Play & Purpose Journey | Week 1: Promise

Too many of us are stuck in ruts and it’s sucking the life out of us. Many of us are obsessed with keeping up appearances while others of us are so concerned with “goals” that we stop enjoying life. If we’re going to break out of this, we have to wake up to the life we were made to live.

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    So Crossroads is doing a Journey.
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    What does that even mean? >> Allow me.
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    Every so often Crossroads does a Journey.
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    Basically a Journey is a five-week series where everyone from kids to
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    adults follow on the same topic.
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    This year's topic Purpose & Play, all about why having restful play
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    and meaningful purpose are critical to a life that thrives.
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    Here's how to do a Journey.
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    Step one: go to the weakened message.
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    Kickoff weekend will be September 14th and 15th.
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    Be here. Can't make it to a site?
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    Just download the Crossroads Anywhere app and watch the weekend
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    message there. Step two: get in a group.
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    If getting in a group sounds weird, relax.
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    This is not your Aunt Betty's knitting circle.
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    It's not that. It's more like a dinner party with people in similar
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    life stages asking similar questions.
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    Step 3: do some challenges.
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    No, not the dumb internet kind, challenges in the Crossroads app.
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    There's a brand new feature this year and you're going to love it.
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    Connect your group in the app like a text thread,
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    select Play & Purpose. It will prompt your group with fun challenges
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    and questions. No homework.
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    Just fun ways to get engaged.
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    (Aww) So to recap,
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    [rewind FX] Do the journey.
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    >> Is he making fun of my air quotes? Dude! >> Welcome to Crossroads.
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    My name's Lena Schuler. I'm the Crossroads Anywhere Community Pastor
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    and you're joining us for week one of the Play & Purpose Journey.
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    We're so glad to have you from anywhere you might be right now.
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    You know, there is a thriving community online, the Anywhere
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    Community. And smaller communities and larger communities all over
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    the country who are getting together right now to experience the Play
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    & Purpose Journey and to be part of the church.
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    And so in the midst of the next five weeks, we're going to get some
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    great teaching and experience online together on this topic of Play &
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    Purpose. And then you'll have some individual prompts that you can do
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    during the week if you'd like to get you into a new rhythm, maybe a
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    deeper place in your relationship with God and in you just figuring
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    out who you are and what you need.
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    And then there's the component of the group where you actually get
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    together with other people to have fun and have purposeful
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    conversations. It's gonna be really good.
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    And so I'm excited to have you joining us for church today from
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    anywhere you might be. I'm excited to have you for the Play & Purpose
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    Journey that starts right now.
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    >> The pace of life is fast.
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    Sometimes it can feel like we stumble through our days running on
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    fumes, endless productivitY
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    Finding time to play is a luxury we can't afford.
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    Having purpose is good.
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    Purpose is something productive that yields results.
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    The play is good too.
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    Play is something unproductive that restores you.
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    A life with no play is stress filled and a life without purpose is
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    aimless. The Bible tells us that a life lived fully alive includes a
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    healthy balance of Play & Purpose.
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    A thriving life embraces the "&".
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    Playful fun & meaningful purpose.
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    We were designed for both: a life filled to the brim with Play &
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    Purpose. And it's only when we have both that we come fully
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    alive.
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    >> Doesn't that song just make you want to smile?
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    It brings some kind of joy to us, which is often what art and music
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    do as they bring joy.
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    Because so often songs and music and art paint pictures of a life
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    that we could have, of a life that we want, of a life that's full and
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    abundant and thriving.
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    And that's actually the life that Jesus wants for you and wants for
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    me. In John 10:10, Jesus says: I have come so that you might have
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    life and have it abundantly.
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    Jesus wants you to have a life that's full and thriving and abundant.
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    And so we're gonna go into a time right now where we're going to sing
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    together. We're going to do what we call worship, which is we're
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    ascribing worth to God.
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    And when we do this, we're saying, "I want the full life that You
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    have to offer, Jesus.
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    I want a thriving life, one that is abundant."
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    And so regardless of if you believe these words fully or if you're
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    still figuring out if you can believe in who Jesus says He is or the
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    words that He says,
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    we can posture ourselves right now in a way that declares to God,
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    "I think you have more for me than what I'm experiencing right now.
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    And I want the full abundant thriving life that you promise."
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    So let's sing together right now.
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    Well, I love getting to worship every weekend in this way because
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    it's the time for me to spend time with God on purpose in a way that
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    I might not other times during the week.
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    I would encourage you maybe during this series, try to go to a new
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    place with God on purpose and sing during one or two of those songs,
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    if you're sitting in your car, in your living room or wherever you
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    might be. And today starts the Play & Purpose Journey.
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    And I'm so, so thrilled for it.
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    My Journey group is getting together at my house beginning next week
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    and it's gonna be great.
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    And hopefully you're in a Journey group.
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    If you're not, you can head to Crossroads.net/journey
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    and sign up to be in a group.
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    There are hundreds of groups happening all over the place, all
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    different times, locations. And this is not a group where you're
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    going to sit around and just sing together and close your eyes and
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    ponder life. But you're actually going to get together and experience
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    friendship over some food.
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    It's going to be more like a dinner party.
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    And then you're going to maybe plan an adventure and then you're
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    gonna go do something together.
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    It's gonna be active and fun and purposeful.
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    You don't want to miss being in a group because it's the way that
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    you're going to get the most out of this Journey.
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    And I really believe that you could make some really great friends or
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    go to a new place with some of your old friends in the midst of this.
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    So Crossroads.net/journey
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    is where you get in a Journey Group and those groups start next week.
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    Week two of the journey is when that first gathering happens.
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    And if you are in a group, you're going to get a guide, you're gonna
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    get a Play & Purpose Guide.
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    And inside of this guide are all kinds of prompts and things for you
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    to do throughout the week for you to spend time alone with God to
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    figure out what it looks like for you to have more purpose & play.
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    And this will guide your group time.
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    So if you're in a group, your group leader will receive these in the
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    mail this week for you.
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    If you live near Crossroads location, you could head to one of those
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    Crossroads locations and pick up a guide during Crossroads services
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    on the weekends. And if you want to do this digitally, you can head
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    to Crossroads.net/journey
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    and get a digital form of this as well.
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    And don't forget, speaking of digital, to download the Crossroads app
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    if you don't have that already. It's also going to be part of this
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    Play & Purpose Journey. And there's all kinds of stuff in there, all
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    week long, all month long, all year long for you to engage with the
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    church, for you to engage with God, and for you to engage with other
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    people in your group through group chat.
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    And it's gonna be really, really sweet some of the new features that
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    are coming out for this journey.
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    Well, I know that in the midst of this Journey, I mean more play in
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    my life. I'm excited to see what God reveals to me and practice some
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    things to play a little bit more. And I know I need that because I
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    tend to err more on the side of doing things on purpose.
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    One of the places that I do things on purpose is in my finances.
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    And I don't just mean I like look at the week and figure out what
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    groceries and how much money I'm going to spend on them or the
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    diapers I need to buy for my kid or any of those other things.
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    But I purposefully set aside money at the beginning of every paycheck
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    to go directly to the church.
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    And you want to be purposeful about putting your money towards God's
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    purposes. You can do that by heading to Crossroads.net/give
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    and become a giver.
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    You can sign up for a one time gift or a recurring gift.
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    And you know, there are some people who are part of our church who
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    have been deeply, deeply impacted by your giving.
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    And they just want to say thank you.
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    >> I'm Nathan.
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    >> And I'm Rosalyn and we go to Crossroads.
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    >> We came here in a kind of stuck in a weird rut and it was time to
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    get some change. >> My family was attending Crossroads when we got
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    here. So when we got here we were encouraged to go to Crossroads
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    right away. It was really easy to find places to get involved in and
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    different teams to be a part of in volunteering.
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    And shortly after we got here, I'm In started and that was really
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    stretching for us. And we had just gotten through CityLink to get him
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    into school with their help.
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    And then so it was just we're not in a great financial position.
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    >> So money was for a long time something that we were constantly
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    striving for. When we moved here Crossroads had a series of messages.
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    And then when I'm In started, obviously a lot of it had to do with
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    finances and you know, where are you putting your focus, where are
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    you putting your money? What you focus on is kind of really where
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    your heart's at. And we realized that we'd kind of made money this
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    thing that was just always out there and we were striving for it.
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    And we realized we're kind of striving for the wrong thing.
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    So we decided to go ahead and make a commitment. >> And after we
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    completed our I'm In, we decided to have a bigger family, but that
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    meant we didn't fit into a car anymore.
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    So we're like, hey, we're just gonna trust that even though we're
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    giving when we finished our I'm In commitment it was enough money
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    that we could have bought a more than reliable car with our I'm In
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    commitment. Somebody -- we were just praying about what we were going
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    to do about a vehicle and somebody told us to apply for wheels.
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    And I said I didn't think that we would qualify for that.
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    It just didn't sound like something for us.
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    They told me not make the decision of whether God is gonna bless us
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    through that or not. >> And the cool thing is is God has continued to
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    provide through this whole situation.
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    Every time it feels like we're going to end up going into debt, God
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    just kind of slipped something and it goes, "No, no, no, I got you."
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    Like this Wheels car just like, "Oh, by the way, you qualify.
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    We have a car for you.
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    We're getting it ready.
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    We'll let you know when it's ready.
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    And you guys can come pick it up."
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    And we are like, "Oh, my gosh, that's amazing."
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    Six or seven days before you delivered Azariah, that they gave us the
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    call and said, "Hey, come on this weekend and pick up your vehicle.
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    It's ready for you guys."
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    I mean, talk about perfect timing.
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    Even in times where it feels like all we can do is, you know, receive
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    there's opportunity always to give at the same time.
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    >> It's so amazing to be on the receiving end.
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    It's such a blessing to be able to give and know you're helping
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    somebody. >> Thank you. Crossroads Community, so much for being
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    generous and giving.
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    It has blessed our entire family more than you guys could imagine.
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    And it has elevated us to continue to move forward in ways that we
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    haven't even imagined. >> So the Journey has begun.
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    You know, what is a Journey?
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    A Journey is when you are going to a different place in all different
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    aspects of your humanity is tapped into.
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    Lib and I went on a journey from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati to help
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    start Crossroads 23 years ago.
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    It was an emotional journey, it was a spiritual journey, it was a
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    physical journey. It was a relational journey.
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    Different relationships. That was a journey.
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    Simply flying to Florida, that's different location but it's not a
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    journey. I've been out west camping before, and whenever I'm doing
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    that, it is a journey.
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    It's a physical journey.
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    It's an emotional journey.
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    It's a dirt journey.
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    It's all kinds of different things.
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    A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to retrace the footsteps
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    of the Apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament.
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    Actually, I didn't retrace his footsteps.
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    I was in a van that had the air conditioning broken down on it.
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    So, let me tell you what, if you're in a van in Turkey and in Greece
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    and the air conditioning isn't working, that's a journey.
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    It stretched my rear end.
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    It stretched everything.
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    It was. It was difficult.
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    There's something about difficulty, and this journey isn't
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    necessarily going to be difficult.
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    This is going to be very, very rewarding and very, very fun.
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    But there's something about a multipronged approach of physical
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    engagement, relational engagement, physical, emotional, spiritual.
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    We're going to have it all right here now.
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    And where was this birthed?
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    Where did this come from?
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    I had a, gosh, an epiphany about a decade or so ago about play that
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    just revolutionized my life and actually revolutionized me in being
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    able to be purposeful, being able to be productive in my life.
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    And I've been thinking about these things and I've been --
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    You've heard me talk about some of these things the last few years if
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    you've been around Crossroads.
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    But something really crystallized for me about a year and a half ago
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    when we had a tryout out on our base camp property.
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    Last weekend, if you were here, you saw a video clip that we showed,
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    a little snippet of a video series we're going to stream someplace in
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    January of a motorcycle trip out in Colorado with people who are
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    newer off road riders.
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    And a year and a half ago, we had a tryout where you could come and
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    try out to be on the -- on the show.
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    It was after a bunch of other things had done, we were invited I
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    don't know it was 50 people or something like that to come.
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    We were very clear that the best riders don't go.
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    This isn't about seeing who's the best riders.
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    This is about seeing that you're not going to kill yourself on a
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    motorcycle. That was the main thing.
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    It wasn't the riding. It was their story.
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    What are you dealing with? All these kind of things.
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    As we got to the end of the day, I started feeling really bad because
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    a lot of these people had wrecked motorcycles.
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    They had bruises on them.
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    They had stood outside in the cold.
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    It was sunny, but is very, very cold.
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    And I realized that only, you know, I don't know what it was, one and
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    one in five of them or something like that was actually going to go
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    on the trip. So I started saying my apologies.
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    "Hey, I'm really sorry that we're not going to be able to take
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    everybody. I don't know who it's going to be, but I'm sorry we can't
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    take everybody." And person after person looked me in the face and
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    said, "Sorry.
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    What do you mean sorry? This is the best day that I have had for
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    decades. I don't -- I don't remember the last time I played.
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    I don't -- I don't remember the last time I lost myself in something
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    that wasn't my job.
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    Whether I go on the trip or not, this has been amazing.
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    Thank you.". And that was really cool to hear and it was also really
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    sad to hear, Because I think that reflects probably the way most of
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    us are. Most of us, either one or two things, we can't remember the
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    last time we got lost in our job and just expended ourselves in
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    having a purpose.
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    Do you know why you are on planet Earth and this week is that making
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    any difference? We can't remember the last time we were fully
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    absorbed in the work week.
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    And we can't remember the last time we forgot about work.
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    We can't remember the last time we just were silly.
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    We can't remember the last time we were unproductive or not trying to
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    be unproductive.
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    Play & Purpose.
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    That's my heart for you, because when that happens in your life and
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    my life, we get to prosper.
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    In the Book of Psalms 1:3 it says:.
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    He prospers. Now, take this image here for me, if you will.
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    Think about this multisensory experience.
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    There's a tree. It's big.
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    It's lush. It's beautiful.
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    It's offering shade. You're underneath of the tree.
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    Beside it there's a rushing brook, babbling, rushing brook.
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    We can hear the water rushing right beside you.
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    And the tree is digging its roots down deep, deep in the soil.
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    And you are caught up in the visual beauty of it, the audio beauty of
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    it. And you reach up and you take off a fruit and you bite into that
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    fruit and the juice of that fruit --
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    Not the broccoli, not the brussel sprouts --
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    the fruit, the juices start dripping down your chin.
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    And you feel the cold breeze.
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    And in that moment you feel God.
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    It's like in that moment you are prospering.
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    When is the last time you've lost yourself in something where you've
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    -- it's like you've been transported into a different time space
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    continuum and you feel -- you feel closer to God?
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    We can get that.
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    We can get that when we're high purpose.
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    And we can get that one were high play.
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    Here's a matrix we're gonna be working on in the guides that you will
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    get later on.
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    Imagine a life that is high on play.
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    This is high, very, very high on play.
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    And is high on purpose.
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    This is purpose, very, very high on purpose.
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    What would it be if you were in this section here, high, high
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    purpose, very low play?
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    What would your life be if you were all about purpose, all about
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    work, all about getting stuff done.
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    Go, go, go, go, go.
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    Eventually it'll be painful, right?
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    It would be painful.
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    That is not a good way to jump into a pool.
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    That is not. But when we're only purpose, we're only going, it is
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    painful. Now let's look at the other extreme.
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    Let's imagine it's all play.
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    It's all play.
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    It's all coloring books.
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    It's all golf.
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    It's all movies.
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    It's all camping.
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    It's all bicycle riding.
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    It's all finger painting.
  • 00:31:11
    It's all -- it's all dime store trash novels.
  • 00:31:14
    It's all that. It's only that, only that on and on.
  • 00:31:17
    If you were only getting play, you had no purpose in your life, your
  • 00:31:20
    life would be pointless.
  • 00:31:25
    Pointless. What would be the point of life if all you were doing is
  • 00:31:33
    having pumpkins on our heads and going like this in the fields?
  • 00:31:37
    What would be the point? Wouldn't be much of a point.
  • 00:31:40
    If on the other extreme, if we were no play and no purpose, and there
  • 00:31:45
    are people who are like this, by the way.
  • 00:31:47
    No play and no purpose.
  • 00:31:49
    There are retired people who have no purpose in life and they have no
  • 00:31:54
    play. Play, as we're going to find out, is a multisensory lose
  • 00:31:57
    yourself in a thing. It's not just a single solo thing you do.
  • 00:32:00
    So there's retired people who don't work, have no purpose.
  • 00:32:05
    Not that you have to have work to have a purpose, but they have no
  • 00:32:07
    purpose. And they watch TV all day.
  • 00:32:12
    This was also me, by the way, in high school.
  • 00:32:15
    This is me.
  • 00:32:16
    I had no college aspirations, education.
  • 00:32:21
    I had no purpose when I was in school.
  • 00:32:22
    I didn't understand the value of school.
  • 00:32:24
    And I would just come home from school and I'd plop down and I would
  • 00:32:27
    just watch F Troop or The Munsters or Speed Racer and *Chim Chim and
  • 00:32:32
    Spritle. Who remembers Chim Chim and Spritle?
  • 00:32:35
    Who's over 50 and white.
  • 00:32:36
    Come on now. [laughter]
  • 00:32:41
    Yeah. You know, when you're -- when you're this way.
  • 00:32:42
    When you are low on purpose and low on actual play, your life becomes
  • 00:32:48
    pitiful. Your life is pitiful.
  • 00:32:54
    You're not sure what the point of the whole thing is.
  • 00:32:59
    Now, where we want to get to is we want all of us to get to a place
  • 00:33:04
    where we are a high play and high purpose.
  • 00:33:07
    When that happens, we get to prosper.
  • 00:33:11
    This is where prosperity happens.
  • 00:33:15
    Where we prosper.
  • 00:33:18
    Now, the thing --
  • 00:33:23
    The thing about prospering here, and this -- is I'm not going to dig
  • 00:33:27
    deep and play to them like a dig deep into purpose today.
  • 00:33:31
    I'm going to dig into "&" today.
  • 00:33:34
    I'm going to dig big into the ampersand.
  • 00:33:39
    Yes, the ampersand.
  • 00:33:40
    That is the stupidest name for a symbol I've ever known.
  • 00:33:44
    The ampersand.
  • 00:33:45
    It should just be the and sign, but it's actually called the
  • 00:33:47
    ampersand.
  • 00:33:49
    But we're going to deal with the "&" today because it's in the "&",
  • 00:33:53
    not where we try to mash two things together and make an omelet.
  • 00:33:57
    But where we keep things separate.
  • 00:33:59
    Where it's purpose and play.
  • 00:34:03
    And actually, in the midst of our Journey, it's going to be teaching
  • 00:34:07
    and interaction.
  • 00:34:09
    It's going to be personal reflection and engagement.
  • 00:34:14
    It's going to be things on our digital devices, digital and it's
  • 00:34:20
    going to be analog.
  • 00:34:22
    And this video will tell you how.
  • 00:34:25
    >> Hey, my name's Matt Welty, I lead technology here at Crossroads.
  • 00:34:28
    And if this is your very first Journey you're ever doing with us,
  • 00:34:31
    welcome. We think it's gonna be life changing.
  • 00:34:33
    And I think this video is going to help you get the most out of the
  • 00:34:35
    Journey. If you've done a bunch of these with us, I want you to pay
  • 00:34:38
    really close attention because we've changed the entire way the
  • 00:34:42
    Journey works. In years past you've done all your individual journey
  • 00:34:45
    work, the homework leading up to your group time inside the
  • 00:34:48
    Crossroads Anywhere App. This year we got rid of all the homework.
  • 00:34:53
    There's no homework. There's no individual work for you to do inside
  • 00:34:55
    the app. Instead, you're gonna get one of these incredible Play &
  • 00:34:59
    Purpose Guides.
  • 00:35:01
    These are chock full of exercises you can do all throughout the
  • 00:35:03
    Journey to explore the concepts of Play & Purpose.
  • 00:35:07
    We've also changed up how group time is going to work.
  • 00:35:09
    In past Journeys, you've used the app to help facilitate a
  • 00:35:13
    conversation. This year if you're spending your group time, spending
  • 00:35:16
    hours answering questions in a living room, you're doing it wrong.
  • 00:35:20
    We want you to have a blast this year.
  • 00:35:21
    And so we've given your group leader a leader guide inside the
  • 00:35:25
    Crossroads Anywhere app that they can use to get conversations, going
  • 00:35:28
    to help everybody get to know each other and explore these concepts
  • 00:35:30
    together. But we mostly want you to get out there and play and
  • 00:35:34
    explore them in real life.
  • 00:35:36
    So this year, for the first time, we've added group chat to the
  • 00:35:40
    Crossroads Anywhere app. That's right.
  • 00:35:41
    You can actually create a chat with all the members of your group.
  • 00:35:45
    So now your group life can operate more like your real life.
  • 00:35:48
    And you can subscribe within that chat to the Play & Purpose Prompts.
  • 00:35:53
    These are daily conversation starters that your group is going to get
  • 00:35:56
    inside the group chat.
  • 00:35:57
    And then throughout your day, whenever it works best for you, you're
  • 00:36:00
    able to get to know each other and explore these concepts together.
  • 00:36:03
    That way, when you get together for your actual group meeting, you
  • 00:36:07
    can go out there and have a blast.
  • 00:36:09
    Let me show you how to set up a group chat.
  • 00:36:10
    Open up the Crossroads Anywhere app and go to the group chat icon
  • 00:36:13
    right down here. Start a new chat by clicking this button up here.
  • 00:36:18
    Find the people in your group and hit next.
  • 00:36:21
    Just like that, you're in a group chat.
  • 00:36:23
    Go up to the settings and turn Play & Purpose Prompts on.
  • 00:36:27
    These prompts are going to start coming week three of the Journey.
  • 00:36:30
    This Journey is going to be amazing, so make sure you get in a group,
  • 00:36:34
    you start a group chat, and you subscribe to the Play & Purpose
  • 00:36:37
    Prompts. I'm excited together in this journey to figure out how we
  • 00:36:41
    get the most out of life through Play & Purpose.
  • 00:36:48
    >> So digital and analog, when we're in multipronged things, we get
  • 00:36:53
    stimulated to a different degree.
  • 00:36:55
    I want us to think about the beauty of the "&".
  • 00:36:59
    Jim Collins, the old business guru, used to call it the genius of the
  • 00:37:02
    "&". I want to talk about the the beauty of the "&", not just digital
  • 00:37:07
    and analog.
  • 00:37:08
    But when two things that seem like they're totally separate from one
  • 00:37:13
    another, totally can't mix, when we bundled them together and put an
  • 00:37:17
    "&" in between them, something powerful often happened.
  • 00:37:21
    Let's see if you can complete these phrases of beautiful things that
  • 00:37:25
    "&" brings together.
  • 00:37:32
    We've both got to have both of them, right?
  • 00:37:34
    Fully. If you just kind of meld them and have dusk all day long, that
  • 00:37:38
    wouldn't be any good. Day and night.
  • 00:37:41
    How about..?
  • 00:37:45
    >> Sour.
  • 00:37:48
    I say salty, sour, salty.
  • 00:37:50
    Whatever. We know the beauty of when sweet mixes with something else.
  • 00:38:00
    Bourbon and..?
  • 00:38:03
    Bourbon and anything I just heard.
  • 00:38:06
    My man needs to be going to an AA meeting up here?
  • 00:38:08
    Somebody, bourbon and anything.
  • 00:38:10
    All right. >> Tea.
  • 00:38:19
    Come on. Are kidding me? This is church, we can be honest here.
  • 00:38:22
    All right. Peaches and Sonny and.
  • 00:38:31
    Penn and.
  • 00:38:35
    Penn and Teller. Yes. Staying up and sleeping in.
  • 00:38:43
    Here's one, go back over to the spiritual side of the spectrum.
  • 00:38:50
    There's this really odd thing that people have when it comes to
  • 00:38:54
    experiencing God. We have people who oftentimes don't put the "&"
  • 00:38:59
    together. So much is just all about faith.
  • 00:39:02
    It's all about what I believe Jesus has done for me by going to a
  • 00:39:05
    cross for me, me receiving Him by faith.
  • 00:39:10
    Others of us, it's all about doing the right things, obeying the Ten
  • 00:39:14
    Commandments. And I obey the Ten Commandments and I feed the poor and
  • 00:39:17
    I volunteer in Kids' Club.
  • 00:39:18
    But I do these things so I can get to God.
  • 00:39:21
    Well, neither one of these -- Both of these, I don't know, they come
  • 00:39:25
    together. Really, they do.
  • 00:39:27
    They live together. We have to have faith.
  • 00:39:30
    And when we have faith, we will have works.
  • 00:39:33
    We will want to do those kind of things.
  • 00:39:35
    Those two things separated by the "&" and is a powerful thing.
  • 00:39:40
    My favorite description of Jesus in the entire Bible is in the Book
  • 00:39:43
    of John 1:14.
  • 00:39:45
    It says:. Full of grace and
  • 00:39:54
    truth. This idea of grace and truth, you've got to have the "&" here.
  • 00:39:59
    These are two different things seemingly: grace is you get another
  • 00:40:04
    chance. God's okay with you.
  • 00:40:07
    There's forgiveness.
  • 00:40:09
    Truth is, this is the way it needs to be.
  • 00:40:11
    You it. You got to do X, Y, Z.
  • 00:40:14
    God has this very definitively.
  • 00:40:17
    Well, how did these two come together?
  • 00:40:19
    They don't you know, they don't just kind of modify each other.
  • 00:40:22
    They are separated by an "&" so we can live fully with both of them.
  • 00:40:26
    This thing blows me away this is how Jesus is described.
  • 00:40:29
    It blew me away so much that He is fully grace and fully truth that I
  • 00:40:32
    chose to tattoo myself.
  • 00:40:34
    It's the only tattoo I have on my body.
  • 00:40:40
    [laughter] I'm sorry, I should've wiped the perspiration off my body
  • 00:40:42
    after I was done working out. But that actually is my tattoo that's
  • 00:40:45
    on my tattoo on my left shoulder.
  • 00:40:48
    And the reason it's there is because I wanted --
  • 00:40:51
    [laughter] I wanted to be --
  • 00:40:54
    That's not my body either. No, it's not, but that is my tattoo still.
  • 00:40:58
    I love the image of grace and truth coming together.
  • 00:41:02
    We need the "&".
  • 00:41:04
    Check out some other verses and you see the beauty of the "&".
  • 00:41:07
    Because in this Journey, I'm not going to try to give us 50/50, 50
  • 00:41:12
    percent purpose, 50 percent play.
  • 00:41:14
    We're not gonna do that. When it's time we're going to give 100%
  • 00:41:17
    purpose. Be on task.
  • 00:41:20
    And when it's time we're going to give 100 percent play.
  • 00:41:23
    Get out and waste some time.
  • 00:41:25
    But look at how many times an "&" pops up in different verses.
  • 00:41:29
    John 10:10: And if that's not enough "&" have it abundantly.
  • 00:41:39
    Do you feel this way? Do you feel that your life is full of
  • 00:41:44
    abundance? Or you feel like someone's constantly trying to steal from
  • 00:41:48
    you? Do you feel like someone's trying to constantly take your
  • 00:41:51
    energy? Do you feel like someone's trying to destroy your peace of
  • 00:41:55
    mind? I tell you what, if most of us were honest, the average
  • 00:41:58
    American inside of us, and most of us in here are Americans, would go
  • 00:42:02
    like,. "Man, I do not feel that.
  • 00:42:04
    I feel like someone's always breathing down my neck.
  • 00:42:07
    I feel like something is always about to break.
  • 00:42:10
    I feel -- I feel like I'm spinning my wheels.
  • 00:42:12
    I feel like I'm on the treadmill.
  • 00:42:14
    I feel like I'm in the grind."
  • 00:42:15
    This is the way we feel.
  • 00:42:18
    We do not feel as Americans that we have life, let alone abundant
  • 00:42:23
    life. Friends, we need this.
  • 00:42:25
    The way to prosperity, at least -- at least two aspects of prosper,
  • 00:42:30
    there's a lot of others,
  • 00:42:31
    but the two that we're looking at is purpose, being about purpose,
  • 00:42:34
    knowing why God has put me on this planet, knowing that my life makes
  • 00:42:38
    a difference, and simply blowing off and laughing and knowing that
  • 00:42:43
    He's a dad who wants to see His children play.
  • 00:42:48
    Someone who's stolen from us and I want us to consider someone has
  • 00:42:51
    stolen the "&" from us.
  • 00:42:54
    Someone has stolen the "&" from us and told us that we can have
  • 00:42:57
    playful purpose.
  • 00:42:58
    No, we can't. And told us we can have purposeful play.
  • 00:43:02
    No, we can't. Stop stealing the "&" and you have purpose and we can
  • 00:43:07
    have play. God has work and He has rest.
  • 00:43:13
    In the Book of Exodus, Chapter Twenty it says this as God has formed
  • 00:43:17
    all of the world, he says:.
  • 00:43:36
    This is what God does.
  • 00:43:38
    He works and He rests.
  • 00:43:42
    We need to have purpose "&" we need to have play.
  • 00:43:50
    For years I've said for a long time I hate the phrase, "I need to
  • 00:43:55
    attain balance, I need work/life balance."
  • 00:43:57
    I hate that phrase: I need to attain balance.
  • 00:43:59
    I don't understand what that means.
  • 00:44:01
    Balance in my mind is one of those old balances and everything is
  • 00:44:05
    50/50. So as soon as everything's 50/50, you know, life is okay.
  • 00:44:09
    I'm going to tell you something, nothing in life is ever 50/50.
  • 00:44:12
    If you're going to be married and have a great marriage, it needs to
  • 00:44:14
    be a hundred/hundred. You need to outweigh your spouse in terms of
  • 00:44:17
    how you serve them. When you are at work, there is no like balance.
  • 00:44:22
    You need to be totally at work.
  • 00:44:24
    This balance doesn't make sense to me.
  • 00:44:26
    The reason we get some place is because I'm off balance and I can
  • 00:44:30
    walk. I'm off balance and I can walk.
  • 00:44:32
    I'm off balance and I can walk.
  • 00:44:34
    So the balance illustrates for how our life is to work I've never
  • 00:44:38
    understood. But I understand there's some good things about it.
  • 00:44:40
    There's a new one that's coming that's been out, I just found out
  • 00:44:43
    about this one. A friend of mine in corporate America said, "Yeah,
  • 00:44:45
    the thing we talk about in our business a lot is having a blended
  • 00:44:49
    life.". I said, "Blended?
  • 00:44:50
    What do you mean blended?". "Well, you know, when we're at work our
  • 00:44:55
    employer is fine that we're using company Wi-Fi to send personal
  • 00:45:00
    emails. Our company is fine that we're making personal calls during
  • 00:45:05
    the day every once in awhile.
  • 00:45:06
    The company is fine if you've got to leave in the afternoon for an
  • 00:45:08
    hour or so and do a closing on our new home, that's okay.
  • 00:45:11
    Versus the old days, No, you can't leave once you're here you're
  • 00:45:14
    here. No, you can't use the company computers for anything that isn't
  • 00:45:18
    work related." No, you get now and I understand that there's a blend.
  • 00:45:22
    And also on the other side, he said, "When you're at home, you're
  • 00:45:24
    going to be answering emails, you're going to be doing texts to
  • 00:45:27
    people, you're going to be having planning sessions and thinking when
  • 00:45:31
    the kids go to bed and ..."
  • 00:45:33
    And I thought that probably is an illustration that's more real to
  • 00:45:36
    life. But I kind of long for the old days of balance, if that's where
  • 00:45:40
    we're going.
  • 00:45:41
    Because the blend gets rid of the "&".
  • 00:45:44
    At least with a balance scale, there's two distinctly separate
  • 00:45:49
    things. Once you mash your life up into one omelet where all of your
  • 00:45:53
    play is your work and your work is your play, I'm telling your
  • 00:45:56
    friends it doesn't work.
  • 00:45:58
    It doesn't. These are two entirely different things and we need to
  • 00:46:04
    excel at purpose and we need to excel at play.
  • 00:46:08
    And some of us are excelling at play and you're gonna get smacked in
  • 00:46:11
    the mouth with purpose.
  • 00:46:13
    And some of us are excelling at play and you're going to get a kick
  • 00:46:17
    in the rear from your God.
  • 00:46:18
    Yes, God is going to kick you in the rear about play.
  • 00:46:21
    He's going to say to you, "I'm not happy that my son, my child, my
  • 00:46:24
    daughter is not having fun.".
  • 00:46:26
    No -- no parent likes to see their kids studying all the time.
  • 00:46:32
    They don't. If we don't steer a kid in the play box, sandbox every
  • 00:46:36
    once in a while or playing a sport or something,
  • 00:46:39
    we go, "What is wrong with Jill?
  • 00:46:41
    What is wrong with Bernard?
  • 00:46:43
    What is wrong here?
  • 00:46:44
    They're never -- they're never smiling.
  • 00:46:47
    They're they're never happy."
  • 00:46:48
    We need to embrace the "&".
  • 00:46:52
    And this is what I love about my God, your God, our God is that He
  • 00:46:58
    embraces the "&".
  • 00:46:59
    He lives it, and he actually commands it.
  • 00:47:02
    In the Book of Exodus 31, here's what he says: Above all, you shall
  • 00:47:07
    keep my Sabbath -- now the Sabbath is one day out of seven for the
  • 00:47:11
    ancient Jews where they were to not work at all.
  • 00:47:14
    Play is part of Sabbath.
  • 00:47:16
    I'm not going to say the play is Sabbath.
  • 00:47:19
    It can be. It can be part of it.
  • 00:47:21
    For the purposes of today and much of the other stuff I'm equating
  • 00:47:25
    oftentimes Sabbath to play, but Sabbath, there's activities that
  • 00:47:29
    happen in Sabbath that aren't necessarily play.
  • 00:47:31
    But just hang with me for a moment.
  • 00:47:57
    I love I have a God that says, "If you work seven days, I will kill
  • 00:48:01
    you." I'm serious, that's what God says.
  • 00:48:05
    He says, if you have purpose seven days, if you can't slow down and
  • 00:48:09
    do nothing. If you think everything revolves around you, you or me
  • 00:48:13
    are not good. If you're not checking out and doing nothing
  • 00:48:17
    purposeful. You have a problem with me."
  • 00:48:19
    That's awesome. Why do we think that God smite us for bad things?
  • 00:48:23
    That's a good thing Gods smites us for.
  • 00:48:25
    God still smites maybe.
  • 00:48:26
    Maybe he's going to smite some of us if we don't get our rear in gear
  • 00:48:29
    and start playing more often.
  • 00:48:31
    Because play only happens when we're off.
  • 00:48:34
    Play doesn't happen when we're trying to close the sale.
  • 00:48:37
    Play doesn't happen when I'm trying to put together the message, when
  • 00:48:40
    I'm trying to put together the sermon.
  • 00:48:42
    It doesn't.
  • 00:48:44
    It doesn't at all.
  • 00:48:46
    We need to, two things, I'm going to keep saying these over and over,
  • 00:48:49
    live playfully.
  • 00:48:52
    Let me give you another verse. This is a description from Jesus, this
  • 00:48:55
    is from the message translation.
  • 00:48:57
    Here's what Jesus says:
  • 00:49:35
    Aww, that just kind of feels good, doesn't it?
  • 00:49:37
    There's just a, there's a lightness, there's a playfulness to it.
  • 00:49:41
    We need to get more playful, friends.
  • 00:49:44
    Maybe that's one of the reason people get out of churches so much.
  • 00:49:46
    We're just not very playful.
  • 00:49:47
    We're always serious, we're upset.
  • 00:49:50
    We're all about (growls) raising the standard and (growls)...
  • 00:49:55
    Oh, man. What happens if we just live lightly, be a little free?
  • 00:50:00
    And what happens if we live purposefully?
  • 00:50:02
    The same person, Jesus, who says live freely and lightly, he says:.
  • 00:50:18
    It's like, well, wait a minute, where's the -- where's the live
  • 00:50:21
    lightly guy? Jesus, "You know how I get nourished?
  • 00:50:25
    I get nourished by being on purpose.
  • 00:50:26
    I get nourished by doing the work of God.
  • 00:50:28
    (indisernable) Wait.
  • 00:50:30
    Who are you? Are you live lightly guy?
  • 00:50:32
    Are you live freely guy?
  • 00:50:34
    Or are you get the work done, guy?
  • 00:50:39
    He's both. That's why he did what he did in 33 years.
  • 00:50:42
    That's why you'd have no understanding at all of how somebody from 30
  • 00:50:47
    to 33 could literally change the world like He did.
  • 00:50:52
    That we would date time after Him.
  • 00:50:53
    That He would be known as the greatest teacher ever.
  • 00:50:56
    That even atheists can't find anything wrong with His character.
  • 00:51:00
    How did he do this?
  • 00:51:02
    Part of how he did this was He embraced the "&".
  • 00:51:06
    He had purpose and He had worked.
  • 00:51:08
    So much work that he stretch himself out in a Cross and died.
  • 00:51:11
    So "&" -- "&" he was funny.
  • 00:51:15
    There's been books written about the humor of Jesus.
  • 00:51:17
    We don't get it because he had this weird first century Jewish humor
  • 00:51:22
    that we didn't get, but he was actually a very funny guy.
  • 00:51:26
    He was playful.
  • 00:51:28
    He let his hair down.
  • 00:51:30
    He kept the Sabbath, I think, I think.
  • 00:51:36
    Most of us in here are stuck in a rut.
  • 00:51:39
    You're stuck in a rut of purpose, trying to have everything have
  • 00:51:42
    meaning, trying to have everything have a point.
  • 00:51:44
    Trying to have everything build digits in your account.
  • 00:51:47
    Trying to have everything add value to something that you're stuck in
  • 00:51:50
    a rut there. Or you're stuck in a rut of only working so you can get
  • 00:51:54
    to the weekend. (singing) Everybody's working for the week.
  • 00:51:58
    Lover boy. You're hoping, you're just waiting for the weekend.
  • 00:52:01
    You're waiting to retire.
  • 00:52:03
    You're at your desk and you're dreaming about whatever.
  • 00:52:06
    You're you're just playing.
  • 00:52:08
    You're trying to fix. And here's the one for all of us if we're in
  • 00:52:10
    either one of these ruts, all I want us to do is just go like this.
  • 00:52:15
    Let's try the other rut this next five weeks.
  • 00:52:18
    Let's just -- let's stretch ourselves, because this rut where we are
  • 00:52:23
    is not stretching us.
  • 00:52:26
    It's killing us.
  • 00:52:27
    In fact, that's what a rut is.
  • 00:52:29
    It's a grave with the ends kicked out.
  • 00:52:32
    And we have lifeless looks on our face all over the country.
  • 00:52:36
    We have a lack of zeal, lack of zest, the lack of excitement for what
  • 00:52:41
    might be coming down the pike with our life.
  • 00:52:43
    And the reason why we're not more successful in our purpose very well
  • 00:52:48
    may be that we're not keeping Sabbath.
  • 00:52:52
    And the reason why our Sabbath, our play might not be so fresh is
  • 00:52:56
    because we can't identify the last time we were purposeful.
  • 00:53:00
    We can't. Can you?
  • 00:53:01
    Can you identify last year what's something you did last year that
  • 00:53:06
    still enduring and you're thankful you did last year?
  • 00:53:10
    You can't take us up like that, you might have a purpose outage.
  • 00:53:14
    Can you think of something you did last summer where you just lost
  • 00:53:19
    time, you lost yourself in it.
  • 00:53:22
    Can you think of something last summer?
  • 00:53:24
    If not, you may have to play outage.
  • 00:53:26
    If you can't have memories of either of those, boy, the enemy has
  • 00:53:31
    stolen from you.
  • 00:53:33
    He's stolen from you and God wants to steal you back.
  • 00:53:37
    He what -- He's not happy unless he sees somebody, one of his
  • 00:53:42
    children who has life, who has abundant life.
  • 00:53:46
    Last week, I was, um, I had -- I gave 9 different talks over five
  • 00:53:53
    days. Over a five day period I gave nine different talks.
  • 00:53:55
    And I must say I pretty much nailed them.
  • 00:53:59
    I've got to hand it to myself.
  • 00:54:02
    I got a hand it to myself. I actually know one of them not so much
  • 00:54:07
    thought. At least eight out of the nine I did really, really well.
  • 00:54:10
    And do you know why I was able to do that?
  • 00:54:12
    Is hard. I know when someone gets on stage, if they do it a lot, you
  • 00:54:16
    go, "Oh, that guy, that woman makes it look easy."
  • 00:54:19
    But there's a lot, a lot of work that goes into it.
  • 00:54:22
    It's crazy right now my adrenal glands are open right now.
  • 00:54:26
    And I'm doing everything I can to read a crowd and to anticipate what
  • 00:54:30
    you're thinking and try to sense what I need to do to keep your
  • 00:54:33
    attention. And I'm trying to be aware of how I'm getting physically
  • 00:54:36
    engaged. I'm burning serious calories running.
  • 00:54:39
    I'm telling it as it is full on full contact, all of it, mental,
  • 00:54:43
    emotional. How did I possibly over five days create and give nine
  • 00:54:50
    different talks? Because the week before that, I did nothing.
  • 00:54:58
    That's why the week before that I played.
  • 00:55:00
    The week before that I didn't think about anything that was going to
  • 00:55:03
    say. Play is when you lose yourself in what you're doing.
  • 00:55:07
    I was camping. I was out west.
  • 00:55:09
    I was a total different place.
  • 00:55:11
    And so when I hit purpose, boom, I had fresh stuff that was just
  • 00:55:14
    there in the tank.
  • 00:55:16
    This is the beauty of when we bring these two things close together,
  • 00:55:22
    separated by an "&". The Bible says 3100 times it talks about
  • 00:55:27
    prosperity. Thirty one hundred times,.
  • 00:55:32
    I have to tell you, I have to tell you when I look in the face of the
  • 00:55:35
    average person I bump into every day, not seeing prosperity.
  • 00:55:40
    When I look into the life of the average person I know, I'm not
  • 00:55:44
    seeing abundance.
  • 00:55:45
    I'm not seeing joy.
  • 00:55:47
    I'm not-- I'm not-- I'm not seeing it.
  • 00:55:48
    I'm just not. In Genesis 1:28, the last verse I'll share with you:
  • 00:56:01
    There should be a multiplying aspect of your life.
  • 00:56:05
    There should be a fruitfulness on our life.
  • 00:56:08
    It should be there.
  • 00:56:10
    I just want to ask you: where else?
  • 00:56:12
    Where else are you going to go and anywhere in culture where someone
  • 00:56:16
    is going to help you find your purpose?
  • 00:56:19
    Where would that be? Where would that be?
  • 00:56:21
    Where are you going to go?
  • 00:56:23
    Anywhere in culture where someone is going to give you a theological,
  • 00:56:27
    a practical, an encouragement, understanding of playing and
  • 00:56:32
    disconnecting and acting like a little kid again?
  • 00:56:36
    You can't get either one of those, let alone both of those.
  • 00:56:38
    Buy you can get them in this Journey.
  • 00:56:40
    Friends, I'm telling you right now, life is going to come back to
  • 00:56:44
    your faith if you take this Journey seriously.
  • 00:56:46
    I 'm telling you right now, if you push yourself and do the things
  • 00:56:51
    that we've laid out, and we've prayed about this.
  • 00:56:53
    We were working on us for a year and a half.
  • 00:56:55
    If you will do everything that we're encouraging you to do and get
  • 00:56:59
    engaged relationally, digitally, tactilely, prayerfully,
  • 00:57:04
    worshipfully. All the things that we have, I'm telling you, I'm
  • 00:57:07
    telling, I'm telling you you have a greater shot at feeling
  • 00:57:11
    prosperous, of feeling abundant life in you than anything else you
  • 00:57:15
    could possibly do in the next five weeks,.
  • 00:57:17
    I promise you, you cannot think of anything.
  • 00:57:20
    And there's nothing you can plan.
  • 00:57:22
    Nothing you can research to have a greater shot at giving you a shot
  • 00:57:26
    in the arm than what we've got planned for you the next few weeks.
  • 00:57:28
    There's nothing else that you can think of that you can look for that
  • 00:57:32
    you're going to have full program for six months and you don't have
  • 00:57:34
    to pay for it that's meant to charge you up spiritually, that's meant
  • 00:57:38
    to get you to your God.
  • 00:57:40
    How often you get that choice, how often you get that chance.
  • 00:57:44
    Take advantage of this, friends.
  • 00:57:45
    I'm telling you, take advantage of this.
  • 00:57:48
    We don't get anything from you.
  • 00:57:50
    We want nothing from you.
  • 00:57:52
    We want something for you.
  • 00:57:55
    When nothing from you wants something for you, we want for you to
  • 00:57:59
    prosper, to feel life, to smile again, to have focus again.
  • 00:58:07
    That's what your dad wants.
  • 00:58:10
    God, I thank you for being a God who isn't an ogre, who isn't a slave
  • 00:58:15
    driver. You want your children to enjoy life, to take a break, to
  • 00:58:21
    take a Sabbath. And thank you for being a God that includes us in
  • 00:58:26
    Your work and wants to put us on a path to be productive.
  • 00:58:31
    You're amazing that both of those things reside inside of Your mind
  • 00:58:35
    and reside inside of Your call for us.
  • 00:58:38
    So help us encounter that.
  • 00:58:40
    Lead us to the right groups in the next two weeks.
  • 00:58:44
    Most importantly, lead us to you.
  • 00:58:45
    And I praise things according to the name of Jesus.
  • 00:58:48
    Amen. >> Well, hey, guys, we are in it, the Play & Purpose Journey
  • 00:58:55
    has begun. So make sure you get in a group this week.
  • 00:58:59
    If you're not already in one, there are groups meeting in homes and
  • 00:59:03
    coffee shops and even online.
  • 00:59:04
    So you can head to Crossroads.net/journey
  • 00:59:07
    to get in a group right now.
  • 00:59:10
    Your first group meeting happens next week.
  • 00:59:13
    And if you live near a Crossroads location, you want to get into that
  • 00:59:16
    Crossroads location to pick up a Journey Guide.
  • 00:59:19
    Journey Guide.
  • 00:59:20
    Is it upside down? I can't tell.
  • 00:59:22
    Pick up a Journey Guide in that location if you live near one.
  • 00:59:27
    If you don't live near a Crossroads location, you're part of the
  • 00:59:29
    Crossroads anywhere community.
  • 00:59:31
    You're getting your guides mailed to your group leader and they will
  • 00:59:37
    be able to give these to you at your first group meeting.
  • 00:59:40
    Don't forget, download the Crossroads app to get more.
  • 00:59:44
    And we will see you next week for week two of Play & Purpose.

Sep 14, 2019 59 mins 59 sec

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