saw coming, He crush him
  • 00:31:24
    by stretching out His arms on a Cross
  • 00:31:27
    and taking the pain of the toxicity on His back,
  • 00:31:33
    on His shoulders, and loving us,
  • 00:31:38
    and laying down His life for us
  • 00:31:40
    so that we could have the opportunity to repent.
  • 00:31:42
    Friends, there's going to be a lot in this series
  • 00:31:44
    that are going to be very hard for you to listen to.
  • 00:31:46
    There's going to be a lot of things
  • 00:31:48
    that are complicated that's going
  • 00:31:49
    to be hard for you to stay focused on.
  • 00:31:51
    And that's part of the problem in our culture.
  • 00:31:53
    We've dumbed and numbed ourselves down
  • 00:31:55
    to not be able to follow a line of reasoning,
  • 00:31:58
    to not be able to follow truth,
  • 00:31:59
    to not be able to do the hard work
  • 00:32:01
    of understanding the toxicity in our culture.
  • 00:32:04
    And this is it, and it is real.
  • 00:32:06
    And if you get it and you turn around,
  • 00:32:08
    I'm telling you your life is going to be different.
  • 00:32:11
    I want that from you and you want that for you.
  • 00:32:15
    Let me pray for you right now.
  • 00:32:16
    God, I thank You for being clear and giving us
  • 00:32:20
    things in Your Scriptures that are so clear.
  • 00:32:23
    I know all of us have something to turn from
  • 00:32:27
    because all of us have these toxins in us
  • 00:32:29
    and around us and we don't want them.
  • 00:32:31
    We ask Your forgiveness for falling prey to them.
  • 00:32:35
    Jesus, we want to ask You to come in and help us.
  • 00:32:39
    We give our life to You.
  • 00:32:41
    We ask Your forgiveness.
  • 00:32:43
    We ask You fill us with Your Spirit
  • 00:32:45
    and with your grace.
  • 00:32:48
    We want You and Your ways and the beauty,
  • 00:32:51
    the transcendency, and the purity that follows. Amen.
  • 00:33:00
    You know, once our mind engages on this,
  • 00:33:02
    it's really good to engage our heart on it
  • 00:33:04
    before we engage our limbs
  • 00:33:06
    when you're done with this broadcast.
  • 00:33:08
    We're going to engage our heart with this
  • 00:33:10
    by singing together and worshiping together.
  • 00:33:13
    Let's do that right now.
  • 00:44:22
    - Hey, thanks for joining us.
  • 00:44:23
    I hope you've gotten something
  • 00:44:25
    that's going to impact your life.
  • 00:44:27
    Don't miss next week when Alli
  • 00:44:28
    is going to talk to us about The Cure for Shame.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend Follow-Up. The questions below are for the weekend of Feb. 13 & 14, 2021.

  1. Duct tape and herbal tea are some of humankind’s greatest cures. Maybe since you’ve been home more lately, you’ve found the inner MacGyver in you. (For our younger friends, MacGyver was a 1980s TV star who got out of any situation with everyday items.) What is your most creative life hack or at-home cure?

  2. In some ways, we all have that thing inside us that realizes the world doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to. Or, we long to change in certain areas — 2020 says it all, right? Share ways you’ve seen or experienced the world not being “as it should be”.

  3. Read Genesis 3:1-5. Even though we weren’t in the garden, we have actions that are similar every day. Share a time when you defaulted to looking internal vs external when looking for a reason why something bad happened? Also, share how this tension impacted your view of the circumstance.

  4. Read James 5:16. The good news is Jesus shows us that the cure for sin is repentance, simply turning from sin and towards Jesus. You get to make a choice to turn towards God today. Pick that area that’s off the mark, and share that with the group one way you can turn towards Jesus in that area.

  5. Read John 20:23. Take turns praying for one another specifically in the area everyone shared. Here is a template if you’d like to use it: “(Name of person) you are forgiven (for where they repented) (bonus points for eye contact). God I ask for your Holy Spirit to come (in that place they shared). I bless you in (specific area they repented). Amen”

More from the Weekend

For more ways on how to be the church click here to learn more about the Fuel for the Fight and see how you can help support our healthcare workers.

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Feb 13, 2021 • 44 mins 53 sec

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