The Endurance to Last | Unbreakable Week 3

“Will it ever end?” That’s the real question of our hard times, isn’t it? We want healing for the pain, answers for the questions, relief from the isolation—but when will it get here? It’s easy to feel like we’ll be stuck in the desert forever. Yet God says that he will not abandon us; join us today as Alli talks about how to have the endurance to last through hard times.

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    Welcome to episode three of Unbreakable.
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    Why are we in the dessert and will we ever get out?
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    Let's start at the beginning.
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    Hello and welcome to Crossroads,
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    which comes to you today from one of
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    the harshest and most unforgiving environment
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    on all of planet Earth, the desert.
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    Blazing sun and scorching heat by day,
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    bitter cold and frigid temperatures at night,
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    biting wind pretty much all the time.
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    So why am I here? What's in this box?
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    We're here in the desert
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    because I know you are in the desert.
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    Good news, we don't have to stay here.
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    In fact, at Crossroads, we exist to guide you
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    out of the personal desert you find yourself in
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    To the adventurous life that God has made you for.
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    I hiked all the way from Ohio.
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    Do you want to know why you're here?
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    Yes, I would love to know why.
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    Each week, our teachers will deliver
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    a powerful message using the book of Exodus.
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    - We're in a dessert.
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    - Wandering in the dessert. - Follow the map I've given
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    them and complete surprise challenges along the way.
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    - So we're not just preaching, we're actually doing things.
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    So what's this?
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    Today, can Brian remember just one of The Ten Commandments?
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    Will Alli give us the endurance to last?
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    And will Chuck ever get out of the desert?
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    Let's find out right now.
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    You are on one of three journeys with God
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    right this very minute, and today I'm going
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    to help you figure out which one of those you're on
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    and tell you how to make it out.
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    Because all three of these journeys
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    pass through the desert
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    and some of us are not going to make it.
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    We're going to get hot, tired, discouraged.
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    We're going to give up somewhere along the way.
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    And I don't want that to be you.
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    I want you to make it out.
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    And they're also the journeys that God took
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    the nation of Israel on when they came out
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    of slavery from the nation of Egypt.
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    We read about their history in the Book of Exodus.
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    This is a story about a huge extended family
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    that got rescued out of slavery.
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    And they probably thought, like you and I would,
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    that the point of escaping slavery would be
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    to go live free in a better place.
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    And, yeah, God wanted them to have that, too.
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    But He actually had some other things in mind.
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    Some things that took them on a 40 year detour
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    through the desert and, man, I hope today
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    helps you get out a little quicker than they did.
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    (record scratch)
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    Oh, hey. - Ok, Alli, time to open it up.
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    Have I told you how much I don't like surprises?
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    - Yeah, yeah. - I've mentioned that?
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    - You're going to love it, I promise. - Okay.
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    - Go ahead. - All right, let's see what's in here.
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    I don't like surprises.
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    OK, this is a story from someone watching right now.
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    They're in a desert in their life
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    and your job is to teach your message to them
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    and help them get out of the desert.
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    2020 began a real desert in my life.
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    My career that I was so passionate about
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    and my job disappeared overnight due to COVID
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    and it isn't coming back anytime soon.
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    My boyfriend and I were talking about marriage
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    until he broke up with me out of the blue.
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    My entire life was taken away
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    and I honestly don't want to live anymore.
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    Everything feels hopeless and empty.
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    Can you help me find a new purpose
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    in the middle of a pandemic
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    and to heal my broken heart now? From Elizabeth.
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    Elizabeth, I have such good news for you today.
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    You want to take this?
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    I have such good news for you today.
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    One of these journeys
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    is exactly the journey that you are on.
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    I feel your desert. I really do.
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    And journey number three is just for you.
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    I can't wait to tell you what that's about.
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    And we're not going to start there,
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    so you're going to have to wait
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    for just a couple of minutes because
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    your journey is journey number three.
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    But the first journey that Israel
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    took through the desert was actually
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    called a journey of trust.
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    And maybe, maybe someone else watching
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    is on that journey today.
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    This journey I call a journey of trust,
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    because it's really fundamentally about going
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    from my way of doing life to God's way.
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    This is a journey from doing life
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    according to my plans, on my timing, in my way
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    to shifting to God's plans and God's timing
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    and God's way.
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    At the beginning of a journey like this,
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    the journey of trust, we're frankly
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    really not sure if we can trust God.
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    We don't know Him too well,
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    maybe not even sure He's actually there,
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    or maybe just not sure if He is there
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    that He's really very good.
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    If you're on this journey, maybe you've heard
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    people say things about God,
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    but I would ask you today,
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    do you believe those things for yourself?
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    Israel needed to go on this journey.
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    Right when they came out of Egypt,
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    they left Egypt like in dramatic fashion.
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    If you have been following the story,
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    then you might remember that when they left Egypt,
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    they left to plague's and the Red Sea parted,
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    and victory over Pharaoh
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    and all of his chariots and soldiers.
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    And they're this ragtag people
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    that escapes in dramatic fashion.
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    But the first thing that happens
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    when they come out of Egypt
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    is they appear to make a wrong turn.
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    So go with me here, God actually seems
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    to lead them further away from the land
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    that they have been promised.
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    There was this land called Canaan
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    that had been promised to their ancestors.
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    And you can see here on the map
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    when they leave Egypt, what they do is
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    they come down and they cross the Red Sea to get out,
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    but they don't move right across to Canaan.
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    Instead, God actually takes them further away.
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    He takes them on what looks like the wrong direction.
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    They actually look like things are going worse for a time.
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    Israel had no idea that God was
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    not just interested in getting them as quickly
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    and comfortably to their new destination as possible,
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    because they were on a journey of trust.
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    Out of college, I went to work
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    at a company called Procter & Gamble.
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    I was there about six years and I left,
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    I actually left specifically
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    to come to work at Crossroads.
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    I felt like God was pushing me
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    in a new direction in my life.
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    And just like Israel, the prospect
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    of escaping where I'd been and going somewhere new,
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    like somewhere that felt freer to me seemed exciting.
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    It even seemed like maybe I was getting closer
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    to the life that God had for me,
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    even if it felt scary to leave what I'd been doing.
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    But what I didn't know, I had no idea,
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    is that God didn't want me to reach my new destination.
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    Less than two years
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    after I started working at Crossroads,
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    I felt a similar push from God.
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    I felt a similar leading to leave,
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    to leave the place that I thought He had led me
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    and to go home and not work at all for an entire season.
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    But I thought, like, seriously, how could this be?
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    I thought I followed you here, God,
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    I thought you were doing something.
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    - Whao, whoa, wait. Okay.
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    You keep talking about God leading you
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    and you following Him.
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    We did in Exodus and there's like burning bushes
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    and pillars of fire and clouds.
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    Was it like that? Is that what you mean?
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    Was there a burning bush inside your house?
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    Like, how did you know this is where God was taking?
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    No, I mean, when I say that God was leading me,
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    what I mean is that in spending time with God
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    when I pray, I have friends that I connect with
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    who might pray for me.
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    I read the Bible.
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    I just ask God honest questions sometimes
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    and I wait for an answer.
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    - Ok, no burning bushes?
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    - That can come of all different ways.
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    Yeah, no burning bushes,
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    no voices from heaven in my life.
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    - And that still God leading us?
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    - Absolutely.
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    - Ok, great. That was helpful. Thank you.
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    Keep going. Sorry. Keep going.
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    - So I think that I followed God to this new place
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    only now it looks like I'm getting further away.
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    How can this make any sense at all? This can't.
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    But I was sure, I was really sure
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    that I was supposed to leave the place
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    that I thought I had just come to.
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    This was the term that took me into my desert.
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    My journey of trust began the day that
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    God started leading me somewhere
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    that wasn't what I expected,
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    that in some ways looks like I was going to
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    end up worse off and further away from
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    what I thought I was going to go do.
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    Israel felt this way.
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    Just three days into the desert,
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    just three days they traveled into the desert
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    and they couldn't find any water.
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    When they came to a place called Marah,
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    they couldn't even drink the water there
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    because it was bitter.
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    So the people grumbled against Moses.
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    That's what Exodus 15 says. It says:
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    This was three days in after their miraculous rescue.
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    Why in the world where God lead them
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    to the very edge of basic survival?
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    I mean, the human body,
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    especially under these conditions,
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    can only survive about three days without water.
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    But God has an agenda.
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    And His agenda went way beyond their quick arrival
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    into a new comfy home.
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    He wanted to force to the surface
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    the real questions that they had about Him
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    and the real questions that you and I
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    have to deal with, too, is He really there?
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    And if He is, will He be able to take care of me
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    and will He?
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    God wants us to confront these questions,
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    not to deny them.
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    He knows that you doubt Him
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    when you're confused or unsatisfied
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    or he's doing something you didn't expect.
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    Listen, I stayed home for seven years without a job,
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    and for about six of them,
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    I was completely in the dark about
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    whatever might take me back
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    to the place I thought He was going to lead me.
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    We can't live off of somebody else's experiences with God.
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    He wants you to have your own.
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    The journey of trust is the time that
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    you go find out the answer to those questions,
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    because the answer, spoiler, is yes, God is there
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    and you can trust Him and He is kind enough
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    to take the time to prove Himself to you,
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    over and over if necessary.
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    In the Book of Exodus,
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    Israel had to repeat this journey several times,
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    like water and food and lead.
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    Will God actually be there to take care of my needs?
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    Exodus 17 says that during this period of time,
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    Israel moved from place to place
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    just as the Lord commanded.
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    It was almost like God was telling them,
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    "Pick up. Now, go here," because
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    the only way out of this desert is to follow.
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    During the early weeks, just after their rescue,
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    it was almost like God was having them practice,
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    "Get up, move. Hear Me, follow. See me, go."
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    In doing that, He surfaced their real questions.
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    They didn't trust Him and they needed to see it.
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    They needed the answer to can they really trust God
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    and the only way to do that is to actually follow.
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    I would tell you today, if you are praying,
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    like I told Kyle, if you're praying,
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    if you're seeking God, if you're asking questions,
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    if you're getting counsel from other people
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    in your life that are trying to follow God
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    and you still think He's leading you
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    to a place you didn't expect,
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    a place that looks further away,
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    you know what I would say?
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    Follow Him there.
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    A sure way to stay in the desert
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    is to never actually follow.
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    If you want to stay in the desert,
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    you'll do it your way on your timing
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    and you'll get there when you want to,
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    instead of following the God who can lead you out.
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    And He will lead you out
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    and you can trust Him to do it,
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    but only if you follow where He leads.
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    The end of the journey of trust
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    is not when we get to our new destination,
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    not even close.
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    The end of this journey is when we can
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    confidently agree that God is the way,
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    when we stop resisting where He's leading
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    because we don't like it or we're confused.
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    And instead we agree that His plans,
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    His timing, His ways are better than our own.
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    God is the way.
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    - All right. - Challenge number three.
  • 00:12:30
    - Challenge number three.
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    I hope I get to use my telescope on this one.
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    - I would love to use the sextant.
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    I would love to know how to use the sextant, I mean.
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    - I know, it's pretty intense.
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    - Let me take this off. - Take off your cute backpack.
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    - Yes. Yes. All right. We've got to open this up.
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    It certainly wasn't -- we weren't helped with that at all.
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    No, no. - We did it on our own.
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    All right. All right. Let's see.
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    We've got set in stone, week three challenge.
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    In the Book of Exodus The Ten Commandments
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    were smashed by Moses when he was enraged
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    by the sight of the children of Israel
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    worshiping a golden calf in Exodus 32:19.
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    So he had to rewrite them, with God's help.
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    You will have to carve just one commandment
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    into stone using the tools provided.
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    - Oh, my goodness. - Wow. All right.
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    Let's see what we got here.
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    Got some stones.
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    - I don't know who set this up. - Wow.
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    - I've done a good bit of construction. - Yeah.
  • 00:13:24
    I've never actually carved something in stone. I don't--
  • 00:13:27
    - I would imagine it's not the easiest --
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    Oh. And there's different sizes. OK, so yeah.
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    You need like intricacies to be able
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    to do different letters.
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    - All right. I mean this has something sharp on it.
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    This is -- this is more like a set that you use.
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    - OK, maybe. - How's it going, guys?
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    - Well... - I don't see any carving there yet.
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    - You're real like, you know, construct-y kind of guy,
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    table building kind of guy.
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    You ever carved anything?
  • 00:13:49
    - Have you verified this can actually happen?
  • 00:13:51
    Yeah, absolutely. Moses did it. You guys can do it.
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    - Yeah. But here's the thing -- (crosstalk)
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    - Moses didn't have a price tag on the back side either.
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    This is not the exact kind of stone.
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    -These are nice rocks. We got you guys the best.
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    - All right. - OK? - Yes.
  • 00:14:05
    We got you. Why don't you take a seat over here.
  • 00:14:07
    - All right. All right. Well. - Why don't you sit down.
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    Now, the thing that the instruction card
  • 00:14:12
    didn't exactly tell you is that this is a contest.
  • 00:14:15
    And if you want to know what you're going to get,
  • 00:14:18
    right there, you guys ever see one of those before?
  • 00:14:20
    Want to smell that? Smell it?
  • 00:14:21
    - Oh. - Smell good? - Woo, smells great.
  • 00:14:24
    - That right there is a world famous In-N-Out Burger.
  • 00:14:27
    - That's what I thought. - With fries.
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    Winner gets one of these.
  • 00:14:30
    - In my mouth and out my butt. That's --
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    So pick your -- (crosstalk)
  • 00:14:37
    - I don't know if gotten to me, not you.
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    - That was more detail than we needed, probably.
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    Go ahead and think of your favorite commandment
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    and start carving.
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    While you do that, I'm going to sit right here.
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    - I do wonder, before we start, if this is a race,
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    I'm not sure you might be better off
  • 00:14:51
    with that actual hammer. - Yeah.
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    - I mean, this is like -- - Lightweight. You're right.
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    This is like Kyle would use.
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    - How about we check back in with Alli
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    and see if she's off to a better start?
  • 00:15:07
    The first journey was a journey of trust,
  • 00:15:10
    but that wasn't the only thing that
  • 00:15:12
    God wanted to do in the life of His people.
  • 00:15:15
    Some weeks later, they found themselves
  • 00:15:17
    further in the desert and Israel arrived
  • 00:15:19
    at the place where their next journey
  • 00:15:21
    was waiting for them.
  • 00:15:22
    And this one was a journey called obedience.
  • 00:15:26
    Life was not amazing for Israel
  • 00:15:28
    right about now in the desert.
  • 00:15:30
    And maybe it's not amazing for you right now either.
  • 00:15:33
    Sometimes things in our life aren't very fruitful
  • 00:15:36
    and we can't really figure out why that is.
  • 00:15:38
    Or maybe you know why.
  • 00:15:40
    Maybe you know that there's ways
  • 00:15:41
    that you're staying distant from God
  • 00:15:43
    or you've got some crap in your life
  • 00:15:45
    that shouldn't be there, and yet it is.
  • 00:15:49
    When we don't see any fruit in our life
  • 00:15:52
    or when we stiff arm God and keep Him at a distance,
  • 00:15:55
    it usually indicates that this desert is our desert
  • 00:15:59
    and we need to go on a journey of obedience.
  • 00:16:02
    If what we want is a thriving life that's fully alive,
  • 00:16:07
    then this is a journey waiting for us.
  • 00:16:09
    Israel had been free from Egypt
  • 00:16:11
    for about three months when God led them
  • 00:16:14
    to a very specific spot in the desert called Mount Sinai.
  • 00:16:18
    And here is where they kind of set up camp.
  • 00:16:21
    The truth be told, the people
  • 00:16:23
    were kind of afraid of God right now.
  • 00:16:25
    They were relieved when Moses, their leader,
  • 00:16:27
    went up alone to God on the mountain.
  • 00:16:29
    And Moses was all, "OK, God, we're here. What now?"
  • 00:16:32
    And God told him, "Y'all are going to go
  • 00:16:35
    on a journey of obedience."
  • 00:16:38
    In Exodus 19, listen to God's words:
  • 00:17:04
    The journey of obedience is when God takes you
  • 00:17:07
    from freedom to a thriving life of faithfulness.
  • 00:17:11
    God is not satisfied with you just being free.
  • 00:17:14
    He actually wants you to experience
  • 00:17:16
    the fruitful life of faithfulness.
  • 00:17:19
    God sent Israel free from Egypt by His grace,
  • 00:17:23
    not because of anything they did.
  • 00:17:25
    He didn't have to do it.
  • 00:17:26
    He used His power to set them free because he wanted to.
  • 00:17:30
    And now that they were free, He gave them a choice:
  • 00:17:35
    Will you be faithful?
  • 00:17:36
    If you are faithful, you can walk through life
  • 00:17:39
    with all the advantages of being mine fully,
  • 00:17:43
    who I made you, fully living
  • 00:17:45
    the kind of life that I made you for.
  • 00:17:46
    God use the language, "My treasured possession."
  • 00:17:50
    The term that's in the text here,
  • 00:17:52
    it actually means the personal wealth of a king.
  • 00:17:56
    He wanted Israel to be His possession,
  • 00:18:00
    but if they were,
  • 00:18:01
    then how they lived became very personal to God.
  • 00:18:05
    And if you are His, then how you live
  • 00:18:07
    is very personal to Him too.
  • 00:18:10
    God communicated to Moses up on that mountain
  • 00:18:13
    the core of the code of law, the stuff that
  • 00:18:17
    He wanted Israel to live by and obey.
  • 00:18:20
    And today we call these the Ten Commandments.
  • 00:18:23
    Even when he communicated these commandments,
  • 00:18:25
    He again reminded Israel,
  • 00:18:28
    "I am the God who freed you from slavery."
  • 00:18:30
    It was as if He was saying at every opportunity,
  • 00:18:33
    "If I did that, then I only want what's best for you."
  • 00:18:38
    Friends, today God would say to you,
  • 00:18:41
    "I am the Lord, your God who brought you
  • 00:18:43
    out of slavery through My Son Jesus on the Cross.
  • 00:18:46
    That was your rescue.
  • 00:18:48
    That is the extent of My love.
  • 00:18:49
    So now the same question: Will you obey Me?"
  • 00:18:55
    The journey of obedience is not a matter of being freed,
  • 00:18:58
    of beings saved or of someday going to heaven.
  • 00:19:01
    The journey of obedience is about living life
  • 00:19:05
    fully the way that God intended.
  • 00:19:09
    This journey is a matter of getting to the point
  • 00:19:12
    where we actually believe that
  • 00:19:15
    God has the truth about how life works best.
  • 00:19:19
    I remember when my husband and I decided that
  • 00:19:22
    actually we did want to follow Jesus together
  • 00:19:25
    and in our marriage.
  • 00:19:26
    And the very first journey of obedience
  • 00:19:28
    that we went on was with our money.
  • 00:19:31
    We had two salaries at the time
  • 00:19:33
    and we gave a little bit, you know,
  • 00:19:34
    whenever we showed up at church
  • 00:19:35
    or whenever it made us feel good,
  • 00:19:37
    until we started to understand that actually
  • 00:19:41
    God would like us to be obedient with our money.
  • 00:19:44
    He asks for the first 10%, and as a matter of fact,
  • 00:19:46
    He says that's His money and that we can't keep it.
  • 00:19:51
    We'd never really fully embrace that before
  • 00:19:54
    and we frankly weren't sure we were on board.
  • 00:19:57
    I was like, "Really, God, the first thing? Why?
  • 00:19:59
    Why my money? Why first?"
  • 00:20:01
    And I'll tell you why I think so now.
  • 00:20:04
    You and I are going to go on
  • 00:20:05
    a lot of obedience journeys,
  • 00:20:07
    and I believe the ones that God comes after
  • 00:20:09
    first in our lives are the ones that
  • 00:20:11
    are most likely to get in our way
  • 00:20:15
    of living uniquely as His treasured possession.
  • 00:20:19
    Whatever is going to get in your way,
  • 00:20:20
    whatever is going to stop you from experiencing
  • 00:20:23
    what it feels like to be His kid.
  • 00:20:24
    And in our culture, I'm going to tell you
  • 00:20:26
    what's going to top the list of an awful lot of people.
  • 00:20:28
    It's going to be money.
  • 00:20:29
    It's going to be sex.
  • 00:20:31
    It's going to be status.
  • 00:20:33
    Obedience to God's ways,
  • 00:20:35
    especially on that kind of stuff,
  • 00:20:37
    it comes against the mind set of our culture,
  • 00:20:39
    the culture that says,
  • 00:20:41
    "I'm free so I can just do whatever I want."
  • 00:20:43
    And make no mistake,
  • 00:20:44
    that is exactly what our culture is telling you:
  • 00:20:47
    You are the creator of your life.
  • 00:20:48
    You are the one that gets your own blessing.
  • 00:20:50
    You are the one who gets to do whatever you want
  • 00:20:53
    because everything is fine because you're free.
  • 00:20:56
    The journey of obedience is a recognition that
  • 00:21:00
    it is God who made you, it is God who set you free,
  • 00:21:03
    it is God who knows how your life is supposed to work best.
  • 00:21:07
    If you are in a desert where
  • 00:21:09
    your life just isn't producing a lot of fruit
  • 00:21:11
    or, you know, you know deep down
  • 00:21:14
    you're giving God the stiff arm on some things
  • 00:21:16
    that you think He might just put a demand on you about,
  • 00:21:22
    I'm telling you God takes how we live personally.
  • 00:21:24
    It's time to go on this journey.
  • 00:21:26
    Despite your fear of being deprived or being weird
  • 00:21:29
    or being left out or left behind,
  • 00:21:31
    the very way to make it through this desert
  • 00:21:34
    is to obey Him.
  • 00:21:38
    Or don't and just circle around the same crap,
  • 00:21:41
    as dull as you were last year,
  • 00:21:43
    as fruitless as your life's been,
  • 00:21:44
    you will only come out of this desert
  • 00:21:47
    when you begin to agree with God
  • 00:21:49
    about what He says about how life works best.
  • 00:21:53
    You know you're at the end of a journey of obedience
  • 00:21:55
    when you can honestly say out loud,
  • 00:21:57
    "OK, OK, God, You are the truth."
  • 00:22:07
    - You know, one of the primary ways to endure is generosity.
  • 00:22:10
    Now, I know that sounds backwards.
  • 00:22:11
    What culture says is that the way you endure
  • 00:22:14
    is to hold on, you hoard, you just collect resources
  • 00:22:17
    and you hold them on, that's how you make it through.
  • 00:22:20
    But God says something opposite.
  • 00:22:22
    God says the way you endure is to trust and follow Him,
  • 00:22:27
    including with your finances.
  • 00:22:29
    I know that can sound self-serving
  • 00:22:30
    for a church to say that. Totally get it.
  • 00:22:32
    We designed a way for you to follow God risk free.
  • 00:22:36
    It's called a 90 day tithe test.
  • 00:22:37
    If you go to Crossroads.net/give,
  • 00:22:39
    you can sign up.
  • 00:22:40
    Here's how it works: You give for 90 days
  • 00:22:42
    and if at the end of that
  • 00:22:43
    you don't feel God's blessing on your life,
  • 00:22:46
    He's not helping you endure,
  • 00:22:48
    we'll give you all your money back.
  • 00:22:50
    Hundreds and hundreds of people have done this
  • 00:22:52
    and experience God's blessing.
  • 00:22:53
    You can do that today.
  • 00:22:56
    Let's check back in with Brian and Chuck
  • 00:22:58
    to see if they've made any progress.
  • 00:23:01
    - Are we going to do old ancient version
  • 00:23:03
    or modern version like Thou Shalt Not Lie
  • 00:23:07
    is a lot more than don't lie,
  • 00:23:08
    which basically says the same thing.
  • 00:23:10
    - Yeah, as long as we have an agreement on which one.
  • 00:23:12
    - Hey, guys, we are timing you. So you just of --
  • 00:23:14
    - I think don't lie. - All right.
  • 00:23:16
    - I mean I could do it in Hebrew,
  • 00:23:17
    but I know you haven't been to seminary the way I have.
  • 00:23:19
    - I haven't been to seminary, so...
  • 00:23:21
    All right. Ready? Here we go. - I'm ready.
  • 00:23:25
    Wait, are we scratching or are we engraving?
  • 00:23:27
    Because I could get this done really quick.
  • 00:23:31
    - Let me check. That counts.
  • 00:23:33
    I like what you're doing, I like what you're doing.
  • 00:23:37
    Whew, is it hot out here or is it me? Woo!
  • 00:23:40
    - Be quiet, Kyle. Be quiet.
  • 00:23:42
    - I am doing the work of the Lord.
  • 00:23:44
    Safety glasses, I just had one go in my eye.
  • 00:23:47
    - Before I have to change one that don't cut it,
  • 00:23:49
    how legible does this have to be?
  • 00:23:52
    - I have to be able to read it.
  • 00:23:54
    - Okay. - So we shouldn't have told you
  • 00:23:56
    what we were doing here.
  • 00:23:57
    - I never said you couldn't pay me off, bribe me.
  • 00:23:59
    Just keep that in mind.
  • 00:24:00
    - I got it. - I wanted to finish first.
  • 00:24:03
    - Check with -- I don't even know what that says.
  • 00:24:05
    - You don't know what that says?
  • 00:24:06
    - I can't even read it, can't even read it.
  • 00:24:08
    - That's ridiculous. Yes, you can see.
  • 00:24:10
    - You know what? I'm going to have mercy on you guys.
  • 00:24:12
    (crosstalk)
  • 00:24:14
    - You're actually lying right now.
  • 00:24:15
    It says do not lie. You're lying right now.
  • 00:24:17
    - Mercy on you, there's there's an ice cold one for you.
  • 00:24:20
    There you go, Chuck.
  • 00:24:21
    - How is it mercy to give me. How is it --
  • 00:24:24
    Nonalcoholic. My friend, Kyle.
  • 00:24:26
    - Alcohol dehydrate you, it's the dessert.
  • 00:24:28
    -My friend knows me well. Thank you very much.
  • 00:24:30
    (crosstalk)
  • 00:24:31
    - But you're not anti-alcohol, you're anti the taste of beer.
  • 00:24:34
    - Yeah, and I've never had this, so I'm assuming
  • 00:24:36
    this might not solve the problem is what you're saying.
  • 00:24:39
    - O-Doul's, huh?
  • 00:24:41
    - Take it back.
  • 00:24:44
    - I'd rather drink beer.
  • 00:24:46
    - Yeah, it's it's hop flavored water is what this is.
  • 00:24:50
    - It's not very good.
  • 00:24:53
    - Well, yeah, here's to not breaking the commandments.
  • 00:24:56
    - There we go right there.
  • 00:24:58
    Cheers. - Salute. - Cheers. Salute.
  • 00:25:00
    While they hopefully have
  • 00:25:02
    the endurance to last through this challenge,
  • 00:25:04
    let's check back in with Alli.
  • 00:25:09
    - Well, there's a third journey
  • 00:25:11
    and this journey is Elizabeth's journey.
  • 00:25:14
    I read this letter from Elizabeth earlier
  • 00:25:17
    and she said something that really got me.
  • 00:25:20
    She said her entire life was taken away
  • 00:25:24
    and she wasn't sure she wanted to live anymore.
  • 00:25:27
    And it made me really sad because,
  • 00:25:34
    gosh, your life is endlessly valuable.
  • 00:25:36
    And I know that God has so many things
  • 00:25:39
    that He wants to do in it.
  • 00:25:41
    And the reason I thought of
  • 00:25:42
    this particular journey for you is because
  • 00:25:45
    the last journey is a journey of relationship.
  • 00:25:50
    Elizabeth, before I tell you
  • 00:25:51
    why I think this is your journey,
  • 00:25:52
    I also want you to know I'm putting this in my pocket
  • 00:25:55
    and I'm going to take it home with me.
  • 00:25:57
    And every single day this next week,
  • 00:25:59
    I'm going to be praying for you with your own words
  • 00:26:01
    about how you feel about your own life,
  • 00:26:03
    because I think this is a really common feeling.
  • 00:26:07
    We go into seasons and I hear this so often,
  • 00:26:11
    this kind of desert that you're in,
  • 00:26:12
    it feels like a loss of direction.
  • 00:26:14
    It feels like a complete lack of focus in your life
  • 00:26:18
    where you literally are wandering,
  • 00:26:20
    not sure where to go or what to do next.
  • 00:26:22
    And it just reminded me of Elizabeth's situation
  • 00:26:25
    because all of a sudden some major things
  • 00:26:28
    fell out from under her in one fell swoop.
  • 00:26:31
    I think any sense of wandering like that
  • 00:26:35
    actually is your invitation from God
  • 00:26:38
    to start on the third desert journey,
  • 00:26:41
    the journey of relationship.
  • 00:26:43
    It's on this journey that God wants to move
  • 00:26:46
    to the center of your life, to the center of your day,
  • 00:26:51
    to the center of your job,
  • 00:26:52
    to the center of your parenting, your decision making,
  • 00:26:55
    whatever, God wants to be in the center.
  • 00:27:00
    Instead of asking God to come in
  • 00:27:02
    and dip around the edges of our life and bless it.
  • 00:27:05
    This journey is about God becoming
  • 00:27:08
    the core relationship in your life,
  • 00:27:11
    the thing that gives everything else direction around it.
  • 00:27:16
    When the Israelites first entered the desert,
  • 00:27:18
    they didn't have any direction,
  • 00:27:20
    no plans, no maps, no compass.
  • 00:27:22
    God simply traveled in front of them as a cloud by day
  • 00:27:26
    and as a pillar of fire by night.
  • 00:27:28
    The only thing that gave them any sense of orientation
  • 00:27:31
    was staying in sight of God Himself.
  • 00:27:34
    That relationship was the only thing
  • 00:27:37
    that was giving them direction.
  • 00:27:39
    It wasn't just while they traveled
  • 00:27:41
    that God wanted this for Israel.
  • 00:27:43
    His plan was to be their center, their direction
  • 00:27:47
    all the time, to take them from a group of wanderers
  • 00:27:50
    to a nation of worshipers who woke up every day
  • 00:27:54
    and knew exactly who they were
  • 00:27:56
    and exactly what they were doing.
  • 00:27:59
    And God wanted to do it in a very unusual way.
  • 00:28:04
    He did it by telling them to build a tabernacle.
  • 00:28:08
    Okay, so a tabernacle is basically a big tent.
  • 00:28:13
    It's a big tent where Israel would come to worship God.
  • 00:28:16
    It was also where His presence
  • 00:28:18
    was said to be found among his people.
  • 00:28:21
    It was like His house, for lack of a better term.
  • 00:28:23
    In the Book of Exodus, the description
  • 00:28:25
    of the tabernacle is actually pretty mind numbing.
  • 00:28:28
    Sorry, God, but it's pretty tedious
  • 00:28:30
    to read through the chapters that describe it.
  • 00:28:32
    I want to share one important detail, though, just one,
  • 00:28:35
    because it's so what God wants to do for you and I.
  • 00:28:40
    See the placement of the tabernacle
  • 00:28:42
    inside the entire camp of Israel was this:
  • 00:28:47
    It was right in the center.
  • 00:28:51
    God described where He wanted it built.
  • 00:28:53
    He described every single detail about it.
  • 00:28:56
    But the position of the tabernacle
  • 00:28:58
    in the middle of all the people
  • 00:29:00
    was right smack in the center.
  • 00:29:03
    And that was no accident.
  • 00:29:04
    The center is where ancient tribal kings
  • 00:29:07
    actually always had their tents.
  • 00:29:10
    See, God was sending Israel a message.
  • 00:29:12
    He was telling them something by the placement of this tent.
  • 00:29:16
    God was telling Israel, "You have a king.
  • 00:29:18
    I'm right here with you. I will not go anywhere.
  • 00:29:22
    Every time you wake up in the morning,
  • 00:29:24
    you're going to see Me here
  • 00:29:26
    and know that My presence is with you.
  • 00:29:29
    You will never wake up and wonder,
  • 00:29:32
    'Who am I? What am I doing here?'"
  • 00:29:35
    God wanted to remind them that He was
  • 00:29:37
    the core relationship of their life.
  • 00:29:40
    He wanted everything about who they were
  • 00:29:42
    as a people and as a nation
  • 00:29:44
    to completely revolve around Him.
  • 00:29:48
    So God gave Israel all these instructions
  • 00:29:51
    and they built this huge tent called a tabernacle.
  • 00:29:54
    And when they were finished setting it up, it says:
  • 00:30:11
    The tabernacle is a message in and of itself,
  • 00:30:15
    It's a message from God to His people saying,
  • 00:30:18
    "I'm right here, I'm in your business all the time,
  • 00:30:22
    and when I'm here, you stay here.
  • 00:30:24
    And when I move, you move."
  • 00:30:27
    The tabernacle was the center of life
  • 00:30:30
    in the nation of Israel, the very presence of God.
  • 00:30:33
    He was their focus, their direction, their everything.
  • 00:30:38
    And what the people did at the Tabernacle
  • 00:30:41
    actually guaranteed that this relationship
  • 00:30:43
    could keep going all the time.
  • 00:30:45
    See, the people brought sacrifices
  • 00:30:47
    to the Tabernacle to deal with their sin.
  • 00:30:52
    Sin, put the most simple way I can think of it,
  • 00:30:55
    is anything that interrupts relationship with God.
  • 00:30:59
    So God not only put Himself in the center
  • 00:31:01
    of His people in relationship with them,
  • 00:31:04
    but then He made a way that that relationship
  • 00:31:07
    would never be interrupted,
  • 00:31:08
    that no sin would ever separate them.
  • 00:31:11
    And every day Israel would wake up
  • 00:31:13
    and they would offer sacrifices
  • 00:31:15
    so that their relationship with God could be ongoing.
  • 00:31:19
    And the way that happens for us today
  • 00:31:21
    is not through a tabernacle and an animal sacrifice.
  • 00:31:25
    It is through Jesus.
  • 00:31:27
    The writer of the Book of Hebrews
  • 00:31:29
    in the New Testament actually explained that
  • 00:31:31
    Jesus came with a new agreement, a new covenant,
  • 00:31:36
    not with the blood of animals, but with His own blood.
  • 00:31:42
    He was both the priest who could connect us
  • 00:31:45
    in relationship to God,
  • 00:31:46
    and He was the sacrifice in the tabernacle in Heaven,
  • 00:31:51
    so that once and for all our sin
  • 00:31:54
    would never separate us from God
  • 00:31:56
    and we could stay connected all the time.
  • 00:31:59
    Guys, this is huge for our life today.
  • 00:32:01
    It means instead of wandering through life,
  • 00:32:05
    get up, go to work, pay bills, stop at the store,
  • 00:32:08
    take care of the kids,
  • 00:32:09
    wondering what the heck we're doing.
  • 00:32:11
    It means that we get to have a relationship
  • 00:32:14
    at the core where we wake up every day
  • 00:32:16
    and there is direction and purpose
  • 00:32:19
    and life in our worship, in our service to Him.
  • 00:32:23
    That means, Elizabeth, you and anyone else
  • 00:32:25
    who feels like your direction has been lost,
  • 00:32:28
    like your purpose is gone.
  • 00:32:30
    It is not gone.
  • 00:32:32
    It is with Him and in Him every single day.
  • 00:32:36
    You were made to worship Him.
  • 00:32:38
    You were made to serve Him
  • 00:32:39
    and everything about your life
  • 00:32:42
    is in that relationship at the core.
  • 00:32:46
    The way to a fresh direction in your life
  • 00:32:50
    is putting Jesus in the center,
  • 00:32:53
    remembering that He is the King
  • 00:32:55
    in the center of your camp, your life.
  • 00:32:58
    If you are in this desert right now,
  • 00:33:00
    you're going to know that you're coming
  • 00:33:02
    to the end of this journey when you stop asking God
  • 00:33:05
    for a purpose that puts you in the center
  • 00:33:08
    and instead you put Jesus there instead.
  • 00:33:11
    This journey will have changed you
  • 00:33:15
    when you start waking up asking God
  • 00:33:18
    what is He doing today?
  • 00:33:20
    And agreeing, "God, You are my whole life."
  • 00:33:27
    Now, all of you are going to, and me,
  • 00:33:31
    and everyone else I know are going to have
  • 00:33:34
    the opportunity to go on all of these desert journeys.
  • 00:33:38
    And they all kind of lead us to the same basic truth:
  • 00:33:40
    if you're going to make it out of the desert,
  • 00:33:42
    it's only going to be with the help of God.
  • 00:33:45
    It's with Him that we're satisfied, led, provided for.
  • 00:33:49
    It's only with Him and His Son Jesus
  • 00:33:52
    that we will overcome the desert.
  • 00:33:54
    Exodus was the story of how God tried to bring
  • 00:33:57
    Israel through the desert to a place of
  • 00:34:01
    trust, obedience and relationship with Him.
  • 00:34:03
    And He's trying to do the same thing with us.
  • 00:34:06
    The story of Exodus is your story, and it's my story.
  • 00:34:10
    The story of the Book of Exodus is that you were
  • 00:34:13
    born into slavery, you were born into bondage,
  • 00:34:18
    to sin, and you're facing certain death.
  • 00:34:21
    But if you will take shelter under the blood of a lamb,
  • 00:34:26
    then God will lead you out into freedom
  • 00:34:30
    by His power and by His grace.
  • 00:34:32
    And once you're free, once you're alive in Christ,
  • 00:34:36
    He's going to ask you, "Will you be faithful?
  • 00:34:39
    Will you walk through life in obedience to My Word?
  • 00:34:42
    Will you become then more and more like Me?"
  • 00:34:45
    Living life as he designed it here on Earth.
  • 00:34:48
    And when you're here, it's not always going to go great.
  • 00:34:52
    You're going to wander and you're going to sin,
  • 00:34:54
    and so am I, and we'll all be in it together.
  • 00:34:57
    But we have a priest named Jesus
  • 00:34:59
    in a heavenly tabernacle who sacrificed Himself
  • 00:35:04
    to connect us to God in a relationship that one day
  • 00:35:08
    is going to take us all the way
  • 00:35:10
    to the land that we were promised.
  • 00:35:13
    OK, so big reveal: Jesus is the end
  • 00:35:19
    to all three of these journeys through the desert.
  • 00:35:23
    He actually says in the Book of John,
  • 00:35:26
    "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
  • 00:35:32
    Jesus says He's the end.
  • 00:35:34
    So if you're on a journey of trust, He's the Way.
  • 00:35:37
    If you're on a journey of obedience, He's the truth.
  • 00:35:40
    If you're on a journey of making Him
  • 00:35:42
    the core relationship, you need to know today,
  • 00:35:47
    He is the life that you are looking for.
  • 00:35:49
    Without Jesus, I already know what's going to happen.
  • 00:35:53
    I know because it's what happened to Israel
  • 00:35:55
    and I know it because it's what's happened to me
  • 00:35:57
    when I haven't followed Him through the desert.
  • 00:36:00
    What happened is that most of them died there.
  • 00:36:04
    It's not exactly an uplifting end.
  • 00:36:06
    Most of Israel died in the desert.
  • 00:36:08
    There were a few who made it,
  • 00:36:09
    and the few who made it out, they did so because
  • 00:36:13
    they actually built a living faith
  • 00:36:15
    in the God who rescued them.
  • 00:36:17
    They trusted Him. They followed Him.
  • 00:36:19
    They obeyed Him when no one else would.
  • 00:36:22
    The desert, guys, the desert is a dangerous place.
  • 00:36:25
    It's a place where you can lose heart,
  • 00:36:27
    you can get overwhelmed,
  • 00:36:28
    you can lose focus, you can lack faithfulness.
  • 00:36:31
    Trust me, because Jesus is the Way,
  • 00:36:34
    Jesus is the Truth, and Jesus is the Life
  • 00:36:37
    that gets you out of the desert.
  • 00:36:39
    If you think that this is true,
  • 00:36:42
    if you even think it might be true,
  • 00:36:44
    then what I want you to do right now
  • 00:36:46
    is I want you to try to say some words out loud to Jesus.
  • 00:36:50
    I want you to worship Him.
  • 00:36:52
    I want you to worship Him as the Way.
  • 00:36:53
    I want you to worship Him as the Truth.
  • 00:36:56
    I want you to worship Him as the Life.
  • 00:36:58
    Let's tell Him that together right now.
  • 00:40:45
    - You are not unbreakable.
  • 00:40:47
    You will not make it to the end,
  • 00:40:48
    but with Him, oh, man, will you ever.
  • 00:40:52
    With Him you are unbreakable because He is unbreakable.
  • 00:40:56
    You might be hungry, tired, thirsty,
  • 00:40:58
    dirty, homeless, afraid,
  • 00:41:00
    whatever is going on in your desert,
  • 00:41:03
    you can get out and you can start today.
  • 00:41:05
    Don't give up. He is your way out.
  • 00:41:08
    He is your journey to the end,
  • 00:41:10
    your Way, your Truth, your Life.
  • 00:41:12
    The life that can overcome the death of the desert.
  • 00:41:21
    - Now, let's see if Brian and Chuck can complete
  • 00:41:23
    their challenge and get us out of the desert.
  • 00:41:25
    Looks like you guys are just about done.
  • 00:41:27
    - Yes, we are.
  • 00:41:28
    - Perfect timing, here comes Alli. This is awesome.
  • 00:41:31
    - Hey, guys, what's going on? - Hey.
  • 00:41:34
    - Hey, Alli Cat. - What is happening here?
  • 00:41:35
    - Finishing up the challenge here.
  • 00:41:37
    - Doing the work of the Lord.
  • 00:41:38
    -Carving The Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.
  • 00:41:43
    - How come you guys have beer?
  • 00:41:45
    Was that part of the challenge?
  • 00:41:46
    - That's an excellent question. You know what? Just for you.
  • 00:41:49
    - Oh, look at -- Wow.
  • 00:41:51
    - Is that a real beer you're giving her?
  • 00:41:53
    - I happen to have just one of those for you.
  • 00:41:55
    - How'd it go?
  • 00:41:56
    - You know, I think it went well. Yeah.
  • 00:41:59
    I cried. I yelled at people. It was great.
  • 00:42:02
    - You did all the things. - Just a normal day.
  • 00:42:04
    - The endurance of life.
  • 00:42:07
    Hey, Alli, now - - Cry a little, yell a little.
  • 00:42:10
    - This is a contest and I think you should be the judge.
  • 00:42:14
    The contest was they have to carve
  • 00:42:16
    one of the Ten Commandments,
  • 00:42:18
    any one that they picked into stone.
  • 00:42:21
    Whoever wins, i.e., carves the best,
  • 00:42:25
    gets this delicious In-N-Out Burger.
  • 00:42:28
    So, I'm going to let you look at their work and reward it.
  • 00:42:33
    - You've got to look, look.
  • 00:42:36
    - Or whatever else you want to do with it.
  • 00:42:38
    I guess that's fine too.
  • 00:42:40
    - There might not be anything left.
  • 00:42:42
    - All right, so.
  • 00:42:43
    - Um-hmm, so love God, do not lie.
  • 00:42:50
    - You have love God on there?
  • 00:42:51
    - I do now. - Oh!
  • 00:42:54
    - Except that wasn't part of the Ten Commandments,
  • 00:42:56
    so you just added to the law.
  • 00:42:59
    - All right. All right. Do not lie.
  • 00:43:03
    Well, I mean, duh, Chuck wins, he's got two.
  • 00:43:07
    - Oh, come on. You're lying right now.
  • 00:43:10
    You're lying right now? Why does he win?
  • 00:43:12
    - He's got love God. The first and greatest command.
  • 00:43:15
    - No other Gods before Me.
  • 00:43:17
    The first and greatest commandment. You win the burger.
  • 00:43:20
    Hey, you know what? It also says --
  • 00:43:23
    Well, it doesn't say in The Ten Commandments.
  • 00:43:25
    - It says you can be generous. - It does not say share.
  • 00:43:28
    - But you can. But you can, so please.
  • 00:43:30
    Please have some, have some.
  • 00:43:31
    So generous.
  • 00:43:32
    - How could I talk about loving God if I'm not --
  • 00:43:34
    Love your neighbor as yourself.
  • 00:43:35
    - Let me have a first bite?
  • 00:43:36
    - Absolutely, you can have the first--
  • 00:43:38
    I'll let you the first bite of the burger.
  • 00:43:39
    - All right. - So good.
  • 00:43:40
    - I've actually never had an In-N-Out Burger.
  • 00:43:42
    - You want some too?
  • 00:43:43
    - No, it's not very COVID friendly.
  • 00:43:44
    - This is your first IN-N-Out Burger?
  • 00:43:46
    - I'm not sure about the sharing.
  • 00:43:47
    - Absolutely is. You're right, we shouldn't do that.
  • 00:43:49
    - Yeah. - Oh.
  • 00:43:50
    - I just touched all over it too, so that means you can't.
  • 00:43:54
    - It's Brian's now. - Thank you very much.
  • 00:43:57
    We're in the dessert. (crosstalk)
  • 00:43:59
    - He's licking things again. (crosstalk)
  • 00:44:02
    - One of the things we're learning about Brian
  • 00:44:04
    is Brian likes to lick things. That's a problem.
  • 00:44:08
    (crosstalk)
  • 00:44:11
    - What does that mean?
  • 00:44:12
    - Ice cream. You're licking the burger,
  • 00:44:15
    like you just lick things.
  • 00:44:18
    - Just eat things, man. Take bites like a normal person.
  • 00:44:21
    - Yeah. - I tell you what,
  • 00:44:22
    that went in and it's going to come out too.
  • 00:44:27
    - Okay, I think we're done here.
  • 00:44:28
    Listen, you guys were amazing sports
  • 00:44:30
    through this entire thing.
  • 00:44:31
    And not just an amazing sports, but honestly amazing guides.
  • 00:44:34
    You gave us the strength to stand,
  • 00:44:36
    the courage to move, and the endurance to last.
  • 00:44:38
    It was incredible, at Crossroads we know that.
  • 00:44:41
    We've actually designed our church so that
  • 00:44:43
    you don't have to do life alone.
  • 00:44:46
    In fact, if you need help in any way right now,
  • 00:44:48
    reach out to us.
  • 00:44:49
    Honestly, go to the website, click the chat button.
  • 00:44:52
    Someone's waiting there to talk with you.
  • 00:44:54
    Or if you want to talk to me directly,
  • 00:44:55
    you can do that, just send me an email.
  • 00:44:58
    This is my actual email address.
  • 00:45:00
    I'll do my best to get back to you within 24 hours.
  • 00:45:04
    What we did in this series,
  • 00:45:05
    we actually do every single week and every weekend,
  • 00:45:08
    we release a brand new episode designed to
  • 00:45:10
    inspire you, equip you, encourage you,
  • 00:45:13
    and getyou the light that God made you for.
  • 00:45:15
    We'll have more just like this next week.
  • 00:45:19
    All right. That's that's pretty much it I think, right?
  • 00:45:21
    - All right.
  • 00:45:22
    - Let's head home. - Let's go. - Let's go.
  • 00:45:24
    Which way? - Where?
  • 00:45:25
    - So I didn't bring a car, but I see a road that way.
  • 00:45:28
    We can probably hitch a ride. - A road? - A road.
  • 00:45:30
    - You're going to want to pack up those fries.
  • 00:45:32
    We might need them for the journey.
  • 00:45:33
    Let's head out. Come on.
  • 00:45:34
    - No, I'll leave those for the critters.
  • 00:45:36
    - I'm taking my carved tablet as a souvenir.
  • 00:45:38
    - Exactly.
  • 00:45:47
    - Say hello to your cousin. Here's my little cousin.
  • 00:45:52
    - Don't let your experience end here.
  • 00:45:54
    For more of Alli, Chuck, Brian, and even me,
  • 00:45:57
    follow us on social
  • 00:45:58
    and don't miss next week on Crossroads,
  • 00:46:00
    we get free from the things that are holding us back.
  • 00:46:07
    - Regardless of your financial situation,
  • 00:46:09
    stress over money affects everyone, everyone.
  • 00:46:14
    Whether you feel hopeless trying to make ends meet
  • 00:46:18
    or you can't seem to justify where it all went
  • 00:46:21
    or you're swimming in cash,
  • 00:46:22
    but feel unsure what to do with it
  • 00:46:26
    or your money's not buying you
  • 00:46:27
    the freedom you hoped it would.
  • 00:46:30
    It's stressful, but what if it doesn't have to be?
  • 00:46:34
    What if your faith could grow
  • 00:46:35
    alongside your financial confidence?
  • 00:46:38
    Freed Up is a teaching series
  • 00:46:40
    paired with a personalized app experience
  • 00:46:43
    that gives you the tools, ideas, and encouragement
  • 00:46:45
    you need to thrive financially and grow spiritually.
  • 00:46:49
    Join us in exploring what God has to say about money
  • 00:46:52
    and experience new heights of financial freedom.
  • 00:46:55
    Join us for Freed Up.

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 April 10 & 11, 2021.

  1. Spring is a time of renewal and new beginnings. Share with the group what you’re most excited about moving into this new season.

  2. Jesus invites us to the truth that creates a path for us to get out of our deserts. Even if you’re unsure about the idea of Jesus, share with the group what you know about Jesus’ ways to live, and compare that to the way culture says we should live.

  3. There are 3 ways out of the desert and—spoiler alert—they all end with Jesus. 1) Journey of Trust 2) Journey of Obedience 3) Journey of Relationship. Discuss as a group which of these 3 you believe God may be asking you to hone in on. What does that mean for your specific situation?

  4. When we lean more on the ways of Jesus and less on our own way, we will find the strength, courage, and endurance to get out of our desert. What is one step you can take this week to move into the ways of Jesus—no matter where you are?

  5. Ask God for his spirit to come into your life where you are right now through prayer. Here’s one you can use: “Jesus thank you for your invitation to share with us the truth. We need your clarity in our deserts. We need your spirit and your presence. Help us to be unbreakable in whatever life brings. Amen.

More from the Weekend

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Apr 10, 2021 47 mins 17 sec

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