How to grow spiritually

Spiritual growth is like farming. The process involves work and waiting, but the fruit of our labor is delicious! Today Brian Tome introduces us to 7 proven practices for growing spiritually, and shows us how the work is worth the wait.

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    - You can grow beyond where you are right now.
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    Hey, my name is Brian. Welcome to Crossroads.
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    Everyone likes the idea of spirituality,
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    but, like, no one actually knows
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    you can actually grow spiritually.
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    That is the journey we're going on today.
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    So glad to be with you.
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    The King of spirituality is Jesus.
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    Jesus actually claimed to be God.
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    When it comes to spiritual growth,
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    I think He is the most qualified person to teach us.
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    In the Book of Matthew 13:3-9, He gives a scenario
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    of different people where they are spiritually.
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    It's pretty well known,
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    but you may have not heard before,
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    and I'm going to give you a little angle to this
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    you might not have heard, if you've heard it before.
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    Here's here's what it says:
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    You know, we don't really understand a lot
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    in our country about farming because
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    very, very few of us actually do it.
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    When you plant, when you plant seeds,
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    it's all about the condition of the soil.
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    It's about the prep of the soil.
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    So, just imagine someone who is sowing seed.
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    I've got some seed here.
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    That doesn't mean a sewing machine,
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    but you're actually casting the seed around.
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    He said there's four different places where the seed falls.
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    This is -- this right here, this is this is dream soil.
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    I don't know why my house never has soil like this.
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    I don't know.
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    Every time I'm digging a post hole or something like that,
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    it's always hard, rocky, crappy ground.
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    This is amazing.
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    Some seed, Jesus says, sometimes when the Word of God,
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    when a spiritual truth falls, it falls on rocky ground,
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    it falls on the path.
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    And there's just -- if this thing falls on concrete,
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    it just can't, it can't break open and germinate.
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    And that's some of us.
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    You hear something spiritual and you're like,
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    "Whatever. What's my next Netflix movie?" You know?
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    Sometimes the seed falls on rocky ground
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    and it kind of takes, it takes.
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    But because it's so rocky,
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    the roots can't go down really, really deep,
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    and therefore, as soon as there's bad climate,
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    boom, it's gone.
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    Some of us may have heard something about Jesus,
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    something about God, we've had some spiritual fix,
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    but there's no roots, there's no depth.
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    So therefore, as soon as something wrong happens in life:
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    I don't get the job that I want; my boss is a jerk;
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    I have a divorce; I have --
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    I'm in -- I'm in credit card debt,
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    and I can't think of anything else other than that;
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    our spirituality just withers and goes away
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    because there's no roots.
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    And then some seed falls down and it starts to grow,
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    but there's all kinds of active thorns and thistles
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    that come up and it just kind of chokes the seed out itself.
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    This what happens when some people,
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    they come to understand Jesus,
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    they come into relationship with Him,
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    they become a Christian,
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    but the cares of this world overwhelm it.
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    They put more time into thinking about their career path,
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    their dating life, their whatever it is,
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    and it goes away, their spirituality just dies.
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    And then -- and then there's some the fall
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    on this beautiful, beautiful soil and something happens.
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    The problem with us is, like,
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    we don't have an inherent understanding
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    of how all this works because most of us
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    have never eaten anything that we've actually planted.
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    We've never gone out
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    and we've never actually broken up soil.
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    We've never weeded.
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    We've never put the fertilizer down.
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    We've never come back a year later
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    and kind of brought it up to our mouth and eat it.
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    We don't understand this process.
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    You know, in America, 2% of us are farmers, 2%.
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    That means 98% of all Americans
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    are living off of somebody else's work.
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    They're working and so I get to eat.
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    This is very similar, I believe,
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    to in the spiritual world,
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    in the church world in our country, maybe 2% of us
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    are actually working at our relationship with God
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    and our spirituality, 2%.
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    The rest of us are just kind of waiting around,
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    hoping that some spiritual thing happens
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    that make me feel good and give me a little extra edge.
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    And that's not the way it happens.
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    Here's the problem with this --
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    with this parable that Jesus tells, the story He tells.
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    You can be left to understand
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    or come to the wrong conclusion of,
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    "Well, it's all a matter of fate.
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    Like, if I was born with good soil,
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    then I guess I can receive the Word of God.
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    But what if I have a heart that has bad soil?
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    What if I'm in an era that things are just more difficult?"
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    It's almost like fate.
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    But that's not what Jesus is saying.
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    To understand what He's saying, we've got to look
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    at the total context of all of His teaching.
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    First of all, why is this good soil here?
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    It's good soil because there's a farmer some place
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    who's been working on this soil.
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    That's why it's good soil.
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    The way you get good soil is in the totality
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    of Jesus's teaching by what you do, what you work on.
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    Because we haven't planted a crop
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    and eaten amazing fruit, we're not aware
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    of how to work and wait for beautiful, luscious fruit.
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    This is the way it works in the spiritual realm:
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    You work on things
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    and then you wait for the positive benefits.
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    In the Book of Second Timothy 2:6, it says
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    that we should be all-hard working farmers,
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    hard-working farmers.
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    And what does a hard-working farmer get to do?
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    Before anybody else gets any of the fruit,
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    while he's on his tractor going back to the house,
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    he's chomping on the tomatoes.
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    He's tasting them because he got to taste the fruit first
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    because he has worked hard.
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    See, there's so many things in the physical realm
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    that relate to the spiritual realm.
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    In the physical realm I have to plant and work,
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    work and wait over a long period of time.
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    And then I get the fruit, then I get the fruit.
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    That's the way it works in the physical realm.
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    Also in the physical realm, I know that I can't grow --
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    I can't grow my body.
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    I can't grow my body unless I work on it and wait.
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    I've got to do some cardio.
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    I've got to do some push ups,
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    like, I do some stuff, you know?
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    That's why I have actually long sleeves on.
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    I don't want to cause you to stumble
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    by seeing my bulging biceps.
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    No, not true.
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    But that's how you get in shape.
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    It's not like, "Well, you got the DNA lottery
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    of being a person who's in shape.
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    Well, you're just naturally in shape."
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    No, you're not naturally in shape.
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    You actually worked to get where you were and you waited.
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    For you and I to grow spiritually
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    there are things that you must do.
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    There are things that you have to actually work on.
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    This is the totality of His teaching.
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    He talks about how to love people,
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    how to serve other people.
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    He talks about again and again how to get in community.
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    These things that He talks about are the things
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    that if you don't do them, you will not grow.
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    If you do not work on it, you won't have spiritual fruit
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    and a life that's lush and juicy and fresh
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    and vibrant and close with God.
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    Let's talk about what those seven practices actually are.
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    - Man, I never thought I would get to see
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    Brian working on a farm.
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    - No. It's so weird because he's not quite a farmer,
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    right, but he's on there, so by technicality, farmer.
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    - Close enough. - Close enough. That's right.
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    - Hey, my name is Andy Reider.
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    I'm the community pastor for Crossroads Anywhere.
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    - And I'm Hannah. Super glad that you're with us today.
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    - Yes. Today we are looking at how we grow.
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    And we don't grow by standing still.
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    We grow by taking action.
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    I'll just say, like, there's lots of different ways
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    this has played out in my life.
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    But one of them, one of the ways I found traction
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    and movement and growth is by giving.
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    If you've got questions around what does our money go to
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    or how you can join the team,
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    head to Crossroads.net/give for more info.
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    -That's right.
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    And before we head back to the message, Andy,
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    we've got a treat for folks because I know
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    everyone is wondering why Andy and I
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    are not moving like Brian told us to.
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    We're not growing right now.
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    We're actually sitting still, and watching this tree grow.
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    And that is because we are doing something amazing
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    called The Journey.
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    And for several years it is the thing
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    that our church does that I believe propels us forward.
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    This year all about growth.
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    And we've got an explainer to share how you,
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    yes, you can get involved right now.
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    - There are three parts to the journey.
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    Step one: Attend the weekend
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    and receive weekly teaching at a site or online.
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    Get inspired with the good news.
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    Step two: Do your guide work.
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    You get your very own printed guide.
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    We can even mail one to you.
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    It'll help you create a plan of action to grow deeper.
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    And step three: meet with your group.
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    During the Journey we meet in groups
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    to talk about what we're learning, grow deeper together.
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    Go here for more.
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    Come Grow!
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    - Now before we get into these proven practices
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    that we've got to work at if we want to be close to God,
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    I've got to say this real clearly.
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    The way to initially come to close to God,
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    to come into relation with God is not by your work.
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    That's actually by the work of Jesus.
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    Jesus who goes on a Cross. He dies for us.
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    He pays the payment for all of our garbage
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    so that we don't have to do that.
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    That payment and that work is done.
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    What we're talking about here is the work that you do
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    once you have a relationship with God through Jesus,
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    to actually grow it, to deepen, to intensify it,
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    to make sure you have fruit.
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    And you also can actually be doing these things
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    if you're not in a relationship with Jesus
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    and Him actually come to you in the midst of these things.
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    Because this is the kind of stuff
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    that really turns Him on where He is.
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    So here we are, 7 proven practice real quick.
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    Number one: connect with God daily, every day.
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    Do you know what it is you're doing today
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    and tomorrow to connect with God?
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    It can't be accidental.
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    "Well, I hope today I feel God. I hope, I hope today ;;"
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    No, what is it you're doing today
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    that you know you're going to try to connect with God?
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    Sometimes you don't feel it,
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    but if you don't have a system, you will never feel it.
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    One of the things I do,
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    I do a number of things every day.
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    One of them is I go to the Crossroads App, I open it up.
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    There's a chapter of the Bible.
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    I'll look at it, I'll journal some things in there.
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    I'll read what other people say.
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    I'll pray for some people who are in there.
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    That's one of the ways I connect with God every day.
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    Do you know what it is for you?
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    Connect with God every day.
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    Two: is to receive teaching weekly.
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    Every day people are teaching us.
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    If you're in school, obviously people are teaching you,
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    your friends are teaching you.
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    They're trying to push you into mold
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    and put their worldview on you.
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    Your news feeds, all of our news sources,
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    whatever your news source is, they're teaching you.
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    They're not innocent purveyors of objective truth.
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    No, there's a reason why they choose certain stories,
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    certain articles, have certain people saying what they say.
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    We're being taught all the time.
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    Every week to try to counteract that and overcome it,
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    you've got to know where am I going
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    to get a big, solid block of teaching
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    where somebody is having an agenda
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    to get me closer to God.
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    A church worship service, something online,
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    something where this is like clockwork,
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    this is what I do.
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    Again, physically, I can't get some place new
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    if I don't know what it is I'm doing daily and weekly
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    to get to a new place spiritually, physically.
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    And you can't get anyplace different spiritually
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    unless you know what you're doing daily and weekly.
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    Thirdly: share your story. Share your story.
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    You know, in our culture,
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    we're increasingly cynical of this.
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    We like our spirituality just be private.
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    It's just between you and God.
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    And definitely don't tell anybody about
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    how you came to faith, if you have faith,
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    because that would be proselytizing.
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    And this is part of the problem.
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    We're all keeping this close to us because
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    we're kind of operating in shame.
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    I don't want to tell you what's going on with me
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    because maybe I'm embarrassed.
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    And if you tell me what's going on with you,
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    maybe I'll feel like I don't stack up to you.
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    It could be a trigger to me feeling unworthy.
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    This is ridiculous, man.
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    We all have different stories.
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    We've got to talk about it.
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    Jesus said go into all the world.
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    It was The Great Commission.
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    We've got to share our story.
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    My story was, part of my story is
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    I grew up in a very religious, dead Presbyterian home.
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    I don't mean the Presbyterians are dead.
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    There's a lot of Presbyterians, there's dead Presbyterians,
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    a lot of Baptists, dead Baptists,
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    alive, non-denominational churches,
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    dead denominational churches.
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    But this one was all about rules,
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    all about pomp and circumstances.
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    And I just -- I didn't feel God. I didn't.
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    So, I was on my way to being an atheist or an agnostic.
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    Someone invited me to a weekend camp
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    by an organization called Young Life.
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    I thought I was going to play football for the weekend.
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    We played a little football, but really
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    it was hearing the story of who Jesus was.
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    I ended up becoming a Christian.
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    I accepted Jesus into my life.
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    I got filled with His Spirit
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    and my life changed drastically.
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    The next several decades of my life
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    have been an amazing growth, lush experience.
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    You've got to share your story with somebody
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    at some point.
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    Get baptized.
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    Every person in the Bible who grows spiritually
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    in the New Testament, they get baptized.
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    I'm not talking about being a little kid.
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    You got water sprinkled on you. That's fine.
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    I'm not anti that.
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    But the only reason I never got baptized
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    until I was older is because I was embarrassed.
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    I was a little --
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    I don't want to be wet in front of people.
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    I didn't -- I actually didn't want to look like
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    a pastor who had never been baptized.
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    Yeah, I was a pastor, not baptized.
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    And I got convicted, like, this is work.
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    This is a practice that I have to do,
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    and I got baptized in my thirties.
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    And it was awesome. It was great.
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    Some of us are not growing spiritually because
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    this key marker, this key gateway,
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    this key practice has not been done.
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    Join community is another proven practice.
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    Who are the people that you meet with
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    and you know when you're meeting with them,
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    you know why you're meeting with them?
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    I've got groups that I get with weekly, monthly.
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    These are the folks I hang with
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    when I need somebody to encourage me.
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    I know I'm likely to get encouragement from them.
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    When things are rough and I need help,
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    I know these folks are going to help me.
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    When I just need to laugh, which is like all the time,
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    I've got to be in a community
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    where there is a good level of laughter.
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    These folks come around me.
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    Join a community.
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    Who is it you're with that you know
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    they're going to go after God
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    and they want to get the most out of life?
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    Live generously.
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    We're not going to talk about this one
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    in the midst of this series, but live generously.
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    It's an idea of God has resources, He pours them into me
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    and I funnel them out to others.
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    I want to live generously,
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    whether that's blessing people with meals,
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    whether it's blessing people with encouragement
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    and time, blessing people with stuff that I have.
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    I'm not going to sell on Facebook Marketplace.
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    I'm just going to give it away.
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    Based on how I'm going to treat my money to my church.
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    Living generously.
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    We're not going to talk about that one in this series,
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    but it's a key, key, critical, proven practice.
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    And then the last one, we're also not going
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    to spend a lot of time on this one either,
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    is serving others.
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    Being outside of ourselves,
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    looking to lift somebody else up and help them.
  • 00:16:01
    Now, these seven proven practices.
  • 00:16:03
    Now, I say proven,
  • 00:16:04
    I keep saying that because they're proven.
  • 00:16:06
    There's not a single person in the entire Bible
  • 00:16:09
    that is a hero that doesn't do these seven things.
  • 00:16:12
    There isn't.
  • 00:16:13
    There's not a single person you know
  • 00:16:15
    that's a spiritual rock
  • 00:16:17
    that doesn't do these seven things, not a single one.
  • 00:16:20
    You may know people who are spiritually smart,
  • 00:16:21
    they can lay down a good argument.
  • 00:16:23
    They can debate you.
  • 00:16:25
    But come on, come on, that's different
  • 00:16:27
    than somebody who walks close with God,
  • 00:16:29
    somebody who's got this just this
  • 00:16:31
    leafy, rich, vibrant structure to their life.
  • 00:16:35
    The kind of person who,
  • 00:16:37
    when you ask them to pray for you, they actually do.
  • 00:16:40
    And they get more yeses than you do
  • 00:16:42
    because they're rooted solid with God.
  • 00:16:44
    The kind of people who go, "You know, I was just
  • 00:16:47
    thinking God might want you to be reminded of,"
  • 00:16:51
    boom, and a piece of gold comes your way.
  • 00:16:54
    The kind of people who've got decades,
  • 00:16:56
    decades of consistency and relationships with them.
  • 00:17:00
    Not the latest flash in the pan on social media
  • 00:17:03
    who's got a bunch of followers,
  • 00:17:04
    but no people who've been with this person
  • 00:17:07
    and know this person and for decades
  • 00:17:09
    or years and years and years.
  • 00:17:10
    And they're consistent and solid as a rock.
  • 00:17:12
    People who they don't -- they're not detonating their life.
  • 00:17:14
    They're not making bad decisions
  • 00:17:16
    because they're walking with God,
  • 00:17:18
    they're getting with God.
  • 00:17:19
    They're sensing God and they're growing.
  • 00:17:21
    That's what I want for you.
  • 00:17:22
    I don't want this from you, I want this for you.
  • 00:17:25
    And I know you do, too.
  • 00:17:27
    You've been created to want this,
  • 00:17:29
    to be closely connected with the God
  • 00:17:31
    who loves you so, so, so much.
  • 00:17:34
    But we've got to get connected.
  • 00:17:35
    These are the practices that we do.
  • 00:17:37
    You do these things and your life will change.
  • 00:17:43
    I want all this.
  • 00:17:44
    I want more of God and I want to go deeper.
  • 00:17:46
    And I hope you do, too.
  • 00:17:47
    That's why we're going to do a song right now
  • 00:17:49
    that's talking about going deeper.
  • 00:17:51
    Let's go deeper.
  • 00:17:52
    Let's dig down and let's experience this song together.
  • 00:21:26
    - I love how Brian talked about those seven practices.
  • 00:21:29
    It's not some long laundry list,
  • 00:21:31
    but something that over the past 2000 years
  • 00:21:34
    has shown us it's a proven way that leads to abundance,
  • 00:21:38
    that leads to life, that leads to growth.
  • 00:21:39
    And I'm excited about it. - That's right.
  • 00:21:41
    We want you to experience this Journey alongside of us,
  • 00:21:44
    not just by watching stuff.
  • 00:21:45
    It's by moving, it's by taking action.
  • 00:21:48
    So, I have two steps for you.
  • 00:21:49
    One, I want you to get a guide
  • 00:21:51
    so you can experience Journey as well.
  • 00:21:54
    So, head to Crossroads.net/Journey
  • 00:21:56
    where you can sign up.
  • 00:21:57
    We will get one of these bad boys into your hands.
  • 00:21:59
    And secondly, I want you to join a Journey Group
  • 00:22:02
    because we don't grow alone. Right?
  • 00:22:05
    - We can't It's not possible, you can't.
  • 00:22:06
    - We grow when we're moving
  • 00:22:08
    and we grow when we're together.
  • 00:22:09
    So, get a guide and get a group
  • 00:22:12
    and let's do this Grow Journey together.
  • 00:22:14
    - See you next time on Crossroads.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend-Follow Up This is the group part of the Bible Challenge, so your questions are based on specific Bible passages from the weekend message. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. When was the last time you were able to successfully grow something (it could be a physical plant or a relationship or anything that grows)? How did you do it?

  2. What stood out to you most from this week’s message?

  3. Which spiritual practice of the 7 is most present in your life right now?

  4. Brainstorm some barriers to spiritual growth that appear in your life.

  5. Read Matthew 13:3-9. Discuss with the group what you think it takes to become good soil.

  6. What’s one step you can take this week to enact one of the 7 practices in your life? It might be joining a Journey group at crossroads.net/Journey.

  7. Let’s end with prayer. You can say something like, “Jesus, thank You for being the ultimate model of spiritual maturity for us. Thank You for showing us how to grow closer to You. Please help us rip out the thorns in our life that choke Your words and become good soil.” Amen.

More from the Weekend

Bonus Questions! Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper.

  • How can viewing spiritual growth as a process and a discipline impact your daily life?
  • What kinds of fruit are you producing in your life right now? What kind of fruit do you want?
  • How would your life change if you implemented all 7 spiritual practices? What about even 1 or 2?

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(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

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Got it! Enjoy your discussion.


Sep 9, 2022

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