How To Recharge | Get Back To Better

“Let’s get back to normal.” Actually, let’s not. Normal sucks. Normal looks like chasing energy in another large coffee and finding joy in binging yet another Netflix series. That’s power-saving mode at best. God wants to actually recharge you—join us today as Brian talks about how God wants to give you energy, life, joy, and real vitality.

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    - Hey, welcome to Crossroads, I'm Kyle.
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    I have a promise for you today.
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    I believe today will help you get better.
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    Is anybody else, tired, exhausted?
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    And you thought that we were about to get back to normal
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    and now it looks like we have no idea
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    when that's going to happen
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    thanks to this thing called the Delta variant.
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    So here's the thing, God has something better for us
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    than getting back to normal.
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    No matter what's going on in our world,
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    He has something for us called back to better.
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    Today is all about helping you get to better energy.
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    Our Senior Pastor, my friend, mentor, Brian Tome,
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    has a message for us about how to have better energy.
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    He may even blow something up.
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    In this episode, as with everything at Crossroads,
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    is enabled by the generosity of regular everyday people,
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    just like you and me.
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    If you want to join that community generosity,
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    you can do that by going to Crossroads.net/give.
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    Here's Brian.
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    - Hey, welcome to Crossroads.
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    My name is Brian. So glad you're with us today.
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    I wonder if this verse would be an invitation
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    that you would appreciate.
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    It comes from Jesus in Matthew 11:28.
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    And Jesus says this:
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    Who would like rest for your soul today? I would.
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    Let's pray that happens.
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    God, I ask that we'd see Your instructions
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    as life-giving and we would feel them as life-giving
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    and that we would have more of You today, Jesus.
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    Many of us are weary.
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    We have hard and weighty things that are on our lives
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    and we need those things removed
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    or those things put in perspective.
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    Help me to help Your people here today.
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    And I pray these things according to
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    the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.
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    A lot of us feel that way
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    because we're just not going anywhere.
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    Whenever I'm not going some place,
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    specifically in my car, in my vehicle,
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    it's because my car's broke down.
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    Most of my cars breaking down.
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    That's the history of me and cars.
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    My wife and I, we have some pretty good cars right now.
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    And she's got a Jeep Cherokee that's got 50,000 miles on it.
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    I have a Chevy Silverado that has 151,000 miles on it.
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    They're pretty reliable cars.
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    But still to this day, for so many years,
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    I have gotten in cars and not been sure
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    whether or not they were going to start or not,
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    or not been understanding
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    why they stop in the middle of nowhere.
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    Because for much of my life,
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    and it feels like most of my life,
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    I just haven't been able to afford
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    reliable transportation.
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    I know what it's like in a vehicle
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    to not go anywhere and stop.
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    And I've got some stuff for us today.
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    And I think it hopefully relates to how many of us
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    in our life feel like I'm not going anywhere,
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    I've stopped.
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    Our whole culture feels this way.
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    How many times we're saying,
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    "Man, I need to get back to normal.
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    When are we going to get back to
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    the way things were, back when life made sense,
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    back when I could go to a movie
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    and people be in the theater, and it was a great movie?
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    Back when I didn't have to have endless debates
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    about everything in my life; masks, vaccines,
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    everything is cantankerous.
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    And it's because things were difficult before
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    and now they're more difficult.
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    Carrie Nieuwhof says this:
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    And we say, "I need to get back to normal."
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    Do we forget what normal was like?
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    Normal was worn out.
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    Normal was already,
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    many of us were frustrated with our lives.
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    We just have more things to put on top of it.
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    We think about the good old days
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    and we're saying, we realize
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    those old days weren't very good.
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    I remember talking with my grandparents about this,
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    who had some really, really hard, difficult times
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    as older people.
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    They remember World War II and being at war
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    and people dying and rationing.
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    And they were -- those were difficult.
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    And they remember being in, or they remember,
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    they're all dead right now.
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    They remembered being in a Great Depression
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    and they would laugh like these weren't --
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    we say the good old days.
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    There was anything good about that.
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    We forget the things way back when,
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    two years ago, weren't all that good.
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    And yet they've gotten worse
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    and that's why we're weary.
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    That's why we are.
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    Jesus. Jesus invites us, he says, "Come to me."
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    Why would you -- why?
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    (paper falls)
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    Let's see if Jesus is a little more sticky
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    the second time around.
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    He says, He says, "Come to me."
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    Why would you come to Him?
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    Because you're laboring.
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    It was just an endless amount of things
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    that you have to do, and as a result,
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    you're just heavy laden.
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    All the stresses and pressures that are on us.
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    And that's why Jesus tells us, "If you come,
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    you know what I'm going to do?
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    I'm going to give you rest."
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    Ahh. Who would like rest? I would like rest.
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    Ahh, rest.
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    Why are we laboring so much?
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    Why do we feel so heavy laden?
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    Let's forget about two years ago or a year ago.
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    Let's just talk about what we're dealing with today.
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    Let me just remind us of the things that are happening.
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    We're in a global pandemic.
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    Delta variant is for real.
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    We're in a global pandemic and that's still happening.
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    We've lived at home, many of us, for a year.
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    We're not designed to be cloistered
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    and cooped up for as long as we've been.
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    We've been through in very short order
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    two Presidential impeachments.
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    That's very stressful.
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    Whether you're Democrat or Republican,
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    two Presidential impeachments.
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    Most Americans in their lifetime never had a single one.
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    We in just the last few years have had two.
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    We've had the most controversial election
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    in the history of our country with disputed results.
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    It led to an insurrection at the Capitol.
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    Many of us, for the very first time,
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    saw a real live person get killed by another person.
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    I'm talking about George Floyd.
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    It wasn't a video game or movie.
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    We saw somebody actually get killed on camera.
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    And of course, that brought up all the racial tension
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    in our country that just goes underground
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    and then comes right back up,
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    goes underground and comes right back.
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    We're just not making much progress
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    and that reminds us,
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    and that stress is still with us today.
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    Let me just keep going.
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    We've got new fears the people of our age
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    have never had to have before.
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    When I was a little kid,
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    I actually remember going through inflation.
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    It didn't affect me because I wasn't making money.
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    I didn't have to write checks or anything like that.
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    But I remember as a little kid
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    being in my parents' cars during the '70s
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    in the midst of the gas crisis, the gas shortage,
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    and waiting for hours, hours in line to get gas.
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    And my parents being stressed out over wondering,
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    "OK, how are we going to get gas
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    to be able to go down and get groceries
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    or how are we going do it to get to work?"
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    We're now talking about inflation
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    now for the first time.
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    That's another source of of stress for us.
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    We have new fears that we've never had to have before.
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    What's going on with the Delta variant?
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    What's going on? How's it operating?
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    And we've got controversial COVID policies
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    that are happening left and right.
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    No matter what you decide or someone doesn't decide
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    with COVID policies, they're stress points.
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    Hey, I want to stop here for a minute.
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    I want to pause a moment and talk about --
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    I just want to want to talk about something here.
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    I want to talk to you, not as an authority figure.
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    I want to talk to you as a pastor, talk to you as a friend.
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    I want to tell you the most --
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    one of the most gut wrenching things
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    I've been through as a pastor
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    just hearing something just recently.
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    It happened in our church.
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    There was a group of people get together
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    to have a group interaction.
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    They do it very, very regularly.
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    They read the Bible, they pray together.
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    It's a very good, healthy group.
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    You've got to get into something like that if you can.
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    It's really, really important that people
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    who have your back and you have their back.
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    Somebody was sick in the midst of that meeting.
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    So they came together and said, "Hey,
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    the Bible says lay hands on and pray for people
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    and see if God heals them."
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    So they did that.
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    They put their hands on and they're praying.
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    Two of those people had the COVID vaccine.
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    The rest of those people did not.
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    I think there was six others.
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    The rest of them did not.
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    All six who did not have the vaccine
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    all got deathly sick and one person died.
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    One dad with two little kids
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    and a beautiful wife was gone.
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    And his vaccination was scheduled for four days later.
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    If you look at who's actually in the ICU,
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    and they're overflowing all around the country,
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    it's all people who have not been vaccinated.
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    I'm not saying that there is, you know,
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    there should be some vaccine mandates.
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    I know we're getting real freaked out about that.
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    I'm just telling you, man,
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    we don't want to do your funeral. We don't.
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    A lot of us -- A lot of us have had the vaccine.
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    And guess what?
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    Our ovaries and testicles haven't spontaneously erupted.
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    They haven't.
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    We're still able to reproduce.
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    And not only that, not only that,
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    that we get better cell phone signal, we do.
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    We've got amazing cell phone coverage. It's fantastic.
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    Seriously, it's great over here on this side.
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    Life works really well.
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    I just want to encourage you for your health,
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    for your safety, please consider blessing yourself
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    and your family.
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    It's stressful talking about it.
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    Even right now, as a leader, everything is stressful.
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    I like in leadership right now to,
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    the old whack a mole game, you remember those?
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    You know, you had a thing.
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    That thing would pop up and you go whack, whack.
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    You do a whole whack a mole.
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    For most of Crossroads' history,
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    Crossroads has been around for 25 years,
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    something would pop up was a problem,
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    you just go, whack. You kind of whack it down, bam.
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    And like OK, and then you go back to normal life.
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    And then all of a sudden another pops up,
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    oh, there's another problem, bam, you smack it down.
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    And you get back.
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    And then long distances between problems, huge problems.
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    The last year it's been like the carnival game,
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    something pops up, bam, bam, bam.
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    But it's worse now because here's what it is now.
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    Now when a problem comes up if you're a leader,
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    you hit it, it doesn't go underground at all;
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    it immediately splits in half and it replicates.
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    Because every decision you make as a leader,
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    every single one, half of everybody doesn't like it.
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    Everything you say, half of everybody is upset by,
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    everything, and you just don't have problems go away.
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    You make a decision, half of everyone is upset.
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    Even our president, poor, poor liberal Joe Biden,
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    I mean, I don't think anybody else would debate
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    that our president is on the liberal side.
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    He puts himself out there, but yet even himself
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    when he's on the verge of passing
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    an infrastructure bill, it's not far enough left
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    for people of his own party,
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    his people who are more progressive
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    in the Democratic Party than he is
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    who are in Congress who are picketing
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    and demonstrating outside of the Capitol steps.
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    Well, Mr. President, sorry, this tough times.
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    Your own folks, it doesn't matter who you are,
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    half of everybody is against you
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    and this is stressful. This makes us heavy laden.
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    When I can't even tell somebody what I think
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    or what I believe or I can't even tell somebody
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    I'm vaccinated because half the people
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    they're going to think I'm stupid and brainwashed
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    or the other half is going to think
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    that I'm anti science and anti [indiscernible].
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    It just makes us heavy laden.
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    It makes us actually need that rest.
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    And how do we get to that rest?
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    We get that rest by coming to who Jesus is,
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    coming there, going to Him.
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    When my cars would break down,
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    I would have to figure out why is it stopped?
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    Why is my car stopped?
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    Why has your life stopped? What is it?
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    And when I'm with my older cars that were very unreliable,
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    it was always one of two things.
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    It was either gas or spark; that's what it was.
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    Gas, didn't have money, ran out of gas.
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    That makes sense, that's the first thing I would check.
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    Second thing is spark.
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    You've got your battery and all that kind of stuff.
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    Actually, let me show you how this works, actually.
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    You've got a battery like this, a car battery,
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    and you want to hook that car, you've got a car.
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    This is a car battery.
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    And what this does, the car battery provides spark,
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    provides spark and when it does,
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    when the spark plugs go provide a spark like that
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    and the fuel comes in the cylinder,
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    there's mini explosions.
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    OK, this is not power mechanics class.
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    I'm just saying, if you don't have spark,
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    your car will stop.
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    There we go.
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    This is when you're energized.
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    You've got enough power that things are illuminated
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    and you can see things and your car can run.
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    Some of us have not just run out of gas,
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    we're heavy laden and we're weary
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    and we need to come to Jesus for Him to give us rest,
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    or actually give us a spark because we need it badly.
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    61% of us have gained weight during the pandemic
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    that we didn't want to gain.
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    That's 29 pounds on average.
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    According to the Barna Organization,
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    29% of all pastors in the country
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    are going to leave their jobs in the next year or so.
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    29%, at least they're saying that or we're saying that.
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    I'm not going to, by the way,
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    unless you won't have me any longer.
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    McKinsey report says that 40% of all employees
  • 00:15:05
    are going to leave their job this year.
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    They're actually saying,
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    "I'm looking to leave my job this year."
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    Workplace turnover is going to be increasingly high.
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    And why is that?
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    Is it really that you're going to
  • 00:15:16
    find a better job elsewhere? Maybe.
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    I think really what it is, is we're going,
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    "I've got to change something.
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    I'm worn out here. Something has to happen.
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    I can't keep living like this.
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    I need a different spark. I need something."
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    We're desperately trying to find a way to get rest.
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    When your battery is not giving you any spark
  • 00:15:39
    and you're worn out, what do you do with it?
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    There's four things.
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    These can be sequential,
  • 00:15:45
    but this is the stuff I go through every time
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    I'm not getting spark and my car isn't starting.
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    The first thing I do is this: I let it sit.
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    I let it sit.
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    I disconnect,
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    I disconnect the wires and I let it sit.
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    Sometimes there can be a phantom draw
  • 00:16:04
    from your electronics or your accessories
  • 00:16:07
    that without you knowing it can be drawing energy
  • 00:16:09
    away from the battery
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    when it's sitting out front of your house.
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    And so when you disconnect it,
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    sometimes you just let it sit,
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    it'll come back to life.
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    Here's the good thing.
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    If you find that you are out of juice,
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    Jesus says, come to Me all who are laboring
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    and are heavy laden, come to Me
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    and ask forgiveness for your sins.
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    No, it doesn't say that.
  • 00:16:38
    He doesn't say come to me and repent
  • 00:16:40
    for the way you've lived your life.
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    He doesn't say that.
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    He says, come to me, I'll give you rest for your souls.
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    If you're tired, if you're worn out,
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    you've not sinned.
  • 00:16:52
    If you're tired and you're worn out,
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    God is not mad with you.
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    You might have done some things wrong, maybe,
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    but this is not a spiritual issue,
  • 00:17:03
    like a barrier between you and God.
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    Something -- sometimes we have no idea
  • 00:17:09
    how this thing isn't firing, but we've got
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    to disconnect everything from our life
  • 00:17:13
    and just try to figure out. Let it sit.
  • 00:17:16
    The Book of Psalms 1:1, the very first part
  • 00:17:20
    in the Book of Psalms says this:
  • 00:17:32
    You know what that means to me?
  • 00:17:34
    Blessed is the man that doesn't have
  • 00:17:35
    a phantom draw on his life.
  • 00:17:37
    Blessed is the woman who doesn't have
  • 00:17:39
    a phantom drawing in life where
  • 00:17:40
    there's not somebody who's sucking them dry
  • 00:17:43
    and who is unhealthy for them.
  • 00:17:45
    Blessed is that.
  • 00:17:52
    When you let yourself sit, when you unplug,
  • 00:17:55
    you give yourself the space to meditate,
  • 00:17:59
    to think on the character of God,
  • 00:18:02
    to think on the love of God.
  • 00:18:05
    But when we're plugged into everything
  • 00:18:07
    we can't have that.
  • 00:18:20
    What does a tree do?
  • 00:18:23
    A tree sits is what it does.
  • 00:18:24
    Yes, the roots are growing and,
  • 00:18:27
    yes, there's activity, but it sits.
  • 00:18:31
    Sometimes we just have to sit.
  • 00:18:35
    Sometimes we just have to do something different.
  • 00:18:37
    That's the first thing that's important to do.
  • 00:18:40
    And we also have to recognize that
  • 00:18:42
    the way we live our life, the externals in our life
  • 00:18:48
    are constantly trying to draw things away from us.
  • 00:18:52
    A few years ago, we did a series in Rome called Empires.
  • 00:18:56
    You might want to look at that if you want.
  • 00:18:58
    It's actually pretty, pretty interesting.
  • 00:19:01
    Rome is a fascinating place, old ancient culture
  • 00:19:04
    that was the apex of all of the world.
  • 00:19:07
    And part of it was their technology.
  • 00:19:09
    It was the first place in the world
  • 00:19:10
    to have running hot and cold water.
  • 00:19:14
    You go there and Italy is a great country for wine,
  • 00:19:19
    in large part because it's very, very rocky soil.
  • 00:19:22
    And so when those roots are going down
  • 00:19:24
    to establish themselves, there's something
  • 00:19:26
    in that effort that the plant has to make
  • 00:19:29
    that makes the grapes very, very tasty.
  • 00:19:34
    Those rocks it has to go through and around
  • 00:19:37
    also are a problem with laying pipe.
  • 00:19:39
    What's really nice is to be able to lay a pipe
  • 00:19:41
    that's a bit flexible,
  • 00:19:42
    kind of like lead, which is flexible.
  • 00:19:46
    The Roman pipes were lead pipes.
  • 00:19:50
    Part of the downfall of the Roman Empire,
  • 00:19:52
    I say part, it wasn't the reason.
  • 00:19:54
    But I tell you what, it doesn't help
  • 00:19:55
    when your populace is drinking contaminated water.
  • 00:19:59
    Of course, we know this now,
  • 00:20:00
    looking back at poison lead water and all of us go,
  • 00:20:04
    "How stupid. How stupid."
  • 00:20:06
    They didn't know.
  • 00:20:09
    I think generations from now there will be
  • 00:20:13
    archeologists to look back at America
  • 00:20:16
    and they look at how we use the Internet
  • 00:20:19
    and they go, "So stupid.
  • 00:20:23
    Who did people think they were doing?
  • 00:20:24
    Thinking they could be plugged in all the time,
  • 00:20:26
    thinking they could have just unending pollution
  • 00:20:30
    come into your mind."
  • 00:20:31
    What do I mean by pollution? I mean, by Twitter,
  • 00:20:33
    By the way, this is not anti-social media time.
  • 00:20:35
    It's not. I'm pro-social media.
  • 00:20:37
    In fact, you can follow me on on Twitter
  • 00:20:39
    and on Instagram and on Facebook.
  • 00:20:42
    I like social media. I really do. I like it.
  • 00:20:45
    But I got to recognize, you've got to recognize
  • 00:20:47
    we're dealing with lead pipes
  • 00:20:48
    when we're around social media.
  • 00:20:50
    We have to be very, very careful because
  • 00:20:53
    we never get away from a time of social media,
  • 00:20:55
    going, "Oh, I'm so energized now.
  • 00:21:00
    Oh, I feel so good, excited about life.
  • 00:21:03
    I don't -- rest, rest smest.
  • 00:21:04
    I don't need rest because I just did social media
  • 00:21:07
    and I'm on the top of my game right now."
  • 00:21:09
    It never happens.
  • 00:21:11
    What happens when we're done?
  • 00:21:12
    We're actually more worn out, we're more drained,
  • 00:21:15
    we're more angry, all these things.
  • 00:21:18
    My friend, Ed Stetzer, I heard him
  • 00:21:20
    on a podcast recently and he said
  • 00:21:23
    that our culture is going through convulsions.
  • 00:21:26
    There are seizures that are happening,
  • 00:21:29
    all of the things that are going on
  • 00:21:31
    and we're worn out as a result of it.
  • 00:21:34
    The second thing you do with your battery,
  • 00:21:36
    if after making it sit it's still
  • 00:21:38
    not coming back to life, the second thing
  • 00:21:40
    you can do is you can jump start it.
  • 00:21:42
    That's when you take the battery cables
  • 00:21:45
    and you put them on.
  • 00:21:47
    And then you take the other battery cables
  • 00:21:49
    and you put it on another battery
  • 00:21:50
    and a car that's running and give it a jump start.
  • 00:21:53
    You can jump start it.
  • 00:21:56
    If you don't have any energy
  • 00:21:57
    you have to think about a jump start.
  • 00:21:58
    What does that look like?
  • 00:21:59
    Well, look at Isaiah 40:28.
  • 00:22:14
    It's like saying God's battery doesn't get drained.
  • 00:22:19
    He has an endless supply source.
  • 00:22:21
    He does not faint or grow weary.
  • 00:22:23
    He gives power.
  • 00:22:31
    It's like he's talking about
  • 00:22:32
    the dynamics of a battery here.
  • 00:22:40
    Yeah, our youngest generations
  • 00:22:43
    testing out very high on stress.
  • 00:22:46
    That's not a youth thing, it's a human thing.
  • 00:22:49
    We all lose our charge and grow weary.
  • 00:23:07
    This is part of why we are glad you're here right now.
  • 00:23:11
    You've got to be in places
  • 00:23:13
    where you can get jump started.
  • 00:23:17
    Church attendance is critical
  • 00:23:21
    if you want to get a jump start,
  • 00:23:22
    you want to maintain your battery's power,
  • 00:23:24
    is utterly critical.
  • 00:23:26
    I know that sounds like self-serving
  • 00:23:28
    or really religious that you should go to church.
  • 00:23:30
    But I'll tell you, you should go to church.
  • 00:23:34
    You should go to an environment,
  • 00:23:36
    and this is church, by the way.
  • 00:23:37
    This can be church right here.
  • 00:23:38
    You should go to an environment where someone
  • 00:23:40
    gives you the transcendent concepts of God
  • 00:23:44
    that you're not going to get on Twitter,
  • 00:23:46
    where someone understands who you are,
  • 00:23:49
    in a place where the Spirit of God
  • 00:23:51
    is actually filling a room,
  • 00:23:54
    which could be happening right now,
  • 00:23:56
    to a place where there may be transcendent worship
  • 00:23:59
    or there's just things that you're not going
  • 00:24:01
    to pick up in your normal news feed.
  • 00:24:03
    This is how God operates.
  • 00:24:05
    We have to go to a place where we come under His wing
  • 00:24:08
    and where He can build us up and give us the charge.
  • 00:24:11
    And not every time you're a part of a worship service
  • 00:24:13
    or in a Bible study or in a group setting,
  • 00:24:16
    not every time are you going to get a charge.
  • 00:24:18
    But every time you're not there,
  • 00:24:19
    you're not going to get a charge.
  • 00:24:21
    It's not 100% sure that you're going to get a charge.
  • 00:24:24
    But is 100% sure if you just do
  • 00:24:26
    what you're normally doing, which is draining you,
  • 00:24:28
    that you will not get charged.
  • 00:24:31
    That's why we want to charge you any way we can,
  • 00:24:33
    whether it's attending a church service,
  • 00:24:35
    being with us here online, or it's attending a camp.
  • 00:24:39
    You know we have Woman Camp, Man Camp, College Camp,
  • 00:24:43
    registration is still open for Man Camp and College Camp
  • 00:24:46
    and would love you to get to a place
  • 00:24:48
    where I would tell you, you will get a charge.
  • 00:24:51
    It will happen, but you've got to do something different.
  • 00:24:54
    Keep doing what you've always done,
  • 00:24:55
    you're going to keep getting what you've always gotten.
  • 00:24:57
    If you want something new,
  • 00:24:59
    you've got to try something new,
  • 00:25:00
    some place to get a charge.
  • 00:25:03
    Third thing you do.
  • 00:25:05
    Sometimes when you do a jump, it doesn't take.
  • 00:25:08
    So what you do is you can also try a trickle charge.
  • 00:25:12
    Again, these aren't sequential.
  • 00:25:14
    You can do these in any order if you want to.
  • 00:25:17
    You do a tickle charge.
  • 00:25:19
    You hook it up to a machine that gives out
  • 00:25:22
    just a little bit of current over 24-48 hour period,
  • 00:25:27
    just a little.
  • 00:25:28
    Trickle charge it and builds that power back up.
  • 00:25:35
    The book of Galatians 6:9 says:
  • 00:25:46
    So then as we have opportunity,
  • 00:25:48
    let us do good to everyone,
  • 00:25:49
    and especially to those of the household of faith.
  • 00:25:55
    You might go, "This verse doesn't make sense.
  • 00:25:58
    I mean, I thought we were talking about resting
  • 00:26:01
    and heavy laden and this is wonderful,
  • 00:26:04
    but what's a verse about don't grow weary in doing good,
  • 00:26:09
    doing good to people?
  • 00:26:10
    That didn't sound like rest to me."
  • 00:26:15
    I don't think that we understand the meaning
  • 00:26:17
    of certain words in our culture anymore.
  • 00:26:19
    And when our country talks about
  • 00:26:21
    rest and relaxation, R&R,
  • 00:26:23
    I don't think we know what R&R is.
  • 00:26:26
    I've got no problem with binging a show now and then.
  • 00:26:30
    I've done it.
  • 00:26:31
    I've wasted five hours of my life before
  • 00:26:33
    just going, "OH, give me another one."
  • 00:26:34
    And maybe that was a fine thing for those five hours.
  • 00:26:38
    Maybe it didn't set me back.
  • 00:26:40
    But simply lying around doesn't always trickle charge.
  • 00:26:44
    The reason why this verse is important
  • 00:26:47
    is because there's something in the doing of the good
  • 00:26:51
    that can actually trickle charge us
  • 00:26:53
    and bring our batteries back up.
  • 00:26:55
    I've had a good amount of time off this summer at Crossroads.
  • 00:26:58
    Thank you very much for allowing me to do that.
  • 00:27:00
    And it was actually it was going to --
  • 00:27:01
    it was supposed to be a bit longer time.
  • 00:27:05
    And I came into the office about two weeks
  • 00:27:08
    earlier than I was planning on coming in
  • 00:27:10
    because there was just a lot of problems
  • 00:27:13
    going on in our church.
  • 00:27:14
    A lot of them I brought on myself.
  • 00:27:16
    And just there was a lot of just stress happening.
  • 00:27:19
    And so as I was home for the end of my breaktime,
  • 00:27:22
    I'm trying to deal with these fires
  • 00:27:24
    and I'm answering very highly emotionally charged
  • 00:27:29
    emails and phone calls and just, you know.
  • 00:27:33
    And I'd think, "OK, I got that."
  • 00:27:35
    And then another one would pop up.
  • 00:27:36
    And when things wouldn't pop up,
  • 00:27:38
    when they would go underground,
  • 00:27:41
    I would just still be thinking about the problems.
  • 00:27:43
    I'd be thinking about my mistakes.
  • 00:27:46
    I'd be thinking about what could happen if this keeps--
  • 00:27:49
    I would just be --
  • 00:27:50
    I was going like deep introspection work.
  • 00:27:53
    And I realized after about a --
  • 00:27:55
    after some good time of that, I said,
  • 00:27:57
    "Oh, my goodness,
  • 00:27:59
    I'm really starting to drain myself more.
  • 00:28:04
    I've never been, like, hyper depressed,
  • 00:28:07
    but I'm as close to I've ever been here.
  • 00:28:09
    This is not good.
  • 00:28:11
    And I've read enough about depression to know
  • 00:28:13
    that one of the things that psychologists say
  • 00:28:15
    is there comes a point where the more inward you go
  • 00:28:19
    and the more you think about it,
  • 00:28:21
    you go into an inner dark downward spiral.
  • 00:28:24
    Just staying there, [indiscernible]
  • 00:28:26
    and realize, oh, this is happening, is happening to me.
  • 00:28:29
    I need to get out. I need to go serve people.
  • 00:28:31
    I need to be talking with people."
  • 00:28:33
    And I came back in the office, it's wonderful.
  • 00:28:35
    Walk around the offices and was scaring people
  • 00:28:37
    and having all kind of fun stuff.
  • 00:28:38
    It was actually part of it, just having fun,
  • 00:28:40
    joking around staff and just taking extra time
  • 00:28:42
    just to, hey, how are you doing?
  • 00:28:44
    Just walked by guy today.
  • 00:28:46
    I go over and say how are you doing?
  • 00:28:48
    And like the Spirit of God said to me,
  • 00:28:50
    "This time like really listen,
  • 00:28:52
    ask him how he is doing and stand there and listen."
  • 00:28:57
    I did. I don't know, it was a five minute conversation
  • 00:29:02
    where I felt myself getting trickle charged.
  • 00:29:05
    I felt it coming up.
  • 00:29:09
    Left to your own thoughts and your own desires alone,
  • 00:29:13
    separate from the wing of God in the right environment,
  • 00:29:18
    you are likely to be drained
  • 00:29:20
    even though you want more of God and more energy.
  • 00:29:25
    I'm pro quiet time. I'm pro private devotion.
  • 00:29:28
    I'm pro private retreats, isolation.
  • 00:29:31
    That can all be good, just be very strategic
  • 00:29:34
    when and how you lean into that.
  • 00:29:36
    Fourth and final.
  • 00:29:37
    Sometimes trickle charge doesn't work.
  • 00:29:39
    Jump starts don't work.
  • 00:29:40
    Letting it sit doesn't work.
  • 00:29:42
    So at that point you have to replace it.
  • 00:29:44
    You have to replace your battery.
  • 00:29:46
    That's the fourth thing.
  • 00:29:47
    Our over-stimulated culture is wired and designed
  • 00:29:53
    to capture our imagination entirely
  • 00:29:56
    and to leave us burnt out, to utterly crush us.
  • 00:30:02
    What Jesus is saying here is come to me
  • 00:30:05
    all who are weary and heavy laden
  • 00:30:06
    and I will give you rest.
  • 00:30:08
    He's talking here about a culture
  • 00:30:11
    that's putting burdens on people that they can't handle.
  • 00:30:15
    He's talking about a culture that is sucking people dry.
  • 00:30:20
    And what He's saying is you need to replace
  • 00:30:22
    those cultural influences with Me.
  • 00:30:27
    You need to replace them.
  • 00:30:29
    Not just maybe vacate them
  • 00:30:32
    for a 65 minute worship service,
  • 00:30:34
    you need to replace them.
  • 00:30:36
    There's certain things in our lives
  • 00:30:38
    that have to be eliminated and have to be replaced.
  • 00:30:42
    Let me read it to you again. It's critical.
  • 00:30:45
    Matthew 11:28, because that's what He's saying.
  • 00:30:47
    Look at this from a replacement standpoint.
  • 00:30:51
    Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden,
  • 00:30:54
    and I'll give you rest.
  • 00:30:56
    Take my yoke.
  • 00:30:58
    That's the thing you put on your neck to pull a cart.
  • 00:31:01
    Take my yoke upon you, my yoke, not his yoke,
  • 00:31:05
    not her yolk, not popular culture's yoke, my,
  • 00:31:09
    replace that with my yoke.
  • 00:31:12
    Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.
  • 00:31:16
    Not learning from everybody else
  • 00:31:18
    who's got frustrating lives, learn from me.
  • 00:31:35
    He's asking us to replace it.
  • 00:31:38
    Hey, hey, friends, we've got to stop this idea
  • 00:31:43
    of getting back to normal.
  • 00:31:45
    There's no going back there.
  • 00:31:47
    There's no going back there.
  • 00:31:48
    And first of all, back there wasn't all that good.
  • 00:31:51
    And here's the other thing, the other thing.
  • 00:31:53
    There's not a single time God ever asked us
  • 00:31:55
    to get back to something.
  • 00:31:57
    God is always pushing on to a new thing.
  • 00:32:00
    There's not a single person in the Bible
  • 00:32:01
    where God says, "Here's My vision on your life.
  • 00:32:03
    I need you to get back to--"
  • 00:32:05
    No, it's never get back to.
  • 00:32:07
    He never had a vision for the nation of Israel,
  • 00:32:09
    "I need you to get back to Egypt
  • 00:32:10
    because that's where you need to get back.
  • 00:32:12
    Get back to Egypt.
  • 00:32:13
    I need to get back on the other side of
  • 00:32:15
    the Jordan River, I need you to get back there."
  • 00:32:17
    Jesus never said to the disciples,
  • 00:32:18
    He says, "Hey, come together and I want you
  • 00:32:20
    to go back to where you were born
  • 00:32:22
    and live quiet lives there."
  • 00:32:24
    He never does that.
  • 00:32:26
    He says, "Go into all the world, make disciples, go."
  • 00:32:31
    The nation of Israel, Abraham is told to go
  • 00:32:34
    and become a replicating nation that blesses people.
  • 00:32:39
    God is calling you to something.
  • 00:32:42
    He's not calling you back to something.
  • 00:32:46
    And the more you grieve what was back there,
  • 00:32:50
    the more your energy is going to be drained.
  • 00:32:53
    And not only that, God's not going to trickle charge
  • 00:32:56
    you to go back to your old ways
  • 00:32:58
    when Jesus wants us to go to a new wineskin,
  • 00:33:02
    a new place.
  • 00:33:04
    When we're drained, we've got to remember
  • 00:33:07
    God wants something for us, not something from us.
  • 00:33:12
    There is a new place to go
  • 00:33:14
    and He's concerned about our battery.
  • 00:33:17
    He's concerned about our energy.
  • 00:33:19
    And he wants us to come to Him,
  • 00:33:23
    because in him is rest for our souls
  • 00:33:26
    and power that goes beyond our normal abilities.
  • 00:33:32
    Let me pray for us.
  • 00:33:36
    God, I'm honored that You would let me
  • 00:33:39
    talk about You and Your power.
  • 00:33:44
    It's an invigorating thing.
  • 00:33:47
    It actually gives me more power.
  • 00:33:48
    I think of that Galatians passage, it's a way
  • 00:33:50
    for me to serve others and go out.
  • 00:33:52
    And I pray that people we have been served
  • 00:33:55
    and you would help us to see what step we need to take.
  • 00:33:58
    Some step must be taken right now, God,
  • 00:34:01
    for us to get charged.
  • 00:34:04
    We commit that to You and we ask You to give us
  • 00:34:09
    any other insights that You need us to have.
  • 00:34:12
    In the meantime, we will follow through on
  • 00:34:13
    what we know right now.
  • 00:34:14
    I pray these things according to the name of Jesus. Amen.
  • 00:34:21
    - I don't know about you, but that was
  • 00:34:23
    the message that I needed to hear.
  • 00:34:25
    I have felt exhausted and tired in my life.
  • 00:34:27
    And just a reminder that God wants rest for me
  • 00:34:30
    is what I need.
  • 00:34:31
    Now if that did resonate with you,
  • 00:34:33
    I have three ways for you to jump in
  • 00:34:35
    and apply what Brian talked about.
  • 00:34:37
    Number one is a tool that we made for you this week.
  • 00:34:39
    It's a song our band wrote called Oh The Power.
  • 00:34:42
    I would encourage you to listen to it
  • 00:34:43
    throughout your week, morning commute, whatever,
  • 00:34:46
    to connect you to God.
  • 00:34:47
    And you can find that right here or on our YouTube page.
  • 00:34:50
    Second is the Crossroads App.
  • 00:34:52
    The feature I want to highlight today is this one.
  • 00:34:55
    Every day our community reads
  • 00:34:57
    the same chapter in the Bible and shares thoughts.
  • 00:35:00
    Right here is what Brian wrote today.
  • 00:35:02
    You want to know what he said?
  • 00:35:03
    Download the app. It's free in the App Store.
  • 00:35:06
    And last is the thing I'm probably
  • 00:35:08
    most excited about right now.
  • 00:35:09
    It's our annual Journey at Crossroads.
  • 00:35:12
    And this year's topic is Heroes: Your Path to Greatness.
  • 00:35:16
    We've made a guide for you.
  • 00:35:17
    It's a tool to take you on this Journey.
  • 00:35:20
    You're not going to want to miss it.
  • 00:35:21
    Here's the best part: This tool is free
  • 00:35:23
    from now through September 14th.
  • 00:35:25
    Just go to Crossroads.net/onlinejourney
  • 00:35:28
    and it will mail one straight to your house.
  • 00:35:30
    That's it for this week.
  • 00:35:31
    We'll 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. The questions below are for the weekend of Aug 21 & Aug 22 2021.

  1. What’s your favorite way to de-stress?

  2. Read Isaiah 40:29. What’s your “spark”? What gives you strength in the middle of today’s struggles?

  3. We all have areas of life that are difficult or drain us of energy. Where do you feel like you can’t recharge? And what do you believe may be the reasons preventing you from recharging?

  4. Read Matthew 11:28-29. When we have no “spark,” there’s 4 steps we can take to recharge our battery: Disconnect (unplug from the problem), Jumpstart (plug into God), Trickle Charge (build power through consistent acts of love), or Replace (swap out the things of the world for the things of God). Which action do you plan to take this week?

  5. Now close your time in prayer. Here’s an example: “Jesus, thank you for providing us with your strength. We all kneel before You heavy laden, searching for the supernatural rest only you can provide. We ask for the wisdom and the discernment to know what steps to take to find our power in You. Please help us see our pain through Your perspective. Amen.

More from the Weekend

Read John 1:14. At Crossroads we’re about the power of God who transforms lives. Everyday we’re getting outside ourselves trying to make a difference in the world. One way we do this is partnering with organizations who literally are changing the world everyday. If you want to jump in and start giving risk free, you can try the 90 day tithe test here. To hear more about God’s love, you can listen to our new worship song “Unbreakable.

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Aug 21, 2021 36 mins 20 sec

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