Living Your Best Life | The Book Of Psalms Week 6

00:00:00

- [singing] I'm living my best life

00:00:02

Wake up with the sunrise

00:00:06

- How many people do you know would say that

00:00:09

they're living their best life, really?

00:00:11

And what about you?

00:00:12

I'm going to show you how to live your best life

00:00:14

through an ancient way of living

00:00:19

that you can rediscover today.

00:00:28

- Where are we in the Bible?

00:00:32

Let's begin at the beginning, shall we?

00:00:35

The Bible begins in the Old Testament,

00:00:37

written around 3500 years ago.

00:00:39

The first five books of the Old Testament:

00:00:41

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

00:00:45

are known as the Pentateuch, or books of the law.

00:00:54

The next 12 books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth,

00:00:57

1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings,

00:00:59

1 Chronicle, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

00:01:03

Whew. That's a lot.

00:01:05

These are known as the historical books.

00:01:12

This brings us to the books of the Bible

00:01:14

known as the Wisdom Literature.

00:01:16

It starts with Job and then into

00:01:19

a collection of 150 poems known as the Psalms.

00:01:40

- How many people do you know would say

00:01:41

that they're living their best life, really?

00:01:43

And what about you?

00:01:45

Today, I'm going to show you how to live your best life

00:01:48

through an ancient way of living

00:01:49

that you can rediscover today.

00:01:51

My name is Andy Reider.

00:01:52

I'm the online church community pastor and a musician.

00:01:55

And we're in the Book of Psalms, which is perfect,

00:01:57

because they're just songs, songs of feeling,

00:02:00

songs of all kinds of emotions.

00:02:01

But most importantly, they are theology set to melody.

00:02:05

This is a song that I just I love because

00:02:07

I think it encapsulates this idea

00:02:09

of living your best life,

00:02:10

not just being stuff that belongs on Instagram,

00:02:13

but being the beautiful every day

00:02:15

that make up yours in my life.

00:02:17

I'll play it for you.

00:02:19

It goes a little something like this.

00:02:22

[singing] I'm living my best life.

00:02:25

I wake up with the sunrise.

00:02:27

It does not look a thing like I thought that it would

00:02:32

I've been counting my blessings.

00:02:35

I sleep with my best friend.

00:02:38

The best that it has been in a long time.

00:02:44

I'm living my best life.

00:02:48

Oh, I'm living my best life. Yeah, yeah.

00:02:54

I'm living my bestlife. [end music]

00:02:59

That's what I want for you. That's what I want for me.

00:03:02

How we can adopt practical, tangible, spiritual rhythms

00:03:06

that will let us live our best lives,

00:03:09

lives of fruitfulness, lives of purpose,

00:03:12

and the lives that the Psalms describe.

00:03:24

It seems like most of us are a bit of a mess right now.

00:03:27

And I don't just mean those people.

00:03:29

I mean me, you, and most everyone we meet

00:03:33

from your barista to your manager to your mom.

00:03:36

Aren't Christians supposed to, like, be different here?

00:03:38

Aren't we supposed to have an advantage?

00:03:40

Aren't we supposed to be full of things

00:03:42

like grace and patience and resiliency?

00:03:43

Well, I hate to break it to you,

00:03:45

but often times that's not the case,

00:03:47

as we've all experienced followers of Jesus

00:03:49

who were jerks.

00:03:50

And I think I know part of why.

00:03:52

Or let me say if you're a Christian

00:03:54

who feels like your faith

00:03:55

isn't living up to the promises of Jesus,

00:03:58

I think I might be able to help with that.

00:04:00

Now, I'm a pastor.

00:04:02

I have lots of conversations with people,

00:04:04

and it seems like more and more people

00:04:06

are feeling like a life of thriving or flourishing

00:04:09

is a pipe dream.

00:04:10

There's a song that's been going through my head

00:04:12

nonstop lately, it's that one that just talks about

00:04:14

what it would look like to live my best life.

00:04:16

Now, I know the language is dated,

00:04:18

but I think the desire is as fresh as ever.

00:04:21

I want a life that reaps the blessings

00:04:23

of being in lock step with God.

00:04:26

We all want to prosper.

00:04:28

We all want to live blessed, whatever that means.

00:04:30

But too few of us know how to get there.

00:04:35

I believe that the answer is actually found

00:04:36

in an ancient way of living

00:04:39

that's being rediscovered today.

00:04:40

And good news, a thriving and flourishing life

00:04:43

of vibrancy is not a pipe dream.

00:04:45

You can have this kind of life, and I believe

00:04:48

that Psalm I will show us a bit of how to get it.

00:04:51

Now, spoiler, you're going to have to learn to stay on beat.

00:04:56

Now, believe it or not, I think the solution

00:04:58

won't be found in the latest book, fad diet,

00:05:01

or even in just going to church.

00:05:02

I think it can be found in an ancient way of living.

00:05:06

Let me illustrate with a story

00:05:08

from my high school band program.

00:05:11

Now, as you can see, I'm pretty cool.

00:05:14

I'm pretty cool. I come from a family of musicians.

00:05:17

When I was in high school as a freshman,

00:05:19

I was even cooler.

00:05:20

But while I always played music,

00:05:23

I always wanted to write songs.

00:05:25

I always wanted to write songs.

00:05:27

Now in high school, there was this kid,

00:05:29

he played trumpet and he wrote songs nonstop.

00:05:33

I'm going to be real with you, they weren't good.

00:05:36

Like, really, they always had this weird,

00:05:38

like, '80s pop/show tune vibe that

00:05:42

at the time wasn't cool at all.

00:05:43

But he'd sit in the practice room night after night,

00:05:46

hour after hour, just hammering out these oddball songs

00:05:51

that no one ever wanted to listen to.

00:05:54

I silently judged him in the way

00:05:56

that only a high schooler can do and kind of like,

00:05:58

Oh, bless his heart kind of way.

00:06:00

And I graduated high school, forgot that he existed.

00:06:05

The next time I heard that kid's name,

00:06:07

he was playing at the Grammys.

00:06:09

Yeah, he was the front man for the band Walk the Moon.

00:06:12

Just absolutely killing it.

00:06:15

In that moment, I learned that

00:06:17

there's something powerful that happens when

00:06:19

someone creates a rhythm towards their desired goal.

00:06:23

But the opposite is always true.

00:06:25

I've seen people's dreams and hopes die on the vine

00:06:29

because as bad as they wanted something,

00:06:31

they didn't have the rhythm to back it up.

00:06:35

I feel like I see something similar happen

00:06:37

in people's desire to follow Jesus.

00:06:38

I have experienced this.

00:06:40

After two decades of following Jesus,

00:06:42

I feel like I've been confronted with this place

00:06:44

where why is what I see and read about in the Bible

00:06:48

not in line with what I'm experiencing?

00:06:51

This Psalm, this articulation of who God is

00:06:55

and who He wants us to be, I think, gives us

00:06:58

a beautiful and amazing picture into

00:07:01

how we can live that thriving, vibrant, full life

00:07:05

that we all want.

00:07:07

Let me read to you from Psalm 1.

00:07:23

Now catch this part.

00:07:36

Now, a 25 minute talk from me

00:07:37

or anybody else other than Jesus

00:07:39

isn't going to fix your whole life.

00:07:41

But my hope for today is that you have

00:07:43

a greater sense of how living in sync

00:07:46

with the rhythms that God created you for

00:07:48

can help you live your best life.

00:07:51

Did you notice that at the start of this passage

00:07:54

it describes three different postures.

00:07:56

It says, "Blessed is the one who does not walk

00:07:58

in step with the wicked

00:08:00

or stand in the way that sinners take

00:08:02

or sit in the company of mockers."

00:08:06

If there's a wrong way to walk, stand and sit,

00:08:09

then there must be a right way. Right?

00:08:11

How we walk, stand and sit can relate

00:08:13

to different spiritual rhythms that our lives need

00:08:17

to include if we want to thrive.

00:08:20

Now, let me say it again.

00:08:21

I'm not speaking about this as an expert

00:08:24

or a guru or somebody with it all figured out.

00:08:28

I'm a co-traveler on this journey.

00:08:30

I am a fellow experimenter trying to work out

00:08:33

what it means to follow God

00:08:35

in a world as crazy as 2022, right now.

00:08:40

I want us to look at our lived experience

00:08:42

and what the Bible promises

00:08:44

and see how much they are in alignment,

00:08:47

how much joy we feel, how much life, peace, patience.

00:08:50

Is prayer moving the needle in yours in my life?

00:08:52

I want that for you and for me.

00:08:55

Now, while I'm down the road a little bit in this,

00:08:58

I've had a couple of years

00:08:59

to lean into these disciplines and experience

00:09:01

some of the vibrancy that they can offer.

00:09:03

I want to share a little bit

00:09:04

about how you can start that journey now.

00:09:08

The first thing you've got to do, it's simple,

00:09:10

you just have to walk.

00:09:12

Walk. Walk isn't a sprint. It's a consistent pace.

00:09:17

It's a thing that we do that moves us

00:09:19

consistently over time to where we want to go.

00:09:22

Christianity is so often sold

00:09:25

like a six minute AB workout.

00:09:27

Like, let me let me explain.

00:09:28

I want a six pack. I really do.

00:09:30

I just don't want it bad enough to work as hard

00:09:33

as it would take for me to get one.

00:09:35

Going to the gym for a week straight for like 9 hours

00:09:38

and eating nothing but, you know,

00:09:40

dry chicken breasts and protein shakes.

00:09:42

I don't want to do that.

00:09:43

I don't want to do that for more than a couple of days.

00:09:46

I and so many others want the life of Jesus,

00:09:50

that peace, purpose, vibrancy, passion,

00:09:51

all those things, but we want it

00:09:54

without adopting the lifestyle of Jesus.

00:09:58

If we want the life of Jesus, all those good things,

00:10:01

we have to have those rhythms.

00:10:02

We have to adopt the lifestyle of Jesus.

00:10:06

A flourishing, spiritual life of any kind

00:10:09

isn't built in fits and starts.

00:10:11

It's not a lot of activity

00:10:12

and then we forget about it for a year.

00:10:14

It's cultivated over time with faithfulness.

00:10:19

Like my songwriting rock star former classmate skills,

00:10:22

character and capacity are grown over time.

00:10:27

In case I'm not being clear enough,

00:10:29

I want a friend of mine who knows a lot about rhythm

00:10:31

as a professional studio musician, an amazing drummer,

00:10:34

let's have Josh Suhrkamp explain.

00:10:38

[drumming]

00:10:48

- When I started drumming,

00:10:49

that was really cool to me to play and I loved it.

00:10:53

But when I started playing with other people,

00:10:56

that wasn't really what they needed or wanted.

00:10:59

It was something more like this.

00:11:01

[drumming]

00:11:16

Consistency and rhythm,

00:11:17

that's what people need in a band.

00:11:19

And that's really the difference between

00:11:22

me as a young drummer and me as an older drummer.

00:11:25

As a young drummer, I just wanted to hit everything

00:11:27

and play really fast.

00:11:28

But as an older drummer, I realized that my job

00:11:30

is to create consistency, something easy to follow.

00:11:36

- Does anyone resonate with that first drummer,

00:11:38

with that flurry of activity,

00:11:40

of doing it all at the start,

00:11:42

but not being able to follow through

00:11:45

and have consistency over time?

00:11:47

Man, if you tried to learn Spanish 19 times like I have,

00:11:51

if you've wanted a six pack but not gotten it,

00:11:54

whatever it is for you, I think we can all identify

00:11:56

the places where we just didn't walk it out long enough.

00:12:01

There's a scripture that I love from 1 John,

00:12:03

it says it this way:

00:12:17

If you're not experiencing

00:12:18

the level of flourishing that you want,

00:12:20

don't just turn on another podcast

00:12:21

or another show or whatever.

00:12:24

Instead, adopt a spiritual rhythm.

00:12:27

Here's a few to get you started.

00:12:29

Read your Bible.

00:12:30

They're going to sound obvious.

00:12:31

This is not rocket science.

00:12:33

Read your Bible, pray.

00:12:35

You can do both of those in the Crossroads App,

00:12:37

and I'd love for you to join us there.

00:12:39

There's great stuff that happens when we pray

00:12:41

and when we are in God's word daily together.

00:12:46

But there's others, like fasting,

00:12:49

like silence, solitude, generosity.

00:12:51

If you want the life of Jesus,

00:12:53

adopt the life style of Jesus

00:12:55

by being an active participant

00:12:57

in your own spiritual growth, as in walk it out daily,

00:13:02

when it's fun and even when it's not.

00:13:04

Now, a note on religion.

00:13:05

Some of you are going to hear what I'm saying,

00:13:07

be like, "Oh, you just gave me a checklist

00:13:09

of all the things I've got to do."

00:13:10

No, no, no, no, no. Don't hear that at all.

00:13:12

Empty religious obligation doesn't impress Jesus at all.

00:13:18

But me being lazy and calling my lack of follow through

00:13:22

authentic doesn't really either.

00:13:24

And it doesn't help me.

00:13:25

Spiritual disciplines aren't religious

00:13:27

unless we allow them to become that.

00:13:29

Think of it maybe in a more helpful way

00:13:31

as spiritual strength building.

00:13:34

Let me put it this way: I love my kids.

00:13:36

They're adorable, they're wonderful.

00:13:38

And sometimes being a dad feels like this photo.

00:13:42

It's great. It's all beautiful.

00:13:44

You're all wearing semi matching outfits,

00:13:47

but it's not always like that.

00:13:48

Other times, being a dad feels like this photo.

00:13:53

Do I love my kid even when

00:13:55

I'm covered in puke in the Kroger Food Court?

00:13:57

Yes, yes, I do.

00:13:59

But me being authentic to my feelings

00:14:01

while covered in puke is less important

00:14:04

than me being authentic to my identity as my son's dad.

00:14:08

Be authentic to your identity

00:14:10

as a follower and child of God,

00:14:12

not your energy level at every given moment.

00:14:15

That's what it looks like for us

00:14:17

to walk out our faith with consistency.

00:14:22

- Hey, what's going on, everybody? I'm Hannah.

00:14:24

- And I'm Andy.

00:14:25

- Andy, they already know who you are.

00:14:27

You're up there preaching like right now.

00:14:28

- I know, I'm just, I'm getting used to all the stuff.

00:14:31

- That's all right. It's all good. It's all good.

00:14:33

We'll let it slide this one time.

00:14:35

- All right. Well, hey,

00:14:36

if anyone hopes you're enjoying this message, it's me.

00:14:38

But we're taking this break to say,

00:14:39

if you're interested in giving to Crossroads, you can go

00:14:42

to Crossroads.net/give to do just that.

00:14:44

- All right, Andy, take us home, brother.

00:14:45

- Let's do it.

00:14:47

- Let's get back to the message right now.

00:14:56

- Our second spiritual rhythm or posture

00:14:59

deals with how we stand, and not just how we stand,

00:15:02

but who we stand with.

00:15:04

Now, back in 1753, Benjamin Franklin

00:15:07

wrote to a friend about a strange phenomenon

00:15:09

that was taking place in the American West.

00:15:11

While kidnaping was unfortunately commonplace

00:15:13

on both sides, white prisoners that were rescued

00:15:16

from Native American tribes

00:15:18

were seizing the first chance they could

00:15:21

to flee back into the wilderness

00:15:22

and rejoin their captors. It's crazy.

00:15:24

Simultaneously, there wasn't and hasn't been

00:15:27

a single report of Native warriors

00:15:30

migrating in the opposite direction

00:15:32

and choosing to stay with Europeans.

00:15:34

Benjamin Franklin was trying to make sense of this

00:15:37

and he called out something really important.

00:15:39

He said the white runaways must have become

00:15:41

disgusted with our manner of life despite

00:15:43

being shown all imaginable tenderness on their return.

00:15:48

The story is from a fantastic book

00:15:49

that I would highly recommend

00:15:50

called Tribe by Sebastian Junger.

00:15:53

He posits that there's something about

00:15:55

our modern culture that has so alienated people

00:15:58

as to make them desperate for community

00:16:00

and willing to risk just about anything to get it.

00:16:06

I believe this to be a spiritual reality.

00:16:08

That's why it's the second of our postures

00:16:10

if we want to thrive.

00:16:11

Who do you stand with?

00:16:12

Do you have people around you?

00:16:14

Do you have real community?

00:16:17

The people you spend time with are the best predictor

00:16:19

of everything from future income

00:16:21

to the health of your marriage.

00:16:23

Stand with people who are giving you life

00:16:26

and are pointing you towards

00:16:28

more of what you want in your life.

00:16:30

Now, this isn't advocacy for home schooling,

00:16:33

but it is to say be choiceful, be intentional

00:16:35

about who you spend your time with.

00:16:37

Be good to everybody.

00:16:38

Be friends with as many different kinds

00:16:40

of people as possible, but don't link your life

00:16:44

to people who aren't going to the same place

00:16:46

and in the same direction that you are.

00:16:49

Hebrews 10:24-25 says it this way:

00:17:07

You can meditate on God's word all day,

00:17:10

you can know a ton about the Bible,

00:17:11

but you can never experience

00:17:13

the fullness of God's intent for you

00:17:14

because you're standing with the wrong people.

00:17:18

Which brings us to our third posture,

00:17:20

our third spiritual rhythm.

00:17:22

If we want the kind of life that Psalm 1 describes,

00:17:26

you know what it is?

00:17:27

It's sit. It sit.

00:17:33

What does it look like for you to sit in your life?

00:17:36

Well, just to pause, to rest, to take a minute.

00:17:40

Now, let me ask you a questionL

00:17:42

Would you show up at work three beers deep?

00:17:45

I -- don't answer that. I don't know.

00:17:48

I'll say scientists have shown that

00:17:50

losing even 2 hours of sleep is similar

00:17:53

in the way that it affects your cognitive abilities

00:17:56

as having three beers.

00:17:57

Seriously, look it up. It's crazy.

00:17:59

Now, while most of us wouldn't show up

00:18:00

to work three beers deep, many of us

00:18:03

wouldn't think about missing out on

00:18:04

a few Stranger Things worth of episodes

00:18:06

of sleep at night.

00:18:08

Why don't we value rest like we should,

00:18:11

especially when most of us would describe ourselves

00:18:14

as over busy, overtired and stressed?

00:18:18

Quick history lesson for you.

00:18:20

Following the French Revolution,

00:18:21

the Enlightenment thinkers and revolutionaries

00:18:24

decreed that the first year of the revolution

00:18:26

is year one, and they made the week

00:18:27

from that point ten days long, ten days long.

00:18:30

So they had one day off out of every ten,

00:18:33

not supposedly one out of every seven like we have.

00:18:36

This calendar lasted for more than a decade

00:18:38

until Napoleon came back.

00:18:39

And you know what happened?

00:18:41

Suicide rates and depression went through the roof

00:18:45

because they messed with the rhythm.

00:18:47

They changed up the rhythm, the beat, and got less rest,

00:18:52

less opportune to be refilled recharged.

00:18:54

The Soviet Union tried something similar more recently

00:18:57

even in the '70s and '80s to increase production.

00:19:01

It ended up doing the opposite in devastating ways.

00:19:05

Something breaks in us when we stop resting.

00:19:09

But honestly,

00:19:10

like how much of us live that way voluntarily?

00:19:14

Let me put it to you another way.

00:19:17

All of life works in seasons,

00:19:19

or at least life works best in seasons.

00:19:22

And when we try to cut corners, man, bad things happen.

00:19:25

Think of the way crops grow.

00:19:27

The ground's dormant in the winter,

00:19:28

sprouts in the spring,

00:19:29

and is fruitful in the summer and fall.

00:19:32

Think of how your body functions.

00:19:33

Sometimes it needs food, at other times

00:19:35

it needs to use those calories to solve problems

00:19:37

or exert strength.

00:19:39

Other times you're active,

00:19:41

and at other times we're created

00:19:43

to need roughly a third of our time sleeping.

00:19:46

When we neglect rest and sleep, as most of us do,

00:19:49

it's linked to all kinds of illness,

00:19:51

disease and disorder.

00:19:52

Life was meant to have a sense of rhythm,

00:19:56

a cadence and a sense of beauty and order.

00:20:00

Tell you what, let me put it in drum speak again.

00:20:03

I want Josh Seurkamp to show us what it's like,

00:20:06

what a groove sounds like,

00:20:07

what a rhythm sounds like when we leave space

00:20:10

and when we play the rests.

00:20:14

- So this this rest that Andy is talking about

00:20:16

in music looks like this.

00:20:19

And the rest is just the space

00:20:21

between the notes you play.

00:20:23

And every great drummer, every great musician knows

00:20:26

that the rest is just as important

00:20:29

as the note that you play.

00:20:32

[drumming]

00:20:59

- If you're tired, play the rests.

00:21:01

If you're stressed, play the rests.

00:21:04

Experiment with things that refill you.

00:21:07

Experiment with not having to produce and work

00:21:10

and contribute all the time.

00:21:14

What would it look like for you to recharge

00:21:16

and unplug for 24 hours?

00:21:18

This thing that we call the Sabbath

00:21:20

that Scripture describes,

00:21:21

it's one of the Ten Commandments.

00:21:23

Ten Commandments seem to go in order

00:21:24

from most important to least important.

00:21:26

And this one's above don't kill people.

00:21:27

I'm just saying it's worth a shot. Try it out.

00:21:31

It should be the best day of your week.

00:21:33

What are all the things that refill you?

00:21:34

Go for a hike or a walk, read a book,

00:21:36

watch a movie, get a coffee,

00:21:38

spend time with some friends, spend time with Jesus.

00:21:43

Man, I know what it is to be frustrated, to feel lost,

00:21:47

confused at why your life just isn't working.

00:21:50

If you felt these these ways,

00:21:52

if you felt behind or stuck or anything similar,

00:21:55

I hope that what you're hearing

00:21:56

is that you're not broken.

00:21:59

I hope you're encouraged to hear that

00:22:00

there are simple, repeatable rhythms and patterns

00:22:03

that you can lean into, that you can get in sync with

00:22:07

that will allow you to uncover

00:22:09

more of what God designed you for.

00:22:13

As Psalm 1 says, you need to know that God is for you.

00:22:16

He wants you to be that person that's like

00:22:17

a tree planted by streams of water

00:22:20

that yields its fruit in season,

00:22:21

whose leaf does not wither,

00:22:23

and whatever they do prospers.

00:22:24

That's God's heart for you.

00:22:27

But I heard the saying once recently

00:22:29

that without Him we can't, but without us He won't.

00:22:33

Now that's not in the Bible,

00:22:35

but it's felt generally true

00:22:37

most of the time in my life.

00:22:38

God really does have great things in store for me

00:22:41

and for you, but He's waiting, hoping,

00:22:43

and inviting you into a partnership with Him

00:22:46

to see those hopes, those dreams,

00:22:48

those desires of your heart come to reality.

00:22:52

Now, a life of vibrancy isn't about doing 700 things.

00:22:58

If what you heard from me over the last few minutes

00:23:00

is just a to do list or a checklist, man, I'm so sorry.

00:23:04

That's not my heart for you. That's not my desire.

00:23:07

What it is about is to just pick,

00:23:10

pick an intentional, healthy rhythm

00:23:13

and experiment with it.

00:23:14

Pick one of the things that we talked about,

00:23:16

whether it's prayer, Bible reading, Sabbath,

00:23:19

fasting, generosity, regular community, try something.

00:23:23

My goal isn't to prescribe behaviors,

00:23:26

it's to invite you into the beautiful rhythm

00:23:28

of a life in sync with God.

00:23:31

As the band plays this song

00:23:33

pulled straight out of Psalm 1,

00:23:35

consider what your rhythm could be.

00:23:37

Is there one that jumped out to you?

00:23:39

Is there one that just kind of

00:23:40

hung on your imagination, you thought,

00:23:42

"Oh, that's what that could look like for me."

00:23:44

Man, consider introducing that

00:23:47

into your rhythm this week.

00:23:49

And I'd love for you to shoot me an email.

00:23:52

This is my real email.

00:23:53

It's not a bot, it's not a team of people.

00:23:55

It's my personal email.

00:23:56

And if there's anything I can do to help,

00:23:58

whether by offering coaching or just by letting you know

00:24:01

that I'm in your corner and praying for you,

00:24:03

that's what I want to do.

00:24:06

Experiment with one rhythm this week,

00:24:09

one rhythm that will allow you to experience

00:24:10

more of the vibrant, thriving life

00:24:13

that God has for you this week.

00:25:34

- Hey, if that message taught you anything,

00:25:36

if it made you more curious,

00:25:37

if you want to know more about us, we love to meet you.

00:25:40

Going over to Crossroads.net right now

00:25:42

to create a profile.

00:25:43

- Hey, we've got podcast shows, articles and episodes

00:25:45

just like this that are catered to you

00:25:47

and what you're looking for. - That's all we got for today.

00:25:49

We'll see you next time on Crossroads.

00:25:52

- So I'm Steve. This is my wife Liz.

00:25:54

And we have been coming to Crossroads for 12 years or so

00:25:58

and we have been going to

00:26:00

the West Side location since it opened.

00:26:03

Our giving didn't start until we moved to Cincinnati.

00:26:07

And one day we just we both just kind of decided,

00:26:10

like, hey, like, if we're going to do this.

00:26:13

- This is something we need to do.

00:26:14

- Let's do this. - Yeah.

00:26:15

- Let's jump off the cliff and we went from giving 0%

00:26:20

to giving 10% of our gross income.

00:26:23

- So not too long after that,

00:26:25

we'd made the decision to adopt our boys.

00:26:28

And we were working with an agency and went

00:26:30

through their checklist of things that needed costs.

00:26:34

And we went, "Oh boy, this is going to be a big one."

00:26:37

But the one thing that we decided

00:26:39

that we would still do was tithe.

00:26:42

But in the end, we had all of our fees paid for,

00:26:45

we had quite possibly the least amount

00:26:47

of difficulties or hindrances

00:26:49

or roadblocks getting through the adoption.

00:26:52

- After adopting two boys

00:26:53

and going through the trials of that,

00:26:55

we both clearly heard from God

00:26:58

that we were supposed to become foster parents.

00:27:00

I remember sitting at work distinctly

00:27:03

looking at the numbers, looking at the finances,

00:27:05

and realizing that there is there's no way

00:27:08

that we can have two working parents

00:27:11

and still meet all the needs of foster care.

00:27:13

And I kept my prayer simple just, "Okay, God,

00:27:15

like this isn't going to work.

00:27:17

I need you to figure it out."

00:27:18

And then within the next six months,

00:27:20

she had gotten her pay doubled.

00:27:22

So then I quit my job

00:27:24

and became a stay at home parent for ten years.

00:27:26

God's a crazy God, like, he's going to ask us

00:27:29

to do things that are unexpected,

00:27:32

that are out of your comfort zone.

00:27:34

- If you're giving, I think that

00:27:35

one of the biggest things that I've learned

00:27:37

is that when God knocks, you answer the door.

00:27:40

It's trust. It's stepping out of the boat.

00:27:42

- God has provided my family through giving,

00:27:47

it's hard to summarize it, because it's everywhere.

00:27:52

When we said, let's do 10%, I can only imagine

00:27:55

that it was jumping out of an airplane.

00:27:58

But unlike when you jump out of an airplane, like,

00:28:00

you physically can see your parachute.

00:28:02

But when you go from 0 to 10,

00:28:04

you're jumping out of that airplane

00:28:06

and your parachute is God

00:28:08

and you're hoping it opens up and catches you.

00:28:11

- The one characteristic of God

00:28:13

that I've seen through giving is obedience

00:28:17

and how to be obedient.

00:28:19

Getting that 20/20 hindsight view of my life,

00:28:22

I wouldn't change it. The blessings have rippled.

00:28:29

- Listen to me, don't be the last link in your chain.

00:28:32

Today we're talking about legacy,

00:28:35

and we could use a family tree,

00:28:37

but chains are just a lot cooler

00:28:38

and we like to have fun over here.

00:28:39

But also generations, it's linear.

00:28:42

One to the next, to the next, to the next.

00:28:44

And this is exactly what a chain is.

00:28:46

And I'm afraid just possibly your family legacy

00:28:50

is going to end with you instead of go beyond you.

Recent Series