Say, “Yes,” to a Fulfilling and Abundant Life

Pastor Brian Tome invites you to reflect on what’s holding you back from fully embracing the life God has designed for you. In this message, he connects the parable of the sower to the common barriers we all face like cynicism, fragility, and distractions. He pushes us to create in ourselves fertile soil for God’s word, in order to unlock a life of spiritual growth, purpose, and personal transformation.

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    - Hey, welcome back to our second week of the 10X Push.
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    My name is Andy and thank you for joining us
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    for church online today wherever you are.
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    Now, Crossroads is one church
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    and we meet in buildings like this,
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    but we also meet in homes, online,
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    digitally and in person all over the globe
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    and made up of all sorts of people,
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    including our next generation,
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    which is why my buddy Joel is here.
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    - Hey, what's up? I'm Joel, I lead our 0-18 team.
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    As we talk about the church being pushed,
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    I think it's critical to talk about the church,
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    like the entirety of the church,
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    which includes kids and students.
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    And so I'll say it this way.
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    I think everyone needs a spiritual revival,
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    from diapers to diapers,
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    - Diapers -- Depends.
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    - Diapers, diapers. Yeah, they'll get it.
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    They'll get it later. And so we're doing that.
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    Every, every different ministry, kids ministry, student ministry,
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    all the way through adults are experiencing this push.
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    And what we want to see,
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    we don't want to just go to the moon.
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    We want to bring the skies down.
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    We want to see heaven meet Earth.
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    And so we really, truly believe that's
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    what's going to take for an awakening or a revival.
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    - Yeah, and we're seeing that, like,
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    a revival is not a word we use a lot around here.
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    But it's just this thing where God comes
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    and He brings new life to us, and we're experiencing that.
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    Just this past weekend, we had
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    an old school tent revival
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    at our land called Base Camp,
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    and over 8500 people came together,
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    three mile long traffic on the road.
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    It was like all packed, crazy,
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    tons of students there. It was amazing.
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    Nonstop worship, amazing teaching.
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    And I want to give you guys a glimpse
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    of what happened right now.
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    - You're where you are right now
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    because of where you've been.
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    And so the fact that we opted in to revival
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    means, like, something is dead,
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    or we need something refreshed,
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    and that means something new has to come in
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    and we've got to open ourselves up.
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    The history of the Bible is very clear:
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    God goes where He's wanted.
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    He gives power to the tired,
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    and He revives the exhausted. [cheers]
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    - Andy, I had an unreal time at Revival,
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    mostly because I wasn't one of
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    those cars stuck really far back there.
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    I got there early for setup,
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    which is why you should volunteer at these things.
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    But it was unreal.
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    And honestly, one of my favorite parts
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    was Saturday at the 1 p.m. session.
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    I'm not kidding you, no rain.
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    Someone out there who's smarter than me
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    can explain how this happened.
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    A rainbow just made itself known above the tent
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    and it felt like I was there.
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    - Yeah. - Like, it just, it was kind of
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    just a glimpse into heaven meeting Earth.
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    It was fantastic. Yeah.
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    - It was beautiful. - Do you have a favorite part?
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    - You know, I missed the rainbow cloud,
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    which sounds amazing, but my favorite part
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    was actually having my entire family there.
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    Like, I'd been to the land for Man Camp.
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    My wife's gone to Woman Camp,
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    but all of us being there together
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    at the same time was just fantastic.
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    And it reminds me that, like, revival
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    is something that happens for our whole church,
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    for our whole nation, for us individually,
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    and for our families, like, no matter what our age is.
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    - Yeah, I'm glad you said that, because
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    way more is caught than taught.
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    And so if our church is going to be revived,
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    this has to be real.
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    It has to be people living it out.
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    So if you want to get engaged,
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    there's a couple ways to do it.
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    One, you're doing it right now.
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    Watch the weekend message.
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    So if you're here, unless you're here on accident,
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    you're crushing it. Congrats.
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    And two, is to get a guidebook.
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    Andy's got his in his hand.
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    This is my real one because my name is on it,
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    so you know it.
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    If you can't get to a physical site to get this,
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    if you're chilling somewhere else to grab it,
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    then go ahead and go to Crossroads.net/10X
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    and we got a digital one for you.
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    - Yeah. Doing the work on the guide,
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    it's like a custom action plan for you.
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    It might be the most helpful way for you
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    to be personally grown and stretched
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    throughout the Journey.
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    It's just like 30 minutes or so each week,
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    and this week there's even a fun little --
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    It's actually a really helpful personal assessment
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    that will help you understand how you grow best,
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    and even what might be keeping you
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    from growing right now.
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    - Yeah, and another way to do it is to get in a group.
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    My group met last week
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    and so we started ours already.
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    But you were just telling me
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    yours doesn't start till this week, right?
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    - That's right. My group starts this week.
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    You can join. It's not too late.
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    You can find all the groups at Crossroads.net/10x.
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    There's all kinds of great stuff there.
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    Get in a group. Do the guide.
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    Join in because God wants to push you to a new place.
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    - Hey, revival has started. It's begun.
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    And we're starting to see something big happen.
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    We hope you want to be a part of it.
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    - That's right. Let's go with week two of The Push right now.
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    - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. [engine boosters]
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    Liftoff, we have a liftoff.
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    Houston, you are a go for staging.
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    [music]
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    - Have you given your life to one thing,
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    giving your whole life to one thing is not normal.
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    It's not normal. But who wants to be normal?
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    Am I right?
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    I don't think you came in tonight
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    or came in with us online for normal.
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    I think you came wanting something more.
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    And that's why I'm excited that you're here.
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    When I've given my whole life to Jesus
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    and said yes to all that He has for me,
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    my whole life changed.
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    It's not normal, but it's amazing.
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    It's amazing.
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    That's why I'm excited that you're here tonight.
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    If you're brand new. My name is Justin.
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    And you walked into this thing called the 10X Push.
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    What that is, is all of us here at this church
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    saying, "God, I want more of You in my heart.
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    I want You to enlarge what You're
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    doing in my heart and in this world."
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    And so you walked into something crazy
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    and super exciting.
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    It's not normal, but it's amazing.
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    So everything from here on out,
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    the rest of the time, every song you hear,
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    every story you hear is all geared towards
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    getting you to understand this God more
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    and what He wants to do in your heart.
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    So glad you're here tonight.
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    Why don't you stand up with us?
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    We're going to sing some songs to Him
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    and about Him. So glad you're here.
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    - Put your hands together like this
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    as we sing praises to the Lord,
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    the One who's worthy. Come on.
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    - Come on. Hands up all over the room.
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    I just need you to think right now
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    on all the things He's done,
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    all the ways He's shown up for you,
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    all the ways He's stepped in your life
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    and shown you that He's faithful,
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    that He's good, that He's merciful,
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    that He's got your back.
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    I need you to know. I need you to remember right now.
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    - We give Him all the praise
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    because of how He's rescued us.
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    - God, so many of us in here come with gratitude.
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    We come with hearts that struggle to find the words
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    that can match the gift that You have given us,
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    the redemption that we've experienced.
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    And so many of us come into this room
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    with heavy hearts, hearts in needing a touch,
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    needing an encounter with the living God.
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    So would you see us showing up here,
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    showing up online as us saying yes to You.
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    Yes, we want to encounter You.
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    Would You come meet us right where we are?
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    Would You meet us? Amen. Amen.
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    Come on y'all.
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    It's so good, so good. Mhm.
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    Well, I want you to say hi to somebody.
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    If you're online, say hi to somebody
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    even if you don't know them and have a seat.
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    [music]
  • 00:34:54
    - For Apollo 11, it took a great deal of math
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    and smarts to be able to intersect the moon.
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    The moon is traveling at 2288 miles an hour at all times.
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    At liftoff, Apollo 11 on the way to the moon
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    was going 60 feet per second.
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    If you've seen the video, slow and starts up,
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    starts up, starts up.
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    Here's the illustration.
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    God is moving right now very quickly, very, very quickly.
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    He's doing his thing.
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    He's going where He wants to do.
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    He's doing what he needs to do.
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    And the Kingdom of God, His preferred reality
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    that He wants us to live in.
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    And our privilege, our responsibility,
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    the offer that He gives to us is
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    will we catch up to Him?
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    Will we be in step with where God is moving
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    and push into Him?
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    We're right now in what's known as a push.
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    I'm going to push you today.
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    Are you ready to be pushed? Ready to be pushed?
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    I'm going to push you today.
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    For six weeks we're pushing each other, like,
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    where are you with God right now?
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    Where are you with sensing His presence?
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    Are you pushing into the things
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    that He wants you to push into?
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    Is our church being pushed into the things
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    that He wants us to go to?
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    And the answer for us as achurch is yes,
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    yes, yes, we are.
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    And today we're going to talk about
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    what it means to say yes to God, whatever it is,
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    however, wherever we are on this journey.
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    We're on right now, we're headed to the moon.
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    We're headed to be in alignment with
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    the purposes of God for this thing called Crossroads.
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    If you're here today, you're a part of it.
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    Let's pray before we go any further.
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    God, I am thankful for being able
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    to talk about transcendent things.
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    And I'm not talking about getting to the moon
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    and the amazing thing that was.
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    I'm talking about getting to Your heart.
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    I'm talking about getting in alignment
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    with what You want in our lives.
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    Help me today to help your people.
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    Help us to see You and understand You
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    and understand what You want from us.
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    Ahead of time, I and others, we just say, yes.
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    God, whatever You want. Yes, yes.
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    Help me to be clear and helpful.
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    And I pray these things according to
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    the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.
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    Today we're going to look at
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    one of the parables that Jesus gave.
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    He would give these stories that were made up,
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    stories that were made up, but they actually
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    had a point and they were for real.
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    And here is what it says in
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    the book of Matthew 13:4-9. Let's read it.
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    She who has ears to hear, let her hear.
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    There are four types of people,
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    four types of people in this parable.
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    And there's four types of people
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    in all of our rooms right now,
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    or wherever you're experiencing Crossroads,
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    whatever coffee shop you're in,
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    there's four types of people:
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    those who can count and those who can't.
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    There's four types of people, and they're all in here.
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    And God is likened to the sower.
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    He is throwing seed. He is throwing truth.
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    And there's four different responses to that truth.
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    Today I'm going to be throwing some truth at you.
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    God's going to be throwing some truth at you.
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    He's going to be throwing some truth at you.
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    And I don't know what your response is going to be,
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    but I do know this.
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    It's going to be one of four things.
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    One of four ways you're --
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    I know some of you ladies hate
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    when anything gets in your hair.
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    That's exactly why I'm doing it. Exactly.
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    Because my love language is annoying.
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    That's what my love language is. It's annoying.
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    Now, this is really interesting because
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    this is one of the very few parables
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    where Jesus tells us the meaning of the parable.
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    Most of the times He gives us the parable
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    and we've got to connect the dots.
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    This one and this time He actually tells us
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    what actually is happening.
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    So let's read who the four different types of people are.
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    And all of us are one of these four.
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    There's not a fifth. It's four.
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    All of us are one of them. Here's what He said.
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    And by the way, there's a little in-between part
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    where He says here that some people
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    are never going to understand this
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    because God's not moving in them,
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    or they've shut Him off a long, long time ago.
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    Some people just don't.
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    But these parables are a way for us
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    to unlock spiritual truth, and for Him
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    to get into our lives to a greater degree.
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    He's pushing.
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    He's pushing all people in His audience.
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    Here's what He says:
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    Hear then the parable of the sower.
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    When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom
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    and does not understand it, the evil one comes
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    and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.
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    This is what was sown along the path.
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    So all of the seed, all of the truth
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    that God brings is coming upon us and all of us,
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    all of us are one of these types of soil.
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    And so the first one, the first one falls on the path.
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    It's a hard, beaten down path.
  • 00:41:06
    Gosh, it's a hard beat down path
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    because people are walking on it.
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    They're heading there -- it's all --
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    And what happens is, because it's so hard,
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    God's truth comes to us.
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    And because our heart is so hard,
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    birds come, the evil one, the evil one,
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    Satan, the deceiver, Lucifer comes
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    and plucks it off of the path before it has
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    a chance to be worked into the ground.
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    This is the condition of many of us.
  • 00:41:35
    You're here today. It's good. Glad you're here today.
  • 00:41:38
    But what I say today isn't going to make much of a difference
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    because you've got a hard heart
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    and you just don't receive things.
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    This is like cynicism. You're just cynical.
  • 00:41:52
    You're going, "Okay, what's this guy's angle?
  • 00:41:54
    What's this guy?
  • 00:41:56
    How much does this Crossroads place
  • 00:41:57
    putting into screens around here?
  • 00:41:59
    What is going on there?
  • 00:42:01
    This is just some money grab.
  • 00:42:04
    This is just some strange --"
  • 00:42:05
    No, no, I'm pushing you.
  • 00:42:06
    There is a financial component to this for sure,
  • 00:42:08
    but I'm just pushing on you today.
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    Cynicism.
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    When you do your your work this week.
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    This thing is fantastic. Isn't it fantastic?
  • 00:42:19
    We should just give a little shout out
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    and gratitude to all the creative types
  • 00:42:23
    who made this.
  • 00:42:24
    When you do this today, this week,
  • 00:42:27
    you're going to have a self-discovery item
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    where you're going to discover
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    which of these soils you are.
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    Now, I want to tell you, it's kind of rigged
  • 00:42:35
    because all of us understand tests enough to say,
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    "No, I'm definitely good soil.
  • 00:42:40
    That's the last soil. I'm definitely good soil."
  • 00:42:42
    Um, maybe you are, but you're going to find
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    which of these first three
  • 00:42:47
    is your at least Achilles heel.
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    If you're not one of these three,
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    you're going to find out which is your Achilles,
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    Achilles heel.
  • 00:42:54
    For me, this is my Achilles heel: cynicism.
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    I'm not cynical enough to say
  • 00:43:02
    that we actually didn't get to the moon
  • 00:43:04
    and the Earth is flat. I'm not that cynical.
  • 00:43:07
    Some people are. I'm not that cynical.
  • 00:43:09
    But I'm always looking for the, like, hidden meaning.
  • 00:43:12
    Maybe that's why I can never be really excited
  • 00:43:14
    about any political candidate.
  • 00:43:16
    Never can. I've never been able to.
  • 00:43:18
    Maybe it's wisdom. Maybe that's cynicism.
  • 00:43:21
    I'm always thinking there's a new thing,
  • 00:43:23
    there's there's something underneath happening.
  • 00:43:26
    This is what happens with us.
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    We think that we're always --
  • 00:43:30
    It's our role to discover the real truth.
  • 00:43:33
    Like, that's a gift I have.
  • 00:43:35
    No, it's not a gift. It's a curse.
  • 00:43:38
    It's a curse. It's a curse to be jaded.
  • 00:43:42
    It's a curse to always think someone has an agenda.
  • 00:43:45
    It's a curse to not be open to what God has
  • 00:43:48
    and allow the evil one to come and snatch it out.
  • 00:43:51
    It's a curse.
  • 00:43:52
    It's not a gift, it's cynicism.
  • 00:43:54
    And your life never gets anywhere because
  • 00:43:56
    nothing new of God ever springs up.
  • 00:43:58
    You're the same person you've always been
  • 00:44:02
    because nothing really takes root.
  • 00:44:05
    I know people who believed in UFOs,
  • 00:44:09
    and part of that belief made them believe in UFOs
  • 00:44:11
    wasn't an appreciation of the cosmos.
  • 00:44:13
    It was a cynical sense that
  • 00:44:14
    the government is hiding something.
  • 00:44:16
    "The government is hiding something.
  • 00:44:18
    I know what's going on in Roswell, New Mexico.
  • 00:44:20
    The government is hiding something."
  • 00:44:21
    Cynical, always looking for conspiracies.
  • 00:44:23
    Cynics are always looking for conspiracies.
  • 00:44:26
    By the way, there's never been a time
  • 00:44:28
    when we were more conspiracy laden than today.
  • 00:44:31
    We don't even believe science.
  • 00:44:33
    Or if someone tells us something who's a scientist,
  • 00:44:36
    we wonder what their hidden agenda is
  • 00:44:37
    because we're cynical.
  • 00:44:42
    When we are this way it's a problem for us.
  • 00:44:48
    We can't get going anywhere with God.
  • 00:44:52
    And so someone will be, like, "Well yeah, for sure.
  • 00:44:55
    There's UFOs. Government is hiding them."
  • 00:44:57
    And then then last year the government comes out
  • 00:45:00
    and says, "Yeah, we're seeing stuff that
  • 00:45:02
    we haven't seen before,
  • 00:45:03
    and we have Air Force pilots.
  • 00:45:04
    We don't understand this."
  • 00:45:05
    Then they say, I know some of these,
  • 00:45:07
    the same people that are going, "Oh no, no, no, no,
  • 00:45:09
    the government is trying to distract us.
  • 00:45:11
    There's no UFOs." The same people.
  • 00:45:13
    The same people who are pro UFO now are anti
  • 00:45:16
    because they think the government is,
  • 00:45:17
    like, trying to manipulate them.
  • 00:45:19
    Oh, my gosh.
  • 00:45:21
    Can you see how exhausting it is
  • 00:45:25
    to always look for some hidden agenda,
  • 00:45:27
    some hidden meaning, thinking some fix is in?
  • 00:45:30
    How can we possibly hear from God
  • 00:45:33
    when this is the state of our heart?
  • 00:45:35
    We can't hear from Him because we hear from Him
  • 00:45:37
    we think something weird is happening now.
  • 00:45:39
    The reason I can talk a lot about this one
  • 00:45:41
    is because when I did my test,
  • 00:45:43
    this is my Achilles heel.
  • 00:45:45
    This is a screenshot of what I saw.
  • 00:45:48
    And you'll get your own screenshot when you go through.
  • 00:45:50
    This is this is my thing.
  • 00:45:52
    And I don't like that about myself.
  • 00:45:55
    And maybe it makes me all that much more
  • 00:45:57
    upset about it because I understand this one a lot.
  • 00:45:59
    I was out camping with some friends of mine recently.
  • 00:46:02
    We were at The Revival.
  • 00:46:04
    How great was the revival, those of us who were there?
  • 00:46:07
    Sheesh. [applause]
  • 00:46:08
    So I went out a night early.
  • 00:46:09
    So I camped Thursday night,
  • 00:46:10
    and I camped Friday night.
  • 00:46:12
    And we were sitting around the campfire
  • 00:46:14
    with some of my closest friends, and they said,
  • 00:46:16
    you know, one of the things that we hear regularly,
  • 00:46:18
    people get to know me and they go,
  • 00:46:20
    "You know Brian Tome?"
  • 00:46:21
    "Yeah, He's a very close friend of mine."
  • 00:46:23
    "Is he? You're a close friend?" "Yes."
  • 00:46:25
    And they always say this, what they said,
  • 00:46:27
    they always say, "What's he like, like, really?
  • 00:46:31
    Like, like, what's he like, like, really?"
  • 00:46:35
    And they go, "Honestly? You ever see him on stage?"
  • 00:46:39
    They said yeah. "He's exactly like that.
  • 00:46:41
    Exactly. Exactly, like that.
  • 00:46:43
    Tells Amish jokes. He's exactly, exactly like that."
  • 00:46:46
    That's a little Easter egg
  • 00:46:47
    for everybody at The Revival there.
  • 00:46:49
    That's a joke that's not going to see
  • 00:46:51
    the light of a Sunday morning worship service,
  • 00:46:53
    but on camp, I'm Base Camp land, all bets are off.
  • 00:46:57
    And the reason this came up is because
  • 00:46:59
    I have this thing that sponsor my podcast,
  • 00:47:02
    this mineral drink thing, this all green.
  • 00:47:05
    And so and they go --
  • 00:47:07
    And when they thought about it because
  • 00:47:08
    they said, "Like the AG1, does he actually drink that?"
  • 00:47:12
    By the way, cynics, I'm not getting paid
  • 00:47:15
    to say this right now. Just so you know, I'm not.
  • 00:47:17
    And there, like, there it was every morning.
  • 00:47:19
    Yeah I shake it up every, every morning I have it.
  • 00:47:22
    But like their mind is blown, like,
  • 00:47:25
    "Wow, he really drinks that stuff. Wow."
  • 00:47:28
    Like, I'm just driven to be an advertiser
  • 00:47:32
    or something like this.
  • 00:47:33
    These are just some of the ministrations that we do,
  • 00:47:37
    machinations that we do.
  • 00:47:38
    Administration, that's probably a good word too.
  • 00:47:40
    Machinations that we do.
  • 00:47:43
    We're going to be looking in the midst of our Push
  • 00:47:47
    at four areas that God has called us
  • 00:47:50
    to catch up with Him on. Four areas.
  • 00:47:52
    These are territories. Territories that we own.
  • 00:47:55
    Territories that He's said to us,
  • 00:47:57
    "I want you to have a unique role
  • 00:47:59
    in the Kingdom of God in these four areas."
  • 00:48:02
    And the first one we're going to look at today,
  • 00:48:05
    we're going to look at them throughout the whole Push.
  • 00:48:07
    The first one we're going to look at today
  • 00:48:10
    is what is it that happens out on our Base Camp property?
  • 00:48:13
    What happens at camps?
  • 00:48:17
    - In the book of Isaiah, God's call
  • 00:48:19
    to think bigger and push for more is clear.
  • 00:48:23
    Enlarge the place of your tent is an exhortation
  • 00:48:26
    to expand the territory God has already given us,
  • 00:48:30
    the place where the favor of God
  • 00:48:32
    has collided again and again
  • 00:48:34
    with the gifts He's put in all of us
  • 00:48:36
    producing supernatural results.
  • 00:48:39
    Over the last 28 years, we have taken
  • 00:48:41
    a lot of ground for the Kingdom of God,
  • 00:48:43
    but there are four territories
  • 00:48:45
    that God has clearly given us
  • 00:48:46
    where we have seen His favor to go farther
  • 00:48:48
    than we could ever have dreamed possible,
  • 00:48:50
    and where He is now calling us to not hold back,
  • 00:48:54
    to say yes to taking a 10X moonshot,
  • 00:48:56
    to seeing His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
  • 00:49:00
    Through inspiring camps, we're seeing
  • 00:49:02
    spiritual, emotional, and relational breakthroughs.
  • 00:49:05
    Crossroads camps are only in class,
  • 00:49:07
    and we believe God wants us to take things even further.
  • 00:49:11
    Our focus is adding new features
  • 00:49:12
    and better experience to reach more people,
  • 00:49:15
    with plans to add a 20 acre lake,
  • 00:49:17
    signature experiences like a music festival
  • 00:49:19
    for 18 to 24 year olds,
  • 00:49:20
    capacity for tens of thousands of people per event,
  • 00:49:24
    and spaces to minister to the core group
  • 00:49:26
    of volunteer leaders within Crossroads
  • 00:49:28
    that fuels this ministry.
  • 00:49:30
    With 770 acres of land, we believe Base Camp
  • 00:49:34
    could be ground zero for a spiritual awakening.
  • 00:49:48
    - So at 18, I enlisted in the Army.
  • 00:49:52
    About halfway through basic training,
  • 00:49:54
    I got what's called a Red Cross message,
  • 00:49:55
    which is a family emergency.
  • 00:49:58
    I immediately called my mom
  • 00:50:00
    and she informed me that my uncle was murdered.
  • 00:50:03
    I remember feeling alone.
  • 00:50:06
    Basic training is not the the place to show your emotions.
  • 00:50:09
    It's not the place to feel those things.
  • 00:50:12
    So, I just kind of bottled it down inside.
  • 00:50:15
    I was very angry, confused, hurt.
  • 00:50:21
    I came home after basic training,
  • 00:50:23
    started drinking very heavily.
  • 00:50:26
    I knew something was was happening with PTSD
  • 00:50:29
    when I started experiencing
  • 00:50:31
    some pretty bad nightmares.
  • 00:50:33
    Rock bottom was I didn't think
  • 00:50:35
    there was anything else for me,
  • 00:50:37
    so I attempted to take my life.
  • 00:50:40
    My roommate found me and said, "Hey,
  • 00:50:44
    you're going to go to church with me.
  • 00:50:47
    We're going to get you connected
  • 00:50:49
    to some form of community."
  • 00:50:51
    It was Crossroads Uptown, went there,
  • 00:50:53
    got plugged into an awesome small group,
  • 00:50:56
    ended up signing up for College Camp,
  • 00:50:59
    had a great experience there,
  • 00:51:01
    but I was still dealing with a lot of things
  • 00:51:04
    that I was not at the time willing to bring to light.
  • 00:51:08
    That came up in nightmares.
  • 00:51:09
    It came up in the shadow in the corner of the room.
  • 00:51:13
    In every single crowd I walked into,
  • 00:51:15
    there'd be a threat.
  • 00:51:16
    I took the PTSD screening, 30 being the low end,
  • 00:51:21
    80 being the high end, and I scored a 78.
  • 00:51:24
    The predominant thing that it stemmed from
  • 00:51:27
    was the death of my uncle.
  • 00:51:29
    But I really felt like God was going to meet me
  • 00:51:33
    at Man Camp, camping around a fire,
  • 00:51:35
    talking about what's actually going on in our lives.
  • 00:51:38
    That was like the first time that
  • 00:51:39
    I had really opened up to someone
  • 00:51:41
    other than my therapist about what was going on.
  • 00:51:46
    I felt seen, I felt heard, so I decided
  • 00:51:50
    to go to the prayer tent because
  • 00:51:51
    I was just going to model it for my group.
  • 00:51:54
    I had no expectations for myself
  • 00:51:56
    and I spilled my guts.
  • 00:51:57
    I told him everything about my PTSD diagnosis,
  • 00:52:02
    the suicide attempt. I told him everything.
  • 00:52:04
    But then he asked to pray for me.
  • 00:52:07
    I tried to do this without crying.
  • 00:52:10
    He asked to put his hands on my head,
  • 00:52:12
    and he started praying this prayer to heal
  • 00:52:16
    the neurons and the neurological pathways
  • 00:52:18
    in my brain that were hyperactive
  • 00:52:21
    because of the PTSD.
  • 00:52:23
    He said, "Lord, just allow Brandon's brain
  • 00:52:27
    to work the way that You intended it to work,
  • 00:52:30
    to go back to its original purpose."
  • 00:52:33
    And I remember looking up while he was praying
  • 00:52:37
    and his hands weren't there.
  • 00:52:39
    I asked him, "When did you take your hands away?"
  • 00:52:42
    He said, "Soon after I started."
  • 00:52:44
    I said, "Well, I still feel hands under my hat,
  • 00:52:48
    moving through my hair.
  • 00:52:50
    I still feel these warm, comforting hands on my head."
  • 00:52:55
    And I just looked up and I felt the breeze
  • 00:52:58
    for the first time, it felt like in forever.
  • 00:53:02
    I just felt lighter, I felt comfort, I felt loved.
  • 00:53:08
    And then he asked me if there was anybody
  • 00:53:10
    I wanted to forgive.
  • 00:53:14
    And I said, "I think I need to forgive
  • 00:53:18
    the man that murdered my uncle."
  • 00:53:22
    And I did, and I didn't realize how much hate
  • 00:53:27
    I had been holding in my heart for a man I'd never met.
  • 00:53:31
    And I just felt light.
  • 00:53:35
    Well, a week later, after Man Camp,
  • 00:53:37
    I went to my therapist and, "I would like
  • 00:53:41
    to take the PTSD screening again."
  • 00:53:43
    I took the test and I no longer qualified.
  • 00:53:46
    I think the score was ten.
  • 00:53:50
    It felt incredible to feel God's presence
  • 00:53:55
    and just know that He is,
  • 00:53:57
    one, been with me the whole time,
  • 00:53:59
    and He wanted to heal me.
  • 00:54:03
    I just had to ask for it.
  • 00:54:05
    It makes me feel grateful that a lot of people
  • 00:54:07
    have gone before me to give their time,
  • 00:54:11
    money, energy into the camps so that
  • 00:54:16
    I could come to a place to experience
  • 00:54:19
    a miracle, experience a new life.
  • 00:54:23
    I see hope for a future.
  • 00:54:26
    My tithe and my finances, I want to keep
  • 00:54:28
    pouring those things into camps
  • 00:54:30
    so that somebody like me
  • 00:54:32
    can experience what I experienced.
  • 00:54:37
    - Isn't that encouraging? That's so good.
  • 00:54:40
    We had a bunch of physical healings at The Revival.
  • 00:54:46
    A number of them. One of my favorite ones
  • 00:54:48
    was we had a time just to pray in the tent,
  • 00:54:51
    30 seconds people could pray anything they wanted
  • 00:54:53
    and ask God for anything that they wanted.
  • 00:54:56
    And one guy is 15 years old.
  • 00:54:58
    His mom told us his story.
  • 00:54:59
    Said he has not had any sense of smell or taste.
  • 00:55:02
    He got COVID pretty bad a few years ago,
  • 00:55:04
    hasn't been able to smell or taste anything since.
  • 00:55:06
    And he never asked God.
  • 00:55:08
    He asked God in the tent, and boom,
  • 00:55:11
    immediately his nostrils open up and he can smell.
  • 00:55:14
    Immediately. That's so good.
  • 00:55:17
    Now those things are miracles
  • 00:55:19
    because they don't happen all the time.
  • 00:55:20
    You don't have a right to be healed.
  • 00:55:23
    You hear somebody else's healing,
  • 00:55:24
    it's awesome that God did that.
  • 00:55:25
    But it doesn't mean it's going to happen for you.
  • 00:55:28
    Pray for it. Ask for it. Be faithful in it.
  • 00:55:31
    But some of us, the way we deal with God
  • 00:55:34
    not doing something in my life is
  • 00:55:36
    we just get cynical towards hearing those stories.
  • 00:55:38
    "Oh, that didn't happen.
  • 00:55:39
    Oh, oh, that guy, he must have, like,
  • 00:55:43
    flunked the test the first time. Just a bad day. The test was --"
  • 00:55:45
    No. Can we just be open hearted enough
  • 00:55:48
    to see what someone says God did in their life>
  • 00:55:52
    Which was immediately and instantaneously take away
  • 00:55:55
    from what no counselor could take away from him?
  • 00:55:57
    What no medication could take away from him?
  • 00:55:59
    Friends, we miss out on so much of
  • 00:56:02
    the blessings of God and the personality of God
  • 00:56:04
    when we refuse to be open to what God says
  • 00:56:09
    and we don't turn our back on this cynicism.
  • 00:56:12
    Let's take a look at the next one. Next one.
  • 00:56:15
    Oh, by the way, one other really cool story here.
  • 00:56:17
    There was a guy who is an older Pentecostal pastor,
  • 00:56:22
    came to one of our sites last week after The Revival.
  • 00:56:25
    He came in and he went to the information center
  • 00:56:28
    and he said, "Hey, I just wanted to --
  • 00:56:29
    I just needed to come in here today
  • 00:56:31
    and find somebody to repent to."
  • 00:56:33
    And the volunteer said, "What are you talking about?"
  • 00:56:35
    He said, "Well, I've never liked Crossroads.
  • 00:56:37
    I've always thought it was a show.
  • 00:56:39
    I never thought you all were about truth.
  • 00:56:41
    And I found myself at The Revival.
  • 00:56:42
    I decided to go to The Revival."
  • 00:56:44
    And he just said, "My gosh, truth is there.
  • 00:56:46
    And God touched me very deeply.
  • 00:56:48
    And I'm sorry. I've judged you all. I don't --
  • 00:56:50
    I'm sorry. "And he said, " Would it be okay
  • 00:56:54
    if I just sat in the back anonymously
  • 00:56:56
    for a few weeks and just received?"
  • 00:56:58
    That is a man who had some heart
  • 00:57:00
    that God chose to break up,
  • 00:57:02
    and he chose to go a different direction.
  • 00:57:04
    The next one, the next one.
  • 00:57:06
    Jesus tells us again, this is His words, not mine.
  • 00:57:09
    As for what was sown in rocky ground,
  • 00:57:11
    this is the one who hears the Word,
  • 00:57:12
    immediately receives it with joy,
  • 00:57:14
    yet has no root in himself, but endures for a while
  • 00:57:17
    and when tribulation or persecution arises
  • 00:57:19
    on account of the Word, immediately he falls away.
  • 00:57:23
    So these folks, the seeds get in here,
  • 00:57:26
    something starts coming up,
  • 00:57:28
    but as soon as it gets too hot,
  • 00:57:30
    there's no root system and they die.
  • 00:57:34
    We've had a lot of people across like this
  • 00:57:35
    because we've grown a lot of things.
  • 00:57:37
    There are a lot of people, but man,
  • 00:57:39
    for some reason, a lot of people
  • 00:57:41
    don't have roots that go deep.
  • 00:57:43
    There's no rootedness to their faith.
  • 00:57:46
    Their faith is all emotion.
  • 00:57:48
    Their faith is all, "Oh, I can be part of a cool church
  • 00:57:51
    that people think really well of,"
  • 00:57:53
    until the church says something
  • 00:57:54
    that doesn't sound good in culture.
  • 00:57:56
    And then I'm upset and I got to drop away from,
  • 00:57:58
    I got to drop away. I got to drop away.
  • 00:58:00
    A lot of us, we have an amazingly fragile faith.
  • 00:58:05
    Like, everything has to be going right.
  • 00:58:08
    We have to be one of the cool kids
  • 00:58:10
    believing what everybody says.
  • 00:58:11
    And this is, again, this is Jesus says
  • 00:58:13
    we fall away because we don't want the truth of God,
  • 00:58:16
    we want to fit into popular culture.
  • 00:58:20
    I can't handle the new tension that comes my way.
  • 00:58:22
    I've had a health issue and I don't have a miracle.
  • 00:58:24
    So since my health issue isn't solved,
  • 00:58:27
    God must not be real or He doesn't love me.
  • 00:58:30
    No, you're falling away because you don't have deep roots.
  • 00:58:32
    You came to God maybe thinking
  • 00:58:34
    He was going to make your life nice and happy.
  • 00:58:36
    And God never promises to make our life nice and happy.
  • 00:58:40
    He promises to be faithful to us in the long scheme.
  • 00:58:43
    He promises to give us
  • 00:58:44
    a peace that passes understanding.
  • 00:58:47
    He promises to love us, but He does not promise
  • 00:58:50
    to give us a life that's easy.
  • 00:58:51
    But people think that faith is a life to have
  • 00:58:54
    and we drop away.
  • 00:58:55
    We have a friend who is not a heterosexual.
  • 00:58:59
    And we hear the very clear teaching
  • 00:59:01
    of the Bible about how sex operates.
  • 00:59:02
    And immediately, we can't have a deep enough faith
  • 00:59:05
    to love somebody, to love somebody
  • 00:59:08
    who is practicing sex outside of
  • 00:59:11
    the very clear direction of the Word of God.
  • 00:59:14
    We haven't figured -- We can't figure out
  • 00:59:15
    how to love that person and also love the Word of God,
  • 00:59:19
    of the truth at the same time.
  • 00:59:21
    That takes deep roots.
  • 00:59:22
    Very, very few people have those deep roots.
  • 00:59:24
    And so we wither and die as soon as something is said
  • 00:59:26
    or I read something in the Bible that I don't like
  • 00:59:29
    that's out of step with the world.
  • 00:59:31
    I have a plan in my life, my plan,
  • 00:59:34
    including the kind of job I was supposed to have,
  • 00:59:36
    the family I was supposed to have.
  • 00:59:38
    And I don't have it. I don't have it.
  • 00:59:41
    We wither and die because our life
  • 00:59:43
    doesn't look the way we wanted our life to work,
  • 00:59:46
    and we die not because God isn't good,
  • 00:59:48
    we die because we had no rootedness.
  • 00:59:51
    We die because we never developed a prayer life.
  • 00:59:55
    Can't remember the last time we actually
  • 00:59:57
    asked God to do something for us.
  • 00:59:58
    We die because we don't regularly read
  • 01:00:01
    the Word of God, and we go to church, like,
  • 01:00:03
    only if I have no better option
  • 01:00:05
    then I actually go to church.
  • 01:00:08
    This is a problem. Fragility is a problem.
  • 01:00:13
    Many of us are this way,
  • 01:00:15
    and we're going to push on you to get some roots
  • 01:00:17
    in the midst of our Push.
  • 01:00:20
    The third kind of person Jesus talks about
  • 01:00:23
    is the person who, when the seeds fall in them,
  • 01:00:28
    when they grow in them,
  • 01:00:29
    there's some there's some soil in there.
  • 01:00:31
    It starts to grow, but then then something else happens.
  • 01:00:35
    Let's read it.
  • 01:00:37
    As for what was sown among the thorns,
  • 01:00:40
    this is the one who hears the Word,
  • 01:00:41
    but the cares of the world
  • 01:00:43
    and the deceitfulness of riches
  • 01:00:45
    choke the Word, and it proves unfruitful.
  • 01:00:51
    The cares of this world,
  • 01:00:52
    all the things that are happening in this world,
  • 01:00:55
    the number of followers I have on Instagram.
  • 01:00:58
    Am I getting anything to go viral?
  • 01:01:00
    Am I going to have enough for retirement?
  • 01:01:04
    Am I going to have enough for the second home?
  • 01:01:07
    Am I going to have enough to be able
  • 01:01:09
    to go out as often as I want to?
  • 01:01:10
    Am I going to have enough for my auto insurance?
  • 01:01:13
    All those, auto insurance, fine.
  • 01:01:15
    You should have enough for auto insurance.
  • 01:01:17
    That's called basic budgeting. That's fine.
  • 01:01:18
    But there's a line between knowing I have to be responsible
  • 01:01:23
    and just distracted
  • 01:01:24
    by everything that's going everywhere.
  • 01:01:27
    The power about this space metaphor for me,
  • 01:01:31
    is a number of things.
  • 01:01:32
    Uh, no, it's not just the technological,
  • 01:01:35
    mathematical, greatest adventure that's ever been taken.
  • 01:01:39
    It's not just that, but it's also harkens back
  • 01:01:42
    to a time when our country was more focused.
  • 01:01:46
    JFK put out a goal and said,
  • 01:01:49
    hey, let's get to the moon.
  • 01:01:51
    And there was some appropriate pushback.
  • 01:01:52
    Are we sure?
  • 01:01:53
    That's going to take a lot of resources?
  • 01:01:55
    Can we put in some resources from some other places?
  • 01:01:57
    All an appropriate conversation to have.
  • 01:02:00
    But the country mobilized and came around it.
  • 01:02:03
    When I was in preschool, Mrs. Waugaman
  • 01:02:09
    brought in the little black and white TV.
  • 01:02:13
    We never watched live TV before as a part of school,
  • 01:02:16
    and we all gathered around
  • 01:02:18
    this old 19 inch black and white TV
  • 01:02:20
    about the size of Kyle Ranson.
  • 01:02:22
    And we came in-- [laughter]
  • 01:02:24
    Yeah, he's going to crack on my age,
  • 01:02:27
    I'll crack on his height.
  • 01:02:28
    We came in and we all sat around watching this thing.
  • 01:02:34
    It was these things back in the day
  • 01:02:36
    you didn't have cable.
  • 01:02:38
    You had these things called rabbit ears
  • 01:02:40
    and you would unsheath them and they'd,
  • 01:02:43
    bip bip bip bip bip bip bip. They go taller.
  • 01:02:45
    And you'd get up there and you move them around.
  • 01:02:47
    You put some tin foil on top of it,
  • 01:02:48
    you whack the side of the set
  • 01:02:49
    and every once in a while boom, oh, come into focus.
  • 01:02:52
    Our whole country was was focused on that
  • 01:02:56
    and we were harmonious.
  • 01:02:58
    This is part of the reason why we have
  • 01:03:00
    such a unharmonious, cantankerous country.
  • 01:03:04
    Everybody's distracted.
  • 01:03:06
    There's no agenda that we can all get behind.
  • 01:03:09
    That's part of why you might find Crossroads
  • 01:03:12
    is a bit of a respite from the world,
  • 01:03:14
    because we're focused here.
  • 01:03:16
    We're focused on what God wants to do
  • 01:03:18
    and how He's going to have more and more of my life.
  • 01:03:22
    The problem with the thorns is it's distracting.
  • 01:03:29
    I was working out last week,
  • 01:03:33
    and a guy came up to me and I hadn't seen him for a while.
  • 01:03:35
    And he was sweating and I was sweating.
  • 01:03:37
    He said, "Hey, how you doing? How you doing?"
  • 01:03:38
    I was just feeling a bit bold that day.
  • 01:03:40
    And so I said to him, "Hey man, where are you going to church?"
  • 01:03:43
    He goes, "Oh, well, I go to four different churches."
  • 01:03:49
    I go, "Oh, where?"
  • 01:03:51
    He starts telling me names and, like,
  • 01:03:53
    I knew the pastors' names
  • 01:03:55
    and he didn't know the pastors' names.
  • 01:03:57
    And he's a former NFL player.
  • 01:04:00
    And I just said, you know what?
  • 01:04:02
    I'm just going to go a little hard on this guy.
  • 01:04:04
    I'm gonna push him, push him a bit.
  • 01:04:06
    I said, "Hey man, are you as disciplined
  • 01:04:11
    in your training for Christ as you were
  • 01:04:13
    as disciplined for your training in the NFL?"
  • 01:04:17
    And he said, "No, I'm not."
  • 01:04:19
    I said, I say, "Man, I love you, I do.
  • 01:04:22
    I'm not pushing on you to be a jerk.
  • 01:04:24
    I'm pushing on you because I love you.
  • 01:04:26
    I want you to get to a new place."
  • 01:04:28
    And we talked about that a bit.
  • 01:04:30
    If you looked at our lives,
  • 01:04:32
    if you looked at our calendar,
  • 01:04:33
    if you looked at our --
  • 01:04:34
    If you looked at our our financial situation,
  • 01:04:37
    if you looked at who we spend time with,
  • 01:04:40
    would it bear out that you're focused on Jesus,
  • 01:04:43
    or is it everything else?
  • 01:04:47
    And only if it's comfortable
  • 01:04:48
    do I actually align with Jesus?
  • 01:04:50
    Only if I got no other options do I align with Him.
  • 01:04:54
    And that's why we fall by the wayside,
  • 01:04:57
    all of these cares of the world,
  • 01:04:59
    they just choke us out.
  • 01:05:02
    Are you getting yeses to your prayers?
  • 01:05:05
    Do you have a peace that passes all understanding?
  • 01:05:08
    Is there a quiet confidence that God has you?
  • 01:05:11
    Because He does.
  • 01:05:12
    But do you have the blessing of knowing
  • 01:05:14
    that He has you because you're not distracted,
  • 01:05:17
    your eyes are on the prize, as the Apostle Paul said.
  • 01:05:21
    Do you know the race you have?
  • 01:05:22
    Do you have your eyes set on your finish line
  • 01:05:24
    in your lane, not mine, not the person next to you,
  • 01:05:28
    but your lane?
  • 01:05:30
    Jesus also said, it's Jesus's story.
  • 01:05:33
    It's Jesus's story, so let's just listen to Jesus's story.
  • 01:05:36
    He says one of the problems here
  • 01:05:38
    and it just using Him is the distraction of riches,
  • 01:05:42
    the deceitfulness of riches.
  • 01:05:46
    The money keeps deceiving us
  • 01:05:49
    and taking us away from Jesus.
  • 01:05:51
    Most of us have a number we think we need to have.
  • 01:05:54
    Most of us think of this number I have to have.
  • 01:05:56
    And if you just look back at your past
  • 01:05:59
    for however long it's been, five years,
  • 01:06:01
    ten years, 20 years, 40 years.
  • 01:06:03
    Do you not notice that number keeps rising?
  • 01:06:05
    Like, "All we need is this.
  • 01:06:08
    Well, no. No, I just need this.
  • 01:06:10
    All I need is this.
  • 01:06:12
    No, it's just -- It's just this. It's just this."
  • 01:06:14
    That's what rich does, it deceives us.
  • 01:06:17
    It deceives us thinking that
  • 01:06:19
    we need more than we actually do.
  • 01:06:23
    There's not a financial planner that is in --
  • 01:06:27
    I have one, actually.
  • 01:06:28
    There's very few financial planners
  • 01:06:30
    who can understand the Kingdom of God
  • 01:06:32
    simultaneously to the deceitfulness of riches.
  • 01:06:35
    Money is a stress point that
  • 01:06:37
    takes people off their game all the time.
  • 01:06:40
    That's why Jesus talks about it here.
  • 01:06:42
    One of the most common things
  • 01:06:43
    that chokes people out is not being able
  • 01:06:47
    to give their money to God
  • 01:06:48
    and see that their money is God's money.
  • 01:06:50
    We think that money is the thing that saves me.
  • 01:06:52
    No, God's the thing that saves me.
  • 01:06:54
    Money is my security. No, God is my security.
  • 01:06:57
    Money is my safety net. No, God is my safety net.
  • 01:07:00
    Money is my nest egg.
  • 01:07:02
    No, the riches of Christ is my nest egg.
  • 01:07:05
    Money is the thing that gives me meaning.
  • 01:07:07
    No, Jesus is the thing that gives us meaning.
  • 01:07:11
    But when we're on this path,
  • 01:07:13
    we're never going to see it.
  • 01:07:15
    We're just going to be too fragile.
  • 01:07:18
    When I meet a a person who is hardy, it inspires me.
  • 01:07:26
    And we got a couple people, a bunch of people
  • 01:07:28
    in our community actually are very, very hardy
  • 01:07:30
    and very, very rooted.
  • 01:07:31
    And I want to introduce you to a couple of people
  • 01:07:33
    who are in the process of developing
  • 01:07:36
    some really deep roots.
  • 01:07:47
    - We were both incarcerated
  • 01:07:49
    together at Dayton Correctional.
  • 01:07:51
    We became each other's support system.
  • 01:07:55
    We used to go to Crossroads Church
  • 01:07:58
    inside of the prison,
  • 01:08:01
    and I remember watching Brian,
  • 01:08:04
    the one on sermon where
  • 01:08:07
    they're training the horse.
  • 01:08:09
    I'm like, "Man, this is the coolest church ever."
  • 01:08:11
    Somebody that I work with was like,
  • 01:08:13
    "Oh, well, I go to Crossroads."
  • 01:08:15
    I say, "Yeah, I'll go with you."
  • 01:08:17
    So then I dragged Music along with me.
  • 01:08:20
    - It started out one Thursday.
  • 01:08:21
    I go one Thursday
  • 01:08:23
    and it ended up every Thursday.
  • 01:08:25
    We've been going for a couple of months now.
  • 01:08:27
    - Four-seven has a plan to try to put Crossroads
  • 01:08:30
    in every single prison across America.
  • 01:08:32
    Do you think that that's worthwhile?
  • 01:08:34
    - Yes. - Yes.
  • 01:08:35
    The way that the word is brought about,
  • 01:08:38
    it's more relatable.
  • 01:08:39
    It's like I'm just talking to you
  • 01:08:41
    or I'm just talking to you. - Yeah.
  • 01:08:42
    But you're getting filled up with God.
  • 01:08:45
    And like, I used to go to
  • 01:08:48
    different denominational churches and stuff,
  • 01:08:50
    but they were like, "You can't dye your hair,
  • 01:08:52
    and you can't."
  • 01:08:53
    And then here comes Crossroads like,
  • 01:08:55
    "We love you just the way you are.
  • 01:08:57
    Like, God doesn't make mistakes.
  • 01:08:58
    You're perfect just the way you are."
  • 01:09:00
    Yeah, and in DCI though, like,
  • 01:09:04
    not a lot of people like the main church in DCI.
  • 01:09:08
    So Crossroads is their church.
  • 01:09:11
    And prison people, they always say
  • 01:09:14
    they got you coming home.
  • 01:09:16
    They'll give you paperwork after paperwork
  • 01:09:18
    after paperwork saying, "Hey,
  • 01:09:20
    this is out there for you," and it's not.
  • 01:09:24
    Crossroads Four-Seven is the only program
  • 01:09:30
    that has been real, and I've been in
  • 01:09:34
    and out of prison my whole life.
  • 01:09:36
    God's really showed up for me, like,
  • 01:09:38
    I never make right choices in life.
  • 01:09:42
    And I feel like He has, like,
  • 01:09:43
    paved a path for me to follow.
  • 01:09:45
    He literally, like, gave us a loaner car,
  • 01:09:48
    let us go to work every day,
  • 01:09:51
    put me on the Wheels program.
  • 01:09:53
    It's just amazing.
  • 01:09:54
    Like, there's things that God has done for me
  • 01:09:57
    in literally three months
  • 01:10:00
    that I could have never done for myself.
  • 01:10:03
    - I remember being in prison and, like,
  • 01:10:05
    really diving deep with my relationship with God.
  • 01:10:08
    And one of the scriptures
  • 01:10:09
    that I've always held on to is,
  • 01:10:11
    I will never leave you nor forsake you.
  • 01:10:13
    He's got me this far.
  • 01:10:14
    He's not gonna drop off now.
  • 01:10:24
    I did get to experience it.
  • 01:10:28
    I cried and cried and cried.
  • 01:10:30
    It was so beautiful.
  • 01:10:31
    It was just like we wasn't in prison for a minute.
  • 01:10:34
    That's one of the first times that
  • 01:10:37
    I really felt, like, genuine love
  • 01:10:41
    from the Christian community.
  • 01:10:43
    It's a life changing experience.
  • 01:10:45
    - Now that we're out here, she's like,
  • 01:10:47
    Oh, FYI, they're doing Women's Camp and we're going."
  • 01:10:51
    I said, "Okay."
  • 01:10:54
    As soon as we're walking in, I'm like,
  • 01:10:56
    this, this isn't -- this isn't for me.
  • 01:10:59
    Like, these people are different than me."
  • 01:11:02
    But Sarah Lynn's, like, "No, no, no,
  • 01:11:04
    we're all the same. We got this."
  • 01:11:07
    So she's been a great support.
  • 01:11:10
    But yesterday really opened my eyes
  • 01:11:12
    to what love and non-judgmental is,
  • 01:11:15
    like, people are very kind.
  • 01:11:17
    - Well, let me ask you this.
  • 01:11:20
    So we're going to take Woman Camp back again to DCI.
  • 01:11:22
    Would you want to come with us?
  • 01:11:24
    - If they would let us in?
  • 01:11:25
    - They might not let me in.
  • 01:11:28
    I've been there too many times.
  • 01:11:30
    - If they let me in, I'm going.
  • 01:11:32
    - I would go for sure.
  • 01:11:33
    - And what message would you take to the women there?
  • 01:11:36
    - There's hope on the outside.
  • 01:11:38
    - Prison does not define who you are.
  • 01:11:42
    No matter how many times you've been there,
  • 01:11:43
    no matter how much comfortable it is,
  • 01:11:46
    it's not your identity.
  • 01:11:56
    - The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. [cheering]
  • 01:12:13
    - Is there anything richer than seeing somebody
  • 01:12:16
    come into a loving, forgiving,
  • 01:12:17
    grace filled relationship with their Heavenly Father?
  • 01:12:19
    I don't think there is.
  • 01:12:20
    I don't think there's anything richer than that.
  • 01:12:23
    One of the things that breaks my heart
  • 01:12:25
    about Music's story is, she said
  • 01:12:28
    people come into prison, different nonprofits,
  • 01:12:31
    all different churches, whatever.
  • 01:12:32
    They come in all the time, and they give
  • 01:12:34
    a piece of paper and say,
  • 01:12:35
    "Hey, we'll be there when you come out."
  • 01:12:36
    And just using her words, she said,
  • 01:12:38
    "They never are. They never are."
  • 01:12:41
    Because I don't know, is it we're too fragile
  • 01:12:43
    to actually follow through?
  • 01:12:45
    Is it that we're too distracted?
  • 01:12:46
    I don't know what it is, but I love it,
  • 01:12:48
    she said except for Crossroads, except for Crossroads.
  • 01:12:51
    And we have so we have so many people
  • 01:12:52
    as a part of our church who were
  • 01:12:54
    previously in prison and are not anymore,
  • 01:12:55
    but they're still part of their church here.
  • 01:12:57
    By the way, you'll find over the next few weeks,
  • 01:12:59
    we have a plan to reach every single person
  • 01:13:01
    in every single prison in the entire country.
  • 01:13:06
    But that's not what we're talking about today.
  • 01:13:07
    That's coming, that's coming later.
  • 01:13:10
    That's coming later. That's a moonshot, friends.
  • 01:13:12
    We're doing a push here. It's a push.
  • 01:13:15
    We're not we're not playing games here.
  • 01:13:17
    This has meaning to it.
  • 01:13:20
    And we all are getting invited into this,
  • 01:13:23
    if we will allow God to push us,
  • 01:13:26
    if we allow ourselves to become good soil.
  • 01:13:30
    Now, all of this soil is what it is,
  • 01:13:33
    like, soil is inanimate.
  • 01:13:35
    The only thing that's animate in this story
  • 01:13:38
    is God who's throwing the seed.
  • 01:13:40
    But there is the hint-hint when Jesus asks us
  • 01:13:44
    which are we defines who we are.
  • 01:13:47
    He's doing this so we can start to wonder,
  • 01:13:50
    "Hey, what have I got to do to break up my ground?
  • 01:13:54
    What am I going to do to de-rock myself?
  • 01:13:56
    What am I going to do to choke out the thorns
  • 01:13:59
    before it chokes out my faith?"
  • 01:14:01
    Jesus then says this:
  • 01:14:03
    As for what was sown on good soil,
  • 01:14:05
    this is the one who hears the Word
  • 01:14:07
    and understands it.
  • 01:14:09
    He indeed bears fruit and yields
  • 01:14:11
    in one case a hundredfold, and another sixty,
  • 01:14:14
    and in another thirty.
  • 01:14:17
    100, 60, 30.
  • 01:14:22
    I love, I love our church.
  • 01:14:24
    We've got such good soil in this church,
  • 01:14:26
    such good soil, the kind of soil
  • 01:14:28
    that would go to a revival
  • 01:14:30
    and wait for two hours to get in.
  • 01:14:34
    The kind of good soil that would weather
  • 01:14:37
    all the difficult things we've dealt with here
  • 01:14:39
    in our church over the last 28 years.
  • 01:14:41
    The kind of good soil that would rally
  • 01:14:44
    and pray for miracles.
  • 01:14:45
    The kind of good soil that would fund
  • 01:14:48
    all the ongoing ministry that we have here
  • 01:14:51
    and the dreams that God calls us to.
  • 01:14:53
    The kind of good soil that helps,
  • 01:14:56
    that believes in, that nurtures other people.
  • 01:15:00
    It's really, it's really a blessing
  • 01:15:03
    to serve with the people who are in our ministry.
  • 01:15:06
    You and our church.
  • 01:15:07
    We've got a lot of amazing soil here.
  • 01:15:10
    Did you notice, though, that Jesus says 100, 60, 30?
  • 01:15:16
    When this sunk into me recently,
  • 01:15:19
    I had to have maybe a little repentance with God
  • 01:15:23
    because I felt that He was calling us to 10X our church.
  • 01:15:26
    So, Crossroads right now,
  • 01:15:27
    whoever's going to be part of us on a normal month,
  • 01:15:30
    it's about 50 000 people.
  • 01:15:31
    So if we could get to 500,000, 500,000,
  • 01:15:37
    we could make a much bigger dent in the country,
  • 01:15:40
    you know? And, of course, the cynics
  • 01:15:45
    could never believe that could happen.
  • 01:15:47
    And of course, the people who can't focus,
  • 01:15:49
    those who are distracted will never be able
  • 01:15:52
    to put their hand to the plow and not look back.
  • 01:15:54
    And the people who are distracted
  • 01:15:58
    and fragile will never get on it.
  • 01:15:59
    But those of us who are good soil,
  • 01:16:01
    we're like, "10X? Hell yes, yes, yes, yes,
  • 01:16:06
    and hell goes down. Yes, yes, yes."
  • 01:16:09
    But I also had a moment of repentance of going,
  • 01:16:11
    "God, am I thinking too --
  • 01:16:12
    Are we thinking too small?"
  • 01:16:14
    Jesus doesn't give 10X as an option.
  • 01:16:16
    100, 60, 30. That's what God wants for your life.
  • 01:16:21
    By the way, this isn't an organizational story
  • 01:16:25
    that Jesus is telling. It's a personal story.
  • 01:16:27
    Jesus doesn't want 10X for your life.
  • 01:16:29
    Good soil isn't 10X. It's 30, 60, 100.
  • 01:16:34
    Some of us need to repent because your God's too small.
  • 01:16:38
    You've got too small of opinions
  • 01:16:40
    over how He could use you.
  • 01:16:42
    Too small of an opinion of yourself
  • 01:16:44
    and your own capabilities that God has blessed you with.
  • 01:16:48
    It doesn't matter what you believe.
  • 01:16:50
    It doesn't matter what you feel.
  • 01:16:51
    It doesn't matter what you intend.
  • 01:16:53
    It doesn't matter at all.
  • 01:16:55
    Beliefs, even if they're the right
  • 01:16:57
    Christian biblical beliefs,
  • 01:16:59
    feelings, even if they're feelings
  • 01:17:01
    that are inspired by the Holy Spirit.
  • 01:17:02
    Intentions, even if it's something
  • 01:17:04
    you feel God wants you to say,
  • 01:17:06
    all those things only mean something
  • 01:17:08
    if you do something.
  • 01:17:10
    That's what Jesus is saying here.
  • 01:17:11
    It doesn't matter what you believe,
  • 01:17:12
    doesn't matter what you received,
  • 01:17:14
    doesn't matter how many Bible verses you've memorized,
  • 01:17:16
    doesn't matter.
  • 01:17:17
    What matters is, are you producing a harvest?
  • 01:17:21
    Here in our church, that's what we choose to do.
  • 01:17:25
    We want to produce a harvest.
  • 01:17:28
    Ecclesiastes 11:4, last verse I'll give to you.
  • 01:17:31
    It says this:
  • 01:17:46
    It's not about thinking, it's not about observing,
  • 01:17:48
    it's about doing, and it starts with saying yes.
  • 01:17:52
    When you leave here today, you're going to get
  • 01:17:54
    a patch like this, if you want it.
  • 01:17:56
    This is not like free take home thing,
  • 01:17:58
    just hoard things that are given you for free.
  • 01:18:00
    This is for those who you're inspired enough
  • 01:18:03
    that you're leaving here today going,
  • 01:18:04
    "I don't know what God wants from me in this Push,
  • 01:18:07
    but I just want to say yes.
  • 01:18:09
    I don't know what even He's going to ask.
  • 01:18:11
    I don't even know what He's going to ask
  • 01:18:13
    of my business and my family.
  • 01:18:14
    I just want to decide right now I'm saying yes.
  • 01:18:18
    I'm saying yes."
  • 01:18:20
    If that's you, you're going to say yes
  • 01:18:22
    because you want to be good soil,
  • 01:18:23
    you can get these on your way out today.
  • 01:18:25
    Put it on your visor, put it on your mirror,
  • 01:18:28
    sew it to your underwear.
  • 01:18:30
    I don't know what you want to do.
  • 01:18:32
    I don't know what you do, but this is
  • 01:18:34
    the mark of good soil, someone who says yes to God
  • 01:18:37
    and the seed He gives us, the thoughts He gives us.
  • 01:18:41
    And the more people who say yes to God,
  • 01:18:44
    the more potent the move of God is in the world
  • 01:18:47
    and in the Kingdom of God.
  • 01:18:49
    God, thank you for being a God who is patient.
  • 01:18:55
    Patient with rocky, fragile, hardened people.
  • 01:19:00
    And you still give. You still pour truth on us.
  • 01:19:04
    And we want to have our hearts broken up
  • 01:19:07
    over the next few weeks.
  • 01:19:09
    And we want to say to You, and many of us do say,
  • 01:19:11
    "Yes, yes, I don't know what it is.
  • 01:19:12
    I don't even know what I'm saying yes to, God,
  • 01:19:14
    but You're God. You're God.
  • 01:19:16
    And if You speak, I move.
  • 01:19:18
    If You give me a thought that I think is You,
  • 01:19:20
    then I move. I say yes to you."
  • 01:19:22
    And God, thank You for saying yes
  • 01:19:24
    to the amazing mission of sending Jesus
  • 01:19:26
    to live for us and die for us,
  • 01:19:29
    and now empower us by His Spirit.
  • 01:19:31
    You're a good, patient, powerful God.
  • 01:19:34
    Why wouldn't we say yes to You?
  • 01:19:35
    And I pray these things according to
  • 01:19:37
    the name of Jesus. Amen.
  • 01:19:44
    - Today we were challenged to say yes.
  • 01:19:47
    You got your patch, Andy? - Got it.
  • 01:19:48
    - You got one ironed on,
  • 01:19:49
    it's ironed on your jacket already.
  • 01:19:51
    And we believe in patches so much because
  • 01:19:55
    we call these mark the moments.
  • 01:19:57
    These are critical kind of to when you're
  • 01:19:59
    past the moment you made the decision to say yes
  • 01:20:01
    and you're going, "Hey, did I really say yes?"
  • 01:20:04
    And it's something to just mark that you actually did.
  • 01:20:07
    So, I hope you were challenged and encouraged today
  • 01:20:10
    to say yes and to begin this Journey
  • 01:20:13
    or continue of The Push.
  • 01:20:15
    - Yeah. And if you are part of
  • 01:20:17
    our Anywhere Community and requested a guide,
  • 01:20:19
    you should have already gotten a patch in an envelope.
  • 01:20:21
    You can get that.
  • 01:20:22
    But if you didn't get one,
  • 01:20:24
    if you're using the PDF that's available on the website
  • 01:20:26
    and you didn't get one of these patches,
  • 01:20:28
    hey, we want you to have one.
  • 01:20:29
    Just email anywhere@crossroads.net
  • 01:20:31
    and we will get one in the mail
  • 01:20:33
    sent to you free of charge.
  • 01:20:34
    Because like Joel said, this is a reminder.
  • 01:20:37
    This is a reminder about who we want to be.
  • 01:20:39
    A patch isn't just a -- it's not decoration.
  • 01:20:42
    It's a statement about who you are
  • 01:20:43
    and what your mission is, what your objective is.
  • 01:20:46
    We want to be the kind of team that says
  • 01:20:48
    yes to anything God has put in front of us,
  • 01:20:51
    and anything God is calling us to.
  • 01:20:53
    So any way we can help you do that,
  • 01:20:55
    we'd love to help
  • 01:20:57
    push you, to help nudge you towards growth
  • 01:21:00
    and towards personal revival.
  • 01:21:02
    This isn't just about taking hills as a community.
  • 01:21:04
    This is about God doing something in us personally
  • 01:21:08
    that spills over into our families,
  • 01:21:10
    into our neighborhood, and then all over the globe.
  • 01:21:13
    That is what revival is all about.
  • 01:21:15
    That's what we're asking God to push us toward.
  • 01:21:17
    So, man, get your patch.
  • 01:21:20
    Do the work in your guide.
  • 01:21:21
    Keep watching the weekend.
  • 01:21:22
    Get in a group if you don't have one,
  • 01:21:24
    and we'll see you next week for week 3 of The Push.
  • 01:21:26
    - Same time, same place.

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!

This is the group part of the Bible Challenge, so your questions are based on specific Bible passages from the weekend message. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. Describe a favorite memory of when you gathered with family or friends to watch or witness something. What made it so special?

  2. What stood out to you most from the message?

  3. Do you feel like you’re in a season where you can be reflective or are you just trying to get through each day? Or are you somewhere in between?

  4. How do you feel about the 10x Push? If you or someone you know has seen God move since it started, share with the group.

  5. What soil do you find yourself identifying with the most: hard soil, rocky soil, or thorny soil (cynicism, fragility, or distraction)? Why do you relate with that soil in particular?

  6. Read Matthew 13:23. What fruit would you like to see grow and/or multiply in your life right now?

  7. What is one way you can say “yes” to God this week to move towards becoming good soil, so that God can do more in your life?

  8. Let’s end our time praying together. You can say something like, “God, thank you for speaking your word to us and wanting more for us. Help us work through our struggles so that we become the good soil you want us to be. Increase our faith so that you can do more than we can imagine. Amen.”

More from the Weekend

__Bonus Questions! __ Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper.

  • Crossroads is wanting to expand in four territories: camps, reachout, digital, and sites (CRDS). Which one of these excites you the most? Have you already experienced or seen someone else experience God’s love through these?
  • Is there an area of your life you’ve asked to see fruit but the growth has been slow? Share with the group.
  • Even when we don’t have the good soil, God still speaks to us and works in our lives. How have you seen God’s goodness in your life during tough times?

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Oct 19, 2024 1 hr 21 mins 30 sec

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