Be Unbreakable | Easter At Crossroads

Pandemics. Politics. Job Loss. Isolation. Our stories are different, but none of us has come through the past year unscathed. But the good news is that Easter is the ultimate story of God’s power showing up in our moments of crisis, doubt, uncertainty, and fear. No matter where you are, the story of Easter means that God wants to bring you hope and new life.

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    - I'm Brian Tome, Senior Pastor at Crossroads.
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    Happy Easter. It's great to be with you today.
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    I am in a desert.
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    This might be a bit what you feel like.
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    If we've ever needed Easter, we need it now.
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    Some of us are dry, we're worn out.
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    We want to encourage you.
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    We want to give you a sense of hope.
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    We've got some good teaching for you.
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    We've got great music. We've got a lot of creativity.
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    So let's get going.
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    - Easter is a radical story of rescue,
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    more meaningful today than ever.
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    The past year has felt like a storm in the desert.
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    It tried to break you.
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    Isolation, loss, fear, a future out of your control.
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    Sometimes it felt like you would not survive.
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    But one man weathered the storm.
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    One man suffered its wrath for you and beat death.
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    Easter is the promise of that power now living in you,
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    the power to survive the storm,
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    the power to be unbreakable.
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    I've been tested
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    But not like you have
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    Yet at every temptation
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    You never gave in
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    I've been broken
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    But not like you were
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    You laid in a grave still
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    Three days later walked out
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    All that I may face
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    You've already seen
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    You're my Red Sea parted
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    The walls I've built, fallen
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    Prison doors opened
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    Bright light in the darkness
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    My home when I've wandered
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    A well in my desert
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    No matter what comes
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    You're my rock, my salvation
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    Unbreakable
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    With you I'm safe to
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    Give up control
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    Cause you're my strength when
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    I have no strength at all
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    You conquered every grave
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    That might stand in my way
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    You're my Red Sea parted
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    The walls I've built, fallen
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    Prison doors opened
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    Bright light in the darkness
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    My home when I've wandered
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    A well in my desert
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    No matter what comes
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    You're my rock, my salvation
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    Unbreakable
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    You're my Red Sea parted
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    The walls I've built, fallen
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    Prison doors opened
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    Bright light in the darkness
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    My home when I've wandered
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    A well in my desert
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    No matter what comes
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    You're my rock, my salvation
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    Unbreakable
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    - The idea of being unbreakable is so appealing,
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    but how do you get there,
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    how do you thrive in the desert?
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    It starts by finding a new power source,
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    the power that Jesus offers us through Easter.
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    - I'm in a desert right now
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    Deserts are difficult, dry, harsh terrain.
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    I want to talk to those of us who might feel today
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    like I'm in a desert, I'm in a difficult spot.
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    There's a harshness to life.
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    There's a dryness to life.
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    Easter is about meeting us in those difficult positions,
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    enabling us to keep going
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    and come out better on the other side.
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    Jesus had all kinds of desserts in His life.
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    It was a difficult life He led.
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    At the end of His life,
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    that ends in an excruciating way,
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    He is crucified,
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    which is where we get the word for excruciating,
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    because it's the most painful invention of death
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    that humans have ever invented.
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    After that desert on a cross,
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    we'll talk about it a little bit,
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    He's put into a tomb.
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    It's a dark place. It's a desert of sorts.
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    And then three days later,
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    He literally, physically and historically
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    comes back from the dead.
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    The Book of Romans 8:11 says this:
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    That verse says there was a power
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    that enabled Jesus to be unbreakable
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    and that power that brought Him back to life,
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    that same power, that same spirit
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    can actually dwell in you and I
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    and not only enable us to be unbreakable,
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    to actually thrive and go to a new place.
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    The Bible is full of deserts where people
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    are forced to learn that they actually are unbreakable.
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    We saw a week or so ago,
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    if you were in a previous series,
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    that Moses was in a desert for 40 years
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    waiting to hear the call of God.
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    He was unbreakable.
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    We also learned that the nation of Israel
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    went a 40 year period through the desert
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    waiting for their next era.
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    Jesus had a period in the desert for 40 days
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    before all the amazing stuff that's recorded
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    about Him happens, before all the amazing teachings,
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    all the amazing miracles, He first goes through a desert.
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    Remember, when you're in the desert, you can do this.
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    You have the ability to stay where you are
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    and not be moved and not be turned into dust.
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    Remember that there is a different thing
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    on the other side and that the same Spirit
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    that did that in Jesus can do that inside of you.
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    I want to help you today, but I also want
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    to help you by not blowing bubbles up your butt.
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    I mean, I know as preachers we like doing that, right?
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    We like just telling you that everything is good.
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    Let's ignore all the bad stuff.
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    Let's be happy, happy, happy, happy, happy.
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    Christians have a real hard time with this.
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    We don't like difficulty.
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    We don't have a theology of difficulty.
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    We always want to get the nice, happy bow.
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    We want to make us believe that everything is going to be okay.
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    It's one of the reasons why I generally
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    don't like Christian movies at all.
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    It's like 90 minutes of desert and difficult,
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    then, oh, it's all solved now.
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    Oh, nice little bow, everything's good.
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    Accept Jesus and your life is always great all the time.
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    It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way.
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    Sometimes there's no pretty bow on the end of it,
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    at least not for a long period of time.
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    And you've got to know this because I know you can do this.
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    You can, you can be unbreakable.
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    You can keep going.
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    Don't keep wondering when it's all going to end
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    so much as wondering,
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    "God, what are you doing in me right now?"
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    One of the greatest Christian thinkers
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    of the 20th century, C.S. Lewis.
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    And he said this:
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    I don't want to cut down your problems
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    and minimize your problems.
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    I want to bring you some fresh water in the desert
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    in which you're in right now.
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    Some of us are a desert of poverty.
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    Some of us are in a desert of separation,
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    a desert of loneliness, a desert of divorce,
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    a desert of chemical dependency,
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    a desert of bankruptcy,
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    a desert of just confusion over what my future is like.
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    You're in the desert,
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    suck everything out of it that you can.
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    You can do this.
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    God has created you to be unbreakable.
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    And with His Spirit, you can do things
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    that you never thought that you could.
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    I know that there's somebody else like you
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    on the planet right now that's making it
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    and you can make it.
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    History is littered with spiritual greats
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    who are spiritual greats because of the desert
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    that they were in.
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    The stats are telling us right now that we're in a desert.
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    Mental illness is skyrocketing, suicide is skyrocketing,
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    depression is skyrocketing.
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    I ran across one study that talks about
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    how younger folks are especially vulnerable
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    and likely in a desert right now.
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    The study says this:
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    So says the Scientific American.
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    Now, are younger people weaker than older people?
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    No, no, but why are younger people tending
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    to have more desert like situations right now?
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    It's because the younger you are,
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    the less you've been hit in the mouth.
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    The younger you are, the less you've been fortified
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    and actually learned that you are unbreakable,
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    that the same Spirit that brought life to Jesus
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    can bring life to you.
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    But you'd only learn that when you go through a desert
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    and you learn to hang on and you learn that
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    I can do this and you learn that God is greater
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    than all of my weaknesses.
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    And as you go through deserts, you grow in confidence
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    because you've seen what God's done in your past
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    and you say, "I'm going to take this one.
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    I don't like it, but I'm going to take it."
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    People like you have not just survived,
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    but they've actually thrived.
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    - Throughout history, God's chosen people, Israel
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    faced unimaginable hardship as they fought to survive.
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    They longed for a Savior.
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    They were enslaved by Egypt,
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    and God promised He would rescue them,
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    that soon He would send the Messiah.
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    But they grew restless and impatient.
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    They despaired that God would keep His promise.
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    God felt far away.
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    His people feared He had forgotten them.
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    God saw their suffering so He sent a messenger.
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    He called Moses as a prophet to remind His beloved
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    of His promise to rescue them
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    and to lead them to the Promised Land.
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    He filled Moses with Ruaha, the very breath of God,
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    and Moses went to Israel with God's words in his mouth
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    and songs of rescue on his lips.
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    I am an instrument,
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    I am an instrument,
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    I am an instrument of peace
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    I am a messenger,
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    voice in the wilderness,
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    I am a mouth piece
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    Prepare ye the way,
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    prepare ye the way,
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    prepare ye the way for the Lord.
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    Prepare ye the way,
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    prepare ye the way,
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    prepare ye the way for the Lord.
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    Comfort ooo comfort
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    oh take comfort my love, my comfort.
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    (Hallelujah)
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    Comfort ooo comfort
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    oh take comfort my love, my comfort.
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    (Hallelujah)
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    The war you've been fighting will soon be over
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    Prepare ye the way, the way for the Lord
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    (Hallelujah)
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    The road rises up, high in the desert,
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    you'll wander no more, no more, no more
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    Prepare ye the way, the way for Lord
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    Prepare ye the way, the way for Lord
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    And he shall reign forever and ever
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    Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
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    And he shall reign forever and ever
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    Hallelujah
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    Comfort ooo comfort
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    oh take comfort my love, my comfort.
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    And he shall reign forever and ever
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    Comfort ooo comfort
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    (Hallelujah)
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    oh take comfort my love, my comfort.
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    And he shall reign forever and ever
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    Prepare ye the way, Prepare ye the way,
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    Prepare ye the way of the Lord
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    (vocalizing)
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    Prepare ye the way, Prepare ye the way,
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    Prepare
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    No matter how desperate the night has become,
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    the rescue is coming as sure as the dawn.
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    No matter how desperate the night has become,
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    the rescue is coming as sure as the dawn.
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    No matter how desperate the night has become,
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    the rescue is coming as sure as the dawn.
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    No matter how desperate the night has become,
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    the rescue is coming as sure as the dawn.
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    (Hallelujah)
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    Prepare ye the way,
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    Prepare ye the way,
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    Prepare ye the way of the Lord
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    Prepare ye the way,
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    Prepare ye the way,
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    Prepare ye the way of the Lord
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    - Wow, after seeing something like that,
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    you have to ask yourself, What am I watching?"
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    - Oh, my gosh, yes. - Is this real life?
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    - Absolutely. You know what?
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    I'm here to tell you that this is real life.
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    This is a church and you can be a part of it.
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    - Hey, my name is Kyle.
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    I'm the community pastor for Crossroads Church online.
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    It's my job to take that thing you just watched
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    and show you how you can be a part of it.
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    - That's right. And my name's Hannah
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    and I'm a part of the team that makes
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    all of this stuff that you're experiencing today.
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    - And this is Crossroads Church.
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    It's an online community that you can be
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    a full part of no matter where you live.
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    - And that starts with watching the weekly online message.
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    That message is there for you to get
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    weekly inspiration, weekly hope,
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    weekly truth, weekly encouragement.
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    And throughout the week, there are different ways
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    for us to connect anywhere as well.
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    - That's step one, but don't stop there.
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    There's a step two.
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    There is so much more for you
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    than just an inspiring, helpful episode every week,
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    there's an entire community, experiences, connections,
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    and more helpful content that you can
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    have access to throughout your week.
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    You can get everything just by signing up
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    for our weekly newsletter.
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    If you are in the desert right now,
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    you need to know that you're not alone.
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    Jesus isn't just powerful, He wants to meet you
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    in your hard times and take you to a new place,
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    just like He's done for so many people.
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    - And I sat on the floor and I just started crying
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    and I asked God, like, "Why do you hate me?
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    Why are you doing this to me?
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    Why would you take that away?"
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    I had three surgeries in four years
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    and all of them came from wrestling.
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    Doctors had told me I had basically distorted my bones
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    and they would pop out of place and pop back in.
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    They told me I'm pretty much a danger
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    to myself and others,
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    something can break and it might be fatal.
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    And they didn't want to have that liability
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    out there and put that on other kids also.
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    It just put me in a dark place for a long time.
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    Wrestling for me at that point
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    was a top tier priority for me.
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    It was where I belonged
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    and that was the only place I felt like I belonged.
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    And so when I lost that, I lost a part of myself
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    and I didn't know who I was.
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    And it just took a toll on me mentally.
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    I remember one night distinctly,
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    this was the first time I was able
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    to make it off the couch and up to my room
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    in about three months.
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    And I sat on the floor and I just started crying
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    and I asked God, like, "Why do you hate me?
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    Why are you doing this to me?
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    Why would you take that away?"
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    So I ran from God and I wanted nothing to do with Him.
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    I think that turning point was when
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    I met someone who really showed me what it means
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    to follow God and truly trust in Him
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    and that He's not just there for the good times
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    and getting you through whatever you want,
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    that He's there through all of it.
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    And now I get the chance to do that same thing
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    and coach and tell kids that they have a chance
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    to do something different
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    and sports doesn't make them who they are.
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    Now, since I'm not wrestling,
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    I've found a deeper love for God
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    and just a better understanding for His Word.
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    Just following His lead
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    and doing what I can to further the Kingdom.
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    - In Matthew 4 it says that Jesus was led
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    by the Spirit into the wilderness, or desert,
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    to be tempted.
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    Now, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness,
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    but it also says at the very end of the section
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    that then God sent angels.
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    Then God ministered to Him.
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    So for 40 days in this desert, He didn't feel God.
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    He was prompted by God to go there,
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    but he didn't feel God while He was there.
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    I think that during that 40 days,
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    Jesus learned that he was stronger than He thought.
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    Now God was empowering Him. God was --
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    God was doing things in and through Him.
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    Okay, Jesus is God Himself,
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    so there was some power He had there.
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    But Jesus learned some things about Himself in that 40 days.
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    That's the way it is with us in our desert.
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    I came out of a desert not too long ago.
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    We went into COVID and all the difficulties around COVID.
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    I had all kinds of problems in my life that you may have,
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    problems in my home life, problems with aging,
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    problems of all kind of things.
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    And then all the problems of COVID came on top of it.
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    And I found myself some time in that desert
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    was the beginning of me coming out of it was realizing,
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    "Oh, my goodness, this thing called Crossroads
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    that I'm a part of, that I've been
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    a part of building for all this time.
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    We didn't even have in building Easter services last year,
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    which is kind of a big thing for churches.
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    What is going on with it?
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    People are dropping off.
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    All the visual indicators are just not good
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    because things are shut down."
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    And I started going into this kind of pity party
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    and in a difficult dry place.
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    And beginning of the end of my desert was
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    when I sensed God whispered to me, saying, "Brian,
  • 00:25:49
    Brian, you can handle this."
  • 00:25:51
    I'm not going to say that I am unbreakable
  • 00:25:54
    and I have all the power.
  • 00:25:55
    I'm not trying to say that.
  • 00:25:56
    I just recognize that I'm stronger
  • 00:25:59
    than I was giving myself credit for
  • 00:26:01
    and other people before me and right now
  • 00:26:03
    in modern times are doing things
  • 00:26:05
    much more difficult than I am.
  • 00:26:06
    I can endure.
  • 00:26:09
    This is the story of Jesus.
  • 00:26:13
    He not only endures while He's in the wilderness,
  • 00:26:17
    but coming out of that He endures public persecution.
  • 00:26:21
    He endures people not understanding Him.
  • 00:26:24
    He endures feeling like people have abandoned Him.
  • 00:26:27
    He endures an awful,
  • 00:26:29
    excruciating experience on the Cross.
  • 00:26:33
    Nails taken through His wrists, through His feet.
  • 00:26:36
    He's been flogged. He's been beaten. He's been clubbed.
  • 00:26:40
    He's had people spitting at Him.
  • 00:26:43
    He's up on a cross
  • 00:26:44
    and He's having to push up to exhale and drop down to inhale,
  • 00:26:48
    push up, drop down, while His beaten back
  • 00:26:51
    is going up and down a rough hewn cross.
  • 00:26:55
    Friends, that is a desert.
  • 00:26:57
    It is difficult. It's grueling.
  • 00:27:00
    And we can take hope that our desert
  • 00:27:03
    is never going to be like His desert
  • 00:27:05
    and that there is a God who cares for us.
  • 00:27:10
    And Jesus went through that difficulty on the Cross
  • 00:27:13
    because God was thinking about you and me.
  • 00:27:16
    He was thinking about taking all of our pain,
  • 00:27:19
    all of our suffering, all of our sinfulness,
  • 00:27:21
    and putting it on His back so we wouldn't have to bear
  • 00:27:23
    that pain and suffering and sinfulness for all of eternity.
  • 00:27:27
    That is the Good News.
  • 00:33:19
    - Jesus has the power to rescue you
  • 00:33:21
    and He will meet you where you are.
  • 00:33:23
    You may not immediately be out of the desert,
  • 00:33:26
    but you can have hope even in the hardest of times.
  • 00:33:33
    - Ali was diagnosed with lung cancer.
  • 00:33:36
    - Mike was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer
  • 00:33:40
    and I was eight months pregnant,
  • 00:33:42
    - Something like this was just like, "It's just too much."
  • 00:33:46
    It was too much.
  • 00:33:51
    It really starts in college.
  • 00:33:55
    Leslie started dating her first husband, Mike, there,
  • 00:34:01
    who was also a good friend of mine.
  • 00:34:02
    And eventually Mike and Leslie get married.
  • 00:34:06
    During that time, I got married to my first wife, Ali.
  • 00:34:11
    A couple of years into mine and Ali's marriage,
  • 00:34:16
    Ali was diagnosed with lung cancer.
  • 00:34:20
    And we had just had our daughter, Olivia,
  • 00:34:24
    and Olivia had just turned one when Ali passed away.
  • 00:34:30
    - In 2012, Mike was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer
  • 00:34:39
    and I was eight months pregnant.
  • 00:34:41
    It was stage four and it had metastasized
  • 00:34:43
    to his liver when he was diagnosed
  • 00:34:45
    so I kind of saw the writing on the wall
  • 00:34:48
    and knew that our story wasn't going to have a happy ending.
  • 00:34:55
    Mike passed away November 10th, 2013.
  • 00:35:01
    You have in your mind this picture
  • 00:35:04
    of what you think your life is --
  • 00:35:05
    how your life is going to play out.
  • 00:35:07
    And I didn't know how to live that life.
  • 00:35:10
    And it was at that point that I reached out
  • 00:35:12
    to reconnect with Ben.
  • 00:35:15
    - There's a comfort knowing that
  • 00:35:17
    you don't have to explain it to this other person.
  • 00:35:21
    You know, you feel kind of like
  • 00:35:22
    you're all alone in the grief.
  • 00:35:24
    And when you've got someone that's in it with you,
  • 00:35:27
    it does so much to ease that loneliness.
  • 00:35:31
    It's really hard to describe.
  • 00:35:33
    - It just worked, like we would get together
  • 00:35:35
    and go do things and our kiddos got along really well.
  • 00:35:39
    - It was kind of just right in front of our face.
  • 00:35:42
    - That was sort of the beginning of our romantic relationship.
  • 00:35:45
    Two years from the point we started dating, we got married
  • 00:35:51
    - And we found out we were pregnant.
  • 00:35:53
    And then we found out that our baby
  • 00:35:59
    was going to have Down syndrome.
  • 00:36:00
    Yeah, we really felt like we had been through so much
  • 00:36:04
    and that something like this was just like,
  • 00:36:08
    it's just too much. It was too much.
  • 00:36:11
    - Yeah, I thought, "Goodness, we've --we've paid our dues."
  • 00:36:15
    - Yeah. And I think in the same way
  • 00:36:17
    that you can grieve the loss of a person,
  • 00:36:20
    you definitely grieve the loss of expectations that you have.
  • 00:36:24
    - Again, you have this vision of how
  • 00:36:27
    this blended family is going to play out
  • 00:36:29
    and that little extra chromosome wasn't part of that vision.
  • 00:36:34
    We wanted to get to a place where
  • 00:36:35
    we were excited to welcome our baby.
  • 00:36:38
    And in order to do that, we needed to take the time
  • 00:36:41
    to grieve and then educate ourselves
  • 00:36:46
    so that we understood, like, what does this really mean?
  • 00:36:49
    - We met with other families
  • 00:36:51
    that have kids with Down's syndrome.
  • 00:36:54
    And the more we learned
  • 00:36:56
    and the more we were exposed to it,
  • 00:36:57
    the more we realize like this isn't such a scary thing.
  • 00:37:00
    It's just not that terrible.
  • 00:37:02
    In fact, it's not terrible at all, you know?
  • 00:37:04
    And we had to get to that point.
  • 00:37:08
    - So Nash was born November 28th, 2016.
  • 00:37:12
    - He's awesome and he's brought so much joy into our lives.
  • 00:37:16
    And sometimes I feel shame for how we reacted
  • 00:37:21
    to that diagnosis and how much fear we had.
  • 00:37:24
    We just -- we had no idea how many positive things
  • 00:37:28
    would come from it.
  • 00:37:31
    All the twists and turns that we've had,
  • 00:37:33
    together and separately, I think
  • 00:37:36
    what we're able to do is look back on all that
  • 00:37:40
    and see how God has taken certain things
  • 00:37:44
    and used them to build us, to build our character,
  • 00:37:49
    to build our relationship.
  • 00:37:50
    And there were definitely times
  • 00:37:52
    where I felt a distance from God
  • 00:37:55
    and I questioned why I had to be going through this.
  • 00:37:59
    In my gut I just knew that there was
  • 00:38:01
    something on the other side of it
  • 00:38:03
    and that I just had to trust God.
  • 00:38:06
    - When Mike died, there was a moment
  • 00:38:09
    where I just kind of crawled up in bed with him
  • 00:38:11
    and I -- that moment was
  • 00:38:16
    the most connected to God I have ever felt.
  • 00:38:19
    I was overcome with this, like everything's going to be okay.
  • 00:38:22
    So I think even though I had moments
  • 00:38:24
    where I questioned why God had allowed me
  • 00:38:28
    to be in this situation, I had something to come back to.
  • 00:38:34
    - Nothing gets wasted. God doesn't waste anything.
  • 00:38:36
    And although it may be tragic, it may feel unfair,
  • 00:38:41
    when you have that perspective,
  • 00:38:43
    you can look at it from a different angle
  • 00:38:45
    and see that this is going to be used.
  • 00:38:49
    I'm sure other things will happen in our lives
  • 00:38:51
    that are going to be bad. You know?
  • 00:38:53
    We also know that those things are going
  • 00:38:56
    to be used for good in other ways
  • 00:38:58
    that we just don't know about
  • 00:38:59
    and we'll be patient and wait and see how they get used.
  • 00:43:16
    The book of Ephesians 1:18 says:
  • 00:43:52
    The reason why we know the name of Jesus
  • 00:43:55
    is because He went through the desert,
  • 00:43:57
    He went through the pain.
  • 00:43:59
    That's why we know His name.
  • 00:44:04
    The pain and difficulty of the desert
  • 00:44:06
    equips us for a future that is amazing.
  • 00:44:08
    We don't know what it's going to come,
  • 00:44:10
    but it is going to come.
  • 00:44:11
    And His name is above every other name.
  • 00:44:13
    What kind of names is his name above?
  • 00:44:17
    They're talking about the names of
  • 00:44:20
    depression and hopelessness, fear and anxiety,
  • 00:44:27
    credit card debt and bankruptcy,
  • 00:44:30
    uncertainty and confusion, malaise and status quo,
  • 00:44:36
    loneliness and rejection.
  • 00:44:39
    These are the names that we encounter
  • 00:44:41
    when we're in the desert
  • 00:44:43
    and these are the names that Jesus
  • 00:44:46
    trounces by His victory on the Cross.
  • 00:44:49
    These are the names, they're trying to call out to you
  • 00:44:53
    that God has forsaken you and He has abandoned you.
  • 00:44:56
    No, He has not, you're just in a desert.
  • 00:45:00
    And it's not unlike the desert Jesus went through
  • 00:45:02
    and all the greats of previous history.
  • 00:45:04
    You can do this. You can.
  • 00:45:06
    You can be unbreakable and the Spirit
  • 00:45:08
    that gave life to His body can give life to yours.
  • 00:45:12
    This dry, desolated place that you may find yourself in
  • 00:45:17
    leaves us with two choices:
  • 00:45:21
    Dry out and die by living on our own strength
  • 00:45:25
    or look for the waters of nutrition and nourishment
  • 00:45:29
    that He brings to us.
  • 00:45:31
    Psalm 50:15, He says:
  • 00:45:42
    We need delivered.
  • 00:45:44
    We need delivered from everything
  • 00:45:46
    that's gotten us inside the desert.
  • 00:45:49
    Some of us have got like capital P problems,
  • 00:45:53
    not just adult problems, but capital P problems.
  • 00:45:59
    The kind of problems that movies are made of
  • 00:46:01
    and we leave those movies feeling depressed.
  • 00:46:03
    The kind of problems that I don't even want to talk about
  • 00:46:06
    because other people are going to go,
  • 00:46:08
    "I didn't need to hear that on Easter."
  • 00:46:10
    You know that's you.
  • 00:46:11
    You know it if you're one of those folks like,
  • 00:46:13
    "Man, this is -- it's going to take more than
  • 00:46:15
    a little pick me up sermon to get me going."
  • 00:46:17
    I know. I know.
  • 00:46:20
    That's exactly why Jesus came and lived the life He lived
  • 00:46:22
    and died the death He did
  • 00:46:24
    and offers the Spirit that He offers.
  • 00:46:27
    Most Americans are on a self-improvement plan.
  • 00:46:30
    They believe that,
  • 00:46:32
    "I'm just an understandably flawed person
  • 00:46:34
    in need of a couple of helpful principles
  • 00:46:37
    just to get me over the edge."
  • 00:46:39
    When I say you got this, I'm trying to tell you
  • 00:46:42
    you are stronger than you think
  • 00:46:44
    and we're also not as strong as we think,
  • 00:46:48
    because we need Jesus to make a difference in our life.
  • 00:46:53
    We need Him. We need Him.
  • 00:46:56
    We need Him to have died the death He died for us.
  • 00:46:59
    And we need the resurrection power that He has.
  • 00:47:02
    That's the story of Easter,
  • 00:47:05
    that someone came back from the dead.
  • 00:47:07
    And if that power still exists today, and it does,
  • 00:47:10
    I've felt that power. I've sensed that power.
  • 00:47:13
    I am where I am today because of that power.
  • 00:47:14
    That power comes to normal, average people like you and I.
  • 00:47:20
    Easter is about the hope of the resurrection,
  • 00:47:23
    the hope of a new day,
  • 00:47:25
    the hope of a mist coming and moistening our skin,
  • 00:47:29
    the hope of an oasis that's just around the next craggy rock,
  • 00:47:33
    the hope that there is a beautiful life ahead of me.
  • 00:47:37
    And if there's not a beautiful life ahead of me,
  • 00:47:39
    there's a beautiful eternity ahead of me.
  • 00:47:42
    I don't know if you've ever reached out to Him
  • 00:47:45
    and actually asked Him for His Spirit
  • 00:47:49
    to come into your life where you are right now,
  • 00:47:52
    but I want to pray for you and I want to trust
  • 00:47:55
    that your desert is going to be survivable
  • 00:47:58
    and you are going to be able to get through your desert
  • 00:48:01
    through the resurrection of power
  • 00:48:03
    that comes through His Spirit.
  • 00:48:05
    Let me pray for you right now.
  • 00:48:06
    And if you want to pray this prayer,
  • 00:48:08
    I'll do a little pauses and you can just pray it out loud.
  • 00:48:12
    Muttered it if someone sitting next to you.
  • 00:48:14
    Romans 10:9says, If we believe with our hearts
  • 00:48:16
    that Jesus has been raised from the dead
  • 00:48:18
    and we confess with our mouth.
  • 00:48:20
    So confess it, make this a prayer.
  • 00:48:22
    It goes something like this: Jesus, I need Your power.
  • 00:48:28
    I'm not sure I can last in this desert, but I will continue,
  • 00:48:33
    but I need Your Spirit.
  • 00:48:38
    I ask forgiveness for my sin.
  • 00:48:42
    I asked that You would fill me with Your presence.
  • 00:48:46
    And I not only will stand in this desert to be unbreakable,
  • 00:48:51
    but I will follow You as best I can the rest of my life. Amen.
  • 00:49:01
    Man, that was good stuff.
  • 00:49:03
    Hey, for those of you
  • 00:49:04
    who received Christ for the first time,
  • 00:49:06
    you're going to have this new adventure
  • 00:49:08
    of the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead
  • 00:49:10
    working in and through you.
  • 00:49:11
    It's great having you part of the family.
  • 00:49:15
    Hey, I hope we've delivered by giving you
  • 00:49:17
    some encouragement or at least some awareness
  • 00:49:20
    of what it's like to be in the desert.
  • 00:49:22
    There is a God who loves you, cares for you and empowers you.
  • 00:49:27
    I hope you have an amazing Easter, the rest of your day.
  • 00:49:30
    And I hope to see you back next week.
  • 00:49:31
    We're here every week. We'll see you then.
  • 00:49:35
    - Man, what a great time that we've had today.
  • 00:49:37
    I hope you learned that you and I are unbreakable,
  • 00:49:41
    no matter what we're facing our lives.
  • 00:49:42
    And that's because Jesus beat death.
  • 00:49:45
    And that same power that raised Jesus from the dead
  • 00:49:48
    is in you and it's in me.
  • 00:49:50
    And we've had such a good journey
  • 00:49:51
    learning about that today.
  • 00:49:52
    - Absolutely. Look, that's why we exist
  • 00:49:54
    to guide you forward on your journey with God.
  • 00:49:57
    And look, part of that journey is learning
  • 00:49:59
    to trust Him with everything in your life:
  • 00:50:01
    your career, your relationships, even your finances.
  • 00:50:04
    And I know right now you want to click away.
  • 00:50:06
    Please hang on for a second.
  • 00:50:07
    Look, learning to trust God with your money is a step
  • 00:50:10
    that every single person who wants to follow Jesus
  • 00:50:13
    has to pass through. And I'm telling you,
  • 00:50:15
    it's an incredible, incredible journey in which
  • 00:50:18
    you actually receive more than you give.
  • 00:50:21
    See, God actually says in the Bible that
  • 00:50:23
    when we trust Him with our finances,
  • 00:50:24
    He will bless our lives in ways and places
  • 00:50:27
    that money cannot buy.
  • 00:50:29
    And look, I know that might sound self-serving.
  • 00:50:30
    It does, right? - Yeah, just a little bit.
  • 00:50:32
    - For a church to say that,
  • 00:50:33
    but we've actually designed a way around that.
  • 00:50:35
    - That's right. We've made something just for you
  • 00:50:37
    called the 90 Day Title Test.
  • 00:50:39
    In this 90 days, we want you to test God with your finances,
  • 00:50:42
    because if He's not moving in your life,
  • 00:50:44
    we'll give you all your money back.
  • 00:50:46
    That's how strong we believe in this tithe.
  • 00:50:48
    That's how strong we believe
  • 00:50:50
    that God will bless you in every area.
  • 00:50:53
    So you can try this out by going to Crossroads.net/tithetest.
  • 00:50:57
    - And when you do that,
  • 00:50:58
    you'll be prompted to submit a prayer request.
  • 00:51:00
    We would love to just partner with you, us and our team,
  • 00:51:03
    and pray for that thing, that place
  • 00:51:04
    that you want God's breakthrough in your life.
  • 00:51:06
    - That's right. You can connect with me
  • 00:51:08
    by going to hannah.sheppard@crossroads.net.
  • 00:51:11
    You can email me. That's me. I'm going to respond.
  • 00:51:14
    - She actually will, or you can email me,
  • 00:51:16
    kyle.ranson@crossroads.net.
  • 00:51:17
    We would love to connect with you.
  • 00:51:19
    - Come back next week where we're going to be exploring
  • 00:51:21
    what it means to take on life
  • 00:51:23
    and have the endurance to last.
  • 00:51:27
    - If you liked what you saw today,
  • 00:51:29
    there's actually way more to this story.
  • 00:51:31
    God has more to say about getting you
  • 00:51:33
    out of the desert that you're in.
  • 00:51:34
    And if you want that, go to Crossroads.net/unbreakable
  • 00:51:38
    to watch more episodes of the same story right now.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend Follow-Up. The questions below are for the weekend of April 3 & 4, 2021.

  1. The story of Easter is about redemption, hope, & the resurrection of Jesus. Share with the group your favorite Easter memory.

  2. The spirit that resurrected Jesus can bring that same power to the deserts we may be in. Even if you’re unsure about the idea of Jesus, share with the group that part of your life that feels like a desert. It’s that place you may feel dry, stuck, or maybe even beaten down.

  3. Read Romans 8:11. Jesus meets us in our time of difficulty and sustains us through it to the other side. Discuss the idea of Jesus giving life in the places that you may feel stuck or dead. What does that mean for your specific situation?

  4. We find strength through Jesus’ power. What is one step you can take this week to receive the power Jesus has to offer you no matter where you are? If this is your first time receiving Jesus share that today with the group.

  5. Read Psalm 50:15. Ask God for his spirit to come into your life where you are right now through prayer. Here’s one you can use: “Jesus we need your power in our deserts. We need your spirit and your presence. Help us to be unbreakable in whatever life brings. Amen.

More from the Weekend

Whether you have been around crossroads for decades or just learning who crossroads is, click here to get a regular shot of challenge & encouragement. Also join us next week to continue our Unbreakable series and invite a friend to join you.

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Apr 1, 2021 59 mins 17 sec

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