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00:00:00
- Happy New Year.
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00:00:03
Like you aren't sick
of hearing that already.
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00:00:05
It's probably the last thing
you remember hearing
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00:00:07
8 hours or something
long ago like that.
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00:00:09
Hey, I'm Brian.
Welcome to Crossroads.
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00:00:11
Yes, the first full day of 2023.
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00:00:16
Welcome to the whole
Crossroads community,
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00:00:18
many of us who
are gathered digitally
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00:00:20
or physically every week.
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00:00:21
We've shut down all
of our physical sites
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00:00:24
and all of our locations
because we're giving you,
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00:00:26
the volunteer an ability
to just have the time off
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00:00:28
and our staff as well.
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00:00:30
So thanks for rolling with us
as we all are here right now.
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00:00:33
I'm excited about two things
that are going to happen.
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00:00:35
First, the very,
very end of our time,
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00:00:37
we're going to give you a
brand new worship song
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00:00:39
and performance of
it you can worship to.
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00:00:40
That's going to be, I
think, really, really solid.
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00:00:42
I'm going to give you
a talk of something I did
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here in this building
not too long ago
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that turned out pretty well.
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And I'll tell you more
about that in just a moment.
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00:00:50
But before we talk about 2023,
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you do realize the 2022,
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as far as Crossroads
is concerned, was great.
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00:00:59
I mean, awesome.
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I mean, like, everything
you could measure,
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everything up and to the right,
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like, just about
everything highest of ever
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in our history as a church.
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Wow, wow, and wow.
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Let me give you some highlights,
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which I think are
pretty encouraging.
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Baptisms, people coming
into a relationship with Christ,
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they get baptized, over
1300, 1360 baptisms.
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Pastor math, I
could just say 1500.
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I could just round
it up and say 2000.
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But no, that is an unbelievable
amount. Well done.
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I know you had a hand in that.
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If you got baptized this year,
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I hope that you're doing
well and great in your faith.
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Great to have you part of
the covenanted community.
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That's baptisms.
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We've also got camps have
been taking off, exploding.
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And we had 201 baptism
by the way at camps.
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5350 people who are
actually at all of our camps.
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Whew, that is crazy.
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We had 500 people
signing up for a GO Trip.
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That's a place to serve somebody
in a cross cultural experience.
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So let me tell you
why it's important.
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It's really important because
while we want all of us
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to be experiencing
God however we can,
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we recognize that
there's certain things
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that we need to
turbocharge our growth.
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There's only so much growth
you can have watching a screen.
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There's only so much
growth you can have
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actually sitting in a
Crossroads building.
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We have structured
our church in 2022
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around the seven
proven practices.
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We had a whole series on that.
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These are the things
that stand the test of time,
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they could be called the
seven Ancient Practices
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or the seven Sacred practices.
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Things like telling my
story, weekly teaching,
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community, serving others.
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There's seven of them.
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I'm not going to go
into all this right now,
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but we're structuring
our church,
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we have structure our
church around those things.
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You can see it on our web
presence and other ways
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because we want you to grow.
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We don't just want
you to attend something.
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We want your life to be
fully and holistically aligned
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with who God is and
have all the blessings
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and all the fruit of that.
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What camps and
what GO Trips do is
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an area of turbo charge
where you're put into something
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that's uncomfortable,
that's an adventure
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that's outside of what
you're normally expecting,
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and it pushes you farther than
you would have ever gone before.
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So consider please in
2023, if you have a goal
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or if you want to add
yourself a new resolution 2023,
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make it, "I'm going
to attend a camp
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or a Crossroads GO Trip."
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You will be very, very
thankful that you did.
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By the way, speaking of digital,
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we're interacting
digitally right now.
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Would you like some
more good news?
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Of course you would like
some more good news.
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We've had 150,000
journal entries
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inside of the app this year,
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which is about
understanding the Bible.
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We've had 1.1 million
prayer requests,
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1.1 million prayer requests,
5 million prayers prayed.
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That means if you
submitted a prayer request,
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on average, 5 people have
prayed for your prayer request
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and the number of yeses
are actually pretty astounding.
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Take advantage of our our
Crossroads app this year.
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You'll be the better for it.
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Now, what we're
going to do right now
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is we're going to go to
something that might be
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a future thing that we
do as a part of the church.
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We're always trying to do
something that's forward facing.
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We don't want to be
the church of yesterday.
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We don't even want to
just be the church of today.
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We want to be the
church that's in touch with
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what God is doing tomorrow.
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The New Testament says
to walk in step with the Spirit.
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So we're trying to
understand what that is.
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Sometimes God will give
you a download of a thought
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that's directly from His
voice box and you go,
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"Okay, God has spoken."
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That's very rare, though.
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Most of the time what
happens is we have a nod
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or an inkling and we
step and we try something
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and then we learn, "Oh, that
was God prompting me here
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that I should keep doing it."
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But we've got to get moving,
that's why at Crossroads
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we want to talk about
your spiritual adventure.
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If you're going
to grow spiritually,
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you have to see
it as an adventure.
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You've got to move.
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You've got to take
action on things.
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So we've had this idea:
what do we do to reach
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the youngest
generation in America
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or the younger generations?
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What does that future look like?
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And so we're testing
different things,
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trying different things.
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One of those things,
we basically set up
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a comedy club atmosphere
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here at our Crossroads
Uptown location
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and invited a bunch
a bunch of youngsters,
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which would be, like,
anybody who's in 20s
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or late teens for me.
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We had a couple gray
hairs, but it was mainly
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a real, real young crowd.
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And we had four different
talks taking a swing at
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helping those folks navigate
life and spiritual formation.
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We're going to give
you one of those talks.
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It was my talk.
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I hope it's helpful for you.
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And I'll see you back here
in about about 10 minutes.
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Man, all right, all right.
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I'll own it. I own it.
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I'm the oldest person here.
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I get to fill the dad role,
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and I'm going to do
that joyfully tonight.
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I'm going to do that tonight.
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I have been, man,
I've been through
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a lot of difficulty in my life.
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I've been through a
lot of ups and downs.
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And what I noticed
is the one thing
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that I can always depend on is
the truth that's in this book.
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I'm going to give you a verse
tonight that I've memorized,
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but I'm going to read
it for you anyway,
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just so you know
I'm getting it right.
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It's Philippians
1:6, it says this:
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I'm sure of this, that he
began a good work in you
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is faithful to complete it.
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What does this mean to you?
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It means your future
is secure. It's secure.
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00:06:41
For much of my life,
I've had levels of stress.
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All of us have stress, anxiety,
fear in one degree or another.
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All of us have different
things that have triggered it.
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Some of my things have been,
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gosh, seven years
to get through college.
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Some of you are going
to do it in four years.
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Very, very impressive.
It took me seven years.
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My -- I still have recurring
nightmares today,
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not today, four
days ago, literally,
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a recurring nightmare that
I had a final the next day
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that I didn't know
about and didn't study.
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But I still have this
on and on and on.
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Massively difficult.
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I got inside of credit card
debt that was incredibly painful
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and caused me to
fear credit card debt.
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Credit card debt was
so bad I got married
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and after two months of
having our own apartment,
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had to humiliate
myself and go into
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my father-in-law's
attic with my new wife,
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with his daughter, because
we couldn't afford our life
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given the level
of debt that I had.
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We had a kid and the
level of stress and anxiety
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was high because we
had zero medical insurance
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Do you know how humiliating
it is to go into a hospital
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and just tell them, "I'd
like to have my child here,
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but I can't afford it"?
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And them put you on charity
care, and I was thankful for it.
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I've had the stress and
difficulty of starting a church,
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the stress and difficulty
and anxiety of keeping
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a bunch of nonprofits I've
helped started keep going.
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And I have to say to
myself, before God,
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he who began a good work in
me, is faithful to complete it.
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Why? Because
my future is secure.
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I don't know if there's ever
been a more important word
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that all of us need to hear,
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especially those of
us who are younger.
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The American Psychiatric
Association takes a look at
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what's happening in our country.
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Nearly two in three
adults, that's 65% say
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that there's a certain
amount of uncertainty
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in our nation
causes them stress.
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60%, 60% of all of us
say the number of issues
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that we are currently facing
as America is overwhelming.
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And here's the thing,
on top of those statistics,
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the younger you are,
the worse you're doing.
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This is the way it is in
every developed country
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as they take these statistics,
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the younger you are,
the more stressed you are,
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the more anxious you are,
the more fearful you are,
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the more likely you
are on medication,
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00:09:02
the more likely there's other
medical mental illness issues.
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The younger you are,
the worse off you are.
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Why is that?
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Number of different
theories for this.
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One is, well, younger
people, they're just weaker.
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Next generation, just
they're not as good.
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You've heard it, you know,
the snowflake generation,
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all that kind of stuff.
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Do you realize that every
generation in American history
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since the Revolutionary War
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has said that about
the next generation?
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Every generation thinks
that they're the best ones
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and the ones coming
after them are losers.
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It's just not true,
but that's one theory.
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Maybe this is the
weakest generation.
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I don't believe it. I
don't think it's true.
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But that's one theory.
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Another theory, which of
course, you'd know about,
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you're aware of this, we
ought to at least talk about it
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is social media.
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I can't imagine how much
more stress I would have had
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when I was 18, 19, 20,
if I knew I was losing.
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I can't imagine seeing
pictures of people
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who are doing things
that I couldn't do
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00:10:02
and I couldn't afford to do.
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00:10:03
I can't imagine how
much more credit card debt
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00:10:05
I would be in.
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00:10:06
Fortunately, I only had
spent time with losers,
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00:10:08
so I felt like it was okay.
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00:10:11
So, social media is
definitely jacking it up.
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00:10:15
The third thing is where I want
to spend the rest of our time.
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The third reason why
or possibility for why
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the younger you are,
the more stressed,
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00:10:27
the more anxious you
are, is the younger you are,
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00:10:30
the less likely you've
grown up in a culture
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that respects God.
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The younger you are,
the more the world view
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has taken over your
mind, your acquaintances,
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your education, your
everything that says
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you are a random
chance accident.
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There's a random
amalgamation of proteins,
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there was this cosmic goo
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and over random periods of time
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and natural
selection, there's you.
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So there's cosmic
goo and there's you.
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00:10:58
Don't you feel
good about yourself?
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00:11:01
And the answer is no, no.
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00:11:04
How can you possibly
feel secure in a future
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00:11:08
when it's all about you,
when you and I know
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00:11:10
that we're not that good
and we're not that adequate?
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00:11:14
It's warping us,
it's hurting us,
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00:11:18
it's killing us,
it's wiping us out.
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00:11:22
Out of my podcast, oh,
gosh, maybe two years ago,
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a psychologist, a
Jewish psychologist,
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very, very smart woman.
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00:11:30
And she deals with
children and families
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that are in stress
and anxiety and fear.
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And she tells parents, she said,
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"If you don't believe in God,
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you need to lie to your child."
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00:11:44
She put that clearly,
because she says
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you might have
some great comfort
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that there's nothingness
and when you die,
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it's blackness and
there's nothing but you.
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But your child doesn't.
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They can't handle the idea
that there's just blackness
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00:11:58
and there's nothingness.
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00:11:59
So if you want your child
to not struggle with anxiety,
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00:12:03
you need to tell them what
you don't believe yourself.
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00:12:05
She tells them to lie.
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00:12:07
Her name is Erika Komisar.
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00:12:09
I just want to tell you, I
want tell you right now,
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is it any any surprise at all
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00:12:15
that we're doing everything
we can to tell one another
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00:12:18
there is no God, there
is no higher entity,
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there's nothing out there, and
then we actually act like it.
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What did you think would happen
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00:12:25
if you told a whole culture,
a whole younger generation
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00:12:28
that you are alone,
you are so very alone,
-
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that there is nobody
that has your back,
-
00:12:32
there's no higher power,
there's no backstop,
-
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there's no power beyond
your own pocket book
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or the government?
-
00:12:38
What did we think
would possibly happen,
-
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other than what's
happening right now?
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00:12:42
Youngest generation
in crisis because
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we're getting the
fruit of our labors,
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the fruit of our teaching
that says it's all about you.
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00:12:52
That verse said he -- he
who has begun a good work
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is faithful to complete
because your future is secure.
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00:13:00
He, not me. He.
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00:13:05
I think it's interesting it
doesn't even say God,
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00:13:08
it says he.
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00:13:10
Why he?
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00:13:11
I don't want to really
debate the whole thing
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00:13:13
of is God male, female,
because Jesus says,
-
00:13:18
the New Testament
says God is Spirit.
-
00:13:19
So where there's spirit,
there's not genitalia.
-
00:13:21
Now, Jesus certainly
had genitalia,
-
00:13:25
but God is -- doesn't
have genitalia.
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00:13:27
So, how do you understand
is He male or female?
-
00:13:30
I don't want to get into the
whole was God male or female?
-
00:13:32
All I want to do
is say this verse,
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and the rest of
them in the Bible,
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00:13:35
when they talk about
God, they call Him a He.
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00:13:37
Not really saying
He is the best way,
-
00:13:40
but it's saying He's a
personal God with personalities,
-
00:13:44
with a personality.
-
00:13:46
He understands
things. He's knowable.
-
00:13:50
He's not just this general
cosmic aura that's out there.
-
00:13:54
He's someone you can know and
someone you can interact with.
-
00:13:57
He isn't me, because
if I'm left to me,
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00:14:01
I don't have the resources
to get through my stress,
-
00:14:04
get through my anxiety, and
get to a future that's secure.
-
00:14:08
But He will give you
a future that's secure.
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00:14:13
When I saw this just come
so beautifully into focus
-
00:14:17
was when I went over to India.
-
00:14:19
The first time I
went over to India,
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00:14:21
we had started some homes
that were helping children
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00:14:25
who had come out of
the rape for profit industry.
-
00:14:29
That's what a
brothel is in India,
-
00:14:33
the rape for profit industry
of minors, of young girls.
-
00:14:37
And as these girls
would get rescued,
-
00:14:39
they would -- they
are put into a place
-
00:14:41
where for years and years
they are deprogrammed
-
00:14:44
to try to understand that
there is a God who loves them
-
00:14:47
and trying to understand
that there is a purpose for them
-
00:14:50
and there is a future for them.
-
00:14:52
And I came into one of
the exercises in this home
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00:14:55
that we support, and
they brought in this guy
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00:14:59
who had these
this whole drum set
-
00:15:01
and he gave everybody a drum.
-
00:15:02
So, I was there as a visitor.
-
00:15:04
So I sat in the circle with
all the girls and I had a drum.
-
00:15:06
And he's, like,
kind of drumming.
-
00:15:07
And we all start
drumming together.
-
00:15:09
And he'd go softly
and we drum softly.
-
00:15:11
He'd started drumming loudly,
we'd start drumming loudly,
-
00:15:14
and different cadences.
-
00:15:16
It was really cool,
the whole thing.
-
00:15:17
And then he gets done
with the whole thing
-
00:15:19
and then he tries to
give his talk to everybody.
-
00:15:21
And he says this, "What
did we learn today?
-
00:15:24
What we learned is
-
00:15:26
in here everything
that we need is in us.
-
00:15:32
That's what we learned.
-
00:15:33
Everything we
need is inside of us."
-
00:15:39
I looked around at these
girls, knowing myself
-
00:15:41
that this is certainly
not what the Bible says.
-
00:15:44
He who -- He who
started a good work in you
-
00:15:48
is faithful to, but
He not me, He.
-
00:15:51
And I looked -- I'm
thinking, I'm looking
-
00:15:53
and these girls just
looking at him like,
-
00:15:55
"What are you talking about?"
-
00:15:57
See, only in a spoiled
country like ours,
-
00:16:01
where we can debate endlessly,
-
00:16:03
have time to debate endlessly,
-
00:16:05
and we don't have
to worry about shelter,
-
00:16:07
food or staying dry.
-
00:16:09
When you don't have to
worry about shelter, food
-
00:16:11
or staying dry, you
can have all kinds of
-
00:16:13
interesting
theoretical ideas, like,
-
00:16:15
"Oh, we all have
the power within.
-
00:16:16
It's all me, I have
all the things."
-
00:16:19
But it's not until you get to
the most extreme situation
-
00:16:22
that you can actually
test an argument because
-
00:16:25
these girls are, like, "What
are you talking about?
-
00:16:28
I was in a brothel
with zero hope,
-
00:16:31
no power in me to
get me out of a brothel.
-
00:16:34
And somebody
buzzed it in the door.
-
00:16:36
Which was funded,
wow, by the way,
-
00:16:38
it was funded by people
who believed in Jesus
-
00:16:41
and believed that this world
is supposed to give hope.
-
00:16:43
And they busted into the
brothel and they got me out.
-
00:16:47
And they're right now
trying to get me to a place
-
00:16:49
that I've never been in my life.
-
00:16:50
All the -- all the answers
-
00:16:52
and everything I
need is inside of me?
-
00:16:53
No, it's outside
of me. It is He."
-
00:16:57
That's what a savior is.
-
00:16:59
That's who Jesus
is, it's a savior.
-
00:17:01
Now, when you
understand that this is
-
00:17:03
the way your future is secure,
-
00:17:05
by looking at He and not at me,
-
00:17:08
by seeing that He
started something in you.
-
00:17:10
You're here tonight,
not by accident,
-
00:17:12
because He started
something in you.
-
00:17:14
And there's something
maybe here that He's going to
-
00:17:17
continue to build on
and build your work.
-
00:17:20
When you start to see this,
things in the Bible come alive.
-
00:17:23
Let me just give you a
couple more verses so you see
-
00:17:25
this isn't like one verse
I'm just kind of reading into.
-
00:17:27
The book of 1 Thessalonians.
-
00:17:31
Book of 1 Thessalonians.
-
00:17:33
Where is it? There it is.
-
00:17:35
1 Thessalonians Chapter five:
-
00:17:47
This doesn't mean
that you sit back
-
00:17:49
and you don't take
major moves in your life.
-
00:17:52
It doesn't mean
you're just passive
-
00:17:54
and letting life happen to you.
-
00:17:55
It means I'm able to step out
-
00:17:58
because He is faithful to do it.
-
00:18:01
He is faithful to complete it.
-
00:18:03
Also in the book of
1 Peter it says this:
-
00:18:07
And after you have
suffered a little while,
-
00:18:10
let that sink in
for a little bit.
-
00:18:12
And after you have
suffered for a little while,
-
00:18:17
one of the things you can
be sure of is you will suffer.
-
00:18:20
And if you're afraid of
suffering, then get used to
-
00:18:24
having chronic stress
and anxiety in your life.
-
00:18:26
You will suffer.
-
00:18:27
I don't know when
it's going to be.
-
00:18:29
I don't know how
bad it's going to be,
-
00:18:30
but I just want be one
guy to tell you the truth,
-
00:18:32
it's going to happen. It is.
-
00:18:35
And probably worse than
any suffering you've had?
-
00:18:38
Yes, your worst days
may be ahead of you.
-
00:18:41
Doesn't that make
you feel real good?
-
00:18:44
I'm just telling you, man.
-
00:18:46
I'm just telling you, if
you if you keep thinking
-
00:18:48
this Pollyanna crap
that it's all about in me
-
00:18:52
and I've just got to
think a better thing for me
-
00:18:54
and it's all going
to work out well.
-
00:18:55
But, dudes, come on, come on.
-
00:18:57
Can we be adults here
and think about world history
-
00:19:00
and the history of the Bible?
-
00:19:03
You and I are going
to have difficulty.
-
00:19:04
I'm not saying you aren't
going to have a secure future.
-
00:19:07
I'm not saying God isn't going
to do something great in you.
-
00:19:11
I'm not saying that.
-
00:19:12
He who began a good work
in you is faithful to complete.
-
00:19:16
Your future is secure, and
in the midst of that future,
-
00:19:19
you're going to go
through difficulties.
-
00:19:21
So when you understand
-
00:19:22
you're going to go through
difficulty, guess what?
-
00:19:24
You don't have to
be stressed about it,
-
00:19:26
because it's going to happen.
-
00:19:28
You don't have
to be afraid of it,
-
00:19:29
because you know
it's going to be real.
-
00:19:31
But greater is him
who is within you,
-
00:19:34
than him who is in the world.
-
00:19:35
That's what Jesus said.
-
00:19:37
And it continues to says this:
-
00:19:53
Oh, man, that's some
good stuff right there:
-
00:19:55
restore, confirm,
strengthen and establish you.
-
00:20:01
Why? Because
your future is secure.
-
00:20:05
Why? Because He is secure.
-
00:20:11
Friends if you want
what everybody else has,
-
00:20:13
then just keep thinking
like everybody else.
-
00:20:16
Just keep thinking that if
the right person gets in office
-
00:20:20
and if you think
the right thoughts
-
00:20:22
and if the right public
policies are in line,
-
00:20:24
then everything will be okay.
-
00:20:25
And if you see those things
not happen, what happens?
-
00:20:28
You're going to
get more stressed,
-
00:20:30
more anxious driven,
more freaked out.
-
00:20:32
But if you have a centered
worldview that says,
-
00:20:34
no, difficult times are
going to come, but it's okay
-
00:20:37
because he who
began a good work in me
-
00:20:39
will be faithful to complete it.
-
00:20:41
That's one thing I'm sure of.
-
00:20:44
If you believe that,
you act that way,
-
00:20:47
your future will be secure.
-
00:20:49
Thank you very much. [applause]
-
00:20:53
I had a great
time at that event.
-
00:20:56
It was a lot of fun being
with a lot a lot of good people.
-
00:21:00
Whenever you're around
people that want to grow,
-
00:21:02
that want to advance
or improve themselves
-
00:21:05
and want to get closer to God,
it's a great group to be with.
-
00:21:07
That's what Crossroads
wants to be for you,
-
00:21:10
people who are trying
to go towards God.
-
00:21:13
And those seven proven
practices I mentioned earlier
-
00:21:15
are the way to
get closer to God.
-
00:21:18
So in 2023, figure out
how you're going to fit
-
00:21:21
those seven proven
practices into your life
-
00:21:24
and go forward with it.
-
00:21:25
That's how you and
I get closer to God.
-
00:21:27
Well, one of the
proven practices,
-
00:21:29
it's actually inside
of one of them.
-
00:21:30
One of them talks about
having weekly teaching,
-
00:21:33
kind of inherent
in weekly teaching
-
00:21:35
is often times worshiping,
connect with God through music.
-
00:21:39
That's what we're
going to do right now.
-
00:21:41
Worship is when I
sing something to God
-
00:21:44
that actually encourages
Him, that actually blesses Him,
-
00:21:47
that actually elevates Him,
-
00:21:49
elevates His characteristics,
His qualities, His will.
-
00:21:53
It's not the same thing
-
00:21:55
as singing my
favorite country songs,
-
00:21:56
though I love to do that.
-
00:21:57
There's something
spiritual takes place
-
00:21:59
when that happens
because worship is sacred,
-
00:22:02
it's ancient, it's important.
-
00:22:04
We write worship
songs around here
-
00:22:05
because they are important.
-
00:22:07
We're going to
give you right now
-
00:22:08
a special online release
of a song that our label
-
00:22:13
is going to be releasing
on January 13th.
-
00:22:17
It's called Lost Time.
-
00:22:19
And what it means is that
God doesn't waste anything.
-
00:22:23
Whatever the difficult things
that are going on in our life,
-
00:22:26
there's a purpose that He has,
-
00:22:28
there's a future that He has.
-
00:22:30
There's an ultimate
place where he's going
-
00:22:32
and He doesn't waste anything.
-
00:22:35
I think that should help us
get ready for my talk next week.
-
00:22:38
I'm going to look at something
in the book of Ephesians.
-
00:22:41
It's about how we
should be different.
-
00:22:42
What kind of different?
Like optimistic different,
-
00:22:45
like, positive difference,
like, faith-filled different.
-
00:22:48
Man, I'm tired of the cynicism.
-
00:22:50
And if you're tired of
cynicism and the negative news
-
00:22:53
and you want to be different,
next week is all about that.
-
00:22:57
And that hope, that purpose
is part of why I worship
-
00:23:02
and worship gets me
to that purpose as well.
-
00:23:04
Let's do that
together right now.