Unmask Your Villain | Heroes Week 2

Thanos. Voldemort. Dandruff. Every story has a villain—ours included. It’s easy to believe that we’re stuck with our villains, but God says otherwise. Join us this week as four of our teachers are anonymously invited to a strange mansion where they unmask the villains that rule our lives.

  • 00:00:04
    Welcome to week two of The Heroes Journey:
  • 00:00:06
    Your Path to Greatness.
  • 00:00:08
    Just like every hero in every movie,
  • 00:00:10
    every story ever must face and overcome
  • 00:00:13
    a villain in order to get to greatness,
  • 00:00:15
    you have to too.
  • 00:00:17
    There's a villain standing in your way
  • 00:00:19
    and blocking your path between you and greatness.
  • 00:00:22
    Today, you're going to unmask your villain.
  • 00:00:26
    By the way, if you're a giver, I want to say thank you.
  • 00:00:29
    Your generosity makes episodes like this possible
  • 00:00:31
    and is literally changing thousands of lives.
  • 00:00:34
    Let's get started.
  • 00:00:37
    - Welcome to The Heroes Journey
  • 00:00:40
    where you will discover your role
  • 00:00:43
    in the most important mission.
  • 00:00:46
    But there are four villains
  • 00:00:48
    that are trying to get in your way.
  • 00:00:51
    Frankie Feelgood,
  • 00:00:54
    Lieutenant Lucius Livid.
  • 00:00:57
    Senator Selfie,
  • 00:00:59
    Heinous Highness.
  • 00:01:02
    All of these villains can sabotage
  • 00:01:05
    the full, joyful life God wants for you.
  • 00:01:08
    Today, hear from Brian, Kyle, Leena, and Paco
  • 00:01:14
    as they work together to find the clues
  • 00:01:17
    and unmask the villains that want to destroy you.
  • 00:01:30
    - Man, look at this place. Oh.
  • 00:01:36
    - All right. Open it up.
  • 00:01:40
    There's a letter in here that says
  • 00:01:42
    there are four villains that try to steal from us
  • 00:01:44
    on a heroic mission.
  • 00:01:45
    - Your mission, if you choose to accept it,
  • 00:01:47
    will be to uncover their true identity.
  • 00:01:50
    - To get out of this house and continue on your journey,
  • 00:01:54
    you will need to work together to crack the code.
  • 00:01:58
    - And unmask the villains.
  • 00:02:00
    You are Frankie Feelgood.
  • 00:02:04
    Frankie is all about immediate gratification,
  • 00:02:06
    runs from pain, doesn't like to face reality,
  • 00:02:09
    considers pleasure his greatest purpose?
  • 00:02:14
    Hmm, tell you what, I want to be great.
  • 00:02:19
    I want to do world changing,
  • 00:02:21
    life changing things for God.
  • 00:02:23
    God is great, so greatness is a good thing.
  • 00:02:25
    The number one issue that I run into
  • 00:02:28
    in trying to be great, well, spoiler alert,
  • 00:02:31
    it's not the devil. He's not that busy.
  • 00:02:33
    It's not even my weird neighbors.
  • 00:02:35
    Oh, by the way, if you don't have any weird neighbors,
  • 00:02:39
    you're probably one of the weird neighbors.
  • 00:02:41
    The number one thing that stops me from being great
  • 00:02:45
    is my need to feel good in the moment.
  • 00:02:48
    Jim Collins says it like this, says,
  • 00:02:50
    good is the enemy of great.
  • 00:02:53
    I might add that feeling good is the enemy of great.
  • 00:02:58
    And I think you're watching this video right now
  • 00:02:59
    because somewhere deep inside of you
  • 00:03:02
    you have a desire to do something with your life,
  • 00:03:05
    something great.
  • 00:03:06
    You might even think that God is designed you
  • 00:03:09
    for great things long ago.
  • 00:03:12
    And the number one thing stopping you
  • 00:03:14
    is what you want right now.
  • 00:03:17
    We all want a life that matters,
  • 00:03:19
    we all want a life of meaning,
  • 00:03:20
    we all want a full life with full relationships,
  • 00:03:23
    with vibrant community around us
  • 00:03:26
    and with impact and service in the world.
  • 00:03:30
    Heroic type stuff, but here's the problem,
  • 00:03:32
    most of our days, they start a little bit different.
  • 00:03:35
    We say we want great relationships,
  • 00:03:37
    but the first thing we do when we wake up
  • 00:03:39
    instead of saying I love you to the people around us,
  • 00:03:41
    we pick up the old phone and scroll the news feed
  • 00:03:45
    for that quick anxiety rush.
  • 00:03:48
    We say we want to have great energy
  • 00:03:50
    to get through the day, but what happens is
  • 00:03:52
    we rush out the house, we grab a donut
  • 00:03:54
    or a sugary energy drink or a coffee,
  • 00:03:56
    and we hit traffic on the way to work.
  • 00:03:59
    We say we want to have great networking relationships
  • 00:04:01
    while at our job, but what happens is
  • 00:04:03
    we do our best to keep our heads down
  • 00:04:06
    and not not bring enough attention to ourselves
  • 00:04:09
    or not even try to talk to our coworkers,
  • 00:04:11
    do our best to not cuss out the customers or our boss.
  • 00:04:14
    And then it's time to come home.
  • 00:04:16
    We numb a little bit more.
  • 00:04:17
    We eat some junk, smoke a little, we drink a little,
  • 00:04:20
    we doom scroll till we fall asleep.
  • 00:04:23
    You see, this is Frankie Feelgood's modus operandi,
  • 00:04:27
    that you and I would trade in what we really want
  • 00:04:31
    for what we want right now.
  • 00:04:35
    Frankie leaves us overstimulated and under fulfilled.
  • 00:04:39
    But the good news is, you and I,
  • 00:04:42
    we can kick Frankie in the teeth.
  • 00:04:44
    We can beat Frankie Feelgood, and I'm going to show you how.
  • 00:04:54
    - Lucius Livid.
  • 00:04:56
    Right here I've got a card about Lucius Livid.
  • 00:05:00
    It says is always ready for a fight,
  • 00:05:03
    anyone gets in his way is an enemy,
  • 00:05:06
    can't control his anger, lets his emotions run the show.
  • 00:05:15
    All right. You want the truth?
  • 00:05:18
    I like to sleep and not be woken up.
  • 00:05:22
    I like to not be bothered,
  • 00:05:23
    especially when I don't want to be.
  • 00:05:25
    And I like to be listened to the very first time,
  • 00:05:30
    and when I don't, when these things don't happen,
  • 00:05:33
    I get angry.
  • 00:05:36
    In His abundant wisdom, God chose
  • 00:05:38
    to give me children, three of them in three years.
  • 00:05:41
    And from the moment they arrived,
  • 00:05:43
    it was abundantly clear that
  • 00:05:44
    they weren't really interested in the things
  • 00:05:46
    that I liked, like sleeping, not being bothered,
  • 00:05:49
    and being listened to the very first time,
  • 00:05:53
    especially at bedtime, when all I want for them to do
  • 00:05:57
    is stay in your room.
  • 00:06:01
    They don't seem to care about that so much.
  • 00:06:06
    Now, just to be clear, when I put you to bed,
  • 00:06:11
    I'm not suggesting one of many things
  • 00:06:14
    you could do with your evening.
  • 00:06:16
    This isn't a cruise ship.
  • 00:06:17
    We have lots of different excursions for you
  • 00:06:20
    to choose from at your leisure
  • 00:06:22
    and enjoy whenever you want, you picked.
  • 00:06:24
    No, when I put you to bed,
  • 00:06:27
    I am giving you an explicit command.
  • 00:06:30
    My word is law, and my law is unbreakable,
  • 00:06:34
    unless you're a tiny human being
  • 00:06:36
    with a mind all your own, in which case
  • 00:06:37
    my law is about as durable as IKEA furniture.
  • 00:06:40
    It breaks super easy, so there's that.
  • 00:06:43
    Now the thing is, anger stands in my path to greatness,
  • 00:06:51
    Lieutenant Lucius Livid.
  • 00:06:54
    And he's tricky to defeat because
  • 00:06:56
    there's a monster underneath the mask he's wearing,
  • 00:06:59
    and that's what we have to get to.
  • 00:07:07
    - You are, Senator Selfie.
  • 00:07:10
    Senator Selfie? Okay,
  • 00:07:11
    Senator Selfie is completely absorbed,
  • 00:07:14
    can't get out of her own head,
  • 00:07:16
    strives for self-made success,
  • 00:07:18
    views others' successes as her failures,
  • 00:07:21
    believes the grass is always greener,
  • 00:07:23
    and compares herself to everyone.
  • 00:07:27
    I don't know someone like that, do you?
  • 00:07:29
    Okay, actually, I think I'm totally Senator Selfie.
  • 00:07:33
    I am, I'm Senator Selfie.
  • 00:07:35
    I just the other day was spending
  • 00:07:38
    all this time scrolling through Instagram.
  • 00:07:41
    And I wasn't scrolling through Instagram
  • 00:07:43
    because there was something good to look at.
  • 00:07:44
    I was looking at my own stuff.
  • 00:07:47
    I was going back and saying, "How did I look in that?
  • 00:07:49
    What am I hair look like? Did I look fat?
  • 00:07:51
    Was that a better picture than her picture?
  • 00:07:53
    What about this? What about --"
  • 00:07:54
    I was comparing myself to every one. Gross.
  • 00:07:59
    Okay, then I'm sitting in a meeting this morning
  • 00:08:01
    and we're talking about something.
  • 00:08:03
    I'm in a room with completely capable,
  • 00:08:05
    smart, wonderful people.
  • 00:08:07
    And yet I'm thinking as we're hearing new ideas
  • 00:08:11
    and a plan we're going to go after
  • 00:08:12
    that I didn't have any say into.
  • 00:08:14
    I'm thinking, "Well, why didn't we?
  • 00:08:16
    Well, couldn't we have, shouldn't we?
  • 00:08:18
    Did they think about this?
  • 00:08:19
    Don't they know that if we just did this,
  • 00:08:22
    it would be so much better?"
  • 00:08:24
    I actually have those thoughts all the time,
  • 00:08:28
    which I'm really not proud of.
  • 00:08:30
    And honestly, I think I deal with Senator Selfie
  • 00:08:34
    more than anybody else because
  • 00:08:36
    I often think that I'm the greatest.
  • 00:08:39
    Spoiler alert, I'm not the greatest,
  • 00:08:42
    and you're not the greatest either.
  • 00:08:45
    Jesus is the greatest.
  • 00:08:52
    - You are Heinous Highness.
  • 00:08:56
    Heinous Highness is manipulative,
  • 00:08:59
    absolutely loves drama, wants to win at all costs,
  • 00:09:03
    tells people what they want to hear
  • 00:09:07
    and will do whatever it takes to be in control.
  • 00:09:13
    In other words, sounds like Heinous Highness
  • 00:09:15
    is an average American.
  • 00:09:18
    One of our great football coaches in America,
  • 00:09:21
    Vince Lombardi, he said, "Show me a good loser
  • 00:09:26
    and I'll show you a loser."
  • 00:09:28
    We love to win at all times.
  • 00:09:31
    We want to be on the top at all times.
  • 00:09:34
    If we're not on top, we want to feel like we're on top.
  • 00:09:38
    We basically want to be king and we want to be queen.
  • 00:09:44
    We will find our own data
  • 00:09:46
    to reinforce whatever we believe.
  • 00:09:48
    We'll find our own voice boxes or our own preachers
  • 00:09:52
    or self-help gurus to tell us what we need to hear,
  • 00:09:56
    what we're about all because we want to be on top.
  • 00:09:59
    We want to feel like we're a king or queen
  • 00:10:01
    above everybody else.
  • 00:10:02
    I struggle with this.
  • 00:10:03
    I understand this tension completely.
  • 00:10:06
    I lead an organization that exists with
  • 00:10:09
    a lot of people who are paid and unpaid.
  • 00:10:12
    And often times I'll be in a meeting
  • 00:10:16
    and I'll feel that I want my way to win.
  • 00:10:19
    I shouldn't want my way to win.
  • 00:10:21
    I should want the best way to win.
  • 00:10:23
    I'll feel like I want to tap into
  • 00:10:26
    my communication skills when I'm in a meeting at work
  • 00:10:29
    or when I'm with my wife to win the argument,
  • 00:10:32
    to be the high one, to be the mighty one.
  • 00:10:35
    The problem is this is not very heroic.
  • 00:10:38
    And if my journey is to put crowns in my head,
  • 00:10:41
    I won't be a hero at all. I'll be a sham.
  • 00:10:43
    No one would want to be around me
  • 00:10:45
    and I will not get closer to God
  • 00:10:46
    and feel His pleasure in my life.
  • 00:10:49
    We have got to take off our crowns
  • 00:10:53
    to be on a rogue journey
  • 00:10:54
    and slay the Heinous Highness that's in all of us.
  • 00:11:07
    - Frankie is beatable, and how do we beat him?
  • 00:11:09
    Well, I'm going to give you some tips on how I do it.
  • 00:11:11
    First thing I've got to do is I got to find a plan.
  • 00:11:14
    Zig Ziglar says that if you aim for nothing,
  • 00:11:17
    you will hit it every single time.
  • 00:11:20
    And here's a pro tip on plans:
  • 00:11:21
    If your plan has the word more or less in it,
  • 00:11:26
    it's a bad plan.
  • 00:11:28
    I want to work out more.
  • 00:11:30
    More than who, The Rock?
  • 00:11:32
    I want to drink. Less than who, Gary Busey?
  • 00:11:38
    You've got to be specific in what you want,
  • 00:11:40
    get as detailed in his laser focused in
  • 00:11:42
    on what you really want.
  • 00:11:44
    Second thing I do as I find some help,
  • 00:11:46
    people like Alex and Jonas and Xavier and Adam.
  • 00:11:50
    These are guys that cheer me on
  • 00:11:52
    and they hold me accountable
  • 00:11:53
    when I'm deviating off the course that I've set
  • 00:11:56
    or the course that God is set for me.
  • 00:11:57
    They're cheering me on.
  • 00:11:59
    You might be watching this and being like,
  • 00:12:01
    "Man, I wish I had somebody to have my back like that.
  • 00:12:03
    I wish I had somebody who could help me like that."
  • 00:12:06
    Well, good news, we're here for you.
  • 00:12:08
    The great news is people throughout all generations
  • 00:12:11
    who have walked this path that God has set out for them,
  • 00:12:14
    this path towards greatness, they're also cheering us on.
  • 00:12:18
    In Hebrews 12:1, the writer talks about
  • 00:12:20
    a great cloud of witnesses.
  • 00:12:34
    The most important step in beating Frankie Feelgood?
  • 00:12:38
    You've got to find a mirror. You see, mirrors don't lie.
  • 00:12:41
    If you look in the mirror,
  • 00:12:42
    the Mirror is going to tell you the truth.
  • 00:12:44
    And I know when some of us look into a mirror,
  • 00:12:46
    we don't like what we see.
  • 00:12:49
    Maybe there's some shame or some guilt or some regret.
  • 00:12:51
    I'm not talking about just physically.
  • 00:12:53
    I'm talking about more of the deeper things
  • 00:12:55
    like I don't like the way I'm treating people
  • 00:12:57
    or I don't like a person I'm becoming.
  • 00:12:58
    But we've got to do the hard work
  • 00:13:00
    of looking in the mirror
  • 00:13:02
    if we're really going to defeat Frankie.
  • 00:13:04
    And we've got to ask the hard questions,
  • 00:13:06
    so let's look in the mirror together right now.
  • 00:13:09
    Why are you so broke?
  • 00:13:12
    Because you like buying stuff you don't need.
  • 00:13:15
    Why are you not as healthy as you need to be?
  • 00:13:19
    Because you like eating stuff that's bad for you.
  • 00:13:22
    Why can't you kick that addiction?
  • 00:13:24
    Oh, because you like the temporary pleasure
  • 00:13:27
    in the moment.
  • 00:13:29
    Why are your relationships always crumbling around you?
  • 00:13:34
    Because you make every relationship about you.
  • 00:13:38
    Why is it so easy for us to blame our problems
  • 00:13:41
    on the devil and on liberals?
  • 00:13:44
    Because it feels so good to place blame somewhere else.
  • 00:13:51
    The thing about looking in the mirror,
  • 00:13:52
    it might make us feel weak in the moment,
  • 00:13:55
    but let me tell you something, where your weaknesses start,
  • 00:13:57
    that's where God's strength can show up.
  • 00:13:59
    Where I'm weak, He can be made strong.
  • 00:14:02
    And when I look into the mirror, I can look at myself,
  • 00:14:06
    or I can see that the very presence of God,
  • 00:14:08
    Jesus Himself is closer to me than I can even imagine.
  • 00:14:14
    God doesn't run away when we sees our weaknesses.
  • 00:14:16
    God doesn't jump ship when things go wrong with us.
  • 00:14:19
    In fact, He's right there with us.
  • 00:14:21
    Hebrews 12:2 says this:
  • 00:14:33
    God is going to do heroic things in our lifetime,
  • 00:14:38
    and He's going to use people to make it happen.
  • 00:14:40
    Question is, is He going to use you,
  • 00:14:43
    or are you going to sell yourself short
  • 00:14:45
    for what you want right now?
  • 00:14:46
    You can do great things in your life,
  • 00:14:49
    and God is going to use you and you can beat Frankie,
  • 00:14:53
    but you've got to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
  • 00:15:08
    - You know, the Avengers movie
  • 00:15:09
    where mild mannered Bruce Banner gets agitated
  • 00:15:12
    and turns into this like raging monster called the Hulk?
  • 00:15:15
    That's what happens to me at bedtime
  • 00:15:17
    if you don't stay in your room.
  • 00:15:20
    Now it happens for a reason.
  • 00:15:23
    It's not because I'm angry.
  • 00:15:25
    See, anger is just the symptom above the surface.
  • 00:15:28
    But if you want to get past anger
  • 00:15:30
    on your path to greatness, you have to deal with
  • 00:15:32
    what's below the surface, the real monster.
  • 00:15:35
    You have to unmask Lieutenant Lucius Livid.
  • 00:15:37
    And when you do,
  • 00:15:38
    what you'll find standing there is fear.
  • 00:15:41
    Underneath every angry outburst lies fear.
  • 00:15:46
    Something you love, something that's precious to you,
  • 00:15:49
    something you depend on is being threatened
  • 00:15:52
    and it manifests outward as anger.
  • 00:15:55
    For me, there's one reason I get mad at bedtime.
  • 00:15:58
    It's because I carry a lot of weight
  • 00:16:00
    and responsibility in my life,
  • 00:16:01
    probably more than I should with my family,
  • 00:16:03
    at work with dozens of employees who depend on me,
  • 00:16:06
    with a community of thousands of people
  • 00:16:08
    who I'm tasked with pastoring.
  • 00:16:10
    And most days, if I'm honest, it feels like
  • 00:16:12
    I can barely keep up.
  • 00:16:14
    I have just a tiny bit of energy left
  • 00:16:16
    at the end of the day, that's it.
  • 00:16:19
    I'm afraid if I don't get rest,
  • 00:16:21
    you don't stay in your room, if I don't sleep,
  • 00:16:25
    tomorrow's going to be the day
  • 00:16:26
    I don't have what it takes.
  • 00:16:30
    The reason I'm angry is because
  • 00:16:33
    I'm afraid I'm not enough.
  • 00:16:35
    If you're somebody who struggles with anger,
  • 00:16:38
    the question you need to ask yourself is:
  • 00:16:40
    What is it that I'm afraid of?
  • 00:16:44
    What is it that I hold dear that's being threatened
  • 00:16:47
    and I'm afraid of losing?
  • 00:16:49
    If you can get to that, you can deal with anger
  • 00:16:53
    because all anger sits on top of fear.
  • 00:16:55
    And the Bible has explicit instructions
  • 00:16:58
    about how you deal with the fear.
  • 00:17:00
    It's not just try not to be afraid.
  • 00:17:02
    Just like the way you defeat anger is not
  • 00:17:04
    just try to be more patient. Just try to be more kind.
  • 00:17:07
    That will never, ever work.
  • 00:17:10
    The way you defeat the fear under your anger
  • 00:17:13
    has one solution, it's love.
  • 00:17:16
    1 John 4:18 says:
  • 00:17:19
    There is no fear and love,
  • 00:17:22
    but perfect love casts out fear.
  • 00:17:25
    The antidote to the fear that's driving your anger
  • 00:17:30
    is love, perfect love.
  • 00:17:33
    You know, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13
  • 00:17:35
    that love is patient and kind.
  • 00:17:38
    If you lack patience, if you lack kindness
  • 00:17:41
    in your immediate, instinctual responses,
  • 00:17:44
    it's because you lack love.
  • 00:17:45
    And here's what I want you to understand,
  • 00:17:47
    the solution is not now just try to love people.
  • 00:17:50
    No. You can't give what you don't have.
  • 00:17:55
    The solution is for you to receive love,
  • 00:17:58
    for you to be filled up.
  • 00:17:59
    And there's one way that that happens.
  • 00:18:01
    Earlier in the book of 1 John Chapter 4:16, it says:
  • 00:18:06
    and we have known and believed
  • 00:18:08
    the love that God has for us.
  • 00:18:13
    Listen, if you're angry,
  • 00:18:15
    the thing you're missing is love.
  • 00:18:18
    And the only way to get it is to work on knowing
  • 00:18:22
    and believing the love that God has for you,
  • 00:18:25
    not people in general, not your family,
  • 00:18:27
    not your next door neighbor,
  • 00:18:28
    not people who do it all right, for you.
  • 00:18:32
    1 John says that God is love.
  • 00:18:34
    That means that God is patient.
  • 00:18:38
    God is kind towards you.
  • 00:18:43
    When you understand this, when you can know
  • 00:18:46
    in your mind and you can believe in your heart
  • 00:18:50
    that God loves you, the anger fades away.
  • 00:18:54
    Why?
  • 00:18:55
    Because when there's a God of the universe
  • 00:18:57
    who controls everything and He loves you,
  • 00:19:00
    what's there to be afraid of?
  • 00:19:02
    When that happens, the anger gets snuffed right out.
  • 00:19:21
    - Senator Selfie here.
  • 00:19:23
    Okay, I'm not the greatest, you're not the greatest.
  • 00:19:27
    Jesus is the greatest.
  • 00:19:28
    But it's OK to want that sometimes.
  • 00:19:31
    Jesus was hanging out with his friends one day
  • 00:19:33
    and for some reason their mom was there.
  • 00:19:35
    I don't know what was happening, but she actually asked,
  • 00:19:38
    "How do my kids become the greatest?"
  • 00:19:41
    And Jesus said, "The Son of Man,"
  • 00:19:43
    referring to Himself, "didn't come to be served,
  • 00:19:47
    but to serve others."
  • 00:19:48
    What a roundabout way to answer that question.
  • 00:19:51
    But what He was actually saying was
  • 00:19:53
    the way you become the greatest is you serve others.
  • 00:19:58
    If I want to defeat Senator Selfie
  • 00:20:00
    and you want to defeat Senator Selfie,
  • 00:20:02
    the place we have to start is by serving others.
  • 00:20:06
    I often can feel like I'm the main character.
  • 00:20:09
    It's about me. It's my life. It's my story.
  • 00:20:12
    But because I know Jesus, I actually have to shift
  • 00:20:16
    to believe that I'm a supporting character in His story,
  • 00:20:20
    that He's the greatest and I get to support the greatest
  • 00:20:24
    and I get to help others.
  • 00:20:26
    I get to be support to others, and in doing that,
  • 00:20:29
    I can become great.
  • 00:20:30
    That's true for me and that's true for you.
  • 00:20:34
    Our path to greatness,
  • 00:20:36
    the way that we defeat our pride, Senator Selfie,
  • 00:20:40
    is to spend more time focusing on others.
  • 00:20:44
    There's actually a part of the Bible in Philippians
  • 00:20:47
    that says exactly this.
  • 00:20:49
    Philippians 2:2-3 says this:
  • 00:21:09
    We become great teammates, we experience joy
  • 00:21:13
    and we give joy away when we fight
  • 00:21:16
    the selfishness in us, when we fight our pride
  • 00:21:20
    and we choose humility instead.
  • 00:21:22
    Humility doesn't mean that
  • 00:21:23
    we just think less of ourselves like,
  • 00:21:25
    "Oh, whoa is me. I suck. I'm crappy."
  • 00:21:27
    No. Humility is just thinking of ourselves less
  • 00:21:31
    and putting others ahead of ourselves,
  • 00:21:33
    choosing to put others thoughts, ideas,
  • 00:21:36
    perspectives, needs, and wants ahead of our own.
  • 00:21:40
    You might be Senator Selfie.
  • 00:21:42
    The way that you defeat Senator Selfie is you choose
  • 00:21:45
    to be humble and support other people before yourself.
  • 00:21:59
    - To be great, to be heroic,
  • 00:22:05
    Heinous Highness must be defeated.
  • 00:22:07
    And how do you defeat Heinous Highness?
  • 00:22:09
    It's not by physical might, it's by spiritual power.
  • 00:22:13
    It's the role of humility.
  • 00:22:16
    Humility is when you lower yourself underneath somebody.
  • 00:22:20
    Instead of exalting yourself
  • 00:22:22
    and putting your crown on, thinking how great you are
  • 00:22:24
    and telling everybody how great you are,
  • 00:22:26
    you intentionally take it off, you lower yourself.
  • 00:22:29
    This is what Jesus did.
  • 00:22:31
    Book of Philippians Chapter 2 tells us
  • 00:22:33
    that Jesus humbled Himself,
  • 00:22:35
    becoming obedient to the point of death,
  • 00:22:38
    even death on a cross.
  • 00:22:39
    He spreads out his arms on a cross and He dies for us.
  • 00:22:44
    And the crazy thing is, in the grand scheme of eternity,
  • 00:22:47
    He actually gets exalted
  • 00:22:49
    and God gives him a name above every name.
  • 00:22:51
    He defeats His own desires to be known in His lifetime
  • 00:22:56
    in order to be known by God
  • 00:22:57
    and rewarded by God forever.
  • 00:23:01
    One of the books in the Bible that talks about forever
  • 00:23:03
    is the Book of Revelation 4:10.
  • 00:23:06
    It has these people who are known as elders,
  • 00:23:09
    there's 24 of them.
  • 00:23:10
    We don't really know exactly who these people are.
  • 00:23:13
    Why is there 24 of them?
  • 00:23:15
    We don't know exactly, but we do know
  • 00:23:17
    what these people do, that they are great
  • 00:23:20
    and they are heroic.
  • 00:23:22
    And why and how?
  • 00:23:24
    Because they're humble enough
  • 00:23:26
    to take off their own crowns,
  • 00:23:27
    whatever their own personal kingdom is,
  • 00:23:29
    whatever their business is, whatever their family is,
  • 00:23:31
    whatever their successes are, they take off their crowns
  • 00:23:33
    and they cast them at the feet of Jesus.
  • 00:23:36
    That's the ultimate humility,
  • 00:23:39
    throwing your accomplishments and your view of yourself
  • 00:23:43
    as low as it will go on the ground
  • 00:23:45
    and they say worthy, worthy is the Lamb.
  • 00:23:49
    Worthy is God.
  • 00:23:51
    I'll tell you what, you come to a place of humility,
  • 00:23:55
    you put your crown on a shelf,
  • 00:23:57
    you cast your crown beneath God,
  • 00:23:59
    you are not just going to be heroic,
  • 00:24:03
    you're going to be great
  • 00:24:05
    and people are going to be thankful for you
  • 00:24:08
    in the grand scheme of your life.
  • 00:24:22
    - Kyle? - Yes. Yes!
  • 00:24:25
    - What?
  • 00:24:27
    - Hey. Hi. - What are you doing?
  • 00:24:29
    - The whole Journey, do you see it?
  • 00:24:30
    I saw The Journey: The Path to Greatness.
  • 00:24:33
    This is it.
  • 00:24:34
    I guess it didn't connect these two parts though.
  • 00:24:36
    - Kyle, we don't see it.
  • 00:24:37
    - Dude, no, it's there.
  • 00:24:39
    - How long have you been down here?
  • 00:24:41
    - I don't know, like, at least --
  • 00:24:43
    I could see the moon and it came,
  • 00:24:44
    and then it went, and then it came again.
  • 00:24:46
    So I think anyway, the point is, it's solved,
  • 00:24:49
    except for I just got to put those up.
  • 00:24:51
    You guys want to help me? - This is my guy.
  • 00:24:52
    - What do you mean it's your guy?
  • 00:24:54
    - I got -- I got this guy. This is my villain.
  • 00:24:56
    - Oh, you got one, too.
  • 00:24:58
    - This is my villian, Frankie Feelgood, man.
  • 00:25:00
    He wants us to be immediately gratified.
  • 00:25:02
    He wants us to trade in what we really want
  • 00:25:03
    for what we want right now.
  • 00:25:04
    I figured out how to unmask him.
  • 00:25:06
    I figured out how to beat him. - What'd you say?
  • 00:25:08
    - So I said the way you unmask him
  • 00:25:09
    is you follow Jesus's footsteps.
  • 00:25:12
    - That's -- yes, that's great. Write that down.
  • 00:25:15
    So many F's in that, just like just like the F here.
  • 00:25:18
    This is so great. - Maybe that's a clue.
  • 00:25:19
    - What what do you mean? For the box?
  • 00:25:22
    - Yeah. - There's the whole time.
  • 00:25:24
    - Do we -- do you want to try to give to others?
  • 00:25:26
    - Yeah. - Know this guy with the teeth.
  • 00:25:28
    - Yes. Yeah, that was my guy.
  • 00:25:30
    That was that was Livid, Lucius L.T.
  • 00:25:33
    This guy's all about anger, right?
  • 00:25:36
    And the thing about anger is that
  • 00:25:38
    it's just the thing visible above the surface.
  • 00:25:40
    But if you unmask him, what you find underneath is fear.
  • 00:25:43
    - Hmm.
  • 00:25:44
    - And so I talked about the way to defeat fear
  • 00:25:46
    is 1 John, Who knows it?
  • 00:25:50
    - Perfect love. - Yes, perfect love.
  • 00:25:51
    That's what I said. There it is: cast out fear.
  • 00:25:53
    - Put him up there.
  • 00:25:54
    Do you want to hold my magnifying glass?
  • 00:25:56
    - I would love to.
  • 00:25:57
    - It's great. Perfect love starts with a I too.
  • 00:25:59
    Who did you have?
  • 00:26:01
    - I had Selfie. I had Senator Selfie.
  • 00:26:05
    - Senator Selfie? - Senator Selfie.
  • 00:26:07
    - How do you unmask her?
  • 00:26:08
    - Okay, so I think the way to unmask Senator Selfie
  • 00:26:13
    is to take the attention off of ourselves
  • 00:26:18
    and support others.
  • 00:26:20
    So here she is. - Here I got you.
  • 00:26:23
    - Support others, exclamation. - That's great. Love it.
  • 00:26:31
    - Well, there's one more left and,
  • 00:26:33
    by the way, where's Brian?
  • 00:26:34
    - I don't -- I thought he was with you guys.
  • 00:26:36
    - I thought he was with you down here.
  • 00:26:38
    (lullaby music)
  • 00:26:48
    - There's one more left, Heinous Highness.
  • 00:26:51
    I've got to imagine Brian is this person.
  • 00:26:53
    Heinous?
  • 00:26:54
    - Yeah, what do you think Brian said about it?
  • 00:26:56
    - You know, well, if her profile is
  • 00:26:58
    she's manipulative, loves drama,
  • 00:26:59
    wants to win at all costs, I bet you
  • 00:27:01
    there's something in there about humility.
  • 00:27:03
    - Oh, yeah. It starts with an H too.
  • 00:27:04
    - Yeah. Oh, we have a pattern.
  • 00:27:07
    - There is something happening here.
  • 00:27:09
    - We've got Freddie Feelgood, F.
  • 00:27:11
    You defeated by following Lieutenant Lucius Livid.
  • 00:27:15
    You defeat the I with love, S with support,
  • 00:27:19
    H with humility. Oh my goodness.
  • 00:27:22
    FLSH.
  • 00:27:23
    FLSH is obviously FLSH.
  • 00:27:27
    - Flesh.
  • 00:27:28
    - Flesh, that's what I meant. Flesh.
  • 00:27:30
    - Let's retry it.
  • 00:27:31
    - One, two, three, flesh.
  • 00:27:33
    - I actually meant try it on the wall,
  • 00:27:35
    but we can also just say it.
  • 00:27:37
    - I thought we were making a group cheer.
  • 00:27:39
    That's okay, if we're not at that relationship level
  • 00:27:42
    with each other, we don't have a group cheer.
  • 00:27:44
    - We've got to get out of this house,
  • 00:27:46
    sooner rather later.
  • 00:27:47
    Let's go to the lock. Go to the box.
  • 00:27:49
    (all talking at once)
  • 00:27:51
    - Try it: F-L-S-H, put it in there. See if it opens.
  • 00:27:56
    I bet there's treasure or something awesome.
  • 00:27:58
    I don't even know, maybe some --
  • 00:28:00
    Actually, I could use a snack.
  • 00:28:01
    I've been here for a long time,
  • 00:28:02
    so hopefully something edible. I don't know.
  • 00:28:07
    What is it?
  • 00:28:10
    - It's a key. - A key.
  • 00:28:12
    - A key. What do we do with it?
  • 00:28:14
    - I don't try to get out. - Let's get out of here.
  • 00:28:16
    - I'm done. We solved this thing. We could be --
  • 00:28:18
    We're leaving.
  • 00:28:20
    - Brian, see ya. - See ya.
  • 00:28:28
    - Hey, hey. Anyone out there?
  • 00:28:32
    Where are you guys? Hey.
  • 00:28:41
    - One of the villains stood out to you,
  • 00:28:43
    but the experience of unmasking them
  • 00:28:45
    and understanding them at a deeper level
  • 00:28:47
    has only just begun.
  • 00:28:48
    This week in your individual work and in your group,
  • 00:28:51
    you're going to be discovering more about the villain,
  • 00:28:53
    how it's blocked your path and how God has a path
  • 00:28:55
    and a way for you to get through that villain
  • 00:28:58
    to a life of greatness.
  • 00:29:00
    By the way, you need the Crossroads app your group.
  • 00:29:02
    Don't forget that it's free wherever you get your app.
  • 00:29:04
    It's chock full of not only The Journey experience,
  • 00:29:06
    but a lot of other really helpful resources.
  • 00:29:08
    And if you're watching this,
  • 00:29:10
    "Like what's all this Journey stuff?
  • 00:29:12
    I'm so confused, Kyle, I don't understand."
  • 00:29:13
    Don't worry, we have your back.
  • 00:29:15
    Just go to online.crossroads.net and chat with us.
  • 00:29:18
    We'd love to answer any questions, get you connected,
  • 00:29:20
    or help you with anything you need in your life.
  • 00:29:23
    Thanks for joining us today.
  • 00:29:25
    We'll see you next time for episode three.
  • 00:29:55
    - Hi, I am Stephanie Byerly.
  • 00:29:56
    - And I'm Robert Byerly,
  • 00:29:58
    and we live in Newport Beach, California.
  • 00:30:00
    I think we started going to Crossroads
  • 00:30:02
    before we moved to Cincinnati in 2003.
  • 00:30:05
    - The first Journey that we were part of
  • 00:30:06
    was the Consumed Journey.
  • 00:30:08
    That was the first time
  • 00:30:09
    that it's a really been explained to us
  • 00:30:11
    that everything we own is God's.
  • 00:30:16
    So I think that was where our story started
  • 00:30:19
    with becoming more generous and really asking God
  • 00:30:23
    to use us in a greater way
  • 00:30:24
    - The different campaigns,
  • 00:30:26
    The Game Change, it changed us.
  • 00:30:28
    One, I think the accountability piece of it
  • 00:30:31
    that consistently giving every week out of generosity
  • 00:30:35
    and love and then seeing the things
  • 00:30:38
    that Crossroads was doing and growing,
  • 00:30:43
    investing in people, investing in trips,
  • 00:30:45
    investing in the local community,
  • 00:30:46
    and investing in other communities around the world.
  • 00:30:49
    You feel like you were a part of a team
  • 00:30:51
    and something big.
  • 00:30:52
    Then you could see the blessings that would happen
  • 00:30:54
    in your life from that generosity too
  • 00:30:56
    and how it sort of changed your heart.
  • 00:30:58
    And then you just want to give more,
  • 00:31:00
    whether it was giving your time, your talents,
  • 00:31:02
    your finances, whatever it was.
  • 00:31:04
    - We just live in more freedom because I think
  • 00:31:07
    we know that everything we own is really God's.
  • 00:31:12
    And so I think when it comes to parenting
  • 00:31:15
    or our marriage or whatever, it looks like
  • 00:31:16
    there's a freedom there to press into
  • 00:31:20
    what God has for us.
  • 00:31:21
    It changes the way we live,
  • 00:31:24
    not just living for ourselves,
  • 00:31:25
    but serving each other and love.
  • 00:31:27
    - I believe it's God, right?
  • 00:31:28
    I mean, God's working on that
  • 00:31:30
    and a place like Crossroads, it's given a place for us
  • 00:31:33
    to learn about different things,
  • 00:31:36
    let God sort of chip away at our selfishness.
  • 00:31:39
    - Yes.
  • 00:31:40
    - Bring a place where your kids can thrive,
  • 00:31:42
    or we can thrive as husband and wife,
  • 00:31:44
    and family in that type of thing.
  • 00:31:46
    Yeah, that's been awesome.
  • 00:31:48
    - Yeah.

Oct 2, 2021 31 mins 54 sec

Recent Series