Play & Purpose Journey | Week 4: Stepping into Trust

To live the thriving life you were made to live, you have to step away from fear and into trust.

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    Well, hey, welcome to church on Crossroads Anywhere this week.
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    My name's Lena Schuler.
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    I"m the Crossroads Anywhere community pastor.
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    And I'm here with my friend Justin.
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    - I'm Justin Mosteller. I'm one of the worship leaders around here.
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    And I'm glad to be in this space with you guys.
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    We're always like tossing back and forth to one another on a weekend from stage or whatever.
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    And so I'm glad to be here.
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    - Yeah, in one room together.
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    - That's right. - It's great. Well, today is gonna be a little bit different of an experience than what we're used to.
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    It's gonna be a special experience,
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    one where I think you have an opportunity to hear from God
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    in a really unique and special way,
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    different than any other regular weekend service.
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    And so today we want you to set up your environment
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    to be able to hear from God in that special way.
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    So as we're in this living room together
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    and we do some interactive immersive things
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    throughout the rest of our time,
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    maybe throw in your headphones if you've got them nearby
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    or dim your lights so the room that you're in
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    feels a little more intimate
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    or just different than you're used to,
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    because this whole experience is gonna be set up
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    so that you can have a moment or two with God
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    and hear from Him,
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    whatever it is that He uniquely wants to say to you.
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    And so we're gonna start by getting our heads
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    and our hearts in the right place for this
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    and just talk to God through song.
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    - Yeah, that's right. I love the setting up environments.
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    That could look different for everybody, right?
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    I mean, like I've got friends who
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    when they're gonna spend time with God,
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    they they light a candle just to sort of represent His presence in the room.
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    And so whatever you need to do, do that.
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    And one of the things I do in my time,.
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    I've said it before, like my time with the Lord
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    in the mornings is often in my front porch,
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    out on my porch in my house.
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    And it's how I come into that headspace
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    is different every time. And so one of the things I have
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    is a sort of a discipline to start that time.
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    Every every time I sit down in my rocking chair
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    or whatever and grab my Bible.
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    Is to just take some deep breaths
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    and sort of enter the space that I'm coming in.
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    Because oftentimes I'm coming in exhausted
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    from the night where my four year old
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    has woken me up like eight times.
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    That happens. - True life.
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    - Yeah. You know, and like all kinds of stuff.
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    So I just want -- I just take some deep breaths
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    just to kind of enter the space. So I invite you wherever you are, take a few deep breaths.
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    Just kind of slow down together
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    and come into this space that
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    we're gonna try to take in together
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    and hear from God and slow our minds down.
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    So I'll keep playing.
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    You just take some deep breaths
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    and sort of enter a space of peace together.
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    And we can sing together my favorite songs
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    for getting my mind and my heart prepared for God.
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    Sing that again: Clear my mind Oh Lord
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    So, Lord, we come to You with humility.
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    We come to You with our hearts and our minds
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    and ourselves pointed towards You
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    because you are King.
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    You are a good and loving Father.
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    So we believe, Lord, different than what I grew up with.
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    I believe in this moment
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    You have something good for me to hear.
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    Not something of judgment or a finger
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    that just wants to point to me.
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    You are one who's welcomed me into your arms.
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    So you have something good
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    within Your grace and your mercy
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    to speak to me.
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    And so I want my mind to be cleared.
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    And so I ask You to do that
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    so we can hear from You, God. Thank you for being with us, Father.
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    Amen - Amen.
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    Well, hopefully right now you're feeling a little more slowed down.
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    Your mind is a little more cleared
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    for whatever God has for you next.
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    I know I feel that way right now.
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    And so I want to help get you set up
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    a little bit more for the rest of our experience together.
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    And so we're gonna have prompts
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    throughout this next hour
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    for you to talk to God.
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    And so there's a couple of ways that you can do this.
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    One is you can pull out a second device.
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    So if you're on your phone, pull out your computer.
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    If you're on your computer, pull up your phone.
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    Head to Crossroads.net
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    and you can interact with God
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    actually through the chat feature on the Web site.
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    There will be prompts on there
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    and that will guide you through in the midst of this experience.
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    And you could do this digitally
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    or you could pull out a piece of paper
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    like the one that I have here.
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    Plain old school, white piece of paper.
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    Maybe you've got a journal that you regularly use
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    or some place that you use to talk to God
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    on a weekly, monthly.
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    annual basis.
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    And on that piece of paper, if you do it this way,
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    start out by just writing
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    eight different spots on this paper.
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    Maybe label one through eight
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    because we'll have eight different prompts
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    throughout this service.
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    And we'll let you know what goes in there at what time.
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    And so actually, let's just start right now
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    with this very first one.
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    The first thing, the first way
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    for us to spend this time with God
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    and to talk to Him is by actually
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    just writing down everything that's on your mind.
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    You know, in that song we sang Slow Me Down,
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    we asked God to clear our mind.
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    And so we're going to practice clearing our minds right now.
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    So if you just want to write down everything
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    that's clouding up your mind right now:
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    good, bad, ugly, things you're excited about,
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    the things you're fearful of right now.
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    Just spend some time getting that out on paper
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    and then put a one sentence prayer to God
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    on paper of what you want to get in the next hour.
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    Maybe it's just -- maybe it's just as simple as saying,
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    God, I'm here and I'm listening.
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    - Welcome to week four of the Play & Purpose Journey.
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    I'm Chuck Mingo. And today, we're going to lean in a bit.
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    So in this journey, we've been talking about
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    how our lives thrive at the intersection
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    of two things: high purpose and high play.
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    And it's about embracing both of them.
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    You know, when we talk about play in this journey,
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    we said play is something unproductive that restores you.
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    Maybe that's shooting hoops for you.
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    That might be having time at a coffee shop,
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    reading a good novel. But whatever it is, it's something that gives you life.
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    And then we talk about purpose.
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    And we're not talking in this journey
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    about the like, you know, find your soulmate purpose.
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    The one reason you were born.
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    That's great to try to find that. But we're talking more about
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    what's the thing right in front of me
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    that if I'm productive at it,
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    it's going to yield good results?
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    So that could look very much like
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    investing in an important relationship in your life
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    or just being faithful at the job that you have right now.
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    That kind of purpose.
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    And what we've realized in this journey
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    is God wants both of those for you:
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    purpose and play. But if you've been in this journey
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    or maybe even if you haven't
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    and you're just hearing this for the first time, my guess is one of these two comes easier for you.
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    Maybe you're a purpose person and that just comes easy.
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    You're focused, you like delivering results.
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    Maybe you're more of a play person.
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    It's easy for you to unwind, to relax.
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    But my guess is one of them feels a lot like --
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    Let me take you with me here.
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    Maybe it feels like I feel right now.
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    So I -- Oh, gosh, I'm afraid of heights.
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    I've been afraid of heights for as long as I can remember.
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    And so whenever I'm on a cliff,
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    whenever I'm on an edge up high,
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    it freaks me out. And so I'm kind of freaking out right now.
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    Welcome to my discomfort.
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    But what I have been thinking about
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    is that my fear of heights is really about vulnerability.
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    Why am I afraid of heights?
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    Because when I'm up high, I feel totally vulnerable.
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    I feel like, you know what,
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    I can't control all the environment.
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    I can't control all the elements.
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    And God knows I probably shouldn't go too far on this ledge,
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    because if I do, there's the risk of falling.
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    There's the risk of failing. And my guess is this probably relates
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    to something in your life. Maybe this idea of finding purpose
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    really freaks you out. Because you realize that if I say out loud
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    the thing that I feel like I'm supposed to do,
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    somebody is going to hold me accountable to it
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    and that freaks me out.
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    Or maybe -- let me just got a little bit further.
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    One step at a time. Maybe for you, it's this idea of play.
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    And when you think about play,
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    you recognize -- I'm hearing my voice echo
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    and it's really freaking me out right now.
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    So, when you think about play,
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    you're just like, I don't know.
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    I don't feel like I can --
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    maybe you feel like I do. My legs are wobbly right now.
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    Maybe you're like, "You know what?
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    I get wobbly if I slow down,
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    there are gonna be people who pass me at work.
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    And I don't want to give up on the advantages
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    that I think I have." Here's what I believe.
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    I believe that if there is a place in this journey
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    that feels for you like this cliff feels for me,
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    that's the place God wants us to lean in today.
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    You've been stolen from.
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    I've been stolen from. And today we want to get back all that God has for us.
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    There's a verse that I've been thinking about
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    as I knew I'd be standing here
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    and as I knew we'd be talking about this.
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    It's Isaiah 41:13, where God says this to you
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    and he says this to me. He says, "I am the Lord, your God.
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    And I will hold you by your right hand.
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    And I say to you, Do not be afraid.
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    I will help you. Today I believe if you lean into the uncomfortable place,
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    whether it's leaning into purpose or to play,
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    that God is going to help you.
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    And you might hear his voice powerfully
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    for the first time today.
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    - Well, I don't know about you,
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    but I actually could feel some of Chuck's angst
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    and fear in the midst of that.
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    I actually heard he went through three shirts
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    during that video shoot. No lie.
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    - That's great. - And we all have things that we're scared of.
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    Chuck's really scared of heights.
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    Maybe in the midst of this journey,
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    you actually have some fear around
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    what it means for your life to change
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    in order to add more play in
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    or what it means for your life to change
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    in order to be more purposeful
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    about the things in front of you.
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    I know for me it's this issue of play.
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    I know I need more of it.
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    And just having to rearrange things to get there
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    feels a little difficult and scary for me.
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    And so we're going to go through
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    a few more prompts.
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    And we're gonna start where Chuck started
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    and we're gonna recap this Play & Purpose idea.
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    So the first prompt is spend a little time
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    thinking about and maybe on your piece of paper
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    actually drawing what restores you,
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    what fills you up and brings you life.
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    Our next prompt, our fourth prompt of the day,
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    if you're keeping track. - If they're like me, they are
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    - Yeah. If you're really purposeful,
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    you've probably been counting.
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    - Speaking of not being able to play. - Yeah.
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    That says something about me and you.
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    - Me too, yeah. - I want you to make a list of all of the things
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    that you've accomplished this week,
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    the ways that you've been purposeful.
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    So this fifth prompt, you know,
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    maybe when Chuck was talking about his fear of heights,
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    maybe when I was telling you that it stresses me out
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    and gives me the sweats a little bit
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    to think about how to add more play into my life
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    and rearrange things.
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    You probably default one way or the other.
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    Probably feels more vulnerable for you to be purposeful,
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    to do things on purpose if your life has been full of play.
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    Or maybe it stresses you out a little
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    to think about what play would look like
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    as a normal part of your life
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    if you've got the purpose thing down.
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    I want you right now to declare to God
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    which of these two areas: play or purpose
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    do you need to reprioritize,
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    do you need to focus on,
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    do you need to spend your time in?
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    Ok. How are we feeling?
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    Everybody doing OK? Deep breath, maybe you're sweating
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    through your shirt a little bit,
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    your heart's beating real fast
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    because you just declared to God
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    that you want more play
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    or you're going to start being more purposeful.
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    This is -- this is good stuff.
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    -- It's good stuff, yeah. - It's sometimes kind of heavy stuff.
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    - Yeah. It's true.
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    - And I need more play.
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    I think Justin -- I think Justin needs more play.
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    -- I just confessed to like counting our prompts and doing checkboxes.
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    - Yeah. So I definitely need more play.
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    - OK, so let's start with --
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    can we have something a little more playful?
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    Lighten the mood. - How about Free Falling?
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    - Oh, Free Falling. This is for Chuck Mingo, folks. - Sorry, Chuck Mingo.
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    - Free Falling.
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    OK. So this next thing we're gonna do
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    is a little lighter.
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    By a little lighter, I mean, a lot lighter.
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    It has absolutely no purpose
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    other than just to have a little fun.
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    So we hope you laugh a little and you enjoy this.
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    One of things I did was I went to this rally,
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    this motorcycle rally.
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    I'd never heard of this rally.
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    I went to, it was down in the Smoky Mountains.
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    And I went, Wow.
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    Wow, like man. Like Wow Wow..
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    , No.
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    - In this journey, we've been talking about
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    the fact that God wants for all of us
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    a life of prosperity.
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    When I say that, I don't mean monetary only,
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    I don't mean like health, wealth and prosperity.
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    I don't mean that. I mean a fullness of life.
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    What Jesus called an abundant life.
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    And trusting God is the way to that life.
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    And so even looking at this matrix and using it
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    to kind of help define what we mean
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    by Purpose & Play and particularly
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    why it's powerful to embrace.
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    And if you take a look at this matrix,
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    you'll see that, you know,
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    if you don't have -- and you know this,
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    if you've lived this way.
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    If you don't have any play in your life
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    and your life is all purpose all the time,
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    you're going to be in that bottom right corner.
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    And life is painful there.
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    There's not a lot of joy.
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    Things feel like duty.
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    Everything is weighty.
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    Everything is weighty.
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    Now on the other hand,
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    if you have all play all the time
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    and you don't have any purpose in your life at all,
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    then your life feels pointless.
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    And there's probably this yearning,
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    nagging boredom that you say,
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    "Hey, I need more, I need more."
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    And if you don't have either of these,
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    your life is pitiful.
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    And we don't want that for anyone here.
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    And what God invites us to is He invites us
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    to a prosperous life,
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    a life at the intersection of high purpose and high play.
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    So that's we're going to talk about today.
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    Before we go any further though,
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    while we're doing a lot of things that are different today,
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    we're gonna do something that we do regularly around here
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    and that's have an opportunity to be generous.
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    So wherever you are at your location,
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    there's an opportunity for you to be generous.
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    Our ushers are going to come. They can start coming now.
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    And they're going to pass bags through the aisles
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    and you can give cash or check that way.
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    And you can be a part of investing
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    in life change when you do that. But if you're brand new, it's your first time,
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    man, let that pass you right on by.
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    We don't want your money. We're just glad you're here.
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    And we hope that you're helped by today.
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    But I'm going to pray as we dig into this idea
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    of trusting God and finding prosperity when we do.
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    God, I just asked that as we engage
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    in this time that You would speak.
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    You've already spoken, I believe, to many of us.
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    And God, I pray that that continues.
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    That we would hear Your voice more clearly.
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    And God just protect this space,
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    this special sacred time that we have
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    to just slow down and be with You.
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    I pray that it would be fruitful.
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    In Jesus name. Amen.
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    So I've been thinking about this idea of trust
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    and specifically thinking about an experience
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    that I had really over the last 18 months
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    until about six months ago.
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    I was struggling with sleep like nobody's business.
  • 00:26:07
    I mean, it was a good night if I got five hours of sleep.
  • 00:26:10
    And I just couldn't seem to get over this barrier in my life.
  • 00:26:14
    And I tried a bunch of different things.
  • 00:26:16
    I tried different sleeping pills
  • 00:26:18
    and it was like escalating, you know,
  • 00:26:19
    to more powerful sleeping pills. That wasn't help.
  • 00:26:21
    And then they were like, well, maybe you have sleep apnea.
  • 00:26:23
    And so I got diagnosed for that
  • 00:26:25
    and they gave me a C-PAP machine.
  • 00:26:26
    And that definitely didn't help.
  • 00:26:28
    And I just was like, God,
  • 00:26:30
    I can't seem to figure this out.
  • 00:26:32
    And I remember early on in the struggle
  • 00:26:35
    feeling like, God, if there's something in me,
  • 00:26:37
    if this is a spiritual thing,
  • 00:26:39
    then help me to see it. And I think that God kind of was showing me
  • 00:26:44
    some things that I was ignoring
  • 00:26:46
    around why this was happening.
  • 00:26:47
    And really it boiled down to trust.
  • 00:26:49
    I mean, the truth is God has given me a purpose
  • 00:26:52
    and one of the purposes He's given me
  • 00:26:54
    is to be a voice in a really touchy, difficult topic.
  • 00:26:57
    And that's the racial divide.
  • 00:26:59
    And to be a voice around that,
  • 00:27:00
    not only in our city but beyond.
  • 00:27:01
    And I just feel like there's a part of me
  • 00:27:04
    that's like I don't know if I want to jump into that
  • 00:27:07
    more than I already am because it's a hard place to be
  • 00:27:09
    and it's challenging. And yes, I've seen some fruit,
  • 00:27:11
    but, God, I don't know if I really want to lean into that.
  • 00:27:14
    And I really feel like that's the thing
  • 00:27:16
    that was in the way of me literally sleeping at night.
  • 00:27:20
    And why do I know that?
  • 00:27:22
    Because about six months ago, I just said,
  • 00:27:24
    All right, God, I give up. I give up.
  • 00:27:26
    I'm gonna be obedient
  • 00:27:28
    and I'm going to follow this
  • 00:27:29
    as far as You want me to take it.
  • 00:27:32
    And literally, the day I started trusting
  • 00:27:34
    is the day I started sleeping.
  • 00:27:37
    And I think that that's just the lesson
  • 00:27:38
    that we have to learn in our relationship with God,
  • 00:27:41
    is that the prosperous life He wants for us,
  • 00:27:43
    we find as we trust Him more and more.
  • 00:27:45
    Now, if you're like me and if you're human,
  • 00:27:48
    I think there's some obvious reasons
  • 00:27:50
    why maybe we struggle to trust God.
  • 00:27:52
    And I call them the 3 D's.
  • 00:27:53
    Here's what I would say. If you struggle to trust God in any area of your life,
  • 00:27:57
    particularly purpose or play,
  • 00:27:58
    maybe it's because God seems distant.
  • 00:28:01
    He seems to be apathetic,
  • 00:28:03
    like he's not necessarily involved in the details of your life.
  • 00:28:07
    Or maybe you struggle to trust God
  • 00:28:09
    because you think God is disappointed in you.
  • 00:28:12
    You think He's angry at you.
  • 00:28:13
    You think you've done too many wrong things for God to forgive you,
  • 00:28:16
    and therefore He's not for you.
  • 00:28:19
    Or maybe you struggle because you feel like God's disabled
  • 00:28:22
    and there's a place in your life
  • 00:28:24
    where it just doesn't seem like
  • 00:28:25
    He's bringing his power to bear
  • 00:28:27
    to change the situation in your life.
  • 00:28:30
    Now, I don't often make book recommendations,
  • 00:28:31
    but I'm going to recommend a book.
  • 00:28:33
    It's called Sacred Fire by a guy named Ronald Rolheiser.
  • 00:28:36
    And this book has deeply impacted me
  • 00:28:38
    in the area of trust
  • 00:28:39
    and it's deeply impacted this message.
  • 00:28:41
    And what I would summarize that book as being about
  • 00:28:44
    is basically it's about how to move from a life
  • 00:28:47
    that's the good life to the prosperous life.
  • 00:28:51
    You know, we can think about the good life
  • 00:28:53
    and say, Yeah, that's all I want.
  • 00:28:54
    I want the good life. Right? I just want things to be OK.
  • 00:28:56
    And what I will tell you is if you are seeking the good life,
  • 00:28:59
    you're settling for far less than what God has for you.
  • 00:29:02
    Because He has more than just a good life for you.
  • 00:29:06
    God wants you to live a prosperous life.
  • 00:29:08
    And that move requires trust.
  • 00:29:12
    And there's a lot of characters in the Bible
  • 00:29:14
    that obviously illustrate this journey of trust.
  • 00:29:16
    But if I could think of only one
  • 00:29:18
    that really does represent where most of us are
  • 00:29:22
    as it relates to play or purpose
  • 00:29:24
    and how to stretch beyond whatever we put in box five,
  • 00:29:28
    it's this character in the Bible in the New Testament
  • 00:29:30
    that has an interaction with Jesus.
  • 00:29:32
    And we don't get his name,
  • 00:29:34
    but he's simply referred to as the rich young man.
  • 00:29:37
    And we find his story in Mark Chapter 10,
  • 00:29:39
    where in verse 17 it says:.
  • 00:29:52
    You ever ask that question to God?
  • 00:29:55
    I mean, what's the question he's asking?
  • 00:29:56
    He saying, "God, what's missing?
  • 00:29:59
    What's the thing that I need?".
  • 00:30:02
    And Jesus responds to him:
  • 00:30:46
    Now, on the surface, you might say,
  • 00:30:47
    "How do I connect with this guy?
  • 00:30:48
    I'm not a guy. I'm not a man.
  • 00:30:49
    I'm a woman. I'm not rich.
  • 00:30:52
    I'm struggling. I'm not an authority.
  • 00:30:55
    I'm just to every person, every kind of person.
  • 00:30:57
    How do I relate to this?"
  • 00:30:59
    And here's why, because I think that we can see
  • 00:31:01
    that this guy's core question for Jesus
  • 00:31:04
    is our core question: How do I really live life?
  • 00:31:08
    Like, really live it.
  • 00:31:10
    Like the prosperous life.
  • 00:31:11
    How do I really live the abundant life?
  • 00:31:15
    And so how does Jesus respond to this man?
  • 00:31:17
    Well, on the surface, it could look like
  • 00:31:18
    Jesus is a total jerk to him, right?
  • 00:31:21
    I mean Jesus -- it could seem like
  • 00:31:23
    Jesus gives him this high challenge,
  • 00:31:25
    this high bar that no one could surmount.
  • 00:31:27
    Right? Sell everything that you have.
  • 00:31:30
    Is Jesus asking you and I to sell everything that we have?
  • 00:31:33
    How are we to see what is, I think, an invitation, not a challenge.
  • 00:31:37
    See, I don't think Jesus was challenging this man.
  • 00:31:39
    I think He was inviting him to more trust.
  • 00:31:43
    And here's the clue. It says Jesus fixed his gaze upon the man
  • 00:31:49
    with tender love.
  • 00:31:52
    So we know that what comes next
  • 00:31:55
    is an invitation from a loving God,
  • 00:31:58
    not a challenge meant to distance him.
  • 00:32:01
    So how do we apply this to our lives?
  • 00:32:03
    One illustration that I found helpful in the book
  • 00:32:05
    was that one person describe our lives
  • 00:32:08
    as a mansion with thirty rooms.
  • 00:32:10
    Think about a 30 room mansion.
  • 00:32:13
    And think about like even if you have
  • 00:32:15
    said yes to following Jesus,
  • 00:32:17
    maybe you have given Him,
  • 00:32:18
    I don't know, 15 of those rooms.
  • 00:32:21
    Maybe you've surrendered 20 those years.
  • 00:32:22
    Maybe you've surrender 27 of the 30 rooms to Jesus.
  • 00:32:26
    But don't we all have those three rooms,
  • 00:32:31
    the rooms that we still don't want to fully trust God in?
  • 00:32:35
    The rooms that when we think about what God might ask of us,
  • 00:32:39
    even though I think God has something for us in those rooms,
  • 00:32:41
    our tendency is kind of to back away and to not fully trust?
  • 00:32:46
    And I think that in this story,
  • 00:32:48
    what we're to see is that Jesus's invitation
  • 00:32:51
    to the man is the same invitation to all of us.
  • 00:32:53
    And it's simply trust me.
  • 00:32:56
    Trust me, trust me with more.
  • 00:32:59
    Trust me with more of your purpose.
  • 00:33:01
    Trust me with more of your play.
  • 00:33:04
    Trust me with more of where it is
  • 00:33:07
    that you find your life.
  • 00:33:08
    Because trusting God is the way to a prosperous life.
  • 00:33:12
    I mean, seriously, this like Play & Purpose Journey
  • 00:33:14
    can feel so self-help ish, right?
  • 00:33:16
    Like, is this deeply spiritual?
  • 00:33:18
    Is there anything really spiritual
  • 00:33:20
    about me figuring out play in my life?
  • 00:33:21
    And I want you to know absolutely there is.
  • 00:33:24
    Because think about this:
  • 00:33:26
    If you're struggling to lean into purpose,
  • 00:33:29
    isn't that really about choosing fear
  • 00:33:31
    and self-protection
  • 00:33:33
    rather than trusting God
  • 00:33:34
    and taking the risky bold next step?
  • 00:33:38
    And if you're struggling with play
  • 00:33:40
    and releasing time in your schedule
  • 00:33:42
    or resources to just simply recreate yourself,
  • 00:33:45
    isn't that really about struggling to trust God
  • 00:33:48
    and thinking that really all the resources you need
  • 00:33:50
    have to come from your effort
  • 00:33:52
    and that God doesn't have anything to add to that for you?
  • 00:33:55
    I think these are very much about faith and trust for us.
  • 00:34:01
    So let me ask you, of those 3 D's that I talked about earlier,
  • 00:34:06
    what is the one that really keeps you from trusting God?
  • 00:34:09
    Is it that God seems distant to you?
  • 00:34:13
    Or is it that you think guys disappointed in you?
  • 00:34:17
    Or is it that you think that God is disabled?
  • 00:34:21
    I want you to take out your sheet
  • 00:34:23
    and you're going to fill out Box 6
  • 00:34:25
    with your answer to that question.
  • 00:34:27
    And I want you to put it this way:
  • 00:34:28
    God, I wish You felt less -- fill in that blank.
  • 00:34:34
    God, I wish you felt less distant.
  • 00:34:36
    God, I wish You felt less disappointed.
  • 00:34:38
    God, I wish You felt less disabled.
  • 00:34:43
    Write that down. And let's go back to the story.
  • 00:35:03
    because it's significant to note that the rich young man,
  • 00:35:06
    when he leaves Jesus's presence,
  • 00:35:08
    it says he walks away very sad.
  • 00:35:11
    It doesn't say he walks away mad. It says he walks away very sad.
  • 00:35:17
    Now, here's the thing. When he came to Jesus, he was a rich, sad young man.
  • 00:35:23
    Right? That's why he was asking the question,
  • 00:35:26
    because there was something in him that was unfulfilled.
  • 00:35:28
    And because of his response,
  • 00:35:30
    because he couldn't take Jesus at his invitation,
  • 00:35:33
    at his word, he had turned away from Jesus.
  • 00:35:35
    And he left a rich young man who was very sad.
  • 00:35:41
    And Ronald Rolheiser puts it this way.
  • 00:35:43
    He says: he wasn't bad. He was just sad.
  • 00:35:45
    He says, but what is it that he lost?
  • 00:35:47
    He didn't lose anything except an opportunity.
  • 00:35:51
    He lost an opportunity to trust.
  • 00:35:54
    He lost an opportunity for more exposure to God's faithfulness.
  • 00:35:58
    He lost an opportunity to prosper.
  • 00:36:01
    He lost the opportunity because he couldn't trust
  • 00:36:05
    in Jesus in what Jesus was offering to him.
  • 00:36:09
    See, I believe that's the same opportunity
  • 00:36:11
    that lies on the other side of you doing something about
  • 00:36:14
    whatever you put in box five.
  • 00:36:18
    There's an opportunity.
  • 00:36:20
    And today I think God is speaking to you
  • 00:36:22
    and wants to continue to speak to you
  • 00:36:24
    and invite you in to more prospering in your life.
  • 00:36:29
    Will you trust Him?
  • 00:36:32
    Will you give Him your three rooms?
  • 00:36:35
    Will you go up to the edge of the cliff
  • 00:36:37
    and say, God, I'm going to trust you
  • 00:36:39
    in the place that feels very, very vulnerable to me?
  • 00:36:44
    I want to give you an opportunity to do that.
  • 00:36:46
    I'm going to ask you to text the word "scripture" to 513-731-7400.
  • 00:36:54
    And here's what's gonna happen: Within a few seconds, you're gonna get
  • 00:36:59
    a Bible verse texted to you.
  • 00:37:01
    And these are randomized.
  • 00:37:03
    So you're not going to get the same verse necessarily
  • 00:37:05
    as the person next to you.
  • 00:37:06
    They are randomized to come specifically
  • 00:37:07
    to you based on, I believe,
  • 00:37:09
    what God wants you to hear in this moment.
  • 00:37:12
    Now, if you can't text for some reason,
  • 00:37:14
    wherever you are, these are also gonna be scriptures
  • 00:37:16
    that are rotating on the screen.
  • 00:37:18
    So you'll be able to look at them
  • 00:37:19
    and see them and engage with them that way.
  • 00:37:23
    And while music plays, here's what I'm gonna ask you to do.
  • 00:37:25
    I'm going to ask you to ponder
  • 00:37:27
    and reflect on what God might be saying to you
  • 00:37:30
    through the words that come to you in the Bible.
  • 00:37:34
    - If you haven't already texted in,
  • 00:37:37
    man, what are you waiting for?
  • 00:37:40
    Text in and see what God says to you through Scripture.
  • 00:37:44
    And we're going to move on to our next prompt actually.
  • 00:37:48
    Prompt number 7, which I want you
  • 00:37:51
    to read over that text you got again,
  • 00:37:53
    maybe read it two or three times.
  • 00:37:57
    And then write a response to God.
  • 00:38:00
    Tell Him how that makes you feel.
  • 00:38:02
    Tell Him what you're thinking as you read that.
  • 00:38:06
    Maybe you need to just ask Him
  • 00:38:07
    to help you believe those words to be true.
  • 00:38:11
    We're gonna do that together right now.
  • 00:39:11
    If you need more time for this, man,
  • 00:39:14
    you're welcome to keep talking to God,.
  • 00:39:16
    you're welcome to keep writing on your paper
  • 00:39:20
    or typing in that chat box.
  • 00:39:23
    But we're going to do something together
  • 00:39:25
    that's going to be purposeful
  • 00:39:28
    and maybe a little playful.
  • 00:39:30
    We're going to sing together.
  • 00:39:33
    And I know we say this all the time, we're like,
  • 00:39:36
    "Hey, we're gonna sing. You should sing.".
  • 00:39:37
    "Hey, we're gonna sing.
  • 00:39:38
    You should sing.". But hey, we're going to sing
  • 00:39:42
    and you really should sing with us.
  • 00:39:45
    There's something powerful that happens
  • 00:39:48
    when we use our voices to declare with our mouths
  • 00:39:53
    what we want to believe
  • 00:39:54
    or what we do believe in our hearts.
  • 00:39:57
    And so if you're in a room full of people right now,
  • 00:40:01
    stand up and declare these words boldly.
  • 00:40:05
    If you're in your car or you're in your living room,
  • 00:40:09
    you're in your bedroom by yourself.
  • 00:40:10
    You've got your candle lit
  • 00:40:12
    and you've been in this intimate space,
  • 00:40:15
    man, don't use this as a time to just
  • 00:40:20
    think about something else
  • 00:40:22
    or fast forward or pause and be done.
  • 00:40:25
    But actually use your voice to sing these words out loud.
  • 00:44:56
    - I just want to encourage you with one more thing
  • 00:44:59
    and it's a reminder. It's a reminder of what we just sung in that song.
  • 00:45:03
    And it's that same verse that was rolling through my head
  • 00:45:06
    as I was standing on that ledge.
  • 00:45:07
    It's Isaiah 41:13, where God says to you:.
  • 00:45:19
    I don't know what the challenges that you're facing.
  • 00:45:21
    I don't know. Maybe there's somebody in here
  • 00:45:24
    there is a purpose in front of you
  • 00:45:25
    and it feels like the hardest thing you've ever done.
  • 00:45:28
    And yet it's very clear that God is calling you
  • 00:45:30
    to step in that direction.
  • 00:45:32
    Or maybe there's somebody in here
  • 00:45:33
    who is just struggling right now
  • 00:45:35
    to let go of anything in your life.
  • 00:45:37
    And yet you know God is saying,
  • 00:45:39
    "You have got to let go.
  • 00:45:40
    You have got to relax.
  • 00:45:42
    You can not -- This will kill you if you don't release it."
  • 00:45:46
    And here's what I want you to know.
  • 00:45:48
    I know that there are reasons
  • 00:45:50
    that would keep you from trusting God.
  • 00:45:52
    But here's what I want you to know:
  • 00:45:54
    God is not distant, He's personal.
  • 00:45:57
    And He knows your situation
  • 00:45:59
    and He wants to walk with you to a new place.
  • 00:46:03
    God is not disappointed in you.
  • 00:46:05
    He is proud whenever you turn in His direction.
  • 00:46:08
    The Bible calls that repentance.
  • 00:46:10
    And what it says in the Bible is that
  • 00:46:12
    the angels in heaven rejoice
  • 00:46:14
    over one sinner who repents,
  • 00:46:16
    than over a thousand righteous people.
  • 00:46:19
    God is not disabled.
  • 00:46:21
    He is powerful. And He wants to bring power to your life.
  • 00:46:25
    He wants to bring power to your purpose.
  • 00:46:28
    He wants to bring power, yes, to your play.
  • 00:46:31
    You can trust Him.
  • 00:46:33
    You can trust Him. And trusting Him is the way to a prosperous life.
  • 00:46:38
    I'm going to turn it over to our community pastors.
  • 00:46:40
    If you're at a site, in a moment that pastor is going
  • 00:46:43
    to come up they're going to lead you
  • 00:46:44
    through one final and powerful prompt.
  • 00:46:46
    God, I just pray that all of us would know
  • 00:46:50
    that You want to meet us right on the ledge.
  • 00:46:53
    You want to meet us right in the place
  • 00:46:56
    where our trust has to meet Your faithfulness.
  • 00:47:00
    God, would You speak to us now?
  • 00:47:01
    Amen. - Well, in the midst of this experience,
  • 00:47:06
    I know I've heard God say a few things.
  • 00:47:09
    I'm guessing you probably have too
  • 00:47:12
    if you've gone this far with us.
  • 00:47:15
    He's probably been making You feel some things,
  • 00:47:18
    think some things, prompting some things in you.
  • 00:47:22
    And it doesn't just stop at what God's saying to us.
  • 00:47:26
    But it's about taking a step further
  • 00:47:29
    and doing something about what God is saying.
  • 00:47:34
    What's God saying to you
  • 00:47:35
    and what are you going to do about it?
  • 00:47:38
    Our last prompt, our eighth prompt is
  • 00:47:43
    to declare what is the leap that you're going to take?
  • 00:47:49
    What are you going to do
  • 00:47:51
    about what God has been saying to you?
  • 00:47:55
    Let's take some time to do that right now.
  • 00:49:04
    So we just declared this leap
  • 00:49:07
    that we're going to take, this next step
  • 00:49:10
    of what we could do with what God has said to us today.
  • 00:49:14
    And you know, the only way this happens is if we do it.
  • 00:49:19
    If we don't just declare this is the leap we want to take,
  • 00:49:22
    but if we actually take the leap.
  • 00:49:25
    And that requires us laying it all down,
  • 00:49:30
    laying ourselves down and going,
  • 00:49:31
    "God, I'm gonna give this to you.
  • 00:49:33
    I'm going to work like it depends on me.
  • 00:49:35
    But pray like it depends on you, God.
  • 00:49:37
    I'm going to hand this to you and say,
  • 00:49:39
    'This is what I want. This is why I'm declaring I'm going to do.
  • 00:49:42
    And I'm gonna do my best to make it happen.'".
  • 00:49:46
    Well, this declaration is an exciting thing.
  • 00:49:50
    It's a thing worth celebrating
  • 00:49:53
    because when God speaks to us,
  • 00:49:55
    what a gift that is, that we get to hear
  • 00:49:57
    the voice of the Creator of the Universe.
  • 00:50:00
    We get to hear the voice of our Father in Heaven.
  • 00:50:05
    And so as we have declared what we're going to do
  • 00:50:09
    about what He's saying, the leap that we're going to take,
  • 00:50:12
    whether you did this on chat
  • 00:50:14
    or you did this on a piece of paper,
  • 00:50:16
    we want this to be something
  • 00:50:20
    that you give freely to God and say,
  • 00:50:22
    "OK, this isn't going to be burdensome.
  • 00:50:24
    This isn't an obligation.
  • 00:50:26
    This is something that I get to do
  • 00:50:29
    because the God of the Universe spoke to me
  • 00:50:32
    and wants me to have a full and thriving life.".
  • 00:50:36
    That's amazing. And so if you've got a piece of paper,
  • 00:50:40
    Let's fold it up so the only thing
  • 00:50:43
    that you're seeing is that declaration, OK?
  • 00:50:45
    So I'm going to try to do this right now is my paper.
  • 00:50:51
    - You're doing a great job. - Thanks. It's not quite a paper airplane or anything,
  • 00:50:53
    but I'm getting there.
  • 00:50:55
    OK. If you are on chat,
  • 00:50:58
    when you submit your email address,
  • 00:51:00
    we're going to email you your responses.
  • 00:51:04
    And if you've got this on paper,
  • 00:51:06
    you've got your declaration right here.
  • 00:51:08
    I want you to put this somewhere
  • 00:51:10
    you're gonna see it for the rest of this Journey.
  • 00:51:12
    Maybe tape it to your bathroom mirror,
  • 00:51:14
    put it in your sock drawers
  • 00:51:17
    so every time you put on your socks --
  • 00:51:19
    If you don't wear socks everyday,
  • 00:51:20
    don't put it in your sock drawer.
  • 00:51:22
    Put it somewhere where you're gonna see it daily.
  • 00:51:24
    If you're getting this via email,
  • 00:51:27
    store it, put it at the top of your inbox
  • 00:51:29
    so you're reminded of the gift it is
  • 00:51:32
    that God spoke to you
  • 00:51:35
    and you remember the declaration that you've made
  • 00:51:39
    to do something about what He said
  • 00:51:41
    so that you can have a full and thriving life,
  • 00:51:44
    full of play and full of purpose.
  • 00:51:48
    We're going to sing together.
  • 00:51:49
    Justin, what are we singing?
  • 00:51:51
    - Well, I mean, in part just what we did.
  • 00:51:53
    We're going to offer ourselves completely to God.
  • 00:51:56
    So the song called Laying It All Down.
  • 00:51:59
    Jesus says the mystery of following Him
  • 00:52:02
    is that when we lay our lives down, we find life.
  • 00:52:04
    When we lay it down, when we give our life over to Him,
  • 00:52:07
    we find true life. That's what we're going to sing.
  • 00:52:09
    All right? So if you want to stand, you can stand again with us.
  • 00:52:14
    I know. I just have a guitar, but let's go big, all right?
  • 00:52:18
    So here we go. Yeah.
  • 00:56:47
    That was great.
  • 00:56:49
    Thanks for singing with us. That was awesome. - So good.
  • 00:56:51
    Well, that's a joy.
  • 00:56:52
    It's a joy that we get to declare what we're going to do
  • 00:56:55
    and we're going to hand it over to the Lord,.
  • 00:56:58
    We're going to hand it over to the Lord.
  • 00:57:00
    We're gonna lay it down at His feet
  • 00:57:03
    because whatever He says, we do.
  • 00:57:06
    He calls the shots.
  • 00:57:08
    We go ahead. .
  • 00:57:10
    So let's pray.
  • 00:57:12
    I just want to bless you as you go into this week
  • 00:57:15
    as you continue on this Journey.
  • 00:57:17
    And let's talk to God together right now.
  • 00:57:22
    God, I thank You that we get to do this together.
  • 00:57:24
    I thank You for creative ways to talk to You,
  • 00:57:28
    creative ways to hear from You,
  • 00:57:31
    creative songs to give us words to our prayers,
  • 00:57:34
    to give us music to our prayers.
  • 00:57:36
    And so, God, I just ask that this week
  • 00:57:39
    we would follow through on what we've declared
  • 00:57:43
    we want to do to have a life that is full,
  • 00:57:46
    a more thriving with Play & Purpose.
  • 00:57:49
    God, we lay all of our desires, all of our life
  • 00:57:53
    down at Your feet.
  • 00:57:55
    And we declare that --
  • 00:57:59
    we declare that we want more of You
  • 00:58:01
    and we want a life that honors You and reflects You.
  • 00:58:04
    So God help us to follow through on these commitments
  • 00:58:07
    and give us great group time,
  • 00:58:10
    great discussion with other people this week around this topic.
  • 00:58:15
    It's in your name that we pray Jesus.
  • 00:58:16
    Amen. - Amen - Well, hey, this is great stuff to be talking
  • 00:58:21
    about in your Journey Group this week.
  • 00:58:23
    So make sure that you come ready to talk
  • 00:58:26
    about what you've declared your leap is going to be.
  • 00:58:29
    It should be a good time.
  • 00:58:31
    And if you want prayer right now,
  • 00:58:33
    we would love to pray for you.
  • 00:58:35
    If you just go to the Crossroads Web site
  • 00:58:37
    and click on the chat box,
  • 00:58:39
    we have volunteers and staff
  • 00:58:41
    that would love right now to pray for you.
  • 00:58:44
    And so, man, take us up on that.
  • 00:58:46
    You've just spent all this time talking to God.
  • 00:58:48
    Let us talk to God on your behalf.
  • 00:58:51
    We would love to do that.
  • 00:58:53
    And next week is going to be really fun.
  • 00:58:55
    We have special guest Michael Junior, the comedian,
  • 00:58:59
    in with us next week.
  • 00:59:00
    And so you don't want to miss that.
  • 00:59:01
    Head to a location near you
  • 00:59:04
    or check us back out on Crossroads Anywhere next week.
  • 00:59:08
    We hope you have an awesome week.

Oct 5, 2019

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