Who Do You Want To Be?

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[music: Crossroads Music, Count Me In]

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- Well, hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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We're so glad you're joining us. Happy new year.

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We're jumping into the deep end this year about

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how we can experience more growth

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and more traction in our lives.

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And specifically, we're going to be doing that

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by answering and asking some really important questions

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and actually looking at how it's the questions

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that we ask that shape who we become.

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We'll actually be taking communion as well later.

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So you can go ahead and pause this,

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grab some bread, wine, something to eat and drink.

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But we're going to jump in right now. Let's do it.

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- Well good morning and happy New Year, everybody.

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It's great to have everybody with us today.

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And we got some good stuff today to start your year off

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getting in the right spiritual direction, going that way.

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Behind me you'll see one of my favorite pieces of artwork.

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It's a piece of work that comes from Israel.

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It's in a church around the Sea of Galilee.

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It depicts a scene in the life of Jesus

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that I'm going to be talking about in a little bit later.

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It basically means, hey, do you want to be touched by God?

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And you're here today, I think because

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you want to increase the likelihood

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of being touched by God.

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So why don't we stand right now, all of our sites,

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wherever we are, let's stand and pray for us.

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God, I'm thankful for coming here.

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I'm thankful for people who are willing to risk

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and to make time for You.

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Would You do something unique in our place?

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And also, God, we want to tell You

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thank You through this music. Amen.

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- Come on, let's sing together.

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- Come on, tell him now.

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- Come on, sing those words again.

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- Let me pray for us, Father God,

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it's the first Sunday of the year.

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I think my voice is already gone.

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I might not have a voice,

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but I got a heart that won't stop singing for You. Never.

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Because I am only here today by Your goodness,

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by grace upon grace.

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You hold me up. You hold me together.

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You never stop running after me.

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And that's true of every single person who's here.

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You know their name.

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You saw their footsteps in here, in the room and online,

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and You have good things and more for us.

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Thank You, God.

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I bless you and praise You all because of You, Jesus.

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Amen. Amen.

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Yeah. It's good to be back together.

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Hey, if you're joining us online,

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we're so glad you're joining with us.

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Why don't you, uh, I don't know, give your dog knuckles

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or text a friend, say, Happy New Year.

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If you're in the room right now,

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why don't you give somebody knuckles,

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say, glad to be here with you. Happy new year.

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- You could stay right where you are,

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but maybe you weren't made to.

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In South Africa, kids are stepping into a brighter future.

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In Nepal, hope is protecting girls

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before the darkness can reach them.

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In India, freedom is finding its voice

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through aftercare and restoration.

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In Nicaragua, clean water brings life that never runs dry.

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In Guatemala, education is changing the story

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for the next generation.

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In Alabama, empathy is building bridges

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where walls once stood.

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In Appalachia,

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communities are rising from the weight of poverty.

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In Puerto Rico, neighborhoods are thriving again,

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one house at a time.

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All across the world, people are moving

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because there's no plan B for what God wants to do.

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We are His plan A.

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He's not waiting for someone else.

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He's inviting you, your hands, your story, your yes.

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You can't stay here.

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Go. Because the world... is waiting.

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- The world is waiting.

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I love that video just shows some of the places

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that our community is going, because there isn't a plan B.

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God is looking to us

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and inviting us to go to a new place spiritually.

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And that could be you this year.

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You could go to a new place

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literally and spiritually this year.

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These trips are incredible.

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You can get all the information at crossroads.net/trips.

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But let me just tell you, you will experience

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a deeper level of connection with God,

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a deeper sense of your own gifting.

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And while it might be uncomfortable,

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it can help you go to a new place.

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I'm actually going to Puerto Rico

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with my ten year old daughter this summer.

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It's going to be incredible.

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All the details at Crossroads.net/trips.

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Now, all the stuff around here is designed

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to help you grow, but we grow best when we grow together.

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And Crossroads is an incredible community.

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While there's great teaching, there's great music,

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there's great worship,

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the best thing about this place is the people.

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We'd love for you to get connected to some of

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the great community that makes this place awesome.

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And you can do that through a group.

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We've got all kinds of groups.

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We've got groups in meeting homes,

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groups that meet at our physical locations,

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online groups, and we've got cohorts

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which are online gatherings over three weeks

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where you get to grow around a specific topic.

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But the common thread through all of these

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is that you get to grow with other people,

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and you get to get to know other people

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and they get to know you.

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It's a powerful thing

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and one of the best parts about this church.

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Go to crossroads.net/groups for all that.

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Now, I heard some research recently that I just love.

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It like blew my mind when I heard it.

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Surveyed over 100,000 people of all ages,

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the largest research like this that's ever been done.

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And it showed that one habit could change people's lives.

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You know what it was?

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Reading the Bible four times a week,

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at least four times a week can have

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revolutionary impact on your life.

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Everything from anxiety to alcoholism went down.

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Things like friendships and meaning and purpose

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went through the roof.

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And our church is doing something that could help you

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set a new rhythm, not just a rhythm to go to the gym more

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or to read more, but a spiritual rhythm,

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a spiritual habit that could help you go to a new place.

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And it's reading the Bible.

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We're doing the entire Bible in a year

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in the Crossroads Anywhere app.

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We'd love for you to join us.

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You can about 15 minutes a day. It's short, it's easy.

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You can read through, and if you do that,

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take that small step, make that small habit,

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you can have read through the entire Bible

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alongside this community.

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We'd love for you to join us

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in the Crossroads Anywhere app to make that happen.

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Now, all the stuff around here, I feel like

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I've just been talking about a laundry list of things,

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but there's so much more that I don't have time to share

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because we want to see people grow.

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And that happens because people are generous

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and people are faithful.

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If you're new around here, hey,

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we don't want anything from you.

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We want you to experience more of God at this place.

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But I just recognize I'm here and I'm a different person

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because people invested in me.

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If you've got questions about

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what Crossroads believes about money,

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or you want to join the team of faithful givers

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who make that possible, you can do so

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at Crossroads.net/give.

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Now we continue to jump in

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with the rest of our service right now.

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- When I got locked up, he was ten months.

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My biggest fear was him forgetting me.

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Just him seeing that a gift came from me,

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it was just special, for real.

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Like, just knowing that we was able to pick it

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was the best.

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People think that their kids, like,

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just because they're 4 or 3, that they don't remember.

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They remember.

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- It just it really means a lot because after today,

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like, it leaves you feeling like a mother, like a mom.

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All those things you miss out on, like,

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it kind of gives you that little bit of feeling back,

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so it's amazing.

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Well, I just want to tell the community,

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thank you so much.

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Many of us here have damaged or broken our bonds

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with our children and putting this on

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and giving us these gifts and letting us be mothers again,

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you know, it strengthens our bonds.

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It's helping rebuild the damage that we've done.

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- Unless you was in my head, you wouldn't be here

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to know, like, to the extent of how thankful I am.

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Something like this is what keeps me going.

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Like, I can't let my son down. This is worth it.

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- Man. Uh, I feel like we should

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just close in prayer right now. My goodness.

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Uh, well, uh. Hey, let's pray right now.

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God, I'm thankful for those families

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that we have been able to bless.

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And I thank you for the fact that

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You don't give up on anybody

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and You always have a plan of restoration.

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So I also pray God for normal people here

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at Crossroads today that we need restored.

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We need a little kick. We need a little, uh,

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a little encouragement to go forward.

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And I pray that that happens.

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I pray that You'd help me be in sync with where people are

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and most important, in sync with Your Spirit

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and be able to be willing to say what You want said.

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And I pray these things according to the character

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and identity of Jesus. Amen.

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Well, I don't know if you noticed or not,

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but I think during 2025, maybe the most frequently

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quoted Bible passage that I had was Luke 2:52,

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where Jesus says -- Where it says about Jesus,

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He grew in wisdom and stature.

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He grew in stature and wisdom.

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Now, I don't know if you've ever thought about this before,

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but Jesus beginning didn't start at Christmas.

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He didn't have a start at Bethlehem,

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and that's the beginning of His creation.

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The Bible is very clear that Jesus is God,

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He's always existed, at creation He existed.

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He just took on flesh and encountered life

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the way we encounter it.

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And when He came and took on flesh,

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theologians know this is really tough.

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He's God, but at the same time He's human.

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So He goes through some sort of growth process.

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In the same way that his body had to physically mature,

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He also had to spiritually mature.

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So while He never committed a sin,

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He was growing in understanding who the Father was,

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growing in understanding who He was.

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Now I say all this, I can do a deep dive,

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an entire series on that,

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but that's just a kickoff to say this.

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If you want to be like Jesus, you have to be a person

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who values growth, because Jesus was about growth.

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That was His life.

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And if you're saying about 2026, "Yeah, just 2025,

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rinse and repeat," you're not being like Jesus.

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No matter. No matter how spiritually mature

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or how spiritually immature you are,

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if you have a heart that says, "I want to advance

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to be the person that looks like God this year,

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looks more like God," then you're in the right place

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and you're going the direction.

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If you're impressed with who you are,

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if you're impressed with all the stuff,

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then at that moment, even though you might be

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hyper spiritual, hyper spiritual, hyper moral,

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you're not being like Jesus

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because He grew in wisdom and stature.

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He never stopped growing in wisdom and stature.

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The oldest person in all of our rooms today,

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the oldest person assisted living,

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at least their hair and their fingernails are growing

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because living things are supposed to grow.

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And so I want to help you grow today by looking at

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one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

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It comes from the book of Luke chapter eight.

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And let me just read a portion for you. Here's what it says.

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And Jesus went, the people pressed around Him.

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And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years,

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and though she had spent all her living on physicians,

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she could not be healed by anyone.

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The Book of Luke is written by a physician, Luke,

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and he is quick to point out that, hey,

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physicians don't always have the answers.

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And this woman was not getting any answers from the doctors.

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She came up behind Him

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and touched the fringe of His garment,

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and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.

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And Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?"

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There's a lot to talk about here.

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I'm going to talk about all of it.

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But if you want to grow,

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there's three things that have to happen.

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And one of them we see in this passage.

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If you want to grow, first thing that has to happen

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is you have to ask questions.

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Jesus asks the question, what? Who? Who touched me?

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Jesus asked questions 300 times, 300 questions.

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Now, a lot of those questions were rhetorical questions

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as a teaching device, but genuine questions like this one,

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who touched me or He's on the cross.

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He says to God, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?"

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300 questions. In the Bible there's 3000 questions

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inside of the Bible. That's pretty crazy.

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When we ask questions, we're communicating:

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I want to know You. I want to understand You.

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I might want to become more like You.

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That's what a question really does.

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Not the kind of questions that many of us ask.

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Like, the worst question I asked,

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I'm so ashamed of myself when I asked this is:

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what's your name? I meet so many. What's your name?

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I'm not ashamed of that question.

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I'm ashamed that if I have a two minute conversation

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with them, in two minutes, I'm asking the exact same question.

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Because the first time I asked the question,

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I wasn't really wanting to know their name.

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I just wanted an icebreaker question.

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I just wanted to get the flow. I wasn't listening.

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See, a lot of us, we don't ask questions,

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meaning we don't listen.

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In Pulp Fiction, there's that one line in that movie

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that do you listen or do you wait for people to talk?

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You've been around people like that, right?

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It's like if you don't ask a question, they don't --

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They don't shut up.

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And then when you ask a question,

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it just gives them more reason to keep talking,

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going, going, going, going, going, going, going, going.

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That person isn't trying to know you.

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They're not trying to understand you.

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They're trying to understand your life.

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They're just talking and talking and talking and talking.

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But when you ask a genuine question,

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something profound happens.

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You know, one of the questions that I'll ask is,

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this wonderful question.

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We're going to have you ask somebody right beside right now.

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It's this: when's the last time you pooped your pants?

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It's a great question. It really is.

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It's a wonderful question.

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It's like, "I've never done that. I've never done that."

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The wealthiest person that I know, that I know,

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poops his pants all the time.

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Let me tell you about this guy.

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I went out to to hunt this last year out west

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wild game hunting, big, big game hunting.

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I have a pastor friend who's got a guy in his church

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who's a rancher who I believe they based

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the television series Yellowstone off of him

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and his right hand guy. I believe at the core of my being.

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If you added up all his ranches.

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And by the way, you don't know this guy's name at all.

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If you added up all of his ranches, he has enough land

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to go stretch a mile wide from Boise, Idaho to Washington, DC.

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Crazy. I asked him that question once.

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He said -- he's 84, 85 year old guy.

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He's like, every year. Yeah, yeah, every year.

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It's his right hand guy is like, "What?"

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"Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah." So I sent him this.

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This is a message I sent to some of my friends

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this last year, including him.

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I sent this to him the last day of 2025.

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It was wonderful. It was wonderful.

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It's a great conversation starter

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because people really get real, real quick, right?

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I'm glad, by the way, I failed in 2025.

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I don't know if I failed in 2025.

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I had a good run 2024, 2023, but 2025 I failed.

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And rather than tell you exactly what happened,

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uh, Jeff Foxworthy explains it really well.

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- But there's just as much stuff you can't learn from Google.

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You only learn it from life experience.

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You usually learn most of it the hard way.

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It's stuff that's not Googleable.

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I don't know if that's a word,

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but I call them the Facts of Life.

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It's stuff you can't Google, like this: fact of life.

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If you are trying to get to the bathroom

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in an emergency situation, it is not a wise idea

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to unbutton your pants in transit

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trying to save a couple of seconds

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because the muscles that guard the flood gates

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will interpret the unbuttoning as the signal

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to abandon their post, and the two seconds you saved

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on the button are nullified by the hour and a half

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you spend mopping and doing laundry.

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You only learn that the hard way.

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- That was my story. That was my story.

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Now, aside from that great icebreaker question,

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she really should use it. It's really wonderful.

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In the Bible as I've been reading it starting this year

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to go cover to cover, I'm amazed again

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by how many questions there are.

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God asks Adam and Eve, where are you?

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He asked them, who told you?

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Who told you you were naked?

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You got Cain and Abel saying am I my brother's keeper?

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There's questions throughout the whole thing.

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Jesus grew because He asked questions.

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In the book of Luke 2:46-47.

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He's a little kid. He's 12 years old.

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His parents can't findHim. Well, where is He?

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He's in the temple because He wants to grow.

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He's in the synagogue because He wants to grow.

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I'll tell you what, if you want to grow,

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you're going to be at church this year.

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You don't want spiritual growth,

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then just do whatever everybody else does.

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Jesus was always like, "Hey, I can grow. I'm going there."

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Here's what it says: After three days, they found Him.

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They were gone for three days.

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He was trying to grow for three days.

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He was engrossed in God.

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And what was he doing for that three days?

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He was among the teachers listening to them

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and asking them questions, asking them questions.

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And all who heard Him were amazed

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at His understanding and His answers.

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Toddlers asked 290 questions a day.

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And as they grow and they age, about 8 or 9,

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they start going down, down, down hill.

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And today, most of us who are adults

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don't ask a single question a day.

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If we do ask a question, we ask a question

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to just make sure you agree with me

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so I can feel validated.

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We don't actually ask genuine questions of people

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who might have a differing opinion

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or a different value system than we do.

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We just don't do that.

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Jesus here He asks who touched Me? Who is it?

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He's asking this question.

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One of the questions I asked at the very end of 2025 too

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is I said, you know, I realized, huh?

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Um, I haven't used Google all year. Not at all.

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Not because I'm fasting from the internet

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or I don't have things to learn, but I

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all year I've used ChatGPT.

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And so the way you use ChatGPT is you ask it questions.

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So all every, every questions, every question I've had,

00:31:36

everything I've wanted to find information on

00:31:38

I got from ChatGPT.

00:31:40

A torque value for a bolt, a hunting gear,

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the tense of a Greek word to understand

00:31:48

if it's past pluperfect, all these different things,

00:31:51

all different sort of things.

00:31:53

I've asked questions for an entire year.

00:31:55

And then I said, huh?

00:31:56

I asked ChatGPT the last question of the year.

00:31:59

I said, what is it you know about me?

00:32:03

Oh my goodness. Wow. It gave --

00:32:06

I'm not going to give you the four categories.

00:32:08

They said, here's the four things about you.

00:32:10

Like, geez, I felt like I'd been going to therapy all year long.

00:32:13

Like nailed me.

00:32:14

I went to my wife and a friend of mine.

00:32:16

I said, this is what was said. Can you believe this?

00:32:19

Does this sound accurate?

00:32:20

Like oh my gosh. Yeah.

00:32:22

And I said, how do you know this?

00:32:24

Here's what ChatGPT said:

00:32:26

Patterns over time, not single facts.

00:32:29

I don't infer that from one conversation.

00:32:32

It comes from repeated signals across

00:32:34

very different domains,

00:32:36

mechanical restoration questions,

00:32:38

hunting optic gear choices, biblical Greek theology,

00:32:41

leadership talks, laws, safety rules,

00:32:43

financing, resale. All these things.

00:32:46

And here it is: when the same posture.

00:32:48

I love that. When the same posture shows up in trucks,

00:32:52

scripture, hunting gear and leadership,

00:32:55

it's not coincidence. It's character. Hmm.

00:33:00

I thought, well, still, maybe it's just trying

00:33:02

to make me feel good.

00:33:03

Maybe it realizes it makes me feel good

00:33:05

it's going to ensure that I keep using it and asking questions.

00:33:08

So I asked, are you trying to make me feel good?

00:33:13

Questions. Here's what it says.

00:33:15

It said, I, he, she, it, they, it, whatever it is,

00:33:19

I don't gain anything by flattering you.

00:33:22

What I gave you was specific, structural and costly.

00:33:27

Many people think they want honesty,

00:33:29

but what they really want is reassurance,

00:33:31

justification, validation, relief from discomfort.

00:33:36

They said because the truth without readiness

00:33:38

isn't helpful. It's just noise or injury.

00:33:43

Now, I'm going to give you the truth today,

00:33:45

and I think you're ready for it because you came here today.

00:33:49

You could have been a bunch of different places,

00:33:51

but that's my heart for you to have truth.

00:33:54

So the second thing after we ask questions

00:33:55

is determine who you want to be.

00:33:59

Determine who you -- Who do you want to be?

00:34:02

I'm not talking about like I'm a well, actually, yeah,

00:34:04

like a six year old.

00:34:06

People ask it, who do you want to be when you grow up?

00:34:08

Who do you want to be when you grow up? Who is it?

00:34:10

What's the preferred identity that you want to embrace?

00:34:15

What is it?

00:34:16

This woman, she is determined who she wants to be

00:34:21

is she wants to be healthy. She wants to be whole.

00:34:24

And she's been spending her money on this

00:34:26

for a long, long, long time.

00:34:30

So much time that she's gone financially. It's out.

00:34:33

And so, like, what's what's going on?

00:34:35

Well, she's menstruating, for 12 years she's menstruating.

00:34:39

Oh my goodness. Wow.

00:34:40

If I cut my knuckle, if I cut my knuckle

00:34:44

and it's bleeding, that bums me out.

00:34:46

For you women, man, for four days every month,

00:34:49

that'd be horrible.

00:34:51

You are unbelievably tough creatures.

00:34:53

That's just tough, tough, tough, tough stuff.

00:34:55

Now you add on to this, add on to this

00:34:58

that not only do you have that discomfort

00:35:00

and all that stuff, but you're also in a culture

00:35:05

that believes and teaches that whenever you're bleeding,

00:35:09

it's what's known as unclean.

00:35:12

Now, this is the case with men and women.

00:35:14

So if I have my cut knuckle

00:35:16

and someone would see my cut knuckle,

00:35:18

I would have to be removed from the community

00:35:20

for a period of time.

00:35:21

Because the ancient Jews, they believed that,

00:35:24

this is a very rough, rudimentary understanding,

00:35:26

but it's at least 99, 95% true,

00:35:30

but it's just just CliffsNotes version here.

00:35:32

Clean and unclean meant that if you were manifesting

00:35:37

a position that would not be in heaven,

00:35:38

you are known as unclean.

00:35:41

If you're manifesting a situation or some condition

00:35:47

that is only going to be bound here on Earth,

00:35:50

then that's called unclean.

00:35:52

Okay, so when you were unclean, unclean,

00:35:57

you were removed from the covenant community

00:36:00

as a reminder that

00:36:02

that's not the way it's going to be in heaven.

00:36:04

In heaven, there's no pain, there's no sorrow,

00:36:06

there's no crying, and there's no bleeding.

00:36:09

So when you bleed, you were removed.

00:36:12

Whether you're a woman menstruating or a guy who,

00:36:13

you know, who cut his knuckle or something like that.

00:36:16

What that means is this woman has been

00:36:20

outside of community for 12 years,

00:36:25

outside of human interaction for 12 years,

00:36:28

at least, inside of a spiritual community kind of environment.

00:36:33

This is starting to become her identity.

00:36:35

This is now defining her.

00:36:37

She's the woman who menstruates.

00:36:39

She's the woman who doesn't have any money

00:36:40

because she's been trying to solve this problem.

00:36:42

She's been, and she is determined that

00:36:44

that's not the end of the story.

00:36:45

Friends, let me tell you, right, right, right, right.

00:36:47

There's things that you and I get comfortable with,

00:36:50

don't get comfortable with it.

00:36:52

There's things that you and I just start to think,

00:36:54

"Well, that's just who I am." Stop it, stop it.

00:36:57

That's maybe who you choose to be.

00:37:00

That's who you are agreeing to.

00:37:02

You cannot get comfortable having things going on

00:37:05

in your life that are unclean,

00:37:07

meaning are not the way God wants it to be.

00:37:10

Meaning are not the way it should operate in heaven.

00:37:12

You should never, never get satisfied with

00:37:15

this is just who I am. I guess I'm Irish,

00:37:17

so I overdrink and I get angry.

00:37:19

Well, this is just who I am.

00:37:21

Well, I just learned this.

00:37:23

Hey, hey, hey, hey, look,

00:37:24

you have to determine who you want to be.

00:37:28

What is your character? What is your direction?

00:37:32

What is your heading?

00:37:36

One of the greatest conversion stories, I believe,

00:37:38

of recent times, uh, is Jelly Roll.

00:37:44

You know who Jelly Roll is?

00:37:45

His name has determined who he's going to be.

00:37:48

He is a jelly roll, this dude, 500 and some pounds.

00:37:52

Grammy Award winning artists, phenomenal poet,

00:37:55

crossover artists, country, now getting over to gospel

00:37:59

because he's been converted.

00:38:00

God has gotten a hold of his heart.

00:38:02

And if you've listened to any of his interviews

00:38:04

over the last several years, there's been

00:38:06

a gradual processing of where he's going.

00:38:09

And this is a guy who has believed the narrative

00:38:13

for himself at 500, and I think it was as highest

00:38:15

was 550 pounds, and then he decided,

00:38:20

he was in bed one day and he was on his side,

00:38:23

and his arm was pinned under his side and was going numb.

00:38:27

And he didn't have the strength to roll himself over.

00:38:30

And he realized, "I'm going to cut off circulation to my arm.

00:38:34

I'm going to lose my arm, maybe die right here, right now."

00:38:37

And that was the thing that kind of triggered him.

00:38:39

In a recent interview, he talked about determining

00:38:42

who he wanted to be and taking on a different identity.

00:38:44

And here's just a little snippet of that.

00:38:47

- There's a hill, my driveway comes down the driveway,

00:38:50

comes down a hill, and you bust a right, Joe.

00:38:53

And then you can go left into a neighborhood,

00:38:55

the same run I run every day,

00:38:57

or you can go right up a hill, and it is a hill hill, you know?

00:39:03

And the first day I came out and I looked up that hill

00:39:07

and I looked to the left, and I took two steps to the left.

00:39:10

And I stopped, and I told myself I was like,

00:39:12

I've learned about stories we tell ourselves.

00:39:15

The story I've been telling myself my whole life

00:39:17

was take the easy way out.

00:39:19

My entire life, Joe, I have always looked for

00:39:22

the path of the easiest, like, A to B straight line.

00:39:25

You know what I mean?

00:39:27

And I was like, "I break that today. I turn right."

00:39:32

- Woo. - You feel it, don't you?

00:39:36

Right then big. - It's a big move.

00:39:38

- Big moment when you're like, no, I'm hitting that hill,

00:39:41

you know, because I'm big.

00:39:42

Fat people hate hills, stairs. We hate all that.

00:39:45

So I'm like, I'm like, hit the hill, you know?

00:39:48

And I'm walking and I'm stopping

00:39:49

and I'm walking and I'm stopping and I'm walking and I stop.

00:39:52

I just kept going. When I got to the top of it,

00:39:54

there was a telephone pole up there

00:39:55

and I went and slapped it. I just slapped it.

00:39:59

And I was just I felt so achieved.

00:40:00

And I came down the hill and then I took a left

00:40:02

and I was going to go straight down to the stop sign

00:40:04

and back, but if you take a left,

00:40:06

you can go up another hill.

00:40:07

So I was in my mind, I was like, "I'm going to stop sign,

00:40:09

I hit the hill," but as I was walking by that other hill,

00:40:12

I was like, "This is the new you. You hit the hill, dog.

00:40:15

This is the new you. Today is the new you. You hit the hill."

00:40:21

- It's an amazing story how he's come to Christ,

00:40:25

how Christ is, you can just tell in his language

00:40:27

and the whole thing. I'm not talking about the f bombs,

00:40:29

but just just how he gives God glory in all of that stuff.

00:40:33

And here's a guy who is 500 plus pounds

00:40:36

who's lost literally hundreds of pounds,

00:40:40

and he's going to lose 45 pounds as soon as

00:40:43

he has a surgery to remove 45 pounds of skin

00:40:45

that's hanging off of him.

00:40:48

And it's really an amazing story.

00:40:49

And he says, he basically said, I determined what I want to be.

00:40:52

He said he would tell his wife, he said,

00:40:54

"I'm going out for a run."

00:40:56

And it took him months of being able to run.

00:40:59

He could -- It was not possible for him to run.

00:41:01

His run was a walk, but he told himself that he's a runner.

00:41:05

He said, "I am determined. I'm going for a run."

00:41:09

You need to set your eyes on who God has asked you to be,

00:41:12

who God has called you to be,

00:41:14

who God has qualifying you to be.

00:41:17

And you need to say, "That is my identity,

00:41:20

and I am determined to be that.

00:41:22

And therefore all I have to do

00:41:24

is have to grow into being that."

00:41:27

This is the reason why so many of us

00:41:29

stopped making New Year's resolutions

00:41:31

a long, long time ago

00:41:32

because the resolution process was devoid

00:41:36

of the identity process.

00:41:39

Resolutions and goals only work

00:41:41

if they're pinned to your identity.

00:41:44

Just like, well, something I should do,

00:41:45

if it's something I should do. Okay, okay.

00:41:48

I'm gonna work out three times a week. Okay.

00:41:50

This year I'm going to,

00:41:51

I'm going to not have cookies at night.

00:41:53

Okay. This year I'm going to -- I'm going to whatever.

00:41:55

I'm going to lose 20 pounds. Whatever.

00:41:57

But why? Why? Like, when I have a a fitness goa,

00:42:01

it's because it's pinned to my identity.

00:42:05

And my identity is -- part of my identity is I do hard things.

00:42:09

So I have got to be fit in order to pick up

00:42:11

a 600 pound motorcycle.

00:42:13

I have got to be working out in fit

00:42:15

in order to haul out an elk on my back quarters.

00:42:19

But that's my identity, so that's why I do that.

00:42:23

Reading the Bible.

00:42:24

You know, if you're going to read

00:42:26

the Bible this year with us, I hope you do.

00:42:28

It's been really, really good for, I think,

00:42:29

all of us who are doing it.

00:42:31

But I'm telling you, the reason why people

00:42:33

don't read the Bible through to through in a year

00:42:35

like just about every American is has something to do that

00:42:37

and just about no American has done that.

00:42:39

The reason is because it's just something I should do.

00:42:45

It's something I should check off the list.

00:42:47

It's something that a good person --

00:42:49

That doesn't work, doesn't work that way.

00:42:50

No, no, no, don't work. That doesn't work that way for me.

00:42:53

I have to say, I didn't do that until I started.

00:42:57

I said, "Okay, hold on, hold on.

00:42:59

I am getting fed a bill of goods from the world

00:43:03

that is not right and is not healthy.

00:43:05

I need a clean water source because I am a godly man.

00:43:09

That's what I am. I am a godly man and Fox News and CNN

00:43:15

is not going to contribute to that at all. At all.

00:43:18

In fact, it's going to actually hurt it in a significant way.

00:43:21

And everybody who mouths those talking points,

00:43:23

people are like, 'Well, what are you talking about"

00:43:25

I know you don't read the Bible then.

00:43:27

I know, I know, I know that because when you do,

00:43:29

you get a different worldview.

00:43:31

When you do, you get a different sense

00:43:33

of what is right and wrong.

00:43:35

And so when I set a Bible reading goal,

00:43:37

it's not because, "Well,

00:43:38

I'm a pastor, I guess I should do that."

00:43:40

It's like, no, I want to be a man of God.

00:43:42

And I'm thirsting for that.

00:43:43

I'm thirsting for a source of truth that comes.

00:43:47

I'm determined that that's who I want to be.

00:43:50

My time with my family, time with my grandkids,

00:43:53

I don't talk about them too much because

00:43:54

I don't want to make myself sound like an old fart.

00:43:56

I got seven grandkids, seven grandkids,

00:43:59

and so my goals with my kids and my grandkids

00:44:04

aren't because, well, that's what a father should do.

00:44:06

That's what a grandfather should do.

00:44:08

It's because I'm determined to be a patriarch.

00:44:12

Now, "A patriarch?

00:44:13

Patriarchal system is putting our country down."

00:44:15

Relax. I'm talking about a biblical patriarch

00:44:18

that is a person who thinks in generations

00:44:22

and is leaving a legacy for multiple generations.

00:44:25

When I'm dead and gone, or I'm retired,

00:44:27

Crossroads will forget about me immediately.

00:44:29

And it should, that's the way it should be.

00:44:30

I will have no legacy tied to Crossroads

00:44:33

or people's memories of me.

00:44:35

That's just not the way it works.

00:44:36

But I'll tell you what,

00:44:37

the systems I've set up in my family,

00:44:39

the conversations I have in my family,

00:44:41

how that trickles down, that's my legacy.

00:44:43

It's your relationships that will be your legacy,

00:44:46

not your accomplishments.

00:44:47

Your accomplishments get you raises

00:44:50

and they get you plaques,

00:44:52

and then they get you nothing when you're gone.

00:44:54

And then somebody else has to do --

00:44:55

It is your relationships that you choose to invest with,

00:44:59

whether people you've adopted in your life

00:45:01

or whether people you've actually given birth.

00:45:03

So therefore, when that is who I'm determined to be,

00:45:08

then that leads me to do certain things,

00:45:10

because that's who I'm determined to be.

00:45:12

That's what people who grow are.

00:45:13

What is your picture of where you're going?

00:45:16

There's just, "No, all I'm going is I want an easy life."

00:45:18

Yeah. Okay. "Where I'm going is I just want to be liked.

00:45:21

Where I'm going is I just want to be popular.

00:45:23

I just want to fit in with everybody else."

00:45:25

No, that's not a person who actually grows.

00:45:28

Now this woman, she hears Jesus say, "Who touched Me?"

00:45:35

Now again, let's just put Jesus over here for a minute, okay?

00:45:42

It's going to be Jesus for the rest of our time.

00:45:46

This woman, this woman, when Jesus says, when Jesus says,

00:45:51

"Who's touched me?" Here's what happens, verse 47.

00:45:55

And when the woman saw that she was not hidden,

00:45:58

she came trembling and falling down before Him,

00:46:02

declared, in the presence of all the people

00:46:05

why she had touched Him,

00:46:12

and how she had been immediately healed.

00:46:14

And He said to her, "Daughter,

00:46:16

your faith has made you well; go in peace"

00:46:20

It says when she says she felt like she was not hidden,

00:46:24

meaning everyone realized something took place.

00:46:29

Now, now, now what took place there?

00:46:31

Exactly what took place?

00:46:32

I skipped ahead on the story. What took place?

00:46:35

What took place was that she decided to touch Him.

00:46:39

She decided to get close to Him.

00:46:42

This is the third thing: You drive and you push.

00:46:46

You drive and push.

00:46:47

If you want to grow, you have to ask questions,

00:46:49

you have to determine who you're gonna be,

00:46:51

and you're going to have to drive

00:46:52

and you're going to have to push.

00:46:54

She is determined that she is going to be a healthy person,

00:46:59

and her next option is Jesus in town.

00:47:01

I hear He heals people. I gotta be around Him.

00:47:03

So she goes, but guess what?

00:47:04

Everybody's around because the greatest show in town

00:47:07

is there, and there's throngs of crowds wherever Jesus is.

00:47:09

So people are around and she can't get to Him.

00:47:13

She sees Him there, but she can't -- She can't get there.

00:47:17

And where many people say, "Well, I guess --

00:47:19

I guess God hasn't opened a window yet. Okay.

00:47:22

Where God makes a will, He makes a way.

00:47:24

I guess He hasn't made me a way,

00:47:25

so therefore I'm going to go back. I just couldn't do it."

00:47:28

She's like, "No, I am, I am determined,

00:47:30

I am, I am, I am going."

00:47:32

So she's coming up to this thing and she can't.

00:47:34

You can just imagine they're kind of elbowing her

00:47:37

and everyone wants to be close to her.

00:47:39

And it says, touch the touched the edge of the garment.

00:47:42

What does that mean? What does that mean?

00:47:44

She's trying, she's stretching, she's stretching,

00:47:48

she's she's stretching.

00:47:50

She barely catches the very edge of it, right?

00:47:54

Now, what I think it meant is I think it meant she dove.

00:47:57

I didn't have the guts to dive right now.

00:47:59

I think she --

00:48:00

I think she dove to touch the edge of the garment.

00:48:04

And Jesus, Jesus, when He feels something happen.

00:48:08

Here's what it says in verse 46.

00:48:16

He says, "Who touched me?"

00:48:17

When all denied it, Peter said --

00:48:20

They all denied like I didn't touch you.

00:48:21

He's thinking like they're offended.

00:48:23

He's offended someone touched Him. They all denied it.

00:48:27

And Jesus said, "No, no. Who was it that touched me?"

00:48:30

When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master,

00:48:32

the crowds surrounding You and are pressing in on You."

00:48:36

But Jesus said. He said, "Hey, there's all kind of people.

00:48:39

What do you mean? Everyone's touching You,

00:48:41

everyone's touching You, everyone's bumping into You.

00:48:43

There's a massive amounts of people here."

00:48:45

But Jesus said, "No, someone touched me,

00:48:48

for I perceived that power has gone out from Me.

00:48:51

Someone touched me. I perceived the power."

00:48:54

Someone wanted something. Somebody wanted something.

00:48:58

Somebody decided to push themselves.

00:49:00

Somebody. Somebody was desperate.

00:49:03

Somebody wanted something beyond what they have right now.

00:49:06

Somebody was thirsty.

00:49:08

Somebody had a question they needed an answer for.

00:49:12

Somebody needed some power.

00:49:14

Somebody. I felt it.

00:49:15

This isn't just like normal.

00:49:17

Jesus goes something, something just had --

00:49:19

There was a transaction that just took place

00:49:21

because somebody wanted something.

00:49:24

And here's my question for you.

00:49:26

If you were there, would you have been touching Jesus?

00:49:29

Right now? Right now? Like a lot.

00:49:32

"No. I'm good, I'm good, I'm good."

00:49:34

How you doing? "I'm good, I'm good.

00:49:35

You're good, in other words, "No, I don't grow.

00:49:37

I don't grow, I don't grow, I'm good, I'm good.

00:49:39

I don't grow, I don't grow, I don't grow."

00:49:41

Like, where are you right now?

00:49:43

"No, no. Things are going good. I think I got it all handled."

00:49:45

In other words, you don't grow.

00:49:46

In other words, you don't want Jesus.

00:49:48

"No, no, no, no, I think I got a plan.

00:49:50

I'm doing some stuff. I got it all figured out."

00:49:52

Oh, good. In other words, you don't need God.

00:49:55

Would you have touched Him?

00:49:56

Did you? Did you want Him?

00:49:58

Would you have exerted yourself?

00:50:00

The reason spiritual growth doesn't happen

00:50:03

is because we don't want it.

00:50:05

And more specifically, we don't want Him.

00:50:08

We don't want Him, and we're not willing to look like a fool.

00:50:11

We're not looking to press through.

00:50:12

We're not looking to fall on the ground,

00:50:15

any of that stuff.

00:50:16

That's why this woman is memorialized

00:50:18

and we're still talking about her

00:50:20

because she had a grit about her.

00:50:23

She had a thirst about her to be a different person,

00:50:28

to be a whole person, to be a healthy person.

00:50:31

And shoot, today, man, if you want to change yourself,

00:50:34

the haters will tell you you shouldn't even change yourself.

00:50:36

Just be who you are.

00:50:38

No, you mean like not grow?

00:50:40

Be satisfied with who you be you. You be you.

00:50:44

Gosh, you be you, in other words,

00:50:48

you're a lazy ass who's threatened by

00:50:49

somebody else who wants more out of their life.

00:50:51

That's really what that means. Yeah.

00:50:57

Jelly Roll swore, I guess I could to serve at some point.

00:51:00

Much more mild, milder, tamer word

00:51:02

than words than he was using.

00:51:04

But she comes trembling because she wants something different.

00:51:14

She wants that. Do you want that?

00:51:16

What do you want this year?

00:51:18

What is your preferred understanding

00:51:20

of what your life should look like?

00:51:22

Are you willing to lunge and touch Jesus

00:51:27

and maybe fall on the ground and maybe get dirty,

00:51:31

maybe even get hurt in the process?

00:51:34

We don't know was this woman a bit hurt?

00:51:36

What was going on with her?

00:51:37

Here's what Jesus says to her. Let's reread it.

00:51:41

When the woman saw that she was not hidden,

00:51:43

she came trembling and falling down before Him,

00:51:45

declared, in the presence of all the people

00:51:47

why she had touched Him and how she had been immediately,

00:51:51

immediately, she touches His garment,

00:51:53

she is immediately, imagine that.

00:51:54

You've been bleeding, you've been having cramps,

00:51:56

you've been having all this stuff,

00:51:57

whatever you got to do down there to manage things,

00:51:59

and immediately like, "Good. Wow, wow. I'm good.

00:52:04

No, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good."

00:52:06

Jesus is the See this person who could say I am good. Wow.

00:52:09

And He said to her, He said to her, "Daughter,

00:52:13

your faith has made you well; go in peace."

00:52:17

What does Jesus mean by that, your faith has made --

00:52:20

Jesus has made her well. He's made her well.

00:52:22

It was the touching. It was the touching of his robe

00:52:27

of the corner that that made her well.

00:52:29

Jesus made her well. But what's Jesus saying?

00:52:32

He's saying it's your drive to grow that's made --

00:52:35

You believed. You believed

00:52:37

if you did some uncomfortable things

00:52:39

that you didn't want to do.

00:52:40

She didn't want to come in public and be shamed

00:52:43

because she is unclean

00:52:44

and she hasn't been around other people.

00:52:46

She didn't want to have to fight through

00:52:48

and out herself as a woman who is who is menstruating.

00:52:52

I don't want to make it too graphic, but, you know,

00:52:54

it could -- something could drip

00:52:56

that would be utterly humiliating for her in public.

00:53:01

She definitely didn't want to do this thing

00:53:03

of calling attention to herself.

00:53:04

Definitely didn't want to dive and fall on the ground.

00:53:07

Didn't want to do any of that.

00:53:11

But it didn't matter because she wanted different for her life.

00:53:16

She wanted Jesus and what she thought Jesus could give to her.

00:53:26

The song in 2025 that's the most played song on my playlist

00:53:31

of all the songs I listened to, the one I listened to the most

00:53:34

is a song by my new friend Dante Bowe,

00:53:36

which is about the blood of Jesus.

00:53:40

And the blood of Jesus is what we're going to do here

00:53:43

in in just a little bit.

00:53:44

If you want to pull out your little packet.

00:53:46

I want to I want to reframe this a little bit for us.

00:53:50

Communion, Eucharist, the mass,

00:53:53

different traditions called different things.

00:53:55

I want to tie this to what we're talking about

00:53:57

with this woman today because it's important to understand.

00:54:05

This is a little kit of remembrance

00:54:09

that reminds us of a few things.

00:54:11

Most of the time when we do communion,

00:54:13

we think about the things that we've done that are bad,

00:54:15

the things that we need to grow out of,

00:54:17

the things we need to ask forgiveness for.

00:54:19

And that's a totally appropriate and great.

00:54:22

So like the bread represents the body of Christ

00:54:25

who's been broken for you and I, so that

00:54:28

we don't have to be broken eternally

00:54:30

because He was already broken for us.

00:54:33

The blood, what the juice or wine represents,

00:54:36

represents His blood, His blood spilled

00:54:38

on a cross on the ground.

00:54:40

There was the shedding of Him as a sacrifice,

00:54:42

a perfect lamb, so that you and I

00:54:44

will never have to shed our own blood with God.

00:54:46

There will be no eternal spanking for us,

00:54:49

for in Him there is therefore now no condemnation.

00:54:52

There's no -- you never get condemned

00:54:54

when you receive Jesus.

00:54:56

And when you have communion,

00:54:57

you're reminding that you've received him.

00:54:59

You know, if you've come here today and you're seeking,

00:55:02

this is for people who have received Him,

00:55:05

received Him and are committed to Him.

00:55:07

And maybe you're going like, "Oh, I want that."

00:55:09

Well great. This could be your first communion.

00:55:11

You can have this right now.

00:55:13

All that's true in communion.

00:55:15

But there's another element of communion that's true as well.

00:55:18

The Bible repeatedly talks about the blood of Jesus,

00:55:22

the blood of Jesus, the blood that covers us.

00:55:25

It's also the blood that gives us an identity.

00:55:29

You know, I don't know in the first century

00:55:31

if they understood what DNA was.

00:55:33

Pretty confident they didn't know

00:55:34

what DNA was in the first century,

00:55:36

but they knew they had a very high view of the blood.

00:55:38

They knew that blood represented life.

00:55:42

And when Jesus tells us to do this,

00:55:46

what we're doing is not just remembering His sacrifice

00:55:50

and walk in forgiveness.

00:55:51

We're also saying,

00:55:52

"I am consuming the identity of Christ.

00:55:56

That's who I want to be.

00:55:58

I am consuming the identity of Christ."

00:56:01

And that's what this song is meant to me,

00:56:05

consuming the identity of Christ,

00:56:06

the power of Jesus, the blood of Jesus.

00:56:10

We're going to do some of that song right now,

00:56:12

and then we're going to take communion,

00:56:15

and then we'll sing a little bit more of it.

00:58:23

- Let's all stand right now.

00:58:25

Let's take out your little communion kit.

00:58:29

Turn it upside down so the bread is up on top.

00:58:33

Take off that little thing, the little peel thing.

00:58:37

And bring out that little bread nugget.

00:58:42

The body of Christ, the identity of Christ, broken for you,

00:58:49

for all who would receive Him

00:58:51

and all who want to remember and walk in forgiveness,

00:58:54

take and eat.

00:59:00

I'll flip it over so it looks like a little wine glass again.

00:59:03

Take that top part off.

00:59:08

The blood of Christ,

00:59:11

the blood that's shed for the remission of sin.

00:59:13

The blood that is shed for all who have problems,

00:59:16

for all who need areas to grow in.

00:59:18

The blood of Jesus, actually is His identity

00:59:23

for all who would have Him,

00:59:24

and all will walk in forgiveness

00:59:26

in the identity of Christ.

00:59:27

The blood of Christ. Take and eat.

01:03:35

- You haven't done my favorite part of the song.

01:03:44

- Come on, come on.

01:05:15

- Yes it does.

01:05:17

There, there. Now, don't make that mistake the next service.

01:05:22

Good. All right.

01:05:24

Hey, man. God loves you. He does love you.

01:05:27

He's for you and He wants you to be like Him in 2026.

01:05:31

So let's grow that way.

01:05:32

God, thank You for being patient and kind and wise. Amen.

01:05:37

Have a great day.

01:05:40

- I hope you hear that God loves you, that He's for you,

01:05:43

and that His blood changes things for you and I.

01:05:46

I hope that you had a chance to take communion.

01:05:48

If you didn't, hey, here's your chance.

01:05:50

Let's grab something to drink, something to eat

01:05:53

and read through that account in the book of Luke

01:05:57

where Jesus said this is my body broken for you.

01:05:59

This is my blood shed for you.

01:06:01

Just take a moment with God. Say God, thank You.

01:06:04

Thank You that Your blood changes things in me,

01:06:06

changes things through me and for me.

01:06:08

Now, everything you've heard today is in the hope

01:06:12

that you'll experience more of God in your life,

01:06:14

not just in your church life, but in your daily life

01:06:16

that you experience more of God's presence,

01:06:18

more of God's purpose, more of God's joy and peace.

01:06:21

If there's anything we can do to help you towards that,

01:06:24

we'd love to do that and you can actually connect with us.

01:06:26

You just fill out the connect card.

01:06:27

Crossroads.net/connect, myself or somebody on my team

01:06:31

will reach out to you, set up a time to talk

01:06:33

or help get you the information,

01:06:34

or connect you to the right group or opportunity

01:06:36

to help you go to a new place this year.

01:06:40

As always, we'd love to pray for you,

01:06:42

encourage you, do whatever we can.

01:06:44

We'll see you next week as we kick off

01:06:45

a new series on prayer. Have a great one!

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