Born Wild: Saturday 3:00 PM

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[music]

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- Welcome to Crossroads.

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How's everybody doing today? Yes.

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My name is Brian Tome.

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I'm what's known as a Senior Pastor around here.

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It's great to be with everybody.

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This has become a bit of an annual tradition for us.

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I, a number of years ago had somebody on my podcast,

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and we hit it off pretty well.

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I think I'm going to stand up here just because I can.

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How often do I get to get up here?

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Yeah, let's do that.

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I had somebody on my podcast,

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so I hit it off with and then he invited me

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on a hunting trip in Idaho a year or so later.

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I said, sure, I'll do that.

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I went on a hunting trip with him.

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And then I found out what he did.

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He has this, you might say, supernatural,

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even mystical ability to connect with horses.

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I like to call him a horse whisperer,

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even though he doesn't like that term.

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And he told me what he did, and I said,

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"Man, I'd love to have you at the church

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I started and pastor called Crossroads."

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Churches always say that.

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Hey, hey. Yeah. Come here.

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Ooh, I like it, a little skittish.

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He's skittish. That's good.

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That's good for me. Bad news for you, Todd.

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And so, "Well, you know, insurance and everything,

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churches never do it because it's too dangerous."

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And I said we're going to do it, and we have done it.

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And so I'm happy you're here, everybody.

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I've heard some little kids in here. Awesome, awesome.

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Mom and dad, I'm just going to ask you

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if your kid's getting out of hand,

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we need you to take them outside immediately,

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because it actually could put Todd in danger

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if something scares the horse.

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So we're going to be pretty strict about that.

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You might be concerned about this horse.

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We love this horse. We're for this horse.

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People wonder, isn't this horse being freaked out?

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No. Well, a little bit freaked out.

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How many of us have been in front of 3000 people,

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or however many people are here, right?

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I know it's noisy out in your sights,

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wherever you are, but right in here,

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the speakers aren't pointing this way.

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It doesn't hurt the horse.

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He's going to be a little -- He or she?

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Is it a he or she? He.

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What are you looking down there for?

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What is wrong with you people?

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It's a girl. All right. Hope it's a girl. Okay.

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So the horse is fine. He's fine.

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She is. She's in a good place.

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And believe it or not, as we'll talk

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in a little bit, the horse is going

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to be better off at the end of this

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as a result of this experience.

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So why -- Oh, by the way,

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if you want to be generous around here

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and be a part of what's happening here,

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you can go to Crossroads.net/give.

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We don't pass a plate of Crossroads,

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but you can go to Crossroads.net/give.

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Well, without any further ado,

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I want to bring up my good friend and,

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gosh, rodeo expert, horse whisperer, Todd Pierce.

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Come on up here. [applause] All right.

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So you were on the pro bareback riding tour.

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- We're going to keep getting this. Yeah.

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- What's it called? - Pro rodeo circuit.

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- Pro rodeo circuit.

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And your specialty was bareback riding.

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- Yes, sir. Good job. - Okay, I did that right?

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- Yeah. We got it now.

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- So what's the difference between

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what you did on the tour

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and what you're going to do here today

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in terms of skill level, all that kind of stuff?

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- Yeah. This takes way more skill, I believe,

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than than bareback riding did.

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Bareback was an athletic event

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that was very competitive.

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And it was man against horse.

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And this is me man with horse.

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And the horses that are in the rodeo world,

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they're bred specifically to be bucking horses.

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They enjoy it.

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The reason that they end up at a professional level

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is because they're good at it.

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And so everybody loves doing what they're good at,

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and they only buck for eight seconds.

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And so a typical horse bucks

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about a minute and a half a year.

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So it's not a super strenuous job on them.

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But I'm an animal lover and I think that

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there's a lot of people have got

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some misunderstandings of what that whole world was like.

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But yeah, I did come out of that world,

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which kind of sucks that you bring it up

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because people think that that means that

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if this horse bucks that,

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I'm going to actually be able to stay on

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and I can't anymore, so I just fall off.

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- Yeah. He does.

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He last year, I found out he's got --

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You got some muscles in your whatever region down here.

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- Pelvic region. - Pelvic region.

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There you go. Pelvic region.

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And some friends of mine who are chiropractors,

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Baker Chiropractic, they were here

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and they came in and did a little magic on you last year.

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But you've got some serious issues.

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So Todd can't really pinch his knees,

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which you really need.

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And he can't take his feet and clinch

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because that's an intimidating thing for a horse.

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So he ends up falling off.

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You haven't fallen off yet,

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but maybe today is the time. You know.

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- Everybody needs a friend like Brian.

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It's just like -- - I want some good drama.

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That's what I want. That's what I want.

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All right, let me pray for us

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and then do your thing.

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So, God, thank You for our day.

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And thank you for this horse.

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I pray that You would do something

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really special in that horse,

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and you would help us to connect

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with that horse's story, because I know

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there is a bunch of people in here

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that have some past and some wounding

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and some misperception about what it means

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to have You be our master.

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And we're trusting for You to make that clear.

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And it's funny, God, too to ask you protect Todd.

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We say that oftentimes protect and, like,

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there's no harm, there's protect.

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But this is like a real thing.

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So we do ask for You to protect him

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and give him amazing wisdom as he teaches us today.

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Amen.

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One more thing I would just say,

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Crossroads is obviously a very, very large church.

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And when things get really, really large,

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in order to get large, you have to have systems,

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you have to have processes, all that stuff.

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And so you just come to expect that.

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But what happens on the downside is,

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you folks don't believe me when I say

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Todd has never seen this horse until he's come in.

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It's a brand new horse

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he's never laid eyes on every single service.

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We're doing eight this year.

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We don't control this at all.

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I've actually seen this over the years.

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I think there's --

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I think you've been able to ride every horse, I think.

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But you never know what's going to happen.

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There is true drama here. This is not a fix.

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I know you don't trust me.

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Those of you are paranoid about big churches.

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You think everything's planned. It's not.

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So let's have fun. All right?

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- Right on. Yeah.

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So, the way that happens is that

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I've got a man that -- Britton Collum.

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He's the tall, strange guy in the back

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or tall dark stranger,

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is that we call it strange stranger.

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He actually goes out and finds these horses

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and brings them and won't ever tell me

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anything about them on purpose.

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If there's something that I need to know,

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like, if they've got an injury or something like that,

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then he'd give me a heads up.

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But it makes it to where I can encounter

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this horse at the same time you guys are.

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And I did see that she's a she,

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and which really doesn't make

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a whole lot of difference in

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how this interaction is going to take place.

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But I put a really high value on

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just being able to be myself.

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And so I just want to thank you guys for showing up

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and all the generous people that have made it

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to where it's possible for this to happen

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because this ain't easy.

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But I hope you -- My biggest hope is that

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every one of you are going to realize that

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Jesus modeled this thing that where

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He would just walk through life,

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and then He would find a moment and He would stop

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and He would pick up something

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or He would point to something

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and He would create a parable.

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And that's all this is, is it's a parable

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of how Jesus would communicate in a way

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that just in a public setting,

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He would demonstrate something that's a mystery

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until He shows them a parable.

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And then those that have got eyes to see

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and ears to hear, they actually get a revelation.

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It's more than knowledge.

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And I don't -- I don't know

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if that might sound strange to you,

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but you're going to know something

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that's impossible to be known with the human mind.

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It's something that's going to be spiritual

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and it's going to -- it's going to change you.

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And if you're open for that just clap.

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[applause] I like that.

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It sounds like everybody clapped, but also

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she didn't move so that's a good sign, Brian.

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But because she walked up to Brian that way

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and even her posture right now,

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I know that she's been handled,

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that she's been raised.

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I'm going to say, let's say that

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she was raised in a family

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and that she was well cared for.

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She's a small breed.

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She's not a young horse.

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She's well, she's young, she's two,

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but she's of the age when you actually,

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this is when you train them

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is when they're two years old.

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And if she was in the competition world by now,

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she'd already be competing because

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they would have started her early on in the winter.

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So don't let her size fool you.

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But because she's familiar with people

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and she's had the handling that she's had,

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what she wants me to do is just walk up to her

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and catch her, and then I'll lead her

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to whatever she's supposed to do next.

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And I don't want to do that because

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I'm communicating something to her that's --

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It's consistent with her instincts.

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Where in the herd that she was raised in,

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and how she's come to know how to fit in socially.

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I'm teaching her right now

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that I actually have authority over her.

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And it's not authority that I asked for.

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This is authority that God gave us.

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That's a good girl.

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But unlike the world that she lives in,

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the authority that I have,

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I want to use all the authority that I have

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to give her power, not to take her strength from her.

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And I want to ask a really honest question.

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And then I'm going to have --

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The band is just going to play some music

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while you answer this question because

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every one of us have got a belief system.

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I'm not sure what your belief system is, but

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what do you believe that God believes about you?

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Like, if Jesus was to stand before you right now,

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just you and Him alone.

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And He wanted to tell you about you,

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what would He say?

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What is His opinion of you?

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And if we're going to have

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a starting place tonight, it's really important

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that you'd be honest with yourself on

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what do you think God thinks about you?

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[music]

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I just wanted to give an example of why it is

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that. Jesus being as attentive as He is

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and finding that she didn't even know

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what was wrong with her, that Jesus comes in

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and He reveals to us things

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that are stealing life from us.

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The Bible would call it sin,

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or a lot of religious people use it sin.

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But really it's just anything in our life

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that's not whole.

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It's parts of our life that's stealing from us.

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I'm pretty sure you're not going to

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be able to see it from here.

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I'm not sure how good the cameras are,

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but that's a tick and it was on her neck.

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Yeah, it's kind of gross, huh?

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You ever heard fat as a tick?

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That sucker's been sucking blood

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till it's about to pop.

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Here, Britton.

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But I'm thankful for just,

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I don't take things like that, like, for granted.

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And there's people in this room right now,

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and you think that you're fine.

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You think that you're getting away with things.

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And I'm telling you that anything

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that's separating you from the love of God

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is because you're not one of His sons.

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We can have things that are going on in our life

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that aren't quite right,

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if we're sons and daughters.

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But if you're not one with God

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and you know who you are,

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you know that you're not one with God.

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If you're not one with God,

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then these things in your life, they're killing you.

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And if they're left too long,

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they're not only going to the spread

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to you and destroy your life.

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You continue to be a part of the problem

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and the things that are destroying the lives around us.

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We've got a nation that is just desperate

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to see what it's like to have whole people.

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And whole people know what sin is.

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They understand that it's devastating.

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It's not something that we can hide.

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It's going to have its effect on us.

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And I just prophetically take the blood

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that has been stolen from her

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and just get rid of it.

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And say that anybody that's in this room

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that wants to be one of God's sons,

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wants to be one of his daughters,

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if you want to be one with God,

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that that's something that's available

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to you right now, all you have to do is make a decision.

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Right now, she's making a decision

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what she's going to do with me.

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And I've come to seek and to save what was lost in her.

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And what was lost was the oneness

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that she was created for.

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Some people say that I want

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to have a relationship with her.

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I don't want a relationship.

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I've got relationships with people.

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And the thing about human relationships is

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if I do my part, they'll do their part.

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If I love them, they'll love me back.

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If I give to them, they'll give to me.

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That's what most human relationships are like.

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So I'm not looking for a relationship.

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I want her to know that no matter what she does,

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that I choose her.

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I do want to become one with her,

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and that's going to revolve around her decisions

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and her willingness to allow me to.

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But just by using the word relationship,

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it implies that --

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That if she doesn't do her part,

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that I'm going to fail to do my part.

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And that's just not who God is.

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But this stage where she's at right now

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and all this familiarity and kindness

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and being okay with me being around her,

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that's great.

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I'm not sure what she'll say about the part

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when I get -- ask her if I can become one with her.

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That's a good girl.

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[music]

00:24:53

- I'm waiting for something because

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she's passive enough that she's tolerating

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some things that she's not actually

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very, very okay with.

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Like, she let me get on her.

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But did you see how she was just frozen?

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When she stopped and she's still looking around,

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she's just really distracted by what's going on.

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So, she hasn't really made up her mind about me.

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And if I rush it --

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That's a good girl.

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[music]

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So, she doesn't know the words that I'm saying,

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but there's a sensitivity that she has

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that we don't even have.

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She's monitoring my pulse right now.

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She can smell things.

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And the reason I posture myself in certain ways,

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and the reason I talk the way I talk

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is because the vibrations and everything

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that I'm communicating to her,

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she doesn't understand my words,

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but she understands more clearly

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than some of you are understanding

00:27:19

what I'm saying right now.

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And so if I can create a space

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and the principles that Jesus modeled

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to where He carried such a peace

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and such a power and such a presence

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that it commanded the wind and the waves,

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that it would cause dead things to come to life,

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it would make things that are broken

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become whole again.

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That He had that much of a commanding presence

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in the way that he chose to display it

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was through such humility and kindness.

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It made it to where He would make Himself

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a servant of other people,

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not because he saw himself as a servant.

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It's because He knew that He was a Son of God.

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It's a different kind of humility.

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It's not that I'm humbled because I have to be humble.

00:28:08

It's because I choose to be humble

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because I'm so overwhelmed with the love

00:28:12

that I'm receiving from God.

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I don't have to get the service from other people.

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And that's what's intoxicating to her.

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And it's setting a stage for her to do

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something that otherwise would be very dramatic.

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And I'm not sure what walking together

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is going to be like, but she's okay with this part.

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[music]

00:30:54

- That's a good girl.

00:31:00

Wow.

00:31:05

So, there's something about her left side

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that she's not so familiar with.

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And the way horses are designed is their brain

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doesn't translate information from side to side.

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So there's -- you could call them, like,

00:31:18

having multiple personalities, but they don't.

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It's just that what happens on her right side

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isn't the same thing.

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She doesn't translate that to the left side.

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And so she saw me out of that side.

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And that's when she got scared for a minute.

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And the bucking's not a problem.

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Some people disagree with me. T

00:31:40

he problem would be is if she actually feels

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like she's succeeded by bucking.

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That it's not getting her what she wants,

00:31:51

because what she wants is she wants to feel safe

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and she's learning how to enjoy connection.

00:32:02

And if we can move our feet at the same time.

00:32:08

Yeah. She's -- Hammer's cocked.

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Come on, sweetie. Come on, sweetie.

00:32:27

[music]

00:33:57

- Still really distracted.

00:34:01

Oh, we're good on time.

00:34:09

I'm not sure when things went wrong.

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I know that when Jesus walks onto the scene,

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He realizes that He's --

00:34:17

Well, He knows that He's walking into

00:34:19

a culture of people that think

00:34:20

that they're honoring God because

00:34:23

they're obedient to what God said for them to do.

00:34:25

And the same people that were teaching others

00:34:28

how to follow God didn't recognize God

00:34:32

when God showed up.

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To me, that would be really embarrassing.

00:34:38

If my wife was to show up

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and I didn't recognize her,

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there would have to be something horribly wrong

00:34:48

in my marriage if the one that I call my beloved

00:34:53

I don't even recognize her

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when she walks in the room.

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And this one that they called their God,

00:35:05

Jesus walks in the room and they hate Him.

00:35:09

That's how far humanity has slipped

00:35:12

from what it's like to be a follower of rules,

00:35:15

versus someone that's had an encounter

00:35:17

with the living God that made it to where we become whole.

00:35:23

And it's only been a couple of years,

00:35:24

but she's a fully matured adult,

00:35:30

and her story has led her to a place

00:35:32

where she's this confused.

00:35:36

That there was a part of her DNA

00:35:37

that's in her nature to live independently,

00:35:44

but at the same time, there's something

00:35:46

that's going on around her and inside of her

00:35:48

where she's like, "I want to know this guy,

00:35:50

but I don't know how to."

00:35:52

And I love the fact that Jesus gave Himself

00:35:55

years to walk with his disciples

00:35:56

and to show them the ways that He does things.

00:35:59

Not just what He does, but the way in which

00:36:03

He did it, and the kindness and the humility

00:36:06

and the brokenness and the joy and the laughter.

00:36:37

[music]

00:39:14

- Do we have the lyrics to that song?

00:39:21

Gosh, guys, if you showed up here tonight

00:39:23

and you expected God to do something

00:39:25

that would be life altering,

00:39:28

I've got faith for that.

00:39:29

I'm not sure if you do, but I think

00:39:30

I've got enough faith for the whole room

00:39:33

that this this word is something

00:39:36

that God is singing over you.

00:39:38

And I want to have the lyrics to it

00:39:41

because she's already said yes.

00:39:44

And if you want to say that she's been born again,

00:39:46

she's been born again.

00:39:47

She's like, "Absolutely,

00:39:49

you can have full access to me.

00:39:53

I only want what you want, but I'm still scared.

00:39:56

And I don't know what it looks like to do the next thing."

00:40:00

And this is where the journey and the joy

00:40:02

and the pleasure that we have

00:40:06

to be ones that partner with heaven

00:40:08

and carry the same presence that

00:40:10

rose Jesus from the dead

00:40:11

becomes a tangible reality to you.

00:40:14

You're not sitting in this room

00:40:15

and just going to go home the same way,

00:40:17

trying to manage your sin or manage your problems,

00:40:20

because you're not going to live a life

00:40:22

of reaction to what's going on around you.

00:40:24

There's going to be some -- some --

00:40:26

Something created within you that's going to make it

00:40:29

to where you actually realize that

00:40:30

you've got authority over the things

00:40:32

that are around you.

00:40:33

You might not be able to change them,

00:40:35

but you get to govern yourself in the midst of them.

00:40:38

And some of you are going through really hard things,

00:40:40

and it's almost a kindness of God

00:40:44

not to take you out of them so that

00:40:45

you can see the power that you have to remain in them.

00:40:50

I can't let her just stop in this fear.

00:40:54

It wouldn't be kindness.

00:40:57

She's not going to get over it until she does it.

00:41:00

I'm not going to be able to talk her into it.

00:41:03

She can't watch somebody else do it.

00:41:05

She's got to walk through this.

00:41:08

And she's getting her confidence.

00:41:10

I'm not sure if you're seeing

00:41:11

her ears go forward and backwards,

00:41:13

but she's learning to look again

00:41:15

at what's going on around her

00:41:16

and not just be focused on me.

00:41:19

I think this is what we get to do

00:41:20

as sons and daughters of God.

00:41:22

I've got two of my sons sitting back here,

00:41:24

and I just love the fact that they would take

00:41:26

the effort to drive all the way out here,

00:41:29

just so that they could sit and watch their dad.

00:41:33

There's something about us modeling things

00:41:35

to make it to where Jesus modeled something

00:41:38

so that we could know how it is to walk,

00:41:40

how to be a man.

00:41:42

And if that becomes the standard for humanity,

00:41:45

you women figure out what to do with it

00:41:47

in the feminine sense

00:41:48

because it's equally as powerful.

00:41:51

I could actually say that maybe even more so.

00:41:55

And that's why God had to put man at the head,

00:41:59

so that we would all know what it's like to submit.

00:42:03

That us being submitted to God makes it to where

00:42:06

we know how to love and care

00:42:07

and take care of our wives.

00:42:09

That we're so submitted to God

00:42:11

that laying our lives down for our wives

00:42:13

doesn't sound like a stupid thing to do.

00:42:16

It actually is the only rational thing

00:42:17

for me to do is to love my wife

00:42:19

the same way Christ loved me,

00:42:21

the same way I would tend for my own body,

00:42:24

I would tend for her.

00:42:28

And I'll just join the ranks with Paul

00:42:30

and say that no, although I haven't yet arrived,

00:42:33

there is one thing that I will do.

00:42:34

I'll quit looking back on what I haven't done,

00:42:37

and I'm going to keep my focus forward

00:42:39

on what it is that Jesus said that I can do.

00:42:53

[music]

00:45:26

- If everybody would just --

00:45:28

Don't look at the screen. Watch her for a second.

00:45:36

I don't know what it's like for you

00:45:38

to partner with Jesus and Father and Holy Spirit,

00:45:42

knowing that this is one God.

00:45:50

But I want you to see a picture.

00:46:06

Because I know that so many people,

00:46:08

I think they've grown up in a culture

00:46:11

that's either made it all about you

00:46:15

and you find yourself a prisoner to your own desires,

00:46:19

and you know that you can't ever get enough.

00:46:22

And it's made you so self-focused

00:46:26

that it's your own prison.

00:46:30

And then I see a whole sea of people

00:46:32

that have devoted their life to Jesus,

00:46:33

and they don't know how much freedom

00:46:35

there actually is in that.

00:46:38

And that her fear isn't intimidating anybody.

00:46:41

It's just something that she's going to

00:46:43

be cared for and worked through with.

00:46:47

And this opportunity that, I just love this song.

00:46:53

It's like we were made for more than

00:46:56

to just get born again and hope that

00:46:57

we can go to heaven one day.

00:46:59

That there's this power and this resource

00:47:01

that's been made available to us.

00:47:03

And when Jesus said it was better

00:47:04

that He went away, He actually was serious.

00:47:07

That when Holy Spirit comes and He fills us,

00:47:10

and if you're open and you're just going to say,

00:47:12

"Holy Spirit, fill me right now in this place."

00:47:16

That if you're going to give permission to that,

00:47:18

then He's saying that it's better.

00:47:21

It's better than actually having Jesus walking with you.

00:47:29

And then they're not walking around just

00:47:30

trying to figure out how to stay out of trouble.

00:47:32

But now you're going to partner with Him,

00:47:34

and you're going to know what it's like to be healed

00:47:37

and just hear the voice of God being spoken over you,

00:47:40

where you know that you are His beloved son

00:47:42

and His favor is resting on you.

00:47:51

We come against any orphan spirit in the name of Jesus.

00:47:57

Thank you, King Jesus, for giving us that authority.

00:48:02

And Holy Spirit, whatever it is

00:48:03

that you'd want to do in us, we say yes to it,

00:48:06

that we fall in love with

00:48:07

the things that You're in love with.

00:48:21

[music]

00:50:02

- If there's somebody here

00:50:04

and you've got hair in your eyes, like,

00:50:05

you've got part of your hair over one of your eyes,

00:50:08

would you get it out of the way for a second?

00:50:10

Clear out of the way.

00:50:12

If it's blocking your peripheral view, move it.

00:50:15

You don't have to, but I just feel like you really should.

00:50:21

She was hiding behind her hair.

00:50:24

She wouldn't let me see this eye.

00:50:27

And she would was stiff necked about it.

00:50:30

I don't know what her story is,

00:50:32

but she's telling me about it.

00:50:35

And this is uncomfortable for her.

00:50:41

But now that she sees.

00:50:46

See how she's about to fall asleep.

00:50:50

For real.

00:50:53

There was like this hiddenness that she came out of.

00:50:59

And I know what it's like to hide things

00:51:02

and the fear and the insecurity

00:51:04

that comes along with it.

00:51:06

This is the beauty of having King Jesus as a papa,

00:51:11

that we don't have to hide anything.

00:51:13

And whatever it is that you got to talk about,

00:51:16

just talk to Him about it.

00:51:22

And then you're going to have the courage

00:51:24

to find someone that you trust enough

00:51:25

that you can share the same thing with,

00:51:28

and you can partner with people in life

00:51:30

and we become a safe place for each other

00:51:33

where we can learn to run together.

00:51:40

So much freedom.

00:51:45

I've watched -- I've got two of my sons here,

00:51:49

but I've watched all three of them

00:51:51

go through times of hiding stuff from dad.

00:51:57

And the absolute joy when they come

00:52:01

and they talk to me about it

00:52:03

to where there's nothing hidden anymore.

00:52:07

And I'm pretty sure that

00:52:08

if there was anything hidden,

00:52:09

they wouldn't have started with what they uncovered.

00:52:13

So, this isn't just a principle,

00:52:17

and it's not something I just want to talk about tonight.

00:52:19

I hope that the freedom that Jesus has given us

00:52:22

to become one with him --

00:52:26

Have I been in the saddle yet?

00:52:29

Oh, great.

00:52:34

But she's not hidden anymore.

00:52:36

Like she can see me right now.

00:52:38

And she's purposely seeing me from her right eye.

00:52:42

So, whatever was hidden, isn't hidden anymore.

00:52:48

There's still some shocking things

00:52:50

that come along the way when you realize

00:52:52

the power that you're carrying

00:52:53

and what all that means.

00:52:55

And so, if she bucks me off,

00:53:00

I'll tell you the story why I can't ride anymore.

00:53:06

That's a good girl.

00:53:10

You're watching a miracle, by the way.

00:53:27

That's a good girl.

00:53:33

[music]

00:54:03

- You did so good.

00:54:09

It's not a one time thing.

00:54:12

Time and time again, Jesus been crucified

00:54:16

over and over again.

00:54:17

I know it was a one time event in the physical,

00:54:20

but He said that He was crucified

00:54:22

from the foundations of the earth

00:54:25

just so that we never give up on the fact

00:54:27

that there was a price that was paid

00:54:29

so that every one of us can sit here

00:54:30

and be considered pure, blameless,

00:54:34

no guilt, no shame.

00:54:39

That doesn't give us permission

00:54:40

to just live lives that are reckless.

00:54:42

It actually commands something that makes it

00:54:44

to where, "Oh, my God, literally,

00:54:46

if You've given me this much access to You

00:54:49

and the only thing that you wanted

00:54:50

was to become one with me.

00:54:52

Can we just do that the rest of our lives

00:54:54

and then see what happens in eternity?"

00:55:00

I don't know why anybody would walk away from this.

00:55:05

I don't know how you could misunderstand

00:55:07

what it is that Jesus accomplished

00:55:09

for us to become one,

00:55:12

how devastating it is for us to be apart from Him,

00:55:16

but how liberating it is when we become one with Him.

00:55:23

And I don't know what the hair in the eyes means for you,

00:55:28

but whatever it is that you feel like you're hiding,

00:55:30

you don't have to hide anymore.

00:55:32

Whatever it is you feel like

00:55:34

I've asked enough times

00:55:36

and God's just not going to fix this.

00:55:38

Maybe He's just fixing something inside of you

00:55:40

to where you can actually do something impossible.

00:55:44

The storms were something

00:55:46

that He would sleep through because

00:55:47

He knew that He had power over them.

00:55:49

They weren't going to change

00:55:51

how He was going to do His life.

00:55:54

He had such peace in the midst of the storm

00:55:57

only because He knew who He was.

00:56:02

And if we've gotten rid of an orphan spirit

00:56:04

and we're learning how to be sons

00:56:06

of a God that only wants to pour His love

00:56:08

and His adoration over you, I say, look out, world!

00:56:14

Because it was something

00:56:17

when 12 disciples got sicced on the world.

00:56:20

And here we are 2000 years later.

00:56:23

And I'm just seeing sons and daughters rise up

00:56:26

and finding out who they are.

00:56:28

I sat around a table and watch a band of men

00:56:33

just share their hearts with each other

00:56:35

at levels that few men will ever experience,

00:56:38

because they know the stakes are so high.

00:56:40

I can't hide anything.

00:56:42

I don't know what it's like to feel loved,

00:56:44

but I'm going to go after it because

00:56:45

I know that's what God's made available to me.

00:56:48

I know what it's like to be stuck in addiction,

00:56:50

but I'm not going to hide it anymore.

00:56:52

I'm going to. I'm going to bring it to a table

00:56:54

with a bunch of men that I know how to do life with.

00:56:57

This is what we're being called to.

00:56:59

We're fathering each other

00:57:00

as we're being fathered by God.

00:57:26

- Well, that was an interesting one.

00:57:29

Very interesting one.

00:57:31

I know a lot of people in church that are like this.

00:57:36

A lot of Christians are like this.

00:57:38

This looked like the most mellow one,

00:57:40

and she's been the most intense one. You know?

00:57:44

I mean, a lot of us, we know how to look good,

00:57:47

we know how to act nice and all that stuff.

00:57:49

But, man, I tell you what,

00:57:52

something doesn't go our way,

00:57:53

someone tells me something I don't want to hear,

00:57:57

someone doesn't approve of something I'm doing.

00:57:59

Oh my goodness, bucking and all that kind of stuff.

00:58:01

You know? It's easy to hide that,

00:58:04

hide that inner turmoil that's in us

00:58:06

with our looks and everything like that, you know?

00:58:10

- She had it figured out until she found out

00:58:12

that it's way better to not live that way.

00:58:13

- Yeah. Right.

00:58:15

One of the things I think is just so good for us

00:58:17

is, you know, what you did in quote unquote,

00:58:21

breaking this horse.

00:58:22

It's not like you've seen the movies, you know,

00:58:24

weighing up and pulling them down with a rope

00:58:26

and all that kind of stuff.

00:58:28

It's a completely different thing.

00:58:29

This horse has never had a person on its back, ever.

00:58:33

Never had a saddle on its back, ever.

00:58:35

And here we go.

00:58:37

And now this horse is more powerful

00:58:39

and competent than it was before, right?

00:58:41

- Yeah. She was going to live her life

00:58:43

like a victim because that's what prey animals do.

00:58:45

She's not a predator. She's a prey animal.

00:58:47

And she would have to live her whole life

00:58:49

trying to stay alive.

00:58:50

And I hate the fact that that's what

00:58:52

tending a grave would look like to me,

00:58:54

if we use the lyrics of this word --

00:58:56

Or the lyrics to this song that

00:58:59

she has no other option than to just protect herself.

00:59:04

But when I became her protector,

00:59:06

I'm the one that will remove the ticks from her.

00:59:08

- Yeah. - And that even the fear of me,

00:59:12

she had to overcome it.

00:59:14

- By the way, did you squash that tick

00:59:16

before you threw it over there?

00:59:17

- No, I just chucked it. - Oh, great.

00:59:19

- It's running around the church right now.

00:59:20

- One of us is going to get Lyme disease

00:59:22

because you couldn't squash a tick.

00:59:24

- I didn't want to hurt it.

00:59:25

- Oh. Come on.

00:59:29

So this is, I think, the big metaphor,

00:59:32

as Todd was telling me about this years ago.

00:59:33

I think about it very frequently.

00:59:36

Many of us think that the best --

00:59:40

We think we haven't figured out.

00:59:41

The way it works is I just use God

00:59:44

whenever I can't do anything else.

00:59:46

I just use God as my fire insurance policy.

00:59:49

It's something like that,

00:59:50

because I don't want to give up freedom

00:59:52

I don't want someone riding me.

00:59:53

I don't want someone telling me what to do.

00:59:55

I want to be free, as in,

00:59:57

I don't want to be under anybody's authority.

01:00:00

But the truth is, one man on a trained horse

01:00:05

can ride faster, further and longer

01:00:09

than a horse that is unbroken.

01:00:11

One guy can run up an entire herd of wild horses,

01:00:15

because there's a power that gets unlocked

01:00:17

when you come under the someone's care

01:00:19

who loves you and cares for you.

01:00:20

And that's what God does for you.

01:00:22

You're not getting over on the system.

01:00:24

If you're one of these come to church

01:00:26

every once in a while,

01:00:27

I'm not going to change my life people.

01:00:29

You're not getting over on the system.

01:00:30

If you're this, I'm going to wait till the end

01:00:32

because I just want to enjoy my freedoms.

01:00:34

No, the system is getting over on you.

01:00:36

- Yeah.

01:00:37

- The system of this world that tells you

01:00:39

not to submit to a loving Father

01:00:41

who wants you and loves you.

01:00:43

That's the best relationship, the best deal going.

01:00:47

So we're going to sing a song.

01:00:49

Before we do, I'm going to

01:00:50

tell you something I was going to do.

01:00:51

We're going to have at all of our sites,

01:00:53

we 've got people who are going to be praying

01:00:56

coming down forward, and they're going to pray for you.

01:00:58

These are people who are trained in prayer.

01:00:59

They're ninjas when it comes to prayer.

01:01:02

And maybe you just want to mention

01:01:04

how you've had the hair over your eyes.

01:01:05

Maybe you want to mention that you felt

01:01:07

something biting on you and you don't know what to do.

01:01:10

Maybe you want to mention you need a help in that area,

01:01:12

you need healing in an area,

01:01:14

you need to feel God's love in an area.

01:01:16

They would love to pray for you.

01:01:18

Maybe you want to come forward and say,

01:01:20

"I keep hearing about this thing of God being a father.

01:01:22

He's ever been my Father.

01:01:24

How do I, how do I -- How do I make Him my Father

01:01:26

instead of some abstract thing?"

01:01:28

Maybe they'll do what we call leading you to Christ,

01:01:31

where they say a prayer for you,

01:01:33

and you come into the Kingdom of God

01:01:34

and the family of God.

01:01:35

So, we're going to do that all of our sites

01:01:37

and here, you've come this far.

01:01:40

We've hauled in the sand for you.

01:01:42

We've stuck a horse there for you.

01:01:44

You got bucked off, finally, you got bucked off.

01:01:46

That's a good horse. Why not?

01:01:49

You know, why not get the full experience

01:01:53

and allow someone to pray for you.

01:01:55

That's what's coming in just a moment.

01:01:57

But first, why don't we stand and when we stand,

01:02:00

let's sing something together

01:02:02

and thank God for this moment

01:02:03

and tell God that He's a great master.

01:02:12

- Sing this with me.

01:02:15

[music]

01:04:57

- Let's pray. God, thank You for Todd.

01:04:59

Thank You for his words.

01:05:00

Thank You for this horse,

01:05:01

getting this horse to a new level.

01:05:03

And thank You for the lessons you've revealed to us.

01:05:05

Maybe You're not done.

01:05:06

Maybe You're still going to give us something else

01:05:08

before we're gone or in our car.

01:05:10

Wherever we are, we want to, many of us,

01:05:12

we just want to say, "Yes, God, You can lead me.

01:05:16

Yes, You can be on me. Yes, you can.

01:05:20

You can chart my course instead of me

01:05:22

just wandering around in a field."

01:05:24

Thanks for being worthy of that. You're good.

01:05:28

I pray these things according to the character

01:05:31

and identity of Jesus. Amen.

01:05:35

All right, thanks for coming today. [applause]

01:05:40

We got prayer folks in front at all of our sites.

01:05:43

Thank you.

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