Your Adventure Begins Here

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Welcome to Crossroads Church.

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My name's Lena Schuler,

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and I'm so glad to have you joining us online today

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because I believe that your adventure starts here today.

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We're going to be experiencing a different kind of service today.

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It's a one off of a series where we're actually

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going to be celebrating the stories and the numbers

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and the things that God has been doing in our midst

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because He has been using the church to do really great things

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in individual lives all over the country.

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I've experienced it personally

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and I've heard countless stories of God working miracles

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in the lives of people who are part of Crossroads.

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And we get to be part of that as generous givers

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and God's doing this because of your generosity.

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And so today you're going to hear some stories.

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You're also going to see and hear some big numbers

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as we celebrate.

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And we don't just share numbers for numbers sake,

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but really every number has a name and every name has a story

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and every story is known by God.

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And so I want you to get to hear the ways

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that God is moving in our midst through our church,

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because it's an honor that we get to be part of it.

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And so as we celebrate, we're actually going to start

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by singing together as a way to tell God thank you.

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- On average, 29,000people experience Jesus each week at Crossroads.

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Every number has a name, every name has a story.

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- I always believed in God, but I absolutely hated church.

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In my experience, it was stiff and judgmental.

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But people here remembered my name

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and really cared about my life.

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Last year I was baptized and I started serving in Kids' Club.

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Our relationship to God has gone to the next level.

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- We meet people where they are.

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We get her hands dirty through weekend services,

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journeys Go Trips and camps.

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We don't walk; we run to our friends that don't know Jesus.

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- Women Camp helped me step out in faith.

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I had issues buried so deep I was unaware they were with me.

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I was finally able to let go of my worries

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and know that God is going to do what He promised.

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- We are God's plan to bring His love and truth to our friends.

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There is no Plan B, and we will do anything short of sin

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and use any platform possible to tell them about Jesus:

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Podcasts, mobile apps, music,

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creative endeavors like Awaited and Blink,

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articles and Undivided are all tools we use to spread the gospel.

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- This app makes it easier to stay connected

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to the community and God.

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With 12 physical locations

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and communities across the country who stream services,

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this place was made for you.

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- This community was there for me when I was baptized

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and when I started making changes in my life.

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I found my home, my community, and my family here.

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- We weren't created to live safe, boring lives.

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We were born for adventure

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and that includes how we trust God with our money.

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- My fiancee and I had given money on and off,

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but not an intentional 10% tithe of our income.

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It was daunting because we were getting married

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and paying for our wedding.

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But as soon as we decided to set up the automatic tithe,

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my fiance got a bonus that was the exact amount

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of what we had just committed.

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Are you freaking kidding me?

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We aren't giving to receive, but God showed up

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and I was blown away.

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- Your adventure begins here.

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- We say yes to Jesus.

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If you know, if you say yes to something,

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then you say no to a bunch of other things.

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So we say yes to Jesus and no to hatred.

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Yes to Jesus and no to division.

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Yes to Jesus and no to selfishness or greed.

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Yes to Jesus.

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Yes to peace.No to passivity.

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And that is one of the reasons

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I believe God continues to do radical things among us here,

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because God does amazing and impossible things with our yes.

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So one of the ways we say yes to Him is with our giving.

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You know, one of my titles here is Worship Leader.

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And so it's very fitting that I would set up

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our giving this week because giving is worship.

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It's not just a song. It's action.

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It's love in action.

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It's submission to Him and action.

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So as we continue to sing, bags are going to be passed,

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and you can say yes to Him with your checking account

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or savings account with your generosity

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and say nothing will hold a higher place than You.

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I fully trust You because of who You are.

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So you give cash or check in the bags,

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you can give online like my family and I do.

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But this is an act of worship.

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Where we put these words into action

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and say yes to Him because of who He is.

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So stay standing and we'll sing together

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as those bags are passed for us.

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- Yes, you have been God.

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I can look back over my life and see Your faithfulness,

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not Your faithfulness to make everything easy on me,

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not Your faithfulness to make me happy.

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I don't think You're concerned about those things.

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I think You want the best for me.

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You've been faithful to stay with me.

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Your presence, Your strength, Your hope

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is Your faithfulness in my life.

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I don't know where I would be without You

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breaking in and change in my heart.

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So, thank you, God. That's why I sing to You

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and why I give my life to You and trust of who you are.

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Thank You for being good and faithful.

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I pray all this because of who I've seen You to be in Jesus.

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Amen.

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Thanks for singing with us.

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Man, so good. You sound great.

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Hey, why don't you grab a seat real quick?

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- Coming this March, The Jesus Myth.

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A pilgrimage to the most controversial places on Earth,

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Investigating ancient stories of Jesus,

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separating the myth from the truth

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and discovering what it means for you today.

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The third season of Real Encounters with God,

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All new on location in Israel.

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New places, new people, new encounters.

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Real Encounters with God: The Jesus Myth,

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premiering March 21st and 22nd at Crossroads.

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- Yeah. It's coming, I hope you're excited about that.

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I'm excited because we're doing it because of you.

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We did a bit of research several months ago

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and found out that far in a way that when we go to Israel

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and film on location to have the stories

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and the scriptures come alive,

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those are the most memorable and favorite parts for you, period.

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So okay, give the people what they want.

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So we're doing that.

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I thought I had learned just about everything

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I could about Israel. Not true.

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I could not be more excited about this year

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is going to come out in a couple of weeks.

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We also did another series a few months ago

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that was the series that generated more positive emails

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that I've seen -- than any series ever done,

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which is always good. I like getting positive e-mails.

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My e-mail is btome@crossroads.net

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if you want to send me any positive ones.

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If you want to send me any negative ones,

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it's a cmingo@crossroads.net.

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[laughter]

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It was a series called The Blessed Life,

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where we looked at the zone, the zone of where God moves

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and where you can have more sensation of Him.

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And what does it mean to get into that zone?

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It was called The Blessed Life.

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And, man, people just -- man, that was unlocking eyes

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and unlocking hearts for a lot of us.

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And today, I'm going to build on that a little bit.

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We had when you leave here today,

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you're gonna get one of these annual reports.

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It's got a bunch and numbers, a bunch of things.

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It's really interesting what's happening around at Crossroads.

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And I want to talk a little bit about this

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and I want to talk a little bit about money,

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but I'm not gonna do it the whole time.

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I'm going to give you two messages today.

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Who could take two messages in church on the same day?

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OK, We're going to do one short message

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and then we're gonna do another message

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that has nothing to do with what I'm doing on the first one.

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Are we okay with that?

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It doesn't matter if you are or not,

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

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So let's pray before I go any further.

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God, thank You for the ability talking about things

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that are transcendent.

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I know that's been happening today

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and it's going to happen more today.

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And I just want You to be pleased and Your people to be helped.

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I pray that we will all come to see You

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with new depth and new clarity.

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Help me to be a part of facilitating that goal, God.

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And I pray these things according to character

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and identity of Jesus.

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Amen

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The Blessed Life, a powerful thing.

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In the midst of The Blessed Life,

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I actually had an apology to everybody, where I said that,

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"You know, I've tried to distance myself very, very far away

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from health and wealth, prosperity preachers."

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If you've been around hearing me preach for24 years,

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you know that I am not a health and wealth prosperity preacher at all.

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What is health, wealth and prosperity preacher?

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It is a person who believes

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that if you're at the center of God's will,

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then you'll be healthy and you will be wealthy.

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And if you're not healthy right now,

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and if you're not wealthy or growing that way,

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it's probably because you're not doing something right,

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and specifically, it's probably not because you are giving right.

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Probably a problem there.

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And I apologize that I've tried to stay so far away from that,

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that unfortunately there's certain versus the Bible

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that I haven't preached with all of my heart.

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Well, there's abuses of scriptural text that we can make.,

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but there's also abuses we can make

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by simply not preaching some of the things that are in the scriptures.

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So I talked about them, because there is a sense of reward

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that could come your way when you step

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into things that God wants us to do.

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We talked about the tithe, this crazy concept

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that God wants the very first 10% of every paycheck we get

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or every payout we get or any everything

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because He sees it as Him blessing us.

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If you don't believe God's blessing you,

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then you believe that everything is about you.

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You believe everything rises and falls on your efforts.

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And that's a terrifying life to live.

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That's awearying life to lead that that nothing depends on God.

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God isn't involved my life at all.

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It's only me.

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That just wears us out.

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I believe that God has blessed me.

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God gives me things and God as an investor

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and He asked for this crazy thing of just like a one time 10% back.

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Now, I've made some investments in my life, not a lot.

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I contribute regularly, a regular percentage of my income

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to a retirement account.

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I've made very few investments, individual investments

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in businesses stuff.

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In large part I've made very few because they never go ver well when I invest.

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You don't want me investing in your business.

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Let me just say that right now, you don't want that

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because it's not gonna work out very well for you.

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So I've done it very, very rarely.

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But here's the crazy thing, when you invest in something,

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here's what you expect.

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You expect to get all your money back

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and then money be on that, or else it's not investments.

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God, so crazy, He gives, He blesses us, He invests in us

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a paycheck, whatever it was and He says, "Okay,

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all I want is one time 10%, the first 10%, I want that back."

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It's like, "What? You don't want the whole thing?"

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No, no, no.

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If we believe God's blessing us, it's a crazy blessing

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that He only asks for that.

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And this is a test.

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It's a test of whether or not we want more from God.

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It's a test of whether or not we want God in our life.

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It's a test of whether or not we believe God or not.

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Jesus says this.

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He says:

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Money is like a -- it's like a rock that has a rope tied to it

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that's wrapped around our heart.

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When we throw it, our heart goes there,

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where our money goes, our heart goes there.

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And this is how God knows where our heart is.

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God loves when I pray and He wants me to pray more.

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Awesome, but he doesn't know where my heart is when I pray

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so much as where I put my money.

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God loves when I volunteer.

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Those of you who volunteer, he loves when you give your time.

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It's wonderful, but it's not the ultimate test

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of what He knows about our heart.

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According to Jesus, the ultimate test about

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he knows about our heart is what we do with our money

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or specifically the money that is His money

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that He actually has blessed with us.

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This is a huge thing.

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The first thing, the first thing before anything else

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will return to God what is His.

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It's even giving Him what is His;

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It's returning to Him what is His.

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In the book of Proverbs 3:9-10 it says:

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Honor the Lord with what's called the first fruits.

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It's the first, right?

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The thing that we do first

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is the thing that's most important to us.

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It's the first thing.

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Now, this idea of the tithe, taking 10% of the gross

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that God gives me and returning it to Him

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is mentioned 500 years before the law comes around

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The law is one Charlton Heston, I mean, when Moses

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comes down from Mount Sinai and he brings the Ten Commandments.

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That who era is called the law.

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It's mentioned500 years before the law.

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It's mentioned in the law.

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It's mentioned after the law.

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And Jesus affirms this in Matthew 23:23,

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because this is a regular and consistent test

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God gives us to see what's in our heart.

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It's a regular consistent test we have

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to see whether or not we want more of God

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and whether or not we want to get closer to Him.

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The book of Hebrews 11:6 it says:

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He's a rewarder.

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And this is what I had to say I'm sorry for.

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I've ignored for a long time or have before that God does reward.

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It's not a health and wealth thing that you do this

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and all of a sudden financial stuff

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is going to break for you all the time.

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But there is a reward.

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Some of us, the reward is I just feel closer to God.

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Some of us the reward is there's prayers that I pray

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that I get more yeses with I wouldn't have before.

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Some of us the reward is I have restored relationship

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with somebody close me.

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Some of us the reward is I get a sort of emotional release,

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I just have a calm.

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Some of us the reward is something broke for me financially.

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Some of us the reward is there's all kinds of things.

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But he is a rewarder.

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I have never known -- I have never known someone

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who has tithed consistently and has regretted it or stopped.

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Never knowing it, because anybody who does

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knows that there is a reward that comes to us.

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There's something that overwhelms what we could do

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in and of ourselves. That's what that proverb says.

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It says it fills our barns, fills it with new wine.

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Now, what I want to do and what our church --

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our church is all about getting you and your friends to God.

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Who wants to get to God? Anybody want to get to God?

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Who wants to sense more of God?

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I do.

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Who wants to have everybody in your sphere of influence

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having an interaction with the divine entity

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who cares and loves and has power?

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I will do anything, anything short of sin for that to happen.

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Anything.

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That why we try to be creative

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in having what we know as the tithe test.

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We actually said, hey, we're so confident this is true

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because God says it.

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And he says that we should test Him.

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Actually, here's the verse where He says that Malachi 3:10:

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And He says, test Me.

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God says, Put Me to the test.

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Bring my storehouse.

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That is, bring it to the church you're a part of.

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Because when we tithe to the church are a part of,

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we're no longer playing God with God's portion.

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We give and I give way beyond the tithe to the other places,

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other worthy organizations.

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But that first 10% is a surrender.

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It's a bringing to Him to the storehouse.

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It's not me playing God with my money,

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figuring out what I like and where it's going to go,

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because it's not my money to play God with,

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it's God's money.I return it.

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And God says test Me in this.

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And so what we wanted to do is, "Hey,

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if you will try this for 90 days,

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tithing on your gross income to your church.

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And if it doesn't work out,

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we will return everything you gave in the last 90 days."

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We had hundreds and hundreds of people do this.

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Crazy thing is we had about 3% I think

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that got to the end of 90 days and said,

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"OK, I'd like to -- I'd like my money back."

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We interacted with them, we gave them their money back

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and we interact with them and said, "Why?

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What was going on there?"

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We found out there was severe situations of benevolence,

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people really hurting financially.

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And hey, sometimes you hurt financially.

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And guess what your church is there for you.

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So we partnered with those folks

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to get try to give them extra financial help

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to get them to a new place.

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But the results are utterly stunning of what's taken place.

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And we're going to give you one story of somebody

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who took us up on this tithe test.

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This is just one. I tell friends, it's not unusual.

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These tests, they come in that is really, really heartwarming.

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This one we're going to show, I want to tell you right away,

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just so you can get ready it.

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This is not a political statement.

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We just got done with the politics series.

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Who's happy that we got done with the political series?

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I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm done with it.

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I am.

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I actually liked it. Got a lot of affirmation on that as well.

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But I'm happy it's done.

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Crossroads political series is over, done, away and gone.

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But this one, you're going to watch this,

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and you're going to, "Well, they're trying --"

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I'm not making any --

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we're not making any political statement here.

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Please don't write to me because

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everything gets politicized in our country anymore.

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Everything does.

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This is no political statement.

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This is just somebody's story.

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And I think it's pretty stinking cool.

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Let's hear from them.

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- I'm Leslie, this is my husband, Lester.

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We had met back in2015

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and then we were married in October of 2016.

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And in February of2018 ICE came to our house.

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- I went to visit him in prison

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and we would see each other from a glass wall.

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He decided really that he was gonna go back.

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He was taken in February and he arrived in Nicaragua in April.

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- The next thing that happened was that

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the embassy in Nicaragua closed because they had a civil unrest.

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- If you are deported from the United States,

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you can have to stay in your country for up to 10 years.

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We thought everything was good

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and then it was like our case was in a black hole.

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I can remember, I think it was November the 3rd,

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Brian had said, "Where your money is is where your heart is."

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I don't feel that I had ever really, truly given my money to God.

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There was a 90 day challenge and I said,

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"I'm going to take your challenge."

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I had just gotten paid, so I stepped out on faith

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and I gave that 10%.

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And on the 12th, so that's nine days later,

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we got the news that his passport had been returned.

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So we didn't know if it was good or it was bad.

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He just took off on his motorcyclethe next day that he could

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- I think it was November the 21st he was home.

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- You know, I encourage other people to test Him as well.

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Take the 90 days challenge.

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And I don't need my money back.

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It's funny, when my money goes into my bank account,

00:32:22

I'm like, "Get it out of here.

00:32:23

Get it out of here.

00:32:25

This is not mine; this belongs to God."

00:32:28

I don't want to ever be deluded that I can get further

00:32:32

with that money in my bank than I can

00:32:34

get giving it to Him first and living with my 90%.

00:32:39

I'm happy to give God that 10%.

00:32:42

[applause]

00:32:48

- Man, that's so good.

00:32:51

I don't like being teary up here,

00:32:53

that's supposed to be Chuck Mingo's job?

00:32:55

I don't -- man.

00:32:57

Gosh.

00:32:59

Oh, I guess must just touch my face with Coronavirus.

00:33:02

Oh, no. Oh.

00:33:08

Oh, man, it's so good, it's so good.

00:33:12

I love that.

00:33:13

I just love it because it's all of us who tithe,

00:33:17

we all sit there, "Go, yes, I know that story.

00:33:20

That's my God.

00:33:21

I know that."

00:33:23

I just want courage you, man, take that step.

00:33:25

And if you're gonna, "I..."

00:33:26

Take a -- work yourself there.

00:33:29

Work yourself there a 3% step, a 7%.

00:33:32

Just ask yourself if you want more of God

00:33:34

and start moving in that place.

00:33:36

Now, for those of us who are there,

00:33:38

we're going to restart something with some reformatting

00:33:41

we did a few years ago.

00:33:42

It's called The Blue Team.

00:33:43

It's The Blue Team for those who are self-declared tithers.

00:33:47

Who decides that? You decide that.

00:33:49

We're not gonna look and check your W-2 or anything.

00:33:51

But if you are a tither to Crossroads, that's what it is.

00:33:56

That's what tithing is, your local church.

00:33:58

We would love for you to be on The Blue Team.

00:34:01

If you want to be part of The Blue Team,

00:34:02

go to Crossroads.net/blueteam

00:34:04

or you can go 313131 text.

00:34:07

You can do that right now if you want actually.

00:34:09

And we'll send you a little sticker.

00:34:11

A little sticker as well.

00:34:13

And we want to be able to build into those people

00:34:15

who are building into Crossroads.

00:34:16

Everything that you're going to see in this report

00:34:19

when you leave here today.

00:34:20

And there's some really good stuff.

00:34:21

And there's some stuff that's not that good.

00:34:23

It's a report.

00:34:24

It shows what's going on.

00:34:25

Everything you're going to see in here has come

00:34:27

from people who are on the team around here.

00:34:29

And those of us who are tithing, we want to recognize you.

00:34:33

I know that you are bearing

00:34:34

a disproportionate weight spiritually in our church.

00:34:37

We want to uniquely built into you

00:34:39

wherever you are on the income spectrum.

00:34:41

We want to give you monthly coaching.

00:34:43

There's a couple events every year we want to do.

00:34:46

It's going to be really meaningful

00:34:47

and really good for you.

00:34:49

We want to build into our spiritual warriors

00:34:52

and that's the way that we want to do it.

00:34:54

And wherever you are right now spiritually

00:34:57

and wherever you are financially,

00:34:58

we're excited that you're part of Crossroads

00:35:00

and we're excited to push you to be the person

00:35:04

and to experience the God who is,

00:35:07

who stands outside of personal opinionand actually

00:35:11

blesses in ways that don't make sense to the human mind,

00:35:15

but they are what they are.

00:35:18

God, thank you for this reformatting of our mind.

00:35:23

Thank you for giving us a church to be a part of

00:35:27

or at least a church to be viewing and challenge by

00:35:32

that is making a difference in our life and in the world.

00:35:35

You're good.

00:35:36

I pray these things according to your name, Jesus.

00:35:39

Amen.

00:35:40

All right. So that's the end of my first message.

00:35:44

Now, let's do my second message.

00:35:45

Let's reset for the second message.

00:35:47

Are you ready for it? Let's do it, let's shut this down.

00:36:09

All right.

00:36:11

Hey. All right.

00:36:12

Are you ready for message number two?

00:36:14

I'm ready.

00:36:15

Who in here wants more of God?

00:36:17

Does anybody in here want more of God?

00:36:19

Well, whatever you think of God,

00:36:21

even if you don't feel God, don't believe God that much,

00:36:24

we probably want that to some degree or you wouldn't be in here.

00:36:26

Anybody who's been here who's known God for quite some time,

00:36:30

we're here today because we want more of God.

00:36:32

There's a story in the Bible that has been

00:36:35

marinating in my mind for months and months and months and months.

00:36:38

I've shared it with some friends of mine

00:36:40

and I want to share it with you today on a broader audience.

00:36:43

It's three questions.

00:36:46

This comes straight out of the classic Bible story.

00:36:48

Three questions to help us get closer to God.

00:36:51

If you ask these questions of yourself,

00:36:54

I'm telling you right now, you'll get closer to God.

00:36:57

The story hero that we're looking at today is David.

00:37:00

David was one of the great kings of Israel,

00:37:03

the second king of Israel.

00:37:04

He's known as a man after God's own heart.

00:37:06

Even though he has a number of problems

00:37:09

that happen his life, he brings it around and comes back to God.

00:37:12

And early his life he's from David and Goliath fame.

00:37:16

Most of us have heard that story.

00:37:18

He climbs the ranks of Israel after he takes down a giant,

00:37:22

is an amazing warrior.

00:37:24

People want him to be king, basically, or exalted.

00:37:28

He doesn't want that in that timing.

00:37:31

Saul, the current king is upset with David.

00:37:33

He's threatened by him.

00:37:35

He's intimidated by him.

00:37:36

He tries to kill David.

00:37:38

David could have killed Saul,

00:37:39

but he wants to respect the office and Saul

00:37:40

and he never does.

00:37:42

Finally, Saul does die, his last battle, he dies.

00:37:46

And then David is coronated and ascends to be the king.

00:37:49

Now think about your life.

00:37:51

Is there any job you would love to have right now?

00:37:55

Like if you're in a school district or you're a student,

00:37:59

would you love to be superintendent or dean of students?

00:38:03

If you're in corporate America, would you love to be CEO?

00:38:07

If you -- I don't know, whatever it is.

00:38:09

Is there something like, "Oh, if I got that"?

00:38:12

Now think about this, if you had that position,

00:38:14

is there any perk in that position you would love to have?

00:38:18

Anything you would just say, "Ooh, man,

00:38:20

I'm going to go have fun with that like right now."

00:38:22

Like if I got to be President of the United States,

00:38:25

the first thing I would do is give me the key to Area 51.

00:38:29

I'm going there right now.

00:38:31

Like right now.

00:38:32

David does this.

00:38:34

As soon as he becomes king, he goes,

00:38:36

"Oh, you know what I've always been curious about?

00:38:38

That Ark of the Covenant thing."

00:38:40

What's the Ark of the Covenant thing?

00:38:41

Well, that's when I told you before,

00:38:43

you know when Moses comes downfrom the mountain

00:38:46

with the Ten Commandments.

00:38:48

There's a chest fabricated, it's called the Ark of the Covenant.

00:38:50

It goes in the chest and a future Jew,

00:38:53

because Moses was a Jew and Jesus was Jew,

00:38:54

a future Jew, Steven Spielberg, is gonna make a movie

00:38:58

about that Ark where people's faces are gonna melt off

00:39:01

when they open up that Ark.

00:39:02

Raiders of the Lost Ark, most of us have seen that movie.

00:39:05

David says, "I want to see that thing.

00:39:07

Bring it to me."

00:39:08

So here's where the story goes:

00:39:40

David says, "Hey, let's get a new cart.

00:39:42

I don't want anything to break or anything.

00:39:44

Let's get a new cart, make sure it's OK

00:39:45

and I'm going to start transporting this."

00:39:47

And they start having a one man -- or not a one man.

00:39:50

I was going to say a one man pep band.

00:39:51

No, there's a bunch of pep bands.

00:39:53

There's (sound effect) and beating on things and playing things.

00:39:56

It's awesome and everyone's having a good time.

00:39:58

And and then all of a sudden this cart pulled by an oxen

00:40:01

hits a rock and it stumbles and this poor sap beside it,

00:40:06

Uzzah sees the Ark of God falling down and goes,

00:40:09

"Oh, I've got it."

00:40:10

So he stops and pushed it back up there.

00:40:12

Whoo, good.

00:40:13

That was close.

00:40:14

Almost got the Ark of God on the ground.

00:40:18

All of the suddens, he's zapped dead.

00:40:20

He dies.

00:40:21

God actually kills him.

00:40:23

Kills him right then and there.

00:40:27

David has a problem with this.

00:40:29

He's got a huge problem with this.

00:40:30

Actually, let's read what happens next.

00:40:56

First question David asks himself,

00:41:00

and we should all ask ourselves this regularly is,

00:41:03

am I being sloppy with anything?

00:41:05

Am I being sloppy?

00:41:07

David is angry.

00:41:09

Why is he initially angry?

00:41:10

He's an angry because, "What in the world God?

00:41:13

He's trying to keep -- the poor guy Uzzah is trying

00:41:15

to keep the Ark from hitting the ground.

00:41:17

He's angry.

00:41:18

And all of sudden it says the very next verse it says,

00:41:20

"And then he was frightened."

00:41:22

Wait. Why angry?

00:41:23

Why frightened?

00:41:24

I believe that the gap between those two verses

00:41:28

is that David realizes after he's angry.

00:41:31

"Oh, no."

00:41:33

I just touch my face again.

00:41:34

Oh, no. Oh, no.

00:41:36

Saul, previous king, got disqualified from being king

00:41:41

when he took on the priestly role of sacrificing

00:41:44

and he didn't stay within his lane of being king.

00:41:48

One of the main things that Saul did that was not good,

00:41:50

Saul the Old Testament character.

00:41:53

I think David all of the sudden goes, "Oh, my goodness.

00:41:56

What have I done? What have I done?

00:41:58

I had this cart on a -- I had this Ark on a cart,

00:42:05

but it was supposed to be carried by priests.

00:42:08

It was supposed to be carried by priests

00:42:09

who have acacia poles who are carrying it.

00:42:11

And David goes, "Oh, no, I've messed up.

00:42:13

I did like something Saul would do.

00:42:16

I just -- I just got sloppy andI start doing something."

00:42:18

Immediately, he's, "Oh, no.

00:42:20

Is this it?

00:42:21

Is my run done right now?"

00:42:23

Fortunately, his run isn't done, for a variety reasons.

00:42:26

We'll see one in just a moment.

00:42:27

But this important, friends, we have to ask this,

00:42:30

Is there anything I'm sloppy with?

00:42:33

I've changed some stuff about how managing some of the staff

00:42:36

because they're just getting a little sloppy.

00:42:38

You know, the weight of my words with somebody

00:42:41

who's been working with me for 15 years is one thing.

00:42:45

But the weight of my words when somebody is maybe 24

00:42:48

and they're newer and like, you know,

00:42:50

I'm the guy who started the church and everything.

00:42:52

Words that I think are innocent can be crushing

00:42:54

or that kind of stuff.

00:42:55

Just just a little sloppy.

00:42:57

Things need to be tightened up a little bit.

00:42:59

Think about Lib and I are doing together.

00:43:01

Maybe binging a little too much Netflix,

00:43:04

instead of actually talking, maybe getting a little sloppy.

00:43:07

My times with God, you know, I have to ask myself,

00:43:10

"Oka, am I in a good rhythm here

00:43:12

or am I getting sloppy with that?"

00:43:14

Things that I'm planning on, whatever it is,

00:43:17

I don't know what it's for you, but it is good for us

00:43:19

if we want more of God to just sometimes ask,

00:43:22

"Is anything going on my life

00:43:23

I'm just getting a little sloppy with?"

00:43:25

Because David realizes he's gotten really, really sloppy here.

00:43:29

And then he does like a Vegas blackjack dealer,

00:43:32

he goes, "Done.

00:43:33

Okay. Ark of the Covenant.

00:43:37

Out, out."

00:43:38

Oh, look at that, new tattoo.

00:43:40

"So, Ark of the Covenant out."

00:43:41

You'll find more about that in Real Encounters One.

00:43:44

No, you're not going to see it.

00:43:45

I know, no, no. I'll talk about in the very first episode.

00:43:48

Anyway. Where was I?

00:43:50

Black Jack dealer, that right.

00:43:51

Black Jack dealer.

00:43:53

He says, "Let's get this Ark out of my possession.

00:43:56

Where's the closest roof?"

00:43:58

And the guy says Obd-Edom the Gittite.

00:44:00

David, goes, oh, OK. Sucks to have his name.

00:44:03

I would hate to have that name, but for fine.

00:44:04

Send it over to Obed-Edom the Gittite.

00:44:06

So he takes it and he parks it over at Obed-Edom the Gittite's house.

00:44:11

And let's see what happens while it's at this house, it says this:

00:44:27

So David wants to vacate this Ark,

00:44:29

get it out of my hands immediately.

00:44:30

I've got to figure out what to do with this,

00:44:32

so maybe it just stays there forever because

00:44:33

I don't want God to strike me down dead for my sloppiness.

00:44:37

So just park it there.

00:44:38

I'm gonna go back to my normal life.

00:44:40

And it's there for three months and it says,

00:44:43

"God blessed Obed-Edom and all his household."

00:44:45

Now, there's some things in the Bible

00:44:47

that I believe are intentionally nebulous.

00:44:51

We don't know exactly what's happening.

00:44:54

And that's intentional.

00:44:55

Sometimes intentional because there is a mystery to your faith.

00:44:58

You can't explain your faith.

00:45:00

You can't fully defend your faith.

00:45:01

There's a mystery to it and the Bible speaks of that.

00:45:03

Sometimes the nebulousness is there

00:45:06

so that everybody can get something out of it.

00:45:09

In New Testament, the apostle Paul,

00:45:10

who wrote much of the New Testament, most the New Testament,

00:45:14

he talks about a thorn of the flesh.

00:45:16

He says, "A thorn of the flesh was tormenting me

00:45:19

and I prayed for it to leave.

00:45:21

But I learned that I am sufficient in His grace,"

00:45:25

is basically what he says.

00:45:27

I've got this thorn in the flesh

00:45:29

and he's learning to understand God's grace

00:45:32

while he has this thing is life he doesn't want.

00:45:34

We don't know what this thorn is.

00:45:35

It's not a literal thorn sticking in him.

00:45:37

There's some problem he can't get over.

00:45:39

Some people believe it was his bad eyesight

00:45:42

because he says the end of one of his letters,

00:45:44

"I'm writing this with my own hand."

00:45:46

As in, it's tough for me to see and write

00:45:49

because I've bad eyesight.

00:45:50

But it doesn't say that's what it is or not.

00:45:54

Fortunately, that means all of us can relate

00:45:57

to that verse about asking God to take away our thorn

00:46:00

and finding that His grace must be sufficient for me.

00:46:02

Because everybody in here has a thorn.

00:46:05

Everybody in here has something

00:46:07

that you just can't get gone from your life.

00:46:09

Everybody has something in here that just persists

00:46:12

and you just can't get over it.

00:46:13

Everybody has something here that's just a prick in your life.

00:46:17

One of my thorns is my back.

00:46:19

My back feels great right now.

00:46:20

All of the sudden at the worst opportune time,

00:46:22

it will just clench up and I'm hurt and it's a thorn.

00:46:26

Some of us have thorns that are memories

00:46:28

of something that happened to us in high school,

00:46:30

and we just can't counsel our way out of it.

00:46:33

Some of us have thorns of kids we wanted to have

00:46:37

that we don't have any longer or could never bear.

00:46:39

Some of us have thorns, that we have an amazing education

00:46:43

and we just can't get a job that matches our education.

00:46:47

And it's a thorn.

00:46:48

Some of us are sitting beside our thorns in here, you know?

00:46:51

Seriously, sometimesour spouse is a thorn.

00:46:55

Sometimes our kids are a thorn.

00:46:58

Sometimesour dreams and aspirations have been crushed

00:47:02

and we have nowhere to go. It's a thorn.

00:47:04

All of us have a thorn.

00:47:06

If you know your thorn right now, just raise your hand.

00:47:09

Who who knows exactly what their thorn is?

00:47:11

Okay. All of us have.

00:47:13

Who just doesn't participate ever in church

00:47:15

and will never raise their hand?

00:47:16

Who is that with you?

00:47:17

[laughter]

00:47:20

By not knowing exactly how he gets blessed,

00:47:22

that's what makes it so powerful.

00:47:24

How does he get blessed? We don't know.

00:47:26

Let's just brainstorm for a little bit.

00:47:30

Maybe he's got a massive wart on the end of his nose,

00:47:32

that drops off instantaneously.

00:47:37

It says word makes its way back to David.

00:47:40

His neighbors, in other words,

00:47:43

people who know this household, they're seeing

00:47:46

something that's happening there that's making them go,

00:47:49

"Whoa!" to get back to the king.

00:47:54

Maybe all the neighbors, all they heard was fighting

00:47:57

and bickering inside the house.

00:47:59

And for the last three months

00:48:00

they were singing and laughing happening all the time.

00:48:04

Maybe they had a child that ran away from home,

00:48:06

a long lost child and child came back.

00:48:10

Maybe, maybe crops were amazing at his house

00:48:14

versus the other people's houses.

00:48:16

Maybe God cause the perfect weather pattern

00:48:19

to happen over his house and his crops were bigger,

00:48:23

more bountiful than all of his neighbors.

00:48:25

Maybe he was walking outside one day in his backyard

00:48:28

and he tripped over something.

00:48:29

He sees something.

00:48:31

He starts digging it out and growing larger.

00:48:34

It's a gold nugget that's actually has only

00:48:36

one 100th of the mass above the above the dirt

00:48:39

and he found this thing.

00:48:42

Maybe his wife was infertile and now they're no longer infertile.

00:48:47

Or he was infertile.

00:48:49

I think that would be worse from a guy's perspective,

00:48:50

and no longer he is.

00:48:52

Maybe -- who knows what it is.

00:48:53

All I'm saying is stuff starts breaking for this family

00:48:57

and everybody knows it.

00:48:59

It's very obvious.

00:49:00

It makes its way back to David.

00:49:03

And let's see what David does.

00:49:21

They tell David, David, that Ark thing,

00:49:24

you know, the one that you were sloppy with,

00:49:27

that guy Uzzah, God rest his soul, got killed over?

00:49:30

We don't want anything of, just parked it there.

00:49:32

Well, apparently I don't know what, I guess,

00:49:35

This thing is in his house

00:49:37

and he's having breakthrough's one after the other.

00:49:39

He is blessed and it's obviously not he's doing something right.

00:49:44

It says the Lord bless him,

00:49:45

not Obed-Edom figured out how to make life work,

00:49:48

which we should all figure out how to make life work, by the way.

00:49:50

There's just a different X factor

00:49:52

of God getting involved in your life.

00:49:55

And what does David do?

00:49:58

"Really? I want it.

00:50:01

I want it."

00:50:02

And he goes and gets it.

00:50:04

Here's where some of us like philosophical spirit sides go

00:50:07

"Well, shouldn't David have just left it there?"

00:50:10

No, he shouldn't have left it there.

00:50:12

The people that think David should've just left it there

00:50:15

are the kind of people who don't want to go for more things.

00:50:20

This the second question you have to ask yourself is:

00:50:22

am I going for more?

00:50:25

Am I going for more?

00:50:27

David wants more.

00:50:29

The Bible talks about contentment.

00:50:30

Contentment is a really good thing.

00:50:32

We should be content, no matter --

00:50:33

We should be content and all circumstance, the Bible says.

00:50:36

And the Bible gives admonition after admonition,

00:50:39

commandment and after command to go and do more.

00:50:44

I mean there's so many different stories that are in there.

00:50:47

And here's one of them, that David goes,

00:50:51

"I want those blessings.

00:50:53

I want more."

00:50:54

If you want more from God, would you please raise your hand?

00:50:58

I want more from God.

00:51:00

I want more from God.

00:51:01

I want more than I have right now.

00:51:05

I don't know if that makes me sound un-pastorly.

00:51:07

I want more.

00:51:09

You say, "Well, Brian, what more, what kind of more?"

00:51:11

I want more of the Holy Spirit in my life.

00:51:13

I want more spiritual gifts.

00:51:15

I want all of it.

00:51:16

Every spiritual gift,I want them all.

00:51:17

I want every last one of them.

00:51:18

I want to be able to speak in languages

00:51:20

I've never formally learned.

00:51:22

I wantto be able to give prophecies.

00:51:25

I want it all. I want it all.

00:51:27

I want to have more yeses to prayers I answer.

00:51:31

And it's not just these spiritual things,

00:51:33

I want more people to follow me on social media.

00:51:37

I want more money in my bank accounts.

00:51:39

I want more grandkids, not children, grandkids.

00:51:43

Big difference there. I want more.

00:51:44

I want more grandkids.

00:51:46

I want more opportunities to speak before corporations.

00:51:50

I want more books that I write to be sold.

00:51:53

I want to be bought, rather.

00:51:54

I want more friends that dig into my life

00:51:57

and I dig into their life.

00:51:59

I want more kids to sponsored through Compassion International.

00:52:03

I want more ideas that God gives me.

00:52:04

I don't know.

00:52:05

I want to read the Bible more and see things that I never saw.

00:52:08

I want more.

00:52:09

I want more.

00:52:10

I want more people coming to church

00:52:11

that I happen to be part of, Crossroads.

00:52:13

I want more Crossroads sites.

00:52:15

I want more.

00:52:16

And I hope you do too.

00:52:18

In fact, if you don't want more,

00:52:21

something is spiritually wrong with you.

00:52:25

You've been deluded.

00:52:27

You need to want anything and everything

00:52:29

God could possibly pour into your life

00:52:31

and tofully enjoy and experience this life

00:52:37

for the purposes that he has put you on this planet for.

00:52:41

Now, there is a thing going on with other people,

00:52:43

before we get there, before we get there.

00:52:45

That's the third question.

00:52:47

There is this something inside of you

00:52:50

that you got to want more.

00:52:52

And if you don't want more, stop being upset

00:52:55

with where your life is or stop wondering

00:52:57

why in the world that these things

00:52:59

aren't happening for me like they're happening for others.

00:53:01

You've got to -- and David wants it.

00:53:04

He goes and he gets it.

00:53:06

Ad when he goes and does it, he puts a lot of planning

00:53:09

and time into this.

00:53:10

Let's see what happens.

00:53:11

This is to see what happened

00:53:12

David -- the first part, first question that's a sermon.

00:53:17

If you've been to church any length of time,

00:53:18

you've heard that sermon.

00:53:20

I's a sermon of, "Oh, no, no, don't be sloppy.

00:53:23

Do the right spiritual things."

00:53:24

But no one ever tells this sermon in church.

00:53:26

This sermon that's the rest of the story that you need to want more.

00:53:30

When you've heard David and Goliath, David killing Goliath,

00:53:34

you've never probably ever heard this really weird verse

00:53:37

right before David goes and kills him.

00:53:39

Here's what says:

00:53:53

So David says, I don't like that we've got a person

00:53:56

outside of the faith who's insulting God.

00:53:59

And by the way, what do I get?

00:54:03

Because he knows he can do this.

00:54:04

He's killed bears, he's killed lions.

00:54:06

He says this with a sling size, he says, I've got this,

00:54:09

but I want more than I have right now.

00:54:12

What is the reward for the man who takes him down?

00:54:16

We glossed over that because for some reason

00:54:18

we believed that the closer I get to God,

00:54:20

the less hungry I should be.

00:54:22

No, no, no.

00:54:25

The closer you get to God, the hungrier you should be.

00:54:28

The closer you get to God, the more of Him you should sense

00:54:30

and the more of him you should want.

00:54:32

So here's what David does in this situation.

00:54:36

d

00:54:39

and David dance before the Lordwith all his might.

00:54:42

And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings

00:54:45

and the peace offerings, he blessed the people

00:55:03

David goes the other extreme,

00:55:05

he's sloppy in the first time.

00:55:06

He's not transporting right.

00:55:07

This sounds like, OK. I've got to get this right.

00:55:10

Let's get the priest out.

00:55:12

Let's do all this right.

00:55:14

He gets them doing their deal.

00:55:15

In fact, he goes overboard.

00:55:16

He says, OK, here's what we're going to do, folks.

00:55:18

Every six steps we're going to stop and have a worship service.

00:55:22

Every six steps.

00:55:23

Why every six steps?

00:55:24

I don't know. Maybe he's thinking to himself,

00:55:26

"How can I get this one right?

00:55:27

Because I really want the blessing of God in my life.

00:55:29

Well, God created the earth in six days

00:55:31

and rest on the seventh.

00:55:33

So how about I have people take six steps

00:55:35

and we stop and we have worship service.

00:55:37

And I'm gonna personally fund the sacrifices.

00:55:39

He gets these cows and stuff and he slaughters them.

00:55:43

Now, I don't know exactly how far it is

00:55:44

from where he's going in the city of David,

00:55:46

which is a the small city outside are, the city of Jerusalem.

00:55:49

I don't know how far it is from there to where.

00:55:52

Open Edam. The gate, tights, houses.

00:55:55

I don't know, mile, 10 miles, 20 miles, half mile.

00:55:58

I'm not really sure. We're not really sure.

00:56:00

Line. I'm sure. Of every six steps.

00:56:04

David is invested and getting the blessings of God.

00:56:08

He is in. He's like, I am just I'm I'm going to please go with this.

00:56:12

I'm just gonna get it. And then on top of that, he's not going to have it stay with himself.

00:56:17

He plants out a massive party for everybody in the city.

00:56:21

Everyone gets a portion of meat, portion bread and raisin cakes.

00:56:24

Raisin cakes would be DayQuil of double chocolate cake.

00:56:28

Fat wrap around your hips cake today.

00:56:31

Yeah, it was it was a delicacy.

00:56:33

It was just purely for pleasure.

00:56:35

Delicacy. David can't go to that.

00:56:37

Don't Dunkin Donuts the morning up to get this done right.

00:56:41

He's got to plan this out.

00:56:43

So before he goes, it's done.

00:56:44

Instincts, instinctive thing.

00:56:45

I go get that. He's planned this out because he wants to do this.

00:56:49

Right. And everybody.

00:56:54

He can see you can see him.

00:56:55

Everybody gets plus the third question is, am I a source of blessing to others?

00:57:01

David is a source of blessing.

00:57:02

He wants more and he wants other people have more around him.

00:57:07

When people around me, are they getting more encouragement than if they were around somebody else or the version of me from two years ago?

00:57:14

Are people getting wisdom or they bust by wisdom around me when when I'm having lunch?

00:57:19

Am I picking up the check if I can afford it and blessing them that way?

00:57:23

Are theirs? Are their kids, children and Compassion International or other organizations are getting fed?

00:57:28

Because I'm a blessing to them.

00:57:30

Is there is there wisdom I'm bringing to a meeting at work?

00:57:32

Is there encouragement? I'm branes, my boss.

00:57:34

The people work for him.

00:57:35

Am I a blessing to people who around me?

00:57:39

These are the people who get more from God.

00:57:42

Those of us who are not sloppy.

00:57:44

Those of us who go for more and those of us who are blessed and others friends, I'm dying right now.

00:57:48

Know you do these things.

00:57:51

Your awareness of God is going to skyrocket and your life will as well.

00:57:56

God, thank you for giving us truth that comes from your word and truth that just works.

00:58:04

Help us to make the right application to our life.

00:58:07

And help us to be a blessing to those around us.

00:58:10

Antisense you in the ways that we want to sense you and you want to be felt that pray these things according to the character and name of Jesus.

00:58:18

I man.

00:58:20

I am so encouraged by what God has been doing in our church and through you.

00:58:27

And if you want to get the annual report and see the stories and the numbers for yourself, you can do that by heading to Crossroads dot net and getting it right there online.

00:58:36

You know, you are part of this community and I know that God's probably been doing really good things in your heart and in your life, too.

00:58:43

And we want to celebrate your story.

00:58:45

We want to be encouraged by you.

00:58:47

And we want to pray for you.

00:58:48

So chat with us on the lower right hand side of the Crossroads Web site.

00:58:52

You can click on the chat button and tell us your story.

00:58:55

What's God been doing in your life that's worthy of celebration?

00:59:00

And we'll pray for you today.

00:59:03

You know, next week we get to hear from Kyle Rantzen and he's going to be talking all about love and it's going to be awesome.

00:59:09

Check us out right here online or at a location near you.

00:59:13

Have a great week.

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