Thoughts for The New Year

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads. Happy New Year.

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We're so glad that you're here.

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My name is Andy Reider,

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Community Pastor for Crossroads Anywhere.

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And Crossroads is a church for you,

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no matter who you are, no matter where you are,

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and even no matter what you believe about God.

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We want to see you grow.

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We want to see you grow spiritually.

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We want to see you grow relationally.

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And Crossroads isn't just a content to watch.

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It's not just something on a screen.

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It's actually a community that's moving

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and dynamic and vibrant that you can be a part of.

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To do that, just have a simple step for you.

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Just text "Anywhere" to 30301

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and my team and I would love to reach out to you,

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to chat with you, to email with you,

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text with you whatever to help you grow.

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Because we want to see you take new ground

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and end 2025 in a place that's different

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from where it's starting.

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I mean, God wants you to grow.

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He wants to take you to a new place,

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and He's actually been taking our church

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to incredible new places over the last 12 months.

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I want to give you a glimpse into that right now.

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- 2024 was more than just another year in the books.

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It was a year of explosive growth,

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both physically and spiritually.

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So before we hit the ground running

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for an even bigger 2025,

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let's turn back the calendar

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and see how God moved around here in 2024.

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We GO! It's a part of our DNA

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to go out into the world and make change.

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982 people traveled across the globe

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to places like Nicaragua, Nepal,

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South Africa and Alabama.

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We traveled a total of 238,776 miles.

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That's enough to fly around the world 9.5 times.

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We know if you want to grow,

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you need to get out of your comfort zone.

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That's why our camp experiences

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are continuing to expand

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with nine different camps

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and getaways throughout the year,

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we saw 7,529 people get to experience community

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and freedom that our camps provide.

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There was record breaking heat at Woman Camp,

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with 1,672 campers and heat as high as 94 degrees.

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Sheesh.

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Followed by the largest Man Camp with 2,270 men

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that braved hurricane force rain

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and wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour.

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But that wasn't enough for us.

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Just a few weeks later,

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we held our first ever Revival at Base Camp,

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where we almost shut down the highway

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because over 8500 people showed up.

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But what happened inside our buildings was just as big.

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For the 22nd time, we held

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our Super Bowl of Preaching

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with 21,500 hot dogs eaten,

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24 random props and one Sasquatch.

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We saw friends and family get to hear about God

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in a language that they understand.

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We've had over 250 people get miraculous physical healings.

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Over 2,000 people said yes to Jesus

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and got baptized this year.

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737,200 instances of Scripture read

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in the Crossroads app

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and 4.1 million prayers prayed.

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We had 13,120 TFD and Go pantry boxes

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donated to our neighbors

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and our cities and families devastated

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by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

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We had over 11,000 Christmas gifts donated

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to families who are down on their luck

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or with incarcerated parents.

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And we pushed ourselves to see what it would take

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to have 10X growth in ten years.

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With all of us coming together to make

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a financial commitment of $200 million

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over the next three years to see more and more

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and more of the amazing things that God has for us.

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Well done, team,

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and let's see where God takes us this year.

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- That's amazing stuff.

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Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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My name is Justin. I'm glad you're here.

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Glad you're joining us online.

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Why don't you stand right now

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and let me first say Happy New Year.

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And we're going to start by singing some songs to God.

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- Let's stop it, let's stop it.

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All right. That's all right.

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Let's just -- let's just let's just move on.

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Yeah, let's just move on.

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Can we go to the next song? Is that okay?

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Is that all right, everybody? Happy New Year.

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Yeah. Let's just play the new song. Yeah.

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- Ain't never had that happen before. Jeez.

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All right, well, let's, uh --

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Okay, let's reset a little bit.

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Everybody take a deep breath. Okay, let's do this.

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- New year, new us.

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I'm so sorry if this is your first time.

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I've literally never had anything like that

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go that wrong. Um, I don't know, I'm -- I quit.

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We need to reset. I quit.

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Can we just roll the video?

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Y'all grab a seat. Let's just roll the video.

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- Uh, there is no video. Great.

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Greg. Greg, you want to come?

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Yeah. Hey, everybody. Welcome up Greg. [cheers]

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- I'm, like pitting out, I'm so nervous right now.

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Hey, hey, we gave you guys a week off,

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and you forgot how to do all the things

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that you normally do.

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And so we're excited that you're back

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at Crossroads at New Year, so 2025.

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Let me gather myself.

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What am I supposed to talk about up here? Um.

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Groups. Groups. All right.

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Here, for real in 2025, whatever your resolution is,

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maybe it's to come to church more. You're doing it.

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Maybe it's read your Bible more.

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Maybe it's get in better shape.

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There's one thing that will be true to you.

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You will go much further and maybe all year long

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to become the you you want to be

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if you do it in community.

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If you're new around here, you might think

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that Crossroads, how could I ever feel at home

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in a place this big?

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Well, groups are the answer to that.

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Throughout The Push, I was meeting with

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a lot of individual couples just answering questions,

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and people kept asking like,

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"I just wish we had more groups."

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And I had a little bit of ah-ha!

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Because we don't give you a paper program,

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you oftentimes think we don't have groups.

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The reality is we have many groups.

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If you're a man or a woman, we have groups for you.

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If you're a mom or a father, we have groups for you.

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If you're a senior or a young adult,

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we have groups for you.

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If you are a recovering addict or in grief,

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or newly married or newly divorced,

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we have a group for you

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and now is the best time to join them.

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So you can pick up one of these at the program table.

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Also, if you're watching online,

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Oh my goodness, we're so sorry.

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A lot of this will hopefully be edited out.

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You can get into a group online

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and you can get into a cohort,

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or you can go to a group in your neighborhood.

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All that said, we hope that you find community this year.

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Uh, Giving. 2025, this is your first opportunity

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to give this year.

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And so if you're new around here,

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man, we're not interested in your money.

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But for many of us, we are giving

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to our local churches our way to advance ministry.

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And some of us even have Push commitments.

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So when you go to Crossroads.net/give,

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it may look a little bit different.

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It'll look something like this when you go there,

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because now we have a place

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for you to give ministry giving as well as --

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I guess our video team quit too today.

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Hey, seriously, in the booth and down here,

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I know we had a week off, but these people

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came to church and I'm starting to get really, really irritated,

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so I hope that we can get it together.

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I'm glad you're here.

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- All right, we'll try this one.

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- Did you know that, um --

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Did you know that there's actually

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a holiday now called Quitters' Day?

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The second Friday in every year is Quitters' Day.

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It's actually branded.

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And we've been quitting this entire time

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to just get you irritated as to how horrible it is

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when somebody somewhere quits?

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Yeah, I believe, I believe there's new things

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that could happen for you, but we've got

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to get in an attitude of not quitting.

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That's called spiritual growth.

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So we're going to do that today.

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And let's start by giving God our best.

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All right. Let's go.

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- That's right. Stand on your feet.

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Here we go. We're here together

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and this is not a game.

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We're not quitting on the Lord.

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We're going to give Him our praise,

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and it's for real. Come on.

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- Now we'll sing this song for real.

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- I don't know if anything happened last year

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to make you doubt these words,

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but at the start of this year,

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these words have never been more true.

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They always are true.

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- Some of you might remember this song

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from Revival and from Man Camp.

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For those of you that never heard it,

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I can't wait for you to hear these words.

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They're the good stuff.

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- There's something about just singing

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the words of God Himself.

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Nobody wrote this in 2024 as a new thought.

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Nobody wrote this in the last couple of days of 2025.

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This is a thought that's been true

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for thousands and thousands and thousands of years.

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That has been true since the very beginning

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and before there was time.

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So I invite you to take a risk,

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actually believe it.

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Take Him at His Word and receive it.

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- Let me pray for us.

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Lord, I just kind of want to stand

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in silence before those words before You,

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the one who can actually say them,

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the one who can actually say them and back it up.

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You are not a quitter.

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You do not fail and You do not hold back,

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so I don't want to either.

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I pray all this because of you, Jesus.

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Amen. Amen. Amen. Whew!

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- That's a good start of the year, isn't it?

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Yes it is. Thank you, band. Great great, great.

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So here we go, the very first talk of 2025, at least for me.

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Thanks for coming today.

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I think we're going to hopefully have some good stuff here.

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Let's pray before I get any further into this. All right?

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Lord, I know that You brought us here for a reason.

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I know we could be doing

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all different kinds of things right now,

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but everybody who is here right now has chosen to be here

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instead of any number of things that could have been done.

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I ask that You notice that and You reward it.

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Give us something we wouldn't have had

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had we not been here today or tuned in online today.

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And help me to accurately reflect

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Your goodness and Your truth.

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Thank You, God, for the honor of it.

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I don't take it for granted.

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It's an honor for me to do it.

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And I pray these things according to

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the character and identity of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

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First weekend of 2025.

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And in a couple Fridays we have

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the new national holiday of Quitters' Day.

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Quitters' Day.

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Let me tell you what really bothers me about Quitters' Day.

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What bothers me about Quitters' Day

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is the assumption that you can't change, you can't grow,

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you can't be any different than you are right now.

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Come on, let's understand this.

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Everybody is who they are.

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And we have all kind of code words for this.

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It's before this holiday of Quitters' Day came around

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there's all kind of code word for this.

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Let me tell you what some of those are.

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You be you.

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Live your truth.

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That's just who I am.

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I have to be true to myself.

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It's unhealthy to try to not be myself.

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I'm just being who I've always been.

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These are all code sentences for "I can't change.

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I'm not going to change.

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In fact, I quit trying to change."

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Friends, I got to tell you,

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that is a horrible, horrible outlook on life.

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God has blessed us with a life to grow our life

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and growing our life means changing our life.

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I don't know if you do New Year's resolutions or not.

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You don't have to do New Year's resolutions.

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I, you know, fine if you do or don't.

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If you believe in the Bible, the Bible never says,

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thou shalt haveth a New Year resolutioneth.

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It never, never says that anywhere.

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But I think it's noteworthy that

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everything in creation grows until it dies.

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Everything. Everything grows until it dies.

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We can learn from the physical world about the spiritual world.

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Also, in the physical world, in creation, there are seasons.

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Right? Winter, spring, summer, fall.

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And part of me wishes that the new year

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for most of the world would happen in the spring

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because that makes sense. It's like spring. Spring.

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There's new things coming to life.

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Let's start the new year then, because then

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maybe we'll will make some resolutions or some goals.

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My hope for you is not to convince you

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to have New Year's resolutions.

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But I will say this. Here's the big idea today.

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If in the course of your life

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you don't have a regular pattern

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where you evaluate your life and you grow,

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you are spiritually dying or dead.

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Let me say that again.

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If in the course of your year

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you don't have a regular season

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when you look at your life holistically

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and you notice and reflect and set goals

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to grow and change, if that doesn't happen,

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you are spiritually dying or dead.

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And I think it's appropriate, actually,

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for us that New Year's comes during the winter time,

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because during the winter time is when there's dormancy,

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during the winter time is when there's calmness.

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And the reason why Quitters' Day exists

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is that when you start to change,

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it takes a while for anything to kick in.

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And so therefore you're very apt to quit,

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to be done, to be over.

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Jesus has two scenarios that are very similar to one another

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that includes fishing and includes nets.

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Let's go ahead and read one of those.

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It comes from the book of Luke 5.

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Luke 5:1-6. Here's what goes.

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This was a normal crowd management strategy of Jesus.

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When there was a bunch of people who were around,

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He would get into a boat and push off from the water

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because then people couldn't crowd Him

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and get into His personal space

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because at about five feet they can't go anywhere

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or whatever they were back there,

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probably average, average man was probably

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more like four foot five or something back then.

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We've continually gotten larger

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as we've gotten healthier in terms of knowing

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what to eat and everything and supplements

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and whatever, whatever or whatever reasons.

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So like five feet, you're like, you're dying,

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you're drowning, you can't go any further.

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So He put out a little bit on the boat

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just to give Himself some distance

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as the throngs were around Him.

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So here's what it says:

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And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,

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who's later on going to be named Peter,

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"Put into the deep and let down your nets."

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Very key, nets.

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Man, there's five things, five things

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for you to spiritually grow in 2025.

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Who wants a spiritual grow in 2025?

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Just curious who wants to?

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It's not just spiritually. How about relationally grow?

00:38:52

Who wants to financially grow? Who wants to physically grow?

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Who wants to emotionally grow?

00:38:56

You guys want to raise your hands?

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You're, like, burning too many calories.

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Don't want to do that.

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You know all of those things we can see

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something about how Jesus lived His life

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and how He instructed people as He goes through this.

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The first is this, the first is this.

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Notice your frustrations. Notice your frustrations.

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I historically have not been a great goal achiever.

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When I say historically, I mean, when I was a younger man.

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God never gave me the gift of discipline

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because there is no such gift of discipline.

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That's not a spiritual gift that's list in the Bible.

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That's not a strand of DNA.

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You have discipline because

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you build your tolerance for discomfort

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and you grow increasingly comfortable

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with telling yourself no.

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No, I'm not going to do this.

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And increasingly telling yourself, yes.

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And as you build, as you build trust in yourself,

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as you do these things, you get more and more discipline

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and that's how you grow.

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That's the story, that wasn't me.

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And I've talked about some of my story before.

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Like, nobody who goes seven years to four year college

00:40:11

naturally has discipline, right? That was me.

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Actually. Our executive pastor, Darren Yates,

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said to me a number of times, says,

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"Man, Brian, you play up a bit too much

00:40:21

the playfulness, your playfulness aspect

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and the sense of freedom and fun you like to have.

00:40:28

But you play that up maybe too much because

00:40:30

people don't understand that you have, like,

00:40:32

you're a very, very disciplined person."

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And I am, but that's not my history.

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Seven years of college.

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Discipline, Lib and I got married.

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We thought, "Well, hey, let's get on a budget.

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Everyone says we're supposed to get on a budget, right?

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So let's figure out how we're supposed to be

00:40:47

disciplined financially in order to get ahead."

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And we had this thing where we had these envelopes, right?

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These are these things you used to lick,

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like, you'd lick them and then you'd stick them down

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and you'd put them in a little box with a stamp on the corner.

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You'd put it in, and we took the envelopes

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without the stamp and we would take cash.

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I don't know if you heard of that before.

00:41:09

It's these rectangular pieces of paper

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that have green ink on them

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and numbers in the corners, different denominations.

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And we would have a budget and say, "Okay,

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well, this month is going to go to clothing.

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We have a clothing envelope.

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And then we'd have an entertainment envelope

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and we'd have a food envelope."

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We put this one in.

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We felt so good and so disciplined doing this.

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And then we didn't follow it after the second paycheck.

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And so we just said, "Well, forget that.

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Let's just live our life."

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And we ran up massive credit card debt

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and had all kinds of issues with that.

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And on and on it went.

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Well, I've been through a number of things

00:41:43

with churches I've been involved with

00:41:45

where the church has needed additional funds,

00:41:47

and we've had sort of a commitment

00:41:48

above and beyond what we regularly give.

00:41:50

We're sort of in that thing right now

00:41:51

with The Push with our Push commitment.

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And all of us who are part of this church are.

00:41:55

Well, our first one we ever did, Lib and I

00:41:57

were 22, 23 in the previous church we were in.

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We were on that thing for about a month or two.

00:42:03

And then it just, no, just went away.

00:42:06

That's my history. You have to build.

00:42:09

You have to build, build your muscles for follow through,

00:42:13

build your muscles for change.

00:42:16

And part of what you do to do that is you,

00:42:19

first thing, is you notice your frustrations.

00:42:22

This is not a talk, I would never tell you,

00:42:24

"Hey, everyone should just lose some weight."

00:42:27

Uh, statistically wise,

00:42:29

we probably all should lose some weight.

00:42:32

But that's part of why you may have never reached the goal,

00:42:36

if you ever set a physical goal for yourself.

00:42:38

If you like your weight, even if by the charts

00:42:42

you're overweight but you like your weight,

00:42:44

don't set a goal against it.

00:42:46

If you're happy with how ever you are,

00:42:50

then just don't set a physical goal

00:42:52

just because everyone says, "Okay,

00:42:53

I want to lose weight this year."

00:42:55

If you don't want to, then don't set that goal.

00:42:58

Just because everyone says, "Well, I gotta work out more."

00:43:00

What do you want to work out?

00:43:03

If you don't want to, then don't set that goal.

00:43:06

The goals that we set, the place we grow,

00:43:09

they're born out of your frustration.

00:43:11

You have to notice your frustration.

00:43:14

The disciples here, they're frustrated

00:43:18

that they don't have fish. They're fishermen.

00:43:21

They don't have fish in the boat.

00:43:22

And Jesus says, "Set out into the deep."

00:43:24

He notices their frustration.

00:43:26

They're so frustrated they say,

00:43:28

"No, we've been up all night. Nothing. Nothing.

00:43:31

But because you say so, because you say so, we will."

00:43:35

But it starts with their frustration.

00:43:37

Now, physically, are you -- Maybe you get to

00:43:41

a point where you're frustrated that

00:43:44

you walk up a flight of stairs and you're out of breath,

00:43:47

and you're frustrated with that.

00:43:48

You're frustrated that the clothes you want to wear,

00:43:51

you can't wear.

00:43:52

For whatever reason, perhaps frustration is building,

00:43:54

and that might be then appropriate for you to have

00:43:57

a goal and want to grow physically.

00:43:59

But if you're not frustrated about any area of life,

00:44:02

then don't set a goal. Don't do that.

00:44:05

You've got to feel it. It's got to be something in it,

00:44:08

but there's got to be something.

00:44:10

There should be something, again as I said before,

00:44:12

or else you're spiritually dead.

00:44:14

God has given you a life to steward,

00:44:17

to take advantage of, and that means it needs to be grown.

00:44:21

One time, well, it gives a story two times

00:44:25

of people who are given something by a landowner.

00:44:28

They're stewarded certain amounts of assets,

00:44:31

and the third person just buries it.

00:44:33

He doesn't try to grow it. He buries it.

00:44:35

And Jesus calls him wicked and lazy.

00:44:38

When you take what God has given you

00:44:40

and all you do is bury it

00:44:42

and you try to just keep it in or stay static,

00:44:44

we are wicked and lazy because people who are growing

00:44:48

are trying to grow the thing that God has given us,

00:44:51

whatever it is.

00:44:52

But you just got to notice what you're frustrated

00:44:54

and say, "I'm frustrated here, so this is probably,

00:44:56

this here's something that I should grow."

00:44:58

Second thing, second thing, this is a good one.

00:45:00

Here's a good one here, listen to Jesus.

00:45:03

That's a good one. Just listen to Jesus.

00:45:05

That's always the answer in church.

00:45:06

Jesus says, "Set out into the deep."

00:45:10

Remember He said, "Set out into the deep."

00:45:12

The reason why some of us don't grow spiritually

00:45:16

is we don't want to go in the deep.

00:45:19

We want to stay in the shallow where we can stand.

00:45:23

People oftentimes go, "Crossroads isn't deep enough.

00:45:25

Brian Tome's isn't deep, deep enough."

00:45:27

And what they normally mean is, "I'm not hearing

00:45:30

a Greek word I've never learned before.

00:45:33

There's not a theological term that I'm not hearing before."

00:45:35

Like, ooh, it's interesting. Ooh.

00:45:36

I'll tell you what, we take people real deep.

00:45:38

We take you that's uncomfortable.

00:45:40

That's what's deep.

00:45:42

When Jesus says, "Go in the deep," He's talking about,

00:45:45

"We're going to go to depths where you're uncomfortable

00:45:47

and you don't naturally want to go."

00:45:50

We have to listen to Him.

00:45:55

I have a friend who he and I were talking

00:45:58

while we were doing The Push.

00:46:00

If you're new today, we did -- we finished a Journey

00:46:03

a couple months ago where we committed

00:46:05

above and beyond what we regularly give for three years

00:46:07

to fund things in the Kingdom of God

00:46:09

and bless people and 10X the impact of our church.

00:46:13

And a friend of mine, I told him what I was thinking,

00:46:16

what I was going to do, we're that close.

00:46:18

And then he told me, "Well, here's the range

00:46:20

that we're looking at," and gave me the dollar figures.

00:46:23

I said, "Oh, cool. All right."

00:46:25

And then a few weeks later, he came to me and he said,

00:46:28

"Hey, I'm just really stuck with, dude.

00:46:30

Do you know what --

00:46:31

Do you have any opinion of what I should do?"

00:46:34

I said, um, the first thing that popped in my mind,

00:46:37

I think Jesus put it there.

00:46:39

Like, I believe God speaks with me

00:46:41

when I have a thought pop in my mind that

00:46:44

I generally wouldn't generate and Jesus would approve of.

00:46:51

Then I go, God talked to me.

00:46:52

So the thing that come to my mind, I just said,

00:46:54

I said, "You know, the thing just popped in my mind

00:46:56

is the Bible says, 'To whom much is given, much is required.'

00:46:59

And I don't think of that that means

00:47:02

you better give until it hurts.

00:47:04

I think what the starting point is just for you to see

00:47:07

how good God's been to you, that you've been given a lot,

00:47:11

and whatever you do needs to come out of gratitude."

00:47:14

And I listed for him some of the things.

00:47:16

And then he ended up doubling what his uppermost range was.

00:47:20

And I talked to him a couple of days ago.

00:47:22

He said, "Man, I got to tell you, my whole life,

00:47:25

I'm a little ashamed to say this, but my whole life

00:47:27

I've -- I would say I've only heard from

00:47:29

the Spirit of God four times.

00:47:31

And two of them have come since I made that commitment."

00:47:38

And he just went on about the impact in his life.

00:47:40

See, what happened was he listened to Jesus,

00:47:42

he went into the deep and new stuff

00:47:44

is happening inside of him.

00:47:46

And this is how I feel, how we feel as a church right now.

00:47:49

God has given us a lot through all of our commitments,

00:47:52

and I feel, we feel the burden and pressure

00:47:56

to whom much is given, much is required,

00:47:58

to see maybe God will use us for an awakening in our region.

00:48:03

We want that to happen.

00:48:05

And what that means is, what that means is

00:48:09

I've got to do some things different.

00:48:11

We have to do some things different.

00:48:14

And it's going to take a while for that to actually happen.

00:48:17

They had to row the boat out into deeper water.

00:48:21

It takes a while.

00:48:22

I'm just going to stay on the physical,

00:48:24

the physical goals, just because many people have them,

00:48:26

and also because there's fascinating parallels

00:48:29

between the physical and the spiritual.

00:48:31

Do you know why, the reason why most of us

00:48:33

don't set goals anymore, or at least the reason

00:48:36

why we don't set physical goals anymore?

00:48:40

It's because when we set a physical goal,

00:48:43

our body is in winter and it will take a while

00:48:46

to actually come to pass.

00:48:48

Let me explain this to you physiologically

00:48:50

in case you don't know this.

00:48:51

Your cells expand when you gain weight,

00:48:55

and when you start losing weight,

00:48:56

your cells stay the same size,

00:48:59

so they resist weight coming off.

00:49:01

And when it comes off, you're so hungry

00:49:03

you just keep eating more and putting it right back on.

00:49:05

To go even further, to complicate things even more,

00:49:09

your body, your metabolism doesn't want to lose weight.

00:49:14

Very clearly, your body, your metabolism

00:49:17

does not want to lose weight.

00:49:19

The organ in your body that burns the most calories is what?

00:49:22

What do you think the organ is? Tell somebody beside you.

00:49:24

What's the organ that burns the most calories.

00:49:27

Brain. Right, exactly. The brain.

00:49:29

This is why we don't want to hear complicated things.

00:49:33

This is why we don't want to hear things

00:49:34

from the other side of the political aisle,

00:49:36

like, "Oh, I got it, I understand it, I understand it.

00:49:38

I don't want to hear this perspective.

00:49:40

I don't want to change it at all,"

00:49:41

because our brain is telling us, "No, synthesize it.

00:49:45

You're going to burn calories."

00:49:46

Our body doesn't want to burn calories.

00:49:48

It's a survival mechanism.

00:49:49

That's why when we do study, we don't get thirsty,

00:49:52

we get hungry. We're burning calories.

00:49:54

In the same way, your body is wired to not burn calories.

00:49:59

So when you start eating less, your body changes

00:50:05

and it doesn't eat the fat off of your body.

00:50:09

Something else happens, it eats muscles.

00:50:11

It keeps its fat stores because it says,

00:50:13

"No, we got to keep this fat for an emergency."

00:50:15

So it's only after a period of time

00:50:17

when you change your disciplines of eating

00:50:20

that your body goes, "Oh, oh, hold on,

00:50:22

this is the new normal? Oh, okay.

00:50:26

We don't have to hold on to all this fat anymore.

00:50:28

We're going to start shedding this fat."

00:50:30

You have to go through a period of winter

00:50:32

with disciplines that you don't get any benefit from

00:50:37

until the change comes.

00:50:39

That's why on the front end you have to be committed long term.

00:50:43

You have to believe, "I'm frustrated.

00:50:45

I want this to change and whether it changes or not,

00:50:47

I'm listening to Jesus and my body matters to Him,

00:50:50

or my finances matter to Him,

00:50:52

or my relationships matter to Him or my occupant,

00:50:55

whatever it is that matters to Him

00:50:57

and so I'm going to endure through winter."

00:50:59

Am I getting anybody's number yet?

00:51:02

And see and see, here's what happened.

00:51:03

In our culture, we don't have a spiritual orientation

00:51:06

or a framework, a spiritual framework to understand this,

00:51:09

so we don't endure through it.

00:51:11

And then we create Quitters' Day

00:51:13

because you be you and nobody can change

00:51:16

and we are the way we are.

00:51:17

No, that's not true.

00:51:19

You just have to fight for growth.

00:51:21

You have to fight for it and push through it.

00:51:24

And when you do, it's a beautiful thing,

00:51:26

but very few people do.

00:51:27

It's interesting this year, this year,

00:51:30

the first three days of 2025

00:51:34

were Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. WTF.

00:51:47

That's what it's like when you get on a growth plan.

00:51:50

It's hard. It takes a while to kick in.

00:51:56

Number three. Number three, try different things.

00:52:03

Try different things.

00:52:05

When Jesus says, "Set out to the deep,"

00:52:08

they're trying something different.

00:52:11

You know your life right now, your life,

00:52:13

I don't know if you've thought it this way before,

00:52:15

your life is perfectly designed

00:52:18

to get what you're getting right now.

00:52:22

Whatever your life is right now in any area,

00:52:26

your systems of your life are perfectly designed

00:52:30

to give you what you're getting right now.

00:52:31

Now, you might not even think that you have any symptoms.

00:52:34

You might not think that you have any disciplines.

00:52:36

You do, they're the habits in the normal courses

00:52:38

of life that you're living and whatever

00:52:41

you're naturally doing right now,

00:52:43

that's why your life looks the way it is.

00:52:46

And so to get on a different track or on a better track,

00:52:50

you have to do different things.

00:52:52

You can't just do what you're doing now more rigorously.

00:52:56

You have to do different things,

00:53:00

and we don't want to do different things.

00:53:03

And this is why we tend to not spiritually grow.

00:53:09

I'm doing some different things this year.

00:53:12

One I've personalized to whom much is given, much is required.

00:53:16

And I realized, you know, our staff is wired

00:53:19

to have the ministry that we have right now.

00:53:22

Like, a church that's huge and maybe grows 20% a year.

00:53:26

Great, wonderful. Our staff and everything else,

00:53:28

our volunteers, everything is aligned.

00:53:30

And that's why we're getting that.

00:53:32

We've honed that for 28 years.

00:53:34

But when you start talking about an awakening,

00:53:36

you need a different kind of staff

00:53:39

or at least some, you need to do some fishing.

00:53:41

You need some different disciplines.

00:53:43

We have to do some different things.

00:53:44

We can't just talk awakening and not change anything

00:53:48

about how we operate or put money any differently.

00:53:51

We have to have different things.

00:53:54

I offered a guy a job who I would have never offered

00:53:57

a job to any other time than now.

00:54:01

He's, he and his wife, unique, rare gifts,

00:54:05

but just not the kind of gifts

00:54:07

we would have built Crossroads on,

00:54:08

but the kind of gifts you'd want in terms of an awakening.

00:54:13

Like, gosh, I'll start using terms that just sound crazy,

00:54:17

so I won't, I won't use those terms.

00:54:19

But it's just it's an intense spiritual folks

00:54:22

that have some crazy, ridiculous prophetic gifts.

00:54:25

And I've known them for years and years and years.

00:54:27

No, there's a place for you, I hope,

00:54:29

and you can pray for that too.

00:54:30

You can pray for him and his wife.

00:54:31

I'm not going to tell you who their names are,

00:54:33

but they're important. God knows their names.

00:54:35

I don't want to call them out, but I pray,

00:54:36

they're praying about that right now.

00:54:38

And I think we need them. I think we need them bad.

00:54:40

It's a different thing.

00:54:42

What different things are you going to do this year?

00:54:45

You have to have a different, maybe Bible reading plan.

00:54:50

Have you ever had a Bible reading plan?

00:54:52

And first of all, do you have a level of frustration

00:54:56

over not hearing from God?

00:54:57

Do you have a level of frustration around

00:54:59

not hearing who God is, about not knowing who God is?

00:55:03

If there's any level of frustration there at all,

00:55:05

this is not an obligation.

00:55:06

Obligation will never get you to read the Bible more.

00:55:09

But if you have a frustration that seems like God is silent,

00:55:13

a frustration that you seem like

00:55:15

you're not getting a different spiritual word,

00:55:17

a frustration that you just seem to be at a loss,

00:55:20

you might have to try something different.

00:55:22

That would be a Bible reading plan,

00:55:25

a regimented Bible reading plan.

00:55:27

I've had one for years.

00:55:29

I go to Bibleplan.org.

00:55:33

I go in and I plug in what kind of Bible reading plan I want.

00:55:37

And they send me an email every single day.

00:55:39

And I can then take that email

00:55:41

and I can read it in my fuddy duddy paper Bible

00:55:44

or I can click on the link and read it on the web someplace.

00:55:47

And you could customize whatever it is for you.

00:55:49

Maybe it's two verses a day.

00:55:51

If you've never had a Bible reading plan

00:55:52

and you do two verses every day, whoo, you are going to grow.

00:55:57

Or you can actually go to, you can go to our app.

00:56:02

We have an app where tens of thousands of us get in

00:56:06

and we read a chapter a day, and then we journal on it

00:56:09

and we talk about it.

00:56:12

I had this come up just this last week.

00:56:17

Just this last week. Let me let me read it for you.

00:56:19

This is not like -- Yeah, just this week.

00:56:21

It was a verse about a system of this world

00:56:25

that squashing us,

00:56:26

a system of this world that's taking us down.

00:56:28

And let me just read you what I said.

00:56:31

I journaled many days and I share it,

00:56:33

and people can read if they want.

00:56:34

Many, many, many, many people do.

00:56:36

Here's what I said. I said:

00:57:40

Oh, man. Come on, come on.

00:57:42

Who wants something like that?

00:57:43

I tell you what, if you want something different,

00:57:46

you gotta do something different.

00:57:47

Let's forget about 10Xing our church.

00:57:50

Do you want 10X inside of you?

00:57:52

You know this idea of 10X, we didn't invent that.

00:57:56

NASA didn't invent that. The Bible invented that.

00:58:00

In the book of Daniel, Daniel was the spiritual great.

00:58:03

Daniel and his three friends, and they got renamed

00:58:09

to be, have Babylonian names.

00:58:11

And his three friends were got renamed

00:58:14

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

00:58:16

But that's not who they were.

00:58:18

They got recruited into this

00:58:20

executive training program in Babylon.

00:58:22

They said, "Let's get the cream of the cream

00:58:24

in Jerusalem, these Jews, make them work for us."

00:58:27

And they got basically in this executive training program.

00:58:29

Why was that? Well, let's read what it says in Daniel 1:20.

00:58:56

Let me tell you something, if you want to see

00:58:59

an awakening, the Spirit of God go across our region

00:59:01

and people have full hearts towards God

00:59:03

and get away from their destructive patterns

00:59:04

and positive change come to our culture.

00:59:06

Let me tell you something.

00:59:07

It doesn't happen because this big church Crossroads

00:59:11

does this perfect program.

00:59:12

When this happens, it happens because you and I

00:59:15

become 10X closer to God than we were before.

00:59:18

It happens because growing numbers of people

00:59:21

have 10X the joy that the average people have.

00:59:24

It happens because the average person has

00:59:26

10X the spiritual power that the person

00:59:29

has who doesn't believe change can happen.

00:59:32

It happens because you have

00:59:34

10X the communication ability with God

00:59:36

and sense 10X more that He loves you

00:59:39

and He's talking with you.

00:59:40

Friends, we got to awaken ourselves.

00:59:43

We got to get awake ourselves

00:59:44

before we think anybody else does.

00:59:49

Does that sound good to anybody?

00:59:51

It does me. My goodness.

00:59:54

We need an individual awakening of all of us individually,

00:59:58

not a Crossroads program.

00:59:59

And happens by this year you doing something different

01:00:05

that you weren't doing last year.

01:00:07

Friends, if we're not doing something different

01:00:09

we weren't doing last year, we're not going to be growing

01:00:11

and getting closer to be having the image of Jesus in our life.

01:00:17

Four, four, we need to do multiple things,

01:00:24

not just a different thing.

01:00:27

Whether it's a Bible training program,

01:00:29

whether it's a, you know, a relational process

01:00:33

where you're going to grow relationally or whatever it is

01:00:35

if you want to get to another place in any other level

01:00:38

you have to do something different.

01:00:39

You're going to have to do multiple things,

01:00:42

multiple things.

01:00:44

Let's say one of the things you want to grow in

01:00:46

is you want to grow your life relationally.

01:00:49

You feel like you're relationally depleted,

01:00:51

either friends or people who you want to date.

01:00:55

Well, you're going to have to do a couple of things,

01:00:57

multiple things. What's one thing?

01:00:59

One thing is you're going to have to be interesting

01:01:01

because people don't want to be around uninteresting people.

01:01:06

Like, no, it's for real. I don't know.

01:01:11

You have to be interesting and interested.

01:01:14

There's got to be something about your life

01:01:16

that's interesting.

01:01:17

Like, I don't know what it is, but it should be something.

01:01:19

And you have to be interested in people as well.

01:01:22

And then another thing is you need to figure out

01:01:25

how to add value to other people, multiple things.

01:01:28

You can't just change one thing.

01:01:30

And then by the way, too, if it means you want

01:01:32

to have a relationship with somebody who might date you,

01:01:35

you have to look and you're not having any dates.

01:01:37

You have -- this going to sound really horrible,

01:01:39

but I'm just telling you, you're going to have to look at

01:01:41

how to make yourself more physically attractive.

01:01:46

I hear it, I'm getting hated on. I know.

01:01:49

Hear me, hear me, and I hear and I just hear me, listen.

01:01:52

I'm not saying you're not beautiful before God.

01:01:55

I'm not saying there isn't somebody out there.

01:01:57

I'm not saying there isn't somebody out there for you.

01:01:59

I'm not saying that. I'm saying hear me.

01:02:02

I'm saying if you are frustrated, if you're frustrated

01:02:06

you don't have the dates that you want

01:02:09

and you're a guy and you want to say,

01:02:10

if you're frustrated as a guy, like, okay,

01:02:12

one of the things you have to look at is,

01:02:14

"Do I make a good first impression?"

01:02:19

Just look at that, again, if you're frustrated.

01:02:21

If you're not, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it.

01:02:23

But there's multiple things, whatever your area is,

01:02:26

if you need to get to another place financially,

01:02:28

there's multiple things you got to do.

01:02:30

Like, spend less than you make. That's a good start.

01:02:35

Spend less than you make, or another one is,

01:02:38

make more money or another one is

01:02:42

track your money and see where it goes

01:02:44

instead of waiting for the credit card statement

01:02:46

to come in and just figure out how to pay it.

01:02:48

There's multiple things. It's the nets.

01:02:52

Throw out your nets.

01:02:54

There's multiple things that we have to do.

01:02:56

Isaiah 36:5 says:

01:03:03

It's not the words. It's not the resolutions.

01:03:06

It's not the goals.

01:03:08

It's the fight. I'm getting in the fights.

01:03:12

There's too many of us that are just passive

01:03:14

and just think, "God's just going to bless me

01:03:16

and give me the things that I want."

01:03:18

He will bless you and He at least is going to bless you

01:03:21

at some point, you have an inheritance that's there.

01:03:23

But He also gives you and I the responsibility

01:03:26

to fight for the life that we want.

01:03:27

The nation of Israel went into the Promised Land,

01:03:30

which meant they had the authority

01:03:32

to fight for the Promised Land.

01:03:35

God doesn't just give it to them.

01:03:36

And if you want to grow in your life,

01:03:38

I'm just telling you this means you have to

01:03:40

fight for your spiritual growth.

01:03:43

You have to fight for your relationship with God.

01:03:45

You have to fight for the things that you think

01:03:48

God wants to bless you with.

01:03:50

This is important, man, I'm telling you,

01:03:52

there's a lot of folks who just don't understand this.

01:03:56

It's a big, big deal. And fifth, fifth thing.

01:04:00

Fifth thing is that we enjoy being full,

01:04:06

enjoy all the good things have happened.

01:04:10

This is the reason why we want to change and grow,

01:04:14

because we want a better life.

01:04:15

We want the satisfaction of it.

01:04:18

That's why I wouldn't say you have to --

01:04:20

God wants you to do these things.

01:04:22

I don't want to say. You've got to feel it.

01:04:24

You get a sense

01:04:25

this is the thing that God wants you to tackle.

01:04:27

There's maybe, maybe there's only 1 or 2 things

01:04:29

that you're supposed to tackle or grow in this year.

01:04:31

But those have got to be things that by the end of the year,

01:04:34

you want to go, "Hey, I made progress in that.

01:04:36

That was good. I made traction in that."

01:04:38

And you know what? You're going to feel

01:04:39

the satisfaction from it and you're going to feel good.

01:04:43

Not just because that thing's better,

01:04:44

but you're going to go, "Man, look what --

01:04:46

Look at the journey God just took on."

01:04:48

Don't -- I encourage you, don't set five goals for this year.

01:04:51

Too much, too much.

01:04:55

Just set something you feel like God wants you to do.

01:04:59

And one of the cues is you're frustrated, you don't like it.

01:05:02

Don't listen for me to tell you what to do.

01:05:05

What do you want?

01:05:06

What does God want you to do with your life?

01:05:08

Enjoy being full.

01:05:11

Now, in John 21 here we have another example,

01:05:15

another example of Jesus and fishing.

01:05:19

Jesus and the nets. Check this out. Here it goes.

01:05:23

This is now later in His life. Here's what it says:

01:05:26

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore.

01:05:30

Yet the disciples.

01:05:32

-- Wait a minute. Is that the word I'm supposed to read here?

01:05:35

Uh, no, that's not what I'm supposed to read.

01:05:37

What am I reading? Let me look up there. Huh?

01:05:42

I'm not trying to quit now. Just want to make sure I look.

01:05:45

21 verse 1, Uh, yeah. Okay. That's right. Let me keep going.

01:06:18

And then if you keep reading here, Peter recognizes,

01:06:23

"Oh my gosh, I recognize Him. It's Jesus."

01:06:25

It's interesting here, the Bible says Jesus was a fisherman,

01:06:30

but the two examples of Him fishing, he sucks at it.

01:06:34

The two times when He's actually fishing,

01:06:37

He's not getting anything until Jesus gives him

01:06:40

different instructions.

01:06:41

The first time, "Head out in the deep. Let's go.

01:06:43

Let's go back out. Let's go into the deep."

01:06:46

And the second time, the second time, He says,

01:06:48

"Cast your net on the right side of the boat."

01:06:50

Why would he say on the right side of the boat?

01:06:52

It's because -- it's because the nets

01:06:55

have been on the left side of the boat.

01:06:57

So He says on the right side,

01:06:59

He's saying do something different.

01:07:01

Hear the consistencies here?

01:07:03

Jesus is telling him, he's doing something different,

01:07:08

he's putting it on the right side of the boat,

01:07:13

and he doesn't like it. He's frustrated.

01:07:17

He's frustrated with their lack of fish,

01:07:19

so he tries something different. He's open to it.

01:07:22

Friends, friends, I want to encourage you.

01:07:25

This is a year for you to try something different.

01:07:27

Look, hear my heart.

01:07:30

My name is Brian. I'm your friend, all right?

01:07:33

I'm also your pastor.

01:07:35

And some of you look at me as a father figure.

01:07:40

I'm saying this stuff not to be a hard ass

01:07:43

or be some motivational speaker here.

01:07:46

I'm saying this because I want the best for your life.

01:07:48

And this is what your Heavenly Father wants.

01:07:51

These are tried and true spiritual principles

01:07:54

that people who grow and get closer to the life

01:07:58

that God has formed for them have done for millennia.

01:08:02

And for some reason, in our culture,

01:08:04

we think it doesn't work.

01:08:06

For some reason, in our culture, we think you can't change.

01:08:10

We think it's a bad idea to grow.

01:08:12

We think it's a bad idea to try something new.

01:08:16

That's because we accept just quitting.

01:08:19

And I don't mean quitting a bad vice.

01:08:22

I mean just quitting trying to grow.

01:08:25

Friends, this breaks the heart of God.

01:08:26

And it's actually breaking us, too, because our life

01:08:29

just gets dull and void of meaning and we're not enlisted

01:08:33

in a great endeavor because we're not spiritually fit

01:08:37

and equipped to do the things that God needs

01:08:40

and wants us to do, and that we want to do,

01:08:44

and have the joy and fullness of pleasure

01:08:47

that comes with going, "Oh man, look who God's making me.

01:08:51

Look what I'm becoming." Jesus never quits.

01:08:54

He goes on a cross and He says, "It is finished,"

01:08:59

but He never quits.

01:09:01

It's one thing to say, "I'm finished.

01:09:04

I got to the end of my race."

01:09:07

Jesus got to the end of His race.

01:09:11

The Apostle Paul said, "I set out on the race

01:09:14

marked before me." You can end your race.

01:09:18

It comes a time when your race ends.

01:09:19

There comes a time where you are finished in the work,

01:09:22

but that comes because you don't quit.

01:09:25

Every day you get up and you say,

01:09:29

"This is who God wants me to be

01:09:30

and where I'm going to go.

01:09:32

And it's going to be hard and it's going to take a long time.

01:09:36

And that's what people like me do,

01:09:39

because we have a vision that's bigger

01:09:42

and beyond the normal, humdrum thing.

01:09:47

I'm not going to back down. I'm not going to stop.

01:09:51

I am going to become all that God has destined me to be,

01:09:55

whatever that is, and it's going to be beautiful,

01:09:59

and it's going to be joyful, and it's going to be hard,

01:10:02

and ultimately it's going to be fulfilling."

01:10:07

You figure out, you figure out, what is it? What is it?

01:10:09

I know there's something. I know there's something.

01:10:11

Don't let somebody else tell you what you should do.

01:10:13

I'm not telling you what you should do,

01:10:15

but there's something you need to do this year.

01:10:16

You know there is.

01:10:17

You work that out with God and get to work on it

01:10:20

and let's 10X our lives together.

01:10:22

Who's up for that? Okay. Yeah.

01:10:26

God, we are sorry for quitting.

01:10:29

We are sorry for putting limitations on ourselves

01:10:33

that You haven't put on us. We are sorry.

01:10:37

We are sorry that we do not exemplify the courage

01:10:45

and the tenacity of our Savior or the models of our faith.

01:10:51

And while we say sorry for that, we also say right now,

01:10:54

hey, this year, some of us are saying,

01:10:55

this year is going to be different, God.

01:10:58

Will you lead me? I'll follow

01:11:01

and I'm not going to back down.

01:11:04

I pray these things, we pray these things

01:11:06

in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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