Play & Purpose Journey | Week 2: Play

A full life is a life that embraces how lavish God is. His blessings are many and one of them is that he has given humans the ability to restore through play. Play restores and refuels us. When we make time for play our lives are more meaningful and impactful.

  • 00:00:01
    Well, welcome to Crossroads, we're so glad to have you on the
  • 00:00:03
    Crossroads Anywhere broadcast.
  • 00:00:06
    And today we're in a series called Play and Purpose.
  • 00:00:09
    And it's actually more than a series, it's a whole journey that we're
  • 00:00:12
    going on as a church to get more play, more purpose in our lives.
  • 00:00:17
    And we're gonna do this in the midst of conversations with God and in
  • 00:00:20
    the midst of conversations with other people and in the midst of this
  • 00:00:22
    service. And today is all about play.
  • 00:00:26
    It's gonna be awesome.
  • 00:00:28
    And to start, we're actually going to spend some time worshipping
  • 00:00:31
    together, singing together.
  • 00:00:33
    And so maybe turn down your lights, turn up your music and try
  • 00:00:37
    something new and sing along with us.
  • 00:09:34
    Lord, we praise you because You are great and mighty, because You are
  • 00:09:38
    with us, because You are powerful.
  • 00:09:41
    It's amazing that You are who You are, King.
  • 00:09:45
    You care about us.
  • 00:09:46
    You hear us. So we praise You.
  • 00:09:49
    I praise You. I sing like that because I see who You are, Jesus.
  • 00:09:54
    So I sing to You, I praise that way, Lord, because of who You are,
  • 00:09:58
    Amen. Yeah.
  • 00:10:00
    Thanks for singing with us.
  • 00:10:05
    [applause] Yeah, you sound great. Hey, before you grab a seat, why
  • 00:10:08
    don't you turn and introduce yourself to somebody.
  • 00:10:49
    If you're considering camping out at all, you're on the edge, I will
  • 00:10:53
    just say to you, do it.
  • 00:10:55
    It is so worth it.
  • 00:10:56
    It's worth figuring out how to get there.
  • 00:10:59
    It's worth the expense of that.
  • 00:11:01
    It's worth figuring out the child care and all those logistics.
  • 00:11:04
    Man, you will go to a new place with God.
  • 00:11:07
    You'll go to a new place in your friendships.
  • 00:11:10
    And if we're talking about Couples Camp, you're going to go to a new
  • 00:11:12
    place in your marriage. Whether your marriage is on fire right now or
  • 00:11:16
    it's crumbling, Couples Camp might just be exactly what you need.
  • 00:11:20
    So you can head to Crossroads.net/camps
  • 00:11:23
    to sign up to do that.
  • 00:11:25
    And maybe even consider doing this with a few people who are in your
  • 00:11:29
    Journey group right now. Speaking of Journey, we are in this series
  • 00:11:33
    called Play & Purpose.
  • 00:11:35
    And it's not just a series, it's a Journey that we're going together,
  • 00:11:39
    going on together as a church.
  • 00:11:41
    And we call it that because, man, there are lots of elements to this
  • 00:11:45
    that are gonna put us in some uncomfortable places, some new spaces.
  • 00:11:49
    And at the end of it, we're going to be in a different place.
  • 00:11:52
    We're going to be different.
  • 00:11:54
    And so the way that you get the most out of this journey is by doing
  • 00:11:59
    the reflection and activities that are in the Journey Guide, which
  • 00:12:03
    you can get it Crossroads.net/journey.
  • 00:12:05
    You can get a digital form of that.
  • 00:12:07
    Or if you're already in a Journey group, you can get that Journey
  • 00:12:11
    Guide at your Journey group, your leader, if they are part of
  • 00:12:15
    Crossroads Anywhere has that.
  • 00:12:17
    And if you regularly attend a site or you live near a Crossroads
  • 00:12:21
    location, you can go to the Crossroads site closest to you to pick up
  • 00:12:26
    a Journey Guide. Just chat with us to find out where and how you
  • 00:12:30
    might do that. But it's not too late to get into a group, if you're
  • 00:12:33
    not in one already you can still sign up for a group.
  • 00:12:38
    Those are starting to meet this week.
  • 00:12:39
    And this is more like dinner party, fun experience.
  • 00:12:44
    Not at all like sit in a circle and share your deepest, darkest
  • 00:12:47
    moment and go around the circle and cry.
  • 00:12:50
    That's not what this is. It's going to be fun and active.
  • 00:12:53
    And those group meetings start this week.
  • 00:12:55
    And, you know, I'm just so thankful that I get to be on the
  • 00:12:59
    Crossroads team
  • 00:13:00
    and that I get to be on the Crossroads team alongside of other
  • 00:13:03
    teammates who are generously giving to make all of this possible,
  • 00:13:07
    who are generously sacrificing of their finances so that we get to
  • 00:13:15
    experience church online,
  • 00:13:16
    so that we get to have creative elements as part of this Journey that
  • 00:13:21
    are gonna help us go to a new place with God.
  • 00:13:24
    And so that we get to have things like Camp where, man, you get
  • 00:13:28
    outside of your normal everyday grind, outside of the rut that you're
  • 00:13:32
    in and go off the grid for a weekend.
  • 00:13:36
    It's because of generous givers and Crossroads teammates that that's
  • 00:13:39
    all possible. And so if you want to become a teammate, you want to
  • 00:13:44
    become a giver, you can head to Crossroads.net/give
  • 00:13:47
    and sign up to give once or recurring and help make all of these
  • 00:13:51
    things possible so that you and your friends and your family can
  • 00:13:55
    experience God in a new, fresh way through Crossroads.
  • 00:13:59
    And today, in the midst of this Journey, we're talking all about
  • 00:14:04
    play.
  • 00:14:16
    Not a soul up ahead and nothing behind
  • 00:14:19
    There's a desert in my blood and a storm in your eyes
  • 00:14:21
    all
  • 00:14:26
    Well I remember the fight and I forget the pain
  • 00:14:28
    I got my hand in your pocket and my key on your chain Am I the king
  • 00:14:30
    heart is a mess Is it the only defense against the wilderness?
  • 00:14:54
    Cross my heart and hope to die Taking this one step at a time Got
  • 00:14:57
    your back if you got mine One foot in front of the other One foot in
  • 00:15:00
    front of the other
  • 00:15:17
    have trust Ain't nothing left of us, this is the exodus (inaudible)
  • 00:15:34
    One foot in front of the other ad
  • 00:15:38
    time. Got to go back.
  • 00:15:41
    Got.
  • 00:16:16
    loneliness?
  • 00:16:28
    wilderness
  • 00:16:33
    Cross my heart and hope to die Taking this one step at a time
  • 00:16:37
    I got your back if you got mine, One foot in front of the other
  • 00:16:45
    One foot in front of the other.
  • 00:16:47
    One foot in front of the other. One foot in front of the other.
  • 00:17:16
    - What happened to our conga line?
  • 00:17:20
    I thought we had a conga line going.
  • 00:17:23
    Man, I'm out of breath now.
  • 00:17:28
    Singing karaoke, dancing in front of people at the same time.
  • 00:17:33
    (panting) I'm getting to be an old man.
  • 00:17:41
    All right, I got to get my stuff together because they're gonna be
  • 00:17:44
    taping me for other sites.
  • 00:17:46
    So hold on here. [laughter]
  • 00:17:48
    I know we're having fun. Whew! [cheers and applause] All right, here
  • 00:17:56
    we go. Watch this.
  • 00:18:01
    I love that song.
  • 00:18:04
    I utterly love that song.
  • 00:18:06
    One foot in front of the other.
  • 00:18:08
    Today -- Today, the big idea is this: a life that prospers makes room
  • 00:18:16
    for play. I'm going to say that again.
  • 00:18:18
    A life that prospers makes room for play.
  • 00:18:22
    Turn to somebody right close to you, smile and say, "Hey, did you
  • 00:18:25
    know a life that prospers makes room for play?".
  • 00:18:27
    Tell somebody beside you that right now.
  • 00:18:28
    Because they don't believe me. Now, remind me, remind me
  • 00:18:38
    to tell you later how you could possibly get a thousand dollars.
  • 00:18:42
    So just remind me because, you know, I might forget.
  • 00:18:45
    But let me pray right now before we do anything else.
  • 00:18:48
    God, I want everybody within earshot to prosper.
  • 00:18:55
    I want everybody in earshot to have a life that is full, a life
  • 00:18:59
    that's satisfying,
  • 00:19:00
    a life where we sense You and where we get closer to understanding
  • 00:19:04
    You and feeling Your love and power.
  • 00:19:08
    I know that play has something to do with that.
  • 00:19:10
    And I know that You have something for all of us who are here today.
  • 00:19:13
    So help me to serve Your people.
  • 00:19:16
    I pray these things according to character and identity of Jesus.
  • 00:19:20
    Amen. You know, I know some of us might have a bit of a religious
  • 00:19:27
    background. And people who have religious backgrounds tend to not be
  • 00:19:30
    very fun. I'm sorry to say it, but it's true.
  • 00:19:33
    People who, you know, just man, they just want everything right.
  • 00:19:38
    They want do everything right and moral.
  • 00:19:39
    They want to -- They want to have things buttoned up.
  • 00:19:42
    They think that God is an engineer.
  • 00:19:44
    He is an engineer and He's also an artist.
  • 00:19:47
    He is somebody who gives instruction.
  • 00:19:50
    And He also is somebody who I believe skips rope.
  • 00:19:54
    And I wish that I could tell you right now, I wish I could give you
  • 00:19:57
    chapter and verse in the Bible of a verse that would say, "Thou shalt
  • 00:20:01
    not -- Thou shalt play.".
  • 00:20:03
    I wish I could find one that said: thou shalt play.
  • 00:20:06
    There it is, guys, thou shalt play.
  • 00:20:07
    There it is, so obviously God wants us to play.
  • 00:20:10
    I can't show you that verse today.
  • 00:20:13
    I also can't show you a verse in the Bible that says: Thou shalt eat.
  • 00:20:18
    I can't show you one in the Bible says: thou shalt sleep.
  • 00:20:23
    I can't find you one in the Bible says: thou shalt brush your teeth.
  • 00:20:29
    But all these things we know are good and important.
  • 00:20:31
    And we know that God has wired us to need things and want them.
  • 00:20:36
    My goal today is to get you to play because the mark of everybody who
  • 00:20:42
    prospers is a mark of somebody who makes time to play.
  • 00:20:46
    And what I mean by play? Play is this definition:
  • 00:20:54
    Time just slips away from us and results in us being more energy --
  • 00:20:58
    energized. Anything that is fun, we lose time over, and it energizes
  • 00:21:03
    us for the rest of our life.
  • 00:21:07
    I've been in this topic now for, gosh, several years.
  • 00:21:10
    All of us naturally want to play.
  • 00:21:12
    I'll get into that in a moment.
  • 00:21:13
    There's something about that, something that says something about us
  • 00:21:18
    as humans, that all little humans, little children naturally play,
  • 00:21:22
    and then we lose it as we get older.
  • 00:21:24
    It's like our life and culture just kicks the play right out of us.
  • 00:21:30
    And when a person who's been responsible to help me sort of have a
  • 00:21:33
    play awakening over the last decade or so is his name is Dr.
  • 00:21:37
    Stuart Brown. Here's what he says:
  • 00:21:56
    I love that.
  • 00:21:58
    It appears purposeless.
  • 00:21:59
    It appears like there's no point to it.
  • 00:22:02
    But no, it does something in our neurochemistry.
  • 00:22:07
    I don't know why it is, but if you were an over eater, we would have
  • 00:22:13
    a better time of getting you to change your food intake than if you
  • 00:22:18
    were an anorexic.
  • 00:22:20
    It's harder to get somebody who is overindulging to stop something
  • 00:22:24
    than it is to take somebody who is not doing anything of something
  • 00:22:28
    and have them start it.
  • 00:22:30
    I'm very confident we don't have very many people who are playing too
  • 00:22:33
    much. I'm very confident of that.
  • 00:22:35
    And I've got a job ahead of me in the midst of this Journey to try to
  • 00:22:38
    get many of us who are play anorexics to actually start to consume
  • 00:22:44
    play. Why don't we play?
  • 00:22:45
    Just five ideas for you real quick.
  • 00:22:47
    One is we believe it's for children.
  • 00:22:50
    Children grow up and so therefore, I've grown up and I don't play,
  • 00:22:54
    just like kids don't play. Two, we don't want to allocate resources
  • 00:22:58
    to it because play takes resources, time resources, money resources.
  • 00:23:03
    We also fear that if I play, I'm going to step out of the purpose
  • 00:23:07
    train and I'm going to lose my slot.
  • 00:23:11
    Someone else is going to come in and do my job or someone else is
  • 00:23:14
    going to show people that I'm really not all that necessary.
  • 00:23:18
    We're afraid of losing control, losing our spots.
  • 00:23:22
    Four, there isn't a play movement.
  • 00:23:26
    Maybe Dr. Stuart Brown has affected me so much because like he's one
  • 00:23:29
    coherent voice that talks about play.
  • 00:23:32
    Maybe we should just start a play movement #Iplay.
  • 00:23:37
    There's no #Iplay anywhere.
  • 00:23:39
    No one's exposing that because everyone's like, "I don't want to let
  • 00:23:41
    anyone know that I'm playing.
  • 00:23:43
    They might think I'm really juvenile.
  • 00:23:45
    I don't want to let anyone know that I'm actually spending a lot of
  • 00:23:48
    money on stupid things
  • 00:23:50
    that will have that will have nothing to show for it, other than a
  • 00:23:54
    healthier me." The fifth reason is that we have bad theology.
  • 00:23:59
    We have a -- theology is just the study of God.
  • 00:24:01
    Ology, study or word, theo is where we get God.
  • 00:24:04
    We have bad theology. We don't know how to how to study God.
  • 00:24:08
    And all the while in our culture, friends, we are hurting.
  • 00:24:12
    Opioid addiction, opioid usage is skyrocketing.
  • 00:24:16
    People on painkillers, other coping mechanisms.
  • 00:24:19
    Play is our natural way to cope.
  • 00:24:22
    And since we're not playing, we're not naturally coping and we're
  • 00:24:25
    leaning more and more into artificial means.
  • 00:24:29
    CNBC said this recently:.
  • 00:24:45
    We don't want any of those in here.
  • 00:24:52
    Why are we burned out?
  • 00:24:54
    Because we're always on the purpose train.
  • 00:24:56
    We're always wanting to make our life count for something.
  • 00:24:58
    We always want to check everything off the to do list.
  • 00:25:01
    We always want everything to have a point to our life.
  • 00:25:03
    We want to just keep pushing and pushing instead of playing.
  • 00:25:08
    And in this culture that we're in, the Bible gives us verses that
  • 00:25:12
    just smack us in the face of our cultural reality of dissing play.
  • 00:25:16
    Here's one from Ecclesiastes 3:9-13, it says this:
  • 00:25:35
    God's gift to men is that we get to earn money and we get to use some
  • 00:25:40
    of that money to pay for play, to pay for pleasure.
  • 00:25:45
    This is God's gift to men.
  • 00:25:47
    And when we can identify ways that we are blessing ourselves, ways
  • 00:25:51
    that we are experiencing pleasure, ways that we are playing, we are
  • 00:25:55
    shunning the very gift of God.
  • 00:25:57
    Who who likes it when you give a gift and someone shuns it?
  • 00:26:00
    Nobody likes that. It's insulting.
  • 00:26:03
    God has given us the ability to play.
  • 00:26:04
    When we don't play, we are shunning his gift.
  • 00:26:08
    J.I. Packer who just to look at him, I don't know if this guy's ever
  • 00:26:11
    known a day of play in his life.
  • 00:26:13
    I don't know. Just look at that guy.
  • 00:26:15
    My gosh, it looks like he eats lemons for breakfast.
  • 00:26:19
    [laughter] He's actually a very well-known theologian who died a few
  • 00:26:21
    years ago. And here's what he says.
  • 00:26:46
    Not good. Too many of us, we're just stuck in the status quo of our
  • 00:26:53
    current world. We're stuck in the monotony of our current world.
  • 00:26:56
    We're stuck in the grind of our current world that's just grinding us
  • 00:27:00
    down to a nub. And what play is, play is revenge against status quo.
  • 00:27:07
    Play is revenge against monotony.
  • 00:27:12
    Play is revenge against the life that's grounding us down because I
  • 00:27:16
    thumb my nose at all of that stuff when I say,
  • 00:27:20
    "No, no, I'm not a human doing, I'm a human being.
  • 00:27:26
    And I will be in this earth and I will be with my God.
  • 00:27:29
    And I will experience every joy that He has given me.
  • 00:27:31
    I will experience every opportunity that comes my way to detach, to
  • 00:27:36
    laugh, to play."
  • 00:27:38
    There's four aspects of play.
  • 00:27:40
    As I share this list, these things are all ways that we play, they're
  • 00:27:48
    all signs that we are playing.
  • 00:27:50
    And the more of these things that you can have engaged in your play,
  • 00:27:55
    the more fulfilling your play is going to be.
  • 00:27:57
    One aspect of how we play is spiritual.
  • 00:28:01
    Play is a spiritual rhythm.
  • 00:28:05
    Play forces us to trust God.
  • 00:28:11
    When I play, I'm not earning money, I'm not getting ahead in the
  • 00:28:15
    workplace. I am trusting that God is going to keep my job and I'm
  • 00:28:20
    going to eat.
  • 00:28:22
    So it's very important to understand when the earth was first
  • 00:28:25
    created, God creates the earth in six days.
  • 00:28:30
    Whether those are figurative days or literal days, you can have your
  • 00:28:33
    own debate on those. That's not really my interest at this point.
  • 00:28:36
    And He on the sixth day, God creates men and women.
  • 00:28:41
    And then it says on the seventh day, God rested.
  • 00:28:44
    So when God rests on the seventh day, what do people who just got
  • 00:28:48
    created on the sixth day, what do they have to do?
  • 00:28:51
    Rest, they have to rest.
  • 00:28:54
    Which really sounds odd, like day six human beings are created.
  • 00:28:58
    We're supposed to be fruitful multiply.
  • 00:29:00
    So you'd think God would say, "Okay, I've created you.
  • 00:29:02
    Chop, chop, go, go, go.".
  • 00:29:03
    As if human beings are like, "Okay, let's go.
  • 00:29:06
    Let's go. I can't leave my first day, full day of existence, can't
  • 00:29:08
    go. And what dod I do my first day?
  • 00:29:10
    I rest.
  • 00:29:12
    I play because we're not human doings, we are human beings.
  • 00:29:17
    And it says something about the spirituality of prayer, the
  • 00:29:21
    spirituality of playing that when we're not playing, we're actually
  • 00:29:25
    not trusting God.
  • 00:29:27
    When we're not playing, we're actually puffing ourselves up, thinking
  • 00:29:30
    that we're so important to the universe the world can't do without me
  • 00:29:35
    being on purpose every single day.
  • 00:29:37
    It's not true. It sends us something to the sign about the
  • 00:29:40
    spirituality of play.
  • 00:29:41
    Another one, the very first miracle that Jesus ever does is creating
  • 00:29:46
    wine out of water.
  • 00:29:48
    It's at a wedding.
  • 00:29:49
    It's towards the end of the wedding.
  • 00:29:51
    And it's crazy. There's a lot of stuff going on in this miracle,
  • 00:29:54
    there is. But we can't get away from what actually took place is the
  • 00:29:57
    first miracle of Jesus, the son of God does is enable the party to
  • 00:30:02
    continue. He enables play to keep going for -- don't give me any of
  • 00:30:06
    this crap of oh, well, that was Welch's grape juice that He created.
  • 00:30:10
    No, he didn't.
  • 00:30:12
    The wine steward at the events says, "Oh, my gosh.
  • 00:30:14
    Here we are later on the party and you brought out the best wine.
  • 00:30:17
    Most of the people bring the awful wine to begin with and then once
  • 00:30:20
    their taste buds are are numb --
  • 00:30:22
    the good wine to begin with, once their taste buds are numb, then
  • 00:30:24
    they bring the awful wine out.
  • 00:30:25
    But you brought the best wine out layer.".
  • 00:30:28
    Yeah, that's my God. That's my God who starts and keep the party
  • 00:30:32
    going. Yeah. You can clap for that.
  • 00:30:34
    That's fine. [applause] I want you to think about your parents,
  • 00:30:39
    however old your parents are, however old you are, if you're, you
  • 00:30:43
    know, if you're 14 or you're 24, or you're 34.
  • 00:30:48
    We want to be around our parents if it's a life giving experience,
  • 00:30:53
    that's what we want.
  • 00:30:55
    We don't want to be around our parents if every time they're going to
  • 00:30:57
    be around us they're going to give us purpose.
  • 00:30:59
    Every time we're around our parents they're going to give us a new
  • 00:31:01
    list of things that we need to be doing in our life.
  • 00:31:04
    We just don't want to do that.
  • 00:31:06
    And if we think that being around God it's just about getting a new
  • 00:31:09
    list to obey, just getting new responsibility to follow through on,
  • 00:31:13
    well, guess what? No wonder many of us don't want to be around God.
  • 00:31:16
    God is not a dentist.
  • 00:31:19
    He's not a dentist. Hermey wants to be a dentist.
  • 00:31:23
    I want to be a dentist.
  • 00:31:24
    Remember that from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Hermey?
  • 00:31:26
    Hermey wants to be a dentist.
  • 00:31:29
    No, this is -- this is not who God is created to be.
  • 00:31:33
    He's not a dentist.
  • 00:31:34
    He's not a divine dentist in the sky who's looking to give you pain.
  • 00:31:38
    My apologies to all your dentists out there.
  • 00:31:40
    God loves dentists.
  • 00:31:42
    He does. I just don't love dentists, at least I don't like going to a
  • 00:31:46
    dentist. My dentist understands that, too.
  • 00:31:48
    Thank you for everything. But God wants us to be in relation with
  • 00:31:53
    Him. And He wants us to feel.
  • 00:31:54
    He wants us to experience His fullness.
  • 00:31:59
    And we can't do that if we're not playing.
  • 00:32:01
    Exodus 5:1:
  • 00:32:11
    This is when the nation of Israel gets out of slavery.
  • 00:32:14
    They're led by Moses and they get out of slavery.
  • 00:32:17
    And God tells Pharaoh, who is controlling nation of Israel the
  • 00:32:22
    reasons is I want them to lead a festival for me in the wilderness.
  • 00:32:26
    And there's like seven of these things that God institutes actually
  • 00:32:30
    were coming into a Jewish festival season right now.
  • 00:32:33
    These festivals still continue and some of these things are amazing
  • 00:32:37
    multiday parties.
  • 00:32:38
    They're are a lot, a lot of fun.
  • 00:32:39
    And God instituted these things because He wants His people to
  • 00:32:43
    experience Him, to have fun with Him, to actually play with Him.
  • 00:32:50
    The second thing that play taps into isn't just the spirituality of
  • 00:32:56
    play, it's the physicality of play.
  • 00:33:00
    It's the physicality of play.
  • 00:33:02
    Play happens in periods of rest.
  • 00:33:06
    Play can be restful, but play does not equal rest.
  • 00:33:11
    What I mean is simply vegging out is not play.
  • 00:33:15
    Simply taking a nap is not play.
  • 00:33:18
    Simply sleeping is not play.
  • 00:33:20
    Even taking a vacation is not necessarily play.
  • 00:33:23
    Play can happen on those things, but play is when we get engaged in
  • 00:33:27
    our environment. We dance, one foot in front of the other or we we
  • 00:33:31
    play checkers with somebody else or we would take a walk through a
  • 00:33:35
    park or we go with some friends to a ballgame and we cheer or we ice
  • 00:33:40
    skates or we bird watch or we're doing something out and we're
  • 00:33:45
    physically engaging and we lose ourselves in the physicality of it.
  • 00:33:52
    Proverbs 17: 22 says:.
  • 00:34:01
    A crushed spirit dries up the bones.
  • 00:34:04
    I don't know if when this passage was written, if they were giving a
  • 00:34:08
    clue as to why some cancers happen and ulcers take place.
  • 00:34:13
    Because when we are stressed and when we were in purpose all the time
  • 00:34:17
    and when we are not detaching, our bones literally can get brittle.
  • 00:34:22
    We literally have physiological effects from not playing.
  • 00:34:28
    It's a massive, massive thing and might be why are our health rate
  • 00:34:33
    and our life expectancy has dipped in the last couple of years.
  • 00:34:36
    It's ridiculous that it would dip in the last couple of years as our
  • 00:34:38
    medicine advances, our medicine advances.
  • 00:34:41
    But medicine can't keep up with our poor choices of not playing.
  • 00:34:45
    Medicine can't keep up with our poor choices of not rest fully
  • 00:34:48
    playing, of not engaging all of our mind.
  • 00:34:51
    When we're on purpose, when we're doing our job, our normal thing,
  • 00:34:55
    whatever that is, if it's raising our kids or balancing the books or
  • 00:34:58
    closing sales and, well, whatever, keeping up our apartment or house
  • 00:35:02
    that everyone. When we're on that stuff, our enzymes our
  • 00:35:07
    neurochemicals in our brain are going the same direction all the
  • 00:35:11
    time. W e literally wear a groove in our thinking.
  • 00:35:14
    We get a rut in our thinking, in our neurochemistry.
  • 00:35:17
    That's what happens, which is why the longer you're on the job, if
  • 00:35:22
    you're going to work past 60 hours, you are fooling yourself, maybe
  • 00:35:26
    some would arguing past 50 hours, you get -- you get exponentially
  • 00:35:30
    less productive the longer you are at work.
  • 00:35:33
    And it's a neurochemical scientific reason because you're your
  • 00:35:36
    chemicals keep going the same way.
  • 00:35:38
    You're trying to get your brain to just work harder and think of a
  • 00:35:42
    new breakthrough. But it's worn out.
  • 00:35:44
    The grooves are there. When you play, when you detach and you do
  • 00:35:48
    whatever you're doing, your neurochemicals take a rest in those
  • 00:35:51
    grooves and they start finding different neural connections.
  • 00:35:55
    And this is why it's recuperative, too.
  • 00:35:56
    This is why it's restorative.
  • 00:35:57
    This is why time and time again my biggest breakthroughs don't come
  • 00:36:02
    through when I'm in the office.
  • 00:36:03
    My biggest breakthroughs don't come when I'm in brainstorming
  • 00:36:06
    meetings. My biggest breakthroughs come when I'm on a bike trip.
  • 00:36:10
    My biggest breakthroughs come when I'm hiking with my family.
  • 00:36:13
    My biggest breakthroughs come when I'm doing anything, anything at
  • 00:36:16
    all other than my purpose.
  • 00:36:19
    It's a beautiful, it's a wonderful thing, it's how God has created
  • 00:36:22
    us. Spiritual: when I am physically engaged in my environment, I
  • 00:36:29
    spiritually feel close to God.
  • 00:36:32
    I'll find myself just laughing and just smiling.
  • 00:36:36
    When I'm laughing and smiling I'll just say to God, "God, thank you.
  • 00:36:39
    Thank you that I get to do this.
  • 00:36:41
    Thank you that I get to get physically engaged."
  • 00:36:44
    Relational. Spiritual, physical, relational
  • 00:36:49
    When we play with people, it's beautiful, it's amazing.
  • 00:36:52
    Last weekend there was balls that were dropped from ceilings and we
  • 00:36:58
    had a good old time. Apparently at Crossroads Eastside, they dropped
  • 00:37:01
    bowling balls from the ceiling. Someone didn't appreciate it up
  • 00:37:03
    there. [laughter] But was these balls that dropped and where I was
  • 00:37:07
    sitting in the front row there was this ball right from me.
  • 00:37:09
    And I thought, "Oh, man, I'm just going to loft this one way over,
  • 00:37:11
    get it kind of in back rows."
  • 00:37:13
    So I went up and I kicked this thing, except I didn't get the loft
  • 00:37:16
    that I anticipated. I pelted this woman right in the face, like from
  • 00:37:22
    six feet away. She had glasses on, wham, I just smashed her right in
  • 00:37:25
    the face. And I felt so bad.
  • 00:37:26
    I was like, "Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry."
  • 00:37:28
    I was going up there, I'm hugging her.
  • 00:37:30
    I'm sorry. And she was laughing.
  • 00:37:31
    She's like, I'm sorry.
  • 00:37:33
    I'm glad I didn't get -- I didn't get anything from an attorney this
  • 00:37:37
    last week. It was good. So the second service, the second service,
  • 00:37:41
    same thing. A ball came, okay.
  • 00:37:42
    I got that. I'm not going to -- I'm not going to kind of go towards
  • 00:37:45
    this section which was right beside me. .
  • 00:37:46
    I'm going to loft it over on this section.
  • 00:37:49
    So same thing, went to loft it up, same thing, line drive, pelted
  • 00:37:53
    this guy right smack in the nose.
  • 00:37:55
    I mean, bam, it just put his head back, the whole thing.
  • 00:37:58
    Same thing, I feel like -- I feel like a turd.
  • 00:38:01
    I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
  • 00:38:04
    And there -- and I realized, that was after the two Saturday services
  • 00:38:07
    that I did, I realized that like in both situations, even though
  • 00:38:11
    these people got pelted in the face unexpectedly, I made two new
  • 00:38:16
    friends. [laughter] Like we laughed.
  • 00:38:20
    There was something about us laughing each one for a minute, just
  • 00:38:23
    laughing that literally bonded us together.
  • 00:38:25
    So I went into Sunday's service saying, "I'm going to pelt somebody
  • 00:38:27
    in the face every service." [laughter]. I didn't kick it because it's
  • 00:38:30
    too hard, so I was just throwing it in people's faces.
  • 00:38:31
    And the same thing, everyone laughed every single time.
  • 00:38:34
    I'm not saying you have to abuse somebody or get abused for play, but
  • 00:38:39
    it helps. It does. There's something about when we are relational and
  • 00:38:44
    we are engaged with one another.
  • 00:38:46
    I was on this -- we're on this bike trip that I did with some friends
  • 00:38:52
    and I. It's a way that we're relational.
  • 00:38:54
    We're physically engaged this motorcycle trip.
  • 00:38:56
    And we do talk about God and we thank God for it, but it's really not
  • 00:39:00
    a God trip. It's a bike trip, right?
  • 00:39:01
    We found this last bike trip just weird, weird stuff happened.
  • 00:39:06
    We got to the end of the day, we're tired.
  • 00:39:07
    And bunch of us were just sitting on the side of this creek and
  • 00:39:10
    someone picked up this rock, just took this rock and just like threw
  • 00:39:13
    it at this bigger rock in the creek.
  • 00:39:15
    And someone's like, "Oh, I could hit that, too.".
  • 00:39:18
    So he went up and hit it.
  • 00:39:19
    And then, Oh, I can hit it. And then before we knew it, a game broke
  • 00:39:22
    out. It was, okay, see who can get it best out of five.
  • 00:39:26
    So we did that and so whoever won that round, then got to choose the
  • 00:39:31
    next rock that we were going to all aim for.
  • 00:39:33
    We kept score and time passed up.
  • 00:39:36
    We might have done that for two hours, just sitting there a bunch of
  • 00:39:41
    40 and 50 year olds. I guess there was my son, 20 year old, just
  • 00:39:44
    throwing rocks. It was so fun.
  • 00:39:46
    We did it like every night.
  • 00:39:47
    One night there was no rocks, we were on the side of a hill where
  • 00:39:49
    there was -- where there was pine trees.
  • 00:39:53
    So we had to use pine cones.
  • 00:39:55
    That's hard. I mean, in pine cones, 20 yards, because you've got to
  • 00:39:59
    account for the drag.
  • 00:40:00
    It was -- we laughed every time.
  • 00:40:03
    It didn't cost us a dime, that thing didn't.
  • 00:40:06
    We were bonding with each other.
  • 00:40:07
    We were physically doing something, it was just beautiful.
  • 00:40:12
    There used to be a saying decades ago, I don't know if it still goes
  • 00:40:16
    round or if you've heard or not.
  • 00:40:17
    But there was some religious organization that paid for it, this the
  • 00:40:20
    saying was on billboards. I think it's a good saying.
  • 00:40:22
    The saying is: families who pray together, stay together.
  • 00:40:26
    Families who pray together, stay together.
  • 00:40:30
    I'm pro prayer, just in case you're wondering.
  • 00:40:32
    I am pro prayer. I pray a lot.
  • 00:40:36
    I appreciate prayer. It's wonderful.
  • 00:40:37
    Wonderful. And my family, my kids would tell you that our prayer
  • 00:40:43
    times together we're very rarely anything else but a time for them to
  • 00:40:47
    cry. I was just awful at family prayer times.
  • 00:40:51
    I was awful like let's get everyone together and, you know, study the
  • 00:40:55
    Bible together. And I'm a relatively good teacher.
  • 00:40:57
    But they were always train wrecks, always train wrecks.
  • 00:41:01
    I believe you should be praying with your family, I think it's
  • 00:41:02
    wonderful. But I tell you what I found out is just as powerful and
  • 00:41:05
    maybe a starting place, maybe even more potent is families that play
  • 00:41:10
    together, stay together.
  • 00:41:12
    Couples that play together, stay together.
  • 00:41:15
    Friends who play together, stay together.
  • 00:41:18
    Teams that play together, stay together.
  • 00:41:22
    There's something about the relational glue of being with somebody
  • 00:41:25
    and laughing that binds us close together.
  • 00:41:28
    My kids could tell you nothing that they remember of a formal family
  • 00:41:32
    kind of worship thing or Bible study thing or a formal family
  • 00:41:35
    praying. They probably couldn't recount a single one.
  • 00:41:39
    But my gosh, you get us started talking about the stupid stories that
  • 00:41:41
    we have, they go on and on and on and on.
  • 00:41:45
    Wherever we were in a pool, any pool, anywhere, wherever it was, it
  • 00:41:48
    never -- it wasn't our own.
  • 00:41:50
    We never had a pool. Where ever it was, there would be games in the
  • 00:41:52
    pool. You know, jump.
  • 00:41:54
    Hey, you all jump off those different three marks and I'll throw a
  • 00:41:57
    ball to you and we'll keep score of who catches the ball the most.
  • 00:42:00
    It's called circuit
  • 00:42:01
    Or I'd get them in there and I'd throw them around the pool and I'd
  • 00:42:04
    have things like, oh, we're gonna make this one washing machine.
  • 00:42:06
    I would just take them and go, just jamming them up in the water, you
  • 00:42:09
    know, up, down, up, down, up, down.
  • 00:42:11
    And so this is gentle cycle.
  • 00:42:14
    And then I'd say, this is deep cleansing.
  • 00:42:16
    I'd smash them up. And all different kinds of stuff that --
  • 00:42:20
    They would laugh. [gasping] That would laugh.
  • 00:42:24
    We lived in this little, little house on Linwood Road in the Mount
  • 00:42:28
    Lookout part of area of Linwood Road is a very busy road.
  • 00:42:31
    And on our yard, the backyard wasn't conducive for a trampoline.
  • 00:42:35
    The front yard was a little bit more conducive for a trampoline.
  • 00:42:38
    So we put it on the front yard.
  • 00:42:40
    And the trampoline had a lean to it.
  • 00:42:42
    And neighbors love, by the way, when you put a trampoline in your
  • 00:42:45
    front yard. They just -- they just love that.
  • 00:42:48
    So we would get -- We would go out and do trampoline at night.
  • 00:42:52
    And they would come to me and say, "Dad, let's go out to the
  • 00:42:54
    trampoline.". And I would do this little game I didn't really want to
  • 00:42:56
    go. Because after an adult does the trampoline a few times, it's just
  • 00:42:59
    not fun anymore, you know? So I'd be like, "Ookay, after -- as soon
  • 00:43:03
    as I've finish my wine." And I would take my wine and I'd go --
  • 00:43:11
    And I put it down and keep talking to my wife.
  • 00:43:13
    And I would take -- I've taken like half a drop of wine.
  • 00:43:16
    There's only this much wine, but I took it down like that much.
  • 00:43:19
    I'd say, "Oh, let me finish."
  • 00:43:20
    I'd do it again. And these little kids would be looking me going --
  • 00:43:22
    [laughter] They kept hoping that all the wine was gone and then it
  • 00:43:27
    was gone I'd take them out on the trampoline thing.
  • 00:43:31
    You know, it was great when they were like two or one and a half.
  • 00:43:34
    They were just starting to walk.
  • 00:43:35
    And I used to love doing backdrops where I would hold them.
  • 00:43:37
    So I would hold on my chest and then come up backdrops, so their face
  • 00:43:41
    is coming straight down to the mat.
  • 00:43:44
    [yells], wham, you come back up, it's wonderful, is was great stuff.
  • 00:43:48
    One time we're on the front there, I say, "Hey, let's go sled
  • 00:43:50
    riding.". The best hill we had was the front yard because the front
  • 00:43:53
    yard was very gentle and then there was a drop off.
  • 00:43:57
    But remember, I said it was a very busy street.
  • 00:43:59
    That's right. So the -- so the snowplows would come down and they
  • 00:44:03
    plowed that big berm of snow and so acted like a perfect jump
  • 00:44:06
    So here's an idea. Get up the top and like sled down and I'll just
  • 00:44:10
    stand on the edge of like this lane and I'll catch you.
  • 00:44:14
    That's exactly they did. They'd come down and they'd fly through the
  • 00:44:16
    air in their saucer and I'd catch them.
  • 00:44:18
    And then till someone swore at me, they were very mad, who was
  • 00:44:20
    driving, driving by because it scared the heck out of them.
  • 00:44:23
    And I stopped doing that. But today still, whether it's going camping
  • 00:44:28
    as a family. I took the family to Vegas a couple months ago.
  • 00:44:33
    You did? I did. It was pretty awesome.
  • 00:44:35
    It was wonderful. It was. It was -- it was really good.
  • 00:44:39
    Anything you can get going with laughing with other people?
  • 00:44:43
    is going to bind you together, change your neurochemistry, give you
  • 00:44:47
    zest for life.
  • 00:44:49
    NBC recently said this:.
  • 00:45:07
    I'll just say it this simple now: if I can't -- if I can't laugh with
  • 00:45:11
    you, we're not going to be friends.
  • 00:45:14
    We're not. If I can't play with you, we're not going to be friends.
  • 00:45:16
    I can be friendly to you and I love you and I'm thankful for you and
  • 00:45:20
    care for you, but we only self select to spend time with people who
  • 00:45:24
    we get a charge out of, who we can play with, whatever the form of
  • 00:45:27
    play is. It may not be any of the stupid stuff that I just mentioned.
  • 00:45:32
    But if your thing is birdwatching, you're going to wanna play with
  • 00:45:35
    someone who birdwatches.
  • 00:45:37
    If your thing is skateboarding, it's gonna be you want to be with
  • 00:45:40
    somebody who skateboards with you.
  • 00:45:41
    If your thing is finger painting, you're going to want to be with
  • 00:45:44
    somebody who finger paints with you.
  • 00:45:45
    Whatever it is, it bonds us closer together.
  • 00:45:49
    And when we do this, we start to change as a person.
  • 00:45:55
    We start to -- We start to come alive.
  • 00:45:58
    One last quote from my play heroes, Dr.
  • 00:46:00
    Stuart Brown, he says this:
  • 00:46:12
    The opposite of play is not work.
  • 00:46:15
    The opposite of play is depression.
  • 00:46:18
    And I'm not saying that everybody who has clinical depression hasn't
  • 00:46:21
    been playing. I'm not saying that.
  • 00:46:24
    I am saying there's a heck of a lot of us who walk around our heads
  • 00:46:28
    down who don't feel right.
  • 00:46:29
    There's a very simple solution.
  • 00:46:32
    You were created to play.
  • 00:46:33
    Your Heavenly Father made you to play.
  • 00:46:36
    And if you can't identify when you've been playing and when you've
  • 00:46:38
    been losing time, it only makes sense that we'd be losing our minds.
  • 00:46:43
    It only makes sense.
  • 00:46:44
    There isn't a single parent I know that's excited when his kid makes
  • 00:46:49
    the honor roll and all they do is study, all they do is study.
  • 00:46:53
    In fact I know parents who are very concerned about their kids
  • 00:46:56
    because they can't get their face out of the books.
  • 00:46:58
    Eventually you start to grieve, like you want to see your kids
  • 00:47:01
    laughing. You want to see your kids running around a soccer field,
  • 00:47:04
    even if they're not any good.
  • 00:47:05
    You want to see your kids in the sandbox.
  • 00:47:07
    You want to see your kids at Taekwondo or doing something.
  • 00:47:11
    As parents, we understand this.
  • 00:47:13
    I'm telling you, this is your Heavenly Father, He grieves.
  • 00:47:18
    He grieves when his children aren't taking advantage of the gift of
  • 00:47:23
    pleasure. The gift of play.
  • 00:47:27
    I was surfing the Internet and I ran across -- actually no, I didn't
  • 00:47:32
    surf.
  • 00:47:33
    Someone gave me a heads up of this video that somebody made on their
  • 00:47:37
    Facebook page.
  • 00:47:38
    And man, I think it's -- I think it's insightful enough that we would
  • 00:47:41
    all be well served to watch it.
  • 00:47:47
    -I wanted to see if people in the city were too busy to take a moment
  • 00:47:49
    for themselves. So I went downtown with a group of friends and we
  • 00:47:54
    built a giant ball pit. And I asked people this question:
  • 00:48:03
    -Excuse me, sir.
  • 00:48:05
    Are you busy? -I've got a meeting.
  • 00:48:08
    How busy? Are you too busy to have fun for just like a couple
  • 00:48:11
    minutes? Hey, what's up man?
  • 00:48:13
    Are you busy right now? -Um, a little bit.
  • 00:48:16
    Are you busy right now? We've got a ball pit here e get off it here.
  • 00:48:19
    We just want to see if people are too busy to have fun.
  • 00:48:23
    -A ball pit? -Yeah. You want to jump in?
  • 00:48:31
    -You're in? -I'll do it.
  • 00:48:33
    -Let's have fun. -I'll do it. -Awesome.
  • 00:48:35
    Let's do it. I'm coming.
  • 00:48:38
    I'm coming in. Baby. [music and laughter]
  • 00:49:20
    -Yo, what's up? We're downtown.
  • 00:49:25
    -When was the last time you just took a break to have fun?
  • 00:49:28
    -Really? Dan, what do you do?
  • 00:49:30
    . -Pretty stressful?
  • 00:49:34
    -Why do you think some people are afraid of having fun?
  • 00:50:16
    -No problem, no problem. Have a great day, man.
  • 00:50:18
    Thank you so much, man. I appreciate. -This was good, man.
  • 00:50:37
    [cheers and applause} -Isn't that good? Man, just something comes
  • 00:50:41
    alive inside just watching it.
  • 00:50:44
    And that last little piece is just emotional, it's emotional.
  • 00:50:48
    There's a spiritual thing that happens when we play because we're
  • 00:50:51
    doing something God has wired us to do.
  • 00:50:54
    We're physically doing something when we're playing.
  • 00:50:57
    It relationally bonds us.
  • 00:50:59
    And the result of this is there is something emotional that takes
  • 00:51:02
    place in this.
  • 00:51:04
    Our fear subsides.
  • 00:51:08
    Our paranoia is subside.
  • 00:51:11
    Our stresses go away.
  • 00:51:12
    we forget about everything else.
  • 00:51:14
    That's why it's important to have tactile multisensory play,
  • 00:51:18
    because the more of our humanity we get involved in the whatever your
  • 00:51:22
    prefer play is,
  • 00:51:23
    the more of ourselves is preoccupied so that it is not possible to
  • 00:51:27
    think about the things we're stressed about.
  • 00:51:29
    It's not possible to think about our problems.
  • 00:51:32
    They all just go away.
  • 00:51:34
    They vanish. And emotionally, this is a huge thing.
  • 00:51:39
    One of my hobbies, it's a pretty sick hobby, but I'll just tell you
  • 00:51:41
    what it is. One of my hobbies is doing -- getting intel on people who
  • 00:51:46
    crash and burn their life.
  • 00:51:48
    So there's a lot of peers of mine, people who do have similar lives
  • 00:51:53
    that I do, do a similar job that I do, who just just check out, they
  • 00:51:58
    go off the deep rails. See, the thing is, all of us are wired for
  • 00:52:02
    play. Your Heavenly Dad wired you for play.
  • 00:52:06
    So you'll either take care of yourself and you will play or you will
  • 00:52:11
    stay on the purpose bandwagon and eventually you will find some kind
  • 00:52:15
    of play that is destructive and will hurt you.
  • 00:52:18
    You will start abusing alcohol.
  • 00:52:20
    You will start to have -- you will start to have an adulterous
  • 00:52:23
    affair. You will take up some other addictive behavior that is a
  • 00:52:27
    secret vice and you will be destroyed by it.
  • 00:52:30
    It's where -- all of us have to play.
  • 00:52:32
    You will play one way or the other.
  • 00:52:33
    It will be healthy or it will be destructive.
  • 00:52:36
    I'll be secretive. And that's one of the things I found out when I do
  • 00:52:39
    these biopsies, autopsies of people who have tanked their lives or
  • 00:52:44
    tanked their ministries.
  • 00:52:45
    A consistent theme is they didn't have play.
  • 00:52:50
    They didn't have a hobby.
  • 00:52:51
    If I asked them, what do you do for fun?
  • 00:52:54
    They'd go, "(stammering) Read from my next sermon.
  • 00:52:56
    I really like reading. I really like reading."
  • 00:52:58
    I like reading, too, but if I'm reading for what I'm going to preach
  • 00:53:02
    about, that is work, that is not play because I'm reading constantly
  • 00:53:06
    thinking, "Okay, well I can..."
  • 00:53:08
    Do you know? What is it? What is it that you do for fun?
  • 00:53:13
    What is that?
  • 00:53:14
    The book of 1 Timothy 6:17 and following it says this:.
  • 00:53:19
    "As for the rich in this present age," which by the way, who is the
  • 00:53:23
    rich in this present age?
  • 00:53:24
    That would be anybody who has any money to do anything outside of
  • 00:53:29
    your shelter, your utilities and your food, because that's really all
  • 00:53:32
    you need. If you've got money for anything else, you're rich because
  • 00:53:36
    most of the other rest of the world can't do that.
  • 00:53:45
    ...who richly provides us with everything so we can help the poor.
  • 00:53:49
    No, it doesn't say that. God who richly provides us with everything
  • 00:53:54
    so we have fat savings.
  • 00:53:55
    No, it doesn't say that. God who richly provides us with everything
  • 00:53:59
    so we can feel good about how much money we have.
  • 00:54:02
    No, it doesn't. God who richly provides us with everything so we can
  • 00:54:06
    get our name on the museum. No, it doesn't say that.
  • 00:54:08
    "God who richly provides us with everything so we can enjoy it."
  • 00:54:12
    So in other words, if you've got any sense of cash at all, a godly
  • 00:54:19
    expenditure of your money is to enjoy your money, which means to play
  • 00:54:23
    with your money.
  • 00:54:24
    To buy play, to buy pleasure, whatever that is, a vacation, a
  • 00:54:30
    scooter, a lesson to skydive, a skateboard to zoom on, some roller
  • 00:54:38
    blades. I don't know, I mean there are hundreds of different places
  • 00:54:41
    to play, and I have to work really hard to think of ways that I
  • 00:54:46
    wouldn't play, because I know I'm on.
  • 00:54:47
    I'm not naming the ways I play.
  • 00:54:49
    I'm thinking of all the ways that everybody who is not like me can
  • 00:54:52
    play. You don't have to play like me, but you do have to play.
  • 00:54:56
    You do have to play. So here's where we're gone as we get ready to
  • 00:55:01
    get out of here today. We have our first group meeting this week,
  • 00:55:04
    first group. It is not too late to get in a group.
  • 00:55:06
    You want to be in a group.
  • 00:55:07
    You're not going be able to play if you're not going to get in a
  • 00:55:10
    group. These are gonna be very, very fun multisensory things.
  • 00:55:14
    You can still go to the app, to the website and get in a group.
  • 00:55:17
    If you are a leader, you've got to have the Crossroads app for your
  • 00:55:22
    leader, guys. If you're a leader of one groups, you've got to have
  • 00:55:24
    the Crossroads app for your leader guide.
  • 00:55:25
    If you don't have a guide, go ahead and get your guide.
  • 00:55:29
    Okay? All right.
  • 00:55:30
    Then I think that's about it.
  • 00:55:32
    Let's -- (shouting) A thousand dollars?
  • 00:55:34
    Some of you are like, "A thousand dollars.
  • 00:55:36
    You said a thousand dollars.
  • 00:55:38
    What is it? Thousand dollars?".
  • 00:55:41
    Well, now that you ask, we are going to have a treasure hunt where
  • 00:55:48
    you can get a thousand dollars.
  • 00:55:51
    There is a hidden treasure.
  • 00:55:53
    There is a hidden treasure someplace on planet Earth.
  • 00:56:00
    And if you live in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana, you have a much better
  • 00:56:04
    shot at getting this hidden treasure.
  • 00:56:06
    But anybody can get it anywhere.
  • 00:56:09
    And you're going to be talking about that in your first group.
  • 00:56:11
    There's a thousand dollars to be had if you -- not only the first
  • 00:56:15
    one. If you get to that treasure, you'll be able to enter your name
  • 00:56:20
    for getting that thousand dollars.
  • 00:56:22
    You'll get more of that in your group for details.
  • 00:56:24
    I'm also gonna give you a clue.
  • 00:56:26
    I'm going to buy some followers on Instagram.
  • 00:56:28
    So if you want to come to check me out on Instagram, I'm going to
  • 00:56:30
    give a clue in my stories on Instagram.
  • 00:56:33
    All you need is someone in your group who's Instagram friendly, or
  • 00:56:35
    maybe you want to try it yourself.
  • 00:56:37
    We're gonna give -- I'm gonna give a clue this week.
  • 00:56:39
    It's gonna be one of the ways we play.
  • 00:56:42
    You know, you need to know this. Your Heavenly Dad is nuts about you.
  • 00:56:47
    He is. He' just nuts about you.
  • 00:56:50
    And He likes your smile.
  • 00:56:52
    He he likes to hear you laugh.
  • 00:56:55
    He even likes to hear 40 year olds who weigh 300 pounds giggle.
  • 00:57:01
    He likes it.
  • 00:57:03
    He likes to see you use your creativity to do things that are totally
  • 00:57:08
    unproductive and do nothing but bring you joy.
  • 00:57:12
    You would do Him a great favor to figure this thing out this Journey.
  • 00:57:16
    And that's why part of why this Journey is here, to help all of us in
  • 00:57:21
    that area, because He's really nuts about you.
  • 00:57:23
    And we need to get this one done.
  • 00:57:25
    We need t get this one right for our ourselves, for our own sanity.
  • 00:57:29
    Come on. Your life is not that important.
  • 00:57:31
    It's not. We don't have to be as serious as we are.
  • 00:57:36
    We have what we have because our God wants us to experience the
  • 00:57:40
    fullness of life. We've got to play to do it.
  • 00:57:42
    God, I thank You that You're not a taskmaster, You're not just some
  • 00:57:47
    rule maker and rule enforcer.
  • 00:57:50
    You're somebody who wants us to detach.
  • 00:57:54
    Thank You for giving us the truth that you've given us today.
  • 00:57:56
    I thank You that you've given us a book like the Bible that has so
  • 00:57:59
    many examples of this, I couldn't even get all of them today.
  • 00:58:02
    I pray for a spirit of levity to come on every person who's in the
  • 00:58:07
    Journey, a spirit of levity.
  • 00:58:09
    That we would just get light and we'll get happy and this would
  • 00:58:12
    enable us to be more prosperous.
  • 00:58:15
    I pray these things according to the name of Jesus.
  • 00:58:19
    Amen. All right.
  • 00:58:23
    We'll see you next week.
  • 00:58:24
    Have fun at your groups. It's not too late.
  • 00:58:26
    Get on them. -Well, the treasure hunt is on.
  • 00:58:32
    You're not going to want to miss this. So be on the lookout for that
  • 00:58:36
    first clue. And if you think you figure out where the treasure is and
  • 00:58:40
    it's further than 200 miles from where you live,
  • 00:58:44
    we want to enter you into still win something special.
  • 00:58:47
    And so if you want to chat with us and let us know where you think
  • 00:58:51
    the treasure is and give us some information about you,
  • 00:58:55
    you'll be entered into win a five hundred dollar gift card for your
  • 00:58:58
    whole group to share.
  • 00:58:59
    Because this is meant to be a group thing, some play for your group
  • 00:59:03
    to do together. Find that treasure.
  • 00:59:05
    And so just chat with us when you think you know where that treasure
  • 00:59:09
    is and you'll be entered into win.
  • 00:59:12
    Speaking of group, it's not too late to get in a group.
  • 00:59:15
    Head to Crossroads.net/journey
  • 00:59:18
    to get in a Journey group.
  • 00:59:20
    This is your last chance, like these 24 hours are probably your last
  • 00:59:24
    chance. And if you're in a group right now, that first group
  • 00:59:27
    gathering is this week.
  • 00:59:29
    And I hope it's a ton of fun with lots of play for you.
  • 00:59:33
    We'll see you next week for week three of the Play & Purpose Journey.

Sep 21, 2019 59 mins 49 sec

Recent Series