An Ancient Path | #GOALS Week 1

It’s 2021, and we’re all ready for something new. Trouble is that all of the “new” paths that we take every January always seem to lead back to the same old disappointments and frustrations. Maybe in order to get somewhere new in life, we’ve got to get ourselves on an old path. Today, Brian talks to us about how we can find life in the ancient path that God offers us.

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    There's a reason you aren't satisfied with the ordinary,
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    you were made for adventure
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    A life with God doesn't have to be boring.
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    It can be a pulse pumping, heart pounding life of purpose
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    and we can guide you there.
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    The adventure awaiting you is bigger
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    and more life giving than you could ever imagine.
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    Join us every weekend for 45 minutes
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    of challenge, hope and encouragement
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    to guide you on your spiritual adventure.
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    - Hey, everyone, I'm Hannah
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    and I'm a part of making experiences here at Crossroads.
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    - And my name is Kyle.
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    I'm the community pastor for Crossroads Church online,
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    which means it's my job to help take care of you.
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    We'd love the chance to do that this year.
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    - Yeah. Welcome to Crossroads Church.
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    Maybe this is your first time joining
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    or maybe you were here for Christmas.
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    We are so glad that you are here.
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    And we want to extend a special welcome to you.
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    Well, today we're getting started
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    in a new series title #goals.
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    - Did I do that right? Is it this way?
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    - You did that, that's it, boom.
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    - Does it matter?
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    - You know what? It probably does.
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    It does. It does matter.
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    So glad you're here.
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    - In this series, we are going to help
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    you and I get to where we want to this year,
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    which is to a better place.
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    Because the truth is, for a lot of us,
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    last year it wasn't that great.
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    So we want to get to a better place.
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    The question is: how do you get there?
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    I don't know if you've noticed this,
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    but every commercial, every everything
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    is offering the path to a better life.
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    I saw a commercial for our blender
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    that promised me a better life yesterday.
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    - Yes.
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    - I almost went for it, but I decided not to
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    because here's the thing.
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    Life doesn't come from following the latest fad
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    It doesn't?
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    But life is possible, a better life,
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    newer life, fresher life. It's possible.
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    But the new thing, it turns out,
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    comes from following the old path.
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    So old that it's ancient.
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    That's what we're digging into this series:
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    the ancient path that always leads to life.
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    We're going to get started with that
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    right now with our senior pastor, Brian Tome.
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    - Hey, I'm Brian, welcome to Crossroads.
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    We're going to talk today about the ancient path.
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    In the Bible, Jeremiah 6:16, it says this:
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    Doesn't that just sound good?
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    (sighs) Find rest for your souls.
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    But where do you find rest of your souls?
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    You find rest for your souls
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    by being on the path that God wants.
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    At the crossroads you go
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    the way everybody else is going.
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    I drive with with my knee, by the way.
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    Going the way everybody else goes
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    or going the ancient path
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    where there is rest for your soul.
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    Life on planet Earth has changed, our faith has not.
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    We can choose to follow the patterns of culture
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    or we can choose a different way.
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    There is incredible freedom when we let God
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    elevate our thinking and our vision to new horizons.
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    There's a different path that
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    followers of Jesus have walked for centuries.
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    I want you to walk not just today,
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    for this whole year.
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    The question is,
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    do you want to go with new places in your life?
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    If you do, you've got to follow the ancient path.
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    The passage I read before was from the Book of Jeremiah.
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    It's in the Old Testament.
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    Then we take a look at Jesus
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    who says this in Matthew 11:28:
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    My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
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    You know, it seems like some people
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    have charmed lives, but you'll find out they don't.
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    They've got major problems.
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    I read a story recently in Forbes Magazine
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    about Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos,
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    bought out by Amazon years ago.
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    And conservative estimates he's worth $700 million.
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    And he recently died.
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    They're not sure if it's overdose.
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    Not sure if it's suicide, they're just not sure.
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    It's an awful thing.
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    This is a guy who brought a lot of people
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    a lot of happiness, let alone a lot of shoes.
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    And I've only got remorse for him
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    and his family and everybody close to him.
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    However, in this extreme case,
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    often times you can find where truth is.
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    Truth becomes clear in the extremes.
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    He would have people over
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    and he just partied nonstop in Park City, Utah.
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    He had a private concert with Jewel who came over
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    and she released a part of her letter,
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    Forbes got a part of her letter
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    to Tony Hsieh after she left him.
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    She says this:
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    Unfortunately, it came to a really bad end.
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    I find in situations like this,
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    it's interesting that the media loves --
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    Loves, often times highlights mental illness.
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    I think mental illness is a real thing.
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    It's an awful thing.
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    A lot of us struggle with it. Yes.
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    But, you know, we can't just keep saying
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    mental health issues
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    any time somebody's life comes apart.
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    We just can't do that.
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    We all want to hear when someone
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    has a bad life or a bad ending,
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    "Oh, it was mental health, mental health."
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    It's kind of like when you hear
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    somebody dies of cancer, you want to hear that,
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    "Well, they were a smoker, right?
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    Oh, yeah, a smoker. OK, yeah."
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    We want to hear mental health issues,
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    we want to say, 'Well, I don't have
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    a verifiable condition with mental health,
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    so I don't have to worry about that happening to me."
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    Yes, you do, actually. Yes, you do.
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    I actually think that we pawn off
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    much too much to mental health issues.
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    It is very, very real.
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    But I'll tell you, a lot of us think
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    that someone's life falling apart
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    when it's mental health issues,
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    where it might just be they're on the wrong path.
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    It might just be they're not on the ancient path.
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    One close friend says that:
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    I would love to hear someone write about this void
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    and say some time he was missing a connection with God.
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    There was a space in his heart, as Pascal said,
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    a God shaped vacuum that only God can inhabit.
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    When is someone going to say
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    that we're just spiritually empty?
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    When is someone going to say that
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    what the world offers, it doesn't work?
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    The path that we're on does not work.
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    I believe there's maybe a spiritual void in you.
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    I believe that you may be mentally ill
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    and it may not be a chemical imbalance.
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    It may be there is a spiritual imbalance in you and I.
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    It may be that we are on the wrong path,
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    a path that leads to emptiness
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    that comes from our void-ness.
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    So today, I want to talk about
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    getting on a different path,
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    an ancient path that actually works.
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    This is why I do what I do.
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    I'm the job I'm in for no other reason
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    other than I want to help people.
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    I want to help you.
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    This world beats us down,
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    sucks the life out of us.
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    And I believe it's only God, it's only Jesus
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    that gives you life, ultimate life.
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    And so I've given my life to this
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    and I'm giving my life to this series
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    and to you because I want you in a better place.
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    And I want to be one person who tells you
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    something that other people either
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    don't know to tell you or aren't willing to tell you.
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    I've found people who have been awful places:
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    addictions, failed suicides, divorces, bankruptcies,
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    every imaginable problem you can imagine,
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    and you would think that their life would end.
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    But I've seen with many of those folks
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    again and again and again,
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    they get on an ancient path
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    and God gets a hold of their life and they get life.
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    They find something they couldn't have found
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    before because there is a God who cares
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    and a God who inhabits you
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    if you get on the right path.
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    Oh, that's what I'm talking about.
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    That's called a video shoot.
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    Yes.
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    Part of my day job.
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    - Brian? - Yeah.
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    - Not -- not -- not that one.
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    - Not this one
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    - No, I'm sorry. That one.
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    - That one, all right.
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    - Wait. Actually, no.
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    No, not -- not that one.
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    We've got something special.
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    - Yeah.
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    - Oh, back to my old school grunt worker days, huh?
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    - Yeah. - All right. Thank you.
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    If you want to get to a different place this year,
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    you're going to have to go
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    to a different place this year
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    and you're going to have to go
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    on different paths than you've gone before.
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    Everyone's going the same place.
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    The whole masses are heading down
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    this massive super highway,
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    whether it's paved or a massive digital portal,
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    where everybody is getting the same information,
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    thinking the same things, doing the same things.
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    And we're all going to a place of futility,
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    a place of loneliness, a place of separation.
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    We're going to have to get to
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    a different place on a different path.
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    And the problem is the old paths,
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    they're all overgrown because no one's on them.
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    They've got no foot traffic on them.
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    The paths of our current culture are well-worn,
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    everyone's using them.
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    But we've got to choose to get on
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    a different path that goes a different place.
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    Next week, I'm going to be talking about the desert.
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    It's a spiritual place that
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    many of us find ourselves in right now.
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    More of us are struggling emotionally
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    and spiritually and relationally than ever before.
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    I saw a recent report in the Scientific American
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    that said this about the mental health
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    during our pandemic:
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    We are not in good shape.
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    We are going on the wrong path in the wrong direction.
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    And it's not just America in 2020 and 2021,
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    this is the gist of how all humankind walks.
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    Jesus saw these problems
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    in his own people in the first century.
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    In the Book of Matthew 7:13 Jesus says this:
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    What are the widest and most well maintained roads?
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    They're the roads with the most traffic,
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    where the most people are.
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    Where is the bulk of spending
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    on our digital infrastructure?
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    It's where everybody is.
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    That's why Jesus says it's got to be a wide gate
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    because everyone's going there.
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    But Jesus says, "Look, look.
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    I'm going in a different direction
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    and I'm calling you to a different place.
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    That's going to be a different path.
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    There's not a lot of people on it."
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    It doesn't need to be big and wide
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    and superhighway and paved.
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    It's a very narrow path because
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    very few people choose to go there
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    and very few people have the life that can come from it.
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    And this path is overgrown
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    because so few people are on it.
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    We're going to clear path.
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    How exactly do you clear a path?
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    Well, I've got just the right equipment for the job.
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    My whole thing for you in 2021
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    is to get you on an ancient path that leads to life.
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    Crossroads' whole thing is to help you
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    make sense of your life, of this life,
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    and all of our teaching is going
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    to be focused on that this year in 2021.
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    We've got to get on a path that works.
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    We've got to get off the superhighway
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    where all the masses are.
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    We've got to get on the old ancient paths
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    that actually bring life.
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    And on those paths, that path itself
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    is a place where things are that people don't do,
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    that people don't want.
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    I'm going to tell those three things are.
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    First, is this: the Bible.
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    The Bible says --
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    That's my old Southern Baptist preacher coming out.
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    (singing) The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me.
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    I stand alone in the word of God, the B-I-B-L-E.
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    Yeah, you know we can make fun of Bible songs,
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    all kind of stuff, but the truth is: it simply works.
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    The Bible describes itself
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    in the book of 2 Timothy 3:16-17, by saying:
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    That verse says that when the human.
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    Authors who were penning those words,
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    they were penning it with their personality
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    in their cultural context, but it wasn't their opinion
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    that God was breathing, He was inspiring it.
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    God inspiring them and His very words
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    were going down on the page as they wrote.
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    When you open up your Bible,
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    when you look at your screen
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    that has Bible text on it,
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    you're looking at the very Word of God.
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    It's there to direct you, to reprove you,
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    to correct you, to point you one way or the other.
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    That's what it is there for.
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    And it simply works.
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    We are in an incredibly divided nation.
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    We all know this.
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    We are incredibly bifurcated.
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    People on this side and people on that side.
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    And whatever road you're on that's bifurcated,
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    it's well-worn, it's well traveled.
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    And you got all kinds of things
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    that are breathing on you on your specific road.
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    So for some of us, that's MSNBC or CNN.
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    For others of us, that's FOX News.
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    And who you're getting your news from
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    is likely aligning with
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    who's on your social media feed,
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    which aligns with what your friends
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    have on their social media feeds,
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    which aligns with the books that you read,
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    which aligns with the articles
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    that you're exposed to,
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    which aligns with the candy that you buy.
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    Okay, maybe not the candy you buy,
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    but can we all admit that
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    all candy should have nuts in it?
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    I mean chocolate is just meant to have nuts
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    as God intended it.
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    But we are on the superhighway that's feeding
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    us something and it's feeding us emptiness.
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    It's not getting us to the right place.
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    I'll often times get criticized for things I say
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    or things I don't say
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    by people who are on their superhighway
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    where all their peers are,
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    instead of where I am or where I want to be,
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    which is on an ancient path where there is the Bible.
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    If you're not exposing yourself to the Bible
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    and reading it, you're on a different path
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    and you should expect that you're not going
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    to like or understand something
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    that somebody says who actually reads the Bible.
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    Yes, I actually read the Bible.
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    We are so deeply immersed
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    in all these different feeds,
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    all these different highways of information
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    that you can't expect to understand the will of God
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    if you're having like 10x more insight
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    from some cultural commentator
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    than you are from God himself in the Bible.
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    We need to have the breath of Jesus on us
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    that comes to the Bible, not the breath of Joe Rogan.
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    I like Joe Rogan
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    I think his podcasts are fascinating.
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    But when I'm doing 3.5 hours of Joe Rogan,
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    I'm not getting 3.5 hours of God.
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    The preponderance of information we get
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    is from people who are just chatterbox's,
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    who are giving us opinions
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    and aren't necessarily getting us closer to God.
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    The Bible is your GPS;
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    it tells you the direction you should go.
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    There's things in the Bible I don't understand.
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    There's things in the Bible I don't like.
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    I've got a bit of a conflict with a neighbor right now.
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    This neighbor did something
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    that really, really bothers me.
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    And I've been thinking through things
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    I wanted to do to get even to get back at this person.
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    I've got to be very nebulous,
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    because maybe my neighbor is watching right now.
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    But I'm convicted that the things
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    that I want to do to get even
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    or to just kind of jam it to this person,
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    it's not the things that the Bible would tell me to do.
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    My Bible tells me to love my neighbor as myself,
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    like my actual neighbor.
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    It means have warm affections towards them
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    as I should have warm affections towards myself.
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    The Bible is directing me which way to go,
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    things I shouldn't say, things that I should say
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    and our feeds are directing us
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    and are not helping us see what is true, what is real.
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    The Bible stands, man.
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    It is the most dissected, the most criticized,
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    the most studied book in the history of the world,
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    and yet it still stands. Why?
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    Because it freaking works, that's why.
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    It takes you down the right path.
  • 00:19:08
    I watched a program on Netflix,
  • 00:19:10
    I recommend it highly.
  • 00:19:12
    It's called Social Dilemma.
  • 00:19:13
    And they just talk about how
  • 00:19:14
    we're all on our super highways of information
  • 00:19:16
    that are custom made to tell us what we want to hear,
  • 00:19:19
    to affirm our own opinions.
  • 00:19:20
    The Bible doesn't tell you what you want to hear.
  • 00:19:22
    It doesn't affirm your own opinions.
  • 00:19:24
    It is there to form you, to form you spiritually,
  • 00:19:27
    to get you going to a new place.
  • 00:19:29
    You could be Googling right now global warming
  • 00:19:33
    and what will show up on the search results,
  • 00:19:36
    the first couple ones are there not because
  • 00:19:39
    those are the things that are scientifically true,
  • 00:19:41
    but because they know those are things
  • 00:19:43
    that you want to hear based on all of your other search.
  • 00:19:45
    So, you can read something on global warming
  • 00:19:49
    and go, "How do idiots not see this?"
  • 00:19:51
    Well, because they're seeing
  • 00:19:52
    totally different information that they want,
  • 00:19:54
    just like you're getting information that you want
  • 00:19:56
    based on all of your previous habits online.
  • 00:19:59
    Friends, we've got to be smarter than this.
  • 00:20:01
    It doesn't work that way.
  • 00:20:03
    Get on the path where the masses aren't.
  • 00:20:06
    That will be where the scriptures are,
  • 00:20:08
    where God is, His Holy Word.
  • 00:20:12
    I recommend not having a goal
  • 00:20:15
    of reading the Bible this year.
  • 00:20:17
    That's a good goal. I like that.
  • 00:20:18
    It's wonderful. Wonderful.
  • 00:20:20
    But if you're new to the Bible, your best option
  • 00:20:22
    is to do something like download the Crossroads app
  • 00:20:27
    and do the chapter in there every day like I do.
  • 00:20:29
    It's part of my Bible reading.
  • 00:20:31
    Or find somebody who teaches the Bible,
  • 00:20:34
    who talks about it or whatever it is,
  • 00:20:37
    an email that comes you that has a Bible verse.
  • 00:20:39
    Don't make it huge, just do something.
  • 00:20:42
    It's going to be more than you had in 2020.,
  • 00:20:45
    if you're strategic and you're wise
  • 00:20:48
    and you say, "I'm getting on a different path.
  • 00:20:50
    I want to be a different person."
  • 00:20:51
    So you're going to have to have different stimuli.
  • 00:20:54
    A second, if you will, post on that ancient path
  • 00:20:59
    that very few of us do is the discipline of prayer,
  • 00:21:04
    talking to God.
  • 00:21:07
    In the Book of Philippians 4:6, it tells us:
  • 00:21:21
    The Bible says do not be anxious about anything.
  • 00:21:24
    "Whoa, whoa, but global --"
  • 00:21:25
    Don't be anxious about anything.
  • 00:21:28
    "Wait, wait, the economy."
  • 00:21:29
    Don't be anxious about it.
  • 00:21:31
    "But you don't know what Joe Biden--"
  • 00:21:33
    Don't be anxious about anything.
  • 00:21:37
    This is a commandment of God:
  • 00:21:39
    Don't be anxious about anything.
  • 00:21:40
    How do we not be anxious about anything?
  • 00:21:42
    Well, instead of thinking about
  • 00:21:43
    the things that we're freaked out about,
  • 00:21:45
    researching the things we're freaked out about,
  • 00:21:48
    we're supposed to be thinking about God
  • 00:21:50
    and talking to God.
  • 00:21:54
    Here's a position you should do more in 2021.
  • 00:21:56
    I don't know if you've ever done it before.
  • 00:21:58
    It's the position of prayer,
  • 00:22:01
    the position of humility,
  • 00:22:04
    getting on your knees before God.
  • 00:22:08
    It's the place of humility.
  • 00:22:10
    When you're on your knees, you recognize that,
  • 00:22:13
    "You are more powerful. You're above me.
  • 00:22:15
    I'm lowering myself before You physically
  • 00:22:18
    because I am lower than You, God, spiritually
  • 00:22:21
    and mentally and emotionally and in everything.
  • 00:22:25
    I am lower and beyond You."
  • 00:22:27
    When you get on your knees,
  • 00:22:28
    it puts you in a posture where you should be
  • 00:22:30
    in the cosmos, which is underneath God.
  • 00:22:33
    You make your thanksgiving known to Him,
  • 00:22:35
    you tell Him what you're thankful for,
  • 00:22:37
    you tell Him how good He is
  • 00:22:39
    and you ask Him for things.
  • 00:22:42
    There was a time for me where
  • 00:22:44
    I didn't want to ask God for anything.
  • 00:22:46
    I thought that God would get sick of hearing my voice.
  • 00:22:49
    Do you realize how twisted that is?
  • 00:22:51
    Any parent loves to hear the sound of their child's voice.
  • 00:22:56
    God never tires of of hearing your voice.
  • 00:22:59
    Some of us think that He does.
  • 00:23:00
    Others of us think that God only has
  • 00:23:02
    so many yeses He's going to give to us in our life.
  • 00:23:04
    And he's not going to go, "Whoa, wait a minute.
  • 00:23:06
    You're asking for that. Whoo, no.
  • 00:23:09
    Because I said yes to something for you a year ago
  • 00:23:11
    and man, you're not due yet."
  • 00:23:14
    That's so sick.
  • 00:23:15
    God is the only entity who can multitask.
  • 00:23:18
    He has a mind to take in multiple data points
  • 00:23:22
    at the same time listen to millions
  • 00:23:24
    and millions of prayers at the same time
  • 00:23:26
    and respond the way He wants at the same time.
  • 00:23:30
    He hears your prayer. He wants to respond.
  • 00:23:33
    He's going to say yes to the things that are right.
  • 00:23:37
    I used to tell people
  • 00:23:40
    you shouldn't be praying for your financial success.
  • 00:23:43
    I don't know why, that was stupid for me to say that.
  • 00:23:45
    You shouldn't be praying only for your financial success.
  • 00:23:47
    But of course, if you want to be
  • 00:23:49
    in a different place financially,
  • 00:23:51
    you darn well better be praying about that
  • 00:23:53
    and working about it.
  • 00:23:55
    God might direct you to a better job
  • 00:23:56
    or a different account or something.
  • 00:23:58
    It's not that He's going to make you
  • 00:23:59
    hit the lottery necessarily,
  • 00:24:02
    but He wants to hear from you.
  • 00:24:05
    He's hearing from me these days.
  • 00:24:07
    God, I want a stronger Crossroads.
  • 00:24:10
    God, I want a more intimate relationship with my wife.
  • 00:24:14
    God, I want to have more physical capacity.
  • 00:24:17
    God, I want to sell more books.
  • 00:24:20
    God, I want to have more opportunities
  • 00:24:22
    to proclaim who You are.
  • 00:24:24
    God, I want to have --
  • 00:24:25
    I want to be able to kill an elk this year.
  • 00:24:28
    Go elk hunting and actually get one this year.
  • 00:24:30
    He's going to be hearing those things for me
  • 00:24:32
    and he wants to hear from you.
  • 00:24:34
    It's what those of us who are on the path,
  • 00:24:36
    the ancient path that leads to life,
  • 00:24:38
    we take prayer seriously.
  • 00:24:41
    You don't have to be on your knees for an hour every day.
  • 00:24:45
    I would encourage you not to have that goal
  • 00:24:46
    unless you've been doing that.
  • 00:24:48
    You need to start some place though.
  • 00:24:50
    Start by having a five minute conversation with God.
  • 00:24:54
    Start by maybe writing and having a journal
  • 00:24:56
    and writing your prayer.
  • 00:24:57
    Do something to talk to God.
  • 00:25:01
    The third thing that we don't want to do,
  • 00:25:04
    but you have to do on the ancient path
  • 00:25:06
    towards spiritual life is community.
  • 00:25:11
    You've got to be around the right people
  • 00:25:13
    and it has to be predictable.
  • 00:25:17
    Tony Hsieh, who we talked about earlier,
  • 00:25:18
    the founder of Zappos, apparently
  • 00:25:21
    in his final era of his life, he had paid friends.
  • 00:25:26
    He would get people who he wanted to party with
  • 00:25:29
    and he would ask them what their highest salary
  • 00:25:32
    to date was in their life,
  • 00:25:33
    and then he would double that salary
  • 00:25:36
    just to have them around him all the time
  • 00:25:38
    to party with him.
  • 00:25:41
    One of his true friends worked with his family members
  • 00:25:44
    to have an intervention, it was a failed intervention.
  • 00:25:46
    And this true friend said:
  • 00:25:56
    Do you have people around you who are going
  • 00:25:58
    to say a word when you're going the wrong direction?
  • 00:26:00
    Do you have people around you
  • 00:26:01
    who are going to say the right word
  • 00:26:02
    when you're going the right direction?
  • 00:26:04
    Who's encouraging you?
  • 00:26:05
    Who are you one another-ing with?
  • 00:26:08
    There are 59 one another versus
  • 00:26:10
    in the New Testament portion of the Bible
  • 00:26:12
    that relate to community.
  • 00:26:14
    Let me give you a few.
  • 00:26:15
    Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.
  • 00:26:19
    Instruct one another.
  • 00:26:21
    Carry each other's burdens.
  • 00:26:26
    Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
  • 00:26:30
    Forgive whatever grievances you may have
  • 00:26:33
    against one another.
  • 00:26:35
    Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
  • 00:26:41
    Grumbling. We've got a nation of grumblers.
  • 00:26:44
    I don't know who you're with right now watching this,
  • 00:26:46
    but let's all do something.
  • 00:26:48
    Let's all say grumble five times. Okay?
  • 00:26:51
    Here we go. Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble.
  • 00:26:55
    Do it again five times.
  • 00:26:56
    Grumble, grumble, grumble.
  • 00:26:57
    You hear how that sounds like (sound effect)?
  • 00:27:01
    That's us, where like --
  • 00:27:02
    We're a nation of grumblers because
  • 00:27:04
    we're on the superhighway where everyone thinks
  • 00:27:06
    it's their divine right to grumble.
  • 00:27:07
    (grumbling)
  • 00:27:09
    "Oh, well, I don't like
  • 00:27:10
    what the government is doing for the pandemic."
  • 00:27:11
    (grumbling) "Oh, the economy and my boss.
  • 00:27:15
    What is -- they don't know --" (grumbling)
  • 00:27:18
    "Oh, my kids, my wife. (grumbling)
  • 00:27:22
    Joe Biden. (grumbling)
  • 00:27:25
    We're just grumbling, grumbling, grumbling,
  • 00:27:28
    instead of one another-ing one another.
  • 00:27:31
    Your life will be determined
  • 00:27:34
    by the people who are closest to you
  • 00:27:36
    and the kind of quality and quantity of time
  • 00:27:40
    that you spend with them.
  • 00:27:41
    It is a key spiritual discipline,
  • 00:27:44
    having the right friends,
  • 00:27:45
    having the right community and being with them.
  • 00:27:49
    In the Book of Hebrews 10:24-25,
  • 00:27:52
    I'm reminded that these issues that we have
  • 00:27:55
    aren't modern day American issues,
  • 00:27:57
    they've been issues with people, because
  • 00:27:59
    people have always wanted to be
  • 00:28:01
    on the wide, easy path where all the masses are going.
  • 00:28:04
    And the Bible has to constantly say,
  • 00:28:06
    "No, come over here,
  • 00:28:07
    come over here to this ancient path,
  • 00:28:09
    come over here to this path
  • 00:28:11
    where not a lot of people are,
  • 00:28:12
    but that actually leads to life."
  • 00:28:14
    And this verse was written
  • 00:28:16
    to people in the first century,
  • 00:28:17
    people who didn't have Internet.
  • 00:28:35
    This verse is an exact application
  • 00:28:39
    of why you should make it a habit
  • 00:28:41
    to attend church every week.
  • 00:28:44
    It is amazing the things that we do,
  • 00:28:47
    the things that we're committed to,
  • 00:28:48
    churches is the one thing for those who follow Christ
  • 00:28:52
    and say, "I want to be more like God,"
  • 00:28:54
    that we instantaneously just drop.
  • 00:28:56
    Like there's nothing else that we go,
  • 00:28:58
    "Oh, I can't do that today."
  • 00:28:59
    We have a job, we don't go, "Oh,
  • 00:29:01
    I don't feel like going to my job today."
  • 00:29:04
    If we have a date like, "Oh, nah,
  • 00:29:05
    I'm just not in the mood to go on my date today."
  • 00:29:07
    When it comes to church,
  • 00:29:08
    if we have any other option, anything else,
  • 00:29:10
    "Oh, I just can't -- I just can't do it.
  • 00:29:12
    I'll get it later."
  • 00:29:14
    We've given up the habit of meeting with one another.
  • 00:29:18
    Church is a place of worship
  • 00:29:21
    where you meet with one another
  • 00:29:23
    and you get the Bible, where people are praying.
  • 00:29:28
    It's a place where you're sitting beside one another
  • 00:29:32
    and singing with one another.
  • 00:29:35
    Friends, come on, come on, come on.
  • 00:29:38
    I want something different for you in 2021.
  • 00:29:41
    I want you to be on a different path in 2021,
  • 00:29:43
    and it means you have to do things that other people
  • 00:29:46
    aren't going to be able to understand
  • 00:29:48
    who are on the wide road that goes to lifelessness.
  • 00:29:52
    You've got to get to a new place
  • 00:29:54
    and you've got to get on the ancient path.
  • 00:29:56
    We need to do that this year.
  • 00:30:01
    - There are actually two ways that you can begin
  • 00:30:03
    to walk down the ancient path of Bible, prayer,
  • 00:30:06
    and community right now.
  • 00:30:07
    The first one is through worship.
  • 00:30:10
    Worship is the intersection of all those things.
  • 00:30:12
    It's biblical truth, sung together as a prayer to God.
  • 00:30:17
    We're going to do that in just a few moments.
  • 00:30:19
    But there's another way too, and that's through giving.
  • 00:30:21
    It's another way to walk down that ancient path.
  • 00:30:23
    It's truth about what God does
  • 00:30:26
    when we allow Him to lead us financially.
  • 00:30:29
    We give our money together
  • 00:30:31
    and it's a prayerful worship act to God.
  • 00:30:35
    - Yeah. If you want to join me and Kyle,
  • 00:30:37
    we do that, that act of worship.
  • 00:30:39
    If you want to join us in that,
  • 00:30:40
    you can go to Crossroads.net/give.
  • 00:30:43
    And there you'll be able to find out
  • 00:30:44
    answers to questions that you may have,
  • 00:30:46
    maybe you want to know where is this money going?
  • 00:30:48
    How does it help? What does it do?
  • 00:30:50
    What does God say about generosity?
  • 00:30:52
    - Those are great questions.
  • 00:30:53
    - Yes, and you'll find all of that at Crossroads.net.
  • 00:30:55
    Right now, we're going to sing together.
  • 00:30:57
    We're going to have some prayers that's just
  • 00:30:59
    set to music to ask God to be first in our life.
  • 00:31:02
    Join us in that right now.
  • 00:35:02
    - You know, last year for many of us
  • 00:35:03
    didn't feel like a good year.
  • 00:35:06
    We didn't feel good, good things didn't happen.
  • 00:35:08
    And if you were anything like me,
  • 00:35:09
    maybe you felt a little stuck, in a rut actually.
  • 00:35:13
    And sometimes you can go from rut to rut.
  • 00:35:15
    You can pull yourself out just to get stuck again.
  • 00:35:19
    And we go into ruts because we go down
  • 00:35:21
    the same path expecting a different result.
  • 00:35:24
    But, you know, if you want something different,
  • 00:35:26
    you're going to have to do something different.
  • 00:35:28
    And that's why I'm excited to share with you
  • 00:35:31
    something that I promise is going to help you
  • 00:35:33
    do something different.
  • 00:35:35
    And that's a January kick start.
  • 00:35:37
    It is a six week time that I want you,
  • 00:35:39
    and I invite you,
  • 00:35:40
    to watch the service six weeks in a row.
  • 00:35:43
    And at the end of it, I promise you
  • 00:35:45
    that you will see yourself in a new place with God,
  • 00:35:48
    a place that has more inspiration,
  • 00:35:50
    more encouragement and, yes, more truth.
  • 00:35:54
    If that sounds interesting to you,
  • 00:35:55
    I want you to go to Crossroads.net/goals2021
  • 00:35:59
    or you can text GOALS2021 to 313131.
  • 00:36:05
    - Here's the thing, wouldn't it be great
  • 00:36:07
    if you could get to a new place
  • 00:36:08
    by doing one thing one time?
  • 00:36:10
    Wouldn't that be amazing if
  • 00:36:11
    one workout that leads to a better body,
  • 00:36:13
    one conversation with your spouse
  • 00:36:15
    that produces the great marriage?
  • 00:36:16
    But that's not how it works.
  • 00:36:18
    It turns out the way you get to a new place
  • 00:36:21
    is repetitions of the right thing over time.
  • 00:36:23
    And we believe this weekly experience
  • 00:36:26
    will help you get there, because every week
  • 00:36:28
    we're going to give you a shot of inspiration,
  • 00:36:30
    encouragement, and hope to get you through that week,
  • 00:36:33
    no matter what life throws at you.
  • 00:36:35
    And then the next week, we're going to
  • 00:36:36
    give it to you again and again and again.
  • 00:36:39
    And you're going to find yourself in a new place.
  • 00:36:41
    So, like Hannah said, I really hope
  • 00:36:42
    you'll join us in the January kick start.
  • 00:36:45
    And I hope you get this picture at Crossroads,
  • 00:36:47
    we don't want to be talking heads who say
  • 00:36:50
    one thing to you, point the way,
  • 00:36:51
    the good stuff's up there, hope you make it.
  • 00:36:54
    No, we want to be guides who walk with you
  • 00:36:57
    all of the way every day in your life.
  • 00:37:00
    So I don't know what needs you might have right now.
  • 00:37:02
    But, man, we'd love to help take care of you.
  • 00:37:04
    We'd love to help meet them,
  • 00:37:06
    no matter what you're experiencing in your life.
  • 00:37:08
    In fact, if you want to email me, you can do that.
  • 00:37:10
    Kyle.Ranson@Crossroads.net.
  • 00:37:12
    I'll try my best to respond to you within 24 hours,
  • 00:37:15
    whatever it is.
  • 00:37:16
    Or you might be in a spot where you're like,
  • 00:37:18
    "Kyle, I can't wait 24 hours.
  • 00:37:19
    I don't got that much time."
  • 00:37:20
    I totally get it and we've got you covered.
  • 00:37:22
    Our team is ready right now to chat with you.
  • 00:37:25
    You can go to Crossroads.net, click the chat button
  • 00:37:28
    and talk to a real live person who cares for you.
  • 00:37:32
    If I can, I'd like to pray for you,
  • 00:37:33
    pray for your week that's coming up,
  • 00:37:35
    that God would lead you on the ancient path to new life.
  • 00:37:38
    Let me pray for you right now.
  • 00:37:39
    God, thank You for everyone watching right now,
  • 00:37:43
    everyone engaging with us.
  • 00:37:44
    I pray that You'd bless them,
  • 00:37:46
    that Your peace would cover them,
  • 00:37:47
    that Your protection would cover them
  • 00:37:49
    no matter what comes up this week.
  • 00:37:51
    We don't know God, but we know that You do.
  • 00:37:53
    We know that hard things might come up.
  • 00:37:54
    We're asking that You'd be able
  • 00:37:56
    to walk us through them to new life. Amen.
  • 00:38:01
    Thanks for being with us this week.
  • 00:38:02
    We'll see you next week.

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 Jan 2nd & 3rd.

  1. It’s a new year which means an opportunity for a new you. Share what you are most excited about for 2021 and why.

  2. Read Matthew 7:13-14. We’re often faced with a decision: to take the easier path, or the one that’s narrow but is more beneficial. What’s that one thing in your life in which the narrow path feels hardest to choose? Why did you pick that one?

  3. Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Philippians 4:6, Hebrews 10:24-25. Spending time in the bible, prayer, and being in a positive community will lead us to a new path that is full of life. Which one of these areas are you strong in and which area could you invest in more?

  4. Growth comes one step at a time. To go to a new place in 2021, it starts with doing just one thing different. Where do you want to invest more in the bible, prayer, or community? Identify one way you can take a step in that direction, then put it on your calendar for this week to do it. Make that step specific and practical, one that we could follow up with you on next time.

  5. Close your time taking turns praying for each other, or read this over the group. “God thank you for this time and the people in this group. We ask for your blessings, peace, and protection for this group. We ask that you walk with us to a new path. Amen.

More from the Weekend

If you want something different for 2021 then you have to do something different in 2021. Don’t know where to begin? Start with the January kick start. Learn more here or text GOALS2021 to 313131.

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Jan 2, 2021 38 mins 35 sec

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