Overcoming a Poverty Mindset to Be Truly Rich

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- You've just stepped into a world

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where education, food, medical care,

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and hope in general is not a given,

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a place not that distant from us, but worlds apart.

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Over the past few years, the people of Crossroads

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have stepped up to sponsor kids in Latin America

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through Compassion International.

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We have traveled there, built relationships,

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served alongside our new friends,

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and encounter God along the way.

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But our work is not done yet.

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We don't do this because we want a pat on the back

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to make ourselves feel better, or to check a box.

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God has set us on this mission.

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In acts 1:8 it says:

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We're on a mission to bring hope to the hopeless

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and light to dark places.

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And when we do, we live a life

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more full than we could have ever imagined.

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This is the Gospel. This is the Good News.

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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My name is Andy, and today we're headed

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to Central America for a unique

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and a really impactful weekend.

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One thing you should know about Crossroads is that

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changing the world is really important to us,

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and we believe that together

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we actually can make a difference.

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Now, over the last few weeks,

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we've been looking at how Jesus brings hope

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not only to you and I, but to the least,

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and how you and I are made to do the exact same thing.

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Today, we're taking a look at exactly how

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you and I are invited into Jesus's mission

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of bringing hope to the poor.

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Right now, we're going to spend some time singing,

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and a lot of these songs talk about God's goodness.

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And in one way or another,

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we're basically singing thank You to God.

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And for thousands of years, people have sung songs

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together to remind themselves about God's love

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with one unified voice.

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And since the church isn't a building,

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it's people, it's you and me, we can join together

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in singing wherever we are.

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So sing along with us to a God who loves us

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so much that it changes everything.

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- Hands up. Come on, let's go.

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Sing the prayer of the Lord. Come on, Austin.

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Those words are -- Those words are real.

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That Song of Surrender is a real song.

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It's a real call out to us.

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In fact, I find myself more and more excited

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about singing that song because I realize

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day in and day out,

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I'm not always in a posture of surrender.

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I'm just being honest. I'm not always.

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I'm thinking about my agendas, my schedule,

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the things I want to do.

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This song helps slow me down to remember

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that my life is not my own.

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It belongs to Jesus.

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And if you're someone in this room

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and you struggle with surrender, that's okay.

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The Lord wants to know that.

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In fact, He already knows.

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So why don't you just tell Him?

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Why don't you just invite Him into that space with you?

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Lord, I'm struggling with giving my life to You,

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with giving every part to You.

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He wants to hear that.

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In fact, this next song paints this

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same picture of surrender for us.

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And that in Revelations 4 we see these creatures,

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these heavenly creatures, worshiping

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around the feet of the Lord at His throne.

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This is what they say:

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I mean, just imagine that these massive creatures

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bowing before the Lord saying, "Holy."

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Showing us what true surrender looks like.

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It's having the ability to separate ourselves

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from our lives just enough to say, "Lord, You are holy.

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No matter what's going on, You are holy.

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No matter what's not going right, You are holy.

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No matter what's perfect, You are holy."

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I imagine them singing something like this.

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- Sing that one more time.

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- I hear these words holy, holy.

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We take a moment, Lord, just to open

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our hands and our minds, to slow down

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in our busy lives right now just to say

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those three, that one word three times, Holy.

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Because it's who You are.

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It's who You've always been.

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Before we ever discovered who we are,

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who You've created us to be, or even who You are,

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You've always been this.

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Thank You for Your holiness, Father.

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You're amazing and You're worthy of praise.

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I'll praise You for as long as You will let me.

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It's in Your Son's name, I pray. Amen. Amen.

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- Hello, everybody. How are we today?

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Yes, I'm doing great.

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A little bit of a misnomer there

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with our little Bible intro video.

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I don't have like a book in the Bible

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I'm going to be in tonight.

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I'm going to be all through it, like, all through it,

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because we're going to talk about something today

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that is all throughout the scriptures.

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And actually, if you're honest,

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all throughout your life, it's poverty.

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And it's not just poverty as in, maybe I'm hungry

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or maybe I don't have the clothes that I want,

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but it's a poverty of attitude.

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It's a poverty of how we think.

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It's a poverty that makes us feel

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like we're always on the edge.

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That's what we're going to do today.

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We have actually in all of our sites,

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all of our auditoriums in the back wall,

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we've got pictures of kids who are actually

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in actual physical poverty,

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kids that many of us today may actually want to help,

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whether they're in Nicaragua or in Guatemala.

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Pictures of a child and a name.

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All of us, I think we have photos up there

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of what they look like. Right?

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Let's put those there. Thank you.

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Or right behind me, actually, there it is.

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Really, really cool.

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So we're going to do something like that

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later on if you want to do it.

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But this is a partnership that we have

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with Compassion International.

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We've had a partnership with them

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for a long, long, long time.

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I've been deeply impacted by them

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for a long, long time.

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And here's the thing about these kids

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that are in physical poverty,

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when I look at these kids, I think about me.

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I think about me because while I'm not in physical poverty,

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I have a history of spiritual poverty.

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I have a history of emotional poverty.

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And I'm going to talk about something

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that might unlock something that

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you may have not understood about yourself

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and which Jesus can address,

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which the gospel addresses.

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This is going to be a good day.

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So let me pray for us and we'll keep going.

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God, I am asking for blinders to fall off our eyes.

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I'm asking for hearts to soften.

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I'm asking for a change of heart,

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a change of attitude, and a change of appreciation

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for how good You are,

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how good You are to us, how much You love us.

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Just as that song reminded us of earlier,

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how much you love us.

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And I'm asking that you would move us

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from poverty mindsets into mindsets of abundance

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and caring, as well simultaneously about people

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who are actually in poverty.

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Thanks for this moment.

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God, I just want to honor you, so help me to do that.

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I pray these things according to the character

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and identity of Jesus. Amen.

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Well, we've had a really good time over the last few weeks.

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What we're doing is we're looking at this thing

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in the Bible that's called the Gospel.

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Gospel is an ancient word that means good news.

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And there's all different sorts of metaphors

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in the Bible that help us to understand this good news.

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And these metaphors are literal, physical things,

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but they also are things that are a sign

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of our spiritual condition.

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So the sick is a literal, physical thing,

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as Alli talked about a few weeks ago.

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And our spiritual condition is

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we are sick spiritually, naturally.

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Last week Kyle looked at the strangers.

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It's an actual, literal, physical thing that

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there are people that aren't welcome who are aliens,

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who are strangers.

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And spiritually speaking, most of us feel

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like we don't fit in, like I'm an alien,

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like I'm a stranger.

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And in fact, when you come into relationship with Jesus,

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according to the Bible, you are absolutely an alien

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because you don't fit into the world anymore.

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And today we're going to look at what it means

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to be in poverty.

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There absolutely is people are -- excuse me,

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is are is are are is.

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There is people, there are people?

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That'll be there is a person. There are people.

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There you go, there you go.

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Third grade coming back to rescue me.

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More about third grade in just a little bit, actually.

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But there there are people in poverty.

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And these physical, this physical poverty problem

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mirrors our spiritual poverty that we have.

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I just got back from a retreat.

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I have a friend who they have a retreat property,

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and this retreat property is in Georgia,

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and he lets us come down

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and have a little retreat with some of our staff.

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So I took some of our staff who I work with

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down to this retreat property, and it's in Georgia.

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And if you've ever been around Georgia

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or down in the Deep South,

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I'm curious how many of us could guess this.

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What is a massive, massive problem

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with animals down in the Deep South?

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Not spayed neutered. That too.

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More specifically a type of animal

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that's not spayed or neutered,

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which is not kitty cats. It's pigs.

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Pigs and hogs are taking over the entire landscape.

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They are devastating the whole place.

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It is not good. They're not native.

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They're horrible, horrible, horrible,

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horrible, horrible beasts.

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I talk with a bovine biologist a couple of years ago.

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First time I was at this place and he said,

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"These pigs, these litters, these sows,

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they'll have three a year,

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by the time they're having the third litter,

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the piglets in the first litter,

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they're reproducing."

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And he said, "You have to kill,

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to reduce the population by one,

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you have to kill seven pigs, seven hogs

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to reduce it by one.

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So they're just taking over everything.

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So, anybody who has land is like, "Please come

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and hunt and kill. We need that."

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And the government's like open for it. Go, go, go, go.

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So we're on this property and they take me out

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and they drop me off. I'm in this tree stand.

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I go up to this tree stand and I'm waiting.

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And this pig comes out, pig comes out

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and there's a feeder there.

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They buy corn, spreads out the corn,

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and it's rained recently so the corn

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is going through this mud puddle.

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It's about this deep about, you know,

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about yo big by this deep.

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And these pigs are sticking their nose under there,

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and they're trying to find kernels of corn to eat.

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And I watched that.

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I'm going, "That's why Jews don't like pigs right there."

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Now, in case you don't know what I'm talking about

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there's a whole Jewish dietary law

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called eating kosher. Right?

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And you can see this in the book of Leviticus.

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And God says to the ancient Jews, Pigs,

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don't want you to do pigs."

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There's a lot of theories why God is anti pigs.

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Well, the one that I like, we don't know for sure,

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but God isn't anti pigs.

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He was anti His ancient people eating pigs.

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He's trying to get a message to them.

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One of the theories I like is that

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it's because pigs, they are bottom feeders.

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They don't have any principles,

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they just devour anything that they can.

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They don't care about anything because

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they're constantly feeling like

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they don't have enough and they have to eat,

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eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat.

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And God doesn't want his people

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to identify with that behavior.

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So when we have a person who feels like

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I don't have enough, I need more, more, more, more,

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more, which is the average American.

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When we have a person who is always needing

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to consume, always needing to have

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and will do dirty things to do it,

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and is fixated about these pigs,

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like all they think about all day

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is getting someplace and eating more.

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I think it may be a sign for God to saying,

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"All my people aren't this way.

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My people aren't to have this poverty mindset."

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I had success, in case you're wondering.

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I killed me one massive one,

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they said one of the top five

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they've ever had on this property

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was it was great. It was awesome.

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I think I have a picture of him right there,

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225 pounds.

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And here's where I thought it was over.

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I thought my story was over. I thought the story was over

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when I got this massive pig.

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Two of us couldn't even lift it up because it's all muddy.

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It's filled with mud you can't even get it.

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So we had to get a winch. Get it up the back.

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Here's where I thought my story was over.

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I thought that was it.

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But because we've gone, I've been before

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and people said, "No, you can't eat these,

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you can't eat. Everyone says, "Oh, don't eat these."

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Which as a hunter, if you're a hunter,

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that's really a -- you're breaking the code.

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Like, the code of hunting is you take life,

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you have to consume that life.

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You have to keep the --

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You have to honor the life of the animal.

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You've got to ingest that protein.

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You got to have some good come out of it.

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And so to say, "Well, okay, it's not good meat,

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we're not gonna eat that," was like,

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okay, managing population.

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But as a hunter it felt awful. Awful.

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But that's what everybody always said.

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Well so, except this year, this year

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there's a person who is at that retreat center

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and said, "oh no, you can eat them."

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I said, "Really?" He said, "Oh, it's great."

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"What? Everyone said--" "No, no. It's great.

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I'll tell you what, I'll go to my house

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and I'll put some in the grill

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and I'll bring it up for an appetizer."

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Okay. He came home and he brought it back

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several hours later. It was unbelievable,

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like unreal.

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And I thought to myself, "Man,

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everybody has told me this is horrible.

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Everybody believed everybody else.

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And there's one person who says, 'No, that's not true, '

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and it changed my life."

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Let me tell you something, everybody is going

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to tell you certain things about

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the way life should be lived.

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And you have to understand they could all be wrong,

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and there could be one person

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who's coming to give you life.

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That person is Jesus, by the way.

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It's not me, but I'm going to be a person

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who's going to talk about some of His truth.

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In the book of Psalms 63, here's what it says:

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no water anywhere.

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This is spiritual poverty in our land right now.

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Do you know anybody who isn't tired?

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Do you know anybody who isn't thirsty?

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I mean, it's everywhere.

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How are you doing? Oh, busy. Busy. Really busy.

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I'm just busy. Busy.

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Like everybody's tired.

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Any one thing doesn't go the way we want,

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and we lose our mind because everyone's tired

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and impoverished emotionally, spiritually,

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intellectually, relationally.

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And the Psalmist here, David,

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"says, God, I thirst for You, I want You."

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If you're thirsty, where would you go in culture?

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Where would you go? I'll tell you what,

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everything else in culture is just trying to suck you dry.

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Corporate America is not going to give you water.

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The government is not giving you water,

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unless you vote for a certain party,

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they might give you some water, just enough to --

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The government's not giving me water.

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My HOA, they're definitely not giving me any water.

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Just give me, give me more and more rules.

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Everything in our culture is trying

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to suck us dry all the time.

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That's why we feel like we're spiritually empty.

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It's why we feel like we're in spiritual poverty.

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That's part of the poverty mindset.

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And you may have it, like,

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you're always thinking you're on the edge,

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always thinking God's not going to take care of you,

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always thinking that nothing good

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is going to happen to you,

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always thinking that the other other shoe

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is going to drop.

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Always thinking that there's judgment coming.

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Always thinking that at any moment

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you're going to be out in the cold.

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Always thinking that there

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isn't any more forgiveness for you,

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because certainly God's forgiven you enough.

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Always feel like there's no more grace for me.

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No more, because God has given me too much.

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This is what's known as a poverty spirit mindset.

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Jesus says this in Matthew 5:3,

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blessed are the poor in spirit,

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for theirs is the kingdom of God.

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What He's saying there is blessed are those

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who understand they can't do it on their own.

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Blessed are those who understand that

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they're not sufficient in and of themselves.

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When you're in physical poverty,

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you know that you don't have sufficient resources.

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You know it.

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But when you're in spiritual poverty,

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sometimes we don't know it.

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We keep trying to convince ourselves that I'm okay

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because I'm better than that person.

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I'm not as annoying as that person.

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I do more nice things than that person.

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Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit.

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Those of us who go, "Man, I have needs.

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I don't have it totally on my own."

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When we realize that we're not sufficient

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in and of our own selves and we go to God,

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this is a healthy thing.

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That's where I want us to get to today.

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It's where I want us to actually be.

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My whole life I've wrestled with a poverty mindset

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and being poor in spirit.

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Just weird things.

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And I've never been really --

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Well, I have been hungry.

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I'll tell you about that in a moment.

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But I come from a really great background,

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upper middle class, all was fine.

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But my parents, they come from depression era people.

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So my parents, and they're the first two people

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to graduate college in either one of their families.

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And so they kind of rose above that stuff.

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And so like money focuses and saving

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and not spending money was always a big thing for them.

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And so the way that translated me as a little guy,

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the way I interpreted that is I looked around

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at other people in my neighborhood

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who got certain things, and I didn't get certain things.

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I interpreted it as my parents don't love me.

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I interpreted as we don't have money.

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I interpret it as my parents are holding out on me.

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That's the way I interpret it as.

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The little guy doesn't know any better, right?

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You get your stocking opens up on Christmas Eve,

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and or on Christmas.

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You look in your stocking and you have

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toothpaste and you have deodorant in there,

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and you got dental floss.

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And it's not until you're about in seventh grade,

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you go, "Oh, mom's trying to segment

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and augment the house budgeting expenses.

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That's what she's doing."

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And so what that did for me is I believed,

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and my parents were great

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and they did all the right things.

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We're thankful, thankful, hyper, hyper.

00:36:48

We all have our bags. We all have issues. Right?

00:36:50

What I did for that is that made me transfer to God

00:36:53

that God doesn't really want to bless me anyway.

00:36:55

That God barely has enough,

00:36:57

or at least he doesn't have any more for me.

00:37:00

That God doesn't care all that much about me.

00:37:02

That I'm not all that loved.

00:37:05

People that I knew in my family, extended family

00:37:08

and neighborhood always got more gifts than I got.

00:37:10

And I just interpreted that as I'm just not worthy.

00:37:14

I'm just not that important.

00:37:18

When I went to college, I had a scholarship

00:37:21

for some stuff, like for half of my stuff

00:37:22

for doing ministry stuff.

00:37:24

And then my parents paid for everything else.

00:37:25

And they would -- they were very generous that way.

00:37:27

And they would -- I lived on my own

00:37:29

with some people who were training for ministry,

00:37:31

and so they would give me money to eat.

00:37:32

And of course, it wasn't a lot of money

00:37:34

because my parents just don't --

00:37:35

They don't live a lot. They save, save, save, save.

00:37:37

So of course, me as a 17 year old,

00:37:39

17 year old when I went to college,

00:37:40

part of why I sucked in college.

00:37:41

I was 17 year old, year one.

00:37:43

And you know, I get that money

00:37:44

at the beginning of the month.

00:37:46

Of course, it would last about three days. Right?

00:37:50

And then what am I doing the rest of the month,

00:37:51

because I'm mismanaging that money?

00:37:53

What's happening after the other three weeks?

00:37:55

What am I doing? I'm not eating.

00:37:57

Not eating, losing weight.

00:37:58

I was a muscle head in high school.

00:38:00

People I knew would come up to me and say,

00:38:02

"Man, you're losing weight."

00:38:03

When you're a muscle head in high school,

00:38:05

the last thing you want is anyone telling you

00:38:07

you lose weight. That's a horrible thing.

00:38:09

But I was because I would go days on end

00:38:12

without eating because I didn't have any money to eat.

00:38:15

I could have asked somebody. I could have gone someplace.

00:38:18

All I'm saying is this is part of the idea

00:38:21

of me adapting a poverty mindset

00:38:25

of feeling like there's not enough for me,

00:38:26

feeling that God is holding out on me.

00:38:28

Where the gospel, the gospel says, "Brian.

00:38:32

Brian you are weak. You are in poverty."

00:38:34

God isn't impressed with you.

00:38:36

You don't have the righteousness to impress God.

00:38:39

You don't have the righteousness to get to God.

00:38:41

Yes, you are in poverty

00:38:43

because God is not impressed with your works.

00:38:45

He's not. But there's a God who loves you.

00:38:51

Loves you and cares for you and has resources,

00:38:56

and you have to believe and act that

00:38:58

the gospel means good news for you

00:39:00

who feel like you don't have enough.

00:39:03

It's good news.

00:39:07

When you have a poverty mindset,

00:39:09

you're never generous in any realm.

00:39:11

You're never generous.

00:39:13

You always have reasons not to be generous

00:39:15

because you need that money. You need to have it.

00:39:18

You know, there's no pig --

00:39:19

No pig at all is ever going to share their corn.

00:39:22

It's not going to happen.

00:39:23

You don't have enough. You got to keep it.

00:39:24

What do you have, you've got to keep.

00:39:26

You got to hold it.

00:39:27

And so therefore, as Americans,

00:39:29

we get really cynical towards certain

00:39:31

organizations or certain things.

00:39:33

And I have as well.

00:39:34

Someone told me a long, long, long, long time ago

00:39:36

about this organization called Compassion International.

00:39:39

And you could sponsor a child

00:39:41

and you could feed that child and help that child.

00:39:44

And I thought it was a compelling presentation

00:39:46

when I heard it and I thought, "Fine, fine, fine,

00:39:48

I'll do it. I -- We'll sponsor it."

00:39:51

But I always thought in my mind,

00:39:53

"Well, what this means, though, is

00:39:55

there's some administrative slush fund

00:39:57

and these children, they're just the face

00:39:59

and they don't really care about me.

00:40:01

They don't really know me.

00:40:02

They're just the face to incentivize me to give.

00:40:05

And that's fine as a marketing plan, but I don't --

00:40:07

I'm not going to spend time, like,

00:40:09

writing to this kid or anything like that.

00:40:11

It's just not -- it doesn't really matter."

00:40:13

And then someone invited me to go over

00:40:16

to the area of the world where one of my

00:40:18

-- where kids were sponsored by Compassion International,

00:40:21

where you can take for $43 a month,

00:40:23

$43 or $1.50 a day, you can feed a kid lunch

00:40:28

all month long and educate them

00:40:31

all the way up until they're 18 years old.

00:40:33

And I went to some of these schools,

00:40:35

and I was utterly shocked at what was happening,

00:40:39

and I was actually humbled by what was taking place.

00:40:42

And I was heartbroken as I saw kids

00:40:46

who never got a letter from their sponsors.

00:40:52

I was heartbroken when I saw kids

00:40:53

whose sponsor just gave up, just gave up

00:40:55

and just said, "I'm not doing it anymore."

00:40:57

And they had made a commitment to that child.

00:40:59

I was heartbroken, I saw those kids.

00:41:01

I saw the -- I saw the families.

00:41:03

I saw actual real poverty.

00:41:07

And it affected me really, really deeply.

00:41:12

It affected me deeply

00:41:14

because those kids represented me,

00:41:16

though I've never been in that kind of

00:41:17

dire physical situation or their families,

00:41:20

I've been in that dire spiritual

00:41:22

and emotional condition of being,

00:41:24

having an impoverished spirit,

00:41:26

not being able to get by on my own,

00:41:28

not feeling loved by God, not feeling worthy of God.

00:41:33

I've been there. I feel that.

00:41:35

And therefore, when we don't feel loved by God

00:41:39

or welcome by Him, we don't share with others

00:41:42

because we're clutching everything to our self.

00:41:45

I have a new friend who was on my podcast

00:41:47

called The Aggressive Life, gosh, a month or so ago.

00:41:51

His name is Jimmy Darts.

00:41:52

He's a bit of an internet sensation

00:41:55

or a social media sensation.

00:41:57

And watch, look at one of Jimmy's clips

00:42:00

and you'll find out why people are so mesmerized by him.

00:42:03

- Excuse me, ma'am, sorry to bother you.

00:42:06

I'm just trying to ask people for a dollar

00:42:08

to get the bus out of here.

00:42:10

I don't know if you have anything,

00:42:11

but I hate to bother you. - No problem.

00:42:16

- Are you sure? - Positive.

00:42:17

- It's not gonna hurt you? - No.

00:42:20

It'll help you more than it'll hurt me.

00:42:22

- Thank you. - $2

00:42:23

- What's your name? - Lulu.

00:42:24

- Oh, I'm Jimmy, good to meet you.

00:42:26

- Nice to meet you, Jimmy.

00:42:27

- Why'd you help me out?

00:42:28

- Because anytime you need help,

00:42:30

if I have it, I can, I will. You have a wonderful day.

00:42:32

- Yes. Thank you. Lulu.

00:42:33

- What was your name? - Jimmy.

00:42:34

- Jimmy, nice to meet you.

00:42:36

- Here, Lulu. Take this. Lulu.

00:42:37

- But you just asked me for it?

00:42:40

- I want to bless you with $1,000

00:42:42

for being so kind to help me.

00:42:44

- No you don't. That's not true.

00:42:45

- Yes, I was trying to find

00:42:47

the first person to help me. This is for you.

00:42:51

You take it so no one sees it right now. Thank you.

00:42:54

- Are you serious? - Yes.

00:42:55

- Are you sure? That's a lot of money?

00:42:57

- Yes. Is it going to help out?

00:43:00

- Oh, man. It's going to do more than that.

00:43:02

I got five kids at home. Just going through a lot,

00:43:04

trying to find a job.

00:43:06

It's hard to maintain everyday life.

00:43:08

- What's hardest part about getting a job?

00:43:10

- The smile. I don't have the smile.

00:43:11

So I kind of -- They act like they want to hire you.

00:43:13

But then when you got a messed up smile,

00:43:15

they think about different things

00:43:16

and they just they say that they don't hire you

00:43:18

because of that, but I feel like it is.

00:43:21

- Gosh.

00:43:22

So then he goes from there and he goes

00:43:25

and he raises through his social media account

00:43:27

through Kickstarter enough money because

00:43:30

she can't keep a job because she doesn't have any teeth,

00:43:32

and people don't want to look at her

00:43:34

in jobs or hire her.

00:43:35

So he buys her new teeth. It's -- oh. [applause].

00:43:40

And what gets me about it, here is a woman

00:43:43

whose heart, and every person he does is like this.

00:43:46

Who has every reason in the world

00:43:49

to put up the stiff arm and say, "Oh, bus money.

00:43:54

Like I haven't heard that before," and say no.

00:43:57

And she says yes, it's kind of like the gateway

00:44:00

into whether or not she's going to get blessed.

00:44:03

Do you have a heart that's willing to bless others?

00:44:06

Because that's the heart that's worthy of being blessed.

00:44:10

It wrecks me every time I think of his stories

00:44:13

and in his life. It's really beautiful.

00:44:16

I recommend it, recommend it highly.

00:44:18

Let me ask you this.

00:44:19

Do you believe that you're forgotten?

00:44:21

Do you believe that you're going to be left out

00:44:24

on your ear and your rear?

00:44:26

Do you believe that there is any more grace for you?

00:44:28

Do you believe that that that sin you keep

00:44:30

asking for forgiveness again and again and again,

00:44:32

God's come to the answer,

00:44:33

"I don't want to hear about that one.

00:44:35

No more forgiveness for you. No, no, no, no, no."

00:44:37

Do you believe that God is tired of hearing from you?

00:44:41

Do you believe that you can't even pray to God

00:44:43

very much, because He might get sick

00:44:44

of hearing your voice?

00:44:45

So you have to conserve your prayers

00:44:47

so that when you pray, God's gonna go,

00:44:48

"Oh man, oh, my woman Janice is calling me up.

00:44:51

I better really do something right now

00:44:53

because I never hear from her.

00:44:55

Because the people I hear from, they just bother me."

00:44:57

Do you have that idea with your prayer life?

00:45:00

Poverty mindset people do. This is how we operate.

00:45:06

The good news is when we open up our hearts

00:45:09

and when we are generous, we're being like Jesus.

00:45:11

That's the good news because

00:45:12

He was generous for you and I.

00:45:14

Jesus went on a cross.

00:45:16

He spread out his arms so that

00:45:19

there could be a transfer of funds

00:45:22

where all of the debits in our account,

00:45:25

all of the debts in our account,

00:45:27

all of the smudges in our account, all the sin,

00:45:29

all it gets transferred onto the back of Jesus,

00:45:34

transferred on his back,

00:45:36

and all of the goodness in the account of Jesus,

00:45:40

all of the righteousness in the account of Jesus,

00:45:43

all of the holiness in the account of Jesus,

00:45:46

all of the good works in the account of Jesus,

00:45:48

all the love that the Father has,

00:45:51

that is wirelessly transferred to your account.

00:45:53

That's what it means to be in Christ.

00:45:56

So when we are in Christ, when God looks at us,

00:45:59

the first thing he notices

00:46:01

isn't our problems and our poverty.

00:46:03

He notices our richness.

00:46:06

It's the richness of the grace of Christ.

00:46:09

That's what we mean when we say

00:46:10

my identity is rooted in Christ,

00:46:12

meaning He is all those things for me.

00:46:16

So I don't have to feel like

00:46:17

I have to work to impress God.

00:46:19

Though I may want to work simply because I love God.

00:46:22

I don't work to impress God.

00:46:24

And I don't have to feel like I've got to do

00:46:28

certain things to build up my spiritual resume

00:46:30

because Jesus has built up my spiritual resume.

00:46:33

That doesn't mean, by the way, that I don't want

00:46:35

to do things to build myself spiritually,

00:46:37

but I want to do things spiritually

00:46:39

so I can act the way I am,

00:46:41

which is that I actually am spiritually rich.

00:46:44

And I'm going to places where there is deposits.

00:46:47

I'm not doing spiritual things

00:46:49

in order for God to approve me because

00:46:51

Jesus has already approved of me.

00:46:52

Is this making any sense, friends?

00:46:54

Is it making any sense?

00:46:55

I'm telling you, I'm telling you if you got this,

00:46:59

this would make a huge impact in your anxiety.

00:47:03

Massive impact.

00:47:04

Some of us have anxiety issues

00:47:06

that are chemical and medical and go, go, go.

00:47:08

But I'm telling you a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot,

00:47:10

a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of us who do

00:47:13

our anxiety or our depression is a sign

00:47:16

that we believe that we're on our own

00:47:18

and we're on the edge, and there's no backstop for us,

00:47:21

and there's no powerful entity who loves us

00:47:24

and cares for us and can do something for us.

00:47:28

Man, Jesus says blessed when you are poor in spirit,

00:47:32

meaning I'm not -- I'm not impressed

00:47:35

with my own personal thing and I have needs.

00:47:38

But when we come to know Christ, we become rich.

00:47:43

We become rich because we have His grace.

00:47:48

When you see this link between physical poverty,

00:47:50

are you starting to understand right now

00:47:52

the link between physical poverty and spiritual poverty?

00:47:55

How those two are starting to go together?

00:47:57

When you start to see these links together,

00:48:00

all of a sudden a whole world opens up

00:48:01

and your heart really comes alive.

00:48:04

We have, gosh, we've got you know, 15,000 kids

00:48:09

we've sponsored through Compassion International.

00:48:11

Nicaragua, when we first started with Nicaragua

00:48:14

several years ago, we went in and all the kids

00:48:16

that wanted to get sponsored in Nicaragua,

00:48:18

we scooped them all up and took all of them.

00:48:20

All of them.

00:48:21

You couldn't sponsor anybody in Nicaragua.

00:48:23

That's what I love about our church.

00:48:24

We're big. We move. We get it done.

00:48:26

It's really, really, really cool.

00:48:28

Here's the other really interesting thing.

00:48:30

Kyle talked last week about when he went to the border.

00:48:32

And I've been there as well.

00:48:34

Most of the people coming illegally or legally

00:48:37

across the border from Mexico into the United States.

00:48:39

You know, they are not Mexicans.

00:48:41

The Mexicans are the minority.

00:48:44

It's Guatemala, it's Nicaragua, it's Honduras,

00:48:47

it's it's four main countries.

00:48:49

Here's the crazy thing, of the thousands

00:48:52

and thousands, they're making long journeys,

00:48:54

of the thousands and thousands of kids

00:48:56

we've sponsored Nicaragua.

00:48:57

Do you know how many of those kids

00:48:59

as they've gotten older, them and their families,

00:49:01

you know, many of them have made a trip to the border?

00:49:04

Four. Why is that?

00:49:07

It's because when they have hope right where they are,

00:49:10

they don't feel like they have to take a flying leap

00:49:12

and hope for something elsewhere.

00:49:13

Because when there's something that's being

00:49:15

taken care of them right now,

00:49:16

when they feel loved where they are,

00:49:18

when they feel like they're making progress

00:49:20

where they are, they get someplace. Seriously.

00:49:23

Crossroads as affected the immigration situation.

00:49:27

Compassion is affecting the immigration situation

00:49:29

because when there's a person

00:49:31

that doesn't have what they need,

00:49:33

they get desperate.

00:49:34

And when people are in poverty, they get desperate

00:49:36

and they do really desperate things.

00:49:38

And when you see this tie, which, by the way,

00:49:41

it's why you do desperate things emotionally

00:49:43

and spiritually because you feel poverty.

00:49:49

When we see these ties, the scales start to come off.

00:49:53

There's a couple in our church that sent down

00:49:57

years ago, a backpack.

00:49:59

They knew some people at Crossroads were going down.

00:50:01

They sent down a backpack and wanted to interact

00:50:03

with the child that was down there.

00:50:05

And, well, I shouldn't tell you anything more about that.

00:50:07

Let's just look at one of our own people's story.

00:50:12

- I'm Michael Debrosse. - I'm Deanna Debrosse.

00:50:14

We have three kids, Victoria, who is 20;

00:50:17

Alli, who's almost 18; and then Josh, who is almost 16.

00:50:21

Over the last 15 years, we've added

00:50:24

three additional kids through Compassion

00:50:27

that live in Nicaragua.

00:50:28

We first started sponsoring a Compassion child

00:50:31

when our oldest was four years old.

00:50:34

That was back in 2008.

00:50:37

- I think we are on a journey of, like,

00:50:40

tithing, giving our income away for the first time,

00:50:43

which was really hard, we went down to one income,

00:50:45

which was like scary enough.

00:50:46

But then, you know, we finally had a higher belief

00:50:50

that giving was part of God's plan for us.

00:50:52

- I just felt like I wanted Victoria to know

00:50:54

that there were other kids that lived

00:50:56

in different types of situations

00:50:58

and had access to different resources.

00:51:00

So we sat down on a computer.

00:51:02

I opened the Compassion page.

00:51:03

I wanted her to get to choose the child.

00:51:06

And she picked Dairus very, very quickly.

00:51:08

We started sponsoring her when Dairus was five.

00:51:10

We sponsored her all the way

00:51:12

until she graduated the program,

00:51:13

and we're still in contact with her now.

00:51:15

- We had a really cool opportunity where Victoria

00:51:19

and Deanna had put together a care package.

00:51:22

- We were at a party and there was a group of people,

00:51:24

and I heard someone say they were going to Nicaragua.

00:51:26

So I made a beeline and was like,

00:51:28

"Could you send a gift to my kid?

00:51:30

Like, could we reach out to -- I have a child there."

00:51:32

Which is so crazy.

00:51:34

I mean, he got back to me and said,

00:51:35

"Actually, we would, we would love that."

00:51:37

We got to see the video of Dairus opening the gift.

00:51:40

And I mean, I just -- I just started bawling.

00:51:43

- I want you to watch this. - Oh, yes.

00:51:47

[speaking Spanish]

00:52:30

- Yeah, seeing that video, I think

00:52:32

what it brings to mind for me is just

00:52:36

the heart of our Father in heaven

00:52:38

and His heart for everyone.

00:52:41

When it comes to the widow, the orphan and the poor,

00:52:43

like, no, no, no, God's like for real.

00:52:45

Go all in and provide, like, don't even blink an eye.

00:52:49

Someone needs something, give.

00:52:53

- It's hard to watch that

00:52:54

without getting a little emotional, huh?

00:52:59

One of our Compassion kids. His name is Rudy.

00:53:03

And last time I was in Nicaragua,

00:53:06

I got to see him and his mother.

00:53:07

I've seen them twice. His mother Bianca.

00:53:11

And every time I every, every time I see that guy

00:53:14

who doesn't have a dad and is scraping to get by,

00:53:19

I'm just trying to build into him spiritually

00:53:21

when I see him and encourage him.

00:53:23

Because when I look at Rudy physically

00:53:27

I see myself spiritually.

00:53:30

See, like, I needed sponsored.

00:53:33

This would be like me right here, you know,

00:53:36

if I was Rudy.

00:53:37

This is like Rudy saying

00:53:39

this was this would be would be me.

00:53:42

Right here, I would be up there.

00:53:49

Because I am needy, I am needy.

00:53:52

Because I am in need.

00:53:54

Because I do not have everything in and of my own self.

00:53:58

Because I am not self sufficient on my own.

00:54:02

The only resources I have and the resources I have

00:54:05

that are making impact are because Jesus

00:54:08

has made an investment in me,

00:54:10

and He makes investment in everybody

00:54:12

who's a follower of Christ.

00:54:13

He makes an investment in everybody

00:54:15

who has given their life to Christ.

00:54:16

And you may not have financial riches,

00:54:19

but friend, you are rich if that is who you are.

00:54:22

You are not in need of love.

00:54:24

You are not in lack of compassion.

00:54:26

You may not feel it right now for whatever reason.

00:54:29

You might not understand it right now,

00:54:30

but you are loved.

00:54:32

God has compassion for you.

00:54:34

This link between my poverty, my spiritual poverty,

00:54:39

and the real hurt and physical issues of others

00:54:42

is real and significant.

00:54:44

And it's all throughout the scriptures,

00:54:48

time after time again.

00:54:51

Jesus in Matthew 25, He gives

00:54:53

a really bone chilling thing where He talks to

00:54:57

a bunch of people and He talks about

00:55:00

these metaphors of being sick, of being in prison,

00:55:03

of being naked, of being hungry.

00:55:06

And the one group He says, "You fed Me,

00:55:09

you took care of Me. You visited Me. Great.

00:55:11

I want to spend the rest of eternity with you."

00:55:14

And to another one, He says,

00:55:16

"You didn't feed Me in prison.

00:55:18

You didn't pray for Me when I was sick.

00:55:20

You didn't feed Me. You didn't clothe Me when I was poor."

00:55:23

And they both are like, "What are you talking about?

00:55:25

What are you talking about?"

00:55:26

And here's what it says, Matthew 25:

00:55:45

Jesus takes it personal when we don't care

00:55:50

about the real physical needs of others,

00:55:52

He takes it personal.

00:55:53

Not only does He take it personal,

00:55:55

but it tells us where we are spiritually.

00:55:59

If we aren't about these real physical problems,

00:56:03

then it shows that we right now

00:56:04

are living in a spiritual problem.

00:56:06

Because if we have spiritual richness from Christ,

00:56:10

we have Him, we will naturally have

00:56:12

a heart of generosity and compassion

00:56:15

to all of these people.

00:56:17

I tell you what I love about Compassion weekend.

00:56:19

I totally love this.

00:56:20

I don't know when we're going to do it again,

00:56:22

but I tell you, whenever it comes up, I say,

00:56:24

"Oh good, I love this,"

00:56:26

because I don't know if God got Crossroads

00:56:29

to be the size that it is right now

00:56:30

just so we could do Compassion weekend.

00:56:32

Every time we do Compassion, I always think,

00:56:34

"If God puts us out of business next week,

00:56:36

I'm good. I'm good with that. Job well done.

00:56:39

We fed and educated tens of thousands of people.

00:56:42

I'm good with that."

00:56:43

And maybe God will just get us to that level.

00:56:45

I'm also loving it because when we talk about this,

00:56:47

we can stay in the spiritual.

00:56:49

We can stay in the condition of our heart.

00:56:50

Because I know whenever I talk about generosity,

00:56:53

a high percentage of us always put something on me.

00:56:55

Oh, I bet that guy has a private plane.

00:56:57

I don't. I don't even fly first class,

00:57:01

even though I have 300,000 Delta SkyMiles.

00:57:03

Because I have a poverty mindset

00:57:05

I can't release those things. Right?

00:57:07

Weird, I know I got issues, I got issues.

00:57:11

Oh, yeah, we talk about Crossroads spends

00:57:14

too much on tech. And we don't, but whatever.

00:57:16

Okay, we'll leave all that.

00:57:17

This is just between you,

00:57:19

you and a person that you could feed.

00:57:21

You could feed a person all the way up to age 18

00:57:25

and educate them and give them a future.

00:57:28

One of my greatest warm heart memory for my family

00:57:36

was last year or whenever we did

00:57:39

our Compassion week last time.

00:57:41

You know, my kids are all out of the house.

00:57:43

They've been out of the house for years now.

00:57:44

They're married. They're -- I don't --

00:57:46

I don't know, you know, when they're coming to church,

00:57:49

what site they're going to, what what time.

00:57:51

I don't know, I don't know.

00:57:52

Did they blow off this weekend? I don't know.

00:57:54

They're not like 15

00:57:55

and I can hound them on stuff like that.

00:57:57

I haven't done that for a long, long time.

00:57:58

But what was so great was after our last one,

00:58:01

when Lib and I picked up another child

00:58:04

to give us three, and Rudy, by the way, aged out.

00:58:07

So Lib and I are going to do another one this weekend.

00:58:09

What was so great, invigorating

00:58:12

was just organically the text started blowing up

00:58:17

of kids sending their picture of the kid

00:58:20

that they picked off the wall.

00:58:22

All three kids, all three kids, unprompted,

00:58:25

said, "We're going to do a kid.

00:58:27

We're going to do, we're going to do children."

00:58:29

And I just thought as a dad, I was like,

00:58:31

"Oh, my gosh, that's one of the most healthy things

00:58:34

I could see with my kids."

00:58:36

But I told them I was so proud of them

00:58:39

because it told me where they are spiritually.

00:58:43

More than them telling me where they are spiritually.

00:58:45

That told me.

00:58:48

See, God doesn't care what we say.

00:58:51

He cares what we do.

00:58:53

God doesn't care what we feel.

00:58:56

He cares what we act on.

00:58:59

God doesn't care what we think.

00:59:01

He cares how we love, and we do it tangibly

00:59:05

and tactilely.

00:59:07

Today you have the ability to change a life.

00:59:11

Legit. For real. You have the ability to change a life.

00:59:15

A life that will never be the same.

00:59:17

A life that you can talk to,

00:59:18

a life that you can send letters to,

00:59:20

a life that will be different.

00:59:22

We could take this weekend at Crossroads,

00:59:25

we could scoop up all the remaining new kids

00:59:27

in the system in Nicaragua

00:59:28

and take all of Guatemala.

00:59:30

That's possible to do two entire countries.

00:59:37

And that's not like a a corporate goal.

00:59:41

That would be a really cool sign of our hearts.

00:59:45

43 bucks, come on. For a lot of us. 43. Yeah.

00:59:50

I tell you what would be worth 43 bucks.

00:59:53

What'd be worth 43 bucks is going to heaven

00:59:55

and having somebody vouch for you. That's what.

00:59:59

That's what Jesus is implying here.

01:00:00

Where were you? If God starts asking those questions,

01:00:04

Rudy's going to go, and Bianca, "Oh, yeah.

01:00:07

Brian and Libby Tome, yeah, yeah.

01:00:08

Oh, oh, I forgot about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

01:00:10

Nahera, and hey. Oh, I got it.

01:00:15

And Freeling. Freeling and her family. Oh. I got --

01:00:18

It's really sweet to think about that.

01:00:22

And when you write your kids, it's a beautiful thing.

01:00:24

So Romans 15, last verse and we're going to do this.

01:00:27

Here we go. It says this:

01:00:39

We have hope because Jesus has made us rich.

01:00:42

We have hope, and we have joy because of

01:00:44

the deposit that He has made into us.

01:00:47

And right now you and I get to make

01:00:50

a deposit in somebody else.

01:00:52

Right now you get to literally change a life.

01:00:55

Some of us get really freaked out about

01:00:57

certain things in the Bible and too freaked out.

01:00:59

Like, Jesus says to one person one time,

01:01:01

"Sell everything you have and give it to the poor."

01:01:04

He says to one person, He does it one time.

01:01:06

And there's a bunch of other people He interacts with,

01:01:08

nobody else He interacts with He says the same thing.

01:01:10

In fact, there's an incredibly rich person

01:01:12

named Joseph of Arimathea, incredibly rich,

01:01:14

who's known as a disciple of His,

01:01:15

he gives and donates his tomb to Jesus

01:01:19

because he wasn't mandated to sell everything

01:01:21

and give to the poor.

01:01:22

And he had a lot of possessions,

01:01:23

and he gives his tomb for Jesus to be buried in.

01:01:25

I think sometimes we hear the call of

01:01:27

stuff like sell everything, give the poor

01:01:30

and we just melt down.

01:01:32

I don't know what to do with that.

01:01:33

I guess that's what Jesus wants of me.

01:01:35

And we have a piece of our heart

01:01:36

when it comes to generosity and helping the poor

01:01:38

that we just go, "I just can't do that

01:01:40

because I can't do that." Well guess what?

01:01:42

God's probably asking nobody to do that.

01:01:47

But He is asking to do something you can do.

01:01:51

You can help a kid and modify your Starbucks habit.

01:01:56

[chuckling] You can't do that?

01:01:58

I keep hearing laughter like certain things I'm saying.

01:02:02

I'm not trying to crack jokes up here.

01:02:05

I'm really not., but I think that sometimes

01:02:07

we get just a bit nervous with this level of challenge.

01:02:12

And that's the level of challenge

01:02:14

that Jesus would bring regularly,

01:02:15

like He does in Matthew 25.

01:02:18

He's looking to see what His children do,

01:02:21

and I'm looking to let Him know how I'm going to do,

01:02:24

because He's loved me and you so much,

01:02:27

blessed me and you so much.

01:02:29

And if you can't do it, you can't do it.

01:02:34

And He knows it, and He understands it,

01:02:36

and He loves you as a result of it.

01:02:38

You know, He just does.

01:02:41

But I know we got a good percentage

01:02:42

of our community that doesn't have a child

01:02:44

that's thankful for our presence,

01:02:46

that would love to be thankful for our presence.

01:02:48

So I'm going to pray,

01:02:49

and then we're going to give logistics

01:02:51

and we're going to change lives.

01:02:52

Are we ready? We're ready for this today?

01:02:54

Yes, we are. Okay.

01:02:55

God, thank you for pouring things into me

01:02:58

that I didn't ask for, and I couldn't do of myself.

01:03:01

Thank you for going above and beyond meeting my needs.

01:03:05

Not just even meeting my needs, meeting my wants.

01:03:09

Thank you for that,

01:03:10

And God, I'm thankful for the opportunity

01:03:13

to bless a life in some way, shape or form.

01:03:16

I pray You'd direct Lib and I to whoever You want

01:03:19

on that back wall.

01:03:21

And I pray that you would just give a little,

01:03:23

God, give a little bit of encouragement,

01:03:24

encouragement to those of us who've been faithful

01:03:26

with our Compassion child, encouragement

01:03:28

to those of us who are maybe a little afraid

01:03:30

and want to go back there and pick a child.

01:03:32

I ask, God, that Your grace, the richness of Your grace

01:03:36

would fill our internet feed and fill our sites.

01:03:41

And I pray these things in the name,

01:03:43

the rich name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

01:03:49

- We all want God to use us, right?

01:03:51

We all want to make an impact, to change the world.

01:03:53

And there are moments where you can say yes to that,

01:03:56

where that can not just be an idea,

01:03:58

but something that you live into.

01:04:01

Man, I don't know what I expected

01:04:03

when I heard about Compassion.

01:04:04

I don't know what I thought it was

01:04:05

that they actually did.

01:04:07

I thought maybe it was just a pen pal thing

01:04:09

or that I just help, I don't know,

01:04:11

get a kid fed each day.

01:04:12

But I will tell you, I couldn't have been more wrong.

01:04:16

I couldn't have underestimated the importance

01:04:19

and the impact that they have.

01:04:21

Last year I got to visit Nicaragua

01:04:23

and visit and actually meet the girl

01:04:24

that I've been sponsoring for years, Natalie.

01:04:27

I got to talk with her mom.

01:04:28

We got to play games together.

01:04:29

We got to get to know each other,

01:04:31

got to see pictures of her family

01:04:33

and for her to see pictures of my family.

01:04:35

This is a girl that I've been writing letters with for years.

01:04:40

She draws me pictures, and my kids and I

01:04:42

get to send her letters back.

01:04:43

This is not just a sponsorship,

01:04:45

it's a relationship. It's a friendship.

01:04:48

It broke my heart, but she literally looked at me

01:04:52

and she said, "I have two dads.

01:04:55

My father in Nicaragua and you."

01:04:58

This is a chance for you to be a part of someone's story,

01:05:03

for you to be a part of someone's family,

01:05:05

for you to be a part of making an impact.

01:05:09

That's what you're signing up for.

01:05:11

It's not just to send money,

01:05:12

it's to sign up for relationship.

01:05:14

It's to sign up to be a vote of confidence

01:05:16

and faith and trust that, man,

01:05:17

there are bright futures ahead for these kids.

01:05:20

So don't tune out. Don't check out.

01:05:22

Instead, lean in and say yes to God using you.

01:05:25

This is personal for me.

01:05:27

I want to see tens of thousands of kids' futures

01:05:30

change because a group of people at Crossroads said yes.

01:05:34

So if you're feeling any sort of tug,

01:05:37

I want you to lean in and head to

01:05:39

Crossroads.net/compassion.

01:05:41

Right there on the screen,

01:05:42

you'll see a button that just says sponsor.

01:05:43

And once you click on that,

01:05:45

you're going to have the chance to look over

01:05:46

the names and faces of thousands of kids

01:05:48

that you can help support,

01:05:50

that you can help encourage,

01:05:51

that you can write with regularly

01:05:53

and tell them who they are

01:05:55

and that the future for them is bright.

01:05:57

Because it is, and because it can be

01:05:59

when you and I step in and step up,

01:06:02

when you and I lean in to help see transformation

01:06:04

and new hope come to families in Central America.

01:06:07

Here's what we're saying:

01:06:09

Lord, all of this, all of this is in response

01:06:13

to what You've done, to who You are.

01:06:14

Lord, we respond to You right now and we say

01:06:18

send us out as light carriers to carry Your hope

01:06:21

and love to a world that needs it.

01:06:23

Making an impact doesn't just happen

01:06:25

in other countries and other places.

01:06:27

It also happens in our very own cities

01:06:29

and neighborhoods.

01:06:31

And we're actually going to be doing that

01:06:32

this summer through something called City Serve Day.

01:06:34

As a church, we're going to have the opportunity

01:06:36

to make a difference with our friends,

01:06:38

our neighbors in our local communities

01:06:40

by serving and making an impact right where we are,

01:06:43

right where you are.

01:06:44

So your project could involve

01:06:46

assisting a neighbor in need

01:06:47

or volunteering at a local nonprofit.

01:06:49

It can be anything,

01:06:51

anything that makes a difference.

01:06:52

So if you sign up for a project,

01:06:54

we'll help provide you with the necessary resources

01:06:56

and help to lead a project

01:06:58

and to make sure that it's a success.

01:07:00

And we want to celebrate with you.

01:07:03

We're going to be doing this as a church

01:07:05

all together June 15th this summer.

01:07:08

You can get more information about how to start

01:07:10

or identify a project in your local community

01:07:12

at crossroads.net/CSD.

01:07:15

Hey, as always, thank you so much for joining us today.

01:07:17

If there's anything that we can do for you

01:07:19

to help encourage you in your walk with God,

01:07:21

we'd love to do that.

01:07:22

You can head to crossroads.net

01:07:23

and hit the chat button, or you can email me

01:07:25

directly at Andy.Reider@crossroads.net.

01:07:29

And make sure you come back next week

01:07:31

for a really special and unique weekend

01:07:34

where everything, the music and the message,

01:07:36

the entire service happens outside of our four walls.

01:07:38

We'll see you next time.

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